Our Town Downtown - May 4, 2017 by OurTown Downtown

The local paper for Downtown wn INFINITY, IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND ◄ P. 12

WEEK OF MAY

4-10 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio, elected officials and guests took a ceremonial ferry trip from the Rockaways to Manhattan on Sunday. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

CITYWIDE FERRY SERVICE LAUNCHES COUNCIL CANDIDATES ANSWER At a Monday night forum, candidates for City Council Districts 1 and 2 answered questions on preservation from residents and activists. Photo: Madeleine Thompson

TRANSPORTATION

TO PRESERVATIONISTS PRESERVATION Tech hub proposal among topics BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Candidates for City Council District 1 gathered Monday night for a forum on preservation that packed a room of the Third Street Music School to the gills. Many attendees wore stickers reading “no tech hub without rezon-

ing,” in reference to a proposal by the New York City Economic Development Corp. to attract more tech companies to Union Square. Those opposed to the so-called tech hub want the area to be rezoned ﬁrst to restrict the height and size of commercial buildings. This was just one of many issues raised by residents and activists. There are fewer contenders for the Council District 1 seat because incumbent Margaret Chin is running for another term and will be difficult to unseat. According to the city’s

From the Rockaways to Lower Manhattan: commuters ride the first of six eventual routes

Campaign Finance Board, however, Chin has a financial competitor in 28-year-old Christopher Marte, who has raised just over $50,000 to Chin’s roughly $52,000. Her other two challengers are Aaron Foldenauer, a litigator who lives in the Financial District, and Dashia Imperiale, a filmmaker and activist. Campaign ﬁnance ﬁlings show that Foldenauer has raised $18,000 while Imperiale has yet to disclose any funding.

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BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

The first of the city’s new fleet of ferry boats launched Monday morning, leaving the Rockaways at 5:30 a.m. With a stop at the Brooklyn Army Terminal before terminating at Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan, the trip took about an hour. The Rockaway route is one of six that will eventually criss-cross the East River from Astoria to Governor’s Island. Kelly Marcus wakes up early evDowntowner

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Crime Watch Voices Out & About City Arts

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Restaurant Ratings Business Real Estate 15 Minutes

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WEEK OF APRIL

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12

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

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

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MANHATTAN'S APARTMENT BOOM, > PROPERTY, P.20

2015

In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS

The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She on the Over the past 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.” can’t come p.m. and 7 a.m., 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

n OurTownDowntow

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Newscheck Crime Watch Voices

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

2 City Arts 3 Top 5 8 Real Estate 10 15 Minutes

12 13 14 18

CONTINUED ON PAGE

ery morning so she can take the ferry instead of the subway. “I take the ferry all the time; it’s the best,” said Marcus, who rode one of the new vessels from Long Island City to get to work in Lower Manhattan on Monday. Though ferry service isn’t new to her, Marcus is excited for the places she can explore once the rest of the routes have opened. “I will use it as much as possible,” she said. “If it were running through the night, if it were running earlier, I’d be using it more, trust me.” Marcus was also pleased to discover, upon opening the ticketing app, that the cost of her commute had decreased. Ferry rides on the new routes cost $2.75 — the same as the

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MAY 4-10,2017

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FUNDRAISING FOR THE FLOCKS NATURE The Wild Bird Fund’s mostly volunteer staff cared for nearly 5,000 birds last year BY MICKEY KRAMER

The party really was for the birds. The Wild Bird Fund, New York City’s wildlife medical, rehabilitation and education center, held its annual fundraising “flocktail party” gala at the “Birdie” Vanderbilt Mansion on East 93rd Street on April 20. Guests walked on a red carpet lined with stuffed toy animals, including pigeons and an owl in top hat, before entering the antique-filled home. The fund’s founder, Rita McMahon, said the organization’s mission is to heal orphaned, injured and sick wildlife in order to return them to the wild as well as to educate New Yorkers about the richness of the city’s wildlife and how to protect it. The Tenafly Nature Center brought a barred owl, bullfrog and snakes, among other “animal ambassadors.” The center’s animals were rescued from injury and are unable to survive in nature, said Elizabeth Hinckley, a

A red-tailed hawk from Tenaﬂy Nature Center was among the attendees at the Wild Bird Fund’s annual “ﬂocktail party” fundraiser. Photo: Nancy Adler Photography

teacher naturalist. Others in attendance were a Japanese quail and three-week old white crested ducklings, a dumped Easter “gift,” said Ariel Cordova-Rojas, an animal care manager at WBF. The ducklings were domesticated, so won’t be able to be returned to the wild and will be sent to a sanctuary upstate, Cordova-Rojas, 26, said. Cordova-Rojas ﬁnds it “fascinating how much wild life New York City actually has,” adding that “helping take injured animals, heal them and release them, is an incredible feeling.” The event, on two ﬂoors of the mansion, featured live music and dance, food, drink, a bevy of live animals, and an auction featuring tickets to “Hamilton,” a William Wegman photograph and a Patrick McDonnell-signed Mutts comic strip. Ticket revenue totaled $34,000, the most sold in the event’s six-year history. The funds will help with the purchase of medical supplies, food and equipment as well as contribute to operating expenses, McMahon said. Since the organization opened its doors in 2012, the number of birds treated by its mostly volunteer staff has more than tripled, to about 4,700.

Liza-Mae Carlin and Joey Luther, with squeaker pigeons, emceed the evening. Photo: Nancy Adler Photography Treatment, for native as well as migratory birds (New York City, and Central Park in particular, is a stopover along the well-travelled Atlantic Flyway), includes surgery, testing, bandaging, splinting, feeding and even physical therapy. Attendees were as young as 9-year old Willow Phelps, the ASPCA’s 2016 “Kid of the Year” for her animal activism, who came with her mom, Erika Mathews, who works for the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Willow said of the fund, “they save many different kinds

of birds which is very important in New York City.” Upper East Sider Adriana Aquino, 52, a weekly volunteer for the Wild Bird Fund, said it was while in the company of an entirely different species that she became intrigued by the organization’s works. “Actually, it was while walking my pit bull Ruth on the streets that got me interested in the birds I would see,” Aquino said. “They need a lot of help and I feel compelled to go.”

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

Buddhist Realism and Dark Comedy: It’s Funny Because It’s True

FRIDAY, MAY 5TH, 7PM The Strand | 828 Broadway | 212-473-1452 | strandbooks.com A professor of religion plays clips by comedians like Louis C.K., Tig Notaro, and Andy Kaufman in an examination of the connections between dark comedy and the Buddhist teaching that “all life is suffering.” ($20, includes beer and wine)

Behind-the-Scenes Viewing of the Museum of American Finance Exhibits and Collection

MONDAY, MAY 1ST, 7PM Museum of American Finance | 48 Wall St. | 212-908-4110 | moaf.org Atlas Obscura fans out across the city for insider looks at eclectic locations like MOAF, holding American monetary artifacts inside the headquarters of the city’s oldest bank. ($25)

Just Announced | Secret Science Club North Presents Microbiologist Martin Blaser & Marvels of the Microbiome

TUESDAY, MAY 16TH, 8PM Symphony Space | 2537 Broadway | 212-864-1414 | symphonyspace.org Microbiologist Martin Blaser explores the beneﬁts of our inner ecosystems, and the ways in which the overuse of antibiotics may be impacting our health— and even our mood. ($25)

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

MAY 4-10,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

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

KNIFE ASSAULT

IRATE PASSENGER

COAT WRECK

At 9:50 p.m. on Friday, April 21, a 37-year-old man was walking at the southwest corner of Bridge and Whitehall Streets when an unknown man approached him from behind displaying a small blade. The man with the knife attacked the other, stabbing and cutting him. The attacker then ďŹ&#x201A;ed in an unknown direction. Police searched the area but couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t locate the assailant. The victim was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he police described him as being in stable condition.

Apparently, one subway passenger didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like a conductorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s answer to his question. At 15 minutes after midnight on Saturday, April 22, a 47-year-old man approached the conductor of a southbound E train sitting in the Chambers Street/World Trade Center station, asking him, â&#x20AC;&#x153;How do I get to Jay Street?â&#x20AC;? For reasons that are unclear, the passenger punched the conductor in the face. Darren Scruggs, was arrested and charged with assault.

At 1 a.m. on Saturday, April 22, a 36-year-old man and his friend were attending a gathering with other friends in Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Casablanca bar located at 305 Spring St. The man and his buddy put their jackets in the coat check room. When the 36-year-old went to get his jacket later, he found it was missing. The stolen jacket was a St. Laurent leather jacket valued at $6,000, along with St. Laurent eyewear priced at $350, and a hooded sweater of no speciďŹ ed value, making a total stolen of $6,350.

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DRUG EVALUATION AND PHARMACOLOGY RESEARCH

Year to Date

2017 2016

% Change

2017

2016

% Change

Murder

n/a

Rape

n/a

25.0

Robbery

n/a

6.3

Felony Assault

0.0

Burglary

-60.0

-61.0

Grand Larceny

-47.6

282 337 -16.3

Grand Larceny Auto

-100.0

AWESOME ARREST At 7:08 p.m. on Thursday, April 20, a 30-year-old man removed a pair of pants from a store shelf in the Saks Fifth Avenue Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Store at 250 Vesey St. He concealed the pants on his person and attempted to leave the store without paying. The stolen pants were valued at $1,275. Michael Awe was subsequently arrested and charged with grand larceny.

-62.5

REQUESTING ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s too bad a bikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s electrical assist feature didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t include a robberthwarting force ďŹ eld. At 9 a.m. on Monday, April 17, a man chained his bike to the scaffolding in front of 1 Water St., One New York Plaza. When he returned at 5 p.m., he found his ride was gone. The stolen vehicle was an electric assist bike valued at $1,325.

MAY 4-10,2017

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Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 7th Precinct

19 ½ Pitt St.

212-477-7311

NYPD 6th Precinct

233 W. 10th St.

212-741-4811

NYPD 10th Precinct

230 W. 20th St.

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

FDNY Engine 24/Ladder 5

227 6th Ave.

