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The local paper for Downtown wn FANCY FEET ◄ P.12

WEEK OF MAY

3-9 2018

COUNCIL MULLS CAP ON SIGHTSEEING BUSES TRAFFIC Tour coaches could be subject of additional city oversight, including GPS tracking BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

nificance within the Hudson River ecosystem. Work on the project is expected to commence this summer. The renovated 2.5-acre pier, located on the Hudson River between North Moore and Hubert Streets, will feature playing ﬁelds, a wooded area planted with indigenous trees, seating areas and lawns. At the end of the 790-foot long pier, an elevated river promenade will rise above a tidal wetland area descending toward the river, to be planted with marsh ﬂora and used

While London’s two-tiered buses are an iconic part of its transit system, in Manhattan the double-decker bus has long held a different association in the public consciousness. To New Yorkers, “double-decker” is synonymous with the ubiquitous sightseeing coaches that ferry tourists to points of interest throughout the borough, and which are a source of aggravation to many residents who live near well-traveled routes and complain of resulting congestion, pollution and noise. The City Council is considering a package of bills that would bring the industry under additional scrutiny and place a limit on the total number of tour buses permitted on city streets. “We need to strike a balance to accommodate our city’s vital tourism industry while still addressing the concerns that our residents experience,” said Council Member Margaret Chin, whose downtown council district is a hub of sightseeing bus activity and the city’s booming tourist economy, which welcomed a record 62.8 million visitors last year. Legislation sponsored by Chin and Borough President Gale Brewer would cap the number of sightseeing buses

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

Pier 26 will be the site of a multi-purpose park including playing ﬁelds, seating areas and educational features scheduled to open in the fall of 2020. Rendering: Olin Studios

NEW GLIMPSE AT PIER 26 PLANS OPEN SPACES Work to begin this summer on multi-use riverfront park BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

The long-awaited makeover of Tribeca’s Pier 26 will offer striking views of the Lower Manhattan skyline, but its designers are hoping to direct visitors’ attention closer to water level, with recreational, leisure and educational design features aimed at highlighting the site’s sig-

The City Council is considering legislation that would limit the number of sightseeing buses permitted on city streets at 225 — there are currently 197 buses licensed by the city. Photo: Michael Garofalo

We need to strike a balance to accommodate our city’s vital tourism industry while still addressing the concerns that our residents experience.” Council Member Margaret Chin

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WEEK OF APRIL

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12

FOR HIM, SETTLING SMALL CLAIMS IS A BIG DEAL presided over Arbitration Man has three decades. for informal hearings about it He’s now blogging BY RICHARD KHAVKINE

is the common Arbitration Man their jurist. least folks’ hero. Or at Man has For 30 years, Arbitration court office of the civil few sat in a satellite Centre St. every building at 111 New Yorkers’ weeks and absorbed dry cleaning, burned lost accountings of fender benders, lousy paint jobs, and the like. And security deposits then he’s decided. Arbitration Man, About a year ago, so to not afwho requested anonymity started docuhe fect future proceedings, two dozen of what menting about compelling cases considers his most blog. in an eponymous about it because “I decided to write the stories but in a I was interested about it not from wanted to write from view but rather lawyer’s point of said Arbitration view,” of a lay point lawyer since 1961. Man, a practicing what’s at issue He ﬁrst writes about post, renders and then, in a separatehow he arrived his decision, detailing blog the to Visitors at his conclusion. their opinions. often weigh in with get a rap going. I to “I really want whether they unreally want to know and why I did it,” I did derstood what don’t know how to he said. “Most people ... I’d like my cases the judge thinks. and also my trereﬂect my personalitythe law.” for mendous respect 80, went into indiMan, Arbitration suc in 1985, settling vidual practice

9-16

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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DOCUMENTING ALL THAT’S FIT TO PRINT MEDIA A new film, “The Fourth Estate,” chronicles a year at The New York Times BY JAKE COYLE

Liz Garbus’ first day shooting inside The New York Times newsroom was President Donald Trump’s inauguration day. Her final day was April 16, when the Pulitzer Prizes announced The Times had won three of the coveted awards. In between, she spent more than a year documenting one of journalism’s most distinguished institutions while it grappled with, and tirelessly reported on, an unprecedented presidency. From the first moments of “The Fourth Estate” — as the Times’s executive editor, Dean Baquet, watches Trump sworn on a screen in the newsroom — there’s the dramatic air of a gauntlet being thrown down. “What a story,” marvels Baquet. The first episode of “The Fourth Estate” premiered as the closing night film at the Tribeca Film Festival last week. It will air on Showtime beginning May 27. A bracing, real-life thriller with shades of “All the President’s

Men” (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross supply the propulsive soundtrack), the docu-series gives a rare view of the day-to-day toil of investigative journalists navigating an unpredictable and ceaseless story. And in giving such a window into the machinations of The New York Times, “The Fourth Estate” surely will give fodder to both supporters and critics of the newspaper. Trump has frequently attacked the press, but his gripes with “the failing New York Times,” as he has repeatedly called it, have been especially pronounced. He recently called White House correspondent Maggie Haberman, who shared in one of the Pulitzers, a “third-rate reporter” and claimed he doesn’t speak to her. Haberman, a key ﬁgure in the documentary, is seen interviewing Trump by phone in “The Fourth Estate.” “I honestly believe if people get a look inside the newsroom of The New York Times, it will only help us,” Baquet said in an interview. “It humanizes The New York Times. It shows our ﬂaws, too. How could it not?” said Baquet. “But it shows a bunch of reporters and their editors struggling to cover a big story. It shows the impact it has on our daily lives when we do that. I think it shows

us as regular people as opposed to arrogant, distant, whatever the worst is people think of us. I think it’s good for The Times, and I think it’s good for journalism.” Garbus, whose 2015 Nina Simone documentary “What Happened, Miss Simone?” was nominated for an Oscar, first conceived of the project while contemplating postelection subjects. When Trump, then president-elect, engaged with a back-and-forth with The Times over an interview at the newspaper’s offices, a light bulb went off. “I thought: Wow. Wouldn’t it be great to be a ﬂy on the wall of this presidentelect meeting with his hometown newspaper that he constantly disparaged yet clearly craves its positive coverage? What an interesting dynamic, what an interesting relationship,” Garbus said. Baquet grants the newsroom was “mixed” on having cameras in its midst and that some found it intrusive. But many of the reporters frequently documented include some of the newspaper’s page-one regulars: Michael S. Schmidt, Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Mark Mazzetti and Haberman. Many scenes focus on landing scoops and the newsroom conversations over framing a day’s news. One

The New York Times headquarters on January 18, from a scene from the Showtime original documentary series “The Fourth Estate.” Photo: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Showtime. scene captures Washington bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller in a tense disagreement with editors in New York over coverage of the president’s State of the Union address. Other scenes focus on the personal toll of keeping up with a relentless news cycle. “I saw people struggling with questions of how to face a relentless assault on norms,” Garbus said. “And I saw investigative journalists faced with a story of a lifetime and at the top of their game. I saw human beings who are competitive by nature engaged in

a dogﬁght.” The beginning of “The Fourth Estate” captures the veteran newsman thrilled by the challenge of covering a Trump presidency. “Great stories trump everything else, right?” Baquet says. After a year and half of covering the administration, does he feel the same way? “Do I think it trumps everything? Probably not,” Baquet said, chuckling. “It trumps a lot but probably not everything.”

