Our Town Downtown - May 31, 2018

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WEEK OF MAY-JUNE HEAVENLY OFFERINGS ◄ P.12

31-6 2018

A BOLD PLAN TO HEAL AILING TRANSIT SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE Cost, funding sources of MTA modernization proposal remain unclear

BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Suraj Patel at a food cart with his “New Blood” slogan. Photo: Courtesy of Suraj Patel campaign

WILL THE SURAJ INSURGENCY SURGE? POLITICS A well-funded neophyte mounting a generational challenge to topple a long-serving congresswoman fires up would-be supporters at an UES town hall

I’m not here to mail it in.”

Suraj Patel, Democratic candidate in the 12th Congressional District

BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

Can a Mississippi-born, Indianaraised, Indian-American lawyer, hotelier, ethics professor and child of immigrants — who has never before vied for elected office — oust a popular incumbent who’s served for a quarter-century to claim a hugely visible seat in the U.S. Congress?

It won’t be easy. The political establishment is sure to resist. But it can be done. At least that was the crux of the message that 34-year-old Suraj

Patel sought to broadcast last week during an animated town hall meeting at the Church of the Holy Trinity on the Upper East Side.

And it all boiled down to this: “NEW BLOOD.” That was the twoword, all-caps, red-ink slogan plastered on the campaign literature, buttons, posters — and $25 tote bags and $50 limited-edition T-shirts —

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

Five months after he arrived in Manhattan to take charge of New York City Transit, Andy Byford’s comprehensive pitch to repair the city’s struggling public transportation system is on the table.

Byford presented what he called “a bold, imaginative, ambitious plan” to “modernize New York City transit from top to bottom” at the MTA Board’s May 22 meeting. The proposal, dubbed “Fast Forward,” calls for the rapid implementation of a variety of measures overhauling bus and subway service, accessibility and corporate organization within the transit authority.

“It won’t be easy to perform such massive upgrades on such a compressed time frame in such a busy system, but we can do it,” said Byford, who took office as president of NYCT in January after previously heading Toronto’s public transportation system.

“Transit is in a trough right now, but we can and we must come back.”

Among the plan’s most significant proposals is an initiative to accelerate the replacement of outmoded subway signals with state-of-the-art computerized systems, a step Byford called “the most transformative thing we can do to improve subway service.”

Computerized signaling, Byford said, “adds capacity and exponentially improves reliability,” allowing trains to

New York City Transit President Andy Byford unveiled “Fast Forward,” a proposal to modernize the city’s subway and bus systems. Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit

Not acting now is not an option. It will only get more difficult and more expensive.”

Andy Byford, NYCT president

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Crime Watch Voices NYC Now City Arts

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WEEK OF APRIL

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12

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

BY RICHARD KHAVKINE

is the common Arbitration Man their jurist. least folks’ hero. Or at Man has For 30 years, Arbitration court office of the civil few sat in a satellite Centre St. every building at 111 New Yorkers’ weeks and absorbed dry cleaning, burned lost accountings of fender benders, lousy paint jobs, and the like. And security deposits then he’s decided. Arbitration Man, About a year ago, so to not afwho requested anonymity started docuhe fect future proceedings, two dozen of what menting about compelling cases considers his most blog. in an eponymous about it because “I decided to write the stories but in a I was interested about it not from wanted to write from view but rather lawyer’s point of said Arbitration view,” of a lay point lawyer since 1961.

Man, a practicing what’s at issue He first writes about post, renders and then, in a separatehow he arrived his decision, detailing blog the to Visitors at his conclusion. their opinions. often weigh in with get a rap going. I to “I really want whether they unreally want to know and why I did it,” I did derstood what don’t know how to he said. “Most people ... I’d like my cases the judge thinks. and also my trereflect my personalitythe law.” for mendous respect 80, went into indiMan, Arbitration suc in 1985, settling vidual practice

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

2015

In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS

The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam.

Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services.

Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done.

Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She Over the past on the is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate

BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks.

President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” p.m. and 7 a.m., can’t come of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits

SLEEPS, THANKS TO THE CITY THAT NEVER UCTION A BOOM IN LATE-NIGHT CONSTR NEWS

A glance it: it’s the middle can hardly believe yet construction of the night, and carries on full-tilt. your local police or You can call 311

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

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run more closely together than currently possible.

NYCT hopes to install new signaling systems on 11 lines over the next decade as part of the plan, and aims to complete five lines in the next five years. This ten-year timeline is significantly shorter than previous esti-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

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WHAT YOU NEED WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT PREPAREDNESS As summer nears, so does the possibility of power outages. How New Yorkers can be ready

BY CAROL ANN RINZLER

Summer. Sun. Fun. Blackout. Yes, the Great Blackout of 1965 happened in November, but New York City went dark in July 1977 and August 14, 2003, and while Hurricane Sandy turned off downtown lights in October 2012, let’s agree that qualifies as “Indian summer.”

The trick to getting through is, as Scouts have been reciting since 1907, “Be prepared.”

When the lights flicker and the TV dims, to confirm what’s happening, reach for your small transistor radio or the updated version, a hand-crank radio with a USB port that enables you to power up the battery on your cellphone. A charged phone will work as long as the “service towers” do, but if as happened on 9/11, several million people are trying to use their cells at the same time, there may be delays.

A traditional corded telephone plugged into a jack gets its power from

Blackout in NYC, August 14, 2003. Photo: Dennis Milam, via flickr the central office and will continue to function during a power outage. Cordless phones need their own source of electricity, so they won’t work unless you have your own generator. If you’ve upgraded to Verizon Fios voice service or have Spectrum voice, both offer battery backup units that can provide up to 24 hours of dial tone during power outages. Spectrum’s runs on a battery inside the modem; Verizon’s uses standard D cell batteries that you can easily replace to maintain your dial tone for extended periods of time. Both Verizon spokes-

person Laura Merritt and Spectrum spokesman John Bonomo say, “Keep your old corded phone to plug in for emergencies.”

Want light? Flashlights are safer and better than candles. Count on one hand flash per person and one large searchlight for each room. And batteries. Lots of batteries. No, you don’t have to store them in the fridge or freezer. Energizer, the company that knows, says modern alkaline batteries “self-discharge” (translation: “run down”) at a rate of less than two percent a year when stored at normal

room temperatures with moderate humidity.

Thirsty? Red Cross advice is one gallon of water per person per day for drinking (a case of 24 16-ounce bottles = 384 ounces = 3 gallons). Add one gallon jug per person for light cooking because electric stoves won’t work but gas ones will, although you may have to — carefully — light the burner with a kitchen match. If your water comes from a well that requires an electric pump, an unlikely scenario in Manhattan where water flows by gravity down from a tank atop the building roof, you might also need water to flush and household bleach to neutralize any odors.

Has the blackout lasted several hours? You must be hungry. Your three choices, in order, are: Refrigerator, freezer, and a large Styrofoam food cooler. A fridge with the door closed stays cold for up to four hours, protecting perishables such as dairy foods or luncheon meats. A full freezer keeps food frozen longer; make it a rule to pack yours tight, using containers of ice to fill empty space as needed.

The cooler is for emergency provisions: “Survival meals” (available from Sam’s Club, COSTCO, & Amazon), canned fruits, veggies, tuna, salmon,

A BLACKOUT CHECKLIST ■ Crank radio & USB cable to connect cellphone ■ Flashlights: One per person; one big one per room ■ Batteries: Back-ups for all devices; check the expiration date when buying ■ Water: One gallon per person per day for drinking ■ Large cooler ■ Canned, jarred or dry food: Enough calories to match at least one day’s diet ■ Manual can opener ■ Food thermometer ■ Cash: $100 in small bills sardines, breakfast bars, juice boxes, nut butters, jellies, crackers, instant coffee or tea and dry milk (if reconstituted, drink right away; do not store).

Plus a food thermometer, a manual can opener, and an envelope with $100 in small bills because ATMs and credit card machines won’t work without electricity.

When the lights come on, refreeze frozen food that still has ice crystals.

Toss any chilled stuff with a temp above 40 F. Restock the food cooler and the bottled water. Add backup batteries as needed. Charge your cellphone every night.

Then relax.

Summer’s over.

You’re ready for hurricane season.

Don’t let age slow you down.

We can show you how to stay active.

