Our Town Downtown - November 29, 2018

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The local paper for Downtown wn

WEEK OF NOVEMBER - DECEMBER

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COUNCIL WEIGHS HATE CRIME BILL JUSTICE Legislation would form interagency office tasked with coordinating city’s anti-hate efforts BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

casualty that uprooted a thirty to forty year old Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) on 22nd Street and took a good portion of the sidewalk with it, as well as a very shiny late model BMW that happened to be unluckily parked beneath. One doesn’t often think of the trees that line the side streets of the city, except when they display their vibrant autumn foliage, bloom into fluffy nebulae of delicate spring blossoms, or droop their branches

Amidst a recent spike in hate crimes, the City Council is considering legislation that would create a new city office dedicated to addressing bias-motivated incidents. Early in November, soon after a gunman killed 11 Jewish congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue, police in New York City arrested an individual suspected of drawing swastikas on several Upper West Side buildings. Several similar acts occurred in Brooklyn within a few days, adding to a list of over 500 anti-Semitic incidents reported across the city in the last two years. Legislation introduced by Council Member Mark Levine would establish a new mayoral office for the prevention of such hate crimes. The office would serve to foster cooperation and collaboration between the various city agencies involved in disparate issues relating to hate crime, ranging from law enforcement and prosecution to outreach and prevention to counseling services for victims. “When the city confronts major challenges like this, we often establish an entity to coordinate amongst the many agencies that are required to work together,” Levine said at a Nov. 19 hearing, citing existing interagency bodies tasked with coordinating city resources dedicated to domestic violence prevention and legal assistance programs, among other topics. The new office, Levine said, would provide policymakers with a more holistic view of the city’s efforts to fight

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Uprooted. Photo: Deborah Fenker

A TREE FALLS IN CHELSEA NATURE An arboreal casualty is a reminder of how vulnerable — and miraculous — our city greenery is BY DEBORAH FENKER

Last week’s early snowfall that the authorities predicted would turn to rain never did, and in fact turned out to be substantially more profound a storm than most anyone expected. A projected one or two inches that would melt into puddles by rush hour turned into substantial and sloppy accumulation, wreaking havoc on both mass and private transit, and foiling the shoe choice of many who were understandably and unfortunately unprepared. The wet, heavy flakes settled onto vulnerable branches that had not yet lost their foliage, the slushy weight snapping branches like uncooked spaghetti and even felling an unprecedented number of specimens. Right here in Chelsea, we suffered an arboreal

The trees of New York subsist much like their human counterparts, crammed into living spaces much smaller than the ideal.

A police and fire call box on the Upper West Side, near West 104th Street and Columbus Avenue, was vandalized with a swastika and “KKK” in October 2018. Photo: Office of Council Member Mark Levine Downtowner

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WEEK OF APRIL

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12

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

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

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

2015

In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS

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

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

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

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

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NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

MIRACLE ON 100TH STREET COMMUNITY A holiday without presents awaited the needy kids of Manhattan Valley. But our readers changed that glum prospect — and now, the toddlers and preteens will gets hats and scarfs, toys and teddy bears. BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

It was a close call: Christmas — or at least the traditional gift-giving that accompanies it — was almost called off for the children of the Frederick Douglass Houses on the Upper West Side. The annual holiday party hosted by Carmen Quinones, president of the tenants association at the 18-building housing development, was facing likely cancellation because of a lack of funds. Now, it’s back on track. The kids of Manhattan Valley will once again be showered with presents and love. And the generosity of the readers of The West Side Spirit and Our Town made it all possible. “There are angels with big hearts right here in New York, and they all came forward for the children,” Quinones said. “God is good.” We’re not the business of tooting our own horn. Our mission is to cover

news, events and features in our Manhattan communities. But our reporters and editors take great pride when outcomes and results reap benefits in our readership areas. This is a story about a story. Specifically, an article — “Gifts of the Magi” — that ran on Nov. 8 in four papers published by Straus News and told of faltering fundraising efforts to stage a joyous little party for 125-plus needy kids whose parents simply can’t afford to buy Christmas gifts. The event, which takes place at 830 Columbus Avenue off 100th Street on Three Kings Day, a holiday that is hugely popular in the Caribbean and falls this year on Jan. 6, is a life-saver for the residents of Frederick Douglass. No wonder: Average annual family income in public housing is $24,423. Every single day, residents struggle to get by. After necessary spending for food and shelter, there’s seldom enough left over for gifts. And that’s where Quinones comes in. A veteran community organizer and resident of the 4,500-apartment complex for 43 years, she’s paid most of the party’s costs out of her own pocket in years past. Neighbors have branded her a “onewoman Santa Claus.” A mother of three, grandmother of 19 and great-