311

FDNY Engine 28 Ladder 11

222 E. 2nd St.

311

FDNY Engine 4/Ladder 15

42 South St.

311

ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin

165 Park Row #11

Councilmember Rosie Mendez

237 1st Ave. #504

212-587-3159 212-677-1077

Councilmember Corey Johnson

224 W. 30th St.

212-564-7757

State Senator Daniel Squadron

250 Broadway #2011

212-298-5565

Community Board 1

1 Centre St., Room 2202

212-669-7970

Community Board 2

3 Washington Square Village

212-979-2272

Community Board 3

59 E. 4th St.

212-533-5300

Community Board 4

330 W. 42nd St.

212-736-4536

Hudson Park

66 Leroy St.

212-243-6876

Ottendorfer

135 2nd Ave.

212-674-0947

Elmer Holmes Bobst

70 Washington Square

212-998-2500

COMMUNITY BOARDS

LIBRARIES

HOSPITALS New York-Presbyterian

170 William St.

Mount Sinai-Beth Israel

10 Union Square East

212-844-8400

212-312-5110

CON EDISON

4 Irving Place

212-460-4600

TIME WARNER

46 East 23rd

813-964-3839

US Post Office

201 Varick St.

212-645-0327

US Post Office

128 East Broadway

212-267-1543

US Post Office

93 4th Ave.

212-254-1390

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MAY 4-10,2017

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COUNCIL SEEKS TO BOOST PROTECTIONS FOR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRATION New bills would further limit city’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

One day after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction blocking President Donald Trump’s efforts to withhold federal funds from so-called “sanctuary cities,” the City Council discussed a series of bills that would bolster protections for the city’s undocumented immigrants. “Today we bring our legislative tools to bear on the very real threat coming out of Washington to destabilize and undermine our community,” Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said at an April 26 hearing on nine bills that would impact the city’s handling of immigration issues on an array of fronts. Two of the bills apply to the city’s handling of identifying information — data collected by agencies that could be used to identify or locate individuals. One would establish a new unit within the Law Department tasked with reviewing city agencies’ collection and disclosure of identifying information to ensure that the city only collects information necessary to provide services. The other would limit city employees’ and contractors’ collection, retention and disclosure of identifying information. Since Trump’s election, some city officials have feared that identifying information routinely collected by the city, which sometimes includes individuals’ immigration status, could be used by federal officials to enforce immigration laws. The city’s IDNYC municipal identification card program came under particular scrutiny after Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would no longer store documents ﬁled by card applicants and might destroy previously collected data, prompting a lawsuit from two Republican state assembly members from Staten Island seeking the preservation of the records. A judge ruled in the city’s favor in April, but the decision is under appeal. One measure would bar city agencies from allowing non-local law enforcement officials, such as agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to access non-public areas of city property, like schools, without a judicial warrant or under other specific circumstances. Another would prohibit NYPD and other city agen-

Protesters at a Jan. 29 rally in Lower Manhattan against President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration. Photo: Alec Perkins via Flicker cies from using city funds to assist in federal immigration enforcement and would require any requests for assistance by federal immigration enforcement agencies to be denied and documented. New York City law already limits the situations in which police and corrections officials can cooperate with federal immigration enforcement ofﬁcials in honoring requests to detain individuals, but another bill would expand the policy to the Department of Probation. Lawrence Byrne, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for legal matters, said that the NYPD turns individuals in its custody over to ICE only if ICE has secured a judicial warrant. To date, Byrne said, NYPD has received 182 detainer requests from ICE, but has not turned over a single individual. Byrne said that detainer requests under Trump are up from last year — the NYPD received 72 requests in all of 2016 — but that the department received more than 2,000 in 2014, the peak year under the Obama administration.

“We have turned nobody over to ICE in 2017,” Byrne said. “There have been people in our custody who subsequently have been picked up by ICE, either at the courthouse or from the Department of Corrections or other interactions between ICE and those people, but we don’t control what enforcement actions ICE can take.” He added, “We do not, as a matter of policy, ask crime victims or witnesses to crimes their immigration status.” The introduction of the bills was spurred, in part, by Trump’s January executive order on immigration that called for so-called sanctuary jurisdictions like New York, which limit cooperation with federal officials in enforcing immigration laws, to be barred from receiving federal funds. The day before the hearing, however, a federal judge blocked the enforcement of that portion of the order with a temporary injunction that applies nationwide. Mark-Viverito said the ruling afﬁrmed that Trump’s executive order is “nothing more than an unconstitutional effort to punish sanctuary cities

for defying the president’s anti-immigrant and fear-mongering agenda.” Days before the hearing, the Justice Department called New York City “soft on crime” in an April 21 statement regarding funding for sanctuary jurisdictions, drawing an immediate rebuke from de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill, who held a press conference at One Police Plaza. “I ﬁnd this statement to be absolutely outrageous,” O’Neill said, adding that it made his “blood boil.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions later walked back the statement and praised the NYPD on ABC’s “This Week,” but said that enforcing immigration laws would make the city “even safer.” Two of the bills expand the responsibilities of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. MOIA Commissioner Nisha Agarwal said that the de Blasio administration supports the council’s efforts to expand protections for undocumented immigrants, but urged lawmakers to revise the bills to maintain consistency with existing policy and not impinge on the city’s ability to provide services.

“We strongly recommend that the council consider the administrative and operational burdens that these bills, as currently written, would place on city agencies, in a manner that could impact access to services for many New Yorkers,” she said, noting that new requirements on the Law Department in the information collection bills could affect the agency’s operations. Agarwal said that one bill, as currently written, could prevent police from enforcing certain criminal warrants, and that bills pertaining to information collection should be broadened. “In seeking to remain consistent with the city’s approach, we believe the legislation aimed at protecting identifying information should broadly address the privacy concerns of all New Yorkers,” she said. “Instead of a particular focus on requests from federal immigration authorities, as currently reﬂected in the bills, we recommend adopting a broader approach that recognized the privacy concerns of all.”

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MAY 4-10,2017

GOP MAYORAL HOPEFULS SKIRMISH POLITICS But four candidates at Upper East Side forum agree that de Blasio is a common foe BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

In her introduction to Wednesday night’s mayoral candidate screening, Manhattan Republican Party’s Chairperson Adele Malpass laid down the law. “We’re going to follow Ronald Reagan’s ‘11th Commandment,’” she said, “which is ‘thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans.’” Malpass’ decree was broken more than once by the forum’s four candidates, who jabbed at each other for everything from incorrectly ﬁlling out paperwork to donating to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign. “Can we speak ill of Bo?” pastor Michel Faulkner joked, referring to fellow candidate Bo Dietl’s current status as an independent. Faulkner, former city police detective Dietl, Staten Island Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis and real estate executive Paul Massey answered questions at the Metropolitan

Bo Dietl, with the microphone, was among four Republicans candidates making their cases at the Metropolitan Club to be the GOP nominee in this year’s mayoral contest. Other candidates at the Wednesday night forum were, from Dietl’s left, Michel Faulkner, Nicole Malliotakis and Paul Massey. The Manhattan Republican Party’s chairwoman, Adele Malpass, seated at right, moderated. Photo: Madeleine Thompson Club on East 60th Street in front of a packed house of more than 100 people. Cheers abounded at any criticism of de Blasio, who was lambasted by the candidates for protecting immigrants from deportation, failing to fix the homelessness crisis and what they characterized as a bloated city budget. “I’m currently suing [de Blasio] ... to try to stop the destruction of city records associated with the municipal

ID card,” Malliotakis said in her opening remarks. “It’s about safety, it’s about government transparency and it’s about rule of law.” Malliotakis is the newest addition to the mayoral race, having ﬁled her paperwork the day before the screening. Still, she aggressively marketed herself as a connection to the city’s immigrant voters and as an experienced legislator.

Massey, considered the GOP frontrunner, emphasized his business acumen and his well-established campaign as key advantages. “Our campaign has been in place for well over a year,” he said. “That we’ve already had millions of dollars ﬂow into our campaign is evidence, pure and simple, of a groundswell of support for me.” Massey has so far outraised de Blasio, but he is also spending more than he has taken in. Massey called the current mayor an “Olympic-level failure” and harshly criticized his administration’s decriminalization of minor offenses. On the announced closing of Rikers Island, Massey said “we need to close the thing that is Rikers Island, but sending it into different neighborhoods of the city makes no sense whatsoever.” Dietl’s trademark brash rhetoric did its job to entertain the audience, though it got him into trouble towards the event’s conclusion. He described the Manhattan Supreme Court judge whose ruling prevented him from running as a Democrat as resembling ﬁrst lady Chirlane McCray, which, Dietl said, is when he knew the judge, Debra James, would “give [him] trouble.” He also promised to get rid of bike

lanes as his first act, should he be elected, and accused de Blasio of turning the city into “Sodom and Gomorrah” by letting topless so-called desnudas perform in Times Square. For his part, Faulkner touted his time spent working with the homeless and with public housing residents. “Nobody else can say that they’ve fed the homeless or have eaten a meal with them.” he said. “The crisis is epic. We don’t have time to learn on the job. I don’t need to experiment; I know exactly what to do.” He suggested restoring homeless shelters at religious institutions and requiring proof of residency to enter a shelter. He said he would open a homeless shelter in City Hall if he could. The crowd was receptive, at various moments, to all of the candidates, but mostly to the idea of ousting de Blasio. They seemed to share Malpass’ sentiment that any of the candidates would be an improvement over the current leadership. The mayoral hopefuls will begin gathering signatures in June to run in the September primary. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com

PRE-K EXPANDS, BUT DEMAND REMAINS EDUCATION Despite increased number of seats, some parents are frustrated in finding placements BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Mayor Bill de Blasio rolled out a new initiative last week to offer universal pre-kindergarten to all New York City 3-year-olds, though kinks in the original program have yet to place all 4-year-olds in their preferred schools. Before the mayor’s announcement, Council Member Ben Kallos already had a rally planned for April 30 to demand additional seats for 4-year-olds within his district. “Pre-K for all must include the Upper East Side,” Kallos said at his event. “Three hundred 4-year-olds are being told that they have to take a commute down to the ﬁnancial district.” There has been progress on the Upper East Side, however. Since 2013, seats available for 4-year-olds enrolling in pre-K have increased fourfold, from about 150 to about 600. This school year, though, 900 4-year-olds

applied to fill them. As of 2014, more than 2,700 children in that age group lived on the Upper East Side, some of whom choose private school. Numerous elected officials attended Kallos’ rally, including city Comptroller Scott Stringer and state Senator Liz Krueger, all of whom echoed Kallos’ call for de Blasio to keep his promise. In a press release, de Blasio emphasized the “successful model” of his original push for universal pre-K. “We are doubling down with free, full-day, high-quality 3-K for All for our threeyear-olds,” he said. “This extra year of education will provide our children with a level of academic and social development that they cannot get later on, while at the same time, alleviating some of the strain New York City’s working families face today.” Will Mantell, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, said in a statement that the agency would “continue to take steps to add more seats and meet local demand.” “There is a free, full-day, high-quality pre-K seat for every four-year-old in New York City, and our pre-K enrollment specialists will work with families — across the Upper East Side and all five boroughs — to find the best pre-

