The local paper for Downtown wn MATISSE AND THE ART OF THE BOOK < CITYARTS, P.12
NEW YORK OFFICIALS NOT BUYING AIRBNB’S ‘COMMUNITY COMPACT’ NEWS Company in PR push following string of bad news BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
A public relations push by Airbnb to cast itself as a good corporate citizen has been met with skepticism by New York lawmakers, who aren’t convinced the changes will bring about any additional regulatory compliance by the company. After fighting to defeat new rules in San Francisco and weathering a damaging story of a guest in Texas who died on
a faulty rope swing during an Airbnb stay (which was advertised in the listing as a draw), the company released what it called its Community Compact, a set of guidelines for working in a responsible way. The measures include a promise to pay hotel and tourist taxes in the cities in which Airbnb operates and the release of previously undisclosed data, such as the safety record of Airbnb listings and the number of days a typical listing is rented. In cities where officials have identified a shortage of longterm rental housing, the com-
WEEK OF NOVEMBR-DECEMBER
26-2 2015
What We’re Thankful For
State Sen. Liz Krueger, one of Airbnb’s toughest critics pany pledged to work with the Airbnb community, “to prevent short-term rentals from impacting the availability of longterm rental housing by ensur-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
TRACKING THE HOMELESS ON SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS Advocates worry new apps shame city’s homeless population BY JENNIFER PELTZ
On an app, pins on a New York City map chart sightings of homelessness, accompanied by photos of people lying on sidewalks, slumped in doorways, sitting on curbs with shopping carts piled high with bags. Hashtags frame the scenes: “NeedsMedicalAid,” “Encampment,” “AggressiveBegging,” “Violent.” On a similar Facebook page, residents of a Manhattan neighborhood share pictures and complaints about people
living on the streets, some halfnaked. A website created by a police union posts pictures of the homeless and vows, “We are watching you!” In a year of anxiety and frustration about homelessness in the nation’s biggest city, advocates for the homeless see the social media chronicling as more harassment than help. Organizers say they are only illustrating a pressing social problem to urge the city to solve it. “People thought I was picking on the homeless,” says Ed Mullins, who heads the police sergeants’ union that maintains Peek-a-booNYC, an online photo gallery of people on the streets. “My question is, `Well, what can you do better?’”
New York has the biggest homeless population of any U.S. city, according to federal statistics. There are currently estimated to be more than 57,700 homeless people in shelters, a 13 percent increase from
Reader Jay Hauben sent in this photo of the pool in Central Park in full autumn bloom. Do you have a snapshot you’d like to share with your neighbors? Email us at news@strausnews.com
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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
9-16
MANHATTAN'S APARTMENT BOOM, > PROPERTY, P.20
2015
In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS
The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She Over the past on the is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks. President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” p.m. and 7 a.m., can’t come of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits
SLEEPS, THANKS TO THE CITY THAT NEVER UCTION A BOOM IN LATE-NIGHT CONSTR NEWS
A glance it: it’s the middle can hardly believe yet construction of the night, and carries on full-tilt. your local police or You can call 311
n OurTownDowntow
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NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MAKING NEWS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD RECORD YEAR SEEN FOR RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION 2015 is likely to be a record year for residential construction even though the number of development permits
issued in September declined 64 percent from a year earlier, Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New York Business, citing Census Bureau numbers, reported. By yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s end, 36,850 housing units will have been built in 2015, the most in decades, Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reported, citing data
from the New York Building Congress. The apparent paradox is attributable to a ďŹ&#x201A;urry of construction through June, before the expiration of the property tax exemption known as the 421-a program, according to Richard Anderson, the president of the NYBC,
Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everybody tried to make that deadline,â&#x20AC;? the news site quoted Richardson as saying. Michael Slattery, the vice president of research at the Real Estate Board of New York, said itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s normal for construction to slow following a building burst. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is not unusual to see a decline in permits after a run-up,â&#x20AC;? Slattery was quoted as saying by Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. He also said, however, that subsequent Census data could show that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more building going on since construction projects are under way that have not yet been documented.
PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE PROJECT TO START NEXT YEAR
High-rise construction towers above the High Line in September. 2015 could shape up as a record year for residential construction in the city. Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture
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Construction of the West Thames Bridge will begin in 2016, DNAinfo reported. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. last week approved $17.2 in funds for its construction. The 230-foot pedestrian bridge, spanning West Street at West Thames Street, will connect the Financial District Battery Park City. The structure, which has a budget of $27 million, will replace the current Rector Street foot bridge, DNAinfo said. The Battery Park City Authority will
contributing an additional $7 million toward the project, which will take 24 to 30 months to complete, the news site said.
BID TO LIMIT TOURIST BUSES A residentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; effort to limit the number of tourist buses downtown received the backing of the Community Board 1â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Quality of Life committee, the Downtown Express reported. Councilwoman Margaret Chin has introduced a bill, co-sponsored by borough President Gale Brewer, that cap the number of the buses at 225, the paper said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That would be fabulous for our neighborhood,â&#x20AC;? the paper quoted Mary Perillo, a longtime resident who has long complained about the buses. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re horrendous for traffic â&#x20AC;&#x201D; both vehicular and pedestrian.â&#x20AC;? There currently is no limit on the number of plates allocated to the tourist buses, which are regulated by the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Department of Consumer Affairs, the Express noted. Citing ďŹ gures from Chinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legislative director, the paper said the number of tourist double-deckers tripled, to 194, from 2003 to 2013 and then spiking to 299 in 2014. Their number has since fallen to 229 after a number of bus operators went out of business.
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NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG
MAN PULLS OUT SWORD AT APPLE STORE
tionally disturbed, police said. He was taken into custody at the scene, and his name was not immediately released. No injuries were reported. A spokesman for Apple Inc., which is based in Cupertino, California, confirmed the incident but declined to comment further.
department store at 555 Broadway on around 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 15. She did not see the perpetrator, and police or store personnel could not identify the thief after watching surveillance footage. A search of the store turned up nothing. The stolen cell was a gold iPhone valued at $900.
BAD LUNCH BREAK
HAIRY SITUATION
A man swinging a samurai sword at an Apple store terrified shoppers. The man walked into the store on Fifth Avenue and began waving the sword, authorities said. A video posted online showed him swinging the sword as he walked down a staircase. Lawyer Nancy Birnbaum, who lives nearby, told the New York Post she was browsing at the store when she spotted the man on the staircase. “I thought he was doing some sort of performance art, but then he pulls out this sword with a huge two-foot-long blade, and it was dead obvious that it was a real sword,” she said. “I’ve never been so terrified in my entire life.” The man appeared to be emo-
Hungry diners are no match for greedy thieves. A 45-yearold woman having lunch at the Bistro Oliva at 225 Broadway on Tuesday, Nov. 10, had her bag taken from the back of her chair. She told police that no unauthorized charges turned up on her credit cards, but the thief did get away with $400 in cash, a pair of gray Carolina Herrera sunglasses valued at $150, plus a red bag and a red-andbrown bag each valued at $30. The total stolen came to $610, making for a very expensive lunch.
One thief apparently did some holiday shopping for female acquaintances with hair issues. At 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11, someone entered the Duane Reade store at 40 Wall St. and plucked more than $1,000 worth of hair care items into a black plastic bag, and left the store. The items stolen included 2 Conair hair appliances priced at $26, 6 Conair Pro straighteners worth $153, 4 InStyler MAX rotating irons priced at $284, 1 Remington Silk straightener valued at $105, 5 Conair Secret Curl tools tagged at $317, 4 Conair ceramic curl irons priced at $48, and 5 Conair Euro Style diffusers tagged at $93, for a total haul of $1,026.
SLICK PICKPOCKET A 41-year-old woman told police her gold iPhone was taken from her jacket while she shopped in the Sephora
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st Precinct for Nov. 9 Nov. 15 Week to Date
Year to Date
2015 2014
% Change
2015
2014
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
1
0
n/a
Rape
0
0
n/a
5
7
-28.6
Robbery
4
2
100.0
66
42
57.1
Felony Assault
0
2
-100.0
78
67
16.4
Burglary
3
1
200.0
114
132
-13.6
Grand Larceny
24
15
60.0
949
791
20.0
Grand Larceny Auto
0
1
-100.0
20
28
-28.6
CABBIE ATTACKED A 60-year-old cabbie was set upon by several men who had hailed the taxi at Prince Street and Broadway late on Monday, Nov. 16, police said. When the cabbie stopped to pick up the passengers, the bad guys opened the front passenger door, punched the cabbie, and forcibly took his property before fleeing northbound
on Broadway toward West Houston Street. Police searched the area but could not find the thugs. The cabbie had a minor cut on his lip but refused medical attention. The items stolen included $50 in cash and an iPhone box charger valued at $80, making a total of $130.
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and 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 16, someone took a variety of merchandise from the Zara clothing boutique at 222 Broadway. The exact inventory of stolen items was unknown at the time of the police report, but it was estimated at more than $1,000. Apparently, store personnel or police will review store surveillance video in an attempt to identify the perpetrator.
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Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 7th Precinct
19 ½ Pitt St.
212-477-7311
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233 W. 10th St.
212-741-4811
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230 W. 20th St.
212-741-8211
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230 E. 21st St.