grandmother of four, she loves to purchase and disburse stuffed animals, teddy bears, Cinderella dolls, Disney figures, flashing trucks, educational videos, heart-shaped items. This year, Quinones wanted to add to the offerings. Frederick Douglass often lacks heat and hot water, so she was determined to buy hats and gloves and scarfs to keep the kids warm on frigid wintry days. But she needed a little bit of help to pull it off. She had lost her father. She was battered by Hurricane Maria when she went to Puerto Rico to bury him. She barely survived. Her lupus worsened. Related health problems resulted in financial pressures. It was all pretty daunting.

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS So Quinones made a Facebook appeal for $2,000 to help underwrite food and gifts. The paper you’re holding in your hands or reading online related her story. And the checks, small and large, soon started flowing. Cosmin Maiorescu, a Romanian immigrant who has lived on West 17th Street in Chelsea since settling in the U.S. 11 years ago, is unemployed. But that didn’t stop him from wrapping up a $10 bill and mailing it to Quinones. “I think you are a hero!” he told her in

Carmen Quinones (first row at right), shown here with tenants and cops at the Frederick Douglass Houses in Manhattan Valley. Photo courtesy of Carmen Quinones a letter. “Please accept my little help. It’s not that much, but it’s coming from a big heart.” In an interview, the 35-year-old Maiorescu, a freelance photographer, said he knows what it’s like to not possess much, to not afford much and to receive no presents at holiday time. But that does not strip a person of the giving spirit. “If I have to I’ll skip a meal, I’ll skip a meal,” he said. “Your story just moved something inside of me, and whatever I have, I want to give something back. The city has been very good to me, and it’s the right thing to do.” Before long, I was even hearing from my 90-something mother Barbara Feiden, who wrote in an email, “Your article on the Douglass residents got at least one very modest contribution — from me.” But it was longtime Upper East Side resident Donna Golkin whose largesse — she wrote a personal check for $1,800 — ultimately tipped the scales.

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ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

Paul Auster and Luc Sante in Conversation

MONDAY, DECEMBER 3RD, 7PM The Strand | 828 Broadway | 212-473-1452 | strandbooks.com Paul Auster launches the limited edition manuscript of his New York Trilogy, which uses hand- and type-written manuscripts to document the work’s evolution. Auster will be joined by fellow author Luc Sante ($20, includes $20 gift card; $200 includes signed copy of the book).

White Lies, Tall Tales, and Whoppers: Detecting Lies Through the Body, Face, and Voice

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4TH, 7:30PM Subject | 188 Suffolk St. | 646-422-7898 | subject-les.com Clinically trained psychologist and NYU professor Lawrence Ian Rees, an expert in the facial expression of emotion, talks up the virtue of truth and ways to tell when someone is lying ($15).

Just Announced | Dialogue 2018: Laurie Anderson in Conversation with William Kentridge

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10TH, 6:30PM New York Studio School | 8 W. 8th St. | 212-673-6466 | nyss.org NYSS, in the original home of the Whitney, brings in a pair of creative forces: artist and vocalist Laurie Anderson and South African multi-media master William Kentridge ($20 overflow room).

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

sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.

“The children of Frederick Douglass should know just how special they are – and that they receive what all children SHOULD be receiving at this special time of the year,” she said. Golkin said she was moved by Quinones’ determination that the kids have a “magical holiday season” and felt fortunate that she, along with others, could help her achieve her goal. But make no mistake, she added, “This incredible woman is doing the heavy-lifting here on behalf of all these wonderful children.” “It is an incredible feeling for people to realize that even strangers care about them,” Golkin said. “And I hope that gives Carmen and the parents of the children some comfort. Indeed it does: “My heart is so full,” Quinones said. “God sent another angel.” Now, she’s off to buy presents for the kids. invreporter@strausnews.com

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st precinct for the week ending Nov 18 Week to Date

Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr

POLICE NAB SHOPLIFTING PAIR Two men were arrested and charged with robbery when a shoplifting incident turned violent. At 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17, Tyrone J. Protain and Ishon Mathlin, ages 37 and 32 respectively, acting in concert, entered the Century 21 store at 22 Cortlandt St. and attempted to leave with unpaid merchandise, according to police. When a store security officer stopped them, Protain and Mathlin fought him, leaving the officer with injuries to both hand and face. The items stolen included a Dolce fragrance valued at

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$60, a charger priced at $20, four hats worth a total of $55, making for a haul of $135, of which items valued at $75 were recovered.

