Our Town Downtown - August 3, 2017 by OurTown Downtown

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WEEK OF AUGUST SCARAMUCCI’S NEXT STEP? < P. 6

3-9 2017

More than 500 CityBenches are expected to be in place by the end of next year. Photo: NYC DOT

THE BENCHING OF MANHATTAN PUBLIC SPACES Or how a modest piece of street furniture is making life a little bit easier for the old, the frail, the young and just about everybody else

From 2006 to 2015, the number of annual bicycle trips in NYC grew 150 percent. Photo: Michael Garofalo

DOT TOUTS BIKE SAFETY DATA STREETS Cyclist fatality rates have dropped, study shows BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

It’s not your imagination: there are way more bikes on the streets than there used to be. From 2006 to 2015, the number of annual bicycle trips on New York City streets grew 150 percent. According to a new Department of Transportation study, the dramatic increase in ridership has been accompanied by a precipitous decline in the rate of fatalities and serious injuries. “Overall, the rate of cycling fatalities and serious injuries has really dropped as our numbers have risen,”

DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said at a July 31 press conference announcing the findings of the “Safer Cycling” study near the pedestrian and cyclist entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn. The number of annual cyclist fatalities in New York has remained relatively ﬂat over the last decade, Trottenberg said, but data shows that safety has improved signiﬁcantly when increased ridership is taken into account. On a per trip basis, the study says, the fatality rate for cyclists dropped 71 percent between 2000 and 2015. DOT officials and bicycle advocates have suggested that the reduced rate of accidents, even as the number of bikes on the road has grown, is evidence of the so-called “safety in numbers” theory, which holds that cycling

ridership and cycling injuries and deaths are inversely correlated. “The more bikers out there on the streets, the safer it is for everyone,” said Paul Steely White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, a pedestrian, bike and transit advocacy group. But despite encouraging data on bicycle safety, Trottenberg said there is still work to be done. Five cyclists died in Manhattan during the ﬁrst six months of 2017, according to city data, including three in June. One of the DOT’s priorities in improving bicycle safety is expanding the city’s network of bike lanes. According to the report, 89 percent of fatal bike collisions between 2006 and 2016 occurred on streets without bike lanes.

BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

Imagine a $1.31 million investment that can boost the quality of life on the East Side, the West Side and in midtown, downtown and Chelsea. A tiny expenditure that can turn the urban landscape for seniors more age-friendly, make a walkable island even more pedestrian-friendly, aid people with mobility problems — and simply give harried New Yorkers a space to catch their breath. Sound far-fetched? Actually, with little fanfare, it is already happening. The vehicle for this unheralded miracle? The humble street bench. Under a federa l ly f u nded streetscape improvement project, nearly 450 benches have been installed on the streets of Manhattan as of July 28, according to data provided by the city’s Department of Transportation. The average per-bench cost for the

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citywide program, which has already added 1,800 benches in all ﬁve boroughs, is roughly $3,000, according to an analysis by city Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office. That means the cost to date to place sidewalk pews in all 12 community districts in Manhattan is a modest $1.31 million — about the price paid by the MTA for a single subway car. As for the benefits? It’s hard to overstate them: “Benches are a really, really big deal, and we pushed very hard to get them,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who ﬁrst advocated for benches as a three-term City Council Member representing the Upper West Side. “They enable an older person to get to the grocery store, and the doctor’s appointment, and to rest along the way,” she said. “It helps them to remain independent.” They can also transform a bleak block into a joyous, user-friendly cityscape. Consider the stretch on the west side of Columbus Avenue between 77th and 76th Street, where a tall, unsightly block-long fence cordons off a schoolyard and had created what planners dub “sidewalk dead space.”

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Restaurant Ratings Business Real Estate 15 Minutes

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WEEK OF APRIL

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12

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

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

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

2015

In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS

The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She on the Over the past is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks. President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” can’t come p.m. and 7 a.m., of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits

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

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

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

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AUGUST 3-9,2017

CITY’S PET-SITTING RULES SCRUTINIZED GIG ECONOMY New York’s prohibition is not actively enforced, could be changed BY JENNIFER PELTZ

Fur is ﬂying over pet-sitting in New York City, where regulators are sniffing around apps that connect owners with people who take animals into their homes for pay. Health regulators are trying to reinforce a longstanding rule against the practice, a leading app is pushing back, and a City Council member is pondering the issue. And anxious pet sitters are wondering what to tell clients. “I don’t know what to do,” says Tanoopa Jaikaran, who left a marketing job last year to start a dog-walking and pet-sitting business. She does most of her sitting in clients’ own homes but she’d agreed to take a pet or two during upcoming holidays to her three-family Bronx house, where the animals can have their own apartment. “We want to do everything the right way,” she said, but “it’s a really hard pill to swallow right now.” In New York and elsewhere, pet-

boarding rules have gotten new attention with the rise of apps. The popular Rover and a former rival, DogVacay, were among the top five highest-funded “pet tech” startups in the last five years, according to CB Insights, which tracks venture capital. Just last month, Democratic Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a law letting people board as many as three pets without a license. The sponsors, Republican Rep. Lois Landgraf and Democratic Rep. Dan Pabon, said constituents had been stunned to learn they needed licenses to board pets even occasionally. “It’s not realistic to think that somebody who may not make $400 a year pet-sitting has to have a $400 license, compared to somebody who runs a full-blown dog day care and grooming facility,” says Landgraf, a Colorado Republican. Similarly, California lawmakers last year limited the state’s first pet-boarding regulations to facilities hosting four or more animals. New York City health officials, on the other hand, have proposed to tweak regulations to make the city’s in-home pet boarding ban all the more clear. The policy, discussed at a health department hearing last week, doesn’t apply to pet-sitting an animal in its

own pad or watching someone’s pet for free as a favor. The years-old prohibition isn’t actively policed; enforcement is driven by complaints. Statistics weren’t available from the Health Department this week. State Sen. Tony Avella, a Democrat who contacted the city health department last year about pet-sitting apps, says people who advertise and charge for pet care should have to meet licensing standards. And in a city of apartment-dwellers, health department lawyer Thomas Merrill says residents “have a right not to have someone next door with a bunch of animals coming in.” As the Daily News ﬁrst reported, he told DogVacay in October that its at-home boarders were breaking the law and could be ﬁned. Rover, which has since acquired DogVacay, says it’s unfair to require more of pet sitters than baby sitters and to deprive pet owners of an option that many prefer to a kennel, especially for aged or disabled animals. “Rover did not invent pet sitting; we simply make it safer with peer reviews, 24-hour safety support and pet sitter screening,” said company lawyer John Lapham. He says he’s optimistic about reaching “a sensible compromise” with

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Photo: Isaac Wedin New York regulators. City Council health committee chairman Corey Johnson, a Democrat, is looking at whether to propose changing the rules. Proprietors of pet-boarding facilities say it is unfair to let others get into the business without following the same rules. Tammy Karecki took a city-required course to get a permit, pays thousands of dollars in rent and collects sales tax for her Manhattan dog day care and training center, Star Paws. “I have to do it, so I think everybody should have to do it,” said Karecki, a

longtime dog trainer who worries that the do-it-yourself app atmosphere may attract inexperienced pet boarders. Whatever the setting, the Humane Society of the United States advises pet owners to check references and meet prospective caregivers in person, spokeswoman Vicki Stevens said. Jaikaran, meanwhile, says she’s determined to ﬁgure out a solution. “We do this because we love it,” she said as she walked, cajoled and encouraged a client’s 10-year-old, arthritic dog on lower Manhattan streets this week.

AUGUST 3-9,2017

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CRIME WATCH BY MARIA ROCHA-BUSCHEL STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st precinct for Week to Date

Year to Date

2017 2016

% Change

2017

2016

% Change

Murder

n/a

Rape

n/a

42.9

Robbery

n/a

27.3

Felony Assault

n/a

4.4

Burglary

-100.0

-49.3

Grand Larceny

191.7

558 591 -5.6

Grand Larceny Auto

-100.0

-71.4

Tony Webster, via ﬂickr

MEN BUSTED FOR MARIJUANA Police arrested two 26-year-old men for the criminal possession of marijuana Sunday, July 30, at 4:40 a.m. in front of 363 West 17th St. Police said that the men were seen smoking and passing a lit marijuana cigarette on the sidewalk and were blocking a residential building doorway. Police said they were in possession of additional marijuana.

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MAN SCAMMED A 48-year-old man resident of West 20th Street tried told police he paid a man $200 for concert tickets advertised on Craigslist by sending money to Western Union. He told police that the money was picked up in San Antonio, Texas, and afterwards, the suspect’s phone was disconnected and the victim didn’t receive the tickets.

PHONE STOLEN

FAKE GUN FOUND AT DOG RUN A man reported that he found a black metal imitation cap gun opposite 528 West 39th Street near Astro’s Dog Run on Sunday, July 16 around 3:50 p.m. He told police that he found the imitation gun outside the dog run.

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A 28-year-old man reported that his phone was stolen while he was inside Oak at 453 West 17th St. Friday July 30 sometime between 12:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. He told police that he got to the club a little after midnight and noticed around 2 a.m. that it was missing, and he later tracked the device to Pennsylvania.

HEROIN OVERDOSE REPORTED A 24-year-old resident of Ninth Avenue near West 26th Street was brought to Lenox Hill Hospital for a suspected heroin overdose Saturday, July 31, at 11 p.m. The victim’s girlfriend told police that she found him unconscious and lying on the bathroom ﬂoor after he had reportedly injected heroin into his arm. She called an ambulance and an EMS administered a dose of naloxone, enabling the victim to regain consciousness. Syringes were recovered at the scene.