NYPD 1st Precinct
16 Ericsson Place
212-477-7411 212-334-0611
FIRE FDNY Engine 15
25 Pitt St.
311
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ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin
165 Park Row #11
212-587-3159
Councilmember Rosie Mendez
237 1st Ave. #504
212-677-1077
Councilmember Corey Johnson
224 W. 30th St.
212-564-7757
State Senator Daniel Squadron
250 Broadway #2011
212-298-5565
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135 2nd Ave.
212-674-0947
Elmer Holmes Bobst
70 Washington Square
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NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
DEBATING METAL DETECTORS IN NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS NEWS Do they keep kids safe or make schools feel like jails? BY JONATHAN LEMIRE
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A student has not been shot in a New York City school over the past 13 years, an era when school shootings across the United States have become sadly commonplace. But there is a growing cry to rid the city’s schools of metal detectors, the very tool some observers credit with keeping them safe. Some parent groups and advocates say the scanners installed at the city’s most troubled institutions more than two decades ago are now unneeded because of low crime rates, and they condemn them as discriminatory, since by and large they sit in schools serving minority neighborhoods. “Making students have to go through metal detectors to go to school sends a terrible message to students about where they are headed and how they are viewed,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York City Civil Liberties Union. But other parents, and the union for school safety agents in the nation’s largest district, which educates 1.1 million students, warn removing the machines would leave children unsafe. The union that represents the 4,915 school safety officers -- who are overseen by the police department but are not armed -- stress that scanners placed by the New York Police Department in high-crime schools are necessary. “It’s very simple: If the scanners are taken away, then every day will be less safe for the students, faculty and school safety agents inside these schools,” said Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237. More than 300 weapons, including knives and BB guns, have been recovered by school safety agents since July, Floyd said. Nearly 90,000 high school students are scanned every day. Some parent groups and education activists have appealed to Mayor Bill de Blasio to eliminate or reduce the use of metal detectors, noting al-
most half of black students are scanned daily, while only 14 percent of white students are. As crime has plunged citywide over the past two decades, the number of violent crimes and robberies in schools has also fallen. Assaults dropped 34 percent from 2010-11 to 2014-15, according to police. Critics of detectors say that drop makes them unnecessary. A panel convened by City Hall comprising criminal justice and education experts recommended this year that some detectors be removed. A Manhattan education council urged their elimination, and several online petitions support the cause. But education officials say there are no plans for substantive changes. “While we have taken important steps in the right direction, keeping our schools safe remains our top priority, particularly for our black and Hispanic students and our students with special needs,” said Lois Herrera, head of the district’s student safety program. “We are working tirelessly to-
ward that end.” Other major cities, such as Los Angeles and Philadelphia, also use scanners in at least some schools. Despite some pushback from civil liberties groups, some cities have doubled down. In Detroit, the first U.S. city to use them, their installation is required for every new and renovated school. There have been 160 school shootings since 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, according to statistics kept by Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group. But the last time a student was fatally shot in a New York City school was a double killing in Brooklyn in 1992, police said. After that, metal detectors, previously used just for special events, were put into wider use. And the last shooting overall in the system was on Jan. 12, 2002, according to the NYPD. That day, 17-year-old Vincent Rodriguez pulled a .380-caliber handgun from his waistband and opened fire in a hallway at Martin Luther King Jr. High
School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He shot two teenagers in the back after they had teased his girlfriend and pulled a bandanna off her head, police said. Both survived. These days, it’s one of 88 New York City school buildings -- many of which house more than one school -- that have metal detectors and safety agents at the watch each morning. Students put items from their pockets into their backpack, which is sent through an X-ray machine. The students step through a metal detector and, if needed, could also undergo a pat-down and wanding. “I think it’s necessary to keep us safe,” said Cid Morales, a 15-year-old ninth-grader, as he entered school there. School shootings elsewhere, he said, have him “afraid that will happen here.” But Tajae Dennis, a 16-yearold 10th-grader who also attends a school in the MLK complex, said the scanners make “me feel like I’m going in a prison.”
NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
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COMMUNITY COMPACT
ing housing stock and violating state’s illegal hotel law, which forbids stays of less than 30 days if the owner is not present. Even for scrupulous users, said Krueger, most short-term rentals violate lease regulations that forbid any sub-leasing without the prior consent of the property owner. A report by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman last year found that 72 percent of Airbnb’s listings in New York City violate housing laws. “I suppose equally disturbing to me is they’re not providing potential hosts and guests that information either,” said Krueger, regarding housing laws in New York. “We believe they are, as a business model, walking people into breaking those laws. There’s a whole bunch of different laws you can get in trouble with as a host.” She also scoffed at the kind of data Airbnb is planning to release as part of it’s Community Compact, and questioned why they aren’t sharing information on how many users have multiple or year-round listings on the site, which would enable regulators to target those who abuse the platform. “If they were actually provid-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 ing hosts agree to a policy of listing only permanent homes on a short-term basis.” But officials in New York say the Community Compact is a disingenuous attempt by Airbnb to improve its public image without changing any of its core operating procedures. State Senator Liz Krueger, one of Airbnb’s staunchest critics, said the company continues to enable users to flout New York housing law and continues to resist any regulatory measures, despite the compact. “They’re creating problems, big picture public policy issues, yet they claim they’re a business with the magic formula that has the right to make money but no liability for what’s happening,” said Krueger in an interview. Much of the criticism over Airbnb’s practices stems from the company’s platform enabling people to operate illegal hotels, or properties that operate year round on a short-term rental basis, negatively affect-
ing the kind of data we need that would be news to me,” she said. Airbnb did not respond to requests to comment for this story. Schneiderman also criticized Airbnb’s Community Compact as a smokescreen. “This is a transparent ploy by Airbnb to act like a good corporate citizen when it is anything but,” said Schneiderman. “The company has all of the information and tools it needs to clean up its act. Until it does, no one should take this press release seriously.” Meanwhile, Mayor Bill de Blasio has allocated an additional $10 million to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement for fighting illegal hotels. OSE was created in 2006 by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and is tasked with investigating quality of life issues such as lawless adult establishments and trademark counterfeiting operations. Earlier this year the unit’s staff more than doubled to 29 people and was given an initial $2.8 million in funds by the city council’s progressive caucus to crack down on illegal hotel operators.
View from West 24th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in Penn South, looking north. Alcoholics Anonymous’ first New York City clubhouse was at a defunct address, 334 ½ West 24th St., somewhere in this vicinity. Photo by Raanan Geberer
NEW YORK’S FIRST AA CLUBHOUSE CHELSEA HISTORY The address would later become part of the giant Penn South development BY RAANAN GEBERER
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Today, Alcoholics Anonymous holds dozens of daily meetings in every borough of the city. Its first New York Clubhouse, though, was at the nowdefunct address of 334 1/2 West 24th Street, in Chelsea. Nowadays, AA meetings are held in church basements, community centers, senior centers and other spots throughout the city. But in the early days, when the program was getting started, its members had a hard time finding places to meet. In 1940, the members of the group decided that they needed a clubhouse. They finally found the building on West 24th Street, which had several incarnations beforehand, including as a livery stable, a tinsmith’s shop, and a speakeasy, according to an article in the New York Times from Feb. 15, 1960, about its closing. Immediately before AA took it over, it was the headquarters of the Society of Illustrators, now on East 63rd Street. Details about the clubhouse are somewhat hard to come by
because of the anonymity of the AA program. But some material has survived. An article in the AA Grapevine newsletter from 1947 by Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of AA, says, “Some of the older members signed the lease … We cleaned and we scrubbed, and we had a home.” For a while, Wilson and his wife Lois lived in a room in the building before they moved to Westchester County. In a speech to a Manhattan AA group in 1955, Wilson (who was known within the program as “Bill W.” during his lifetime), described some of the early meetings as somewhat rowdy affairs. Drinkers who had not yet achieved sobriety sometimes disrupted the procedures, he said, card players sometimes formed their own little cliques, and “dictators” (presumably authoritarian leaders) ran amok. In 1941, the Saturday Evening Post published a favorable article about the program, and a period of explosive growth followed. In his 1955 speech, Wilson described how the principle of anonymity wasn’t as strict then as it later became – a photo of some of the members in front of the fireplace in the 24th Street clubhouse was published, although none of
their names were used. The 24th Street Clubhouse proved too small to accommodate the rapid growth of the program, so in 1944, AA took over a church building at 405 West 41st St. and established a new clubhouse there. Another Times article, from December 1944, on the opening of the clubhouse revealed that by that time, there were 365 AA groups in the U.S. and Canada. The opening ceremonies, said the Times, had hot dogs, sandwiches, soda and coffee. The 24th Street Clubhouse continued to be used, however. The 1947 AA Grapevine article mentioned that the “AA Seamen” held meetings there. In November 1952, a memorial service was held there for Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith (or “Dr. Bob”), the other co-founder of the program, who had died two years before. The 24th Street location became known as the “Old Clubhouse.” The 1960 Times article said the building was demolished to make room for a “six-block housing project.” The author was not referring to a new NYCHA project, but to Mutual Redevelopment Houses, also known as Penn South, which opened in 1962. Today, it’s very difficult to pinpoint the location of the Old Clubhouse. 24th Street itself was reconfigured during the building of Penn South into the curved street we see today. But somewhere in the vicinity, countless men and women took the first step away from alcohol addiction and toward sobriety.
NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
TRACKING THE HOMELESS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 the same time two years ago, with possibly thousands of others on the streets. While homelessness has declined nationwide in recent years, it has swelled in some places as rents climbed and incomes lagged, among other likely factors. Los Angeles and Hawaii both declared this fall the problem had reached a state of emergency. New York’s street-homelessness census in February found nearly 3,200 people, down 5 percent in a year. But advocates question the count’s accuracy, and other statistics suggest street homelessness is at least increasingly visible. The city’s 311 complaint system has fielded more than twice as many reports about homeless people in the first 10 months of this year as during the same period last year, and police have tallied about twice as many encounters with people unwilling to go shelters. And a recent Quinnipiac University poll found 61 percent of city voters disapprove of how Mayor de Blasio is handling poverty and homelessness. His administration has noted that homelessness was already spiking when he took office in 2014 and that he has slated $1 billion in new spending on the issue over the
next four years. He says over 52,000 people have moved out of shelters in the last 16 months, nearly 40 percent of them aided by rent subsidies and public-housing preferences de Blasio created or revived. The city also has helped thousands of tenants fight evictions and is adding 500 homelessshelter beds at religious institutions this winter. “This is going to be a big, complicated effort,” de Blasio said. But some residents in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood say what they’ve been seeing doesn’t look like progress: people and possessions sprawled on sidewalks, people urinating and defecating in plain sight, men without children hanging around in playgrounds. After a convicted sex offender who had been living at a major local homeless shelter was charged with a bar-restroom rape this spring, residents took their alarm to social media in a way residents of other cities apparently have not. A Facebook group called ThirdAnd33rd grew to 700 members, and one created a “Map the Homeless” smartphone app. Online and other activism helped spur police patrols for childless adults in a Murray Hill playground and tighter eligibility criteria for the shelter. “It’s a way for people share photos of dis-
turbing things they see” and push collectively for change, says ThirdAnd33rd administrator Lauren Pohl. “The intent was never to shame anyone.” But homeless-services advocates say the photos humiliate the homeless by portraying them as an unsightly bane in forums where they’re sometimes scorned as “scum” and “human trash.” Dave Giffen, the executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, calls the initiatives “unethical and inhumane.” Jean Rice, who was homeless for years and is on the board at advocacy group Picture the Homeless, is concerned that they “single out a subpopulation” for scrutiny. Mayoral spokeswoman Ishanee Parikh suggested New Yorkers concerned about homelessness use the 311 complaint system, not “apps that serve to stigmatize or harass those on our streets.” Meanwhile, an app called WeShelter has its own approach. Tapping a button sends a small donation, averaging about 5 cents, to homeless-service agencies from corporate sponsors. It counts over 30,000 taps in roughly nine months. “The goal here,” co-founder Ilya Lyashevsky said, “is to really allow people who are residents of the city to be able to act on the compassionate impulse to help.”
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
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Our Perspective All New Yorkers Need a Raise By Stuart Appelbaum, President Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW
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ew York’s low-wage workers are facing another difficult holiday season. They know it will be a struggle to just pay the bills and put food on the table, before even considering what it will take to buy gifts for their family. Gov. Cuomo’s recent action to raise minimum pay for New York State workers to $15 an hour is a good first step toward helping working people in the Empire State. The Governor deserves credit for this move and we applaud his efforts to raise wages for hard-working New Yorkers. But there are still hundreds of thousands of other workers throughout New York who need a raise as well. Retail workers – who represent the largest percentage of New Yorkers who work at minimum wage or slightly above – desperately need more pay. Carwash workers, home health aides, food service workers, and many in other industries all deserve more than the terribly insufficient $8.75 minimum wage that New York State mandates. And they can’t wait. We need immediate change to help working New Yorkers build better lives and provide for their families. We’ve seen the support that the public has for raising minimum pay rates. It’s evidenced in polls, and it’s evidenced through the thriving nationwide Fight for $15 movement. Low-wage workers are staging strikes, and thousands are rallying in support of action that would help the estimated 64 million Americans who work for less than a $15 hourly wage. This new law for the first time gives the city regulatory power over the industry and requires them to be licensed, to obey environmental guidelines, and obtain a bond to protect workers and consumers. Governor Cuomo and the New York Assembly have voiced their support for raising New York’s State minimum wage to $15. The New York State Senate needs to get on board, and realize that workers on Retail workers – Long Island and upstate New who represent the York need a raise as much as workers in New York City. This largest percentaction is needed now, and age of New Yorkwould strengthen our state, our communities, and our economy. ers who work at It would be a game-changer, but minimum wage we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the best solution to income or slightly above – inequality is still unionization. desperately need Workers face many issues on the job besides low wage rates – they more pay. need control over scheduling, better benefits, and representation in the workplace. Government action to increase wage rates – along with policies that encourage and protect collective bargaining – can help us realize the promise of a New York economy that serves everyone.
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Senior Living
Remembering When the Old Was New BY MARCIA EPSTEIN ’d been wondering why so many ads on TV are for adult diapers and various medications that are often taken by older people, and I’m not just talking about Viagra and Cialis. A friend of mine pointed out that TV is heading the same place wall phones went (except mine). Young people are using social media and getting their entertainment through Netflix, streaming and other devices I’ve never even heard of, and they’re using their tablets, smart phones and laptops to see movies, play games and do whatever else it is that this generation does. I remember getting our first TV when I was about eight. It was a huge, black and white console and took up a large part of our living room. The cat sat in a basket on top. I watched Howdy Doody, Sid Caesar and Milton Berle with my family, and of course the Brooklyn Dodgers. Otherwise I watched mostly static. Oh where has my world gone? Everything I saw come into being is fading away. I first worked on an enormous mainframe computer and had to memorize a huge instruction book. I then used MS DOS at work and learned commands, many of which I still use. Then came the mouse, which at first I hated. I never even would have learned the computer if my jobs hadn’t demanded it. A lot of tears flowed learning one program after another. And now desktops and TVs are becoming obsolete. I saw them born! It feels like the world is whirling
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NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
by and I am not whirling with it. Recently I was talking to a bunch of friends about the state of health care for the elderly in America. We have a special interest in the topic, all of us being somewhat elderly. One of my friends came home from vacation to find a letter telling her that her Medicare Advantage Plan was ending beginning January, 2016. All of her efforts to join a similar plan have been subtly rebuffed; phone calls not returned, questions not answered. I know she feels that this is because she and her husband are older and of course more likely to become ill in the not-so-distant future. She had been satisfied with Medicare Advantage, which I’ve avoided because when I worked I had HMOs and decided I didn’t want one when I retired. So I’ve been on regular Medicare for a long time, which means I need a supplementary plan and of course a drug plan. Lots of deductibles and co-pays. One other factlet. I’d been filling my prescriptions at one neighborhood pharmacy when my prescriptions seemed rather expensive since I’d already paid my deductible. When I called my insurance company, I found out that my pharmacy was no longer an “approved pharmacy” for them, and they gave me a list of which ones were on their approved list. I immediately changed drugstores (my neighborhood is filled with them) and started saving money. Keep your eyes and ears open for this kind of stuff. No one’s going to tell you.