K seat for their child,” he said. A year ago, Kallos had just helped secure 60 more seats for his district. Since then there has been a net loss of 22 seats due to decreased class sizes at several locations. Until now, Kallos said, he considered officials at the Department of Education “good partners.” He now feels that they have “stopped working in good faith.” Kallos also expressed frustration that the agency’s statistics measuring the number of pre-K applications and available seats are difficult to track. He hopes the city will require developers to create school seats when they want to build. He also advocated for using more private childcare providers. Kallos, though, fully supports expanded early childcare and has long been pushing for it in the City Council. On Monday, a DOE spokesperson said the department plans to issue a request for proposals this summer for childcare providers who could offer more seats starting in fall 2018. They are also negotiating with the School Construction Authority to secure more seats. Irina Goldman, an Upper East Side mother of two who attended the rally,

Several elected officials, parents and their children attended a Sunday rally hosted by Council Member Ben Kallos, center, seeking increased access to the city’s pre-K program. They included Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and city Comptroller Scott Stringer, either side of Kallos, and city Public Advocate Leticia James, foreground right. Photo courtesy of Kallos’ office. said that despite applying to eight programs in her neighborhood, she was “wait-listed in the hundreds at all of them.” Goldman’s 4-and-a-half-yearold daughter was placed at a school on Washington Street, a 45-minute commute. “Our zoned school is telling us ‘we only have one class, and you don’t ﬁt into that class,’” she said. “All the other schools are telling us ‘please call your zoned school.’ I don’t know what we’re supposed to do.” The mayor’s expanded universal pre-K program promises to have

all of the city’s 11,000 3-year-olds in full-day pre-K by 2021. His administration will roll out the program this fall, starting in Brownsville and the South Bronx. According to the press release, 3-K For All is expected to cost the city $177 million by 2021, though it cites research ﬁndings concluding that “every dollar invested in highquality early education saves taxpayers as much as $13 long-term.” Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com

MAY 4-10,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

TRANSIT AGENCIES SUED OVER ACCESSIBILITY TRANSPORTATION Coalition of advocate organizations and individuals file class action in state and federal courts BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

When Sue Susman goes from her apartment at West 97th Street to see her doctors at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center on West 165th Street, she takes a downtown-bound 1 train, exits at 59th Street and then transfers to an uptown A or C train. Susman, who has multiple sclerosis, takes that roundabout route because she uses a wheelchair, and has to plan her commute around accessible subway stations. She has otherwise stopped using the subway much at all since so few stations have reliably working elevators and she mostly relies on the bus or on her husband to drive her. A coalition of advocate organizations for the disabled hope to change that for Susman and tens of thousands of other New Yorkers. Citing what they say is the subway system’s pervasive inaccessibility, the organizations and several individuals last week filed class-action lawsuits against the state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the city’s Transit Authority and the city in state and federal courts. The first action, filed in state court, claims that the MTA’s failure to install elevators throughout the system is a violation of the New York City Human Rights Law. The second suit, filed in federal court, alleges the MTA of failing to maintain elevators where they do exist, which causes recurrent breakdowns. “On average, there are approximately 25 elevator outages per day, with median outage lasting four hours and with many outages lasting for months at a time,” according to a summary of the case by the national nonprofit Disability Rights Advocates, a party to

PRESERVATIONISTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Erik Bottcher, chief of staff to Council Member Corey Johnson and a board member on the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, moderated the forum. He was ﬂanked by prominent preservationists from Districts 1 and 2, including Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, and Carol Crump, managing director of the East Village Community Coalition. Some hostility was directed towards Chin spokesperson Paul Leon-

With less than 25 percent of subway stations accessible, New York City wheelchair users often face long, complicated commutes, and few alternative options. Class actions ﬁled in state and federal courts against the MTA hope to change that. Patrick Cashin/MTA both suits. “Defendants further compound these issues by frequently failing to inform the public about outages, by not providing signage to describe alternate accommodations and/or accessible routes, and by not ensuring alternate transportation for people who cannot use the subway unless elevators are functional.” In a statement, MTA spokesperson Beth DeFalco said the agency is committed to serving customers with disabilities. “That commitment continues to be evident in our current Capital Plan where we are spending more than $1 billion to increase the number of ADA-compliant subway stations and replace existing elevators and escala-

tors,” she said. She did not elaborate, citing a policy not to comment on pending litigation. Susman said she was thrilled to hear about the lawsuits. So was Fredda Rosen, executive director of Job Path, a group that supports people with disabilities by helping them ﬁnd homes and jobs. “My first thought was, in a way, it’s about time,” Rosen said. “When we start working with someone who uses a wheelchair ... that really kind of limits the employment opportunities, because we know we’ve got to work around [the subway].” Instead, Rosen’s staff often rely on buses and on Access-a-Ride, neither of which is an ideal solution, she said.

Access-a-Ride requires passengers to call at least a day in advance to schedule a pick-up time, and has been plagued with complaints about long wait times. Rosen said the service has improved in recent years, but not sufficiently. “We used to have someone on our staff who commuted on Access-a-Ride ... and it was more common than not that he’d be out in front of the building at 7 p.m. still waiting for his Accessa-Ride,” she said. A report by New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation and the Citizens Budget Commission last year found that Access-a-Ride is extremely cost inefﬁcient. The report also estimated that making the entire subway system ac-

ard, who appeared at the forum in Chin’s stead, over the incumbent’s support for building affordable housing for seniors at the site of the Elizabeth Street Garden and her approval of New York University expansion. “It’s about where we can get housing,” Leonard said, touting the Council member’s role in securing senior housing at Essex Crossing. “Seniors are the fastest-growing population in the city. We need affordable housing for seniors that is age-appropriate, accessible.” One attendee asked Leonard about plans proposed by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to sell air rights from the his-

toric fire house building at 137 Centre Street so a developer can build higher on its neighbor, 139 Centre Street. “[Chin is] against the EDC’s plan for development at that city-owned property,” Leonard said, though he conceded that the fire house and home of DCTV “does have needs, and those needs include preserving the structure.” Imperiale was especially critical of Chin, and said she was running for City Council because of Chin’s “inappropriate relationship” with developers. Panelist David Balkans, president of Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, reminded Imperiale that the job isn’t just about fighting developers. “Pre-

serving neighborhood character isn’t just about preserving buildings, it’s about preserving the diverse small businesses that provide services and make a place friendly and appealing,” Balkans said. “For 30 years city officials have been sitting on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act. If elected, will you pledge to proactively help bring this bill to a vote in City Council?” Imperiale said “absolutely.” The audience seemed receptive to Marte, who emphasized his lifelong residency in District 1, but less so to Foldenauer. A platform of Marte’s that garnered enthusiastic applause was his pledge to hold town halls, which he called “the most basic re-

cessible could be done for less than $2 billion. The MTA, however, estimates the cost at $10 billion. Disability Rights Advocates litigation director Michelle Caiola told The New York Times that the MTA has shown no interest in “any long-term plan to address the inaccessibility.” “We’ve talked to the MTA on multiple occasions,” she told the paper. Her organization was also involved in the 2013 lawsuit that resulted in a promise from the city to make half of all yellow cabs wheelchair accessible. New York City’s more than 450 subway stations, most built before 1940, are the least accessible of the country’s 10 largest transit systems at 24 percent. According to The Times, comparably aged systems in Boston and Philadelphia have 74 percent and 68 percent accessibility, respectively. During a recent trip to Portland, Ore., Susman was elated to ﬁnd that all the city’s public transportation was accessible. “They have these trams going on tracks, and when it stops you press a button on the outside and a door opens and a ramp comes down, which is wonderful,” she said. Susman also mentioned visits to Lyon, France, and Boston as far more accommodating experiences. But, though it takes significant time and energy to visit her children in Brooklyn, among other trips, she would never leave the city. “My community is here,” the native New Yorker said. In addition to increased accessibility in the subway system, Rosen hopes these lawsuits bring more attention to “disability rights as a civil rights issue, and [to] the issues around the full inclusion of people with disabilities in day-to-day life.” This, she said, is the greatest challenge disability advocates face. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com

sponsibility of any elected official,” and instate participatory budgeting, which Chin has not elected to do. “The ﬁrst year I’m in office we’re going to do it,” Marte said of the program where constituents can vote on how to use a small portion of the district’s funds. The crowded forum and voracious pleas for preservation made it clear that the issue is central for many voters. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com

MAY 4-10,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Voices

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

ers do not understand that it is the law for them to stop on red — and no one in the government or otherwise has done anything to correct this. New York is no longer considered the wonderful walking city it was and that is a deﬁnite loss to most of its citizens. Florence Slatkin Upper West Side

BIKES, CON AND PRO You are spot on in your article (“Disrupting the Grid,” April 27 - May 3), and the Bloomberg and now the de Blasio administrations have made our streets more dangerous and congested, all done by yielding to the very strong cycling lobby. At the time of implementation, the cycling community was 2 percent of the population. The false concept that it is a good thing to turn this into a biking city dominated the discussion. Business will always be conducted by cars and trucks, not bikes. Each time you introduce a new entity on to the street, you make the streets more confusing and more dan-

IN WITH THE NEW EAST SIDE OBSERVER BY ARLENE KAYATT

Czech in, French out — Some olds are in, some not. Before celebrating a new Eastern European ethnic restaurant on the UES, have to bid adieu to Le Perigord French restaurant on East 52nd and First Avenue. Owner Georges Briguet had to close the doors of his cherished Le Perigord after 52 years — and not because the rent’s too high. Word has it that the forced closing comes in the wake of the high cost of a union contract.