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

*OlioMuse* An Exploration of the String Quartet Across Time

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 7PM The Strand | 828 Broadway | 212-473-1452 | strandbooks.com Explore the development of the string quartet from the late Baroque period through today with conductor, composer, and conservatory professor Whitney George. The music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, and Bartok will be among the selections played live as accompaniment ($25).

Exploring the Lost Streams of NYC: Greenwich Village’s Minetta Brook

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6TH, 11:30AM First Presbyterian Church | 12 W. 12th St. | nyadventureclub.com One of Manhattan’s largest streams, Minetta Brook, once ﬂowed through the Village. Learn more on an above-ground exploration that follows the brook’s contours, with insight into manhole covers, and how urban streams inﬂuenced the development of the city ($25-$29).

Just Announced | Islam: An American Religion

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH, 7:00PM Albertine | 972 Fifth Ave. | 212-650-0070 | albertine.com Catch a conversation with Nadia Marzouki, whose new book looks at how Islam formed in the U.S. and why the religion has become so contentious of late. Marzouki argues that the controversies reﬂect our divisions, and a less-visible “ambivalence toward freedom of speech”(free).

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

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Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 7th Precinct

19 ½ Pitt St.

212-477-7311

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233 W. 10th St.

212-741-4811

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FIRE FDNY Engine 15

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ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin

165 Park Row #11

Councilmember Rosie Mendez

237 1st Ave. #504

212-587-3159 212-677-1077

Councilmember Corey Johnson

224 W. 30th St.

212-564-7757

State Senator Daniel Squadron

250 Broadway #2011

212-298-5565

Community Board 1

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212-533-5300

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330 W. 42nd St.

212-736-4536

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Ottendorfer

135 2nd Ave.

212-674-0947

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70 Washington Square

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AUGUST 3-9,2017

WHERE TROUBLES MELT LIKE LEMON DROPS

AUGUST 3-9,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Volume 1 | Issue 2

The Pulse of

Lenox Health Greenwich Village

Make exercise a top priority Carving out the time to take care of yourself isn’t easy. But if you think outside the box, there are ways to move and groove any day of the week. Get creative. Listen to music while you garden, rake, clean or wash. It will motivate you to move more and provide you with moderateintensity exercise. When you’re running errands, do just that! Run rather than saunter. Chaperoning a soccer game? Speed walk around the field. Thirty minutes of brisk walking will clock in about 2 miles.

Did you know…

Burning between 90 and 110 calories a day through exercise could reduce your risk of early death by 16 to 30 percent.

Have an oﬃce job? Climb the stairs of your building for 15 minutes. Walk to lunch instead of drive. Or eat lunch at your desk and use your lunch hour to walk around the neighborhood. Did you know… Hot vs. cold Exercise is the best thing you can do for your body, but sometimes it can lead to sore or pulled muscles. Know how to treat an exerciserelated injury: – Use ice for acute pain (especially – Use heat for stiﬀ or tight if it’s accompanied by swelling) muscles to release knots, and for chronic inflammatory tension and muscle spasms. pain due to arthritis and tendinitis. Do not leave heat on for more Do not leave ice on an injury for than 20 minutes at a stretch. more than 20 minutes at a time.

If you weigh 150 pounds, you can burn approximately 90 calories with 30 minutes of walking. If you weigh 200 pounds, it increases to 120 calories per half hour.

Always use caution when starting a new exercise regimen. If you injure or overexert yourself, Lenox Health Greenwich Village’s Emergency Department is here for you 24/7. We are located on Seventh Avenue between West 12th and West 13th streets. Visit us at Northwell.edu/LHGV or call (646) 679-6678.

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AUGUST 3-9,2017

SCARAMUCCI’S NEXT STEP? MONEY After a spectacular flameout on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Mooch could have a future as a restaurateur BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

He’s lost Oval Office pop-in privileges. In fact, he’s persona non grata in the West Wing. And his day aboard Air Force One is at an end. But hey, he’ll always have the “Bluegrass Boozy Brunch” on Ninth Avenue. An epic outburst of vulgarity, unprintable in many family newspapers, got Anthony Scaramucci axed as White House communications director after a stormy 10-day reign dominated by threats to “fire everybody.” But self-detonation is opportunity. And though his gig in government didn’t exactly work out as advertised, the Mooch may yet have a future in an equally cutthroat arena — the restaurant business in midtown Manhattan. The Long Island-bred hothead has modest financial interests in a pair of popular eateries, according to the public financial disclosure report he filed on June 23, after President Donald Trump tapped him as senior vice president / chief strategy officer for

the Export-Import Bank. While the holdings are a minuscule fraction of his net worth — which is valued between $62 million and $85 million — they spotlight a largely unexamined side of the Wall Street ﬁnancier-cum-expletive-spewing government short-termer. Consider the Hunt & Fish Club, a top-dollar steakhouse and haunt for hedge-funders and other Wall Street princelings that launched in 2015 with a panegyric in the New York Post, which branded it a place where “bigwigs hunt for new deals” — and “beauties trawl for sugar daddies.” A quote from Scaramucci, apparently dating to the restaurant’s debut, still graces its website: “We were excited to unveil Hunt & Fish Club,” it says. “We believe we have created a central location for people to convene, enjoy classic cuisine, incredible cocktails, and world-class artwork — and hopefully, have an unforgettable experience.” The Mooch — who savors the veal parmigiana, occupies a corner table and has his name engraved on a plaque — holds a minority interest valued between $100,001 and $250,000, according to a listing of his assets. He also made a personal loan to the 125 West 44th Street Restaurant LLC, the legal name of the Hunt & Fish Club,

with a value between $50,001 and $100,000, according to the disclosure document. The 180-seat, two-floor space is located between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. What kind of joint is ﬁnanced by the Mooch’s moolah? In a hyphenated word: high-end. Dinner can include the 12-gram, $120 tin of Tsar Imperial Ossetra caviar, followed by the 42-ounce, $130 porterhouse for two. Add in $20 and you’ll get some bone marrow on the side. Oh, you wanted mashed potatoes with that? Fork over $14. Brussels sprouts? That’s another $15. Knock back the Scotch, the 14-yearold Glenfiddich, say, or perhaps the 47-year-old Macallan. Then cap it all off with a creamy dessert, perhaps the $55 “Louie XIII Ice Cream,” or even the $90 “Remy Martin Ice Cream Flight,” and it’s no stretch to bring in a tab for two at $1,000. “We have been informed not to talk to anyone about Anthony Scaramucci or his dealings with the restaurant, if any,” a staffer explained during a brief phone call. Similarly, during a brief visit, a manager said, “Please understand, but we’re respectfully declining to answer any questions at this time.” Scaramucci also has a small stake in SHNY Restaurant Group LLC, valued

UNDERCOVER AT CHELSEA KENNEL CLUB ANIMALS An investigation showing abuse at a pet store prompts protests from animal activists BY ESTELLE PYPER

After a Humane Society investigation revealed troubling and abusive conditions at a high-end Chelsea pet store last week, the sidewalk in front of Chelsea Kennel Club became the site of protests from outraged animal rights activists. “Don’t buy from them!” “They abuse their dogs!” “Adopt, don’t shop!” were chants protesters yelled outside the storefront on Seventh Avenue as policemen stood by. The Humane Society of the U.S. released video footage last Tuesday of a store employee mistreating their animals — many of them visibly ill. The recordings were secretly taped as part of a two-month undercover investigation by the animal rights group. Close-ups showed puppies struggling to open their eyes and mucus

dripping from their noses. A particular French bulldog was well underweight, its ribs visible and eyes bulging. The employee was shown shaking a puppy, repeatedly banging on cages and whacking two yapping dogs with a towel. While the Humane Society routinely conducts investigations, this is the first time someone posed as an employee for an extended period. “We get complaints all the time from people who purchase puppies in pet stores, and then the puppies end up being very sick,” says John Goodwin, senior director of the Humane Society’s Stop Puppy Mills Campaign. “We decided to get in there and take a look. The Chelsea Kennel Club was not selected — it was more of a random thing — [the undercover investigator] took the ﬁrst one that would hire her. We had gotten a couple of complaints about them, but we’ve gotten complaints about a lot of stores; what we’re looking at is a systemic problem in the pet industry.” The investigator worked at Chelsea Kennel Club for two months starting in April, keeping a detailed diary and

English bulldog Lilly turned out to have a heart murmur. Photo courtesy of Brianna Bryan taking hidden videos. “She documented puppies being sold without disclosure that they were sick,” says Goodwin. “She witnessed puppies being bullied and roughly handled in ways that were shocking. There was so much going on there that was problematic.” In one interaction, the undercover employee asked about a puppy with a high temperature, to which the store owner, Dana Derragh, shrugged and suggested giving the dog an aspirin and a cold bath.

