The local paper for Downtown wn
WEEK OF OCTOBER - NOVEMBER
26-1
WEAVING METAPHORS ◄ P.12
2017
Anti-Trump protesters wore eye-catching costumes in response to Trump’s visit to the Intrepid in May. Photo: Michael Garofalo
Joseph Reginella in Battery Park, next to his monument to the “the biggest land mammal tragedy in the nation.” Photo: Mihika Agarwal
A CIRCUS UNLIKE ANY OTHER PUBLIC ART History of fateful day in 1929 gets an alternative account BY MIHIKA AGARWAL
Not many recall that somber autumn morning, 88 years ago, when a trio of African elephants, bound for the circus, trampled tens of innocent pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge: The tragedy would be dwarfed by the Great Crash of October 29, 1929, which occurred the same day. The elephants, among them their star, Jumbo, were, on that doubly fateful day, being led across the bridge, a tradition inaugurated some 45 years before by P.T. Barnum as a way to demonstrate the span’s stur-
diness. But that morning, someone or something disquieted Jumbo, and the parade of pachyderms panicked. Some of the massacred were crushed under the elephants’ pillarlike limbs; others impaled by colossal tusks; and several done to death by jumping 300 feet into the depths of the East River. Ruffles the Clown, a popular circus figure, was among the casualties, as were several newspaper writers. The stampede, which would come to be known as “the biggest land mammal tragedy in the nation,” was recently commemorated by a 6-foottall monument that documents, unvarnished, that darkest of dark days on the bridge. Except that all of it — the account
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THE POLITICS OF HALLOWEEN HOLIDAYS Since Trump’s election, costumes have become both a form of provocation and protest. So how will dressing up play out on the one night when everyone is in disguise? BY ALIZAH SALARIO
Every year, a frightening character comes to the legendary Village Halloween Parade and chats up Jeanne Fleming, the parade’s artistic director. Fleming, who loves the creativity of Halloween but not the gore, long dreaded her annual exchange with the strange man in the graphic blood-andguts costume. Then she found out his identity: Calvin Trillin, the esteemed journalist and New Yorker contributor. “When you spend a few hours being something other than who you are, you learn something about yourself,”
says Fleming. “It enters into your consciousness, and you learn how people begin to treat you if you’re something different than who you are everyday.” A 37-year veteran of the parade, Fleming is familiar with how costumes — and what they reveal about a person — have a potent ability to both inspire and unsettle. Ongoing conversations about costumes and cultural appropriation make this exceedingly apparent; for instance, white people wearing sombreros and ponchos to “dress up” as Mexicans tap into fraught issues around identity, power, representation and belonging. But costumes can communicate more than cultural identity — and aren’t just for Halloween. Though protesters have long used props and worn costumes to amplify their message, contemporary demonstrators have taken the costume-as-commentary approach to a new level since Trump’s inauguration in January. In May, when Downtowner
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SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12
FOR HIM, SETTLING SMALL CLAIMS IS A BIG DEAL presided over Arbitration Man has three decades. for informal hearings about it He’s now blogging BY RICHARD KHAVKINE
is the common Arbitration Man their jurist. least folks’ hero. Or at Man has For 30 years, Arbitration court office of the civil few sat in a satellite Centre St. every building at 111 New Yorkers’ weeks and absorbed dry cleaning, burned lost accountings of fender benders, lousy paint jobs, and the like. And security deposits then he’s decided. Arbitration Man, About a year ago, so to not afwho requested anonymity started docuhe fect future proceedings, two dozen of what menting about compelling cases considers his most blog. in an eponymous about it because “I decided to write the stories but in a I was interested about it not from wanted to write from view but rather lawyer’s point of said Arbitration view,” of a lay point lawyer since 1961. Man, a practicing what’s at issue He first writes about post, renders and then, in a separatehow he arrived his decision, detailing blog the to Visitors at his conclusion. their opinions. often weigh in with get a rap going. I to “I really want whether they unreally want to know and why I did it,” I did derstood what don’t know how to he said. “Most people ... I’d like my cases the judge thinks. and also my trereflect my personalitythe law.” for mendous respect 80, went into indiMan, Arbitration suc in 1985, settling vidual practice
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MANHATTAN'S APARTMENT BOOM, > PROPERTY, P.20
2015
In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS
The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She on the Over the past is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks. President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” can’t come p.m. and 7 a.m., of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits
SLEEPS, THANKS TO THE CITY THAT NEVER UCTION A BOOM IN LATE-NIGHT CONSTR NEWS
A glance it: it’s the middle can hardly believe yet construction of the night, and carries on full-tilt. your local police or You can call 311
n OurTownDowntow
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for dollars in fees ated millions of and left some resithe city agency, that the application dents convinced
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25
Trump made his first trip to New York after his inauguration for an event at the Intrepid, protesters dressing as the commander in chief, characters from “Star Wars,” and myriad other creative incarnations filled the streets. From women channeling the Statue of Liberty to call out President Trump’s immigration policies to protestors outside of Trump Tower wearing white hoods and carrying signs that read “Make America Hate Again,” costumes have repeatedly been employed as a form of resistance. It’s no surprise, then, that current costumes play off of political tensions. Party City, a supply and costume store, is shilling an “Adult Wall” costume, featuring bricks and the words “the wall” plastered on the front. The costume does not explicitly mention politics or the president, but on social media, users have denounced it
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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
HELPING OUR INVISBILE NEIGHBORS CHARITY With minimal effort, businesses can help alleviate hunger BY CRYSTAL WOLFE
About 150 billion pounds of food goes to waste in this country each year. According to the nonprofit Feeding America, one in seven people in the U.S. struggle with hunger on a daily basis — yet there is enough food being thrown away to feed everyone in the nation. The nonprofit I founded, Catering for the Homeless, connects catering companies with organizations and churches that distribute the good food they would otherwise throw away to the hungry and homeless in their communities and help alleviate some of the hunger crisis in our city. There are hundreds of catering companies in New York City who throw away high-quality food every day of the year, predominately in the Manhattan area. This is a call to action for churches, nonprofits, catering companies and restaurants in Manhattan to join this program, and get food to those who need it, whether to the over 60,000 people in city homeless shelters, or to the millions of poor people,
especially families, who aren’t homeless but have difficulties making ends meet and, as a result, also experience hunger. As an incentive for catering companies and restaurants, participation is a tax write-off. Donors and distributors of food are protected by Good Samaritan laws. Nonprofits and churches are also afforded similar protections under their 501c3 status. Governor Andrew Cuomo last month signed into law the Comprehensive State and Local Government Food Waste Prevention and Diversion Act, which directs the state’s Departments of Education and of Agriculture to put together guidelines that would allow and encourage schools and universities to donate excess edible food to organizations that help the hungry. The legislation, co-sponsored by state Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr., will greatly assist nonprofits like Catering for the Homeless to find additional support through educational and other institutions. In response to a homelessness crisis that is among the worst the country has ever seen, by some estimates worse than during the Great Depression, I wrote a comprehensive book on homelessness, “Our Invisible Neighbors,” that explores the problem’s
causes and possible solutions. In the course of my research, I found that it costs the government more to keep the homeless unhoused, costs borne by the legal system, including jails, hospital visits, hotel rooms and the like than it does to house them. In short, solving, or even reducing, homelessness will save taxpayers money. Another initiative, proposed by Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi and backed by numerous state legislators, Home Stability Support, would enable renters and homeowners in danger of losing their housing to stay in their homes through a state and federally funded rent assistance program. And cities, states and even countries have ended or greatly reduced homelessness predominantly by using the what’s called a housing first method. Its foundational principle is, simply enough, providing a home to the homeless, then giving them the programs they need to get back on their feet: job training, therapy, AA, medications and other means and services. The premise is that people need stability in their lives to move forward. HSS is an even better method to end homelessness because it is preventative. Another problem and a component of homelessness, particularly in New
Photo: Alan Strakey, via flickr York City, is gentrification. The Small Business Jobs Survival Act that has made the City Council rounds but has yet to develop widespread support would help restore economic equality to business owners, support art and cultural institutions, maintain the character of neighborhoods, and help save jobs in our city. Homelessness is a solvable problem. More information for “Our Invisible
Neighbors,” which explores many of these solutions in greater depth, can be found through the website for Catering for the Homeless. Contact cateringforthehomeless@gmail.com to get involved as a volunteer, or if you are a church, nonprofit, catering company, restaurant or educational facility willing to use this program to end the waste of food in our city, and help alleviate hunger.
ESTABLISHED 1789 A NURTURING, SMALL, JUNIOR-K THROUGH 5th GRADE CO-ED SCHOOL On 95th Street at Central Park West
Where Empowerment and Education go hand-in-hand.
How a child learns to learn will impact his or her life forever.
City and Country School Keeping the progress in progressive education. Two-Year-Olds – 8th Grade
Open House: Thursday, November 16, 6:00 - 8:00pm 146 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011 Tel: 212.242.7802
www.cityandcountry.org
Sign Up for An Open House Tour at alexanderrobertson.org/admissions or call 212-663-2844 to make an appointment for your visit.