No matter our age, we all benefit from staying active— and avoiding injury while we do it. Join us at our free seminar, Common Athletic Injuries in the Active Senior, to hear from our sports medicine specialists on prevention and treatment options for common athletic injuries, and emerging trends in orthopedics such as stem cells and platelet-rich plasma (PRP).

Snacks and light refreshments will be served.

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Register now at Northwell.edu/orthoseminar2 or call (855) 544-1250.

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st district for the week ending May 20 Week to Date

Year to Date

2018

2017

% Change

2018

2017

% Change

Murder

0

0

n/a

1

1

0.0

Rape

2

1

100.0

11

7

57.1

Robbery

1

2

-50.0

25

22

13.6

Felony Assault

1

1

0.0

21

27

-22.2

Burglary

0

0

n/a

22

21

4.8

Grand Larceny

15

17

-11.8

375

363

3.3

Grand Larceny Auto

1

0

n/a

6

6

0.0

THE E N G A G E M E N T S HO P A T LO N D O N J E WE LE R S PRESENTS

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Explore Over 500 rings including 100 from the RoyalT Collection PLUS you’ll get to experience Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr

CASH OUT A young man learned the (very) hard way not to leave a large amount of cash unattended. At 3 p.m. on Friday, May 18, a 26-year-old Brooklyn man placed his backpack containing $10,000 in the back of his restaurant, GRK Fresh Greek at 111 Fulton St., and went to work. He returned at 4:30 p.m. only to find the money had been taken.

MOTORCYCLE THEFT Surveillance video showed how easily thieves snatch motorcycles. At 4 p.m. on Monday, May 13, a 32-year-old West Side man parked his motorcycle in front of 2 River Terrace. When he returned the following day at 4:30 p.m. his red 2017 Yamaha FZ-09 was gone. Surveillance video showed an unknown man pull up in a minivan at 4:50 a.m. the next day and load the bike inside the van. The Yamaha is at $8,500.

VAN STOLEN If you’re going to leave spare car keys in your vehicle you should probably find a better hiding place for them than the glove compartment. At 3 p.m. on Monday, May 21, a 57-year-old Staten Island man parked his white 2004 General Motors Safari van in front of 4 South St. before he went to work. The van was missing when he returned to get an item from the vehicle at 5:35 p.m.

Surveillance video revealed a man in a black jacket

opening the back door to the van, going inside and then driving away. The victim told police he kept extra keys in the glove compartment and that he had left the back door of the van unlocked. The van was last sighted going over the Brooklyn Bridge at 6:01 p.m. and heading along the Belt Parkway at 6:50 p.m. The van is valued at $7,500.

FREE-RIDER ARRESTED An impostor took the Port Authority for a ride — nearly 100 rides, in fact, police said. During the period between May 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018, a 29-year-old man impersonating a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey employee used a Port Authority private car service account to hire vehicles for transportation 96 times, falsifying business records and defrauding the PA out of $5,562.63, according to police. Scott Rosenthal was finally arrested on Friday, May 18, and charged with grand larceny.

STYLE STEAL When security guards are away shop owners will pay. At 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15, a security guard inside the trendy LF boutique at 149 Spring St. went on break. When he returned an hour later a number of items of merchandise were missing from the front table. The stolen merchandise consisted of clothing totaling $2,880.

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Useful Contacts

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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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One Person’s Manhattan

‘LIFE IS AMAZING’ How Justin Constantine, a wounded warrior from the Iraq conflict, found his way to Manhattan — and to a new mission of helping others reach for success

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Justin and Dahlia Constantine met President and Michelle Obama at the home of the Marine Corps Commandant in 2009. Photos courtesy of Justin Constantine

At least once every week, Morningside Heights residents Justin and Dahlia Constantine go for a peaceful and relaxing walk in Riverside Park.

But back on October 18th, 2006, Justin was taking a very different kind of walk.

He was a Marine on a combat mission in the Anbar Province of Iraq on patrol in an area where enemy snipers had recently killed some other Marines.

At one point, Justin recognizing the dangers, warned an embedded reporter, with words that proved to be prescient, “Hey, don’t forget there are snipers out here,” he said. “You better move quickly because we don’t want anything to happen to you”.

Then a few seconds later, a sniper’s bullet zoomed inches behind the reporter. The reporter was saved by his quickened pace.

But that first bullet was followed by another bullet. And the second bullet hit Justin just below his helmet, entering his head behind his ear, traveling through his mouth and exiting through his face.

Justin fell to the ground, not breathing; he was actually proclaimed dead. But a Navy Corpsman didn’t give up. He began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and also cut Justin’s throat open and performed an emergency tracheotomy. All this while sniper bullets continued above.

After much effort, Justin began to breathe again and came back to life — back from the dead. Still in shock and losing blood, he was driven to a field hospital four miles away driving through an area filled with improvised roadside bombs. There another operation was performed and he was finally stabilized.

But his jaw was destroyed. His teeth lost. His throat damaged.

And the vision in his left eye permanently gone.

He was medically evacuated to a military hospital in Germany and then to the Naval hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. He was a patient there for five weeks and then an outpatient for seven more months. His only salvation being that Dahlia, then his girlfriend and now his wife, put her life on hold, dropped out of her Ph.D. program at Cambridge University and came to be by his side.

As Justin says, “hospitals can look very busy, but they are really very lonely. Without Dahlia there to keep me focused on my recovery and to keep my spirits from dropping, I might not have made it through.”

Eventually, Justin had over two dozen surgeries with the last one being in 2016. He also received a year and a half of counseling for PTSD. But Justin now uses his experience to help others learn to not give up, reach their higher potential and find success even when failure seems to be approaching — a mission that has led to his meeting Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama.

Justin and Dahlia moved to Man-

As a Marine officer, Constantine deployed to Iraq in 2006.

hattan in August of 2015 when Dahlia was accepted into the doctoral program at Teachers College at Columbia University.

Dahlia recently just completed her third year in her doctoral program while also teaching as an adjunct professor at CCNY in Manhattan.

Justin now speaks to many business and community groups across the country including CBS, the New York Federal Reserve and others right here in Manhattan. He has written two books offering advice on leadership, dealing with adversity, the upside of change and most importantly, the idea that people are stronger than they think and can overcome obstacles that appear insurmountable.

One can easily see that his ideas will be of value to any leader or individual. He offers six basic points:

1. Taking care of people is always priority number 1 2. Lead from the front and set the right example 3. Give lots of feedback – positive and negative

4. It’s OK to ask for help 5. Teamwork is critical 6. Change is opportunity

One thing Justin stresses in his appearances is that too many people stigmatize returning soldiers with PTSD. He points out that fully 8 percent of all Americans suffer from PTSD, while 20 percent of vets are PTSD sufferers. So it’s not just a military problem, but a national issue.

Through it all, Justin remains happy about his service to America and proud of his accomplishments. Above all he remains a total optimist.

“Life is amazing” he says. “Yes, it can be horribly cruel and we all suffer in some way. But life is good and people are good.”

Now Justin has a purpose and a passion — helping others recognize their own potential and doing what he can to create an environment where soldiers, civilians and others can succeed.

“Every minute counts,” he says. “Life can end in an instant.” So he makes the best use of his time.

And, of course, that includes his walks in Riverside Park, along with membership in New York Athletic Club and the Central Park West CSA. He also regularly visits his favorite cookie store, the Levain Bakery in Harlem and is in a constant search to find the best slice of pizza in Manhattan.

Know someone we should profile in One Person’s Manhattan? Call 212-868-0190 or email nyoffice@strausnews.com.

MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

TRANSIT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 mates, which projected that resignaling the system at the current pace could take 40 years or longer. The faster pace will require additional station closures on nights and weekends, but NYCT has no plans to close full lines on weekdays.

Station infrastructure is another key focus of the plan, which calls for the MTA to conduct critical structural and functional repairs at over 300 stations in the next decade. Additionally, NYCT aims to install elevators at 50 stations in the next five years, spaced so that subway riders are never more than two stops away from an accessible station. Less than a quarter of stations are currently accessible to disabled riders; the transit authority hopes to bring accessibility measures at all stations where installation is possible by 2034.

Other measures in the plan include: • Updates to the bus route

The local paper for Downtown

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com network to respond to ridership patterns and demographic changes • A new “tap-and-go” fare payment system to speed bus and subway boarding • Procurement of 3,650 new subway cars and nearly 5,000 new buses over the next decade, including 1,800 electric buses.