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st district for the week ending Apr. 22 Week to Date

Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr

ATTACK ON MOTORIST AND HIS VEHICLE A man was arrested after striking a driver and then his vehicle. At 9:35 p.m. on Monday, April 23, a 47-year-old man was sitting in his vehicle in front of 53 Greene St. when a 28-year-old man came up and struck him with a metal soda can wrapped in a plastic bag, bruising the victim’s head, according to police. The assailant then struck the vehicle’s driver-side taillight, cracking it. Anthony Bailey was subsequently arrested and charged with assault. The taillight was valued at $400.

GOLD STRIKE

CIGARETTE CASE

It Sometime between 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 15 and 8:30 the following morning, unknown perpetrators broke the front window of the Cass Lilien Jewelry store at 24 Harrison St. They then entered the store and took several items of jewelry worth a total of nearly $6,000. Police searched the neighborhood but couldn’t locate the thieves or their booty. The items stolen included a Victorian gold fob, gold chains with pins, a gold chain with a drop, a 14-karat gold necklace, and other gold pieces with a total value of $5,700.

Apparently, a local convenience store needs to store their cigarettes more securely. At 12:22 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, two individuals walked into the 7-Eleven store at 140 Church St. One of the pair started arguing with a store employee while the other went behind the counter and took a box of cigarettes containing 15 cartons, valued at $2,208. Both persons then left on foot, heading in an unknown direction.

Year to Date

2018 2017

% Change

2018

2017

% Change

Murder

n/a

0.0

Rape

-100.0

40.0

Robbery

n/a

11.8

Felony Assault

-66.7

-38.1

Burglary

50.0

6.3

Grand Larceny

35.7

294 294 0.0

Grand Larceny Auto

n/a

33.3

E-BIKE STOLEN

CALLING ALL CARAVANS

Electric cars may be all the rage, but electric bicycles have their admirers too. At 9:15 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, a 27-year-old man parked his e-bike on the sidewalk in front of 249 Hudson St. When he returned 45 minutes later his two-wheeler was gone. The bike was equipped with a GPS device that showed the vehicle later turned up at 15 Berkeley Place in Brooklyn. Police searched that neighborhood but couldn’t ﬁnd the bike. The stolen vehicle was a blue/black Arrow e-bike valued at $1,550.

Police request the public’s assistance in locating a shoplifter or the van used in ﬂeeing. At 4:04 p.m. on Saturday, April 14, an individual entered the Christian Dior boutique at 105 Greene St., took designer garments worth $7,100 off the shelf, and took off in a red Dodge Caravan bearing New York plates GHR7962. Police searched the neighborhood but couldn’t ﬁnd the thief or the red Caravan.

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Useful Contacts

MAY 3-9,2018

Drawing Board BY MARC BILGREY

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.

212-741-8211

NYPD 13th Precinct

230 E. 21st St.

NYPD 1st Precinct

16 Ericsson Place

212-477-7411 212-334-0611

FIRE FDNY Engine 15

25 Pitt St.

311

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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

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212-533-5300

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330 W. 42nd St.

212-736-4536

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66 Leroy St.

212-243-6876

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135 2nd Ave.

212-674-0947

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FORM function and $100 REBATE

The City Council is considering legislation that would reserve up to 80 percent of parking on residential streets for drivers who live nearby. Photo: Stephen Strasser

SAFE SPACES STREETS Legislation would reserve street parking for residents BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Most parking spots on residential blocks could soon be set aside for drivers who live in the surrounding neighborhood. The City Council is considering two bills that would require the Department of Transportation to reserve curb parking for residents via a new permit system. One bill would apply citywide; the other, sponsored by Manhattan Council Members Mark Levine, Helen Rosenthal and Keith Powers, would include all of Manhattan north of 60th Street. Rosenthal said the bill she sponsored would allow the city to begin addressing potential parking issues that could arise in her Upper West Side district if the state implements a congestion pricing policy, which would impose a fee on vehicles entering a designated zone in central Manhattan. Some fear the areas just outside the congestion zone — which according to one proposal would begin at 60th Street and extend to the island’s southern tip — would become attractive to non-resident drivers seeking to park and transfer to the subway to travel into the fee zone. “Given that we don’t yet know the details of congestion pricing, the importance of introducing this bill is that we can now begin the public discussion of what residential park-

ing should look like,” Rosenthal said. It is unclear whether Albany lawmakers will move to enact a congestion pricing plan before the current legislative session ends in June. “Congestion pricing has not passed — it may never pass — but if it does, we want to be able to have input on how residential parking will work along the border areas,” said Powers, whose Council district straddles the potential congestion zone boundary of 60th Street, stretching across much of the East Side from Stuyvesant Town to Carnegie Hill. The legislation would not apply to commercial streets and metered spaces, and would require at least 20 percent of spaces in residential permit zones to be made available to non-residents. “When I hear from people who street park, they think permitted parking will make life easier for them,” Rosenthal said. “Secondly, because 80 percent of spots will be reserved for those with residential permits, people from other areas will get the message: take public transportation, there’s not parking. Because ultimately the goal is to reduce congestion on the streets.” The bills are broadly written and give the Department of Transportation latitude in determining the times and speciﬁc areas in which residential permits would be required, as well as the fees for permits. The DOT would be required to take input from local community boards and elected officials, according to Rosenthal. “This

opens the door for public comment so we can hear from our communities what they think about residential parking,” she said. Rosenthal proposes a nominal fee for the permits, and said that drivers with disabilities would not be negatively impacted. “Disability permits will supersede anything else,” Rosenthal said. “In other words, if you have a disability sticker, you can take residential spot even if it’s not in your zone.” The two bills both work to achieve similar goals, Rosenthal said. “At the end of the day there will be one bill and this will all be worked out in the legislative process,” she said. Council Speaker Corey Johnson said he was “not fully versed on all the specifics of the bills” at an April 25 press conference and did not take a position on the legislation. “There are some pluses and minuses,” Johnson said. “I understand that there are many folks that live in communities across the city who find it very frustrating that they can’t find parking in their neighborhoods. We also are trying to disincentivize cars in New York City.” Johnson added that he believes state authorization would not be required for the city to enact the policy. “It’s my understanding that we are allowed to do it, that state law says that municipalities with a population of over one million people are allowed to enact residential parking, and so I do believe that we have the authority to do this,” he said.

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Our Town Downtown and The Chelsea News presented the 2018 DOTTY (Downtownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Our Town Thanks You) Awards last Thursday, April 26th. Readers wrote in nominations and the newspapersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; editorial team sorted through the entries, culling a group of remarkable honorees to recognize for their dedication to the community. State Assembly Member Deborah Glick, NYC Commissioner of Media and Entertainment Julie Menin and community members joined friends, family and colleagues of the awardees to thank and congratulate them. Local activists, such as former Community Board 1 chair Catherine McVay Hughes, and visionaries including Friends of the High Lineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Robert Hammond were amongst this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s honorees. The final award of the evening was presented to ďŹ rst responders Anthony Fracchiolla, 21, and Jin Huan Yang, 26, who were the ďŹ rst EMTs on the scene following the 2017 Halloween terror attack, the deadliest assault in NYC since 9/11. They closed out the ceremony with a standing ovation. Thank you to our 2018 DOTTY winners: Avenues Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Abby Brody, Wellington Z. Chen of the Chinatown Partnership, The 14th Street Yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Publisher Jeanne Straus, Robert Hammond of Friends of the High Line, and NYC Commissioner Julie Menin. Photo: Steven Strasser

EMTs Jin Huan Yang and Anthony Fracchiolla with New York State Assembly Member Deborah Glick. Photo: Steven Strasser Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein, Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wendy Gonzalez, Friends of the High Lineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Robert Hammond, Catherine McVay Hughes of Community Board 1, WestďŹ eld World Trade Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shari C. Hyman, The Schimmel Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Martin

Kagan, Kips Bay Boys & Girls Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Daniel Quintero, Mount Sinaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Donnette Truss, Transportation Alternativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Paul Steely White, Downtown Allianceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ron Wolfgang, and Anthony Fracchiolla and Jin Huan Yang of the FDNY.