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HOW AND WHY NEW YORK CITY SHOULD GET TO ZERO WASTE BY LISA DICAPRIO AND MELISSA ELSTEIN
As New Yorkers, we are too often confronted by overflowing curbside trash bins, mounds of plastic garbage bags lining and blocking the sidewalks, litter (including cigarette butts) collecting on streets, in curbs, within tree beds, and plastic bags in trees and storm drains. Clearly, the city has a trash problem. It’s unsightly, certainly, and unsanitary. It also helps breed the rodent population. Indeed, garbage issues are some of the most common complaints received by Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal’s office, as she said during our recent “Recycling and Zero Waste” forum, which we hosted at the West-Park Presbyterian Church, an Upper West Side landmark and cultural center. More than 100 residents from throughout the city attended the Nov. 10 event. We organized the forum to provide information about the city’s new recycling and waste-reduction initiatives and to discuss how residents can help achieve Mayor de Blasio’s OneNYC goal of diverting zero waste to landfill by 2030. City residents produce an average of 12,000 tons of waste every day, which amounts to 3 million tons each year. The average New Yorker throws away 868 pounds of waste a year. Commercial establishments create 7,000 tons of waste daily. Annually, New Yorkers use 5.2 billion plastic bags – most of which end up in landfills, trees and waterways. The city’s Department of Sanitation collects 800 million water bottles per year. Currently, the city’s overall recycling rate is just 17 per-
Associate Publishers, Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth Sr. Account Executive, Tania Cade
cent. The largest categories of recyclables New Yorkers throw out are organic materials, such as food scraps, but also paper, cardboard, plastic, cans, bottles and metal. Instead of obtaining revenue from these recyclables, the city spends $350 million a year for waste disposal. And of course, sending garbage to landfills and incinerators increases greenhouse gas emissions. More than onethird – 36 percent – of all methane emissions (which contribute to global warming) in the U.S. are from landfills. Our current reliance on plastics has local and global implications. Plastic, manufactured from fossil fuels and chemicals, is not biodegradable. In oceans, plastics photodegrade into progressively smaller pieces creating a “plastic soup” that contaminates the oceanic food chain. OneNYC’s goal to divert zero waste to landfill by 2030 requires new legislation, collective and individual involvement, and money. Our recommendations: • Increase funding for the Sanitation and Parks Departments for purchase and installation of trash and recycling bins on streets and in parks. And, for recycling to become habitual, ensuring that trash bins are always complemented by recycling options. Funding should also be provided for additional pickup trucks necessary for recycling in parks. Replace sidewalk wire-mesh trash cans with enclosed trash bins to deter rats. • Increase funding for a citywide public education campaign, including public service announcements and subway ads about recycling and waste
reduction, such as to use refillable water bottles. (See www. nyc.gov/greenyc) • Support City Council Bill Intro. 209-2014, which would place 10-cent fees on plastic and paper single-use bags (with certain exemptions). It costs city taxpayers annually $10 million to send 100,000 tons of plastic bags to landfills. Currently, 20 Council members, including Rosenthal, support the bag-law bill. See www.bagitnyc.org to sign petitions and for more information. Similar laws have been enacted throughout the U.S. and in other countries, and have helped reduce plastic waste. • Encourage businesses to reward customers who bring reusable containers for takeaway items. Businesses that rely on single-use, non-envi-
President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com Account Executive Editor In Chief, Kyle Pope Fred Almonte, Susan Wynn editor.ot@strausnews.com Director of Partnership Development Deputy Editor, Richard Khavkine Barry Lewis editor.dt@strausnews.com
Staff Reporters, Gabrielle Alfiero, Daniel Fitzsimmons
ronmentally friendly throwaway containers externalize their costs to taxpayers. • Enforce anti-littering laws and provide funding for street sweeping. Create incentives for restaurants and bars to provide sidewalk cigarette collection containers, as cigarette butts are the largest source of ocean trash. • A City Council resolution proclaiming a city recycling awareness day that would correspond with the National Recycling Day every November 15. See www.doonething.org/ calendar/recyclingday.htm and www.americarecyclesday.org/ • Promote purchases by individuals, institutions and government of products manufactured with recycled materials. To confront the enormous societal and economic costs of our waste problem, we need a cultural shift to acknowledge and reduce our trash footprint. While supporting new recycling policy measures, we must also reduce waste and consumption. It really is true that when we throw things away, there is no away. For more information on the city’s ZeroWaste initiave, as well as resources, visit www1.nyc.gov/ assets/dsny/zerowaste/residents. shtml Lisa DiCaprio is a professor of social sciences at New York University and a member of several environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and 350NYC. Melissa Elstein is a co-founding member of the West 80s Neighborhood Association (www. west80s.org) and the NYC Coalition of Block and Community Leaders.
Block Mayors, Ann Morris, Upper West Side Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side
NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
The 6th Borough
An Anachronism in her own time
BY BECCA TUCKER s Big Brother bothering anyone else? I know most law abiding citizens think: who cares if someone’s watching me, I’m not doing anything illegal. Although I can’t exactly call myself a law abiding citizen, I’m such a low level offender that getting busted is not my main worry. My rule is never to do three illegal things at the same time. So, if the baby’s out of the car seat and there’s a lingering aroma of weed, don’t anyone open a beer. Thus far, this guiding principle – or sheer luck, or being white – has kept me out of any serious trouble. No, it’s not the specter of the slammer that bothers me. Nor do I worry, much, about being dispatched via drone, although let’s be real: it happens all the time in other countries and could easily be done by a guy in Nevada with a remote control. No, what bugs me is the presence of something bigger than myself that could at any moment – or rather, does at all moments – spy on me, compel me to tithe my income in order to buy something I don’t need, steal my identity and/or buy electronic cigarettes in my name. Life is short, and each few minutes eaten up by these scams inspires in me, depending on my mood and what activity has been interrupted, something on the spectrum between annoyance and full-
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blown rage. The thing is that Big Brother is not just the government anymore. He’s morphed into a headless beast whose tentacles are made up of a worldwide army of meagerly paid hackers (I envision anemic teenagers in fluorescent-lit warehouses in Russia or China), meth addicts, marketing witches and wiccans, and the government. Today raymondguytonye@gmail.com has changed my Gmail password via Google Chrome. I clicked a button that said, no, I’m not raymondguytone, and wondered if that were two names or three. My problem is, I can’t tune out all this chatter. My sensitivity to stimulus, my tendency to fall in love with one person or dog every five blocks, is probably why I moved away from the city. It’s why I don’t have a connected TV in my house or a smartphone on my hip. But Big Brother will find me one way or another. He shows up uninvited through any and every portal – and without my laptop, I really could not be employed. I can’t help but be curious about the characters trying to hack their way into my life. Whether they be real or fictional does not stop my thoughts from wandering down their wormholes. The first time it happened, I actually picked up the phone to inform someone in India employed by Cheaptickets. com that someone named Rebecca Tucker was to board a flight in mere hours, a flight she had apparently booked using my email, from Anchorage to Phoenix, from Phoenix to Orlando, and a few weeks later from Orlando to Miami, Miami to San Jose. “I don’t know if it’s a hoax or what,” I told my Indian Jennifer, sounding 108 years old. Then I started getting email confirmations that another Rebecca Tucker in London was ordering beauty products and electronic cigarettes up the wazoo. Amazon Prime customer service assured me that I was not being billed and the mix-up was accidental and they’d fix it, but I continue to get confirmations for size 12 ribbed trousers ordered by this unfortunate doppleganger living on 32 Rowlands Close. I don’t understand what’s going on, and none of it strikes me as benign.
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Then there’s this Rebecca Tucker, who isn’t as immune to an increasingly sticky spider web of marketing ploys as she thought. It’s spooky how well they know you now. On Facebook, an ad for free running sneakers for women over 30 caught me at a vulnerable, nearing-theend-of-work-day moment (no doubt they’ve got the timing worked out to the second). That’s me! I thought, and revealed all sorts of personal information including my (brand new) mailing address. My reward turned out not to be those sweet Nikes, but a free sample of shampoo. We will now be getting mountains of junk mail for the rest of our lives. To live in this world without being driven to distraction, you’ve got to be able to tune out the chatter. For me, because I don’t seem to have a mental spam button, that means cutting myself off in ways that increasingly isolate me from my friends – whom I can’t pay via Venmo or chat with over GroupMe. Not that I yearn to chat on GroupMe, but I wouldn’t mind knowing when one of us has had a baby or lost a parent. Someone’s usually nice enough to text me the news, but I can feel eyes roll. I don’t blame them: it’s like having to phone your grandmother. They didn’t bother to tell me about their new book club, but I found out when they were all reading the same book on a recent trip, and barged my way in. I’m becoming an anachronism in my own time, and still, Big Brother is finding ways to waste my time and piss me off. Even the new stupid credit card with that chip that wants to stay in the machine, recording who knows what data, until you just can’t take it anymore and yank it, though it’s never actually done? Its Shininess takes like twice as long as my old card. Tick, tock, goes the secondhand marking my allotted time on earth. The Amish way of life – where nothing from the outside world, not even electricity, is allowed to come into the house – is looking better every day. Becca Tucker is a former Manhattanite who lives on a farm upstate and writes about rural life.