Cyclists heading southbound on Ninth Avenue near West 30th Street. Photo via Wikimedia Commons gerous. Michele Birnbaum Upper East Side Like most New Yorkers, I am a walker. Since the special bike lanes have been installed and bike riders have been elevated to the privileged, it’s become

Never fun to lose a great New York restaurant. Impeccable service. Tasteful menu. Le Perigord served the rich, the famous. Locals in that part of town include Le Perigord regulars Henry Kissinger, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and husband Alan Greenspan. On the upside of today’s restaurant scene, it was exhilarating to ﬁnd Bohemian Spirit, a Czech restaurant bringing back the ethnic food of old Yorkville in a modern room with recipes and a menu from the homeland. Think beef goulash, sour red cabbage, potato pancakes, dumplings, schnitzel, rye bread and apple strudel to die for. And let’s not forget Pilsner Urquell beer. And terrific Czech red wine. Owned by Vit and Vlasta Stuchl, Czech natives, the husband and wife moved to the city and opened Bohemian Spirit on the Upper East Side where they had lived earlier on. Opened about a year ago and located on East 73rd

a nightmare — for the pedestrians and the traffic on the main avenues. Most of the time, Columbus Avenue resembles a parking lot and trying to cross the street is an accident waiting to happen! As to the pedestrian, the green light no longer gives us the right of way. Bik-

Street between First and Second Avenues in Bohemian National Hall (once home to Manhattan Theatre Club), Bohemian Spirit has a strong millennial and family following for dining and drinking . Na zdravi! Cornered — Milano’s Market, corner store with two entrances/exits, one on Third Avenue, the other on 89th Street. The Third Ave. entrance has a step up. Mid weekday afternoon, a sweet Labrador collie was tethered to the door handle on Third Ave. waiting patiently as his owner/ walker/whatever went shopping. Along came a woman, two beautiful standard poodles in tow. She tethered the poodles to the 89th Street entrance and left them waiting as she went shopping. Get the picture — three catty-cornered dogs in a row. No way to get in or out of Milano’s without brushing by the collie or the two poodles. A passerby, disturbed at the sight, motioned to the smiling lady that she would stand vigil with the dogs. One customer leaving

I’m a pedestrian, a cyclist and a driver. Your history of New York trafﬁc regulations is fascinating, but the problems you describe do not “disrupt the grid.” In the 50 years I’ve lived in New York, traffic has never moved smoothly at all times and places, but the grid is alive and well — even improved by the new turning zones for cars at the front ends of parking lanes. The bike lanes are well-designed. They separate cyclists from moving cars and, if they stay in the solid green lanes, cyclists are protected from what once was a constant threat of “dooring.” New Yorkers have always routinely broken the rules. Pedestrians jaywalk, cyclists ride the wrong way, and both cross against red lights. If the chaos has gotten worse, it’s only because there are more bicycles and because New Yorkers continue to break the rules. Tom Yager Upper West Side

Milano’s had to stop to figure out how she could exit with a hot container of coffee in each hand and not cause a dog day afternoon. A wheelchair-bound manwith an aide luckily arrived as the collie leasher was leaving. The man, leash and dog in hand, wanted to know why everyone was standing around. Nobody bothered to tell him. Nor did they say anything to the smiling woman who thanked the passerby for watching her dogs. Why bother? They’ll do it again, and again. Clueless. Color coordinated — To celebrate the newly opened Second Avenue subway — after more than a hundred years! — some local businesses have taken to livening up their look. Take Rathbones and Genesis, both pub/ restaurants on Second Avenue between 88th and 89th — where they seem to have coordinated their sidewalk cafes with the same tables and chairs in different colors: green slat tables and chairs for Rathbones, and

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ON CLIMATE CHANGE

It is tragic that the federal government is pulling back on policies, laws and agreements that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels (“City Copes with Trump on Climate Change,” April 13-19). Rising seas will be a great challenge for all coastal communities as well as wildlife and ecosystems across the world. One way for New York City to step up would be to ban the use of woods logged from old-growth tropical forests and from old-growth forests in general. Logging is the primary factor leading to deforestation in the tropics, estimated to contribute 25 percent of the world’s human-caused greenhouse gases. The demand for high-value woods is driving loggers to bulldoze roads deeper and deeper into never-before-logged forests in the Amazon and elsewhere. NYC continues to be an extremely large end-user of these woods, for pilings in the Staten Island Ferry terminals, the decking of the Brooklyn Bridge, park benches, subway track ties, and more. Any response by cities should preclude the use of these materials by all agencies, developers, builder and residents with the city itself. Drew Hunter Rainforest Relief

red slat tables and chairs for Genesis. Standing between the two is Goodwill Thrift Shop in same old same old. No change there — but it’s great to see that the subway is ﬁnally bringing joy and goodwill to businesses and residents on the UES. Stop skipping — The bus stop at 90th and Second Avenue was removed well over a year ago, never to return. Strange, because local bus stops are usually located within two blocks of each other. That’s not the case on Second Avenue. There are local stops at 94th and 86th Streets. The immediate neighborhood includes high rises, walk-ups, senior housing, schools, a hotel, and never-ending construction. The street at 90th and Second is wide. There are new steel benches at the location probably placed there when there was a bus stop. And Ruppert Park spans the street from corner to corner. Bring back the old bus stop. Too many blocks between stops.

Editor-In-Chief, Alexis Gelber editor.ot@strausnews.com Deputy Editor Staff Reporters Richard Khavkine Madeleine Thompson editor.otdt@strausnews.com newsreporter@strausnews.com Michael Garofalo Senior Reporter reporter@strausnews.com Doug Feiden invreporter@strausnews.com

MAY 4-10,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Camp Canine founder Tania Isenstein, right, and longtime Muddy Paws Rescue volunteer Hartje Andresen pose with a $2,000 check to beneﬁt Muddy Paws. Photo: Razi Syed

Are you looking for a camp this summer?

LOOK NO FURTHER! UWS DOG ‘PAWTEE’ RAISES THOUSANDS FOR NO-KILL SHELTER Straus Media Manhattan’s PETS

Party celebrates daycare’s fifth year in operation BY RAZI SYED

Around 60 dogs dressed in their best spent an afternoon munching on doggy cake, drinking “champagne” and playing in non-toxic, baconscented bubbles at an Upper West Side doggy daycare on April 28. Camp Canine, owned by Tania Isenstein, threw its dog “pawtee” to honor the anniversary of its ﬁfth year in operation and to benefit Muddy Paws Rescue, a no-kill shelter based in Brooklyn.

FERRY SERVICE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 subway — a reduction compared to existing commuter ferries, which cost $4. The East River route, which connects East Midtown to Wall Street via stops in Queens and Brooklyn, also launched Monday, and the South Brooklyn route will follow on June 1. The Astoria route will launch this August, and the rest in the summer or 2018.

Half the proceeds from the $55 party fee, about $2,000, was donated to Muddy Paws. Four dogs at the party came from Muddy Paws and are available for adoption. Isenstein walked away from a career as lawyer on Wall Street to buy Camp Canine, located on 73rd Street between Columbus and Central Park West. “I left [Wall Street] because it wasn’t fulfilling to me,” Isenstein said. “I decided the one thing I love most in life is dogs. I live down the block from here, so I purchased it and dedicated to make it the best place it can be for our clients.” The party was held in three separate shifts to prevent overcrowding. The pups sipped “champagne” or chicken broth and ate dog-safe cake.

Isenstein said Camp Canine has helped rescue around 150 dogs by taking fosters from high-kill shelters and socializing them so they can be adopted. Longtime Muddy Paws volunteer Hartje Andresen said the nonproﬁt’s workers drive down to Alabama and Kentucky, and bring back to New York dogs that are on the list to be euthanized. “We find new permanent homes here for them,” Andresen said. “We’re only able to do that because a tight network of volunteers, fosters and a really supportive community that work together, hand-in-hand, to save these dogs’ lives. Camp Canine is a group that fosters, helps out and has been incredibly supportive.”

“New Yorkers need all the mass transit options we can get, and NYC Ferry service will give us new routes and connections between neighborhoods that we’ve never had before,” Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer said in a statement issued by the mayor’s office. “I’m excited for the launch of the service, and hope it’s so successful that we have no choice but to expand it to even more neighborhoods.” The boats, commissioned

from ferry operator Hornblower and named by New York City second graders (names include “Lunchbox” and “Urban Jungle”), are equipped with wiﬁ, a concession stand, bike racks and room for 149 passengers. Tickets can be purchased through the new NYC Ferry app. More information about routes and schedules is available at www.ferry.nyc. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@ strausnews.com

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MAY 4-10,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

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

More Events. Add Your Own: Go to otdowntown.com

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

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

Upcoming Events

Photo by cea + via Flickr

Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites Open House

Thu 4

Fri

at Marble Collegiate Church Sunday, May 21 from 1:00pm to 3:30pm

TRANSGENDER CHILDREN | BOOK

BUDDHIST REALITYDARK COMEDY▲

Bureau of General Services Queer Division, 208 West 13th St. 7-9 p.m. Talk and Q&A with Dr. Elijah Nealy, author of “Transgender Children & Youth: Cultivating Pride and Joy with Families,” a therapist and himself a trans man. 212-620-7310. bgsqd.com

The Strand, 828 Broadway 7 p.m. $20 Watch videos of comedians like Louis C.K., Tig Notaro and Andy Kaufman, and discuss why “Buddhism and dark comedy offer therapy for eliminating existential anxiety.” 212-473-1452. strandbooks. com

We are opening our doors as part of New York City’s Annual Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites Open House. Discover Marble’s landmarked architecture and rich history. Docent led tours, as well as self-guided tours will be available. Free.