The MTA has not yet attached an official price tag to the plan, but several outlets reported leaked internal estimates ranging from $19 billion to $43 billion. Before Byford’s presentation to the board, MTA Chair Joe Lhota called the plan’s cost and funding sources “a subject for another day” and said “all estimates are premature and, inevitably, not accurate.”

“The point of today’s presentation is not about numbers, but it’s to show that we can and we will modernize the New York City subway system,” Lhota said.

But the numbers quickly overshadowed the fanfare surrounding the plan’s release, as Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Bla-

sio engaged in public wrangling over where funding should come from — a familiar back-and-forth that has reliably followed any significant transit-related news over the last year.

Cuomo, who personally interviewed Byford before he was hired as NYCT president, has not yet publicly endorsed the plan, but told reporters that both the city and state would both need to contribute funding. The Mayor called the plan “a step in the right direction” but said that he would continue to push for a tax on millionaires — which would have to be levied by the state government — as a new longterm funding stream for the MTA rather than send additional money to the MTA from city coffers.

Byford stressed the urgency of the situation as he closed his presentation, seemingly appealing to the MTA board, transit riders, and political leaders alike. “Not acting now is not an option” he said, “It will only get more difficult and more expensive.”

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ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

World Science Festival: Carl Zimmer

FRIDAY, JUNE 1ST, 6PM NYU Global Cnt. | 238 Thompson St. | 212-998-4959 | worldsciencefestival.com York Times columnist Carl Zimmer, author of She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity, argues for a broader definition of heredity that moves beyond genes to microbes and technologies ($25).

What the Body Knows: Connecting Cells to Choreography

FRIDAY, JUNE 1ST, 7PM The Strand | 828 Broadway | 212-473-1452 | strandbooks.com Catch a duel session on the body: artist, designer, and choreographer Beau Rhee examines the body as “a membrane that absorbs and emanates socio-political meaning”; Fulbright Scholar Sasha Portyannikova looks at science and alternative medicine ($20/complimentary beer).

Just Announced | Center for Women’s History Salon with Samantha Bee and Irin Carmon

MONDAY, JUNE 25TH, 7PM N-Y Historical Society | 170 Central Park West | 212-873-3400 | nyhistory.org Emmy-winning journalist and comedian Samantha Bee joins author and journalist Irin Carmon to discuss women, politics, and the media today ($35).

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

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

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Voices

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

HIGH AND LOW EAST SIDE OBSERVER

BY ARLENE KAYATT

Pick your high — MedMen on Fifth Avenue, in the immediate vicinity of Lord & Taylor’s on the opposite side of the street, is the place to find out all you ever wanted — or didn’t want — to know about marijuana.

MedMen is primed for the leaf being made legal in New York. A team of red-shirted young men and women are ready to give you a primer on the effects of the leaf and how the user can decide which leaf will take him or her to their desired state of mind and being. No samples yet — just a book-brochure where you can learn

all about it. Sit down and read the book at Simit Sarayi, the Turkish bakery and café right next door. After hearing the tutorial of the MedMen staffers, one couldn’t help but wonder how the law will address the various states of mind that marijuana users will have chosen if there are any mishaps or run-ins with the law as NYers turn over, well, a new leaf.

All mirrors so far. No smoke yet.

Nobody’s bottom-up — Why don’t celebrity and big money candidates use their celebrity and money to take a bottom-up approach to their entry into government? Celebrity and big bucks alone shouldn’t create entitlement. Years-long advocacy and interest in public service are best used by government novices at the local level — City Council, public advocate, state Senate, Assembly. Celebrity notoriety and money can be as crass and unde-

sirable as campaign financing as it exists. When celebrities and big bucks candidates start at the top, they serve only their ego and not the public.

Taking the cake — M7 bus riding south on Columbus Avenue weekday mid-afternoon. Man carrying a large cake box. Standing. Refused a seat because he didn’t want his wife’s birthday cake “messed up” if the bus made a shaky move. “Where’d you get the cake?” a lady rider wanted to know. “Glaser’s,” he said. “Well, be prepared to go someplace else next year. They’re closing,” she warned.”

By this time, the entire front of the bus was commiserating over the closing. All suggestions for next year’s cake came from the front of the bus — including the driver. Consensus was that the bakery on either 105th or 106th and Broadway was the new go-to place for “a really good

Glaser’s kind of cake.” A young girl getting off the bus wanted to know the name of the Glaser’s stand-in.

“Sure,” said the man holding the cake. ”It’s Silver Moon on 105th and Broadway. I go there whenever I can’t make it to Glaser’s on the East Side. I live in Chelsea.” Who needs Google?

Just ride the bus.

All 4’s — Heading to 14th and Fifth.

Waiting at 59th and Central Park bus stop at 4 o’clock on a weekday afternoon. The stop’s home to the M1, M3, M4. Can’t do the M4. It turns on 37th Street. As luck would have it, four M4s descended on the bus stop at once. A fifth M4 discharged its passengers and became a “Not in Service” non-provider. Coincidence that all M4s arrive at the same time? Scheduling snafu? Or just business as usual? Another sorry bus story told too, too many times.

This time x4 — make that 5.

MedMen, aka the Starbucks of Cannabis, opened a 2,000-squarefoot marijuana dispensary at 433 Fifth Ave. on – of course - April 20. Photo: Samantha Deitch/BFA.co

UP ON THE ROOF WITH DAVID HOGG AND CAMERON KASKY

BY JON FRIEDMAN

I experienced one of those quintessential Manhattan evenings on May 21, a fancy book party on a West 72nd Street rooftop. Important and self-important New Yorkers alike turned out.

The Chamber of Commerce could have marketed the spectacular weather to tourists. Those who were there will not soon forget it.

We gathered to honor Rick Allen’s impressive book “RFK: His Words for Our Times.” I stood among dozens of noted journalists, authors, Manhattan publishing icons and even one of Robert Kennedy’s daughters.

I had butterflies as I approached the two biggest stars at the party: David Hogg and Cameron Kasky, two of the survivors of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Like many of their impressive classmates, Kasky and Hogg have become committed activists against gun violence.

I patiently — then rather impatiently — waited my turn to say hello and shake their hands. I had no illusions that my gesture of solidarity would mean a lot more to me than to them. After all, they have been greet-

David Hogg (left) and Emma Gonzalez (front, second from right) at a rally in Fort Lauderdale on February 17. Photo: Barry Stock, via flickr ing awestruck strangers, like me, practically every day since 17 of their classmates and teachers died in yet another senseless mass shooting at a U.S. school.

David and Cameron chatted earnestly and epitomized cool. Strangers in the strange land of the Upper West Side, these Floridians kept their

distance and remained in command.

Clearly the moment was not too big for them.

Who can forget the forcefulness of the Parkland survivors when they addressed hundreds of thousands of people on March 24 in Washington, at The March for Our Lives? While somehow maintaining their integrity and

dignity, David, Cameron and many of their charismatic classmates — particularly Emma “We Call BS.” Gonzalez — have gone on TV show after TV show to press their case.

At the book party, David, who dressed formally, and Cameron, who wore a black t-shirt saying Institute of Politics, stood together. They reminded me of the way The Beatles clung to one another in “A Hard Day’s Night,” when they dealt with the crush of overnight fame and constant demands for their time by poseurs. David and Cameron looked quite bemused when one notable publishing executive buttonholed them and beseeched them to go to dinner afterward.

I got the sense that the Parkland survivors must genuinely be a tight unit.

Fame can work tricks on people, particularly in our disposable, celebritydriven culture. No doubt, the Parkland students recognize that they have become famous because so many of their classmates were killed. If that tragedy hadn’t taken place, they’d be ordinary, anonymous high school kids living unspectacular lives. It must be a terrible burden to bear every day.

David and Cameron were too media savvy than to give me any major

scoops. David noted that he would be taking a gap year between high school and college to continue working against gun violence. They had spent the day over at Bloomberg headquarters talking about the cause. They were optimistic about their progress so far in getting numbers of young people registered to vote in this year’s U.S. elections. They apologized for not yet having business cards to hand out — “they’re coming in next week” (I have a feeling these teenagers are already sharp enough by now to recite that very effective line to strangers at every one of their stops).

My only gripe was that Cameron, albeit respectfully and earnestly, reminded me that I’m on the wrong side of the generation gap by addressing me as “sir.” (Couldn’t he have called me “dude” or something hipper? You know, I wore a black homemade armband to protest the Vietnam War on Moratorium Day in 1969!)