STONE SOUP AND THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY P.S. 452 uses a folk tale to bring families together BY LAURA SCHILLER
If you happened to be walking in the windy rain last week past the William J. O’Shea complex on West 77th Street that houses three schools, you might have caught the aroma of garlic and potatoes and carrots and beans wafting out of the cafeteria window. But it wasn’t a school lunch crew working overtime. Rather, around 100 families had gathered from P.S. 452 to each add their own ingredients to one big community soup and for a re-telling of the Stone Soup folktale. The first initiative of the school’s Community Building Committee—whose mission is to organize free, diverse PS452 school community events that bring families and staff together—the evening also included a potluck feast featuring food from many different cultures and homes. The Stone Soup folktale depicts the story of some very hungry travelers who enter a village of comfortable people who refuse to share their food. To fill their bellies, the travelers come up with a clever scheme: in the middle of the town, they put a large stone in a pot over fire and tell the villagers that they are making a wonderful “stone soup”, which needs just a bit of something else to reach its full taste potential. Eventually the villagers on their own volition bring their stashes of vegetables and seasonings to the pot, until a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is made and shared by all. As the P.S. 452 families flowed into the cafeteria, they shed their raingear and took their seats on the benches of the table-clothed lunch tables. Laughing and bantering with friends, many of the children held their families’ Tupperware containers filled with already diced, cooked ingredients, eager to contribute to the soup. The noise quieted down as Charlotte Arboleda, one of the school’s teachers, began to read a version of the Stone Soup story aloud in front of the room. Her colleague, Brooke Josefs, walked around the room with the book held high to display the pictures in it. Another teacher, Rebecca Gartman — who teaches kindergarden and chairs the school’s Community Building Committee — stood behind a table with around five or six broth-filled crock-
pots and some large stirring and scooping utensils. Several parents were also positioned to stir and scoop. When Arboleda reached the moment in the story when the villagers first claim to need just one ingredient—some carrots—to perfect the soup, the first-graders in the room lined up to one-by-one add their carrot slices to the steaming broth. Their classmates followed with celery. When the villagers then claimed to need a potato or two, the second-graders formed a line. Prompted by the story, the third graders approached the crockpots with green beans. Diced tomatoes and cabbage were added next, courtesy of the fourth-graders. Finally, like the folktale’s villagers, the kindergardeners added their chopped onion and garlic. And in the last moment of the tale, when one final ingredient was needed to make the soup just right, the fifth graders came forth each with their own individual pinch of mixed spices. At least three times during the reading, the school’s music teacher lead the recorderplayers in a specially composed song to which the others sang along: “Stone Soup, Stone Soup, Bring what you have got;
Stone Soup, Stone Soup, Put it in the Pot.” Like the hungry travellers and villagers, upon the end of the book the children, parents, teachers and school staff enjoyed the soup, and the accompanying potluck feast, together. A parent-driven green cleanup effort ensured that all materials were recycled and composted. “In today’s world, the magic of kindness cannot be outdone, and when we come together like this we make meaningful connections to those around us,” explained Gartman, reflecting on the event and the mission of her team. “This is so important for us to model and build for our children and for ourselves, too.” The Community Building Committee is in the midst of planning for future potential events that will bring together the P.S. 452 faculty, staff, parents, and children. Some ideas in the works include a United Nations Day to celebrate different cultures and languages, a Sports Night (families vs. school staff, perhaps?), and an Art Show. Surely in them all will be the one most delectable ingredient: sharing. Laura Schiller is a parent at P.S. 452
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
NYCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S COOLEST PLACE TO SKATE
Out & About More Events. Add Your Own: Go to otdowntown.com
Thu 26 BIG APPLE CIRCUS: THE GRAND TOUR â&#x2013;˛
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Damrosch Park (at Lincoln Center) 1 p.m. From $25, children under 3 (on lap) free with paid adult A circus extravaganza set in the 1920s and featuring acts from the four corners of the globe. www.bigapplecircus.org/theshow
THANKSGIVING DAY AFTERNOON LUNCH CRUISE Departing from Chelsea Piers Board 1:30 p.m., cruise 2-4 p.m. Adults, from $64.90; children 3-12, $35.95 Holiday Lunch Buffet Menu 866-483-3866. www. spiritcruises.com/new-yorkmetro/cruises/specialty/ thanksgiving-day-lunch
Fri 27 CHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;AN COLORING FOR ADULTS
212.336.6100 chelseapiers.com/sr
NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
Muhlenberg Library, 209 West 23rd St. A relaxing morning of coloring unique and intricate coloring pages for adults. Coloring sheets and pencil crayons will be provided or you can bring your own supplies. Tea will be served.
212-924-1585. www.nypl.org/events/ programs/2015/11/06/chancoloring-adults
COMPLEXIONS CONTEMPORARY BALLET â&#x2013;ź
Sat 28
BLOOD MIRROR: The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth ART EXHIBITION ORGANIZED BY Ave. 8 p.m. Starting at $10. JORDAN EAGLES Under the artistic direction of Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, Complexions continues to lead the way with its unprecedented approach to contemporary ballet 212-691-9740. www.joyce. org/performance/complexionscontemporary-ballet-2/#. VkYczHarTIU
Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall Street. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. Trinity Wall Streetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Visual Arts Committee presents the New York City premiere of Blood Mirror: organized by Jordan Eagles. 212-602-0800. www.
NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
trinitywallstreet.org/events/ blood-mirror-organized-jordaneagles?date=2015-11-02
THE IMBIBLE: A SPIRITED HISTORY OF DRINKING SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam St. 7-9 p.m. $55. The drinks are on us as you join world-renowned mixologist and raconteur Anthony Caporale for a boozy romp through the history of spirits in this smash-hit musical comedy. 212-691-1555. imbible.org
Sun 29 A CHRISTMAS CAROL THE MUSICAL The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal St. $32-$52 Michael Sgouros’ & Brenda Bell’s musical adaptation of Charles Dickens, perfect for those who love classic literature and are ready to get into the holiday spirit. 212-475-1237. www. scroogeinthevillage.com
ASSSSCAT 3000 UCB Theatre, 307 West 26th St. 9:30 p.m. Free tickets distributed at 8:15 p.m. outside the theatre on the night of the show. Longform improv with special guests from individuals such as Anthony Atamanuik, Amy Poehler, and Gavin Speiller. chelsea.ucbtheatre.com/ performance/42529
Mon 30 PLANET WORLD: A ONE-MANIMAL SHOW ▲ UCB Theatre, 307 West 26th St. 9:30 p.m. $5 “Live, one-minimal nature documentary” with Vincent Moore and narrated by Zack Poitras showing the humorous side of the wild world. chelsea.ucbtheatre.com/ performance/42604
DYING WORDS
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
LABOR AND THE LOCAVORE: THE MAKING OF A COMPREHENSIVE FOOD ETHIC New York University, Tamiment Library, 10th Floor, Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South 6-7:30 p.m. Margaret Gray, an associate professor of political science at Adelphi University. discusses her book, “Labor and the Locavore: The Making of a Comprehensive Food Ethic.” 212-998-1212. events.nyu. edu/#event_id/85875/view/ event
Wed 2
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, 219 West 40th St., 3rd Floor 6-8 p.m. Join LGBT advocates, COMMUNITY BOARD 4 journalists and academics for the release of “The AIDS Reporting Fulton Center Auditorium, 119 of Jeff Schmalz & How It Ninth Ave., between 17th and Transformed The New York 18th Streets. Times.” 6:30 p.m. 646-758-7800. Full board meeting 212-736-4536. www. nyc.gov/html/mancb4/html/ calendar/calendarnew.shtml
Tue 1
FRANK STELLA IN CONVERSATION
TERE O’CONNOR: THE GOODBYE STUDIES
The Kitchen, 512 West 19th St. 8 p.m., through Dec. 12. $15 Whitney Museum of American The world premiere of The Art. 99 Gansevoort St. 7 p.m. $15; $10 for members, Goodbye Studies, a piece continuing O’Connor’s decadesseniors and students. long commitment to strictly Frank Stella, currently the movement-based investigations. subject of a career-spanning 212-255-5793. www. retrospective at the Whitney, thekitchen.org/event/tere-owill speak about his work and connor-the-goodbye-studies the history of American art in conversation with Adam D. Weinberg, the Museum’s Alice Pratt Brown Director. 212-570-3600. whitney.org/
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NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
MATISSE AND THE ART OF THE BOOK The Morgan shows off the modern master’s bookish side
BY VAL CASTRONOVO
Henri Matisse (1869–1954), “Icarus” pochoir, plate VIII, “Jazz” (1947). Courtesy of Frances and Michael Baylson © 2015 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photography by Graham S. Haber, 2015.
Think Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and think colorful, Fauvist paintings, elegant sculptures and drawings, and those wild, exuberant cutouts recently on display at the Museum of Modern Art (remember “The Swimming Pool,” which ringed an entire room?). But book illustrations? Well, not so much, though we got a whiff of the genre at MoMA and now have a chance to take a deep dive at the Morgan, thanks largely to collectors Michael and Frances Baylson, who donated their extensive holdings to the museum in 2010. Michael Baylson, a federal district court judge in Pennsylvania, first saw Mattisse’s “Dance” at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, outside Philadelphia, in 1960 when he was an undergraduate at the Wharton School. The experience was nothing short of transformative and led to a lifelong obsession with the artist and his book works, which were less familiar and more affordable than his paintings and sculptures. In an essay in the show’s catalog, written alongside that of his equally driven wife, a reproductive endocrinologist, Baylson describes his dogged hunt for rare books in antiquarian and used bookstores across the globe. A business trip to Tokyo or London or Paris inevitably led to a search for a prized volume — dubbed “desiderata” (meaning wanted) — after-hours in specialty bookshops. Consider these works an exercise in downsizing, literally. Matisse took a serious interest in book art in the latter part of his career when he was in his 60s. Many of his greatest works were produced when he was in his 70s, confined to an easy chair or bed after a serious illness. Books appealed mainly because they allowed him to reach a wider audience, but the smaller “canvas” also suited an older artist beset with physical limitations. And he saw himself
as embracing the late 19th century French tradition of “livres d’artistes” (artists’ books), following in the footsteps of such esteemed artist-illustrators as Aristide Maillol, Édouard Manet, Pierre Bonnard and Pablo Picasso, among others. As John Bidwell, the show’s curator, writes in the catalog, Matisse had a “deep appreciation for the written word ... a highly refined literary sensibility attuned to a wide range of poetry and prose that encompassed canonical works of French literature as well as experimental verse of the avant-garde.” The items on view here represent some 30 book projects undertaken by the artist — out of a total of nearly 50, beginning in 1912. But he did not tackle a major book until 1932, when he illustrated a collection of poems by French Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898). Not surprisingly, Matisse eschewed a literal interpretation of texts and aimed to create, in his words, a “rapport with the literary character of the work,” with his art functioning decoratively and running “on a parallel track.” He sought “a harmonious balance,” Bidwell writes, between the printed word and the image on the page. As the artist wrote in a famous essay, “How I Made My Books”: “I do not distinguish between the construction of a book and that of a painting,” telegraphing his laborious method, involving countless preliminary studies and endless experimentation and variations. Colin Bailey, the Morgan’s director, notes in the catalog’s foreword that Matisse was hands-on, involving himself in virtually every aspect of book production: “A master printmaker, he directly participated in type selection, page layout, lettering, ornament, and cover design to ensure a seamless harmony between his illustrations and the printed page,” adding that Matisse would even occasionally “take command of the manufacturing operations, which he supervised with characteristic vigilance and zeal.” The exhibit begins and ends with
NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
Anne Frank as a Holocaust Icon
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1ST, 6:30PM The Anne Frank Center USA | 44 Park Pl. | 212-431-7993 | annefrank.com The author of Holocaust Icons: Symbolizing the Shoah in History and Memory takes a multimedia look at the ways Anne Frank’s image and persona still resonate in the 21st century. ($8)
Reporting from the Front Line: VICE and WSJ
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1ST, 7PM National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum | 180 Greenwich St. | 212-312-8800 | 911memorial.org Henri Matisse (1869–1954), “Circus,” pochoir, plate II in “Jazz” (1947). Courtesy of Frances and Michael Baylson © 2015 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photography by Graham S. Haber, 2015. illustrations for works by, and about, Matisse confidante André Rouveyre, a French writer and artist famous for his caricatures in satirical magazines. Matisse’s portrait of his friend for the frontispiece of a 1912 monograph kicks off the show and impresses with its sardonic expression and lopsided eyes. Favorite works by the Baylsons include the sensuous, reddish brown line drawings that Matisse prepared to accompany works by 16th cen-
tury French Renaissance poet Pierre de Ronsard. Illustrated pages from “Florilège des Amours de Ronsard” (1948), an anthology of love poems, are on view here. But the show’s centerpiece is unquestionably the vibrant plates from “Jazz” (1947), a treatise on color and Matisse’s most famous illustrated book. Originally titled “Circus,” it is adorned with “pochoir” (stenciled) images based on paper cutouts, with handwritten,
calligraphic text in black meant to convey the spontaneity of a jazz composition. In 1908, Matisse wrote an essay that encapsulated his artistic philosophy: “What I am after, above all, is expression.” As Michael Baylson explains, the statement was a defense of his early, eyebrow-raising paintings, but it applies equally to his cutting-edge book designs decades later.