Anthony Scaramucci, ex-White House communications director, addressing a conference hosted by SkyBridge Capital, his hedge fund, at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas in May 2016. Photo: Jdarsie11, via Wikimedia Commons in the $15,001-to-$50,000 range, his ﬁlings show. The company is a partner in Southern Hospitality BBQ, a moderately priced baby-back rib joint at 645 Ninth Avenue, at the corner of West 45th Street. Culinary options at Southern Hospitality can be a bit whimsical, and branding is not exactly subtle: One section of the menu is dubbed “Southern Bird,” and the offerings in the “Bluegrass Boozy Brunch” feature an “$18 Big as Texas Breakfast Platter.” Meanwhile, a “Surf & Turf Special” makes a comeback with the $44 slow-smoked, herb-crusted prime rib served au jus, the “King Cut of Steaks,” rounded out with crab cakes, A Southern Hospitality manager

didn’t return a call. Scaramucci’s big bucks come from SkyBridge Capital, the hedge-fund investing ﬁrm he founded, which paid him a $5.1 million salary over a sixmonth period, according to his ﬁling with the Office of Government Ethics. Separately, he pulled down $4.9 million from his allocated share of SkyBridge’s net income, and up to $1 million in interest, dividends and capital gains from a company subsidiary. Oh, and that’s not all: The Mooch made $88,461 as a contributor to Fox Business News. And he listed an “indirect minority ownership interest” in the New York Mets valued at up to $5 million, grossing him another $53,000 in income.

Derragh could not be reached for comment, but immediately denied the allegations to the media. The denial was echoed by the store manager and longtime employee, who asked only to be identified as Alexa. She added that the woman caught hitting the dogs has been ﬁred. “We’re just trying to move on from this,” Alexa said. When asked about the claims of unhealthy puppy sales and hidden medical records, she said that their puppies come “100 percent” from licensed breeders. Goodwin is not convinced, disclosing that past records from Chelsea Kennel Club indicate links to puppy mills. “Most of the puppies were being shipped in from states like Missouri and Iowa that are well known for having a lot of puppy mills,” he says. The Humane Society has submitted the ﬁndings to law enforcement, and the Attorney General’s office has told media outlets that it is looking into it. Meantime, Chelsea Kennel Club remains open. On the evening of July 27, an organized demonstration drew more than 60 participants. They marched in a circle, repeating chants: “There is no excuse for animal abuse, there will be no rest for animal abusers,” and “Chelsea Kennel Club, shut them down!” “We are looking to further the public’s understanding of what exactly is taking place,” said animal rights activist Leonardo Anguiano, who helped

organized the protest. “To help expose a little bit more about what puppy mills are all about and how many dogs are unfortunately exposed to extremely cruel and horriﬁc treatment.” Also present at the protest were two women who purchased puppies from Chelsea Kennel Club. Both were told their dogs were healthy, only to discover the opposite. Michelle Bernstein bought her Shih Tzu mix four years ago. Derragh told her the puppy had a microchip and all required shots. After seeing a vet, Bernstein discovered her dog had giardia and no microchip. By that time, weeks had passed since Bernstein purchased the dog, too long for Derragh to be liable for medical expenses. New York Pet Lemon Law requires a customer to provide proof of medical bills and vet records within 14 days of purchase to receive reimbursement from a store. Brianna Bryan, a hairstylist, fell within the time constraint: she bought her English bulldog, Lilly, just days before the news broke. Like Bernstein, Bryan learned shortly after that Lilly was not up to date on her shots, and also had a grade-three heart murmur. “We literally thought we were saving a pet,” Bryan said through tears at the protest. She said she immediately called Derragh, who insisted Lilly was healthy when at the shop. Under the Lemon Law, Derragh would have to pay for any heart surgery, but Bryan seems unconvinced she will.

AUGUST 3-9,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

BENCHES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Not anymore. The Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District added “beautiful landscaping,” the city “bumped out” the sidewalk into the avenue and DOT installed four benches, Brewer said. And voila! “They took a desolate block by a school fence with nothing redeeming about it and made it come alive,” she said. Dubbed “CityBench,” the program was launched in October 2011 with a $3 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration, whose Section 5310 initiative is aimed at removing barriers and improving mobility for seniors and people with disabilities. The FTA in September 2015 awarded an extra $1.5 million in funding to expand the program, which picked up steam in early 2016 when DOT installed CityBench # 1,500. Since then, 300 have been added. The Manhattan tally is now expected to grow to 500-plus benches by the end of 2018, and the goal is to increase citywide totals to 2,100 or more. “Nicest thing the city has ever done for me,” said Rosalie Meyers, who calls herself an “80-something” and was seated on the CityBench at the corner of 89th Street and First Avenue in front of a C-Town Supermarket, a bag of groceries in her lap. “I can’t tell you how much it helps just to get off my feet sometimes,” she said. That’s the idea: Reorder the public realm. Ever so slightly. Provide New Yorkers with a convenient, comfortable public space to sit and rest and chat with friends. Increase safety and sociability. Address the needs of the city’s increasingly elderly constituents.

But hey, this is Manhattan, so don’t expect to make all the citizens happy all the time: “I’ve got a gripe,” said longtime East Sider Mary Ramniceanu, who is 88, mobile and says she has the “zest of a vampire.” She’s troubled that there’s no bench on the east side of York Avenue in front of New York Hospital in the upper 60s, a location frequented by, to state the obvious, lots of sick people. “My God, the city has aged,” Ramniceanu said. “You get on a bus these days, and everybody is using either a walker or a cane or a scooter.... For goodness sakes, there’s plenty of room, just put a bench in front of the hospital and make the city a little bit friendlier.” Still, the Upper East Side, where a quarter of the population is over 60, has an impressive tally of 41 benches, according to a DOT breakdown of bench data. “Benches are one of those things where you actually get them for free,” said City Council Member Ben Kallos, who represents the area. Unlike, say, garbage cans and tree guards, which have to be funded by so-called member items, the city is brimming with available benches, he said. “The city has warehouses ﬁlled with CityBenches, and they’re ready and willing to be deployed,” he added. “DOT has not given me a limit on the number of benches I can request or a price.” The result: When Kallos surveyed his constituents on streetscape and livability issues, he heard, among other things, that they wanted to see benches on 79th Street and Third Avenue, and on 77th Street and First Avenue. So he submitted furniture requests from the community. Sure enough, the benches were installed. Now cross back to the Upper West

438

THERE ARE A TOTAL OF CITY BENCHES IN MANHATTAN – AND COUNTING Here’s where you’ll ﬁnd some of them: Upper West Side

Upper East Side

Battery Park / Tribeca

Benches

Chelsea / Clinton

Midtown Business District

Benches

Greenwich Village / Soho

Benches

Murray Hill / Turtle Bay / Tudor City

Benches

Source: NYC Department of Transportation

Side: City Council Member Helen Rosenthal says the older people she meets at community meetings, senior centers, in her district office and at NORCs, or naturally occurring retirement communities, often raise the issue of walking long distances and needing a break. “We have a lot of benches,” she said. “But we need a lot more.” Indeed, the Upper West Side, in part due to the labors of Rosenthal and Brewer, has more benches — 60 — than almost every other Manhattan neighborhood, DOT data shows. However, it also has more residents aged 85 or over — 5,486 — than any other community in the city. So there’s always room for more. There’s a bench, for instance, in

front of Strycker’s Bay Neighborhood Council, at Amsterdam Avenue and 94th Street. But there is no bench in front of Goddard Riverside Community Center, at Columbus Avenue and 88th Street. For that matter, there’s none in front of Rosenthal’s district office one block south, which plenty of seniors visit. Typically, the city places the benches in areas where there are few or no places to sit; near subway stations or bus stops without shelters; adjoining hospitals and community health centers; next to senior centers, NORCs, shopping districts and municipal facilities, like public libraries, and other areas with high concentrations of older citizens. The benches are made of steel and

are sturdy, durable, rust-resistant, low-maintenance and engineered with detachable parts to make repair jobs cheaper and faster. Some have backs, other are backless, and all seat three people — with plenty of room left over for small children, pets and personal belongings. One thing you don’t have to worry about when it comes to the city’s street benches: Sidewalk clutter. “We’ll never have enough money from DOT to have too many of them,” Brewer said. Now, it’s your turn: Tell us the street corner where you would like to see a bench in Manhattan, and we may run your letter or contact the city’s Department of Transportation to pass on your request. Write Douglas Feiden, at invreporter@ strausnews.com.

SILVER’S LAWYERS SEEK SUPREME COURT REVIEW LAW Prosecutors, bidding for a retrial, call maneuver a “delay tactic” BY LARRY NEUMEISTER

Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s lawyers say he should not face retrial in his corruption case — at least until the U.S. Supreme Court reviews it. A prosecutor called the move a “delay tactic.” The lawyers said in an appeals court ﬁling July 27 that the Democrat’s case “is an excellent vehicle” for the high court to provide further guidance to lower courts about public corruption. A recent Supreme Court ruling in which the court reversed the conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell cleared the way for Silver’s conviction to be overturned earlier

Then-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in 2011. Photo: MTA this month. Silver’s lawyers asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to let them immediately appeal its ﬁnding that there was sufficient evidence of public corruption for a jury

to convict Silver. The Supreme Court declines to hear most cases sent its way. Silver, 73, was convicted in 2015 in a $5 million scheme and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

In a ﬁling late on July 28, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tatiana Martins called the defense effort “little more than a delay tactic.” “Silver’s retrial is inevitable, regardless of the outcome of any one of his claims in the Supreme Court,” she said. “There is no good cause for delay.” Martins added: “Moreover, Silver’s apparent desire for further delay surely is motivated by his recognition that, as time passes, necessary witnesses and other evidence may be lost.” The prosecutor noted that one of the central witnesses in Silver’s trial is over 80 years old, and she said Silver should not be allowed to use the remote chance that the Supreme Court would take up the case to gain a strategic advantage. Silver’s lawyers still say there’s not enough evidence and that there are

so many conflicts in the legal history surrounding charges against Silver that the high court must resolve them. “Moreover, a retrial at this stage would burden the jury and the district court with evidence and legal argument on matters that could well be rendered entirely irrelevant if the Supreme Court grants review,” the lawyers wrote. Silver was convicted of honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering. His lawyers were optimistic the Supreme Court would at least take up issues surrounding the money laundering charge after it cited conflicting rulings from federal appeals courts. The lawyers wrote that there was a “very real probability that the Supreme Court may grant review to resolve that conflict in this case.”