CAMERA BAG STOLEN Police remind the public never to leave property unattended. At 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17, a 60-yearold man briefly left his camera bag in front of the stoop of his building at 31 Harrison St. When he returned he discovered his bag was missing. The property stolen included a Canon

5DSR camera body valued at $3,700, a Canon model TXNK camera priced at $400, various lenses, a tripod, memory discs and more, making for a total haul of $9,490.

TOOL CRIME Police think a burglary at a construction site might have been an inside job. Sometime between 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12 and 7:45 a.m. on Nov. 13, unknown perpetrators used a combination known only by about twenty employees to gain access to a

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Year to Date

2018 2017

% Change

2018

2017

% Change

Murder

0

0

n/a

1

9

-88.9

Rape

1

0

n/a

23

15

53.3

Robbery

2

2

0.0

69

64

7.8

Felony Assault

0

1

-100.0

53

86

-38.4

Burglary

3

0

n/a

68

61

11.5

Grand Larceny

23

29

-20.7

970 931 4.2

Grand Larceny Auto

0

0

n/a

20

construction site operated by Cocozza inside 74 Pearl St., say police. They also used the same combination to access the cabinet in which the tools were kept. The items stolen included two DeWALT laser levels valued at $1,200, two DeWALT drills priced at $400 and various other tools, making a total haul of $3,300.

E-BIKE LOOTING SPREE Two electric bikes disappeared on the same day in the same neighborhood,

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possibly stolen by the same perpetrator, say police. At 11:55 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 12, a 26-year-old man left his bike in front of 55 Broad St. while he made a food delivery. When he returned to his bike’s parking spot just five minutes later, the e-bike, an M8C valued at $2,000, was gone. Then at 1:10 p.m., a 31-year-old man left his e-bike in front of 26 Broadway while he went to deliver food. When he also returned just five minutes later, his bike was gone. The two-wheeler was an Arrow 9 valued at $2,000, along with a lock priced at $100.

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Useful Contacts

Drawing Board BY MARC BILGREY

POLICE NYPD 7th Precinct

19 ½ Pitt St.

212-477-7311

NYPD 6th Precinct

233 W. 10th St.

212-741-4811

NYPD 10th Precinct

230 W. 20th St.

212-741-8211

NYPD 13th Precinct

230 E. 21st St.

NYPD 1st Precinct

16 Ericsson Place

212-477-7411 212-334-0611

FIRE FDNY Engine 15

25 Pitt St.

311

FDNY Engine 24/Ladder 5

227 6th Ave.

311

FDNY Engine 28 Ladder 11

222 E. 2nd St.

311

FDNY Engine 4/Ladder 15

42 South St.

311

ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin

165 Park Row #11

Councilmember Rosie Mendez

237 1st Ave. #504

212-587-3159 212-677-1077

Councilmember Corey Johnson

224 W. 30th St.

212-564-7757

State Senator Daniel Squadron

250 Broadway #2011

212-298-5565

Community Board 1

1 Centre St., Room 2202

212-669-7970

Community Board 2

3 Washington Square Village

212-979-2272

Community Board 3

59 E. 4th St.

212-533-5300

Community Board 4

330 W. 42nd St.

212-736-4536

Hudson Park

66 Leroy St.

212-243-6876

Ottendorfer

135 2nd Ave.

212-674-0947

Elmer Holmes Bobst

70 Washington Square

212-998-2500

COMMUNITY BOARDS

LIBRARIES

HOSPITALS New York-Presbyterian

170 William St.

Mount Sinai-Beth Israel

10 Union Square East

212-844-8400

212-312-5110

CON EDISON

4 Irving Place

212-460-4600

TIME WARNER

46 East 23rd

813-964-3839

US Post Office

201 Varick St.

212-645-0327

US Post Office

128 East Broadway

212-267-1543

US Post Office

93 4th Ave.