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
3
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st district for Week to Date
Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr
Year to Date
2017 2016
% Change
2017
2016
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
1
0
n/a
Rape
1
1
0.0
15
9
66.7
Robbery
0
2
-100.0
57
48
18.8
Felony Assault
1
2
-50.0
64
68
-5.9
Burglary
2
0
n/a
53
98
-45.9
Grand Larceny
24
22
9.1
809 836 -3.2
Grand Larceny Auto
0
1
-100.0
11
43
-74.4
STOLEN NOT STIRRED
OUTFITTER OUTRAGE
NO-COST LACOSTE
SUBWAY DOOR SNATCH
MAC MISSING
Someone stirred things up at the Stir Cafe located at 32 Broadway by lifting an ATM and its nearly $14,000 in cash from the location, which was under construction. During the period between 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 and 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 2, the machine was taken from the coffee shopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lobby. A search of the neighborhood failed to turn up the missing cash dispenser. The ATM itself is valued at $2,000.
Shoplifters hit bottom when they stole some tops. At 7:35 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 9, three women and two men walked into the Urban OutďŹ tters store at 182 Broadway and took 95 dress shirts worth a total of about $3,500, as well as some sweaters and jackets valued at about $700, police said.
Lacoste polo shirts continue to appeal to shoplifters as well. At 1:49 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12, two persons entered the Lacoste location at 541 Broadway and took items of clothing from a display table, concealing the apparel under their jackets and in their backpacks. Police searched the area but couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ďŹ nd the shoplifters or the stolen goods. The items stolen included 10 Lacoste short-sleeved polo shirts valued at $1,650, and 3 Lacoste longsleeved polo shirts priced at $525, a total heist of $2,175.
A visitor from another country experienced a New York minute of the most unpleasant kind. At 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, a 31-year-old Israeli man was standing near the door of an uptown R train at the Cortland Street station when an unknown man standing on the platform snatched the visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $800 Canon 750D camera just as the train door closed. The thief ďŹ&#x201A;ed in an unknown direction. The camera was outďŹ tted with $500 lens priced at $500.
At 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12, a 25-year-old man was in the library of the Borough of Manhattan Community College located at 199 Chambers St. when he left his cubicle to buy items from a vending machine. When he returned to the cubicle, his Apple MacBook Pro was missing. He had a Find My Laptop app on his phone, which revealed that the computerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s last known location was in Brooklyn. The stolen laptop is valued at $1,300.
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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
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PUMPKIN SPICE BY PETER PEREIRA
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
5
TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE? NEIGHBORHOODS That is the question on the East Side as winter nears. Is it nobler to give money to the homeless? Or help in other ways? A tweet from a neighborhood group last week thrust the debate into the open BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
A couple of times a month, a homeless person will show up on the doorstep of the Church of the Epiphany, and as the Reverend Jennifer Reddall tells the story, make a simple if blunt request: “Hey, I want cash!” They don’t get any money. But they don’t leave the Episcopal church at York Avenue and 74th Street emptyhanded either. “We never give out cash,” the rector will explain. But then she adds, “I will always buy you a meal.” Succor comes in many different forms: “If someone’s hungry, you just feed them,” Reddall says. So she’ll take them to a deli across the street for a sandwich, or to the Rainbow store on First Avenue for toiletries and underwear, and to “make them feel like human beings again.” There is no one response to that perennial New York question: When a panhandler solicits you for cash, do you give, or do you figure out another means to help? Belied by an Indian summer, the approach of winter will soon refocus attention on the plight of the homeless. Their ranks and visibility have mushroomed in recent years, and they’ve become, in effect, a part of our streetscape. The daily shelter census as of October 18 stood at 60,305 people, including 23,123 children, according to data
from the city’s Department of Homeless Services. When Mayor Bill de Blasio took office in 2014, pledging to combat the problem, the official city count was 50,689. That’s a steep 18 percent increase in the shelter population, and it has haunted his reelection campaign. Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican mayoral hopeful, cites it as proof of “administrative incompetence.” But absent de Blasio’s programs to find homes for the homeless and the atrisk, City Hall counters, the census would be nearing 70,000. Meanwhile, the annual February tally of people living on sidewalks or doorsteps and in subways and parks shot up to 3,880, an increase of 40 percent from 2016, partially because a mild winter made it easier to camp outdoors. Another factor: A large inventory of empty storefronts, resulting from small business closings, provides new sleeping berths. All of this is playing out on the Upper East Side, where social-service groups and community-based nonprofits, churches and synagogues, block associations and community boards, and civic, faith and elected leaders — not to mention a perplexed citizenry — are grappling with the homeless issue. And mulling a basic question: To give or not to give? Those ruminations, like so much else today, burst into public view with a tweet. The scene was the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, at 337 East 74th Street, on the evening of October 16th, where the East 72nd Street Neighborhood Association was holding a public meeting, and City Council Member Ben Kallos was discussing the homeless problem. That night, says Tina Larsson, the group’s secretary-treasurer, she tweeted a message that emerged from
A homeless woman -- or in street parlance, a “shopping-bag lady” -- with her worldly belongings on Second Avenue just south of East 75th Street last weekend. Photo: Douglas Feiden
State Senator Liz Krueger (first row, center, speaking) and City Council Member Ben Kallos (standing behind her, second row center) at a press conference in March announcing new supportive housing for families on East 91st Street between First and Second Avenues. The two East Side elected officials hold different views about whether residents should give money to homeless panhandlers or offer help in other ways or both. Photo: Courtesy of Senator Liz Krueger’s office his presentation, and shortly after, Kallos, who represents the Upper East Side and Midtown East, retweeted it. “Don’t give money to the homeless in our neighborhood,” she wrote. “Donate to the faith-based institutions that help them instead.” The sharp surge in the homeless presence locally has been disturbing to residents, Larsson says. She notes a small square at 75th Street on the west side of First Avenue near the Saratoga apartment building as one problem spot. And she cited a local nuisance known as the “Spitting Lady of 77th Street,” a longtime fixture on Third Avenue who cursed, screamed and spat upon people, often children. The woman became the focus of a Facebook page, and an online petition to de Blasio demanding her removal that garnered 1,500 signatures. She hasn’t been spotted since May. Handouts to people like that encourage their behavior, increase the volume of solicitations and fuel dependency, the argument goes. “If you keep giving them money, they’ll keep staying here,” Larsson said. Kallos say his constituents are deeply compassionate. “And when they see someone on the street, many people give from the bottom of their hearts,” he says. “The problem is for everyone else in the neighborhood who don’t want to see panhandlers, those who give are literally paying them to be there.” He regularly addresses groups of as many as 100 residents in their buildings, asking for a show of hands of those who give cash to street beggars. Typically, some 10 percent of attendees raise their hands, and Kallos will implore, “Please stop doing that. You are paying them to stay there.” Offering money can also discourage the needy from accepting tax-support-
ed city services that could get them off the streets, he argues. The alternative? “If you want to help someone on the street, call 311,” Kallos urges, saying a call can open the door to city shelter, three square meals a day, substance abuse programs, job training, even money to help pay the rent. Of course, these are deeply personal decisions. Emotionally wrenching, too. And they can make you turn to your faith for guidance. In fact, it was on Yom Kippur three years ago, during a period of fasting and reflection, that Kallos, who prays at Congregation Or Zarua on 82nd Street, discussed with Rabbi Scott Bolton ideas for ameliorating the growing homeless problem. Out of that brainstorming came ETHOS, the Eastside Taskforce for Homeless Outreach and Services, which was launched in February 2016. The group — made up of elected officials, churches, synagogues and nonprofits — provides support for meals, food pantries, street outreach, substance abuse, and legal, medical, housing and shelter services. State Senator Liz Krueger, the founding director of the Food Bank for New York City, was one of the officials who helped launch ETHOS. But her take differs from Kallos’ on the wisdom of handing over cash. She actually does so frequently near her home in the East 70s. “There are true people in need living on the streets or in search of basic needs like shelter and food,” says Krueger, who represents the Upper East Side and Midtown East. “If you’re approached by a woman with a child who says, ‘I really need food and medicine for my child,’ well, that person needs help right now.” There is no one right answer, she says. “But there is a wrong answer,
and that is simply to turn away and say, ‘This isn’t my problem.’” The bottom line: “Sometimes, I say, ‘No,’ if someone is asking very aggressively, sometimes I hand over money, and sometimes I go and buy them food ... But nobody who is hanging out on street corners begging for money doesn’t actually need it because it’s not much of a life.” At issue is simply the best way to help: “Outreach workers say they want to get people off the streets so they can begin to be reached by city services,” says Ann Shalof, executive director of the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter, which runs a residence on East 81st Street that provides counseling, substance abuse treatment and job support. “By giving money to people on the street, you’re facilitating their staying on the streets,” Shalof adds. Of course, there are as many opinions as there are New Yorkers. “The last thing I want to do is encourage dependency,” said waitress and East Side resident Sandra Snyder, explaining why she walked away from a beggar near the corner of Second Avenue and 79th Street last week. Her boyfriend had a different take. Mike Hayes, a bartender, ponied up one dollar, put it in the cup of a man who said he was a Vietnam veteran, got a gentle, “God bless you” in return, and a warm smile to boot. “It breaks your heart,” he said. “It’s just too hard to walk away.” Now, it’s your turn. Tell us how you deal with requests for cash from the homeless in your neighborhood. Do you give money? Or food? Donate to support groups? Call 311? Walk away to discourage dependency? Write Douglas Feiden, at invreporter@ strausnews.com, and we’ll print some of your letters.