David and Cameron are impressive young men. They know what they’re doing. They intend to use their fame for good causes to help our society.

It was a privilege to meet them. If we ever happen to talk again, I’ll rightfully address each of them as “sir.”

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levels on fourth-grade math and English exams. (Black and Hispanic students account for more than 80 percent of District 3 students who score at below-proďŹ cient levels on state exams.)

B. Gives priority to students with lower course grades and standardized test scores, and does not take economic factors directly into account.

C. Measures students using the same academic performance indicators as in the second scenario, but differs in that prioritized admissions offers would only be extended to students who also qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

In each scenario, the remaining 75 percent of middle school seats would be open to all students. The Department of Education projects that each policy would result in a net increase in the number of students receiving an offer from a preferred school.

The DOE plans to select one of the three scenarios in time for the admissions process for students starting sixth grade in 2019. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to determine which best captures and aligns with our goals and our vision,â&#x20AC;? said District 3 Superintendent Ilene Altschul.

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The volatile issue of racial segregation in Upper West Side schools made headlines last month when New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza tweeted a viral video of parents criticizing a plan to reserve seats at highperforming middle schools for students with low standardized test scores. That plan has since been replaced with three alternative Department of Education proposals that aim to reduce racial segregation by setting aside middle school seats for students with academic deficiencies and/or economic need. The department hopes to settle on a revised middle school admissions policy by June. DOE officials detailed the new proposals at a May 22 meeting of Community Educational Council 3 at P.S. 163 on West 97th Street.

Five local principals spoke at the meeting in support of implementing an admissions diversity plan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To not do anything would be a tremendous error on our part,â&#x20AC;? said Charles DeBerry, principal of P.S. 76 in Harlem. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think we have the perfect plan. There are pieces that need to be worked out, but if we continue to decide to try to find the perfect plan we will never move anywhere.â&#x20AC;?

District 3, which includes the Upper West Side and part of Harlem, is the most segregated district in New York City, said Kim Watkins, the chair of the districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s community education council. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The stark reality in District 3 is that across racial lines, socioeconomic lines and academic performance, there is severe stratification of our schools,â&#x20AC;? Watkins said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The top schools are all wealthy, white and have high outcomes, and the very large majority of our schools that serve the middle school grades are high on the [Economic Need Index], they are black and Latino, and their student performances are lower.â&#x20AC;?

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Discover the world around the corner.

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

EDITOR’S PICK

Sun 3 CITY OF SCIENCE: WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL FOR KIDS Washington Square Park, Garibaldi Plaza 10:30 a.m. Free worldsciencefestival.com Walk on water, blast balls into orbit and defy gravity at this exhibit featuring hands-on activities for kids of all ages. Kids can learn about nutrition in space with a NASA biochemist, study the science of elephant toothpaste and more at this all-day, interactive event.

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OPENING: ‘THIS IS MODERN ART’

American Jewish Historical Society, 15 West 16th St. 7 p.m. $10/$12 at the door, $7 seniors/students The instrumental role of Jewish women in shaping the liberation movement of the 1960s, 70s and ’80s is the subject of a new book by Joyce Antler, who will join editors from Splinter, Slate and more in conversation.

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▲ AN INTRODUCTION TO TEA AND TEA TASTING Le District 225 Liberty St. 5 p.m. $50 Pinkies up: participants will enjoy the full sensory experience of tea tasting and learn ‘behindthe-scenes’ background information about each tea, from production to taste.

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Next Door at New York Theater Workshop 79 East 4th St. 7:30 p.m. $24 Based on the 2010 “bombing” of the Art Institute of Chicago by an underground graffiti crew, ‘This is Modern Art’ is a provocative play that asks viewers to reconsider what is art, and where it belongs.

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MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

HEAVENLY OFFERINGS The Costume Institute’s Spring 2018 exhibit at The Met is a holy show of religiously inspired garments

BY VAL CASTRONOVO

“Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” is the largest exhibit in the history of The Costume Institute and The Met museum. More than a fashion parade, it’s a spiritual happening, with celestial soundtracks wafting through the rooms and a silent choir of mannequins in the upper reaches of the Medieval Sculpture Hall. It not only spans four locations at The Met Fifth Avenue — the Byzantine and Medieval galleries, The Robert Lehman Wing and the Anna Wintour Costume Center — but it continues to enchant at The Met Cloisters in Upper Manhattan, where outfits are presented indoors and out.

As Cardinal Timothy Dolan, New York’s archbishop, said at a preview: “In the Catholic imagination, the truth, goodness and beauty of God is reflected all over the place, even in fashion. The world is shot through with his glory and his presence. That’s why I’m here, that’s why the Church is here.”

Organizationally speaking, this sartorial spectacle mimics a pilgrimage, curator Andrew Bolton said, with spectators advised to begin the journey in the galleries on the first floor of The Met Fifth Avenue before venturing to the Anna Wintour Costume Center on the lower level — home to some 40 vestments and accessories on loan from the Sistine Chapel Sacristy — and concluding at The Cloisters. In all, the show spans 25 galleries and 60,000 square feet, with some 150 ensembles.

A collaboration of The Costume Institute, The Met’s Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, “The exhibition situates costumes alongside religious artworks to provide an interpretive context for fashion’s engagement with Catholicism,” Bolton said. “Whereas the focus at The Met Fifth Avenue is on the pageantry of the Catholic Church, The Cloisters addresses the more contemplative and reverential aspects of Catholicism, fashions inspired by monastic orders as well as the holy sacraments of the Catholic Church.”

Most of the designers featured have been raised Roman Catholic, and though many do not practice the faith, “most acknowledge its significant in-

“Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” Robert Lehman Wing.

Photo: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

“Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” inside the Met Fifth Avenue’s Medieval Sculpture Hall.

Photo: ©The Metropolitan Museum of Art fluence over their imaginations,” the curator said. On the one hand, the influence can be seen in the use of Catholic symbols and iconography — the cross, a pierced heart or an image of the Madonna and Child.

But dig deeper and see that it is “conveyed through their reliance on storytelling and, specifically, the trope metaphor,” Bolton said, invoking Father Andrew Greeley, author of “The Catholic Imagination,” who believed “metaphor is the essential characteristic of a distinctly Catholic sensibility that he defines as ‘the Catholic imagination.’”

The storytelling traditions of Catholicism play out here through a succession of short stories told through “conversations” between haute couture and medieval sacred art. The drama begins in the corridors flanking the Grand Staircase, in Byzantium. Behold five mannequins on high pedestals, costumed in Gianni Versace metalmesh dresses with crosses (autumn/ winter 1997-98). The iconography was derived from a gilded silver processional cross, on display, that Versace first saw at The Met’s 1997 show, “The Glory of Byzantium.” The metalwork riffs the tesserae of mosaics found in Ravenna’s Byzantine monuments.

Enter the Crypt, under the staircase, for an eye-popping selection of Versace halter-tops and jackets from

autumn/winter 1991-92. They boast crystal-embroidered images of Byzantine icons that play off the real thing in The Met’s collection.

The journey comes to a glorious climax in the Medieval Sculpture Hall, where the organizers unabashedly pay homage to Federico Fellini’s famously blasphemous “ecclesiastical fashion show” in the film “Roma” (1972; see the clip here), in which nuns, priests, bishops and cardinals take to the runway and strut their stuff.

Here, the side aisles of the hall are turned into an ecclesiastical fashion runway and lined with outfits that reference the hierarchy and gender distinctions of the holy orders that Fellini mocks. The right aisle is devoted to outfits that mimic the female habit. Rossella Jardini (House of Moschino) designed a jokey ensemble for spring/summer 2014 with a winged headdress in white that evokes the cornette worn by the Daughters and Charity and, laughingly, Sally Fields in “The Flying Nun.” But the main action is reserved for the center aisle, which, like the nave of a church or a fashion runway, is the setting for a major theatrical performance — in this case, a solemn procession of faith-full couture by the likes of Alexander McQueen for the House of Givenchy, Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino and John Galliano for the House

of Dior. Piccioli’s sweeping red silk taffeta dress, with a train and plunging neckline revealing lots of skin, cheekily recalls the ceremonial cape (“cappa magna”) worn by cardinals and bishops for liturgical occasions.

The holiest site on this pilgrimage, however, lies below ground, in the peaceful realm of the Anna Wintour Costume Center, where papal vestments, crosses, mitres, tiaras and clasps from the Vatican are displayed.