212-254-1390

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TRUMP TOWER BUS STOP TO RETURN

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TRANSPORTATION MTA will restore southbound stop removed due to security concerns after 2016 election BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Since Donald Trump was elected president in the fall of 2016, the area surrounding his Midtown residence — to say nothing of the rest of the country — has experienced severe disruptions. While protests at Trump Tower have ebbed in frequency over the last year, police barricades still line the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue, penning in crowds of gawking tourists. Security checkpoints loom outside the 58-story building, which is staffed by the NYPD and Secret Service around the clock. Traffic is often snarled in the area, due in part to the continued closure of 56th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues. But a small measure of normalcy will soon return to the neighborhood with the restoration of a longstanding Fifth Avenue bus stop, in front of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church between 55th and 56th Streets, which was removed due to security concerns after the 2016 election. By the end of November, southbound M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 and Q32 buses will once again pick up and drop off riders in the shadow of Trump Tower, according to officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the NYC Department of Transportation. The stop’s two-year absence left a gap of more than a third of a mile between stops, forcing passengers to walk to their destinations from as far as 60th Street or 52nd Street. “There are eight blocks without any local bus stops, which of course is pretty inconvenient for people who live in between,� said David Achelis, the president of the West 50s Neighborhood Association and a member of Community Board 5, who lives in the neighborhood and was one of a number of local residents who lobbied for the stop to be restored. Jeanette MacDonald, who

“We have to balance the security needs of the city with the ability of people to get around and use their neighborhood ... the situation has improved since November 2016 and this is another example of it continuing to improve.� Council Member Keith Powers

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shown: SkylineŽ Gliding Panels & Designer Roller Shades For two years, buses have bypassed a former stop near Trump Tower due to heightened security in the area. Photo: Michael Garofalo frequently visits the area, said that the removal of the bus stop made it more difficult to get to the neighborhood, particularly for older riders who have difficulty walking long distances. She questioned why the stop couldn’t have returned sooner. “It’s amazing that two years have gone by in which everyone has been inconvenienced, yet now they’ve decided that it’s safe for the stop to be there as if something had suddenly changed,� MacDonald said. In an emailed statement, MTA spokesperson Amanda Kwan wrote, “Through close coordination with the NYPD and NYCDOT, we requested and were granted permission to restore those stops to ease our customers’ mobility, safety and access to our buses.� Keith Powers, who represents East Midtown in the City Council, reached out to the MTA on behalf of constituents to ask that the stop be reopened. Dan

Garodnick, Powers’ predecessor in the Fourth Council District, had made the same request in early 2017, but the stop remained inactive due to security concerns during the period, when Trump’s wife, Melania, and son Barron were still residing in Trump Tower. (Melania and Barron Trump moved to the White House in June 2017.) “Because of some of the security dynamics in the area had changed, we were able to get it restored,� Powers said. “We have to balance the security needs of the city with the ability of people to get around and use their neighborhood,� Powers said. “This is a unique situation with the president having a residence in our neighborhood, but I think the situation has improved since November 2016 and this is another example of it continuing to improve.�

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Aftereffects of the storm at 212 West 22nd Street. Photo: Deborah Fenker

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so low as to inhibit pedestrian traffic. The trees of New York subsist much like their human counterparts, crammed into living spaces much smaller than the ideal, and susceptible to daily toxicities, such a vehiclular pollution and a chronic basting of their roots with the dog urine of careless walkers and owners. The diminutive tree pits allotted to each tree are barely sufficient for their expansive root systems, which can grow up to three times as wide as a tree’s own canopy. While many trees feature a depth-seeking taproot, the majority of a tree’s nutrition come from these lateral roots that hover within the first few feet of soil, which in New York are unequivocally smothered by a layer of concrete. The soil, too, is so compacted that healthy root growth is virtually impossible, and when they become top-heavy with an accumulation of slush as they did last Thursday, heavy winds render them defenseless. That the trees even grow as large as they do is something of a miracle, but the New York City Parks Department maintains a wide variety of them, from the stinky, slippery-leafed ginkos to the spectacularly showy fruit-blossom trees that explode come springtime. There are 2,983 trees documented in Chelsea alone, which one can find details of on the very informative and fascinating interac-