Event listings brought to you by Marble Collegiate Church. 1 West 29th Street / New York, New York 10001 212 686 2770 / MarbleChurch.org

Sat 6 GALLERY @ FRIEZE | POP-UP Sugarlift, 393 Broadway 7-11 p.m. $20 Sugarlift Open Studios launch party is an event during Frieze weekend featuring works fresh from the studio by 24 NYC-based artists. Party with the artists; live music and beer. sugarlift.com

PORTRAIT PROJECT WRITER IN THE WORLD Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY, 199 Chambers St. 2-4 p.m. Free. Discussion with two proliﬁc Asian writers, Jessica Hagedorn and Viet Thanh Nguyen, moderated by Nita Noveno, English Department, Borough of Manhattan Community College. 212-220-8000. bmcc.cuny. edu

MUSTANG | FOREIGN FILM Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway 6-9 p.m. Free Foreign Film Series screening of “Mustang,” directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven. Firat Demir moderates. Hosted by NYU SPS Center for Applied Liberal Arts. 212-571-2930. witkoff.com

Westbeth Artists Housing and Center for the Arts, 55 Bethune St. 5-8 p.m. Artists Portraying Artists at the Westbeth Gallery: at least one of the pieces from each artist will be a portrait of another from the 17-member group. Through 5/20. @theportraitprojectnyc

MAY 4-10,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

ID DAY IDENTIFY YOUR WORLD

Photo by Marlon Dias via Flickr

Sun 7 WHIRLING CLASS Nur Ashki Jerrahi Community, 245 West Broadway 3:30-6:30 p.m. $20 donation. RSVP. Whirling class led by dervish of Shaykha Fariha al-Jerrahi, ﬁrst Sunday of each month. Mevlana and Music: expressed in three elements, dance, music and love. 212-966-9773. whirling.org.

ORPHAN SUPERHERO RIDERS | BIKE TOUR Worldwide Orphans, 515 Valley St. 8-11 a.m. WWO participating in the Bike N.Y. TD Five Boro Bike Tour. This year, 35 enthusiastic and active supporters ride 40 miles through 5 boroughs — ride, support or donate. 973-763-9961. wwo.org

Mon 8 ‘DANCER IN THE DARK’ Jefferson Market Library, 425 Sixth Ave. 6 p.m. Free Stars Björk, Catherine

Deneuve and David Morse: an Eastern European woman goes to America with her young son, expecting it to be like a Hollywood ﬁlm. 212-243-4334. nypl.org

Launch of Massimo Pigliucci’s new book, “How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life,” with a brief presentation, followed by Q&A with the author. 212-780-0300. paulanernyc. com

LOVE & RESISTANCE Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow St. 7:30-10:00 p.m. Celebrate Resistance! Share the spirit of Spring with Frog & Peach at gala stage event: cocktails, food and selection of readings from Shakespeare’s most passionate characters. 212-242-4770. greenwichhouse.org

Tue 9 FLAMENCO JAZZ ▲ Groove, 125 Macdougal St. 7 p.m. $15 “Achingly beautiful ﬂamenco sounds and Brazilian jazz, ﬂamenco dancer and singer Barbara Martinez makes something fresh of the Latino style.” clubgroovenyc.com.

HOW TO BE A STOIC | BOOK PARTY Paulaner, 265 Bowery 6-9 p.m. Free

Wed 10 IMMIGRANTS BACK THEN & NOW Tenement Museum, 103 Orchard St. 6:30-8 p.m. Free The museum brings together an expert panel to examine the pervasive myths about immigrants past and present and strive to understand all points of view. 212-982-8420. tenement. org

BEARD ON BOOKS The James Beard Foundation, 167 West 12th St. Noon-1 p.m. $20. RSVP. Ongoing monthly literary, readings and discussions with celebrated authors. Katie Button leads discussion about her cookbook “Cúrate: Authentic Spanish Food from an American Kitchen.” 212-627-2308. jamesbeard. org.

Saturday, May 6 | Noon–4 pm FREE WITH MUSEUM ADMISSION AND FOR MEMBERS

Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the Museum celebrates the importance of natural history collections by inviting visitors to bring in their own specimens to our annual Identification Day. Bring your shells, rocks, insects, feathers, bones, and artifacts to be identified by Museum scientists and explore rarely seen objects from the Museum’s collections. Scientists will attempt to identify your discoveries and provide a certificate of identification.

Anthropology

HELPFUL TIPS Before you come to Identiﬁcation Day, follow these tips that will help Museum scientists identify your objects and specimens. PLEASE NOTE: No appraisals will be given at ID Day, and gemstones will not be identiﬁed.

Bring as much information about your specimen as possible. If it belongs to a friend or family member, try to get the details from that person.

Botany Please only bring plants that you have permission to collect. Plant samples that have ﬂowers or fruits (or both) are much easier to identify. Bring your plant sample in a resealable plastic bag. This will keep the plant moist for easier identiﬁcation and will avoid spreading pests in the Museum. Please try to bring fresh (very recently collected) plant samples.

Paleontology and Geology Bring as much information on your specimen as possible, especially details about its place of origin.

A Special Note on Animal Specimens With the exception of insects, please do not bring any live or dead specimens. Photos of your snake, bird, or other specimen will be enough for identiﬁcation.

Free for Members | Open daily | Central Park West at 79th Street | New York City

AMNH.ORG

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

MAY 4-10,2017

INFINITY, IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND Small wonders at the Cloisters BY MARY GREGORY

We all know, and d many of d to see, us have traveled ks of art monumental works like the Pyramids of Giza. nders no But there are wonders less spectacular att the opectrum. posite end of the spectrum. Through May 21, breathtaking examples off some of the world’s most exquisite ures are on miniature sculptures nders: Gothic Boxview in “Small Wonders: wood Miniatures” at the Cloisters. s, Henry VIII wantIn the early 1500s, ed (among others)) one of the highly ries that were comprized carved rosaries ops in the Nethering out of workshops lands. Having one meant not only ortant, but that that you were important, nected and had you were well connected excellent taste. hing,” said Dr. “It was the in thing,” ehm, Paul and Barbara Drake Boehm, or Curator for Jill Ruddock Senior The Met Cloisters,, when I spoke he exhibition. with her about the ave been very “They seem to have much appreciated within aristoircles.” Of the cratic and royal circles.” his exhibition 130 in existence, this ost remarkable brings 49 of the most to New York. sary that belonged The boxwood rosary is wife, Katherine to the king and his of Aragon, is a highlight. Eleven om about the size beads, ranging from of a marble to the size of a small egg, are teeming with infinitesimally detailed scenes from the Bible. Boehm and her colleagues have identified the subjects, and she describes them engagingly in the wall texts and object labels. Four tiny medallions on each of the 10 smaller beads depict carved figures from the Old and New Testaments. Weaving through the scenes are even tinier Latin inscriptions, in this case, parts of the Apostle’s Creed. The hinged main bead opens to reveal the figure of Mary sur-

A prayer bead depicting the Legend of Saint James the Greater made in the Netherlands in the 16th century is just 2-1/4 × 1-7/8 inches in diameter. Photo: Adel Gorgy rounded by rays of light, with six winged angels, two of whom hold a crown above her head, all in a space smaller than your thumb. In the upper portion, the artist has carved a church with soaring Gothic arches, an altar ﬂanked by priests, and a tiled ﬂoor with kneeling attendants. Fore-

ground, background, figures peeking ing through the arches, ccarved designs gns on the priests’ robe cks robes, candlesticks holding minutec hese minute candles — these and a sense o ent of astonishment and wonder are a contained d in this marvel that t typifies the quality and workmanship w p in these maste masterpieces. The detail detai is mind-bogoggling; it wo e to would be wise bring a mag ass. magnifying glass. But Boehm o tise offers expertise and aid. Her descriptive labe ure bels about the beads, miniature obje ackaltars and other objects offer backi n on ground on the work, information techniq ory the patron and techniques, and a story happenin on these tiny about what’s happening stages. A Crucifi Crucifixion xion scen scene with a soldier t holding a lance that’s literally thinner than a k kitten’s whisker presents, along with delight and amazement, amazemen two questions. First — af after fashioning a carving with three crosses, horses and figures gur all crowded into this tiny space, spa why did the artist make the effort to add a minute, fragile lance? It had to be incredibly difficult. di It must have taken eno enormous concentration and tim time. There might have been many failed works before this perfect one. Did he add becau he could? To that detail just because celebrate and flaunt h his virtuosity? Was it for the glory of God? Or was it to impress a patron a and ensure the next commission? “I think ‘D,’” said Boehm, “all of the above.” The second question (and this was murmured from one visitor to another at each sculptural miracle) is — how? The exhibition includes a box of woodcarver’s tools from the 1600s and videos that document recent discoveries about construction techniques. “When we have the video and CT scans and all the things that we did to understand finally how these things were made,” Boehm said, “to me, it doesn’t decrease our sense of wonder,

A miniature altarpiece with the Adoration of the Magi from the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, shows variety and the artist’s creative spark. Photo: Adel Gorgy it actually redoubles our sense of wonder.” And then, there’s a larger question. To what end? Three octogenarian ladies, bespectacled and primly dressed, gazed into the case next to me. One turned and, in a very proper British accent, said, “Mind blowing.” These tiny altars and prayer beads were meant as much as dazzling works of art as they were for private devotions to transport viewers to a different level of awareness. “The meditative quality of them works in a couple of ways all at once,” Boehm said. “When you take one of these things in your hands, ﬁrst of all, it has this lovely smooth and yet complicated surface. So that, immediately, you want to ﬁnger it, and that busies you. It preoccupies you. And then, when you open it, there is this little tiny world there that you’re holding in your own hand that allows you to kind of step into it visually. ... It is its own little world, and it’s a little world that you have the right to gaze in.” I was particularly drawn to a bead that depicts St. Jerome. I’m a fan of the saint who first translated the Bible to Latin and spent his days in a

library reading and writing, accompanied by his dog and a loyal lion from whose paw he extracted a nasty thorn. They’re all here, enclosed in a miniscule universe, the flip side of which pictures Jerome in the wilderness surrounded by a forest with branches as delicate as dill fronds. Boehm pointed out an altarpiece with the Adoration of the Magi from the Art Gallery of Ontario, which, together with the Rijksmuseum, co-organized the traveling exhibition. “It has three little ﬁgures of lions holding up the base on their backs, and the amazing thing is that the lions aren’t even the same.” She described each as about the size of a lima bean. “The first lion looks like he’s asleep, and then the second one is turning around and, like a puppy, he’s teething on the wood base itself. Then the third one, he’s licking the platform on which he sits.” What Boehm hopes people will discover is, she said, “Those touches that the artist introduces just because he wants to, or just because he can. The variety that happens for no need, for no reason at all, except just to do it. To me, that’s the creative spark.”