MAY 3-9,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

GET DIRECTIONS TO SCHAGHTICOKE, NY ONLINE. MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH ONE OF OUR DOCTORS ONLINE. Visit nyulangone.org/doctors.

MAY 3-9,2018

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Voices

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

LET US SPEAK FRANKLY EAST SIDE OBSERVER BY ARLENE KAYATT

Really being heard — Seems that public and elected officials are getting away with taking the easy way out when they speak at community meetings and forums and require that all questions be written on index cards. The host organization should not permit it. First of all, questions are vetted by the official’s staffers and there’s no opportunity for follow up. Second, some people have terrible handwriting and their questions are illegible. Or, like politicians, they aren’t concise. Time, of course, is a consideration, but time limits can be set by the organization. If there is to be true dialogue and community input, then there has to be true feedback, and elected and others have to be accountable for the positions and stands they take and participate in verbal back and forth. They have to be able to withstand the crossﬁre

chihuahua with a scar on his snout, has been missing since early March. Posters begging for his return peered out from lampposts across the UES for several weeks. And then there were no more posters. I thought about Norman and was hoping that he’d come home. But no. Last week a woman, tears in her eyes, was taping yellow posters with a photo and description of her still-lost Norman throughout the neighborhood along with the promise of a $5,000 reward for his return. No questions asked. If you ﬁnd Norman, call home. They’re waiting for him with bated breath — 424-258-4306.

of their constituents. Writing questions out in, as they say, 25 words or less, doesn’t make the cut even if the politico is made to speak his or her position in 50 words or less, not counting pauses. The handwritten index card question doesn’t cut it. The opportunity to be heard at a public event requires verbal exchanges.

Dog-gone it — No question in my mind that Donald Trump and Jeff Bezos share at least a page in their playbooks — the desire and willingness to annihilate a competitor no matter how big or how small. Case in point, Bezos’s Whole Foods now sells hot dogs in direct competition with the street vendor standing under an umbrella-ed hot dog cart street in front of its block-long store on Third Avenue and 87th Street. When a customer sampling a smidgen of a hot dog at Whole Foods asked the staffer behind the counter which hot dog was better, he quickly responded that the WF frank was “far better” because they

Following New York City Transit President Andy Byford’s April 19 talk on the Upper West Side, hosted by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, audience members were given cards on which to write questions. They also had an opportunity to query Byford directly. Photo: Michael Garofalo offered 6 toppings and chili. “And you get samples.” So there.

The good earth — Thanks to the Parks Department and the Muslim Volunteers for New York for their partnership in bringing Earth Day activities to our city parks. Reminded me of Frank Sinatra’s rendition of the post-WW II song, “The House I Live In,” with lyrics about “a plot of earth, the sun ... and the people

that you see.” Not to get hokey, but it’s a vision not usually seen in an urban environment — kids planting, potting and pruning. And nice to know that similar activities are conducted and sponsored and supported throughout the year by funding in part through the budgets of our public officials.

Desperately seeking Norman — 4-year old Norman, a micro-chipped tan

Sharing reader thoughts — After this column noted that co-op and condo owners may have a role in bringing in big box stores and driving out small businesses from commercial spaces in their high-rises, responses included one reader acknowledging that the “enemy is (often) us,” and another explaining that they “sold” the lease for commercial spaces decades ago, giving them no say about tenants coming into the spaces. This reader noted that the storefronts in his/her building are not vacant and that everyone was keeping their “ﬁngers crossed.” Count me in.

BONDING OVER BOWIE BY MARK NIMAR

A ﬁre-haired man in a onesie, walking among the stars. A chap in a loincloth, draped in animal hide, clutching a wooden cane with an elephant lurking in the background. And a squire with sleekly combed hair and a classic herringbone jacket, pensively looking off into the distance. These are the many forms of the great English singer-songwriter David Bowie, captured in posters splashed across the Broadway-Lafayette Street subway station. The space is transformed: pewter cones glowing with ﬂuorescent lights skirt the station’s geometric blue columns. Quotes proclaiming the artist’s undying love for New York decorate

the drab, gritty walls. And a rectangular emerald sign displaying the moniker DAVID BOWERY hovers from the concrete ceiling. “There was no one like David Bowie,” said Sam Huber, a Finnish man with an astronaut head on his T-shirt. I met Sam while he was snapping photos of the fantastic Bowie posters with his iPhone. “He did what he wanted. He was brave ... experimenting with different styles. He didn’t care what other people thought.” Sam remembered listening to Bowie in the ‘80s when he was eighteen, before he had ever been to the U.S. And because Bowie had been such a big part of his youth, Sam was devastated when he heard about Bowie’s passing. “[I] listened to his albums over and over again,”

The Broadway-Lafayette subway station transformed. President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com

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Account Executives Fred Almonte, David Dallon Director of Partnership Development Barry Lewis

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Senior Reporter Doug Feiden

Director of Digital Pete Pinto

Staff Reporter Michael Garofalo

Director, Arts & Entertainment/ NYCNow Alizah Salario

MAY 3-9,2018 Huber said. “Bowie is always on my mind when I compose. Even when I don’t try to emulate him, he always shows up in my music.” “His songs are weird, but fun,” said Marc Rodriguez, a man in a suit and tie. He had come to the Broadway-Lafayette station after a long day’s work just to see this exhibit. “I came here just for this. I [really] nerd out over the subway,” he said. His ex-girlfriend, a blacksmith who had moved to Connecticut, was the first person to introduce him to Bowie. “She was obsessed with Bowie,” he said. “She was a theater kid and just loved him.” Their relationship did not last, but his love of Bowie did. His eyes shined when he spoke of Bowie’s hit songs, many acting cameos and overall swagger and brio. I was genuinely sad to see Marc go as he ﬂashed me a smile, and descended onto the subway platform. But then I met another Bowie devotee. Her name was Carolyn. She was a spunky sixty-year old who called Bowie “androgynous and galactic.” “He lets us all be ourselves,” she said. “I love his grace. He is grace. He shines his light, and it allows everyone else to be themselves, and feel freedom. Gratitude is the essence of grace, and he had it.” Carolyn ﬁrst listened to Bowie at Kirkland College upstate in the eighties, when she was first dating her now-husband and coming into her own. Bowie has been a part of her life since her youth, and as she spoke, her quick, excited speech and beaming smile revealed how much Bowie had meant to her. “He changed the style,” she said. Carolyn then did something that never happens in New York. She took my arm and wished me luck. Under normal circumstances, the intimate touch of a stranger on the New York City subway would totally gross me out. But after talking to her about Bowie’s talent, it felt perfectly natural. For one moment, an artist’s daring, soulful work had bonded us, and transformed us from complete strangers into instant friends. As Carolyn blended into the sea of commuters, and I returned to the lines of my notebook, the somber sounds of a trombone playing “Cry Me a River” wafted up from the subway platform below us. And in that moment, I felt grateful that the work of an iconic artist had the power to transform a drab train station into a colorful place of love, art and friendship.