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

MY CUSTOM RETIREMENT COMMUNITY GRAYING NEW YORK BY MARCIA EPSTEIN

I have two friends who moved into retirement communities/assisted living (meaning that, if necessary, care is available to them either in their homes or in separate facilities) in the last few years. In each case, they live with their husbands in very nice apartments on lovely grounds and can choose among a myriad of activities, including swimming, lectures, trips and much more. I visited one such facility and came away very impressed. I haven’t seen

the other place, since it’s some ways from the city, but have heard about it and must admit to a certain amount of envy. There’s always something to do, always people around to do those things with, to eat with, to socialize with — or not, if the desire for solitude strikes. One friend, who likes her new digs a lot, admits to wondering who these all these old people are. And a small part of her feels a bit like it’s the “last chance hotel.” But on the whole, the positives outweigh the negatives. She’s a former college professor and already involved in teaching classes and leading groups, and she’s meet-

ing a whole slew of interesting and like-minded people. Don’t get me wrong — I’m a dyedin-the-wool Upper West Sider. This is my hood, the place I’ve been since college, (and in one apartment for over 35 years), and the place I want to end up. I can’t imagine being anywhere else. But I like the idea of people and activities being so close at hand. Even though New York is full of things to do every minute of the day and night, it can get harder to get up and do them as one ages. Or maybe I mean, as I age. There are times, too often lately, when my apartment’s cozy sofa calls me to just close my

Voices

eyes and nap. There are movies to see that mean taking a subway or bus, and sometimes it feels like a bit more than I want to do that day. There are places to go that on a very hot or very cold day can seem a step too far. There are museums to visit that my knees can object to and say “no way today.” And there can be loneliness, even with a partner. Friends move or get sick. Making new friends at an older age isn’t as easy. In college there were always friends; when raising children, friends came with the territory. But not any longer. I’m not the sort to strike up conversations on buses, and I don’t mind eating lunch out alone. I even prefer to go to the movies alone, as my seat preference is not to everyone’s liking. But I’m human, and I’m ﬁnding it harder and harder to strike up new

acquaintances and feel connected to new people as I did when I was younger. That’s why these retirement communities seem so ideal (and I admit I must be idealizing them). Just the idea of having people around when you want company and activities seems a perfect way to live. Of course, I’m not going anywhere. First of all, I cannot afford a retirement community. This is all pie in the sky. Second of all, I’d be lost without my UWS vibe. I know I live in a bubble, but it’s my bubble. My liberal, exciting, vibrant bubble. This is where I ﬁt in and so while I may continue dreaming of the perfect retirement community where I can loll in the pool and perhaps never step off the grounds, the Upper West Side is where I intend to spend and end my days.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The numbers of motivated marchers is dwindling since Trump’s election. And there is only a handful of excuses for not hitting the streets BY GAIL EISENBERG

To the upwards of 500,000 kickass New Yorkers who broke through police barricades and took over city streets for the Women’s March, and to the angry and motivated masses who rushed to JFK after Trump’s initial travel ban — where are you now? While the GOP has been getting their twisted good ole work done — or at least trying to — I still lament the Sad! turnout at the Intrepid for Trump’s first visit back to our fine and filthy city, as well as the paltry numbers at the various important demonstrations that have followed. Groups like Rise and Resist engaged in a relentless and spirited six months of protests and civil disobedience, getting arrested in DC and New York — and do recall January’s cough-in at Trump International Hotel — to help save Obamacare. And last Wednesday, they along with several local groups joined forces to cobble together a respectable last-minute turnout in Times Square to after Trump an-

nounced a ban on transgender service members. Still, we must do better to show up — much, much better — especially as we’re faced with a looming constitutional crisis if there’s a recess appointment to replace Jeff Sessions in an effort to derail the Russia investigation. Dear People of New York City, my fellow cash-strapped and space-deprived, as a native New Yorker I certainly know this can be a uniquely tough city to navigate, but there is only a handful of excuses for Gotham’s healthy and able-bodied millions not to hit the streets in seven-digit beauty and with the same vigor and ﬂair as a Pride March as often as possible. Here are some of them: • Stuck in line at Trader Joes • Can’t get childcare, i.e. called a millennial but they didn’t answer their phone • Seeing Hamilton with tickets bought when Obama was still President • At brunch debating whether RuPaul’s Drag Race’s move to VH-1 from Logo, and whether it’s an indication that we gays are about to lose our network on. top. of. everything. else. • Sick to stomach about the continued lingering prospect of having no health care when sick to stomach

Hundreds of protesters assembled in Times Square on July 26 in response to President Trump’s announcement of a ban on transgender military service. Photo: Michael Garofalo • Binge-watching the latest highly anticipated fodder that’s been hacked and prematurely released • Delayed due to “weapons of mass transit” (includes outages, derailments, ﬂooding, oozing who-knowswhat green sludge, and occasional power cut by passengers who want some “mood lighting”) • Have a case of “Sessions Syndrome,” i.e. “can’t recall” or “don’t remember” hearing about any rallies, or

protests, or marches • Accosted by Sesame Street’s Elmo demanding a gratuity in Times Square • Busy posting single-syllable words like “crazy” on Facebook (PS: this is not resistance) • Suffering from smoke inhalation caused by an illegal BBQ rooftop party in an illegal AirBnB rental • Way too bloated after eating the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen

President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com

STRAUS MEDIA your neighborhood news source

Vice President/CFO Otilia Bertolotti Vice President/CRO Vincent A. Gardino advertising@strausnews.com

Associate Publishers Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth Regional Sales Manager Tania Cade

Account Executive Fred Almonte Director of Partnership Development Barry Lewis

Director of Digital Pete Pinto

• Knocked out by e-bike, skateboarder, or hoverboarder going 40 mpr on the sidewalk • At Blick art supplies stores embroiled in deep-seated color palette conundrums involving chartreuse, fuchsia, and copious shades of orange hoping that protest signage goes viral Gail Eisenberg is a NYC-based freelance writer and member of Rise and Resist.

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

AUGUST 3-9,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Famed gossip columnist and nightlife chronicler Michael Musto riding down Lexington Avenue in the East 20s. Photo: Streetﬁlms “Il Ciclista Dolce: Michael Musto” screen shot

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BIKE RIDER, BIKE VICTIM

SUBWAY JARGON

Oh, can I relate to Michael Musto’s accident (“Calamity and the Gossip Columnist,” July 2026)! I too am an avid bike rider, and often more afraid of other bikers than cars. Bikers go the wrong way, don’t obey red lights and ride on sidewalks. They are usually restaurant deliverers. Once I was hit by another bicyclist, who biked away immediately. Unlike Musto, I was all right. But my bike needed repairs. I strongly feel that bikes should have licenses, just like cars.

I’m responding to your call for examples of objectionable subway jargon (“Something Did Not Go Well,” July 6-12). This is not an example of obfuscation, but indicates rather a basic misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of public transportation. The recording says, “Please step aside and let the customers off the train...” [Italics are mine.] Calling passengers on public transportation “customers” makes public transportation into a product offered as part of the capitalist system and suggests that public transportation is part of a competitive marketplace. In fact, public transportation is a public good, something that we make use of as tax-paying citizens, not as consumers. The use of the word “customer” makes the subway sound like one option among other subway trains, when it is the only option, a monopoly whose price should not be dependent on market forces and that should be accessible to all. The recording should use some other word such as riders, passengers, users or even people to stress that public transportation is not a fungible product, but a necessary good and a right, as medical care should be.

Ruth Albert Spencer Upper West Side

GLASS HALF EMPTY? While Douglas Feiden’s “Missing on Madison” article (July 13-19) includes our calculation of an eight percent vacancy rate within the Madison Avenue BID, he presents a situation showing the glass half empty, when in reality it is 92 percent full. Case in point is his choice to highlight 943 Madison Avenue as “an empty storefront in a prime location, just one door south of the Met Breuer.” Feiden did not mention that the building that includes 943 Madison Avenue was recently gut-renovated, with space for ﬁve new stores installed. Four of the ﬁve have been recently rented, with three businesses new to the Avenue (Aquazzura, Golden Goose Deluxe Brand and Moynat), and one (Nespresso) representing an expansion of an existing Madison Avenue business. As I noted in the article, even in these turbulent times in the retail industry, there is sustained investment and re-investment on Madison Avenue. Matthew Bauer, President Madison Avenue BID

Laura Esther Wolfson Upper West Side What bothers me about the MTA (among many things, of course): ﬁrst, they incorrectly refer to passengers as “customers”; second, they say “sorry for any inconvenience,” when it would be more correct to say “sorry for the inconvenience,” since the announcement would not be made unless there was one. Richard Rubin Upper West Side

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY

TO INVEST IN A GOOD THING. Introducing Better Futures —a whole new kind of investment with a greater return than money. When you invest, it helps kids go to college. Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste but a wonderful thing to invest in. TM

Invest in Better Futures at UNCF.ORG/INVEST

AUGUST 3-9,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

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

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

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

Upcoming Events

Pop Up Art Gallery Sundays in August from 12:15pm to 1:15pm Marble Collegiate Church invites you to view work from our Marble Arts Ministry visual artists. Their work will be displayed during Marble’s free Coffee Hour in the Marble Loft (274 Fifth Avenue).