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
Thalia Sebelen, one of the women interviewed about Franceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposed legislation, outside the Fashion Institute of Technology. Photo: Liz Hardaway
AFTER #METOO: WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEXT? GENDER We asked women and men in Chelsea what they thought about a French proposal to make catcalling punishable by law BY LIZ HARDAWAY
#MeToo. #BalanceTonPork. Whether in English, French or whatever language one decides to tweet in, these phrases all speak to the once-silenced stories of sexual harassment. Starting early last week, women ďŹ&#x201A;ooded social media platforms, voicing harrowing details of past sexual harassment or abuse, or just implying their experience by writing the loaded phrase that is now a viral hashtag: Me too.
Kindled by the numerous sexual harassment and abuse allegations about Harvey Weinstein, women across the nation responded to actress Alyssa Milanoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s invitation to share their stories under the MeToo hashtag. This even prompted a similar hashtag in France, #BalanceTonPork, or â&#x20AC;&#x153;expose your pig,â&#x20AC;? started after journalist Sandra Muller tweeted a lewd comment â&#x20AC;&#x153;she allegedly received from a powerful French executive,â&#x20AC;? as The Cut reported. But what if these lewd comments became a punishable offense by law? Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what France is considering. Franceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s junior minister for gender equality, Marlène Schiappa, said the country is figuring how to define street harassment and exactly how to charge catcallers. Though the law is in its early stages and facing op-
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position, Straus News asked women and men in Chelsea what the streets of New York would be like if catcalling became illegal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think it would depend on how aggressive [catcallers] are,â&#x20AC;? said Thalia Sebelen, 20, in front of FIT. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But if you really, really feel uncomfortable or you feel that he is following you in any way or even raping you with his eyes ... then yeah, I think that [ďŹ ning them] would be ďŹ ne.â&#x20AC;? Others think the issue cannot simply be ďŹ xed through legislation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I understand why they would want to do that,â&#x20AC;? Peter Miranda, 20, said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think necessarily ďŹ ning it is really going to do anything. In this day and age people will say what they want to say regardless of how others will feel or what the consequences are.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I mean, [fining catcallers] would
Outside the Fashion Institute of Technology. Photo: Liz Hardaway be really helpful but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think I really encounter a lot here in New York, catcalling, compared to other cities, states or even countries,â&#x20AC;? said Huong Le, 22, a young woman outside of FIT. In Walterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, a local bar off Eighth Avenue, a group of men sharing some beers contemplated the point of catcalling. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t catcall women, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ridiculous to me,â&#x20AC;? said Jeff Yazel, one of the bartenders. Whether or not Schiappaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s law gets passed in France, social-media movements have given women a platform
In accordance with Section 1-12 of the Concession Rules of the City of New York, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Parksâ&#x20AC;?) has issued a Request for Bids (â&#x20AC;&#x153;RFBâ&#x20AC;?) for the operation and maintenance of a newsstand at City Hall Park, Murray Street on Broadway, Manhattan. Hard copies of the RFB can be obtained, at no cost, commencing Wednesday, October 18, 2017 through Thursday, November 16, 2017, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., excluding weekends and Holidays, at the Revenue Division of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, which is located at 830 Fifth Avenue, Room 407, New York, NY 10065. All bids submitted in response to this RFB must be submitted by no later than Thursday, November 16, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. The RFB is also available for download, commencing Wednesday, October 18, 2017 through Thursday, November 16, 2017 on Parksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; website. To download the RFB, visit www.nyc.gov/parks/businessopportunities, click on the link for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Concessions Opportunities at Parksâ&#x20AC;? and, after logging in, click on the â&#x20AC;&#x153;downloadâ&#x20AC;? link that appears adjacent to the RFBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s description. For more information related to the RFB contact Glenn Kaalund at (212) 3601397 or via email: glenn.kaalund@parks.nyc.gov. TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR THE DEAF (TDD) 212-504-4115
to expose the Harvey Weinsteins of the world who have taken advantage of them in the past and gotten away with it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;#MeToo ... was an opportunity to take attention away from the predator and bring it back to the victims,â&#x20AC;? Alyssa Milano wrote on Motto. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been so silent â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and silenced â&#x20AC;&#x201D; about this issue, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realize there is a community out there thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ready to embrace and support us. Women need each other, and we need men.â&#x20AC;?
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
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A SICKNESS BY BETTE DEWING
We are hearing lots about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual sins, well this column is a lot, but not only about that. While Woody Allen may not be the right one to say it, it should be considered that “Harvey Weinstein is a very sad sick man.” No doubt sad, “sad” due to the enormous “outing,” but surely decades of repeated sexual assaults against women do indicate a sickness. This is definitely not a defense or excuse, and the greatest tragedy is that victims are afraid to report such violations. Thankfully, this highly publicized scandal by a major film mogul lowers that fear.
As for the “sickness” ... Weinstein has reportedly gone abroad for treatment. An Internet search shows that “Sexaholics Anonymous” groups exist the world over. This sickness or addiction, however, is more complicated than “not taking that first drink,” one of the credos of Alcoholics Anonymous, upon whose basic principles S.A. is founded. Indeed this search shows numerous related treatment groups which get little or no publicity. Nor, most unfortunately does Alcoholics Anonymous for which there’s less stigma attached and a far greater need. And isn’t it something faith groups should address? And not only the Roman Catholic Church for obvious reasons. While it’s true only an infinitely small minority of priests commit such damaging sins, all must be
outed of course, and far more said from the pulpit about the sickness involved and in society at large. While this may only somewhat relate, how grateful I was for my column being quoted in Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church pastor David Read’s 1980 sermon as follows: “If half the attention were given to getting along with family, friends, neighbors and colleagues as getting along in business and in bed receives, these relationships would be far healthier and so would our neighborhoods, cities and country.” Read added, “Bette wages a valiant war against the dehumanizing forces in our society – all that takes the holy out of humanity.” And that gave me strength to keep trying. Again, this is not to excuse or minimize the incalculable harm caused by sexual sins, but to learn how to
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
Voices
prevent them and also consider them as possible addictions. One number for Sexaholics Anonymous in NYC is 212-459 4044. And the number for Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization that receives too little credit, is 212- 647-1680. Suffering continues even more in Puerto Rico where despite the shipment of generators, some 80 percent of the state is still without power. Imagine. Imagine. Ah, and let’s’ also not forget how 11 elder patients died from excessive heat in a Florida nursing home because their caretakers didn’t move them into the nearby air-conditioned hospital. Thankfully, The Times twice frontpaged the story, but nursing home conditions need to “get out there” in general, and regularly. Indeed, the Florida facility reportedly had other problems that had not been
corrected. Why not? And not only because the population is aging must infinitely more attention be paid to elder care – every aspect of elder care. And remembering if ever a group were afraid or reluctant to speak out about abuses or neglect, let alone indifference ... It can be done if enough of us try. But, gee, I’d much rather be writing about baseball, one game whose basic rules I understand from once playing softball. And let’s not feel too bad the Yankees didn’t make the Series, remembering how Houston’s hurricane-caused suffering continues. They could use some good news like an Astro win. New York can until next year. dewingbetter@aol.com
THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE NY SPORTS FAN BY JON FRIEDMAN
Did you feel it, too? I sensed a definite vibe in the air on Sunday morning, as I walked around Manhattan. People seemed shell-shocked. Downright sorrowful. Somehow even more disconnected than usual from one another. Then I suddenly remembered why: The Yankees’ magical, Cinderella-like season was officially over. The good guys had lost game 7 the night before to the Houston Astros, 4-0, in a contest that really wasn’t even that close. The Yanks got three measly hits. After scoring one run in each of the previous three playoff games played in Houston during this series, this time they outdid themselves in futility and got shut out. And in what has become practically obligatory by now, Greg Bird got thrown out at home plate. On the bright side, Aaron Judge almost saved the day with yet another remarkable run-saving catch in right field. It will surely make MLB.com’s 2017 highlight reel. Judging (see what I did there — the guy is so great, he has become a verb) by the long faces, it may appear that Yankee Nation is headed for a long, cold, lonely winter. Take solace, Bronx Bomber fans. Of all the 187 words I just typed above, three should stand out for you. Yes, I called the Yankees the good guys, no small feat for this franchise.