The pieces span more than 15 papacies and date back to the mid-18th century.

Many have never traveled outside the Holy City, including several embroidered treasures from a suite of vestments commissioned by the Empress of Austria for “the dandy” Pope Pius IX (reigned 1846-78).

Fifteen women labored 16 years to complete the set, a paean to beauty and the fashionable Catholic imagination.

IF YOU GO WHAT: “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” WHERE: The Met Fifth Avenue, Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street; The Met Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan WHEN: Through October 8 www.metmuseum.org

MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

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MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS MAY 16 -22, 2018 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.

Subway

250 Broadway

A

La Bellezza Pizzeria

315 Broadway

A

Mcdonald’s

317 Broadway

A

Jeremy’s Ale House

228 Front Street

A

Dunkin’ Donuts

64 Fulton Street

A

Wetzel’s Pretzels

200 Broadway

Grade Pending (15) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.

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

Hop Lee Restarant

16 Mott Street

Grade Pending (9) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Anyway Cafe

519 Broome St

Grade Pending (2)

Creamistry

129 Walker St

Not Yet Graded (15) Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Grom

233 Bleecker Street

A

Palma

28 Cornelia Street

A

The Rusty Knot

374 West 11 Street

A

Old Rose

113 Jane St

Grade Pending (29) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/ refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.

Barrow Street Ale House

15 Barrow St

Grade Pending (27) 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. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.

Trattoria Spaghetto

232 Bleecker Street

A

Fay Da Bakery

321 6 Avenue

A

Rivoli Pizza II

131 Christopher St

A

Giulietta’s Cantina Club

13 Carmine St

A

The Wren

344 Bowery

A

Sushi Sushi

126 Macdougal St

A

Circa Tabac

32 Watts Street

A

310 Bowery Bar

310 Bowery

A

Ninja Restaurant

25 Hudson Street

A

Denino’s Pizzeria & Tavern

93 Macdougal St

A

China Blue

451 Washington St

A

The Malt House

206 Thompson Street A

Old Man Hustle

39 Essex St

A

De Maria

19 Kenmare Street

Hong Man

27 Eldridge St

A

Regina’s Grocery

27 Orchard St

A

New Roma Pizza

116 Delancy Street

Grade Pending (22) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Grade Pending (15) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Birch Coffee

71 W Houston St

A

Cafe Angelique

6870 Bleecker Street

A

Think Coffee

1 Bleecker Street

A

The Masala Wala

179 Essex Street

A

Gnoccheria By Luzzo’s

234 E 4th St

A

The Boil

139 Chrystie Street

A

La Vraie Raclette

511 E 12th St

A

Iguazu Grill Wine & Beer

26 Jefferson St

Grade Pending (18) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding.

Fresno II Deli

31 Avenue C

A

Sandwicherie

127 4th Ave

A

Subway

7 E 14th St

A

Grade Pending (30) Food from unapproved or unknown source or home canned. Reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) fish not frozen before processing; or ROP foods prepared on premises transported to another site. 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 handdrying device not provided. 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.

Veselka Restaurant

144 Second Avenue

Grade Pending (22) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Vapiano

113 University Place

A

AMC Theatres

66 3rd Ave

A

Ravagh Persian Grill

125 1st Ave #127

A

Drunken Dumpling

137 1st Ave

A

Ramen-Ya

181 West 4 Street

The Spaniard

190 W 4th St

A

Anyway Cafe

34 East 2 Street

A

Suprema

305 Bleecker St

A

Madame Vo’s

212 E 10th St

A

MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

POPULAR DIETS: HOW TO DIGEST IT ALL

Tour Breweries J

What really works to help lose weight and keep you well nourished?

Hudson Valley Region e 9 2018 un

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BY JOSHUA NOVAK, M.D.

Here’s the good news: New York State is ranked in the top ten for having the lowest adult obesity rate across the country.

Now the bad news: In New York City, more than half of adult New Yorkers are either overweight (34 percent) or obese (22 percent), despite those new biking lanes and fruit and vegetables stands on every corner. This is likely due to the availability of food 24/7 in our great city.

We know that being overweight increases the risk for diabetes, heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, arthritis and some types of cancer, but it is also causing another problem: malnourishment. People with obesity may consume an excessive proportion of unhealthy foods low in nutritional values. These include carbohydrates derived from refined sugar, white rice, fat, and oil.

In addition, intake of fruit and vegetables may be limited.

Studies of obese patients prior to bariatric surgery were found to have deficiencies in such micronutrients as vitamin D, iron and vitamin C. At any given time, 45 percent of women and 30 percent of men are trying to lose weight and $33 billion is spent annually on diet books and diet plans.

So what are some of the most popular diets out there — and do they really work to help lose weight, keep it off and won’t starve us? Here are a few for you to digest: Weight Watchers uses a points system, whereby points are assigned to certain foods. People are given a total number to aim for each day. Foods high in nutrients and are more filling and have fewer points. This enables patients to exercise portion control and moderate the amount of food they are consuming. A possible downside is that these are often prepared foods. Some people consider it less clean and fresh eating.

The Keto Diet was originally the Atkins Diet and it’s a lowcarbohydrate diet that is

15

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

di Vegetables are key to healthy eating. Photo: Marco Verch, via flickr higher in fat, particularly unhealthy saturated fats. It has been shown to provide weight loss in the first six months; however, this effect can sometimes be reversed once patients increase their carbohydrate intake. It decreases triglyceride concentrations and increase HDL (good cholesterol) concentrations in some patients. With limiting the amount of grains as well as some fruits, there is a risk of micronutrient and vitamin deficiencies.

The Flexitarian Diet is new and encourages people to eat mostly vegetarian.

The TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes) diet is meant to help people cut down on high cholesterol foods, and fast foods and eat more fiber.

The Mediterranean Diet is a very popular diet, although not specifically designed for weight loss; it puts fruits and vegetables high on the food pyramid, with lots of fish and seafood, nuts, and legumes.

There is little red meat and sweets, but you are definitely allowed wine and olive oil. The 2013 Lyon Diet Heart Study put this diet on the map as it found that there was a 73 percent reduction of coronary events for high-risk patients after 27 months with this diet and that it lowered blood pressure and cholesterol. Benefits are not as clear in terms of preventing cancers, but olive oil and eating fruits, such as tomatoes, and vegetables that are high in fiber are associated with benefits for colon cancer risks.

Sticking to this diet seems to work and there are not many pitfalls with it.

DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet is particularly effective for people suffering with high blood pressure as it’s lower in sodium

than the normal American diet.

Eighty million people have hypertension and only half of them are currently controlling their blood pressure. The DASH diet includes foods rich in protein, fiber, potassium, magnesium and calcium, fruits, veggies, beans, nuts, whole grains and low-fat dairy. Fats are limited as well as sweets.

The downfall here is that these foods tend to be more expensive versus nutrient-deficient foods, such as junk food, that are easily accessible and less expensive.

Mind is a mixture of DASH and the Mediterranean Diet and is aimed at helping brain function and curb brain decline. More research is needed to confirm this, but the diet includes brainhealthy food such as leafy greens, nuts, berries, beans, whole grains, and avoids meat, dairy, sweets and fast food.

WHOLE30 is not a weight-loss diet, but a 30-day guide that claims to manage allergies, digestive issues and chronic pain. It excludes sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes and dairy.

There’s no cheating, and some folks may be at risk for a loss of intake of calcium and vitamin D because of the elimination of dairy, grains and legumes.

Then there’s Ornish, LEARN

(Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationship and Nutrition), The Zone, fasting diets and I could go on and on. But keep in mind there’s also a popular non-dieting approach to losing weight called Mindful Eating. This focuses on behavioral modifications and gaining awareness of hunger and full sensations based on internal cues, and recognizing emotional eating to reduce unhealthy obesityrelated eating behaviors.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

Business

Homes in the Gramercy Park neighborhood. Photo: Jeffrey Zeldman

Stacey Cunningham, a former floor clerk on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor, began her tenure as the NYSE’s first woman president on May 25. Photo: Alyssa Ringler

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 226 YEARS, WOMAN LEADER FOR THE NYSE FINANCE Stacey Cunningham becomes president of the Big Board

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The New York Stock Exchange for the first time in its 226-year history is being led by a woman.