tive NYC Parks Street Tree Map (tree-map.nycgovparks.org). Or, perhaps, now 2,982. And that Callery pear wasn’t the only one to come down: a similar catastrophe befell a tree that night down on West 13th Street just across from The New School; I heard of another on the news on the Upper East Side, one in SoHo, and another car-crushing incident on Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens. No borough is immune. A month or so ago I saw one tree downed near Greenwich and Perry, no traumatic weather involved, but it pulled up the tree pit barrier and half the sidewalk all the same. The city was fairly swift, all things considered, to remove the Callery pear from the BMW. They sawed the trunk into chunks (the tree, not the car), which remains stacked beside the stump on the south side of the street, its branches

mounded on the north side into a leafy mass about the same size as the car it crushed. The Parks Department issued a statement to alert the public of a blitz of branch-trimming last Sunday as a result of all the downed trees and limbs. On the surface, it seems tragic to have to cut back any of these life-giving beauties, as well as compromise their effectiveness for the crucial services they provide, from intercepting stormwater and buffering gales, to lowering temperatures with their benevolent shade, to perhaps their most important function of all, cleaning the air of toxins and capturing carbon dioxide to produce the oxygen we depend upon as humans. But a little preventative downsizing is vastly preferable to losing a whole, half-century old one, along with the potential destruction of whatever happens to lie beneath.

A Callyer pear on West 22nd Street was a casualty of the storm. Photo: Deborah Fenker

NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

REACHING FOR THE ROOF PLAY SPACES Providing 600 kids at P.S. 290 on the UES with a safer place to play than the street has been the dream of parents for years — but the cost was always prohibitive. Until now.

“Nothing must stand in the way of the well-being and growth of our children.” Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright

BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

If there is one cardinal rule of municipal construction in New York, it boils down to this: Project costs inevitably go up. Which makes it all the more extraordinary now that the price for a massive retrofit of a public school has gone so dramatically down. The tab for creating a new rooftop play space atop P.S. 290 on East 82nd Street plummeted last month by some $4 million or more. Suddenly, an ambitious if longstalled plan to carve out a classroomand-recreation area — above the treetops, graced with green, safe and secure, designed to literally get students off the street — was back on track. “This is absolutely fantastic news!” said Tom Wrocklage, an executive board member of the school’s PTA, which has campaigned for the rooftop conversion for the past four years. “Right now, our kids have to play on the street, and they’re at great risk from bicycles, e-scooters, cars coming out of nowhere — unfortunately, even gun violence is something we have to worry about,” he added. “If they’re up on the roof, they’ll finally have security ... But we’re not going to celebrate

until the ribbon is cut.” The cautionary note is understandable: No budget for the project has been publicly released. Millions of dollars must still be secured. No final blueprints have been drawn up. Engineering work lies ahead. A timeline hasn’t been established. The city procurement process can be painfully slow. But supporters say a corner has been turned in efforts to fund a rooftop play space at the five-story, red-brick schoolhouse, which was built in the Beaux-Arts style in 1903 — and has seen no substantive changes to its physical plant in 115 years. Located between Second and Third Avenues on the Upper East Side, P.S. 290, which instructs kids from pre-K through the fifth grade, is one of only eight public schools in Manhattan — out of a borough-wide total of 505 — that offer no designated areas for physical education. While 497 schools house gymnasiums or provide space for city-mandated phys-ed programs in their buildings or off-campus, P.S. 290 has no stand-alone gym or adequate courtyard space for recess, lacks a “gymnatorium,” or converted auditorium, and

has no indoor play space nearby. That makes the facility, re-launched in 1991 as the Manhattan New School, a throwback to a century-ago era when physical education was not an imperative, virtually no public schools boasted gyms — and the sole form of instructional exercise was dubbed “recess-on-the-street.” Those time-capsule conditions — totally out of whack with today’s riskand-safety standards — were the subject of a Page One story in Our Town (“The School That Time Forgot,” Oct. 4-10) that documented how 600-plus elementary students had no choice but to use a so-called “play street” in front of the school for recess, exercise needs and other physical activities. Seeking to get the kids off the street, out of harm’s way and up into protected outdoor play space on the roof, advocates raised a small fortune: East Side City Council Member Ben Kallos allocated $1.52 million in three separate funding tranches over three years. East Side state Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright raised $500,000 from a state facilities funding program. The PTA ponied up $250,000 from movie nights, bake sales and Halloween dances. With $2.27 million in the bank, and community support locked up, the rooftop-retrofit project was within striking distance of an initial $2.8 million estimate. Then, costs began to go, well, through the roof, doubling, trebling, almost quadrupling by some accounts. No firm budget was unveiled, but estimates ranged from $7 million to $10 million. What happened? The old school has no elevators. To make it ADA acces-