MAY 4-10,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST The local paper for the Upper West Side

February 9

April 20

RECORD NUMBER OF 311 CALLS MADE IN 2016 BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Last year saw the largest number of calls ever to city helpline 311, with noise complaints raking in the most of the 19,378,299 total calls. With a population of approximately 8.5 million, that amounts to about 4.2 calls per New Yorker. According to 311 spokesman Bill Reda, the steady increase over the past few years is likely due to the addition of the 311 website in 2009, followed

Treats from Tipsy Scoop. Photo courtesy of Melissa Tavss

ICE CREAM WITH A BUZZ SHOPS Tipsy Scoop, a new “barlour,” opens this weekend BY LAURA HANRAHAN

Of all the places in New York that might ask to see your ID, an ice cream shop seems like one of the least likely spots. Tipsy Scoop, a new ice cream “barlour” on East 26th Street, is about to change that. Opening on Sunday, May 7, the small shop boasts a decadent menu of boozy ice creams infused with alcohol. Founder and Manhattan native Melissa Tavss, 29, says she hopes to create a fun and exciting atmosphere with her experimental ice cream ﬂavors. “I want it to sort of be like when you go to one of those mixology bars and they’re like, ‘what kind of liquor do you usually like?’ and we’ll try to help people out with that,” said Tavss. Tipsy Scoop has been in operation as an online and catering business for more than three years, and began selling products in stores like Whole Foods two years ago. Tavss says she never had plans to open up a storefront. That is, until people began popping up at Tipsy Scoop’s East Harlem production facility, looking to grab a cone. “People kept showing up, so we’re like, I guess we’ll try it!” Tavss said. Tavss’s favorite flavor: the spiked hazelnut coffee — a mix

of cold brew coffee, hazelnut liquor and Cafe Patron. “It’s awesome, it’s so good,” she said. “I think the best-seller is definitely the dark chocolate whiskey salted caramel. In the stores they can’t keep that on the shelves.” The barlour will also offer virgin flavor options, like root beer float and Shirley Temple, for those who want to enjoy their ice cream sans alcohol. For the lactose intolerant, there will be dairy-free, vegan options, like the refreshing raspberry limoncello sorbet. And for those who just can’t choose, there will be a flight option that features four flavors in chocolate and sprinkle-rimmed shot glasses. The secret to getting her ice cream to freeze while still containing a sizable amount of alcohol is just that, Tavss says — a secret. “We have a custom ice cream mix made for us to be able to freeze the alcohol,” she said. “It is a softer consistency, but it’s still creamy, which is good.” For Tavss, Tipsy Scoop was as an “accidental business.” While working in marketing for liquor companies as a day job, she became fixated on creating the perfect homemade ice cream. “It’s really hard to do in a tiny Cuisinart machine, so I was using alcohol in the beginning to soften the ice cream,” she said. Tavss began to toy with the idea of getting her ice cream to hold a measurable alcohol content, as opposed to other desserts like rum cake where the volume of alcohol is almost

non-existent. Soon, her now indemand recipes were born. While Tavss herself had no previous culinary experience, creating and sharing ice cream is a central part of her family history. “My great-grandfather was actually the president of the Ice Cream Alliance in Great Britain, which I’m sure you didn’t even know was a thing, but I have a picture of the plaque to prove it,” she said. “They were Scottish-Italian so they brought over gelato carts from Italy to Scotland in the 1800s ... some of the first gelato carts in Scotland.” Tavss started out by catering friends’ weddings and events for her old marketing clients — “a pretty natural fit for liquor brands,” she says. This soon grew to include other corporate events, birthdays and office happy hours. Being a small-scale, local business with only eight employees, Tavss tries to utilize locally-sourced ingredients in Tipsy Scoop’s recipes. “We work with a lot of different smaller liquor brands too,” Tavss said. “Our ice cream mix is made in a dairy farm in New York, so it’s New York certified.” As for whether it’s possible to get drunk off of eating ice cream, Tavss says that all depends on how much of the dessert you can tolerate. “Two scoops is around the size of a light beer,” she said. “If you’re one of those people who can eat a gallon of ice cream on the couch, you might start to feel it.”

The local paper for the Upper East Side

March 29

April 20

FIGHTING FOR POCKET PARKS 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. The local paper for the Upper East Side

April 6

April 14

‘CITIZEN JANE’ DOCUMENTARY PROFILES URBAN ACTIVIST PLANNING A timely new film spotlights the groundbreaking author of ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’ BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Jane Jacobs, with her signature oval glasses, began a lifelong dedication to fighting urban renewal when plans emerged to continue Fifth Avenue through Washington Square Park. Critics labeled her a “housewife” who couldn’t possibly be more than a ﬂy in the ointment of the project, but Jacobs had been writing and reporting about cities and architecture long before the park was threatened. Her story and the lessons of her groundbreaking book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” are the focus

on April 21 at select theaters. Matt Tyrnauer, the film’s director, and producer Robert Hammond, who is also the executive director of Friends of the High Line, got the idea for the documentary several years ago when they realized there had never been a film about Jacobs before. “We thought we’d be introducing this film about a very brilliant woman who was sort of a seer, a visionary in a lot of ways, and politically active, in an atmosphere when we had the first woman president,” Tyrnauer said at a screening last Thursday. “Much to our surprise, it went the other way. There’s some resonances in the film that maybe were unintended but it’s interesting to see how the public has received them.” Hammond described the film as “a playbook for resistance,” and hopes that viewers will be able to learn from Jacobs how best to fight their battles. “What’s interesting now is people getting out in the street — it’s not just

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MAY 4-10,2017

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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS APR 18 - 21, 2017

Tribeca Rooftop (10 Desbrosses Street)

480 Canal Street

Giorgione

307 Spring Street

Grade Pending (20) 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. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Closed By Health Department (68) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. 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. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. 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.

Nha Trang Restaurant

87 Baxter Street

Grade Pending (24) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Tribeca Bagels

374 Canal Street

Da Mikele

275 Church Street

Tribeca Taphouse

363 Greenwich Street Grade Pending (42) 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.

Terra

222 West Broadway

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. Shorty Tang Noodle Shop

98 8Th Ave

Ny Gyro Xpress

154 8Th Ave

Kam Hing Cafe

118 Baxter St

Hawa

247 8Th Ave

Taste Taco House

178 Church St

Pecorino

197 7Th Ave

Not Yet Graded

Birch Coffee

56 7 Avenue

Five Guys Famous Burgers And Fries

56 W 14Th St

Grade Pending (35) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. 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. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.

Shu Han Ju Authentic Chinese Cuisine

465 6Th Ave

Grade Pending (20) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Tamarind Tribeca

99 Hudson Street

Wogies

39 Greenwich Avenue

Grade Pending (3)

Starbucks

72 Grove Street

Grade Pending (34) 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.

Starbucks

518 Hudson Street

The Spaniard

190 W 4Th St

Pieces

8 Christopher Street

Barbuto

775 Washington Street

Brooklyneer

220 West Houston Street

Grade Pending (19) Food Protection Certiﬁcate not held by supervisor of food operations. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Karaoke Nemo / Trece

54 East 13 Street

Panera Bread

10 Union Square

City Crab Shack

10 East 16 Street

Grade Pending (6)

Fish Bar

237 East 5 Street

Everyman Espresso

136 East 13 Street

Belfry

222 East 14 Street

Boots And Saddle

100A 7Th Ave S

Sushi Chosi

77 Irving Place

Bar Nana

63 Gansevoort Street

Hot Kitchen

104 2 Avenue

Smalls Jazz Club

183 West 10 Street

Boba Guys

11 Waverly Pl

Not Yet Graded (19) 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. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.

Subrosa

22 Little West 12Th St

Trattoria Spaghetto

232 Bleecker Street

Phil’s Pizza West Village

226 Varick Street

Think Coffee

73 8 Avenue

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

Dominique Ansel Bakery

189 Spring Street

The Malt House

206 Thompson Street A

Blue Ribbon

97 Sullivan St

Soho Room

203 Spring St

By Chloe

240 Lafayette St

Funny Bbq

98 Bowery

Aire Ancient Baths

88 Franklin St

Sweet Moment

106 Mott St

MAY 4-10,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

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20 17 Actress Aahana Kumra (left) and director Alankrita Srivastava (center) at Q&A after screening of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lipstick Under My Burkha,â&#x20AC;? with moderator Aseem Chhabra. Photo: Maria Boyadjieva

BANNED WORK OPENS NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL 3FBDI NPSF UIBO MPZBM SFBEFST UIBU UVSO UP 0VS 5PXO 5IF 8FTU 4JEF 4QJSJU 5IF $IFMTFB /FXT BOE 0VS 5PXO %PXOUPXO T 4VNNFS (VJEF UP NBLF UIF NPTU PG UIFJS TVNNFS

FESTIVALS â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lipstick Under My Burkhaâ&#x20AC;? draws a stellar crowd and focuses attention on women filmmakers BY GENIA GOULD

The 17th Annual New York Indian Film Festival kicked off with buzz on Sunday, April 30th at Village Cinema East with a handful of literary luminaries, including Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai and social activist Gloria Steinem in attendance. There was extra signiďŹ cance to the kickoff: the opening night film, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lipstick Under My Burkha,â&#x20AC;? is banned in India. The ďŹ lm, directed by Alankrita Shrivastava and produced by Prakash Jha, was deemed by The Indian Central Board of Film CertiďŹ cation to be unďŹ t for general audiences due to â&#x20AC;&#x153;sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography.â&#x20AC;? But during a Q&A after the screening with the director and actors, a member of the audience said that the Indian Central Board may in fact be considering certifying the film with an adult tag.