Correspondents from VICE News and The Wall Street Journal lead a timely conversation on the difficulties of reporting from the fractured Middle East. (Free)
Just Announced: Reel Pieces | Preview of “Where to Invade Next” and Conversation with Michael Moore
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1ST, 7:15PM 92nd Street Y | 1395 Lexington Ave. | 212-415-5500 | 92y.org Michael Moore gets back up to mischief, visiting nine nations to see how they might further U.S. interests. Catch a preview of the film and an interview with Annette Insdorf. ($32)
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sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
Henri Matisse (1869–1954), “Le Toboggan,” pochoir, plate XX in “Jazz” (1947). Courtesy of Frances and Michael Baylson © 2015 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photography by Graham S. Haber, 2015.
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NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
In Brief THE PRICE OF NO TIPPING Danny Meyer’s no-tipping experiment has gone live, and the web site Eater. com has tallied what the change will mean in terms of the final bill. Last week, Meyer’s The Modern in Midtown became the first of his 13 New York restaurants to end tipping. The rest will follow by the end of next year. To make up for the lack of tipping, The Modern raised some of its prices. According to Eater, three courses at dinner will cost $122, or $24 more than the old price. But since guests no longer have to tip, the added cost is really only about $7 more. Four courses will run $152 (up 9 percent), and the tasting will cost $182 (up 11 percent). Lunch will be even pricier, with three courses at $112 (up 18 percent) and $120 (a 13 percent increase). These figures are reflective of the added sales tax that comes with allinclusive pricing.
FIGHT OVER A CHARITY TABLE AT RAO’S A stockbroker paid $6,000 for a reservation at Rao’s -- one of Manhattan’s toughest tables to snag -- but says the man who sold hiom the table at a charity event then refused to honor the reservation and threatened to punch him. The trouble started when National Securities broker Christopher Bond won a reservation for eight at Rao’s for $6,000 at a Long Island gala for a children’s hospital in March. The reservation was donated by private investigator Bo Dietl. Bond arranged a July date. But, he told the New York Post, “[Dietl’s] assistant called to say they had to reschedule about eight days prior . . . we got my brother who’s in the Army in Virginia a plane ticket, he was all excited . . . [then] they said Bo needs the table. Tickets were canceled.” Bond says he next picked Nov. 5, but “I got a call from a new assistant saying Bo needs the table. I was adamant about not rescheduling.” That’s when “Bo called me and said, ‘Who the [bleep] do you think you are?’ He was cursing, telling me he’s going to punch me, and for me to get back my money. He said I don’t deserve the table because it goes for $10,000 and I paid $6,000.” When Bond responded he’d just show up at Rao’s, “I said, ‘Hey! You show up at Rao’s and I’ll punch you in the face!’ ” Dietl said of the table’s $6,000 bid, “It’s supposed to go for $10,000. The table’s raised millions for charity.”
Food & Drink
NOT YOUR MOTHER’S POTATO PANCAKES For the holidays, or any day, classic interpretations of latkes inflected by contemporary accents
1 cup coconut cream salt black pepper 3 Tbsp blend oil 3 Tbsp cashew nuts, crushed and toasted
BY LIZ NEUMARK
In the roll call of signature Jewish holiday foods, what could possibly be tastier than a latke? Not brisket, chopped liver or gefilte fish beats this legendary pancake for simplicity and universal appeal. Grated potatoes mixed with onions, eggs, salt and pepper, fried and served crispy is a classic. I go for the traditional recipe using russet potatoes topped with applesauce or sour cream. But classic isn’t good enough anymore. The varieties of latke in today’s food scene are as numerous as the people who eat them, with variations inspired by the Jewish Diaspora (traditional Sephardic influences) and more recently, the emergence of the Brooklyn food culture, which blends traditional with contemporary interpretations. The recipes below represent the creative work of a new generation of latke makers. Here is some food for thought to take into the kitchen: My Own Traditional Potato Latke (From my cookbook, “Sylvia’s Table”) For the Latkes: 1 medium onion chopped 4 Russet potatoes, peeled and shredded by hand or food processor 3 Tbsp flour or potato starch 3 eggs Salt and Pepper For the toppings: Applesauce (store bought or homemade) or Sour Cream Sauté the onion in about 2 Tbsp of olive oil till soft but not browned. Set aside to cool. Mix the grated potatoes, onions, flour and eggs together in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Then turn them into a colander set over a large bowl. Drape a damp dishcloth over the colander. When it seems that very little liquid is draining off the potatoes, after
Latkes with homemade applesauce. Photo: Dylan Foley about 15 minutes, carefully pour off the water leaving the starch that has collected at the bottom of the bowl. Mix the starch back into the potatoes – this will help hold the latkes together as they cook. Place a large skillet over a medium heat and pour in equal amounts of olive and canola oil to a depth of about 1 inch. The oil is hot enough when a tiny bit of the latke mixture sizzles when you drop it in. I make small latkes, 3-4 inches across, scooping up a large tablespoon of batter into my palm and flattening it out before sliding it into the pan. The edges of the latke are very ragged and make me think of multi-clawed crabs! It takes only a few minutes for the latkes to brown. Then I gently flip them. As they come out of the pan, I move them onto a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Guideline for yield: One potato will make about 2-3 latkes. One person will eat 3 latkes, depending on the size.
Celery Root & Potatoes with Red Onion, Parsley and Black Olive Relish For the Latkes: 2 cups peeled and shredded potatoes 1 cup peeled and shredded celery root 4 eggs, beaten 3 Tbsp grated onion 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour 1 pinch cayenne pepper 1 pinch nutmeg 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup canola oil for frying Place the potatoes and celery root in a cheesecloth and wring out all the moisture. Stir together remaining ingredients, and set aside until ready to form latkes.
To assemble the latke: Over medium heat, fry patties of this mixture until golden brown, flipping as needed. Drain well on a paper towel and top with a dollop of relish and a devilled egg. For the topping: Red onion, parsley and black olive relish 1 cup medium diced red onion, roasted in olive oil 2 Tbsp chopped parsley 3 Tbsp pitted black olives rough chopped 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil zest of 1 lemon salt and pepper to taste Mix all ingredients well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Indian Spiced Latke with Cauliflower Chutney and Crushed Cashew Nuts For the Latke: 2 pounds of Idaho potatoes 1 large egg 2 Tbsl all-purpose flour 1 tsp ground coriander 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground fennel seed 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper Peel potatoes and grate them. Squeeze out the excess water from the potatoes. Add egg and mix. Add flour followed by spice. Pan fry. For the Cauliflower Chutney: 1 head of medium size cauliflower, cut in small pieces 1 large onion, small diced 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced 1 Tbsp fresh garlic, minced 3 plum tomatoes, diced fresh curry leaves 2 Tbsp madras curry powder 2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
Heat up the oil medium high. Add the curry leaves and allow them to toast. Add garlic and ginger and toast for 1 minute. And add onion, followed by curry powder. Toast for a couple minutes. When you smell curry, add tomatoes, salt, and peppers. Cook for a couple more minutes until tomatoes get soft. Then add coconut milk and cook while the tomatoes are melting. Add cauliflower and mix well. Cook for about 10 minutes until cauliflower is well cooked. Add cilantro and garnish with cashew nuts. (From the BAMcafe at Brooklyn Academy of Music)
Carrot Latke For the Latke: 4 cups coarsely grated peeled carrots 2 cups coarsely grated peeled potato 6 Tbsp all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 4 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger 2 teaspoons orange zest 2 Tbsp snipped chives 3 large eggs, beaten to blend 1 cup sour cream 1 cup homemade applesauce Place carrots and potatoes in large bowl; press with paper towels to absorb any moisture. In another large bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and pepper to blend. Mix in carrots, chives and ginger, then eggs. Pour enough oil into heavy large skillet to cover bottom and heat over medium heat. Working in batches and adding more oil as needed, drop carrot mixture by 1/4 cup into skillet and spread to 3 1/2-inch rounds. Fry until golden, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer latkes to rimmed baking sheet. Top with a dollop of applesauce and sour cream.