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MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH Upcoming Events TH E N E W YOR K L A N D M A R K S C O N S E R VA NC Y

S AC R E D SIT E S

OPEN HOUSE

Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com

EDITOR’S PICK

SUNDAY, MAY 6, 1:30-3:30PM We are honored to open our doors as part of NYC’s Annual Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites Open House. This opportunity allows members of the community and tourists alike to discover Marble’s landmarked architecture and rich history. Marble Collegiate Church is a prominent example of Romanesque Revival architecture with Gothic inﬂuences and preserves many original 1854 features: its marble exterior, bell tower, mahogany pews, tiled lobby, and innovative cantilevered balconies. From the spire to the ﬁne details of the interior, featuring beautiful stained glass windows, two of which are Tiffany. Docent led tours, as well as self-guided tours will be available. No registration necessary. FREE ADMISSION.

May 3 – 5 THE ALLEN GINSBERG SYMPOSIUM The Poetry Project, 131 East 10th St. 1 p.m. Free 212-674-0910. poetryproject.org The great Allen Ginsberg saw the Poetry Project as a place where people could connect to crucial problems of the time. In that spirit, this annual 3-day symposium featuring readings, talks, panels and workshops provides a forum and network for the literary community and beyond to share and commune. Come and fraternize with the greatest minds of your generation.

FRIDAY NIGHT

JAZZ VESPERS

Sing When the Spirit Says Sing

Friday, May 18 at 6:15pm As the work week ends, join us for this special Jazz Vespers for Pentecost, Sing When the Spirit Says Sing. Message by Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton and music by Jazz pianist Chris Whittaker and friends. In the Marble Loft (274 5th Ave). FREE ADMISSION.

Pentecost Gospel Concert Sunday, May 20 at 3:00pm Join the Marble Community Gospel Choir in concert, directed by Stacy Penson. Tickets: $20, general admission; $15 students & seniors at the door. Save $5 by ordering in advance by Thursday, May 17. Event listings brought to you by Marble Collegiate Church. 1 West 29th Street / New York, New York 10001 212 686 2770 / MarbleChurch.org Download the Marble Church App on iPhone or Android

Thu 3

Fri 4

‘MERCHANTS’ THE PLAY

▲ ‘THE BENCH,’ A SOLO SHOW

Under St. Marks 94 St. Marks Place 8 p.m. $20 What happens when two exes meet at the now-defunct Chelsea restaurant Merchants to sort through the black box of their past? “Merchants,” an original play by performer and playwright Raphael Perahia, grapples with love, loss and moving on. Additional performances May 4-5. 212-777-6088 horsetrade.info

The East Village Playhouse 340 East Sixth St. 7 p.m. $29-$39 Based on true stories, “The Bench” chronicles the lives of ﬁve homeless characters and the turbulence surrounding AIDS in the 1980s. This solo show (one actor plays ﬁve characters, written in dialogue form) is re-opening after a sold out run at Cherry Lane Theatre. 866-811-4111 thebenchplay.com

Sat 5 ‘LONESOME TRAVELER:’ THE CONCERT The Schimmel Center 3 Spruce St. 7:30 p.m. $29+ Celebrate an ever-changing America with folk legend Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary at a concert version of the acclaimed “Lonesome Traveler” off-Broadway musical, which tells the story of American folk from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and beyond. With a special tribute to Leonard Cohen. 212-346-1715 schimmelcenter.org

MAY 3-9,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

YOUR FATHER KEEPS WANDERING AWAY FROM HOME. BUT IT’S YOU WHO FEELS LOST. Photo: Marco Tersigni, via Flickr

Sun 6 GREEK JEWISH FESTIVAL Broome Street between Allen and Eldridge Streets Noon. Free Celebrate Romaniote and Sephardic heritage and experience authentic kosher Greek foods and homemade Greek pastries, traditional Greek dancing, Sephardic music and more. Kehlia Kedosha Janina, the only remaining Romaniote synagogue in the Western Hemisphere and a New York City designated landmark, puts on this lively annual festival. kkjfestival.com

Mon 7

▲ ‘NO WORD FOR WILDERNESS’ AND ITALIAN BEARS The Half King 505 West 23rd St. 7 p.m. Free In Italian, there is no word for wilderness, one of the many fascinating facts in this meticulously researched book by Roger Thompson about the incredible stories of two special populations of bears in Italy. Hear him discuss the process of “rewilding” and why his ﬁndings may change how we see Italy and Europe. 212-462-4300 thehalfking.com

Tue 8 TRIVIA FOR GEEKS Pier A Harbor House 22 Battery Place 8 p.m. Free Drop some knowledge, down a few drinks, meet new people and connect to your neighborhood during eight rounds of trivia. 212-785-0153 piera.com

Wed 9

THE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIAS FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAM. Caring for a family member who has trouble with thinking and memory can be extremely challenging. So challenging, in fact, that caregivers may feel overwhelmed, struggling to maintain their own health and well-being. NYU Langone’s Family Support Program provides convenient, personalized, and ongoing support to people caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or other thinking and memory disorders. The program is provided free of charge to individuals living within the ﬁve boroughs. You will receive access to counseling; connections to doctors and support groups; and compassionate guidance by being paired with a caregiver who has had a similar experience.

◄ ‘CAPTIVE AUDIENCE: ON LOVE AND REALITY TV’

Join a community dedicated to providing the support and guidance you need, for as long as you need it.

The Strand, 828 Broadway 7 p.m. $16 includes book and admission In his new memoir, a love letter to both his wife and reality TV, the writer Lucas Mann tells of his viewing habits and wonders what drives people like him to watch other people emotionally expose themselves in search of fame. 212-473-1452 strandbooks.com

For more information or to enroll, call us at 646.754.2277 or visit nyulangone.org/memorydisordersupport. The Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Family Support Program is supported by a grant from the New York State Department of Health.