Thu 3 ‘WHERE DO WE STAND’

Marianne Williamson

in Partnership with Marble Collegiate Church Tuesdays 7:30pm - 9:00pm New York Times bestselling author, Marianne Williamson brings her weekly lecture series to Marble Church. The cost to attend is $20, however, no one is turned away for lack of funds. The evening is also available via Livestream by donation.

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

The Drawing Center 35 Wooster St. 6 p.m. Free. The opening reception of “Where Do We Stand: Two Years of Drawing with Open Sessions,’ gives the museum over to an exploration of contemporary drawing that encompasses video, sculpture, photography and installation, as well as traditional drawing forms. 212-219-2166 drawingcenter.org

LAURIE PENNY BOOK LAUNCH Strand Book Store 828 Broadway. 7 p.m. $15 Join Penny as she launches her manifesto for change, “Bitch Doctrine,” which addresses the issues of gender, feminism and power. Penny lends her voice to the resistance, battling social and political injustice with dark humor and cutting wit. 212-473-1452 strandbooks.com

Fri 4

Sat 5

TASTING AT TEN▲

NYC SUMMER STREETS

Counter Culture Coffee Training Center 376 Broome St. 10 a.m. Free Start your day with a nice caffeine boost and learn something new in the process. Counter Culture invites the public to come in to their training center to taste a variety of coffees and learn about different brewing methods. 888-238-5282 counterculturecoffee.com

Park Avenue 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Nearly seven miles of New York City’s streets will be opened up for everyone to play, run, walk and bike, extending from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park along Park Avenue and connecting streets. All activities are free of charge: water slide, zip line, dance, get ﬁt and more. nyc.gov/summerstreets

TRIBECA DRIVE-IN: WEST SIDE STORY

LEGO COMMUNITY BUILD

Westfield World Trade Center 185 Greenwich St. 5 p.m. Free An outdoor screening in a welcoming, open-air setting that overlooks much of Lower Manhattan. Listen to live music, play trivia and enjoy dinner and a movie. Doors at 5 p.m., film at 7:30. 212-941-2400 tribecafilm.com

Barnes & Noble 97 Warren St. 2 p.m. Free Calling all LEGO and robotics enthusiasts! Drop by Barnes & Noble for a fun-ﬁlled community build event celebrating the release of LEGO BOOST. Build, code and play with Vernie the robot and learn how to program Vernie to complete obstacles and tricks. 212-587-5389 bn.com

AUGUST 3-9,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Sun 6

Tue 8

Wed 9

BRUNCH WITH LISA GUTKIN

STORYTIME

APRES WEDNESDAYS ▼

City Winery 155 Varick St. 10 a.m. $10 Gutkin is best known as the violinist and vocalist for the Grammy-winning Klezmatics, her cameo appearance in “Sex and the City,” and her work in Broadway’s “The Last Ship” and “Indecent.” 212-608-0555 citywinery.com

Battery Park Broadway and State Street 9:30 a.m. Free An introduction for children to urban farming with activities such as planting seeds, touching the soil, crafting or tasting new and delicious herbs and vegetables. This week’s story is “Rainbow Crow” by Nancy Van Laan. 212-344-3491 thebattery.org

Brookfield Place 230 Vesey St. 5 p.m. Free Relax with live music, an astrology lounge with tarot card readings, film screenings and more on the terrace. 212-978-1698 brookfieldplaceny.com

ROOFTOP NETFLIX

TRIVIA TUESDAY

Samsung 837 837 Washington St. 7:30 p.m. Free. A night of lazy cinematic bliss, with screenings of episodes of “Gypsy,” starring Naomi Watts as a morally ambiguous therapist. 844-577-6969 samsung.com

Brookfield Place 230 Vesey St. 5 p.m. Free Become the know-it-all you always wanted to be. Stop by Brookfield Place’s Trivia Tuesday for drinks, prizes and more. All materials will be provided. Trivia starts at 6 p.m. Come early for happy hour. 212-978-1698 brookfieldplaceny.com

City Winery 155 Varick St. 7 p.m. $85 An evening of wine education, tasting and pairing, highlighting the history and unique attributes of cabernet sauvignon within the framework of Antinori wine estates. 212-608-0555 citywinery.com

CABERNET SAUVIGNON TASTING AND PAIRING

Acknowledge The People Who Make Your Life Better Nominate Your %PPSNBO t 4VQFS t 1PSUFS 0ó DF $MFBOFS t 4FDVSJUZ (VBSE )BOEZQFSTPO

Mon 7 ‘ADAM AND BRIAN’ 14th Street Y 344 East 14th St. 12:30 p.m. $25-50 Part of the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival. Adam and Brian are a typical gay couple living in New York City whose lives have been forever changed by a brutal assault. In the aftermath, the men are at odds with how to regain their inner stabilities. 646-395-4310 broadwayboundfestival.com

5FMM VT XIZ UIFZ SF TQFDJBM You could win $150, just for entering! (P UP BSW-AWARDS.COM UPEBZ BOE OPNJOBUF TPNFPOF

BRYAN CRANSTON

2017

Barnes & Noble, 33 East 17th St. 7 p.m. $16 Wristbands for event access will be distributed with purchase of Cranston’s new book, “Life in Parts,” beginning at 9 a.m. the day of the event. Cranston will only be signing copies of the book. 212-253-0810. bn.com

B UILDING SERVICE W OR KER

AWAR DS 4QPOTPSFE #Z

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THE KOREAN WAVE HITS NEW YORK How K-Pop took the city by storm — and where it goes from there BY OSCAR KIM BAUMAN

What is K-pop? Another evening, another crowd outside the Barclays Center. To the average passerby, the scene on July 27th seemed fairly typical for an arena that, since its opening in 2012, has played host to the biggest names in pop. Today, though, the fans aren’t lined up to see Justin Bieber or Jay-Z. They’re lined up to see G-Dragon. Despite the fact that his name wouldn’t mean a thing to the average New Yorker, the Seoul-bred rapper born Kwon Ji-Yong is, by any standard, an international superstar, and this stop in Brooklyn was the conclusion of the American leg on a globe-spanning arena tour, during which G-Dragon will perform in front of over half a million fans in 19 different countries. G-Dragon, and the boy group Big Bang, of which he is the leader, are part of a

genre known as K-pop, short for Korean pop, and if the fans in Brooklyn last week are any indication, it’s arrived in New York and is here to stay. Although it originated in Korea, Kpop has had a strong international presence for years. Selling records just in South Korea, a country of only 50 million, wouldn’t have gotten Big Bang the coveted title of being the highest selling boy group of all time, selling 150 million records and counting, beating out American favorites like the Backstreet Boys and the Jackson Five. Summer 2017 alone will see several K-pop concerts in the New York area, from G-Dragon’s Barclays Center show, to seven-member hip-hop boy group Monsta X, who played the PlayStation Theater in Times Square on July 14th, to Korean-American crooner Eric Nam, who will play at Irving Plaza near Union Square on the 8th, to the confusingly-named 13-member boy group Seventeen, who will be playing at Terminal 5 in Hell’s Kitchen on August 27th. But K-pop concerts in New York are not a purely recent

Amber Liu (second from right) performing with f(x) at the Jeju K-pop Festival in Jeju, South Korea in 2015. Photo: PTT, via Wikimedia Commons phenomenon; the ﬁrst one on record, a concert solo by the singer Rain sold two nights at the Theater at Madison Square Garden back in 2006. Outside any K-pop concert, the uniquely exuberant K-pop fan culture

Seventeen at the 2015 Summer K-Pop Festival in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Jeon Han, via Wikimedia Commons

will be on full display. Fans pay exorbitant sums to participate in postconcert “hi-touch” events, where they get the coveted opportunity to highfive their idols, and, if they’re lucky, exchange a few words. Concert-goers will wear their favorite groups and members’ names and faces on hats, headbands, t-shirts, and more. Fans often find a spot on the sidewalk to dance in sync to popular K-pop songs, many of which aren’t even by the artist they’re gathered to see. But before the merchandise and dancing, the

ﬁrst thing an outside observer might notice is the diversity of the crowd. Although non-fans may expect the crowd at a K-pop concert to be primarily Korean- or Asian-American, they in fact make up, at most, a quarter to a third of the crowd. The remaining portion of the crowd includes large contingents of Latino, AfricanAmerican, and Caucasian fans. The backgrounds of the crowds at these concerts is hard to gauge, as I found at boy group Monsta X’s concert on July 14th. Everyone in line seemed to be a

Eric Nam at the 2016 World Hansik Festival in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Angelric, via Wikimedia Commons

AUGUST 3-9,2017 different ethnicity from the person standing next to them. K-pop, despite its defining factor being its Korean language, is not limited to native-born Koreans. K-pop group members come from a wide variety of nationalities and backgrounds. There are Canadians, such as Super Junior-M member Henry Lau, who is of Taiwanese and Hong Kong descent; Australians, like Rosé, born Roseanne Park, a Melbourne-raised member of girl group BlackPink; Japanese, such as Twice’s Minatozaki Sana; Chinese, such as Exo’s Lay, born Zhang Yixing; and Thais, like GOT7’s BamBam, born Kunpimook Bhuwakul. Many performers and group members, including Eric Nam, who is from Atlanta, and the New Jersey-bred pop diva Ailee, born Amy Lee, are American-born. AsianAmericans in K-pop aren’t even always ethnically Korean, such as Amber Liu, a Taiwanese American member of girl group f(x) and Nichkhun Horvejkul, a Thai American member of boy group 2PM. Singers like Nam, Lee, Liu, and Horvejkul represent a growing number of young Asian-American musicians who, viewing the lack of opportunities for Asian-Americans in the domestic music industry, turned to Korea to find success. Opportunities for AsianAmericans are also on the minds of K-pop’s fans and observers. Many fans noted that they liked K-pop because it provides an outlet to see a representation of Asians in music, which is hard to find in Western media.