Stacey Cunningham, who started her career as a floor clerk on the NYSE trading floor, became the 67th president of the Big Board.

That means that two of the world’s most well-known exchanges will be led by women. Adena Friedman became CEO of Nasdaq in early 2017.

“It’s exciting to take on the role of running this organization because it’s an institution and it has a lot of personal meaning to me, myself, you know so that’s really what I’ve been focused on,” Cunningham said last

week. “As a woman, I think it’s important to set new boundaries for everyone so that those who follow can continue to have more opportunity than existed before.”

Cunningham, who is the chief operating officer for the NYSE Group, became president May 25, according to International Exchange, they NYSE’s parent company.

Current NYSE President Thomas Farley is leaving to head a special purpose acquisition company.

The historically male-dominated financial industry has grappled with its own issues tied to the (hash) MeToo movement.

Last month it was announced that the “Fearless Girl” statue, which has become a global symbol of female business prowess, will be moved from her spot staring down Wall Street’s bronze “Charging Bull” to a new home facing the New York Stock Exchange.

PASSING ON PROPERTY REAL ESTATE There are several possible reasons would-be buyers pass on homes without making a counterbid

BY FREDERICK W. PETERS

Why don’t they just make an offer?

Because they don’t! We can’t exactly explain why, but I do have a few ideas about why buyers will pass on a property, even if they like it, rather than making a low offer. Buyers USED to make low offers. But nowadays they prefer not to. They just move on. Here are a few of the factors which I believe influence their decision: • They have lived through or witnessed too many skyrocketing markets. Over much of the past 15 years, most of the time properties were receiving multiple offers and selling quickly. If buyers observe such markets for long enough, they develop a self-protective attitude towards low bids. To them, watching as they have so many instances in which even the asking price could not secure the property, the idea that a seller might really entertain a bid 12 percent or 15 percent below the asking price seems impossible.

• They dismiss the seller as unrealistic. Buying a home is an emotional decision. An inappropriately priced property seems insulting to the buyer’s intelligence. “Are they dreaming?” the buyer might say, or “That pricing is totally unrealistic.” When we suggest the possibility of making a low offer, the most frequent retort has become “Get back to me after they lower the price!”

• They do not want to set themselves up for disappointment. There is a good deal of inventory in most submarkets, and an increasing amount of that inventory (often having taken a number of interim price reductions) seems to offer better value than any overpriced unit. Buyers prefer to move on to something the asking price of which makes them feel more confident of success.

• Urgency has left the marketplace.

Most buyers today don’t mind waiting. My agents report to me that week after week, people attend their Sunday open houses and seemed filled with enthusiasm for the unit. Then Monday comes and the silence is deafening. No call, no email. When we follow up, their broker tends to say the buyer liked the property, but they are waiting to see what happens next in

the market. Or that they’re in no hurry.

Or that it isn’t exactly what they want.

Or that the price seems a little high.

And when we respond to THAT remark by saying “Why don’t they make an offer?” the answer is almost always negative. No, the buyer isn’t ready. Or no, they fear their bid would insult the seller. Maybe they will come back to it if the price comes down.

For whatever the reason, perhaps one of those listed above or perhaps another, the deals we are making (and May has been a very good month for us) all feature well-priced units. None of them depended on buyers taking the initiative to offer 15 percent below an excessive asking price. And for very few was there more than one bidder.

These days, listings get sold when the right person finds them. It’s not a lot of people fighting over a property. Usually it’s a lone bidder. And he or she is NOT bidding when the price is wrong.

So sellers take note: aspirational pricing leads to months on the market without a sale. In today’s environment, price it right if you want to sell it. It’s the only way.

Frederick Peters is CEO of Warburg Realty Partnership

MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

17

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

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SURAJ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 arrayed before 75 voters in the East 88th Street church parish house on May 24.

As mantras go, it wasn’t very subtle.

Patel is running to take down 72-yearold Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney — first elected to the City Council in 1982, the year before he was born — and he is quick to disparage “our 25year incumbent” in his call for a “new generation of leadership.”

After feting voters with decent wine and Camembert, the upstart challenger, a 12-year resident of the East Vil-

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com lage, got down to business in a meeting room in the landmark 1897 church.

And he brought down the house with a stump speech that scored high marks for originality.

“Every New Yorker who takes the subway knows you are asked a very existential decision whenever you go to the MetroCard machine,” he began.

“Do you want to add value or do you want to add time?”

The punch line? “Your incumbent congressperson has decided to add time,” Patel said. “Time and time again, she has chosen to add time ...

But you deserve to have an incumbent who chooses to add value.”

At stake in the Democratic primary

on June 26 is the 12th Congressional District, a prize that takes in the UES, Sutton Place, Midtown, including Trump Tower, Gramercy, Flatiron, Union Square, Roosevelt Island, and the East Village, plus Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn and Astoria and Long Island in Queens.

How do you wrest it away from a congressional legend and senior member of the House Financial Services Committee who has authored and passed 70-plus bills — including landmark laws like the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1988, the James Zadroga 9/11 Compensation Act of 2011 and the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights in 2009?

Patel says you first dispel apathy in a district where a paltry seven percent of registered Democrats cast ballots in primary elections. How? Mint bolder candidates. Seek and energize a youthful, more female, well-educated and ethnically and racially diverse voter base.

He points to his own expansive campaign team of 28 staffers, 59 interns and 100 volunteers — “so young, so energetic” — as one of the secrets to capturing the oddly proportioned three-borough district flanking the East River.

“What we’re doing here can become a true model for the nation to engage young people in the largest numbers in American history,” Patel told the crowd.

“We can change the underlying demographics of the electorate that shows up, in this district, in this country, to make it a little younger, a little more representative, a little more progressive,” he added. “This will be our moment.”

MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

Suraj Patel’s “New Blood” slogan on a food cart. Photo: Courtesy of Suraj Patel campaign

Suraj Patelat speaking with constituents at town hall meeting in the Church of the Holy Trinity on East 88th Street on May 24. Photo: Douglas Feiden

THE MALONEY RECORD

Suraj Patel, who is trying to unseat Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney in a Democratic primary challenge on the East Side, mingles with voters over wine and cheese at a town hall meeting in the Church of the Holy Trinity on East 88th Street last Thursday.

Photo: Douglas Feiden

SURAJ PATEL: THE RESUME Born: December 20, 1983 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi Education: Undergraduate, Stanford University; law degree, NYU Law School Masters in public policy, Cambridge University Work: President of Sun Development (currently on leave) Teaches business ethics at NYU’s Stern School of Business Did advance work for Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns Residence: East Village, 12th Street and Avenue A

Not so fast: “Before you tell me what you want to do, tell me what you have done,” said Bob Liff, a Maloney campaign spokesman.

“Carolyn Maloney has delivered for her district, her city and her country in ways few other members can match, including getting the critical funding needed to finally build the Second Avenue Subway, after 100 years of trying,” he added.

“Whether it is the Zadroga 9/11 health bill to care for and honor our first responders, the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights that is saving credit cardholders $12 billion a year, the Debbie Smith Act to fund testing of old rape kits, or the day-to-day work of fighting for her constituents, Carolyn Maloney is always there for New Yorkers and getting results.”

Unfailingly, her fundraising machinery is well-oiled: Between January 2017 and March 31 this year, she amassed $1.36 million, with a hefty $913,000 in the bank, Federal Election Commission filings show.

But the real surprise was that Patel, untested and a first-time political aspirant who started his fundraising considerably later, was able to garner $1.1 million between October 2017 and March 31, outraising the incumbent

over the past two quarters. He’s sitting on a $601,000 stockpile.

“I’m not here to mail it in,” he said.

The candidates will face off for a oneon-one NY1 debate that will air on June 12 at 7 p.m.

A big chunk of Patel’s war chest tracks to family and friends from Indiana and elsewhere. Other members of the Indian-American community, galvanized by the underdog campaign, have also opened their checkbooks.

The Asian press has paid close attention to the race.

So who is this insurgent who came out of the political ether to mount a credible challenge?

“I was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, of all places,” he told his audience, the child of entrepreneurial parents who emigrated from India in the 1970s.

“They bought a burned-down seafood restaurant, and they didn’t open an Indian restaurant because no one would eat Indian food back then,” he said. “Instead, they opened a Tex-Mex restaurant. The spices were similar!”

So began a classic immigrant success story. His family purchased a small motel in Indiana, relocated to the Hoosier State, bought additional hotel properties, and eventually, built

a profitable hospitality empire.