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

FANCY FEET

IF YOU GO Seymour Weitzman (1910–65), designer. Mr. Seymour (founded 1950s), maker. Pointed-toe laced pumps, ca. 1964. Suede, grosgrain ribbon. Stuart Weitzman Collection, no. 269. Photo: Glenn Castellano, New-York Historical Society

WHAT: “Walk This Way: Footwear from the Stuart Weitzman Collection of Historic Shoes” WHERE: The New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, 170 Central Park West (at 77th Street) WHEN: Through October 8 www.nyhistory.org

The New-York Historical Society struts Stuart Weitzman’s prized collection of vintage shoes BY VAL CASTRONOVO

Stuart Weitzman, the iconic luxury shoe designer, was recently asked why he and his wife, Jane Gershon Weitzman, started collecting historic shoes. “My wife couldn’t figure out what to get me for occasions, so she started buying antique footwear, ladies shoes, which taught me a lot about history.... They’ve been wonderful inspirations that continually spring up in my collections,” he said on a tour of the New-York Historical Society’s new exhibit, featuring 100 pairs of shoes from his personal archive. Artifacts from the museum’s collection are also included in the show, on view in the Joyce B. Cowin Women’s History Gallery. As Louise Mirrer, the Society’s president and CEO, tells it: “This institution, at its very core, is a collection of collections.... Our longstanding theme at the New-York Historical Society is that objects tell stories. And these objects tell very many of them.” Weitzman, who teaches at The Wharton School, added, “I have always believed from the beginning that shoes tell a story more than covering your feet.” Some muses: “Audrey Hepburn. Before flats were flats, she was cool enough and confident enough to wear flats with pants, right alongside Marilyn Monroe, who couldn’t be seen unless she was in a 4-inch heel. So each one of them used the shoe to say something about who they were.” The first story magically begins on the red carpet (literally) with Weitzman’s famous “Million Dollar Sandals.” The original pair boasted 464 Kwiat diamonds and was worn by actress Laura Elena Harring (“Mulholland Drive”) to the 2002 Oscars. A reproduction, with Swarovski crystals, is on display here. “She was photographed more times in this shoe with the Armani dress than Halle Berry who won the Oscar for ‘Monster’s Ball,’” Weitzman said with relish about the strappy stilettos that inspired the shoe-cam. Per women’s history scholar Jeanne Gardner Gutierrez: “Until million-dollar shoes walked the red carpet, no one thought to bring the gaze footward to the shoes.” The exhibit mines the story of footwear from four points of view — collection, consumption, presentation and production — with a focus on women’s contributions “as producers, consumers, design-

Terry de Havilland (b. 1938), designer. Peep-toe platform shoes, ca. 1972. London, England. Suede, leather. Stuart Weitzman Collection, no. 257. Photo: Glenn Castellano, New-York Historical Society

Frances Vultes Shoes. Lace-up boots, ca. 1900. Silk and silk brocade. Stuart Weitzman Collection, no. 59. Photo: Glenn Castellano, New-York Historical Society

Fenton Footwear, maker. Saks Fifth Avenue (founded 1924), retailer. T-strap pumps, ca. 1937. Velvet, leather. Stuart Weitzman Collection, no. 249. Photo: Glenn Castellano, New-York Historical Society

MAY 3-9,2018

ers, and entrepreneurs,” the organizers state. The story moves from the glamour of the red carpet to moving historical touchstones such as 9/11 and the General Slocum steamship fire in 1904, in which 1,000 mostly German immigrant women and children died en route to a church picnic. It was the deadliest event in New York City history until September 11, 2001. Both tragedies are movingly remembered by the shoes they wore — a 3-year-old fire victim’s leather lace-ups and a surviving attorney’s first pair of Ferragamos. The lawyer, Paul Wysocki, navigated 57 flights of stairs down the North Tower and a journey home to 52nd Street in tassel loafers. He tossed the shoes, but his wife salvaged them, relics of the city’s darkest hour. Objects of historical value give way to a dizzying array of fashion statements that mirror women’s evolving roles in American society and economic changes over the last 200 years. They began as piece workers — stitchers at home — and gradually moved into factories and became active in shoemaker unions like the Daughters of St. Crispin, the first national women’s trade union. When hemlines rose at the turn of the 20th century, attention veered to legs and feet, paving the way for stylish foot apparel. According to Weitzman, “The high-buttoned shoe was created when dresses started getting a little shorter. Society wasn’t ready to see a bit of your calf, so the shoe went up the leg.” Suffragettes paraded down Fifth Avenue in these boots and sturdy spectator pumps, while protoflappers danced the night away in glittery shoes with straps that buttoned so they wouldn’t fly off. The wares for work and play are showcased in sideby-side vitrines. The shoe trade was a man’s world until well into the 20th century, with women mostly working behind the scenes. As Gutierrez said, “The aesthetics behind women’s shoes so often had to do with what men found attractive, not what women found appealing or comfortable.” That is, until the women’s movement helped shift the paradigm and bring comfort to the fore. The exhibit boasts a profusion of styles — pumps, mules, Mary Janes, open-toe sling-backs, peep-toe platforms, wedges, T-straps, stilettos, and gold and silver sandals inspired by retro-Hollywood film epics. A wealth of materials and embellishments — beads, buttons, bows and brocade — vie with cutting-edge technology to tell the story of a functional item that can telegraph femininity, class, culture, power, performance and sheer sexiness with the flash of an ankle. Beth Levine (1914-2006), whose shoes were worn by first ladies, is paid special tribute in two cases. Levine, known as the First Lady of Shoe Design, popularized the now-defunct “Spring-o-lator,” a nifty piece of elastic tape in the insole of a mule or slide to prevent slippage. Per Weitzman: “The elastic lining would push you into the top of the shoe and hold you in place.” Such ingenuity lives on in the exhibit’s in-themoment finale, showcasing the three high-school winners of a metro-area shoe-design contest. Think sneakers with metal screening and Styrofoam soles — and more.

MAY 3-9,2018

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BEYOND BROADWAY - DOWNTOWN The #1 online community for NYC theater:

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A new drama about gifted students from the Bronx. How do you break through a system designed to lock you out?

Five teams of actors perform original ten-minute episodic plays.

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MAY 3-9,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS APR 18 - 24, 2018

Khyber Pass

34 St Marks Place

CLOSED (54) Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. 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.

Fish Bar

237 East 5 Street

O’Hanlon’s Bar

349 East 14 Street

The Boiler Room

86 East 4 Street

CLOSED (53) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

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. The Players Club

16 Gramercy Park South

Hasaki Restaurant

210 East 9th Street

Grade Pending (19) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment.

Yakitori Taisho

5 St Marks Place

Grade Pending (22) Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Barnes & Noble Cafe

33 East 17 Street

Park Bar

15 East 15 Street

Hawkers

225 E 14th St

Professor Thom’s

219 2 Avenue

Grade Pending (23) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewageassociated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Make Sandwich

135 4th Ave

Patisserie Florentine

280 E 10th St

El Rinconcito Restaurant

408 East 10 Street

Caffe Bene

208 Avenue A

Grade Pending (24) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Solo Pizza

27 Avenue B

Boulton & Watt

5 Avenue A

Augurs Well

115 St Marks Place

Blind Barber

339 East 10 Street

Grade Pending (36) Food Protection Certiﬁcate not held by supervisor of food operations. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

The Cottage / Azuki Japanese

120 East 16 Street

Grade Pending (33) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. 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.

J East Chinese Restaurant

175 3 Avenue

Grade Pending (19) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas.

Kingston Hall

149 2 Avenue

Villanelle

15 E 12th St

Karma

51 1 Avenue

Stillwater Bar & Grill

7880 East 4 Street

Avant Garden

130 E 7th St

Boilermaker

72 E 1st St

Uogashi

188 1st Ave

Pure Green

152 2nd Ave

Grade Pending (29) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Grade Pending (29) Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Nobody Is Perfect

235 E 4th St

The Hairy Lemon

28 Avenue B

The Dessert Kitchen

94 Saint Marks Pl

Caffe Vivaldi

32 Jones Street

Pieces

8 Christopher Street

Le Gigot

18 Cornelia St

Kettle Of Fish

59 Christopher Street

I Sodi

105 Christopher St

4 Charles Rib Prime Rib

4 Charles St

Not Yet Graded (28) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar 841 Broadway

Grade Pending (26) 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. Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Sunburst Espresso Bar

206 3 Avenue

KFC

242 E 14th St

Bricklane Curry House

99 2nd Ave

Grade Pending (12) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Stuffed Ice Cream

139 1st Ave

MAY 3-9,2018

EXPOSING STREET SCOFFLAWS ON THE UWS

Taxes are Threatening Your Access to

INVESTIGATION

News.