5SBWFM r 'BJST BOE 'FTUJWBMT r "SU r &WFOUT r 'BNJMZ 'VO r %SJOLT BOE &BUT Salman Rushdie and Kiran Desai on the red carpet at opening of 2017 New York Indian Film Festival. Photo: Maria Boyadjieva A television station in India that was supposed to air the movie before it was banned ran a black screen during the scheduled airing to protest the ban, said Yoshita Singh, a senior correspondent for Press Trust of India who works at the U.N. The ďŹ lm was screened at the Tokyo and Mumbai Film Festivals, and won the Spirit of Asia Prize and the Oxfam Award for Best Film on Gender Equality. Aroon Shivdasani, the founder of the festival and executive director of Indo-American Arts Council, said that the theme of

the festival this year is women and diversity. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This opening night film was fantastic,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had four women from different walks of life from the same town in Bhopal talking about their desires and needs and how they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to follow the lead of a man. People need to understand them.â&#x20AC;? The festival, which includes 44 documentaries, shorts, and features, in seven regional languages representing four South Asian Countries, continues through May 7th at Village Cinema East.

*TTVF %BUF Thursday, June 1st "E %FBEMJOF Friday, May 26th The local paper for the Upper East Side

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Business

CHINESE CHEFS REBRAND TRADITION RESTAURANTS Eclecticism fuses with authenticity BY CLAIRE WANG

Little Tong, among the newest additions to East Village’s eclectic culinary scene, bears more resemblance to a trendy brunch spot than a Chinese noodle shop. Taking over an almost perfectly rectangular space on the corner of First Avenue and 11th Street, it can accommodate just 28 customers. Enclosed by chocolate brown bricks on one side and a wooden, sand-colored slat-wall panel on the other, the restaurant’s contemporary interior exudes, paradoxically, an edgy rusticity. Two dishes lay atop a countertop by the kitchen: the beef tartare with a slice of scallion pancake, arranged like guacamole and chips in a wooden dipping bowl, and the ghost chicken, an extravaganza of leaves and spices burrowed in the center of a hat-shaped glass plate. Meticulous plating and polished aesthetics are endemic to Lower Manhattan’s Western diners but, until recently, have rarely been adopted by Chinese cooks. In New York, Los Angeles and other big cities in the U.S., the stereotype that Chinese food is cheap, convenient and casual is so ingrained that many believe the alternative to be inauthentic. In the past year, half a dozen contemporary Chinese restaurants emerged in neighborhoods outside of Chinatown, offering innovative dishes that fuse authenticity with elegance. Chef Simone Tong, alum of Michelinstarred restaurant wd-50, drew from her extensive travels to Yunnan to

recreate the mixian, the Chinese province’s famous slick rice noodle. Since opening shop at the end of March, Tong’s crafty interpretations of Yunnan comfort food have been featured on food websites such as Eater and Grub Street. Her eye-catching mixian dishes, served with herbs and fermented vegetables in a spicy pork broth, reflect the history and culture of specific regions she visited. “I want to transport the memories of my travels back to New York,” Tong said, who noted the lack of diversity of Chinese cuisines in the city. “There are so many flavors in China that you can’t find here.” Large-scale migrations from Hong Kong and Fuzhou in the mid-20th century brought to New York’s Chinatown a multitude of inexpensive dim sum parlors, dumpling houses and hand-pulled noodle shops that would come to define overseas Chinese cuisine. Doyers Street’s Nam Wah Tea Parlor, the city’s first dim sum bar, once hosted members of the violent Tong Gangs in the 1930s. More diversity came through at the dawn of the aughts, when the likes of Joe’s Shanghai spearheaded the craze for the diminutive soup dumplings, and Xi’an Famous Foods made chili oil street food a sweat-inducing sensation. Even as flavors diversified, though, Chinese cuisine’s reputation as the perennially low-cost option persisted. Refined, credit card-taking Chinese restaurants have always quietly coexisted alongside their more common cash-only counterparts. Mr. Chow, a luscious, blindingly white Midtown East eatery featuring Champagne chillers and tuxedoed waiters, has been serving $38 walnut chickens since 1979. Near the Hudson in the

West Village, RedFarm, an inventive dim sum bar established in 2011, combines $20 lobster dumplings with Oktoberfest aesthetic. Places like Little Tong straddle the infrequently exploited space between the decrepit, often family-run diners in Chinatown and the extravagant, fine-dining variety like Mr. Chow and RedFarm. While most Chinatown shops sell noodles for less than $10, her mixian dishes start at $14. “The idea that Chinese food is only cheap is a misconception that we need to change,” Tong said. “We want to give you another option to tell you that Chinese food is not all cheap, just like how Japanese food is not just sushi, or American food is just burgers and fries.” The misconception Tong mentioned seems to exist only in western countries. “In China, you have the hole-inthe-walls and the banquet style restaurants,” said Eric Sze, recent NYU alum and owner of The Tang, another fledgling East Village noodle bar located just a few blocks from Little Tong. “In America, you only get the cheap, take-out variety. A generation of Chinese-American cooks came together and decided to change that.” Unlike its Yunnanese neighbor, Sze’s restaurant skirts categorization. At the sleek First Avenue storefront, which debuted in July, customers can find seared short ribs marinated in lip-numbing Szechuan pepper, the westernized pork-belly wrap, and the ZJM (zhang jian mian), the wickedly meaty fried sauce noodle originating from Beijing. Similar to those at Little Tong, The Tang’s noodles range from $12 to $15. To Sze, whose idols are Mission Chinese’s Danny Bowien and Momofuku’s

Simone Tong, right, owner and chef of the East Village Yunnanese noodle bar, Little Tong, notes the lack of diversity of Chinese cuisines in the city. Photo: Claire Wang David Chang, preserving the ﬂavors of each region is as important as exercising his own vision as a cook. Though The Tang serves mostly Chinese comfort food, he said, “Nothing here is what your grandma makes at home.” In concocting the Hu noodle, for example, Sze blended ground pork with fermented chickpea puree to achieve a miso-like flavor. The sesame tofu, a bestseller, is drenched in a custard sauce infused with Parmesan cheese. “We want to show New Yorkers that you can freestyle Chinese food while still keeping it authentic,” he said. The desire to modernize and elevate popular homemade meals has been spreading across Lower Manhattan. Pinch Chinese, a Taipei-based dumpling house that opened up in SoHo this February, offers an original, palatecleansing way to enjoy familiar, heavy dishes. “We want to give our the most pleasant dining experience,” said owner Sean Tang, who refers to his

ON THE SIDE STREETS OF NEW YORK LE LABO — 296 WEST 4TH STREET This entirely vegan perfumery makes each of its fragrances by hand at its in-store laboratory. Le Labo’s founders, Fabrice Penot and Eddie Roschi, created the company in Grasse, the town considered the world capital of perfume, on the French Riviera, but “raised the brand in New York.” They

wanted to “start a revolution,” choosing not to advertise or keep any of their stock on the shelf, preferring to bottle each scent personally for every customer in their workshop. To read more, visit Manhattan Sideways (sideways.nyc), created by Betsy Bober Polivy.

Photo: Alex Nuñez Caba, Manhattan Sideways

restaurant as regionally “agnostic.” At Pinch, he said, dim sum dishes – appetizers like the marinated cucumbers and cumin ribs – always start a meal, but will never be directly followed by the spicy Szechuanese dishes like ma po tofu. The shift toward more complex recipes and more thoughtful serving styles reﬂects the rising standards of restaurants in China, said Julia Dong, communications rep of Hao Noodle and Tea, a Sichuanese chain that launched its West Village location in June. With popular stores in Beijing and Shanghai, Hao Noodle’s elevated price range, which can hit $30 to $50 per person, underscores the changing attitude toward Chinese dining. “As more and more Chinese are traveling to New York, and more Chinese emigrated to New York and settled here,” Li said, “their standard and need for more refined Chinese food has raised the bar high.”

MAY 4-10,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

MAY 4-10,2017

NYU SANCTUARY’S MAY DAY WALKOUT ACTIVISM Group rallies for added safeguards for immigrant and undocumented members of the university community BY DIAMOND NAGA SIU

Disrupting New York University classes and hosting dance parties were part of the agenda of NYU Sanctuary’s May Day walkout, in solidarity with the nationwide Day Without Immigrants. The group works toward making NYU a sanctuary campus, a term for universities to pledge to protect undocumented and immigrant community members from any entity that would marginalize them due to their status. The university said that it already promises these safeguards. “NYU is deeply concerned about the welfare of the immigrant and undocumented members in its community, has committed to a clear set of steps to safeguard and support them, has joined in the lawsuits challenging the executive orders on immigration and has stood together with other universities in publicly opposing recent federal policy on immigrants,” NYU spokesperson John Beckman said in a statement. However, NYU Sanctuary wants explicit identiﬁcation as a sanctuary campus and lists nine speciﬁc protections on its website. Sumathy Kumar, an NYU senior and organizer with

NYU Sanctuary, said the May Day space — one for hanging out, healing and relaxing — was meant to mimic what a sanctuary would look like and what education could be in a more just society. “We have three very clear asks for May Day that need to happen really soon,” Kumar said. “One is to declare sanctuary, the [second] is to commit ﬁnancial aid and up employment for students impacted by [President Donald] Trump’s policy, and the third is to refuse Immigration and Customs Enforcement on campus under any circumstances.” To convey their message, the main chant was a call-and-response directed at NYU President Andrew Hamilton: “Can you hear us Andy?” followed by “We demand a sanctuary.” The university did not respond to whether Hamilton heard their demands. Kumar said the May Day demonstration created activism beyond just rallying or protesting and then leaving. Activities included educational readins, banners to sign as well as decorate and a free yoga class. While nobody attended the morning yoga, people engaged with the group throughout the day. About 500 attendees gathered at the event’s peak, when activists started giving speeches. Some professors also demonstrated solidarity by cancelling classes, while others, like assistant professor of sociology Iddo Tavory, conducted class outside the room. Tavory’s “Religion and Society” class discussed politics and religion in front of the Garibaldi

New York University students prepared for a rally and walk from Washington Square Park to Union Square following a May Day teach-out. Photo: Diamond Naga Siu statue in Washington Square Park. “I think they were a little bit cold,” Tavory said with a laugh about his students. “But it’s important for me to have a day to really think about politics, to talk about how class politics really structure our lives.” He believes NYU must “very clearly” declare itself a sanctuary campus, because he said higher education institutions must be inclusive of all students by ensuring their safety. Kumar expressed similar sentiments and said the walkout was meant to put pressure on the NYU administration to do so. “Obviously May Day is not the end of the campaign,” Kumar said. “Escalation will continue if the administration doesn’t declare sanctuary.”