“My family lived through every income bracket there is in America,” he recalled.

As a child, Patel stocked motel vending machines. Years later, he became president of the family business, expanding its holdings to 20 hotels in 14 states.

Along the way, he graduated Stanford University, studied public policy at Cambridge University, came to New York in 2006 to attend NYU Law School, earned his law degree, taught business ethics at NYU’s Stern School of Business and bought a home on 12th Street and Avenue A. Meanwhile, in 2008 and 2012, Patel did advance work for both Obama presidential campaigns — and in 2015, his family saga came full circle when he helped organize a presidential trip to Asia.

“Fifty years after my parents left India, their son was flying back with Barack Obama on Air Force One,” he said at the town hall.

The prospect of such outcomes for multitudes of others is one reason he’s running for Congress: “That is, after all, the American Dream,” Patel said. invreporter@strausnews.com

MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

SCHOOL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 Some members of the public and the Community Education Council, which provides input to the Department of Education but has no statutory role, expressed concern that the policy’s focus on increasing diversity in the district’s higher-performing middle schools does little to address the underlying reasons for persistently poorer outcomes in lower-performing schools, particularly those in Harlem.

Genisha Metcalf, secretary of Community Education Council 3, criticized the admissions proposals for “not doing anything to support the middle schools that are most in need.”

“As we’re having conversations about equity I think we’re conflating some issues,” she said. “Equity is providing all schools with equal opportunity or access to resources.

Equity is not taking a few students from the highest need schools and sending the message that you need to shuffle kids out of their community to get a highly sought-after education.”

Metcalf noted that according to Department of Education projections, P.S. 149 and P.S. 76, two Harlem schools with the highest Economic Need Index scores in the district, would see minimal changes in terms of academic diversity as a result of any of the three admissions proposals.

Others felt the proposals are not bold enough to produce school diversity results that accurately reflect the district’s demographics. Altschul said the Department of Education would be happy to consider bolder measures, and explained that the current proposals reflect a focus on “small steps.”

“First let’s implement this, let’s look at it, see how we’re doing, look at the success measures and then determine what our next steps are,” she said.

DIETS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 So with the plethora of diets to choose from, here are some guidelines to keep in mind: • Before starting a diet, consider consulting your physician.

• Try to find a nutritious weight-loss diet plan based on your food preferences and make sure it’s easy enough to follow.

• Try to cook more at home whenever possible as there will likely be an automatic decrease in the amount of saturated fat and calories when compared to typically prepared foods. Also restaurant portions (including takeout) are much larger than what we actually need to eat in one meal.

• If eating healthier seems more ex-

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com Carranza, who took office as Chancellor in early April, drew citywide attention to the issue April 27 when he tweeted a video of a recent meeting on the District 3 admissions changes headlined “WATCH: Wealthy white Manhattan parents angrily rant against plan to bring more black kids to their schools.”

The video showed parents criticizing an earlier diversity proposal as unfair on the grounds that it would result in students with higher test scores not receiving offers to their preferred schools. Carranza has vowed to bring “sense of urgency” to rectifying segregation in the city’s schools.

Martin Wallace, a parent whose son will start sixth grade next year at Mott Hall II on West 109th Street, said that while he has confidence that Carranza is serious about addressing segregation in the district, he feels the central issue of equity in school funding is left unaddressed by the admissions proposals.

“It doesn’t get to the core,” Wallace said. “Right now I think we’re still working around the edges. I get the sense that because of how controversial the redistricting was for the District 3 elementary schools, I think they’re taking a cautious, conservative approach.

They want to make progress without creating too much controversy.

It’s tough.”

Wallace and some other parents spoke in favor of redistributing funds raised by wealthier schools’ PTAs to needier schools across the district, a policy that has been implemented in a handful of school systems around the country.

The City Council will consider new legislation, introduced in May and co-sponsored by Upper West Side Council Member Helen Rosenthal, that would require the city’s Human Rights Commission to create a new office tasked with studying racial segregation in public schools and recommending policy changes to address the issue. pensive, work around it. Consider local farmers markets, frozen vegetables and meats as they tend to be less expensive.

• If a diet is going to be restrictive, consider taking a multi-vitamin.

• Make sure to include exercise as part of your weight-loss plan.

• Sticking to your nutritious diet long-term is more preferable to losing quick fast weight that may deprive you of important nutrients and may be so restrictive up give up.

And, of course, talk to a dietitian or gastroenterologist. Our job is to help you sort it all out.

Dr. Joshua Novak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, The Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

BOBBY, AT HOME EVERYWHERE, AND NOWHERE COMMUNITY An itinerant native son’s quest for permanence

BY SUSHMITA ROY

The complexities of building a China in a New York neighborhood never seemed to occur to anybody. It was that thing about New York — the thing that made everything believable and nothing too impossible or far-fetched. And in fact, the narrow roads running through downtown resembled the dark alleyways. And then there were the red-yellow lanterns, the cash-only restaurants, the chintzy replicas, the street vendors, the smell, the Mandarin.

Any definite boundary was hard to discern. People who lived down Mercer and Broadway could say they lived in Chinatown. It gave an address some solidity, implied community. It gave people a sense of belonging — even to those who lived at the homeless shelter that didn’t seem to fit in. And to belong is to survive in New York City.

Watching others suffer diminished your own suffering. Not being able to afford enough weed to make it through the week seemed less treacherous when you stumbled upon others searching for dealers acting like loan sharks. Outside the shelter, the customary catcalling and howling were norms; this was the traffickers’ way of announcing their arrival, showcasing control, marking territory.

Robert Martinez and his daughter, Lily.

Photo courtesy of Robert Martinez

Situations were tense, more complex than they looked peripherally. Money was tight. But the hardest thing was making it back by curfew. One minute late and you lose your bed, bound again to look for a secure spot on the gravy New York streets.

Robert Martinez, 40, missed the deadline on his third day at the shelter and, after picking up his bag, decamped to three others with later curfews.

Martinez, whose family and friends — whoever was left after the sudden news of the homelessness arrived — call him Bobby. And Bobby, whose grandparents and father came from Puerto Rico, is a tough New York kid through and through. He’s lived in the Bronx, in Queens, on Long Island, in Brooklyn.

The Bronx of the 1980s where Bobby grew up reeked of mischief. Guns, bodies, drugs.

“I saw my first dead body when I was 4,” he says. “Someone was putting a sheet on it and I was like ‘is this guy sleeping?’”

Life was all the more fun on Grand Avenue with the neighborhood kids rolling over each other in the park, in the street, anywhere, everywhere, till the sun would set.

The space wasn’t small for Bobby, who was then 12. To get to school, though, meant taking the bus. And taking the bus meant spending money.

But he wanted shoes; good ones that people would stare at. He and most of the neighborhood kids attended a school in Riverdale. But the neighborhood rogues couldn’t afford the bus.

They would climb up the back wheels and slink in through the back window.

Easier and more fun, too. The only break in this routine came when one of them didn’t get in on time and was run over by the rear tires. Pronounced dead at the scene. Two days of mourning, before the kids resumed their custom.

Death never terrified the neighborhood. Some secretly wished for it.

But everyone knew how to survive.

Being hungry wasn’t especially difficult. Many knew the condition from birth, or before.

Abandoned buildings were another characteristic of the neighborhood that Martinez avoided. “Zombies!”

Martinez called the wasted bodies huddled and cuddled around each

19

Robert Martinez during his Navy days.

Photo courtesy of Robert Martinez other. That was their hub. Crack and pot and alcohol. Those were necessities one had to afford. Your body was an inexhaustible resource you could offer for trade. Until you found an escape, which Martinez did, out of the neighborhood, out of New York.

Enrolled at Manhattan Community College in his late teens, he lacked motivation. He had an urge to travel, or maybe just to leave. He enlisted in the Navy. After serving, he felt the pull of the borough. He returned, worked as a waiter and then as a cook. Money was coming in. He fell in love with a Latina.

They married. A daughter arrived.

When she turned 11, the family moved to Virginia. No soon after, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

The money had gone and his wife soon left too.

He returned to New York, taking turns at sleeping at cousins’ houses.

His alcoholism caused conflicts, the job hunts frustrated and aggression was the norm. He was soon taking refuge on the 6 train.