Of all the 2017 New York Yankees’ accomplishments, in a year of magnificent overachieving, one outcome stands out. The Yankees presented a remarkably likable team. The Yankees? Likable? This is the same perennially dominant franchise of which it was said during the 1950s that rooting for the Yankees was like rooting for U.S. Steel, because it seemed so bland, grayflannel corporate. Then in the 1970s, the Reggie Jackson-Billy Martin-George Steinbrenner axis was so unruly and quarrelsome that it was known ignominiously as the Bronx Zoo. In the very late 20th-century dynasty, you had the Derek Jeter-Mariano Rivera-Andy Pettitte-Jorge Posada group. Yes, it was likable as all get-out — but after a while, the whole “Core Four” deification deal got a bit wearying. By the time they all hung up their spikes, even the most ardent fans were ready to turn the page. And don’t even get me started about “A-Roid.” Alex Rodriguez’s retirement during the 2016 season enabled the Yankees to unveil a kid named Aaron Judge. Then, when the team’s owners, the Steinbrenner family, opened the new Yankee Stadium in 2009, pundits wrote that the antiseptic place had all of the charm of a suburban mall — but yes, with a baseball stadium thrown in. (Naturally, when the
Yankees captured the 2009 World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies, almost all was forgiven. At that moment.) Now we have a new breed of what the wags are calling The Baby Bombers: the massive right fielder Aaron (“All rise ... ”) Judge, catcher Gary Sanchez (who, once he masters the art of catching every pitch thrown to him, can punch his ticket — as sportswriters like to say for some reason — to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown), the stoic first baseman Bird, rock-steady stopper Luis Severino and et, baby, al. We can’t forget about the coolest one of them all, a man of mystical powers and lineage simply known far and wide as Didi. He was born in the Netherlands (!) and raised in Curacao (!!). His father and brother also go by the name of Didi and he speaks four languages fluently, which is three (or four) more than I can claim. Didi’s finest accomplishment has been to play shortstop so well and charismatically that he has made the 2014 departure of Derek Jeter that much less painful. So, have a nice, short, warm, happy winter, Yankees Nation. It seems that, given the influx of very youthful and extremely talented players on the roster, we have a lot to look forward to. Oh, and the last detail: 2018 Opening Day will be on March 29, in Toronto. Can’t wait.
Sorrowful vibe: Sunday front page of the New York Post. President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com
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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Maggie Gyllenhaal as “Candy” (Eileen) in HBO’s “The Deuce.” Photo: Paul Schiraldi/HBO
READY FOR HER CLOSE-UP ENTERTAINMENT Why entrepreneurial women can identify with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character in “The Deuce” BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL
I’ve never been a prostitute, especially not one who strolled pre-gentrified 1970s Times Square, yet oddly enough I find myself identifying with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character on HBO’s “The Deuce.” I don’t think I’m alone. The Golden Globe-winning actress plays Eileen, a single mom whose son is being raised by her mother in the outer boroughs, while she lives in Manhattan (in what looks like an Upper East Side luxury doorman building) so she can be closer to her job on 42nd Street where she hustles in a curly blonde wig as “Candy.” What’s so compelling about this striving New York woman, is that even though her story is set forty-five years ago, she seems contemporary. Thanks to our gig economy, we’re used to the rise in female entrepreneurs, making Eileen’s independent streak understandable. From the getgo, we know her alter ego is a cut above her colleagues; she’s a little savvier, a little smarter, and a maverick. Eileen’s gone rogue, operating without a pimp because, “Nobody makes money off my —— but me. I’m gonna keep what I earn,” so she can spend it on her boy.
Because of layoffs, or simply feeling underemployed, and with no prospects in their current industries, today’s women are going back to school or taking unpaid internships to try and switch careers. It’s easy to relate to Eileen’s desire for a new challenge. She’s aware that the world — her world in particular — is changing, and she wants a better place in it. There are no “Pretty Woman” fantasies of being rescued by a millionaire or unrealistic ideas about transitioning into a more respectable business. This ambitious escort knows she’s in the only industry she’s ever going to be in, so when adult films start to trend, Eileen’s Candy is ready for her close-up. However, to paraphrase Tess in “Working Girl,” although Eileen may have a bod for sin, she’s got a head for business. She knows the real money isn’t in performing, but in making as well as distributing the movies. And she’s not one to “leave money on the table for somebody else to pick up.” What she really wants to do (pardon the Hollywood cliché) is direct, as well as produce. All Eileen needs is someone to give her a chance and show her the ropes. Don’t we all. I remember my months after college graduation looking for a job as an advertising copywriter, only to be met with the always frustrating Catch-22 — you can’t get a job without experience and can’t get experience without a job. Like Eileen, I took a stepping-
stone position. As the assistant to a creative director at a large agency, I lived on the belief that all the typing, copying and coffee fetching would lead to my big break. I also networked, showing my portfolio to other agencies, hoping they’d think of me if something came up. I felt Eileen’s pain when she delivered her elevator pitch to an oblivious male filmmaker she’d invited to lunch. As he scarfed down his free meal as though it were his last, he blew her off with a wave of his fork: “I don’t need no more overhead.” The disappointment on her face coupled with the slump of her shoulders was body language I remember all too well. (My hopes were dashed with a more articulate, “There’s no money in the budget at this time to take on junior people.”) If it was demoralizing to be dismissed as a rookie, it’s even worse now as an industry veteran, often told I have too much experience or not the right kind. But this is New York City, the place where people come to follow their dreams, because here is where the opportunities are. And so, I keep hustling. For inspiration, I watch Eileen always find a way to get her way, and remember that’s me — minus, of course, the hot pants, halter top and platform high heels. Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novels “Back to Work She Goes” and “Fat Chick,” for which a movie is in the works.
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST The local paper for the Upper East Side
March 29
April 20
Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com
FIGHTING FOR POCKET PARKS
EDITOR’S PICK
They are hidden between blocks and tucked inside skyscrapers. You might walk through them, or past them, without ever knowing. But not all New Yorkers have forgotten that they are entitled to access the city’s more than 500 privately owned public spaces, or POPS. Last summer, the New York Times noticed that a marble bench in the atrium of Trump Tower, which is a POPS, had gone missing and their reporting resulted in its quiet return.
ANNUAL GREAT CRASHES TOUR Sat 28 Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall St. 1 p.m. $15 212-908-4110. moaf.org/events
The local paper for the Upper East Side
April 6
April 14
‘CITIZEN JANE’ DOCUMENTARY PROFILES URBAN ACTIVIST PLANNING A timely new film spotlights the groundbreaking author of ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’ BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
Jane Jacobs, with her signature oval glasses, began a lifelong dedication to fighting urban renewal when plans emerged to continue Fifth Avenue through Washington Square Park. Critics labeled her a “housewife” who couldn’t possibly be more than a fly in the ointment of the project, but Jacobs had been writing and reporting about cities and architecture long before the park was threatened. Her story and the lessons of her groundbreaking book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” are the focus
Black Tuesday, as the devastating stock market crash on Oct. 29, 1929, came to be known, reverberates in our nation’s consciousness. History buffs and Wall Street obsessives can relive the Great Crash on this unique walking tour, now in its 30th year. Under the auspices of the Museum of American Finance, the nation’s only public museum dedicated to American finance and financial history, you’re bound to get bang for your buck. You’ll learn more about the panic of 1907 and the 1987 stock market collapse, plus take a deep dive into the political, financial and architectural history of the Wall Street area. This 3-hour tour also covers more recent history, including the impact of 9/11 and the financial crisis of 2008. Throughout it all, New York and Wall Street have always bounced back as the world’s financial capital — and you’ll learn why. The tour will be led by James S. Kaplan, an attorney and political historian, and Richard M. Warshauer, a commercial real estate executive and Wall Street aficionado.