Iddo Tavory, an assistant professor of sociology at New York University, in Washington Square Park with his class of about 15 students during a May Day teach-out. Photo: Diamond Naga Siu

New York University sophomore Nour Obeidallah, a member of the NYU Sanctuary working group, talked about action efforts. Photo: Diamond Naga Siu

MAY 4-10,2017

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A rendering of the planned expansion of the East River Greenway between East 53rd Street and East 61st Street. Image courtesy of NYC Mayor’s Office

$100 MILLION FOR EAST RIVER GREENWAY ENVIRONMENT With climate change in mind, city announces waterfront expansion; will seek to upgrade portions of path vulnerable to sea-level rise BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

The city’s plan to add eight blocks of waterfront paths to the East River Greenway, announced last week, will account for rising sea levels under new city guidelines. Elsewhere on the East Side riverfront, the mayor’s office is exploring the possibility of raising several stretches of existing esplanade on the East Side riverfront that, according to current forecasts, could be jeopardized in the future by rising water levels. Both initiatives ﬁt within the city’s larger climate change planning and mitigation efforts on the Upper East Side in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which extend well beyond the waterfront. “Sandy, fortunately, didn’t hit Community District 8 in the same way it hit other parts of the city, but it did affect its critical infrastructure and it did affect those things you rely on in an

emergency,” Michael Shaikh, deputy director for external affairs with the mayor’s climate policy and programs team, said at an April 27 meeting of Community Board 8’s waterfront committee. On the Upper East Side, he explained, the city has focused on efforts to minimize the disruption of essential services in the case of another Sandy-level event, prioritizing steps like upgrading wastewater treatment plants and moving electrical equipment to the roofs of hospitals and public housing to prevent shutdowns during storm surge conditions. “Resiliency is not about keeping us perfectly dry,” he said. “It is about making sure we can recover quicker from a storm.” New city infrastructure is also being designed with climate projections in mind. Last week, the office of Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled preliminary design guidelines mandating that new city construction and improvements to city buildings and infrastructure account for anticipated changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea levels. These new guidelines will apply to the $100 million initiative to add eight blocks of waterfront esplanade to the East River Greenway below East 61st Street, announced April 25. The project will narrow the largest remaining gaps in Manhattan’s waterfront

pathway, which officials hope will one day encircle the island’s entire 32-mile waterfront. The plan calls for the construction of an elevated path raised on pilings over the East River from East 61st Street to East 53rd Street. Once the project is completed, a few gaps East Side greenway will remain, including from 52nd to 41st Streets and at several points in East Harlem. Construction is expected to commence in 2019 and last three years. North of the planned addition, the city is working to upgrade existing portions of the esplanade put at risk by climate change. The East River esplanade from 62nd Street to 81st Street is included in the ﬁrst phase of the city’s raised shorelines initiative to mitigate the impact of rising sea levels, announced last year. The city is currently performing studies to identify particularly vulnerable portions of the greenway that will be targeted for design improvements, Shaikh said. “This is not to protect, necessarily, from storm surge, but it is to account for the sea level rise projections,” he said, noting that the city anticipates sea levels to rise by as much as three to six feet by 2100. “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when the sea level rises.”

An NYPD wanted poster, with a still from a surveillance video showing the suspected assailant in a fatal stabbing on Broadway last week.

POLICE SEEK INFORMATION ON BROADWAY STABBING DEATH CRIME Police are offering $2,500 for information about the stabbing death last week of an Upper West Side man. Officers responding to a 311 call found Special Anthony Stewart, 24, with stab wounds in his torso in front of La Nueva Victoria Restaurant, on the corner of 95th Street, just before 11 p.m. Thursday, April 27. Emergency medical personnel took

Stewart to Mount Sinai Saint Luke’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police did not say whether they had a suspect and did not respond to inquiries seeking further details on the killing, the year’s ﬁrst within the 24th Precinct, which spans 86th to 110th Streets west of Central Park. Police said Stewart lived at a West 103rd Street address, but residents at the brownstone in question said he did not.

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

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

AND THE BEAT GOES ON Founder of the InterSchool Orchestras of New York takes us on the nonprofit’s musical journey BY ANGELA BARBUTI

Annabelle Prager, 95, is still very much part of the nonprofit she started more than four decades ago. The InterSchool Orchestras of New York, launched in 1972 with 32 children, now comprises 350 musicians, ages 6 to 19, playing in seven orchestras and a band. The idea was born after her son, who was 10 at the time, wanted to play the clarinet. Prager soon learned that budget cuts had trimmed orchestras from the school curriculum. “They used to call music a frill,” she explained. When she asked the head of the middle school at Collegiate, where her son attended, where the orchestra was, he replied, “Why don’t you start one?” And Prager, a professional artist and illustrator, did just that. “We have two purposes. One is to find talent and develop it and the other is to bring music to areas that don’t have it,” Prager said of her mission. The organization is committed to providing financial aid and scholarships to students as well as free concerts in underserved communities. On May 11, she will be honored at ISO’s largest fundraising event of the year, the Edward and Elaine Altman 45th Anniversary Concert at Carnegie Hall.

How involved in ISO are you still? I’m very involved. I’m a very good idea person. For instance, last year, I met the person who was working with the Metropolitan Opera Guild. And I suggested that we do a project together so the children could learn about opera. So they helped us and our children all went to the opera and each group studied a composer and learned a lot about the opera from that country. So that was a very good thing. And it created some opera lovers because a lot of people don’t go to the opera; it’s expensive. I have another idea for next year. I think we should do ballet music.

The idea to create the organization came about because of your son. What happened was my son, who was about 10 at the time, wanted to play the clarinet. And I went to a

InterSchool Orchestras of New York students. Photo: Adam Hume clarinet teacher and was told, “Not a good idea, because there’s no place for him to play.” And why? Because of budget cuts and other things that eliminated music. So why should he play the clarinet by himself at home? I was shocked because in my childhood there were bands and orchestras. So I went over to the school where he was and said, “Where is the orchestra?” And they said, “Why don’t you start one?” I loved music and always sang in choral groups. I was very naïve and called a meeting of music teachers and that wasn’t going to do anything. I was lucky because the head of a school turned up and said, “You have all the wrong people here. You want the heads of schools, not music teachers.” And I thought, “What a snob.” But he was right. And he did get some other heads of schools.

How did you get it started? We started with a little orchestra. It sounded terrible, but it didn’t take long for it to get better. We separated the older children from the younger children. And then I got this idea to go into schools with our orchestra to

show children what fun it was to make music, hoping they’d want to do it. And sure enough, they did. We called the schools and said we’d like to help. And since we offered our services free, they were delighted.

How did you ﬁnd places to rehearse? Let me just say, this has been a real problem from the very beginning. We have eight orchestras. The beginner orchestras have to be located throughout the city, so if you live on 18th Street, you don’t have to go all the way to Morningside Heights. So we have orchestras in various parts of the city, so little children can go to the orchestra that’s near them. Slightly older orchestras are also located in various places. When you get older, you can travel to go someplace. This has been something I spent a lot of time on, ﬁnding places. One of the things that’s hard about it is you have to find a place to store instruments and music. We started at the Church of the Heavenly Rest. Then moved to a place in Mount Sinai, a big hall in the nursing home. Then we moved to various places. We’ve been kicked out of

more places because they wanted the space for something else. We’ve had a terrible time. Parents help us. There’s a place called the Liederkranz Club on 87th Street for German culture and this man was a member and arranged for us to rehearse there. We were there quite a long time. You’re committed to helping minorities, who you say are underrepresented in orchestras. Talent should be developed in every cultural and economic group. Black people are not represented really very well in orchestras. There was this woman I knew who started something called the New York City Housing Authority Symphony, an orchestra for black people. And in her honor, I established a scholarship program, Janet Wolfe scholars. So every year, black children would have lessons and we developed quite a nice little group of children.

Tell us stories about your students who went on to play professionally. One child was Korean and played the jazz violin. He was very successful and started playing all over Korea and made lots of records. We have a

primary player in the Chicago Symphony. And one of the music critics at The New York Times is an ISO person. I started this in 1972, so there are really almost three generations of children. Children of students come. They’re very loyal. Parents mean a lot; they’re very grateful.

What are your future plans for ISO? Where do you want it to go? We want to go into areas where there’s a need for music. We want to reach a population which is not getting enough music. For instance, we’re starting an orchestra in Queens. Usually, there are parents who want children to have the opportunity to make music and they say to us, “We’d like to have an orchestra in this area.” www.isorch.org

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

Level: Medium

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The puzzle contains 15 words relating to the gym. They may be diagonal, across, or up and down in the grid in any direction.

S D B I C Y C L E K Q E B P L

Bars Bicycle Endurance Energy Exercise Heartbeat Lifting Muscles Pushups Reps Routine Running Stretch Treadmill Weights

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27 Connective word 28 Neighbor of Libya 29 Vegetarian staple 30 “___ so fast!” 34 To stay the same 36 Merry 37 Old verb ending 38 Fertility clinic stock 39 English admiral in history 43 Assortment 45 Unfashionably dressed person 46 Icelandic poem collection 47 Precipitate 48 Bank method of funds transfer, for short 49 Pub pint 50 Large quantity 52 Long used

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Y M A N U Y L R F X A O E T C

WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor

S G E S O M T I M F E A G E N

53 Fountain order 54 Dog pest 55 Not a thing 56 Bookie’s quote 57 Greenish blue 58 Word on a quarter 59 Wyle of “ER”

Across 1 “Troy” actor, Brad 5 Idea of oneself 8 Not up 12 Light beige 13 Hasty escape 14 Humdinger 15 Base for sauces 16 Back again 17 Reverse 18 Prepare to be knighted 20 Canned meat 22 Watery ﬁlm 24 Adherent of an Indian religion 27 80 year old 31 Fraternity letter 32 Daybook 33 Pen part 35 Tender 40 As a result of (2 words) 41 Street abbr. 42 Unpleasant guy 44 Birch family tree 48 Toward dawn 51 U.N. arm, for short

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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.

G O

SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

by Myles Mellor

CROSSWORD

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MAY 4-10,2017

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