For a month or so, Bobby had been sleeping upright on the train. New York may not be judgmental but it knows how to segregate: rich from poor, white from black, immigrant from native. It can tell. Homeless meant you caused trouble but Bobby wasn’t trouble.

Bobby is now at a shelter on the Upper West Side — living in Manhattan, where he once dreamed of having a home. His disability landed him in the hospital during December. After waiting five years, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income checks started coming. In his room, he smokes off a vape and paints watercolors – galaxies, birds and water scenes. He jumps at the opportunity to meet his daughter and spends his days listening to her play the violin or obsess over Harry Potter. But the $1,047 he receives as disability relief isn’t enough to bring her back from Virginia.

The frustrations and enigmas still sting. The Bronx is safer and cleaner and more dynamic than it was during his youth. Which means Bobby can’t afford to rent even a studio there. He understands that living in different New York neighborhoods implies adjusting all the time. But he believes that he can amend this, and make every neighborhood his own.

20

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Upper East Side residents voted to fund the installation of a new heating and air conditioning system in the cafeteria of P.S. 183 on East 66th Street through the city’s Participatory Budgeting program. Council Member Ben Kallos visited the school May 23 to announce the results of the vote. Photo: Office of Council Member Ben Kallos

UES VOTES TO FUND TECH, SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS Participatory budgeting results announced for East Side Council district

BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Air conditioning for a public school cafeteria, renovations to a kindergarten bathroom and technology upgrades in a number of local schools and libraries will be coming to the Upper East Side this year after over 1,900 residents cast votes for their preferred capital projects through the City Council’s Participatory Budgeting program.

The program, which recently completed its seventh annual voting cycle, lets residents vote on how to allocate $1 million in discretionary funding in their council district.

Four projects will receive funding in Council Member Ben Kallos’s Council district, which includes Roosevelt Island and much of the Upper East Side.

This year’s top vote-winner, with 792 votes, was a $200,000 project to reconstruct a kindergarten bathroom in P.S. 290, the Manhattan New School, on East 83rd Street. The overhauled restroom will include new sinks and stalls configured at heights that are age-appropriate for students.

Residents also voted to fund a $350,000 initiative to purchase new laptops for use in 10 public schools in the district. The second-place project was supported by 736 residents.

Another tech-focused project, the installation of $200,000 worth of new equipment in the district’s public libraries, received the third-most votes.

The Webster Library on York Avenue, the East 67th Street Library and the Roosevelt Island Library will receive upgrades including new computers, printers, self-checkout kiosks and high-speed WiFi. The final winning project, with 666 votes, commits $600,000 to the installation of a new heating and air condi-

tioning system in the cafeteria at P.S. 183, the Robert Louis Stevenson School, on East 66th Street, which is also often used by community organizations as a meeting space.

Though the combined cost of the top four projects exceeds the $1 million allocated to Participatory Budgeting, Kallos’s office will fund the remaining $350,000 with money from the district’s discretionary budget.

“Education and the well-being of our neighborhood children have always been a top priority for me,” Kallos said in a statement. “I am proud and happy that the residents who voted and participated in the process share that feeling and made it known with their vote.”

Voting for Participatory Budgeting took place in April and was open to all district residents age 11 or older. Participants could vote for multiple projects on their ballots, which could be cast online or in person at multiple locations in the district during the weeklong voting period.

MAY 31-JUNE 6,2018

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

YOUR 15 MINUTES

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

CENTER STAGE WITH ADRIENNE DANRICH In a moving solo show, the celebrated soprano honors the legacy of pioneering African-American opera singers Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price.

BY MARK NIMAR

African-American singers were not always welcome on the operatic stage. Whites-only policies, and racial prejudice prevented hugely talented African-American artists from receiving the stage time and national recognition they deserved. But then came contralto Marian Anderson, the first African-American woman to sing at the Metropolitan Opera, and then soprano Leontyne Price, who has won 19 Grammy Awards for her work on the concert and operatic stages. With their lustrous voices and powerhouse presences, Price and Anderson ripped down barriers for African-American opera singers. They not only set the gold standard for excellence in their field, but also inspired a generation of black singers such as Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle to follow in their footsteps.

IF YOU GO WHAT: “This Little Light of Mine: The Stories of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price,” part of the third annual New York OperaFest WHEN: 7:30 p.m., June 6.

WHERE: Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center 129 West 67th St. kaufmanmusiccenter.org Soprano Adrienne Danrich celebrates their legacies in her new solo show “This Little Light of Mine: The Stories of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price.” Danrich uses photos, videos and her own glorious voice to talk about the singers’ careers and social significance. Danrich sings everything from American spirituals to operatic favorites such as “Tu Che di Gel” and “Tu, tu, piccolo iddio” to show the full scope of these artists’ rich and varied repertoire.

We caught up with Danrich as she was preparing for the New York debut of this beautiful and important solo show.

Soprano Adrienne Danrich performs June 6 as part of the third annual New York OperaFest . Photo courtesy Adrienne Danrich.

When did you first hear Leontyne Price sing?

I was in high school, and I heard Leontyne Price sing in a commercial for the United Negro College Fund. I was struck by her regalness in the TV spot and her velvety, chocolaty sound.

Hearing her perform made me say, “I wanna do that!” I would sing the commercial’s jingle so frequently around the house that my mom would say, “Stop singing that song!” The commercial made me want to research her more, and so I went to the library and rented a video of her singing in the opera “Aida.” In the opera, she is so poised; it is breathtaking how the audience responded to her.

Why do you think it’s important for audiences to know about Leonytne Price and Marian Anderson?

Adrienne Danrich’s solo show, “This Little Light of Mine: The Stories of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price,” celebrates two African-American operatic pioneers.

Photo courtesy Adrienne Danrich.

In so many fields, you have groundbreaking achievers. The first woman to go to space. The first female newscaster. And in the field of opera, these ladies tore down barriers that have been a source of pain for AfricanAmerican people. Marian Anderson was the first African-American woman to sing at the Met. But before that, she was denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall, because of its whites-only policy. That happened in 1939. But with the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, Marian Anderson sang “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” before a crowd of 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial, and many more listened on the radio. And that instance really started making things move forward, opening so many doors for artists like Ms. Leontyne Price.

These ladies brought a face, a voice to African-Americans for what they’ve

been experiencing for the entirety of the history of America. They represent groundbreaking racial equality on the stage. Their message is about unity, about hope. And that is why it is important that these women’s stories are known.

What’s a story you love about Leontyne Price, or Marian Anderson?

There are so many of them.... When Leontyne Price was 9, she went to a recital that Marian Anderson was doing in Jackson, Mississippi. When she watched Marian Anderson walk onto the stage in her gown, Leontyne Price said to herself, “I wanna do that.” And for real, that is what I thought of the first time when I heard Leontyne sing.

These ladies, just by being themselves, made it possible for other AfricanAmerican artists like Robert McFerrin, Grace Bumbry, Kathleen Battle and myself to have the careers we have had. And that is why that story affected me so deeply.

What is your favorite moment in the show?

When I sing, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” I get really emotional imagining how Marian Anderson felt before singing it. She said that she was really nervous before singing it, and couldn’t breathe. But then she closed her eyes, and she was able to sing it.

I close my eyes too before I sing it in the show, and when I close my eyes, I feel a complete connection with her.

In that moment, there is a complete silence from the audience. People are so still.... This reverence comes over all of us. It is magical.

How do you feel about doing this show in New York for the first time?

This will be my 83rd time performing the show, and I will be performing it a block away from the Metropolitan Opera. This is where Leontyne Price was the first African-American to sing on the new Met stage, and I feel honored to be singing in such close proximity to history. New York and the Met in particular is the mecca of opera for so many singers. It is our holy grail, in a way. The people who come to shows at the Met have a certain level of expectation. You have to perform at a certain standard in order to garner a certain respect in the artistic community. But once you are accepted into that circle, it is so special.

If you could meet Leontyne Price and Marian Anderson, and say one thing to them, what would you say?

I would say the same thing to them both: thank you for your grace within adversity. I would say thank you for being who you are. Thank you for the inspiration. Both women maintained their dignity, and maintained their regality even when faced with the Jim Crow restrictions. Their grace has inspired me not only to be a singer, but a singer with a purpose.

I feel I have a bigger purpose than just making beautiful sounds. If I can make one person feel solace with the sounds and words I am singing ... that’s what I am working towards.

Healing is needed in this country right now, and that is what I am working for.

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

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