Shining a spotlight on illicit commercial traffic that’s long plagued a 48-block residential avenue — and saying “No” to noise

Taxes on the paper you are reading threaten to kill local news.

BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

Photo: Courtesy of West End Preservation Society

86th St. West End Ave.

A gargantuan 18-wheeler lumbers north up West End Avenue at 104th Street at 6:41 p.m. on April 16. Three or four big rigs head south down West End at 86th Street shortly after 7:30 a.m. on March 13. A red-and-white Coca-Cola truck cruises up the avenue at 83rd Street on Sunday, March 25. At least three Academy buses travel the avenue lengthwise, in the 70s and 80s, on March 26, April 12 and April 15. What’s wrong with this picture? Isn’t that how goods are shipped and people transported about Manhattan? Elsewhere, yes, that’s how business is transacted. But it’s not supposed to be that way on West End Avenue. The entire 2.4-mile stretch between 59th Street and 107th Street is off-limits to buses, trucks and other commercial vehicles. Period. And the signage, posted on traffic lights at scores of intersections in both directions, couldn’t be clearer: “PASSENGER CARS ONLY.” But the ban is regularly ﬂouted by tractor-trailers, commuter buses, charter buses and ﬂatbed trucks hauling autos and backhoes, recent photos show. Jumbo vehicles routinely use the residential avenue as a thoroughfare, apparently violating city and state rules on commercial truck traffic, according to an investigation by The West Side Spirit backed by dozens of pictures taken by the West End Preservation Society, or WEPS. “All these gigantic tractor-trailers are driving up and down the avenue, they’re not supposed to be there, people don’t expect to see them, and it can make it problematic when you try to cross the avenue,” said Josette Amato, the group’s executive director. The Spirit had initially been contacted by a reader, Joseph Christian, an attorney and member of the co-op board at 675 West End Avenue, who said loud and disruptive trucks traveling the avenue at all hours posed noise, safety and public health problems. Other residents echoed those concerns, saying commercial vehicles — trucks heading north toward the bridge or south to midtown, buses heading south to the Port Authority — often short-cut along the avenue, bypassing legal truck routes like Broadway and Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. To document traffic abuses, the newspaper turned to WEPS, a nonprofit preservation advocate with 850 members that also addresses

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

100+

moving summonses

24%

of ALL commercial moving summonses issued by 20th precinct

59th St. quality-of-life issues and first campaigned to curb commercial traffic on West End in 2014 and 2015. On March 12, Amato sent an e-blast to members entitled, “Calling All Cameras to Capture West End Avenue Commercial Traffic.” WEPS’ methodology: Take lots of pictures, but exclude UPS, FedEx, Con Ed, phone, cable and other service vehicles that are allowed on the avenue only if they enter and exit on the cross streets nearest to their destinations. The group targeted trucks and buses that appeared to use West End as a thoroughfare, and over ﬁve weeks, at street level and from apartments, eight volunteers, all area residents, sent WEPS about 40 photos recording apparent violations. “Citizen-reporting can pinpoint days and times when commercial traffic is heaviest,” said Richard Robbins, a member of Community Board 7’s

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

without the newspaper, how will your community stay connected? Tell your representatives in Congress to stop the tariffs on newsprint.

202.225.3121

VWRSQHZVSULQWWDUL΍V RUJ

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

TRENDY AT A DISCOUNT As empty shopfronts proliferate, Fox’s is a “destination store” on the Upper East Side BY SHOSHY CIMENT

Eileen and Bob Fox started selling women’s clothing 35 years ago in the flea markets on Long Island. In due time, what started out as a post-college business endeavor became a successful enterprise for the pair. Today, their chain, Fox’s, has 16 stores across the country and caters to women of all ages and styles. “Pretty much all women could shop here,” said Eileen Fox, who often oversees the daily shipment of new merchandise to Fox’s Upper East Side location on Third Avenue near 85th street. When she and her husband opened the store originally, she explained, they were going for quality clothing at a competitive price. Since then, the couple has maintained this goal, earning a name as a boutique-like store

We try to keep fashion fun so our customers don’t feel guilty about buying something they like.” Co-founder Bob Fox with bargain prices. “Anything I’ve ever bought, it’s really amazing,” said Kathleen McEvoy, a regular shopper at Fox’s for at least ten years. “The customer service is great.” Most of the clothing at Fox’s is purchased from Europe and other fashion capitals of the world. In addition to regular women’s wear, Fox’s sells jewelry, coats and shoes. Notably, Fox’s also has a collection of modest clothing for its religious customers who make up a large portion of the clientele. “Our customer is everybody,” said Sharon Garfunkel, who has worked at Fox’s for five

Sales Associate Sharon Garfunkel (left) discussing an item of clothing with another sales associate at Fox’s. Photo: Shoshy Ciment

years in sales and with buyers, developing and maintaining relationships with customers to get them the best deals on the best clothes. In her experience, Garfunkel has found that many people go out of their way to come to Fox’s. “We are definitely a destination store in addition to a neighborhood store,” she said. Although Fox’s has had stores in New York for years, coming to Manhattan was seen as the next step. “The rents kind of scared us away from New York City,” explained Bob Fox. But during a trial run in a temporary location on the Upper West Side about six years ago, Bob and Eileen noticed that a large number of customers came from across the park. When their lease was up, they set their sights on the East Side for a more permanent location. While Fox’s has been successful in its East Side voyage, the same cannot be said for other businesses in the area. “It’s depressing to see Third Avenue,” said Garfunkel, referring to the empty storefronts that have plagued the Upper East Side as of late. “You have to be careful when you come in because the rents are astronomical,” Eileen explained. Skyrocketing rents have practically run the mom and pop shop into the ground and have made it difficult for a business on the Upper East Side to simply break even. However, Fox’s seems to have avoided the fate of other retail ventures with its steadfast commitment to quality customer service and merchandise. “The best way to ensure security is to really develop a loyal client base,” said Faith Hope Consolo, a real estate broker with Douglas Elliman who is familiar with the way fashion and retail interact. In other words, knowing your customer base is as important as the merchandise you sell. Of course, the clothing and pricing itself is important as well. “We do have a particular niche,” said Bob Fox. “We try to keep fashion fun so our customers don’t feel guilty about buying something they like.”