on April 21 at select theaters. Matt Tyrnauer, the film’s director, and producer Robert Hammond, who is also the executive director of Friends of the High Line, got the idea for the documentary several years ago when they realized there had never been a film about Jacobs before. “We thought we’d be introducing this film about a very brilliant woman who was sort of a seer, a visionary in a lot of ways, and politically active, in an atmosphere when we had the first woman president,” Tyrnauer said at a screening last Thursday. “Much to our surprise, it went the other way. There’s some resonances in the film that maybe were unintended but it’s interesting to see how the public has received them.” Hammond described the film as “a playbook for resistance,” and hopes that viewers will be able to learn from Jacobs how best to fight their battles. “What’s interesting now is people getting out in the street — it’s not just
The local paper for the Upper East Side
April 17
October 10
NO NEWS ON SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY SUBWAYS Four months after the subway line opened, newsstands at the new stations remain vacant BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
It was a New Year’s Eve party a century in the making. One hundred years after the Second Avenue subway was first proposed, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and other dignitaries rang in 2017 at an invitation-only soiree in the new station beneath 72nd Street, enjoying hors d’oeuvres and drinks as the Q train took its inaugural trip on the new line. Memorably, a pristine
zanine was repurposed into a bar, with bottles of beer from New York breweries lining the shelves in place of candy and magazines. The newsstands in the Second Avenue stations haven’t been put to use since. Nearly four months after the turnstiles started spinning in New York’s newest subway stations, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has yet to contract a vendor to operate four newsstands on the Second Avenue line. Black kiosks branded with the MTA’s Second Avenue subway logo sit shuttered and empty on station platforms as riders wait for trains to arrive. Anyone in need of a cold
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Thu 26
Fri 27
Sat 28
ACTIVISM’S SECRET WEAPON: MEDITATION
‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ ▲
UNDOCUMENTED: A TEACH-IN ON IMMIGRATION
McNally Jackson 52 Prince St. 7:30 p.m. Free A meditation teacher for 30 years, the author Jan Bidwell knows the power of the practice to strengthen political and social activism. Bidwell will discuss her book ”Sitting Still: Meditation as the Secrete Weapon of Activism” and how meditating can enhance resiliency. 212-274-1160 mcnallyjackson.com/event
IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. 11 a.m. $15 “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” made Judy Garland famous, but what about the dog? Part of IFC Center’s #WeekendClassics series “Dog, NYC,” “The Wizard Of Oz” will play on the big screen. Keep an eye on Toto, the unsung star of the movie. Additional screenings Oct. 28 and 29. 212-924-7771 ifccenter.com/films
Trinity Church, 74 Trinity Place 10:00 a.m. Free Participants at this teach-in will lean more about current issues related to immigration, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), temporary protected status and sanctuary. They’ll also have the chance to meet with representatives of advocacy organizations, both religious and secular, dedicated to helping immigrants and refugees. 212-602-0800 trinitywallstreet.org
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
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Dining Information, plus Photo courtesy of the city of Marietta, via Flickr
Sun 29
Mon 30 Tue 31
DOG RUN HALLOWEEN PARTY ▲
BOOS AND BOOKS: A LITERARY HALLOWEEN ▼
59 Washington Square South, large dog run in Washington Square Park 1 p.m. Free Join pups and their owners for a day of Halloween fun. Get your dog dolled up in their best attire; prizes and treats will be awarded to the best costumes for dogs and owners. nycgovparks.org/parks
The Strand, 828 Broadway 7 p.m. $25, includes entry plus one drink Get gussied up in your greatest Halloween look and take part in a costume contest, glimpse into your future with tarot and palm readings, and join in a literary-themed round of mafia to figure out who killed Edgar Allan Poe. The Strand’s bookish Halloween party is sure to be a hauntingly good time. 212-473-1452 strandbooks.com
THE GHOST OF POE Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St Marks Pl, 9:30 p.m. $30. The spirit of Edgar Allan Poe returns to earth for a single night to find his soul mate, and to visit with the ghosts his cousin and wife Virginia Clemm and his literary rival Rufus Griswold in “The Spyglass Seven,” a theatrical reimaginging of Poe’s afterlife by Michael Seebold. 212-388-0388 theatre80.wordpress.com
Wed 1 WHAT RUSSIA WANTS National September 11 Memorial and Museum, 180 Greenwich St. 7 p.m. Free Unpack the latest news on Russia and its impact on America’s post-9/11 foreign policy with Stephen Sestanovich. Columbia University professor, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former State Department ambassador-atlarge. 212-312-8800 911memorial.org
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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
WEAVING METAPHORS A revealing portrait of Louise Bourgeois at MoMA BY MARY GREGORY
Along the edge of a leaf, in a towering etching filled with curvilinear, botanical imagery, Louise Bourgeois penciled a message. “I give you humour, not pity.” There are plenty of other snippets of text, long and short, straightforward or enigmatic in the Museum of Modern Art’s inspiring, encompassing and exhilarating onewoman exhibition, “Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait,” since it focuses, in part on her writing, prints and books. But somehow, this tiny scrawl seems to encapsulate what the work of this complex, beloved artist delivers. The etching, “Ode to Eugénie Grandet,” references the Balzac novel about a woman triumphant despite the constraints of gender and society. It’s a poignant opener followed by a tour de force. Turning away from the print, one faces “Spider,” from 1997, an enormous cage topped by a gargantuan, spindly-legged arachnoid bronze. The circular cage below the spider is one of a series of 62 “cells”
IF YOU GO WHAT: “Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait” WHERE: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd St. WHEN: Through January 28 www.moma.org Bourgeois created between 1991 and 2010. Filling the museum’s secondfloor atrium, the installation is imposing, constricting and frightening at first glance. On closer inspection, there’s a chair, sections of tapestry, and, hanging from chains, perfume bottles, crystals, a locket with photos, keys and bones tucked inside. It’s a vast and complicated metaphor — as complex and knotty as the artist who created it. Time after time, across many media, Louise Bourgeois laid her soul bare through her art. In unflinching works and words she communicated her deepest emotions, darkest fears and most daring thoughts, and by doing so, became champion to generations of artists and feminists. In the exhibition we encounter a complex iconography
The final gallery of “Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait” at the Museum of Modern Art is both dazzling and uplifting. Photo: Adel Gorgy that draws heavily on Bourgeois’ inner world and personal history. Body parts — literal, abstracted, or genderblending — strange creatures, sheets (here, musical sheets) stained blood red, symbols of fertility and fear are all expressed in Bourgeois’ work, along with touches of humor, but never pity, especially self-pity. Louise Bourgeois was born in France in 1911 and worked until her death in 2010. She had a long life during a fecund period that spanned world wars and cold wars, and inventions from talking movies to internet tweets. The daugh-
A selection of works from the series “Lullaby,” rife with connotations and associations. Photo: Adel Gorgy
ter of a well-off family of tapestry weavers and restorers, Bourgeois studied math and philosophy at the Sorbonne before enrolling in art school. The first apartment she rented in Paris was upstairs from André Breton’s Surrealist stronghold, Galerie Gradiva. In 1938, she met and married an American art historian, Robert Goldwater, and moved to New York. “She loved New York, and she loved the skyscrapers, so many of her images are of buildings and skyscrapers,” said exhibition organizer Deborah Wye, chief curator emerita of prints at MoMA, and a longtime friend of the artist. “She always saw things in personalized terms, so if she saw a skyscraper, she thought of it as a figure. Or two skyscrapers that were near each other were in a relationship.” A painted bronze of tall building with rows of windows topping skinny legs is “Portrait of Jean-Louis,” her son. Wye, together with curatorial assistant Sewon Kang, grouped works by thematic chapters, reflecting what Wye called Bourgeois’ “vocabulary of imagery.” They include Architecture Embodied, Abstracted Emotions, Fabric of Memory, Alone and Together, Forces of Nature, and Lasting Impressions and offer the chance to see how ideas were revisited, revised and embellished throughout the course of Bourgeois’ life. The third floor presentation begins with works on paper filled with spidery figures. The spider was a potent symbol; Bourgeois often stated that it represented her mother, who was a weaver, as well as her protector. The
wall text quotes the artist, “My best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat and useful as a spider.” Other recurring imagery includes spirals, reproductive organs, cages, seeds, pods and plants. In the exhibition, they take form in sculptures, drawings, books, prints, etchings, paintings and a delightful group of fiber works made when Bourgeois was in her 80s. Possibly only after her challenging sexual imagery cast in bronze had been accepted and hailed, did she feel comfortable with materials deemed feminine and quaint by an art establishment that devalued the work of many women fiber artists. Whatever the impetus for the works, a humanfaced cat printed on a tatted handkerchief (“Self Portrait”) and a series of minimalist sewn, quilted and printed compositions are eye-openers. The exhibition ends with a crowning glory. “In the last room there’s a very moving series. It’s almost completely abstract, and she did that probably when she was 96, and she died when she was 98. It starts with the printed elements, and then she just really goes wild with gouache and with watercolor and pencil.... It’s just a sort of primordial, cellular world,” said Wye, adding, “I do think in that last room there’s a great spirituality going on.” At the center of the gallery is a circle of gold, “Arch of Hysteria,” a life-sized figural sculpture — writhing and agonized, but soaring, transcendent and dazzling.
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
HALLOWEEN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 as an obvious reference to the border-wall proposal. “Gothamist” reported in September that multiple New York “Spirit” Halloween stores were selling Donald Trump masks right next to Border Patrol agent costumes, consisting of a green shirt with matching hat and gold lettering. As the first Halloween under the Trump administration approaches, it has yet to be seen how clashing costumes may play out on the streets. For their part, colleges across the nation are upping the ante on cultural sensitivity during this spirited holiday. Columbia University’s “We’re a Culture, Not a Costume” campaign features posters of minority students holding pictures of people dressed up as racial or ethnic stereotypes, such as an Asian woman holding a photo of a white woman dressed as a Geisha. The posters are emblazoned with the words, “This is not who I am, and this is not okay.” “As Halloween approaches, we would like to remind our campus community to be thoughtful about how we can celebrate this spirited day without demeaning or isolating others,” reads a Facebook statement from the university’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, which encourages students to change their profile picture to one of the posters. “It’s when you think my culture looks better on you than it
ELEPHANTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 of a Brooklyn bridge elephant stampede, the backstory, even the monument — is a hoax, a tall tale, a fictional spin on history, crafted by Joseph Reginella, a 46-year old artist from Staten Island. “I’m just creeping into these people’s brains,” said Reginella, who similarly and successfully tricked and treated the public last year with his account of a giant octopus that had attacked the Cornelius G. Kolff, a Staten Island ferry, on November 22, 1963, another infamous day in U.S. history. “Even if you know it’s fake, it’s a piece of entertainment,” Reginella said in Battery Park on a bright, recent Sunday morning, untiringly amused by the range of reactions of passers-by at the monument. “Look at that guy, he’s shaking his head, he can’t believe
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
Turning the Soul: Humanities and the Hero’s Journey
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27TH, 7PM The Strand | 828 Broadway | 212-473-1452 | strandbooks.com Scene from a past Village Halloween Parade. Photo courtesy of Jeanne Fleming, Artistic and Producing Director, Village Halloween Parade does on me,” says Naika Cadet, costume and marketing manager at Abracadabra, one of the city’s biggest Halloween emporiums, putting cultural appropriation plain and simple. A longtime Abracadabra employee, Cadet says that the store refuses to sell costumes that explicitly express bigotry or anti-Semitism, such as a KKK costume or Nazi paraphernalia. Yet Cadet notes that many creative New Yorkers aren’t coming in for a ready-made costume, they’re coming in for a specific look — and that’s where things can get tricky. “Our whole job here is to educate in a polite way, and gear [customers] to something that’s eye-catching and beautiful, and to get them what that they want,” she says. For instance, if a white woman comes in looking for a Native American headdress, Cadet might suggest she dress up as colorful warrior instead, using a culture’s clothing for inspira-
tion without appropriating it. Drawing inspiration from unexpected sources is precisely what this year’s Village Halloween parade is about. The theme, “Cabinet of Curiosities,” is a nod to P.T. Barnum’s curious menagerie. “Halloween, of course, revels in hybrids, mashups and the frisson of crossed identities,” reads a description of the theme on the parade’s website. Does Fleming worry that this particular theme will open parade-goers up to offense? Fleming has never turned anyone away for an offensive costume. That’s just not how she thinks, she says. Says Fleming, “Part of the experiment in allowing for this freedom to occur is to find out what happens when you decide to come as something, let’s say, offensive to me or you, but maybe not to them. You get to find out in a very direct way. People recoil, or they embrace. But you can’t legislate that.”