K-pop’s Impact As K-pop’s stateside standing has grown, professionals in music-related ﬁelds across New York have adapted. One such person is Jeff Benjamin. Benjamin is a senior digital editor at Fuse, and the K-pop columnist for Billboard, and has also contributed to The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the Hollywood Reporter. A Chicago native who’s lived in New York since 2008, and written professionally about K-pop since 2011, Benjamin has observed K-pop’s growth from niche phenomenon to perhaps the world’s biggest niche from a New Yorker’s perspective, based out of Billboard’s midtown offices. One notable feature of K-pop is the sheer number of artists to keep up with. Although a few groups will reliably top the charts whenever they put out a song, dozens of other singers are constantly popping in and out of the spotlight. In an interview held, appropriately, in Koreatown, Benjamin noted the recent stateside success of seven-member boy group BTS, who sold out two nights at Newark’s Prudential Center back in March, and became the ﬁrst Korean artist to win a Billboard Music Award in May. “There are so many exciting things going on for them right now,” said Benjamin, adding that he’s “really curious to see how their next album cycle goes,” and how they handle their expanding American fan base. Benjamin also expressed admiration for the label Pledis Entertainment, whose management have found new

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BTS at the 31st Golden Disk Awards in Seoul, South Korea in January 2017. Photo: Ajeong JM, via Wikimedia Commons success with groups like Seventeen, and their new 10-member girl group Pristin. Seventeen and Pristin are both known for their cheerful, youthful image, but more notably, both groups are at the forefront of the “selfproducing idol” trend. The phrase emerged recently as a way to describe K-pop groups whose members take part in creating their own music and choreography, as opposed to many older groups, who traditionally would simply perform songs and dances others had created for them. Despite the fact that K-pop is most well-known for its boy groups and girl groups, several solo artists have also managed to ﬁnd fame. Benjamin noted the success of recent releases by female singers Heize and Suran, who he says are “making really beautiful, awesome, interesting music that has a lot of emotional depth to it.” Although solo artists tend to be more successful in Korea, some are ﬁnding their way to the American market; Heize will be making her American debut at KCON LA on the 20th, and other singers like R&B trendsetter Dean and Eric Nam have, or soon will be, playing in New York. Another professional whose career has been greatly impacted by K-pop is MJ Choi. Since 2006, Choi has run I Love Dance, a studio that teaches Kpop and hip hop dance and boasts locations in both midtown Manhattan and Flushing, Queens. In an interview, Choi reminisced about the beginning of I Love Dance, noting that back then, at a time when K-pop was a little-known phenomenon in New York, her student body was entirely Korean. When she started getting her first non-Korean students, Choi “sensed that it’s not only Korean people listening to K-pop anymore.” Now, she says, 80 percent of those at I Love Dance’s classes are non-Korean, exemplifying the genre’s growth in popularity over the years.

One reason for K-pop’s success is the fact that is isn’t just music. K-pop artists are known for their dazzling music videos and complex choreography as much as their catchy tunes. All the K-pop fans interviewed for this article said that although music is the main attraction, the visual elements are what converted them from casual listeners to superfans. Dennis Ahn, a 16-year-old Korean-American fan from Flushing, said that a song’s accompanying visuals can serve as a “hook,” and Dante Urzua, a 13-yearold Hispanic fan from Washington Heights said that visual elements make the music more engaging, and allow it to “stand out more.” Choi also chimed in on this topic, noting that K-pop groups’ digital content makes them very approachable, noting that “they’re communicating and interacting with their fans. For fans, that’s

something very fun and exciting.” Choi believes that this gives fans a greater sense of connection to K-pop stars, something beyond “just looking at them on the TV.” Social media has an enormous role in creating new K-pop fans. Both Urzua and Fatema Alam, a 17 year-old South Asian fan from Elmhurst said they became K-pop fans after hearing a catchy K-pop song featured in a post by a social media personality — in Urzua’s case, an artist on Instagram used veteran boy group Super Junior’s 2014 hit “Mamacita” in the background of a video, and Alam ﬁrst heard rising girl group BlackPink’s 2016 debut single “Boombayah” in a reaction video uploaded by a young woman on Vine. Benjamin and Choi also mentioned the signiﬁcance of YouTube, with Benjamin noting that the success of Psy’s 2012 song “Gangnam Style” triggered

a boom in YouTube views of all K-pop videos. Choi, taking the dancer’s perspective, noted the common practice of groups uploading ﬁxed-camera dance practice videos in addition to the standard music video, which she said makes K-pop groups seem more accessible, and allows fans to follow along. But why has New York become such a hub for K-pop and its fans? Pointing to New York’s massive cultural diversity, Choi said that New Yorkers, more so than most Americans, are “very open-minded,” observing that “they’re willing to try different food, different cultures, different music.” Benjamin noted New York’s internationally famous pop-culture image, observing that performing in the “Big Apple,” and seeing the city’s famous attractions is something artists can brag about back in Korea. Whatever New York’s appeal may be, it’s so strong that artists are performing at venues of all sizes when they come to perform. A day after rookie boy group NCT 127 performed in June at the KCON music festival in Newark, they did a free show at the Apple Store in Williamsburg. K-pop has more fans in New York than ever before — largely due to the passionate fanbases of young groups like BTS and Exo, as well as respected industry veterans like G-Dragon and CL, who performed at the Hammerstein Ballroom last fall, and has been teasing an American debut under the management of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande manager Scooter Braun since 2014. However, their level of stateside fame didn’t come from nowhere. As Benjamin put it, “every generation is building off one another,” meaning that one has to look back at the paths older groups blazed into the American market, such as CL’s original group, the recently-disbanded 2NE1. 2NE1, a convention-shattering girl group, remain the only K-pop girl group to have performed at the Prudential Center, where they sold out the venue back in 2012, just as PSY was giving most Americans their ﬁrst taste of K-pop. Five years after PSY, a full K-pop crossover may be closer than we think.

Fans lined up for G-Dragon’s concert at the Barclays Center on July 27. Photo: Oscar Kim Bauman

AUGUST 3-9,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS JUL 11-19, 2017 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml.

Aziza’s Cafe & Lounge

45 1 Avenue

Dylan’s Candy Bar

33 Union Sq W

John’s Of 12Th Street

302 E 12Th St

Knickerbocker Bar & Grill

33 University Place

Soba-Ya

229 East 9 Street

Mari Vanna

41 East 20 Street

Triona’s Bar Restaurant

192 3 Avenue

Liquiteria

170 2Nd Ave

Caffe Bene

816 Broadway

Closed By Health Department (51) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Salam Cafe & Rest

104 W. 13Th St. (Unit A One)

Terroir At The Porch

Highline W 15Th Street @ 10Th Ave,

Virgola

28 Greenwich Ave

Underline Coffee

511 W. 20Th Street

Il Bambino

48 W 8Th St

Terremoto Coffee

328 W 15Th St

Flight 151

151 8 Avenue

Fancy Juice

69 1St Ave

Chelsea Ristorante

108 8 Avenue

Mcsorley’s Old Ale House

15 East 7 Street

Manhattan Elite

Pier 62 Chelsea Piers

Bluestone Lane

51 Astor Pl

The Mezz (Google)

75 9Th Ave

Souen Restaurant

210 6 Avenue

Five Iron Golf

138 5Th Ave

Not Yet Graded (5)

En Japanese Brasserie

435 Hudson Street

Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins

269 8 Avenue

Valbella N.Y.

421 West 13 Street

Malibu Diner

163 West 23 Street

Icelandic Fish & Chips

28 7Th Ave

Pierre Loti Cafe & Wine Bar 258 West 15 Street

Flex Mussels

154 West 13 Street

Doughnut Plant

220 West 23 Street

Naples 45 Restaurant

200 Park Avenue

Not Yet Graded (19) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Village Taverna Greek Grill

81 University Place

Upstairs Bar

59 Canal Street

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza

321 E 14Th St

Cafe Grumpy Les Llc

13 Essex Street

Hot Pot Central

188 2Nd Ave

J J Noodle

19 Henry Street

Wall 88

104 2Nd Ave

Corbet & Conley Caterers

145 E 17Th St

Momofuku Ssam Bar

207 2 Avenue

Lui’s Thai Food

128 E 4Th St

Grade Pending (2)

Grade Pending (32) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed. 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. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Astor Center

399 Lafayette Street

Peasant Stock

120 Essex Street

Xi’an Famous Foods

81 St Marks Place

Adventure Cafe

85 Delancey St

Rai Rai Ken

218 East 10 Street

Speedy Romeo

63 Clinton St

Joe’s Pizza

150 East 14 Stree

175 Orchard St

Zaabver

75 2Nd Ave

Whynot Coffe & Wine Art Gallery

Murray’s Falafel And Grill

261 1St Ave

Benson’s Nyc

181 Essex St

Otto Enoteca Pizzeria

1 5 Avenue

Yonah Shimmels Knishes

137 East Houston Street

Side Bar

120 East 15 Street

75 University Place

Sebastian - Chloe 81/ Farm 81 Ludlow Street House

Argo Tea Cafe Le Cafe Coffee

7 East 14Th Street

Rockwood Music Hall (Stage Zero)

196 Allen Street

The Pavilion Market Place

20 Union Sq.

Grade Pending (11) 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/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.