Potato Latke with Red Lentils, Grilled Hudson Valley Carrots and Baby Turnips,
Cardamom Curry Scented Yogurt For the Latke: 1 1/2 cup peeled and shredded potatoes 1 Tbsp grated yellow onion 2 eggs, beaten 1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup vegetable oil For the topping: 2 each baby turnips, quartered 2 each thumbelina carrots, sliced lengthwise into 4 pieces 2 each baby golden beets, sliced lengthwise into 4 pieces 1 cup olive oil -1 cup red lentils 2 cups water 1 plum tomato, seeded and diced 1 tsp grated ginger, sautéed 1 tsp minced garlic, sautéed 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro 2 Tbsp olive oil -1/2 cup yogurt 1 Tbsp roasted garlic 1 small pinch cardamom 1 small pinch curry powder 1. Gently squeeze the liquid from the shredded potatoes using your hands. 2. Combine with onion, eggs, flour, salt and oil in a mixing bowl. 3. In a sauté pan, heat oil on medium-high heat. 4. Form mixture into latke patties and fry in sauté pan. 5. Cook until golden brown on each side and place on a paper towel 6. Grill or roast root vegetables in 325 degrees F until tender and browned. 7. Simmer lentils with tomato, sautéed ginger and garlic, cilantro and oil on low for 15 minutes or until tender. 8. Combine yogurt, garlic, cardamom and curry powder, refrigerate until ready to serve. 9. On top of each latke, place 1 Tbsp of the lentil mixture, spreading it evenly across the latke. Add 1 or 2 pieces of the root vegetables, and top with the yogurt. (From the Mae Mae Café in Hudson Square) Enjoy! Liz Neumark is the CEO of Great Performances catering and the author of the cookbook “Sylvia’s Table.”
NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 2,2015
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS
Be Seen
NOV 4 - 18, 2015 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. Dunkin’ Donuts
10 W 33Rd St
A
Dunkin’ Donuts
818 6Th Ave
A
Hee Korean Bbq Grill
793 6Th Ave
Grade Pending (17) 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/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
Bottino
248 10 Avenue
Grade Pending (17) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
Ajisen Ramen
136 West 28 Street
A
Gong Cha
12 W 32Nd St
A
Madman Espresso
59 W 30Th St
A
Sleep No More At The Mckittrick Hotel
530 West 27 Street
A
Gallow Green
530542 West 27 Street
A
Mooncake Foods
263 West 30 Street
Grade Pending (48) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewageassociated 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.
Empire Pizza
314 5 Avenue
A
Tracks Raw Bar & Grill
11 Penn Station 33Rd Street
A
Bcd Tofu House
5 West 32 Street
A
Periyali
35 West 20 Street
A
El Paraiso
149 West 14 Street
Grade Pending (37) Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewageassociated 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. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Blossom Du Jour
259 West 23Rd St
Grade Pending (19) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Hana Sushi
211 7 Avenue
A
in Manhattan’s Premier Arts Section where...
87%
of readers say they visited a museum in the past 3 months
72%
of readers say they attended a concert in the past 3 months
68%
or readers say they attended a Broadway performance in the past 3 months
RY 12-18 ,2015
n FEBRUA
12 Our Tow
E, EGON SCHIELSP REBEL ON DI LAY
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Our Tow
n OCTOB ER 16, 2014
EXHIB ITION S
SET IN THE CITY: RECL A
STR EET ART
Photogr complet apher Justin Bett e room sets on man builds city stre ets
ENCOURAGING BAD THEATER
THEAT ER
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IF YOU GO
The festival spans over the weeken 17, 24 and Nov. ds on 154 W. 29th1 at Chelsea’s Treehouof the Oct. se Theater, within a 90-min Street. Four or five plays are $15 availab ute time slot each night. are shown BadTheaterFesle on EventBrite through Tickets Pioneers Bar t.com and knock $3 off the website a drink at festival will down the street from the where peoplealso host a Halloween partyvenue. The will compete at Pioneers, the bad costum for e competition. the worst costume in
actors feel red-headed like the step dren of the chilcomedy and theate worlds,” Wicke r ns said. “There improv actors,is, for a very ‘root for the under dog’ mentality, and that’s what we’re all about as well.” Right now, merely fun the Bad Theater Fest is for viewer s The three-y ear old event and actors. ing out its kinks; organi is still irona challenge zing skits is and between sets smooth transitions are never teed. But Wicken guarans said can be seen he hopes it by a pool of untappfuture audiences as ed talent.
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T H ROW BAC K
Thanksgiving T H U R S D AY
Dandeliondirtrd #ThrowbackThanksgiving The Lewis family, Woodstock #Vermont *Bonus I cut my own hair :)
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Macyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Parade at 57th St. Jack-O-Lantern passing 57th Street circa 1947.
The Staff of Thea tre 80 having Th anksgiving dinn er togeth
er, 2008
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U.W.S. BUILDING ACCIDENT BLAMED ON REGULATORS’ LAPSES NEWS The collapse of a facade killed a 2-year-old girl BY JAKE PEARSON
A series of regulatory lapses spanning years, and an engineer’s faked inspection report, preceded a facade collapse that killed a 2-yearold girl on the Upper West Side earlier this year, according to an official report. Company officials at The Esplanade, a senior living facility on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, failed to file a required facade inspection report from 2005 to 2007 and hired a subcontractor whose engineer certified the building’s safety in 2011 without actually in-
A WIN FOR P.S. 199, FOR NOW The DOE puts off some tough zoning decisions for another school year BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
The city Department of Education is holding off on a 201617 school year solution to overcrowding at P.S. 199 and other issues within district three on the Upper West Side. Earlier this year the department floated a proposal that would shift students currently zoned for P.S. 199, an overcrowded and mostly white and affluent school, to P.S. 191, a mostly black, Latino and poor school that the state recently ranked as dangerous for having a high rate of violent incidents over a two-year period. The department wanted to
shrink the number of P.S. 199’s eligible students by redrawing the school’s zone, shifting a number of blocks to P.S. 191 on West 61st Street, where there’s an abundance of open seats. P.S. 199 parents expressed concern over sending their children to a school perceived as violent as well as one with low test scores, while fending off the perception that their preference was based on race. Meanwhile, the principle of P.S. 191, Lauren Keville, as well as parents at the school, disagreed that P.S. 191 is dangerous and cited its improving safety record. Community Education Council 3, which is made up of parents from around the district and has voting powers over
any zoning changes in the district, rejected the department’s proposal and asked it to draw up a smaller but similar plan that moved fewer students from P.S. 199 to P.S. 191. Noah Gotbaum, a member of CEC 3, said he’s surprised the DOE didn’t come back to the council with a smaller version of the proposal to rezone P.S. 199. “All of us said we need more and better information, and unfortunately they didn’t come with any of it. So we’re disappointed they didn’t bring us a slimmed downed plan for the northern part of the zone or data we would need to evaluate it adequately,” said Gotbaum. “It’s disappointing and a little bit surprising.” The council was also in the midst of discussing a number of other proposals before the DOE pulled the plug. A second proposal put forth by the department would see P.S. 191 sharing a larger zone with P.S. 342, a school currently under construction on West 61st Street and slated to open in 2018. Students in the shared zone could attend either P.S. 191 or 342. A third proposal submitted by the department would involve creating a “superzone,” which would enable parents to
specting it, the city Department of Investigation probe found. The engineer, Maqsood Faruqi, 55, of Jackson, New Jersey, was arrested on a charge of offering a false instrument for filing. He pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Joseph Lo Piccolo, called the toddler’s death tragic, but said Faruqi followed city rules as required. “This case represents massive breakdowns in basic public safety rules,” DOI Commissioner Mark G. Peters said in a statement. Greta Greene was with her grandmother when she was hit by a piece of terracotta that fell eight stories this past May. She died the following day at a hospital. Department of Buildings officials had fined The Esplanade for failing to secure the building’s facade
request placement in P.S. 199, 191 or 342, with any school that has more applicants than seats enrolling students on a lottery basis. A fourth proposal, submitted by officials at P.S. 191, involved pairing the school with P.S. 342, a school currently under construction on West 61st Street that’s slated to open in 2018. P.S. 191, which currently serves pre-K through eighthgrade students, would shift its focus to teaching pre-K through second-grade students. When those students are ready for third grade they would move onto P.S. 342, pairing the two schools. P.S. 342 is being built for a larger population of students and would serve third through eighth
but didn’t send out inspectors, even after a private consultant noticed alarming cracks and notified top buildings officials two months before Greene’s death, the report found. “I would get someone over pretty quick on this,” the consultant emailed a top buildings official, according to the report. A local law established after a similar deadly accident in 1979 requires owners of buildings six stories or taller to file facade safety inspection reports every five years with the Department of Buildings. Officials there receive about 27,000 of them each reporting cycle, according to the report. Investigators examining such reports found that 2,490 buildings, many of them city-owned, filed such reports in February that concluded the facades were unsafe, the report found. Four months later, fewer than half had filed reports noting the unsafe conditions had been fi xed, it found. A City Hall spokesman said buildings officials will revamp how the department handles facade inspection reports. A spokesman for The Esplanade declined to comment.
