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WEEK OF JULY THE ESSENTIAL GIACOMETTI ◄ P.12
19-25 2018
IN THE CITY, BIG PHARMA’S GOT COMPETITION COMMERCE Independently owned apothecaries cater to clientele
Leticia James, the city’s public advocate, is one of four candidates running for attorney general. Photo: Courtesy of Leticia James
BY MICHAEL DESANTIS
If you own an independent pharmacy in Manhattan, odds are you’ll be competing with a CVS, Walgreens or Rite Aid no more than a block or two away. That competition has contributed to the downfall of independently-owned pharmacies such as the Battery Park Pharmacy and University Chemists in downtown Manhattan, both of which closed this spring. Surviving independent pharmacies in the city have leaned on a mix of innovation, individuality and customer service to maintain their presence and overcome challenges posed by corporate giants. Multiple pharmacists have said they’re forced to overcome contracts between chain stores and insurance companies where consumers have to get service from a chain pharmacy unless they want to pay the full price of medication. “Which is not right,” Abby Fazio, the owner of New London Pharmacy, said. “We are trying to fight in New York State. Bottom line, the patient should go where they want to go and where they feel more comfortable. Because chains
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Leecia Eve, a former legal adviser to Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is also bidding to become the state’s top law enforcement official. Photo: Courtesy of Leecia Eve
Zephyr Teachout, a law school professor who ran against Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2014, takes to the stump in a Murray Hill church last week seeking the Democratic clubhouse vote as she campaigns for state attorney general. Photo: Courtesy of Zephyr Teachout
POLITICKING FOR ‘PEOPLE’S LAWYER’ POST ney general – and they were tough to miss at the forum for candidates on July 11 at the New York New Church in Murray Hill. The scene was the old Swedenborgian church, at 114 East 35th St., where three of the contenders, all of them women, vied for support from roughly 125 members of 10 Democratic political clubhouses. Two of the hopefuls were African-Americans. A third was about six months pregnant. The only no-show was the only male aspirant in the contest. And he was lambasted for skipping the event. Largely aligned on the liberal-left-feminist spectrum, all three won rousing cheers from attendees, who hailed from the Eleanor Roo-
ENFRANCHISEMENT Three women court the clubhouse vote, showcase legal and people skills, usher the battle for attorney general into an East Side church BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
Abby Fazio, the owner of New London Pharmacy, on Eighth Avenue and 23rd Street, has hired specialists for each of the pharmacy’s several departments. Photo: Michael DeSantis
The seismic political power of the #MeToo movement. The drive to fix, trash or replace a busted male-dominated system. A sea change in the political climate. A dramatic shift toward the empowerment of women. All those dynamics have transformed the Democratic primary race for state attor-
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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
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sevelt Democratic Club, the chief sponsor, as well as the Lexington Democratic Club, Gramercy Stuyvesant Independent Democrats, Tilden Democrats, Ansonia Independent Democrats and Four Freedoms Democratic Club, among others. Galvanizing the gathering: A backlash to the perceived depredations of President Donald Trump, coupled with a vow from all three candidates to hold him accountable through the broad enforcement powers vested in the state’s chief legal officer. “He continues to lie, and a lie should not have life,” said Letitia (Tish) James, the public advocate who is the first
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