Xing Wong Bbq

89 E Broadway

Closed By Health Department (53) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

AUGUST 3-9,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

UWS COUNCIL HOPEFULS SPAR AT DEBATE POLITICS Candidates clash over campaign contributions, museum expansion plan BY MIKE GAROFALO

All five candidates seeking to represent the Upper West Side in the City Council faced off for the first time July 31 in a spirited public debate. Incumbent Helen Rosenthal was joined at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center Campus by the four challengers seeking to unseat her this fall in her reelection bid, Cary Goodman, David Owens, Bill Raudenbush and Mel Wymore, for a discussion on land use and quality of life in Council District 6. There was broad agreement among the candidates on many of the topics discussed — all are opposed to overdevelopment, for helping small businesses, and in favor of affordable housing — but they differed over how to achieve those goals and, of course, who among them would best represent the community’s interests in City Hall. “The fact is, everyone is gonna stand up here and more or less tell you what you want to hear,” Raudenbush said. “The question is: who do you believe?” Rosenthal touted her support of the zoning change initiatives designed to promote affordable housing during her first term, and said that she focuses on realistic “technical solutions” to problems. “The only solutions that count and are worth your time listening to are solutions that we can actually implement,” she said, adding, “There’s never gonna be a kumbaya moment when you’re dealing with difficult issues.” Wymore, who lost narrowly to Rosenthal in the 2013 Democratic primary and, like Rosenthal, is a former chair of Community Board 7, said that he is focused on technical solutions, citing his work on zoning issues and community organizing against overdevelopment. “Helen says that it’s wishful thinking to think that we can reform land-use laws, but we made those laws in the first place, and the only reason it would be wishful thinking is if you feel beholden to real estate industry lobbyists,” he said. Wymore and Rosenthal clashed over campaign contributions. In response to a question about money in politics, Wymore spoke of the importance of independence from the real estate industry and said that he had returned contribution from developers during

Candidates for the District 6 City Council seat gathered at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center Campus for a debate. From left: Bill Raudenbush, David Owens, Helen Rosenthal, Cary Goodman and Mel Wymore. Photo: Michael Garofalo his 2013 campaign. Rosenthal countered, “It’s funny, the notion that you would return a donation from a developer. No developer has ever thought to donate to my campaign. That’s why I’ve never returned one.” Wymore responded by referencing a $1,000 contribution Rosenthal received earlier this year from Dana Lowey, the CEO and president of the real estate ﬁrm Holliswood Development, along with other donations Rosenthal has accepted in the past from individuals with connections to the development industry. “She’s not a high-rise luxury developer,” Rosenthal said of Lowey. Holliswood’s website says that the company is best known for “luxury conversions of multi-unit residential properties into single family mansions on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.” Campaign ﬁnance records show that while Wymore returned contributions from several developers during the 2013 campaign, he received but did not return contributions from real estate developers Jeffrey Levine and Robert Quinlan. A Wymore spokesman said that the campaign attempted to return Levine’s contribution and said that the failure to return Quinlan’s donation was an error. Wymore said in a written statement, “While I regret that we missed this contribution, it doesn’t change my goals as a community advocate. If any developers donate to my 2017 campaign I will return those checks, and I remain

proud of my 2013 team and the work they did on that campaign.” Raudenbush, an information governance consultant who has worked on community efforts to block the American Museum of Natural History’s Gilder Center expansion plan and the planned high-rise development at 200 Amsterdam Ave., said that he would bring independence to the City Council, which he called “a whollyowned subsidiary of the development business and the real estate industrial complex.” Raudenbush said he would champion a 500-foot height limit on new buildings on the Upper West Side, along with a proposal to block development plans that would cast new shadows on public parkland. Goodman, a longtime Upper West Side resident and director of the 161st Street Business Improvement District, is another vocal opponent of the American Museum of Natural History’s planned Gilder Center expansion, which is in the environmental review process. Goodman repeatedly branded the plan as “toxic” for the surrounding environment. Raudenbush said that he supports the museum’s mission, but said that any expansion should take place within the institution’s current footprint and not encroach upon the park. “We’re not anti-museum, we’re propark,” he said. Owens, a longtime Upper West Side resident who founded and coaches the New York Grays Baseball Club, a youth team that seeks to use the sport

BIKE SAFETY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Advocates have placed particular emphasis on increasing the number of protected bike lanes, which shield cyclists from passing vehicle traffic with a buffer of parallel street parking and pedestrian crossing islands. Currently, 425 of the city’s 1,133 miles of bike lanes are protected. “The difference between mere painted lanes that provide only a modicum of protection and protected lanes is very stark,” White said. “You see that in the data and you see that in the perception of safety that people have when deciding whether or not they want to ride.” Bike lanes have emerged as a topic of controversy in many neighborhoods, where some residents complain of unsafe conditions caused by cyclists riding in the wrong direction or otherwise not following

as a vehicle to put children on track towards college, said he supports the expansion, but said that environmental studies and traffic mitigation need to be properly completed and added that he would like the museum’s plan to include jobs for local residents. “If we happen to lose some of the park, I know it’s not a very popular stance right here, but it’s going towards progress,” he said. Owens said that the district’s next City Council member needs to improve neighborhood engagement in civic life. “I think there’s a lack of communication from all constituents on the Upper West Side,” he said. “There’s 180,000 of us and only a few people are represented, it seems, or involved in the process.” Wymore has concerns about the size of the expansion and its impacts on traffic and environmental sustainability and said that he would freeze public funding for the project pending additional public hearings and input. Rosenthal supports the opportunity to expand the museum as a community resource and research venue, but says that the museum’s plan needs to do more to ease traffic congestion and ensure community safety during construction. She noted that politicians have allocated public resources to the museum for years. Her response was met with boos from some audience members. The candidates were not the only ones who elicited strong responses from the audience. After the discussion of the Gilder Center, moderator Lesley Massiah-Arthur, associate vice president of government relations and urban affairs at Fordham, posed a question about whether Raudenbush and Goodman, who have focused heavily on the issue, would withdraw their candidacies if the other candidates adopted stances identical to their own in opposing the Gilder Center plan. The premise prompted a loud and persistent protest from some

15 traffic regulations. Many bike critics have complained of a lack of enforcement targeting cyclist violations on the part of police. Dennis Fulton, an inspector with the NYPD’s transportation bureau, explained that moving violations written to vehicle drivers outnumber summons given to cyclists by a roughly 75-to-one margin. “Our enforcement is generally geared toward vehicles,” Fulton said, adding, “They’re going to cause the most damage and that’s where our priorities lie right now.” Early next year, the DOT will release a study of best practices for improving bicycle safety at intersections, where nearly 90 percent of cyclist fatalities and severe injuries occur. “Everybody you talk to, be they motorists, cyclists or pedestrians, thinks that everybody else is not following the rules,” Trottenberg said. “We all need to share the roadways.”

members of the crowd, who shouted over Massiah-Arthur as she repeated her question. Massiah-Arthur eventually moved on from the topic. Raudenbush said later, “I just want to be clear that I’m not a one-issue candidate. That’s a little ridiculous.” The debate, sponsored by Fordham, Landmark West, the Historic Districts Council and the League of Preservation Voters, was the second in the span of a week for the Democratic candidates, who met four days earlier to record a primary debate that will air on Manhattan Neighborhood Network in mid-August. In the primary debate, Rosenthal and Goodman had a contentious exchange over a sign posted near the entrance to Rosenthal’s district office asking constituents with bedbugs not to enter. Goodman said, that the sign “sends a message about people who are living in more dire circumstances,” adding that it signals “a certain level of disgust with who they are.” In her rebuttal to Goodman’s comments, Rosenthal said, “I found it incredibly offensive when Dr. Goodman ascribed bedbugs to a certain class of people,” adding that bedbugs are a “serious issue not to be made light of” and impact residents across the economic spectrum. Rosenthal said that her office has required fumigation in the past due to bedbug infestations and that she wants to assure residents that they won’t bring the insects back to their homes after visiting her office. Goodman countered that he has “never come across anything as offensive as this sign,” and said that he would conduct business differently. Rosenthal will face fellow Democrats Goodman and Wymore in the Sept. 12 primary election. The winner of the Democratic nomination will face independent candidates Owens and Raudenbush in the Nov. 7 general election.