it,” he added, beaming. But he doesn’t want the public to read too much into his creations, and certainly not as commentary on fake news. “My intention is to take to you to a fantasyland for a little while,” he said. “The more I think about it now, it’s really just for fun.” Somewhat contrary to his Cornelius G. Kolff ruse, Jumbo the elephant and his friends were, if not heroes, then more sympathetic creatures, much like King Kong. “I hated to see these beautiful creatures in the cage, so I wanted them to break free in my story,” said Reginella, an admitted animal lover. In addition to the monument — a clay sculpture, oxidized to form a bronzish green hue, that Reginella wheels to Battery Park and to Brooklyn Bridge Park — Reginella created a website with accompanying video and voiceover of the “tragedy” as well as a
site-by-site narrated tour of the day’s events by iconic New York rocker David Johansen. The script for “Jumbo’s Journey,” which takes participants along the route taken by the elephants in their march towards freedom — from Brooklyn Bridge Park to Clinton Castle — was written by Ricky Roxburgh, the head writer of the Disney Channel show “Tangled: The Series.” A 7-minute black and white documentary created by 21year old filmmaker Melanie Juliano, is the ruse’s final component. Voiced-over by the actors of “Tangled,” the short film is heavy on dramatic visuals and footage. All told, the project took Reginella three months to complete. Which is pretty quick, given that he rewrote history. As for Jumbo, he was last seen running through the Holland Tunnel, on his way to freedom.
Philosophy and religion professor Vishwa Adluri looks to Joseph Campbell, Freud, and Nietzche for a better conception of the humanities, open to those on “an inward journey to face their unconscious and emerge victorious, with new insight and creative power” ($20 w. beer/wine).
30th Annual Great Crashes Walking Tour
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28TH, 1PM Museum of American Finance | 48 Wall St. | 212-908-4110 | moaf.org With the stock market hitting new highs at every turn, can a crash be lurking? Learn the history of the Great Crash of 1929 (plus the 1907 and 1987 downturns) that looks into the politics and architecture of the Financial District, and the ultimate resilience of the markets ($15).
Just Announced | TimesTalks: M. Butterfly
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH, 7PM The TimesCenter | 242 W. 41st St. | 888-698-1870 | timestalks.com Julie Taymor, director of the Broadway revival of M. Butterfly, joins cast member Clive Owen and playwright David Henry Hwang for a TimesTalks conversation. They’ll get into the creative process behind the story of a married French diplomat and a mysterious opera singer from Peking ($50).
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS OCT 6 - 13, 2017
Hoy Wong Restaurant
81 Mott Street
A
The Cupping Room
359 West Broadway
Grade Pending (24) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewageassociated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. 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.
Sichuan Hot Pot Cuisine
34 Pell St
A
10 Below Ice Cream
10 Mott St
Grade Pending (18) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Joy Luck Palace
98 Mott St
Grade Pending (47) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/ sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Muse Paintbar
329 Greenwich St
A
Tomino - Taberna Gallega
192 Grand St
Not Yet Graded (29) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/ refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Subway
250 East Houston St
A
Grand 1 Bakery
295 Grand Street
A
Xin Wei Ning / D & M Bakery Inc
83 Essex St
A
Shabu Shabu Macoron
61 Delancey St
Not Yet Graded (10) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Cafe Katja
79 Orchard Street
A
One Mile House
1012 Delancy Street
A
Good Good Taste
13 Market St
Grade Pending (19) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
12 Corners
155 East Broadway
A
Il Buco Restaurant
47 Bond Street
A
The Smile
26 Bond Street
A
Le Pain Quotidien
65 Bleecker Street
Grade Pending (25) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Live animals other than fish in tank or service animal present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Ciao
178 Mulberry Street
A
Manousheh
193 Bleecker St
Grade Pending (25) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
Milano’s Bar
51 East Houston St
A
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.
Best Of The Best Delicatessen
11 Park Place
Grade Pending (2)
Tandoor Palace
88 Fulton Street
Grade Pending (19) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
Starbucks Coffee #28171
375 Pearl St
A
Sophies Cuban Cuisine
76 Fulton St
Grade Pending (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
Shake Shack
200 Broadway
A
iPic Theaters
11 Fulton St
Grade Pending (24) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/ refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
Jack’s Stir Brew Coffee
222 Front Street
Grade Pending (22) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Live animals other than fish in tank or service animal present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Chipotle Mexican Grill
100 Maiden Lane
A
Saturdays Surf NYC
31 Crosby Street
Grade Pending (19) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/ sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
Original Puglia Ristorante Italiano
189 Hester Street
Grade Pending (0) Establishment authorized to reopen after inspection conducted on 10/10/2017.
Pepe Rosso Social
173 Mott St
Grade Pending (27) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/ sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Project Cozy
398 Broome St
A
Tofu Tofu
96 Bowery
Grade Pending (2)
Cutting Board
53 Bayard St
A
The Greek
458 Greenwich Street A
China Blue
451 Washington St
A
Maison Kayser Bakery
355 Greenwich St
Grade Pending (40) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/ refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Caffe Palermo
148 Mulberry Street
A
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
All six of the founding members of Muslim Volunteers for New York outside Ruppert Park. Photo courtesy of MV4NY
RESTORING RUPPERT PARK CITY SPACES How a group of Muslim volunteers helped efforts to eliminate rats and beautify the UES spot BY CARSON KESSLER
Just three years ago, Ruppert Park was better known as the Upper East Side’s “Rat Park,” an uninviting one-acre park on Second Avenue between 90th and 91st Streets, plagued by hundreds of rat colonies. Now 99 percent rat-free, Ruppert Park is on its way to becoming a safe and welcoming neighborhood space at the hands of the Muslim Volunteers for New York (MV4NY) and former president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Nancy Ploeger. For two years, Ploeger worked tirelessly to eliminate the rat population and rehabilitate the promising park. Her determined attitude to beautify a neighborhood space soon attracted the Muslim Volunteers for New York, a community-based service organization designed to engage Muslim-Americans with the greater community in a variety of efforts to give back to the city, including improving the environment. This past Saturday marked the inauguration of MV4NY as the park’s official stewards, granted by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. As a part of the MV4NY’s inaugural Environmental Stewardship Day, around 60 volunteers, ages two to 65, spent their Saturday morning amidst fragrant mulch and bulbs, weeding, planting and painting. Founded by six Muslim mothers in an attempt to pay homage to the charity element of Islam, MV4NY wants to teach children the significance of community at an early age. “We want to teach our kids that giving money is not the only form of charity,” Sahar Hussain, a founding member of MV4NY, said about the large number of children at the event. “When you physically work and help others that desperately need your help, you begin to realize these blessings are not just your own. You need to share them.” Another founding member, Saima Saad, hopes
15
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
that the Ruppert Park clean-up builds a larger community among both friends and strangers. “This is essentially children working to clean their own parks,” she said. “It is all about coming together and collaborating with one another to protect the environment.” MV4NY invited several dignitaries to further engage the community. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Council Member Ben Kallos and Borough Commissioner for NYC Parks William Castro were all in attendance this past Saturday. “This park really just needs attention,” said Ploeger, who previously championed the cleanup of Ruppert Park. While Ruppert Park will be filled with daisies and tulips come springtime, Ploeger worries these beautification efforts might be short-lived due to larger issues such as erosion and irrigation. The park is divided into four quadrants by shoddy walkways on uneven ground that wind around a well-used playground, an empty lot, a splash pad for children in the summer, and yet another empty space. The occasional broken irrigation tube pokes out of the dehydrated shrubbery like an ancient artifact. In an earlier attempt to rehabilitate the park, Ploeger recalls spending her mornings running up and down the park steps from an inconveniently placed watering hose to the shrubs near the park’s entrance. The greenery in the park is almost completely dependent on the summer splash pad run-off and the grace of Mother Nature. “My vision is that the park will be greener and more leveled,” one of MV4NY’s founders, Sanober Khan, said about the need for a more efficient infrastructure. “For all of that, we need a lot of funding, so my hope is that we will be able to get the funding and level the area.” MV4NY hopes to engage the city in fixing larger erosion and irrigation issues, as well as welcoming all beautification efforts to teach the children in the community the importance of giving back. “The Parks Department has some financial problems, but someone has to step up,” Ploeger said. “Muslim Volunteers for New York are truly doing a great job.”