MAY 3-9,2018

Business

On the second ﬂoor of Fox’s Upper East Side location. Photo: Shoshy Ciment

MAY 3-9,2018

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The trucks go bumpety, bumpety, bumpety bump — and you hear them all the way up on the 25th floor.” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer

SCOFFLAWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 Transportation Committee, who snapped an 18-wheeler and made it clear he was only speaking for himself. “That can help the Police Department do selective enforcement with limited resources.” The exercise has already chalked up a signiﬁcant community victory: Three Academy buses, 7.5 percent of apparent violators, were photographed motoring up and down the avenue, a fact the Hoboken-based company said it had no knowledge of. It won’t happen again, the firm said. “Academy Bus was unaware that its motor coaches have been using a portion of West End Avenue that does not permit commercial traffic,” said Ben Martin, a spokesperson for Academy Bus. “It was never our intention to go against local traffic regulation, and we are presently working with all our drivers operating in the area to ensure they are using the proper thoroughfares for moving about this portion of the city,” Martin added. The rules are pretty clear. An operator of a commercial vehicle can only travel on West End, and other streets that aren’t designated truck routes, for the “purpose of arriving at his or her destination,” a city Department of Transportation

The rules are pretty clear. An operator of a commercial vehicle can only travel on West End, and other streets that aren’t designated truck routes, for the “purpose of arriving at his or her destination,” a city Department of Transportation spokesperson said. “When accessing such a location, the operator must leave a designated truck route at the intersection nearest to the destination, proceed by the most direct route, and then return to the nearest designated truck route using the most direct route,” the DOT official added. Steep penalties await scofflaws. An “off-truck route” offense costs two points on a driver’s license. Fines start at $250 and can hit $1,000 for repeat offenses.

This red-and-white Coca-Cola truck, captured by a West End Avenue resident as it cruised northbound up the avenue at 83rd Street on Sunday, March 25, is not supposed to be driving there. Commercial trucks are prohibited along the entire length of the avenue. Photo: Courtesy of West End Preservation Society spokesperson said. “When accessing such a location, the operator must leave a designated truck route at the intersection nearest to the destination, proceed by the most direct route, and then return to the nearest designated truck route using the most direct route,” the DOT official added. Steep penalties await scofflaws. An “off-truck route” offense costs two points on a driver’s license. Fines start at $250 and can hit $1,000 for repeat offenses. Neighbors complain about a lack of aggressive enforcement. But NYPD data suggests good-faith efforts to curb abuses. Two police precincts, the 20th and 24th, cover the area, and in the 20th alone, from 59th to 86th Streets, over 100 moving summonses have been issued to commercial drivers on West End Avenue so far this year, said NYPD public information officer Lt. John Grimpel. That’s 24 percent of all commercial moving summonses in the precinct, and includes 43 summonses for disobeying signs and 20 for driving off a legal truck route, Grimpel said. Yet complaints keep pouring in, said Council Member Helen Rosenthal, at least once a week to her office, many more at the police precinct council meetings. “It’s one of these problems that’s endless, and it’s getting worse and worse,” Rosenthal added. At risk is “foot traffic, family traffic and school traffic in the morning,” said WEPS president and civil rights attorney Richard Emery. “It’s even more of a problem in the evening and at night when it’s less clogged, and trucks barrel down the avenue to make as many lights as they can.” Inveterate West Siders take the commercial intrusions personally: On the evening of March 6, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer found herself tailing a commercial truck from the West 80s all the way to 107th Street. “I was so outraged, I jumped out at a red light in the middle of traffic to take a picture” of its license plate, she said. “The trucks go bumpety, bumpety, bumpety bump whenever they go over a pothole or sinkhole — and you hear them all the way up on the 25th ﬂoor.” invreporter@strausnews.com

MAY 3-9,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

BUSES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 at 225. This cap would leave room for more buses than are currently permitted to operate on city streets: there are currently 197 licensed sightseeing buses operated by eight companies (a ninth operator’s license renewal with the city is pending). The number of licensed sightseeing buses in New York has ﬂuctuated in recent decades, ranging from 144 in 1995, to 60 in 2004, to 237 in 2016. Since 2005, there have been 15 collisions involving sightseeing buses, one of which resulted in a fatality. Chin and others cited the impending L train shut down (scheduled to begin in April 2019 and last 15 months) as an impetus for action, noting that the MTA and DOT’s plan to supplement transit service during the subway closure with dozens additional MTA buses in Lower Manhattan will put additional pressure on already congested streets. “[T]hey’re clogging up our streets and causing a lot of congestion problems,” Chin said at an April 24 hearing on the bills, adding, “You have more than one bus coming by, and oftentimes it’s not full.”

Another bill, introduced by Council Speaker Corey Johnson, would require companies seeking to obtain or renew a sightseeing bus license to first obtain authorization for all bus stops from the city’s Department of Transportation, and would allow the city to suspend or revoke the licenses of companies that commit violations. The bill also authorizes the Transportation Department to request buses’ GPS location data to monitor compliance and target enforcement. As of April 2018, there are 163 DOT-approved sightseeing bus stops in Manhattan. DOT does not currently regulate the routes sightseeing buses are permitted to take between stops (though they are subject to general rules governing commercial traffic). A 2016 DOT study found that most stops host between four and nine buses each hour, and that buses often run more frequently than authorized. Seventeen percent of buses stayed at stops for longer than ten minutes. “They often don’t follow the places where they’re supposed to park on the small streets of Lower Manhattan, in Times Square and elsewhere, and people are quite upset,” said Brewer, who ﬁrst proposed the bus cap bill with Chin in 2015. “They park in places where regular buses are supposed to park and they park in places where there’s no place to park.”

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

People’s Cities: A Summit

TUESDAY, MAY 8TH, 6:30PM Deutsches Haus | 42 Wash. Mews | 212-998-8660 | deutscheshaus.as.nyu.edu Urban living has made a major comeback, arriving in tandem with the city’s increasing role as laboratory for innovation, from rooftop gardens to public transportation. A panel of experts talks “the possibilities—and limits—of municipal, and city-led, politics” (free).

Lucas Mann | Captive Audience: On Love and Reality TV

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9TH, 7PM The Strand | 828 Broadway | 212-473-1452 | strandbooks.com Author Lucas Mass (Lord Fear: A Memoir) speaks on his new book, a mix of memoir and critique that looks at reality TV and his own marriage’s taste for it ($16 admission & signed copy or $15 admission & gift card).

Just Announced | TimesTalks Art & Design Festival: Christo

FRIDAY, MAY 18TH, 7PM The TimesCenter | 242 W. 41st St. | 888-698-1870 | timestalks.com As part of this year’s NYCxDESIGN, hear from legendary artist Christo, known for his collaborations with his late wife Jeanne-Claude, including The Gates in Central Park, Wrapped Reichstag, the Umbrellas, the Pont Neuf Wrapped, and Valley Curtain ($25).

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

The local paper for Downtown

Advertise with Our Town Downtown today! Call Vincent Gardino at 212-868-0190

Pier 26 plan. Rendering: Olin Studios

something

have

us to

into

for ecological education. Hudson River Park Trust, which operates the four miles of West Side riverfront park space that includes the pier, received $10 million in funding for the project from the city, $10 mil-

lion from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and $10 million from CitiGroup, which has its global headquarters across the street. The target completion date for the project is fall 2020. Future plans for the site include a science center near the pier’s entrance dedicated to research and education on the Hudson River Estuary.

PIER 26 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

you You’d look

Email us at news@strausnews.com

otdowntown.com

MAY 3-9,2018

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Got an EVENT? FESTIVAL CONCERT GALLERY OPENING PLAY Get The Word Out! Add Your Event for FREE Just $10 per day to be featured

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MAY 3-9,2018

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

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

THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL Jazz vocalist on her debut album that combines traditional and contemporary aspects of the genre BY ANGELA BARBUTI

Rebecca Angel was introduced to music as a toddler. By high school, the Scarsdale native would travel to the city for voice lessons to hone her talent. Last May, she graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in voice. On June 1, the 22-year-old will release her ﬁrst album, “What We Had,” which is a collaboration with her father, Dennis Angel, a trumpeter, and other New York musicians. When asked to describe the sound of the EP, the Yorkville resident said it combines traditional jazz with hints of Brazilian beats and Sade vibes.