grades. The community education council pushed a deadline for deciding on a plan to vote on back from Nov. 19 to Dec. 2, but the DOE confirmed on Wednesday that it’s foregoing a decision this year in favor of devoting more time to finding a long-term solution for the 201718 school year. “At this point, we have been unable to reach consensus on the best course of action and believe more time is needed to work with the community to develop a long-term plan for this area,” said Devora Kaye, a DOE spokesperson. “As such, the DOE will not present a plan at this time but will continue to partner with [Community Education Council 3] and elected
officials to continue engaging the community around solutions.” Kaye said students on P.S. 199’s waitlist will be offered spots in other district schools that have seats available for nonzoned students. The move also allows P.S. 191 more time to bolster its credibility as a safe and attractive alternative to the severely overcrowded P.S. 199, which has had a kindergarten wait list of almost 100 students in recent years. P.S. 199, however, will have to deal with that overcrowding for another school year, and the district’s diversity issues remain unchecked. “Because we didn’t go with the plan they’d proposed they basically took their ball and went home,” said Gotbaum. Gotbaum called P.S. 199 “unsafe” due to it being over capacity, and said that the DOE denied a request by the community education council to reduce the number of kindergarten classes from six to five. “We haven’t stopped working,” said Gotbaum. “We have control over zoning, we don’t have control over where schools move or enrollment. We can’t propose zoning changes on our own, and they can’t get zoning changes passed without us.”
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“IS THIS THE GARAGE?” OP-ED BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL
Let’s call it Six Degrees Of Upper East Side Separation. If you own a car in the area and park at the garage on 67th Street, chances are that you and I have spoken on the phone. My husband Neil and I have had the same landline for 27 years, even though we’ve lived in three different apartments on this side of the park, with a brief sojourn on the Upper West Side. Our number is the same as that of the parking place, except for one easily misdialed digit. Hence for more years than I can count, when the phone has rung, we have fielded the query, “Is this the garage?” Despite the fact that people think our section of Manhattan is homogenous, I can tell you we’re quite diverse, based on how people react when I break the news that, “No it isn’t,” and I cannot have their vehicle “outside in five.” Some apologize profusely, others
say, “Oops,” and hang up, while others slam the phone down as though it is my fault they pressed the wrong button. What may seem like a major annoyance to some, (I have been asked many a time as to why we just don’t change our phone number) has become part of our day-to-day New York City life. Sometimes it’s good for a chuckle, as when Neil and I passed an apartment building just as a guy on his cell was exiting. “Is this the garage?” he was asking. We immediately looked at each other and started to laugh. Other times it means so much more. “Is this the garage?” put a smile on my tear-smeared face many years ago when Neil called from work to see how I was processing the news that the principal at our son Luke’s grammar school did not think his sister Meg would be the right fit for that academic environment. His kind gesture paired with the jokey greeting reminded
me that I married a man with a sense of humor, and that if I kept mine, then together we would get through our latest travail. Everybody who lives here has a New York story: the famous/ crazy/noisy neighbor, the construction work that almost leveled your apartment building, the doorman who ran off with one of the tenants, the time or two (or three) you got stuck in the subway, the almost hit by a bike story, and, of course, the time you passed Woody and Soon-Yi on Madison. Next time the phone rings and the person (you know who you are) on the other end of the line asks if this is the garage (and believe me, there will be a next time), know you are not being a nuisance; you’re just part of the Merkl New York story – and say, “Hi.” Lorraine Duffy Merkl is a freelance writer in New York City, and author of the novels “Fat Chick” and “Back to Work She Goes.”
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
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GOAL SETTING WITH A SOCCER COACH Assistant Coach Alecko Eskandarian of the New York Cosmos uses his professional training to guide his team to victory BY ANGELA BARBUTI
Alecko Eskandarian has earned a name for himself in soccer stadiums across the nation. Now, the New Jersey native is back in New York, as an assistant coach for the Cosmos, who won their second North American Soccer League title this month. As a pro, the 33-year-old played for D.C United, Toronto FC, Real Salt Lake, Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy, all of Major League Soccer, the U.S.’s top pro soccer league. His resume also includes stints on the U.S. national and Olympic qualifying teams. Although he was forced to retire at 27 due to post-concussion syndrome, he did not let that prevent him from pursuing the sport he said had special meaning for him since childhood, and now uses his experience on the other side of the field. When asked what the key to be being a good coach is, he said, “There are no set guidelines. ... But I think, at the very least, you have to see the big picture. ... You will always deal with different types of adversity, whether it’s in the game or through the course of the season. So you always have to be one step ahead and try to plan for it and not be taken by surprise.”
How did you get started in soccer? I was kind of born in soccer. My dad was a professional soccer player and I have an older brother who also played soccer. But I very much found my own identity and my own passion through soccer. I played a different position than my brother and my dad, so I was kind of off doing my own thing and became very passionate about it at a very young age. I can’t really explain why. I played all sports growing up, so it wasn’t like it was just soccer, but soccer was definitely almost like an escape for me. I got in some trouble when I was a kid and always had a little bit of a temper, so soccer was my escape from reality. I could just play on my own in the backyard. It was almost like therapy for me.
Photo: New York Cosmos
You went to college at UVA. What was your experience like there and
how did you choose that school? I love UVA. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Coming out of Jersey, I was recruited by a bunch of different schools, mostly in the tri-state area. But I really wanted to test myself against the best and go to an institution that would really challenge me on and off the field, through soccer and academics. And Virginia really offered me the best balance of both. We had the number one team in the country in soccer, and academically, it’s the top state school in the country. So I really found everything that I wanted at UVA and had a great experience there.
You had to retire from soccer due to injuries. Do you still get to play for fun? For a long time, I couldn’t. For the last five years or so, I really couldn’t do anything. Slowly but surely, I’ve been able to get back into it just through coaching. Nowadays I can play, but not seriously. I can’t do anything competitively. I try to kick it around and stay involved in the game and have fun.
When the Cosmos won this year, what went through your head? Did you get really stressed out during the game? I’ll be honest with you, this last championship game, I was as calm as I have ever been. We put so much work and preparation in that I was very, very calm. I expected us to come away with the victory, knowing that it would be a very tough game against a tough opponent. But I was very content with the work that we had put in leading up to it, so I was actually really calm and relaxed the days leading up to the game and felt very good about our chances.
When you Google your name, your date with fellow ArmenianAmerican Kim Kardashian comes up. What was that like and do you people always ask you about it? Yeah, I guess it comes up every now and then. I’m really quiet about it. I never really talk about it. It was a really cool experience. I have nothing but great things to say about it all. But, at the same time, I think that’s just a small part of who I am and what defines me. It was a great opportunity that came up, I guess, through my professional soccer career. Kim was really cool and it was a really fun date that we went on.
You live in the West Village. What are your favorite places there? I have a bunch of places that I love around here. For lunch, I love the Original Sandwich Shoppe; it’s called T.O.S.S. That’s my goto for turkey sandwiches. I go to Westville a lot, The Meatball Shop. There’s a bunch of good Mexican and Italian restaurants that I go to as well, like Diablo Royale, Piccolo Angolo.
What are some memorable moments in your career? Wow, I’ve had a bunch. Obviously, winning a championship is always huge. I was fortunate enough to play against Real Madrid, which is one of the top teams in the world, and to score a goal against them. We tied them 1-1. That was pretty cool in front of, I think, 70,000 people. I had a chance to represent the United States of America both in the Olympic qualifying and with the full national team, so that was a dream come true. I’ve just made a lot of memories, a lot of friendships, and had a lot of exciting moments that I’ll hold onto for the rest of my life.
What are your future plans? Do you think you’ll stay in New York? To keep progressing within my field. In soccer, now being on the other side of things, whether it be coaching or front office, I just want to always push myself and get better and improve and challenge myself. So that’s my plan professionally. But, being in the city, you also are exposed to a lot of different things and meet a lot of different people as well, so I just want to take advantage of all the opportunities that are in front of me. New York would definitely be a preference of mine. I also lived in LA before this and I loved it there as well. In professional sports, you never know where your career is going to take you, but I’m very content with being here in New York. Being near my family has meant a lot to me, so I’m really enjoying it here. www.nycosmos.com
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