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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
Business ‘HQ2’ TO NYC? As many as 50,000 new jobs hang in the balance as city vies to land Amazon’s second North American headquarters, pushing Lower Manhattan and Midtown West as ideal destinations BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
New York City quickly jumped into the fray when Amazon unveiled a business expansion plan that’s expected to become the largest in U.S. history — not counting the ramp-up to World War II. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant on September 7th trumpeted a hyperambitious proposal to invest $5 billion in construction on a second headquarters that will create some 50,000 highpaying jobs. Overnight, an unprecedented nationwide competition among cities and states was ignited. And as a fierce bidding war raged for “HQ2,” as the project is dubbed, Mayor Bill de Blasio on October 16th fired off a forceful if immodest letter to Jeff Bezos, the company founder and CEO: “The case for New York City is simple,”
Mayor Bill de Blasio told the audience at a town hall meeting at St. Francis College in Brooklyn on October 18 that online retailers like Amazon are “very destructive to communities,” saying he’s never shopped at the e-commerce behemoth. His timing was unusual: Only a couple of hours earlier, the city had submitted a bid to lure Amazon’s proposed second headquarters. Photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office de Blasio wrote in response to the bid solicitation. “We are the global capital of commerce, culture and innovation. No city has a greater diversity of talent, of industries, and of collisions that fuel great ideas and companies.” The city was hardly alone. Amazon said it received 238 proposals from cities and regions in 54 states, provinces, districts and regions for what became, in effect, a torch-lighting for the Olympics of the business world. In submitting its formal proposal, the city’s Economic Development Corp. laid out the case for how the city would meet Amazon’s criteria, which includes pro-
viding 500,000 square feet of offices by 2019 with an eventual expansion potential of a staggering eight million square feet of buildable space. A diverse tech talent pool, bountiful housing market, vast air-transit system, world-class academic and research institutions and the nation’s largest public transportation network, as well as an “ecosystem for innovation” and the “biggest tech pipeline in the Northeast” were key attributes flagged by EDC. As for locations, City Hall picked two Manhattan sites: • Midtown West. And specifically, Hudson Yards, the new-and-still-ris-
ing-live-work-and-play neighborhood, which boasts a potential campus of 26 million square feet. There are 2.4 million workers within a 45-minute commute of the site, and the midtown core is served by 15 subway and rail lines, EDC said. • Lower Manhattan. And specifically, the rebuilt World Trade Center complex, which offers 8.5 million square feet, breathtaking harbor views, a workforce of 1.7 million people within commuting distance and 13 nearby subway and PATH lines. The city also touted sites in Long Island City in Queens and the so-called Brooklyn Tech Triangle, which includes downtown, DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Bottom line: If the city lands HQ2, it will reap $2.8 billion to $3.3 billion in “estimated taxes from direct jobs” over a 30-year period, an EDC analysis found. Sounds good so far. But there are a couple of wrinkles that Amazon — which was founded in 1994 and is now world’s largest retailer — will be sure to notice: • Tax incentives. There are none in the city’s proposal. de Blasio has generally, but not always, opposed them in corporate retention and relocation deals. Yet Amazon has said tax breaks would be “a factor” in its ultimate decision. As City Hall keeps its wallet shut, rival locales are ponying up. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is offering $7 billion in tax credits, $2 billion more than Amazon plans to invest, to lure the retailer to Newark. Governor Andrew Cuomo is also wielding incentives to bring HQ2 to several upstate communities, but so far, he’s refused to quantify them.
• Muddled messages. Barely two hours after City Hall submitted its proposal, de Blasio told a town hall meeting in Brooklyn that online shippers like Amazon are “very destructive to communities.” For good measure, he added that he’s never shopped at Amazon, much prefers the city’s “brick-and-mortar retailers,” doesn’t have much use for Starbucks either, and suggested his listeners make similar shopping choices. Despite the discordant words, the public courting continues. Officials at City Hall called attention to a “Dear Jeff” letter from the Partnership for New York City, the influential business group, which called the city the “clear choice” for the company’s second headquarters. “In New York, you will find a community of super-achievers who hail from every country in the world,” dozens of member CEOs wrote Bezos last week. “That’s the reason we are here, and it is what makes this the logical place for Amazon’s HQ2. We hope you agree.” EDC noted in its proposal that Amazon doesn’t have to move to the city — it already has several important business operations here. The company has two brick-and-mortar bookstores, in Columbus Circle and at 7 West 34th Street, where it also has a large distribution center. Its online fashion retailer, Shopbop, is located at 230 West 41st Street. It also has 92,500 square feet of office space at 1350 Sixth Avenue. And its advertising unit will be moving into 360,000 square feet at 450 West 33rd Street, now known as 5 Manhattan West, by 2018.
NEIGHBORHOOD SIDE STREETS MEET 15TH STREET
sideways.nyc
BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE 450 EAST 15TH STREET Named for a 17th-century European coffee house, the Blue Bottle is nothing if not traditional when it comes to coffee. These days, the company has expanded into a network of roasters, cafés, carts, and kiosks. Each location still roasts in vintage machines and uses eco-friendly materials. Set up on two floors of the Milk Building’s former loading dock, the first floor offers espresso, macchiatos, cappuccino, caffe lattes and mochas, brewed tea, and Blue Bottle roast blends. Blue Bottle stands out as a true-blue haven for caffeine aficionados. For more photos and side streets, go to sideways.nyc
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
17
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
SEARCHING FOR AN ACUPUNCTURIST HEALTHY IN THE CITY Studies show the treatment can help with pain, fertility and moods. But how to find a skilled practitioner in NYC? BY SUSAN MARQUE
When I lived in Los Angeles I used to get acupuncture treatments to help with everything from a sprained ankle to menstruation problems. There are numerous studies showing that acupuncture is useful in treating pain, fertility, moods, and more. It took me a long time to find a licensed doctor of Chinese medicine that I admired and who got consistent results. One person insisted I come back for more treatments than I felt I needed. Another hit a nerve (painful) a couple of times and I didn’t trust their needle technique after that. A third left an aging sick dog in the treatment room and then went on to mention that the dog had picked up fleas just as I was supposed to be relaxing with needles all over my body. I might have quit acupuncture at that point but I happened to meet Bethany Muhl L.Ac., when I was randomly seated next to her at an event. She offered to give me a free treatment to help with a knee problem and I thought I’d see what she could do.
Muhl fixed my knee in that single session and it seemed she could assist with just about any complaint in two treatments. An added bonus was that she was an artist and fun to talk to. She understood how our emotions play a role in our physical health and would sometimes talk out an issue while she was positioning the acupuncture needles. I thought I would never be able to duplicate her good care in New York without the same sort of trial and error I had gone through in Los Angeles, but I decided to finally dig in when my irritating digestive issue was acting up and I’d tried other options. The first person I asked was my primary-care physician. Dr. Alan Remde is both an MD and a holistic doctor. He emailed me quickly with three suggestions. 1. There are acupuncturists in the clinic he works out of. 2. He listed phone numbers for the Tri-State College of Acupuncture as a low-cost option. The school has a clinic where well-trained students work under the watchful eye of licensed professors. 3. He gave me ten names and numbers of acupuncturists that he had on a referral list, but didn’t know. While I like Remde as a physician, I have mixed feelings about the clinic itself, so I passed on the first suggestion even though it would be convenient. I called my insurance to see if acu-
Soho Acupuncture Center. Photo: Susan Marque puncture was covered. (Be sure to check with yours because many plans do include a limited number of treatments.) Since it wasn’t, I kept looking. I contacted Muhl in case she had a colleague in New York City. She didn’t. Her suggestions were similar to my physician’s and she leaned towards the budget-friendly school option. I’ve tried that in the past with spotty results. It can be a good way to go, but I really wanted to find a traditional Chinese medicine doctor I could stick with. It’s like finding the right hair stylist who gets you and your needs.