You studied piano since you were young. When did you know you had talent in singing? My dad is a music enthusiast. He plays the trumpet. He introduced me to music at a really young age. So I was singing by two or three and really enjoyed it, but it wasn’t until high school that I started taking voice lessons and decided to try to be more serious about it, more than just a hobby. So I was involved in musicals starting from age eight. I was deﬁnitely into the whole musical thing, but singing kind of on my own. Solo started in freshman year of high school, so that’s when I started getting more serious about it.

I read that you studied with Barbara Maier. I interviewed her for this column. Yeah, she was my voice teacher in high school. I started working with her in 10th grade, up until I went off

Rebecca Angel’s ﬁrst record, “What We Had,” fuses traditional jazz with hints of Brazilian beats and Sade vibes. Photo: Robert Adam Mayer to college and she helped me prepare for auditions and everything. She’s really great; I loved her. I grew up right outside the city, in Scarsdale in Westchester. So on the weekends, I would go and take lessons from her in her apartment.

Take us through the process of making an album. How long did it take? Starting from the beginning of college, I would do recordings with my dad and his band and the producer he would use, Jason Miles. And that got me started with the recording process. But it wasn’t until my junior year of college that we recorded “Jet Samba,” which is also on the EP that’s coming. But for this EP alone, we took “Jet Samba,” which was 2016 and since then, we’ve been working on building it. So the recording process probably took a little less than a year because I was still in school.

You wrote two songs with your father. “What We Had,” which is the name of the EP, and “Feel Alive.” He’s really good at coming up with melodies and I wrote the lyrics, so it’s kind of a team effort there.

Did your dad encourage you to become a musician?

Rebecca Angel collaborated with several people for her ﬁrst record. They included her father, Dennis Angel. and her boyfriend, Jonah Prendergast. Photo: Robert Adam Mayer

It’s so funny because he played trumpet growing up and was in a brothers’ band and they would perform. And his parents were very enthusiastic about pushing them to do music and my dad

actually went on a slightly different path. He’s a copyright lawyer in the entertainment ﬁeld. I work with him part time now. He decided to go down that path and keep the music as a hobby. So he’s always been encouraging for me to do the music stuff, which is nice.

You collaborated with different New Yorkers for this CD. Who were some of them? Hailey Niswanger, she’s a saxophone player and was on “Winter Moon,” which is the ﬁrst track. Jason Miles is the producer; he was featured on all the tracks, actually. My dad is featured on one of the songs. And my boyfriend, Jonah Prendergast, is a guitar player. It’s cool to get lots of different people on it.

Who would be your dream collaborator? I really love Bon Iver. He does some really cool stuff. I think it would be really fun to one day collaborate with someone like him. And Billie Holiday, if I could go in the past.

What do you want listeners to take away from this album? Behind most of the songs, I tried to tie them together about being about love and reminiscing and reflecting on the past, which is an overarching theme.

Who are your musical idols? What kind of music is on your playlist?

It’s funny. I have top artists who are actually all under the B’s. So Bob Marley, the Beatles, Bill Withers, Billie Holiday, like I said. Those are deﬁnitely some of my biggest inspirations.

Your bio on your website said that you found grunge and alternative as a teenager. Who are some of the bands you listened to then? As a teenager, I listened to Foster the People a lot, the Lumineers. I listened to Empire of the Sun; they were pretty big. Kind of like an eclectic mix between a lot of pop and folk.

What are your future plans? I want to keep writing music more. I think that’s where the future is in creating your own material. Because I know a lot of jazz music is heavily inﬂuenced on covering standards. So I want to try to create my own voice and write more music with meaning. And try to get it out there as much as I can and share my message, share love, you know, that sort of thing. www.rebeccaangel.net

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

CROSSWORD

Downtowner

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WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor

T D U S F P Q H S Z C D A B L

Across 1 Supplement taken for colds 5 Ice ___ 8 Harp cousin 12 Neighborhood 13 Globe 14 Ages 15 Game piece 16 Members of early 20th century art movement 18 Bitter 20 One who panhandles 23 Fruity dregs 27 Hang around 31 Booty 32 Large bird 33 Slip 35 Sports ___ 36 Kitties 38 Desire 40 Eye color 42 A kind 43 Sulfuric acid 47 Child-like (2 words) 50 Spoke 54 Kuwaiti ruler

8 2

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41 43

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Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9X9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3X3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.

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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

by Myles Mellor

MAY 3-9,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

MAY 3-9,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

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ESTATE SALE 4 Floors of DESIGNER CLOTHES & Shoes, Donna Karan, Christian Louboutin Shoes, etc. CHINA & FLATWARE. One of a Kind DISHES - No 2 Alike STARTS 5/3/18. EVERY DAY NOON TO 5:00

212-427-8885

Volunteering is Ageless Learn why organizations want you and how to get started!

Volunteers of All Ages Needed

Tuesday, May 22, 2018 3:00²5:00 Church of the Incarnation 209 Madison Avenue at 35th Street Subways: 4,5,6,7 Buses: M2, M3, M4

Admission is FREE! Light Refreshments

RSVP to reserve your place 212 889-4805 or www.volunteer-referral.org

MASSAGE

TO PLACE YOUR LEGAL NOTICE CALL Barry Lewis at

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Saving a Life EVERY 11 MINUTES

EMAIL barry.lewis@strausnews.com

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Volume 2 | Issue 1

The Pulse of

Lenox Health Greenwich Village

Make no bones about it – prevention is key: 5 tips for maintaining strong and healthy bones Osteoporosis makes bones more susceptible to fractures and breaks. Bones naturally lose density with age, but you can still help keep them strong. May is National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month, so it’s a great time to take action. 1. Boost calcium consumption. Calcium helps give bones their strength. Maintain the recommended daily intake of 1,0001,200 mg with good sources of calcium including low-fat dairy products, dark green leafy vegetables and soy products such as tofu. 2. Don’t forget about vitamin D. For best absorption, pair calciumrich foods with those high in vitamin D, such as salmon, milk and orange juice. Adequate sunlight also provides your body with vitamin D. 3. Pump up the protein. Protein is one of the essential building blocks of bones. Eat plenty of protein-rich foods like eggs, Greek yogurt, lean chicken, beans and nuts. 4. Cut back on the alcohol and avoid smoking. Smoking and heavy alcohol consumption restrict your body’s ability to absorb essential nutrients, which can decrease bone density and increase the chance of fractures. 5. Make exercise a priority. People who spend a lot of time sitting have a higher risk of developing osteoporosis. Combine strength training, weight bearing and balance exercises (such as walking, running, skipping rope and stair climbing) to benefit bones.

Did you know…

52 million Americans are aﬀected by osteoporosis and low bone density. If you think you may be at risk, see our specialists, who oﬀer bone density tests to assess and diagnose this condition. Did you know…

Only 35 percent of American adults consume the recommended daily intake of calcium. If you find it diﬃcult to get enough calcium from your diet, consider taking a calcium supplement.

Our advanced Imaging Center is dedicated to meeting the radiology needs of the entire Greenwich Village community. Learn more at Northwell.edu/LenoxHealthImaging or call (646) 846-1452.

MAY 3-9,2018