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

AUGUST 3-9,2017

Business ‘WHAT HAPPENED’ TO HILLARY CLINTON Simon & Schuster says new book will be a highly personal work and a “cautionary tale” BY HILLEL ITALIE

Hillary Clinton is calling her new book “What Happened” and promising unprecedented candor as she remembers her stunning defeat last year to Donald Trump. “In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net,” Clinton writes in the introduction, according to publisher Simon & Schuster. “Now I’m letting my guard down.” Simon & Schuster told The Associated Press on Thursday that Clinton’s book will be a highly personal work that also is a “cautionary tale” about Russian interference in last year’s election and its threat to democracy. In public remarks since last fall, the Democrat has cited Russia as a factor in her defeat to her Republican opponent, along with a letter sent by thenFBI Director James Comey less than two weeks before the election. Comey’s letter, sent to Congress on Oct. 28, said the FBI “learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation” into the private email server that Clinton used as secretary of state. Days later, Comey wrote that the FBI did not ﬁnd anything new. “Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows,

Hillary Clinton during a 2016 campaign rally at Arizona State University in Tempe. Photo: Gage Skidmore stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules,” according to Simon & Schuster. “In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterwards.” “What Happened” is scheduled to

come out Sept. 12 and has evolved since ﬁrst announced, in February. It was originally billed as a book of essays that would “tell stories from her life, up to and including her experiences in the 2016 presidential campaign,” as opposed to a memoir centered on the race. Clinton’s loss has already been the subject of the best-selling “Shattered,” a highly critical book by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, and

a more sympathetic account, Susan Bordo’s “The Destruction of Hillary Clinton.” Clinton’s previous works include the 2003 memoir “Living History,” published while she was a U.S. senator from New York, and a book about her years as secretary of state, “Hard Choices,” which came out in 2014 as she prepared to launch her presidential candidacy. She also wrote “It Takes a Village: And

ON THE SIDE STREETS OF NEW YORK SEVILLA — 62 CHARLES STREET When Bienvenido Alvarez and his wife left the city of Ourense, Spain in 1973, they did not know when they would see their children again. Looking for a better life in Manhattan, where Bienvenido’s brother worked at Sevilla, the couple arrived to the sight of the Twin Towers being built. Bienvenido’s American life grew in tandem with the skyscrapers, work-

ing as a waiter in the mornings and learning English in the afternoons. After months of this hard work, he and his brother, Jose, bought the restaurant, which remains open seven days a week, just as it had years ago. It was not until 1976 that Bienvenido and his wife were able to bring their children to New York. To read more, visit Manhattan Sideways (sideways. nyc), created by Betsy Bober Polivy.

Photo: Alex Nuñez Caba, Manhattan Sideways

Other Lessons Children Teach Us” when she was first lady. Her upcoming memoir isn’t the first political book to be called “What Happened.” Scott McClellan, a former White House press secretary during the George W. Bush administration, released a book with the same title in 2008. McClellan’s memoir was an unexpectedly critical take on his former boss that became a best-seller.

AUGUST 3-9,2017

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

AUGUST 3-9,2017

HELMET HAIR BIKING With Summer Streets approaching, styling tips for women cyclists BY GAIL EISENBERG

Talk about bad hair days: this summer’s heat, humidity and rain have presented a special challenge for women bike riders. With the approach of Summer Streets — three Saturdays (August 5, 12 and 19) when almost seven miles of city streets will be open to the public for walking, running and biking — Angela Azzolino, Program Creator and Executive Director of Get Women Cycling (GWC) offers some styling tips for women cyclists. “Our goal is to unite cyclists and provide support for active women, female-identifying, and non-gender

conforming people by offering a way to engage with cyclists on post-ride appearance — an issue often cited as a deterrent to sustained bicycle riding,” Azzolino said at the start of bike season in May to launch their annual “Show Me Helmet Hair” social media campaign. A former bike mechanic, Azzolino founded GWC in 2015 to elevate and sustain female bicycle ridership through engagement and education. Helmet-friendly hair styles can be seen in these photos of GWC members. For more information about Get Women Cycling go to www.getwomencycling. com and follow GWC on social media: @ getwomencycling For information about Summer Streets, go to www.nyc.gov/html/dot/summerstreets/ html/home/home.shtml

Stylist works on GWC member Lucy Robson’s do. Photo: Ryan Segedi

GWC member Michelle Novie sports a braided low side bun. Photo: Ryan Segedi

“IF ONLY SOMEONE WOULD CLEAN UP THIS PARK.”

BE THE SOMEONE. Every day, we think to ourselves that someone should really help make this city a better place. Visit newyorkcares.org to learn about the countless ways you can volunteer and make a difference in your community.

Cat New York Cares Volunteer

AUGUST 3-9,2017

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AUGUST 3-9,2017

Got an EVENT? FESTIVAL CONCERT GALLERY OPENING PLAY Get The Word Out!

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AUGUST 3-9,2017

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

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

ON THE FRONT BURNER Gabriel Kreuther on his culinary career in the city BY ANGELA BARBUTI

Having grown up on a farm in Alsace, France, Gabriel Kreuther remembers saving up his money to go a nice restaurant once or twice a year. So it’s only ﬁtting that now his favorite people to cook for are those who can only visit when celebrating a special occasion. “Because you know the stretch they made to come in and have a good moment, and if we achieve to give them a great moment ... that’s what makes you happy.... People who can have everything every day, it’s nice, but it’s not the same reward” he said. Although he’s only been in New York since 1997, he has amassed an impressive resume-working as a sous chef at La Caravelle, chef de cuisine at JeanGeorges and executive chef at both the Ritz-Carlton’s Atelier and The Modern at MoMA. But, like many chefs, his ultimate goal was always to have his own place. So in 2015, he opened his eponymous restaurant overlooking Bryant Park on West 42nd Street. Its cuisine is French- and American-inspired with popular dishes such as a sturgeon and sauerkraut tart and hamachi foie gras. On August 5, Kreuther will be honored at A Hamptons Happening benefiting the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation.

You opened your restaurant in 2015. How did you choose its location? Finding a location in New York City is not easy because of the space restraint. Believe it or not, a lot of restaurants don’t even have a window to the outside, and I wanted to have some daylight. I visited many places and it took me a while. If you look back a little bit in 2008 and 2009, with the economy and recession, that was a slowdown for everybody who had anything on the burner, trying to do something. So it took a long time ﬁnding the right spot. I wanted to stay somewhere in Midtown, because since I’ve been here, I’ve been at La Caravelle, then Jean-Georges, then I was at the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South, so felt comfortable in that part

Courtesy of Gabriel Kreuther of the city and kind of knew the expectations of that neighborhood. And that’s where I wanted to be because that’s where I spent my ﬁrst 16 years. And also, it’s across the park and that was an appeal also, because in this city there’s not much greenery. And it was probably one of the last, if not the last, area in Midtown that was neglected and not fully developed for a while.

What has changed now that you’re a restaurant owner? A lot of people ask me that — “What has changed working for someone and now owning your own place?” And for me, I usually say not much has changed, and the reason is when I worked for Jean-Georges and I was able to run the kitchen for him.... I handled it like it was my own. And when I opened the Ritz, I always put my time in and my best effort, just like if it was mine. And here, the same thing, so fundamentally, not much has changed. It’s just having your own now, but mentally, nothing really has changed. And I also believe if you want to be successful in the business, and it’s true in many businesses, you have to respect whoever is owning it and just drive it like it’s yours if you want to go to the next step. If people sit there

and hold back because it’s not theirs, I don’t think they achieve much.

What are the challenges to your job? In this business, it’s always the same thing; it’s the hours you put in. But I also believe when you love what you do, you don’t really mind. It’s really the people who live with you and are involved with you, those are the people who, once in a while, say, “It’s a little too much now; you’ve got to slow down a little bit.” When you’re passionate about it, you’re kind of selfish and don’t realize it. But I also believe in this business, when you’re young, there is a time to learn; it’s in stages. And nothing happens without practice. It’s not because you read a book. You need to really do it and be in the trenches in order to make things happen. The other challenge that most of the time every place faces in this business is really finding the appropriate employees with the right training and background. Because a lot of people peek into the industry and then go back out.... It takes a lot out of you to stay in the industry. And when we find the people who have the right interest, our job is really to mentor and teach them what it takes and guide them to a path of building their own career and

success. A lot of young people, they want everything to happen way too fast and then when the fallback happens, they don’t understand why. But when you ﬁnd the right understanding, you want to put your time in and have them grow. People who stick to it and understand and believe in it, they get rewarded, but it isn’t happening overnight.

I interviewed Jean-Georges for this column as well. What did you learn from him that’s stayed with you? I will say being organized and interested in different techniques. Listening to the customer. Working diligently. I had a great time working for and with him. I always say he is probably the best boss I ever had.

How is your menu inﬂuenced by your French roots? I grew up on a farm in Alsace, so have, here and there, little things that are really reminiscent of that. Tarte ﬂambé, we make our own sauerkraut and liverwurst. Foie gras is a big part of Alsace. I will not say that it’s completely Alsatian cooking, but there is a balance with anything we do that is connected to those roots.

Who are your favorite people to cook for? I always look back on myself, having grown up on a farm. I used to save money to go to a great place once or twice a year. And I’m always looking back and have a lot of respect for people who save up to go out and have a great time for a birthday or anniversary or whatever it is. Those are the people who give us the most pleasure.… And little kids, when parents come in and instead of eating a fried piece of chicken because they don’t eat anything else, they eat the same food as the parents. This is what I love to see. This is what education is. When you are introduced to the right things, it can change your life from the early part, instead of junk food forever. And it’s also healthier. It reminds me of my childhood, sitting at the farm table, and you don’t like something, but they want you to try it. Those are memories that come back and it’s nice to see little kids trying things. www.gknyc.com

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WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor

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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

by Myles Mellor

CROSSWORD

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