I looked at Yelp. There were many five-star ratings and places with radiant reviews. I picked Soho Acupuncture Center because Diem Truong L.Ac., MSTROM (master’s degree in traditional Oriental medicine) is actually Chinese and I had a good feeling about his practice. My intuition seemed spot on. The office is large, offering tai chi and qigong classes a few times a week by outside instructors. Truong took his time to find out a little about me and answer any questions. I liked that his father had also been a traditional Chinese doctor. His grandparents were Chinese and fled to Vietnam, where he was born. Truong’s dad practiced in Vietnam before moving the family to the Bronx, New York where Diem and his two brothers grew up. They went to school uptown and traveled downtown daily to help out in their father’s shop. They learned about herbs and cleaned between patients. Diem was the only one who went on to continue his studies in acupuncture. While he was in school, Truong worked both as a sushi chef and a bartender. The delicate work with knives has given him a dexterous technique; I barely felt the needles as he swiftly worked. His background in bartending has enhanced his bedside manner. He seems to truly care about his patients and wants to cure what bothers them as quickly as possible. In the Asian tradition, it’s a badge of honor to get someone out of pain or discomfort
Diem Truong. Photo: Susan Marque in a single session. Just when I thought the treatment was over, Truong explained that he was going to do Toina, a type of massage that would enhance the acupuncture. He continues to keep learning whatever he can to bring more to his practice. Each session is custom designed to facilitate speedy results. I liked the treatment and felt safe and cared for, so I definitely would go back. There are many skilled acupuncturists in this city. Find the one that is the right fit for you.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE! at OTDOWNTOWN.COM M Herbs at t the Soho Acupuncture Center. Photo: Susan Marque
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
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To read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes” go to otdowntown.com/15 minutes
YOUR 15 MINUTES
PUTTING A FACE TO MEDICINE Medical reporter Dr. Max Gomez on his career of educating our city on health BY ANGELA BARBUTI
Dr. Max Gomez is used to hearing “Hey, doc,” from everyone from construction workers to police officers. As a medical reporter on CBS since 2007, and having a more than threedecade long career on-air, mostly in New York, he is not only recognized, but on occasion even asked for his medical opinion. This is quite a change from his humble beginnings here as a “starving postdoc” at Rockefeller University, with $10,000 a year as his entire stipend. Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Miami, Gomez studied geophysical sciences at Princeton University, and was also a local DJ and news director at the university’s radio station, WPRV, which would ultimately set the stage for his future work. His new book, “Cells are the New Cure,” which he co-authored with Dr. Robin Smith, sheds light on the breakthroughs in science involving the use of adult stem cells to aid in the treatment of disease. When asked about his goal for this project, he said, “The general public should be aware of it ... it’s not just future sci-fi, this is stuff that’s happening now.... It’s a really exciting time.”
You began your career on television through a suggestion from a classmate at Princeton. I got my PhD at Wake Forest and was recruited to come up to Rockefeller University as an NIH postdoctoral fellow. I had about a year left on my grant and was running out of school to go to. I had to finally get a job and be a grownup and wasn’t so sure I wanted to poke rats with electrodes. And at the time, I was the head of the Princeton young alumni committee in New York and we were running a short series of career counseling seminars at the Princeton Club.... That’s what got me thinking about it. And my friend Robin Krasny, who was a classmate, was the one who suggested it. She said, “You did radio in college. You like science. Why don’t you try to do science on television?”
How did you start to focus on cellular medicine? I had done some stories over at NYU and happened to meet one of the trustees, Robin Smith, who’s my co-author on this book. At the time, she was the chairman and CEO of an adult stem banking company called NeoStem. And Robin, by the way, is your typical underachiever. She’s a Yale MD, Wharton MBA.... She said, “I have trouble getting people to understand what adult stem cells are.” Because at the time, people didn’t understand. When I went to medical school, there was really no such thing as an adult stem cell. So she asked me to make some videos for the company, explaining the difference between embryonic and adult stem cells, how you can bank your adult cells and what they might be used for. And at the time, their usefulness was somewhat theoretical, to be honest. And not all that clear what they might be used for in the future.
What’s the difference between a regular cell and a stem cell? A regular cell is a cell that knows what it’s doing and has one job, basically. A muscle cell, liver cell, bone cell and brain cell. They have one job to do and that’s where they’re kind of stuck. Stem cells are these multi-potential cells that, in the case of an embryonic stem cell, in theory can become virtually every other cell in the body. Each of those cells can theoretically become bone, brain, muscle, skin, blood, whatever you want. It turns out we have a lot of adult stem cells left in our bodies. Stems cells are the ways as adults that we rejuvenate and regenerate our tissues. If we only had the cells we start out with, we’d wear out pretty quickly. Whereas a fully differentiated adult cell can only do what it’s supposed to do and in the end, runs out of gas and dies. And it’s confusing because people assume stem cells all mean you have to kill an embryo to do that and that’s not the case anymore. That’s why the Vatican is OK with having these stem cell conferences at the Vatican. We now have what we call transformed cells, where you can take adult cells, manipulate them genetically and turn them into embryoniclike cells.
You’re a big believer in putting a face to the science and used a lot of examples of patients in the book. Tell us one of their stories. Emily Whitehead had basically terminal leukemia and had gone through two rounds of intense chemotherapy and came out of remission twice. Really, she was out of options. They had this therapy they were working on down at CHOP [Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia] and said we’ve never tried it on a human. They took her T cells out, reengineered them so they would recognize her leukemia, put them back in. The doctors estimated that she had several pounds of leukemia cells circulating in her body. So the T cell had a target-rich environment to kill these leukemia cells. The treatment was working too well and releasing all kinds of hormones which were now going to kill her because of the side effects. So she’s now on death’s doorstep again, to the point that her parents were told she might not make it through the weekend. They talked to a researcher who had worked on this therapy. It so happened that his daughter had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which puts out this same hormone that they had identified was the offender that was killing Emily. They gave her that drug and the doctors at CHOP said they had never seen anyone that sick recover that quickly. In 48 hours she went from nearly dead to sitting up in her hospital bed, eating. Emily just had her checkup a couple of months ago and is five years cancer-free.
Tell us about your role in reporting at NBC after September 11, which earned you an award of excellence from the city. Needless to say, it was a very anxious and difficult time. I was doing mental health stories, and as my news director at the time said, my job was to talk people off the ledge. So things had sort of calmed down a little bit over the three weeks immediately following because it seemed that there were no other attacks imminent. And then we found Anthrax at NBC, in the building where I was. It had come through the seventh floor security office and then gone down to the third floor to Tom Brokaw’s office. And his secretary had gotten ... anthrax and been infected
Dr. Max Gomez. Photo: Gillian Fry with it on her skin. That’s when all hell broke loose and people were really freaking out, including the folks in the newsroom. We had people from the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] come in to talk to us then. My job was to get people to understand what the science was and what the risks were. I had some of my most difficult and combative discussions in those times. Because we would spend the first 20 minutes of a newscast scaring the living bejesus out of people and then my job towards the end of the newscast was to calm everyone down. There was one segment where my story ran two-and-a-half minutes long and the executive producer wanted me to cut it down to 90 seconds. And I said, “No, I’m not. If we scare the crap out of
people for the first third of the show, then you can damn well afford the time to have me explain.” And I was able to fortunately win those discussions. And that’s what I fought for and I guess that’s what the city Health Department recognized. In a lot of ways, that’s really one of the things I’m most proud of, because I was able to hopefully calm a lot of folks in the city down. www.drmaxgomez.com
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M N R W A Z J W O N H I W S Q
U L D A G J L E B W S I B H L
S F I T W J D I M R I P T B U
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WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor
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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan
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Downtowner
OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017
CLASSIFIEDS
MERCHANDISE FOR SALE
REAL ESTATE - RENT
SERVICES OFFERED
PUBLIC NOTICES
PUBLIC NOTICES
within 10 days from receipt of this notice in which redemption of the above captioned premises can occur. There is presently an outstanding debt owed to CitiBank, N.A. (lender) as of the date of this notice in the amount of $334,865.63. This ďŹ gure is for the outstanding balance due under UCC1, which was secured by Financing Statement in favor of CitiBank, N.A. recorded on April 26, 2007 under CRFN 2007000217862. Please note this is not a payoff amount as additional interest/ fees/penalties may be incurred. You must contact the undersigned to obtain a ďŹ nal payoff quote or if you dispute any information presented herein. The estimated value of the above captioned premises is $470,000.00. Pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code Article 9-623, the above captioned premises may be redeemed at any time prior to the foreclosure sale. You may contact the undersigned and either pay the principal balance due along with all accrued interest, late charges, attorney
fees and out of pocket expenses incurred by CitiBank, N.A.. and the undersigned, or pay the outstanding loan arrears along with all accrued interest, late charges, attorney fees and out of pocket expenses incurred by CitiBank, N.A., and the undersigned, with respect to the foreclosure proceedings. Failure to cure the default prior to the sale will result in the termination of the proprietary lease. If you have received a discharge from the Bankruptcy Court, you are not personally liable for the payment of the loan and this notice is for compliance and information purposes only. However, CitiBank, N.A., still has the right under the loan security agreement and other collateral documents to foreclosure on the shares of stock and rights under the proprietary lease allocated to the cooperative apartment. Dated: October 12, 2017 Frenkel, Lambert, Weiss, Weisman & Gordon, LLP Attorneys for CitiBank, N.A. 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 631-969-3100 File #01-080328-F00 #93221
SITUATION WANTED
PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC AUCTION NOTICE OF SALE OF COOPERATIVE APARTMENT SECURITY PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: By Virtue of a Default under Loan Security Agreement, and other Security Documents, Karen Loiacano, Auctioneer, License #DCA1435601 or Jessica L Prince-Clateman, Auctioneer, License #1097640 or Vincent DeAngelis Auctioneer, License #1127571 will sell at public auction, with reserve, on November 8, 2017, in the Rotunda of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007, commencing at 1:00pm for the following account: Donald Weber a/k/a Donald A. Weber, as borrower, 64 shares of capital stock of 350-52-54 W. 12th Street Owners Corp. and all right, title and interest in the Proprietary Lease to 354 West 12th Street, Unit 1D, New York, NY 10014 Sale held to enforce rights of CitiBank, N.A., who reserves the right to bid. Ten percent (10%) Bank/CertiďŹ ed check required at sale, balance due at closing within thirty (30) days. The Cooperative Apartment will be sold â&#x20AC;&#x153;AS ISâ&#x20AC;? and possession is to be obtained by the purchaser. Pursuant to Section 201 of the Lien Law you must answer
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