The local paper for the Upper East Side KLIMT’S MUSES
WEEK OF NOVEMBER
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3-9 2016
In late July, street vendors rallied to ask the City Council to lift the cap on vending permits, which has remained constant since the 1980s. Photo: Nancy Chuang
COUNCIL EYES INCREASING STREET VENDOR PERMITS Bundle of bills meant to modernize approach BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
The City Council’s Committee on Consumer Affairs held a hearing last week on new legislation that would change the way street vendors throughout the city operate. The bundle of nine separate bills at the Wednesday session is being called the Street Vendor Modernization Act, emphasizing the outdated nature of existing street vendor rules. The number of vending permits has been capped at 4,235 since the early 1980s. Under the new act, the number of permits available would double over a span of seven years. Critics of longstanding restrictions on permits say that they have forced many vendors to work for a permit owner or turn to the black market. “For generations, street vendors have been meeting our needs and they’ve done it when and where New Yorkers have wanted it,” said Council Member Mark Levine, who introduced the bill proposing to lift the cap on permits. “Street vending, however, has remained frozen in time.” Besides doubling the number of permits available, the legislation would create a street vendor enforcement office, allow the city to collect sales tax on vendors, require vendors to post their food prices and ease the regulations on how far vendors must be located from bus stops and subway stations. Council Members Margaret Chin, Ydanis Rodriguez,
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New seats at the York Theatre. Photo: Ben Strothman
COMFORT GETS TOP BILLING York Theatre debuts new seats BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
It felt like a family gathering. Around 70 supporters and patrons of the York Theatre Company had gathered in the basement space’s lobby on Oct. 25 to celebrate the installation of 165 cushy new seats, many with armrests engraved with donors’ names. And there was reason to rejoice: The upgrade had been seven years in the making. “There are all sorts of things that crop up,” Jim Morgan, the theater’s producing artis-
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tic director, said. “It’s been a great learning experience, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.” As people filed into the East 54th Street theater, gasps of delight could be heard. “Wow, these seats are so much nicer than the old ones!” one of the young actors from the cast of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” said. After finding seats engraved with their names, audience members enjoyed a short performance inaugurating the improved theater experience. Excerpts from previous York Theatre productions were sung as was, appropriately, a song
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from its upcoming production, “A Taste of Things to Come.” Besides being uncomfortable and imperfectly arranged, the old seats no longer adhered to the building code. “We could’ve gotten in big trouble,” Morgan said. “Out of that we began exploring how we might be able to replace them. Then we realized that we had this wonderful grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs.” Though theater administrators had hoped to use the money to purchase new lighting and sound equipment, they concluded that new seats were a priority. And it seems to have been worth it. Ac-
cording to Morgan, the new seats allow the audience to get a better view, aren’t as creaky and “really give a lift to what we do.” Two donors, Rita and Roger Zeeman, came from Fort Lee to celebrate the installation — and to sit in the seats engraved with
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, November 4 – 5:30 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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