Upper East Side state Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright (back row center) poses with visiting students from P.S. 290 at her community office on York Avenue. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Seawright’s office sible, a lift from street level to the roof would have to be built, necessitating major interior construction and additional costs north of $4 million. “The mayor’s office has rightly started to take a more aggressive stance that as we do construction work, we build a more accessible city for the future,” Kallos said. He cited several East Side schools that now lack accessibility. Still, he said, school administrators were troubled about the loss of instructional space that would result from elevator installation — four classrooms, about one-eighth of available space — and believed that left them no viable option but to seek an ADA waiver. So the city’s School Construction Authority (SCA), which Kallos praised for responding to community needs, applied to the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) for a waiver.

HATE CRIME CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

TROUBLING TIMES

hate crimes and their effectiveness, enabling officials of various agencies to better coordinate budget requests, work together on common strategies, share statistics, target resources for victims and identify trends and vulnerabilities. “This would be a way to coordinate prevention, awareness, investigation, prosecution, impact on communities” and all other aspects of the city’s response to hate crimes, Levine said. Jewish New Yorkers are consistently the city’s most frequently targeted group, with anti-Semitic hate crimes accounting for nearly half of all reported incidents in 2017. To date, antiSemitic hate crimes are up 18 percent over last year. “The increased reports of swastikas and other criminal mischief here in the five boroughs absolutely concern us, and none of it will ever be tolerated

• Feb. 28, 2017: The entrance of the Fourth Universalist Society, a Unitarian Universalist church on Central Park West, was defaced with swastikas soon after officials declared the church would serve as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. • March 20, 2017: Timothy Caughman, a 66-year-old black man, was allegedly murdered on West 36th Street by a white supremacist who reportedly admitted to police that he had traveled to New York from Baltimore specifically to kill black men. • Oct. 25, 2017: Vandals spray painted a swastika on the doors of Sutton Place Synagogue on East 51st Street.

Two swastikas were carved on the front door of the Fourth Universalist Society on the Upper West Side in February 2017. Photo: Rev. Schuyler Vogel in New York City,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said at a Nov. 7 press conference. O’Neill said hate crimes were down at the beginning of the year, but a recent uptick, which he attributed to “the current atmosphere,” has put this year’s figures in line with the previous total. Hate crimes targeting AfricanAmericans are up 27 percent this year over 2017, including a Nov. 1 incident in which a Bronx man allegedly scrawled a racial slur on the African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan.

As of Nov. 11, the NYPD has recorded 308 confirmed hate crime incidents citywide in 2018, slightly more than the 303 incidents recorded through the same point last year. The number of reported incidents citywide in 2018 is on pace to align with the 2017 and 2016 totals of 325 and 333, respectively, up from 309 in 2015. At the national level, the FBI’s tally of reported hate crime incidents increased by 17 percent in 2017 from the prior year — the third consecutive year in which the number of hate crimes increased.

Initially, it was nixed, he said. “But thanks to reporting by Our Town, the waiver request received additional attention and was examined a second time, and now, the waiver will allow the project to move forward,” Kallos added. The city’s Dept. of Education on Nov. 26 confirmed that SCA, which builds and renovates schools, received a waiver from MOPD. That brought the price tag down roughly $4 million, other sources estimate. Both Kallos and Seawright pledged to seek additional funding to bring the project to fruition. “This is not just about providing a safe play space,” Seawright said. “This is about meeting the essential developmental needs of our children. Nothing must stand in the way of their well-being and growth.” invreporter@strausnews.com

• July 28, 2018: The white supremacist group Identity Evropa held a demonstration in Fort Tyron Park in Inwood, unveiling a banner reading “Stop the invasion, end immigration.” • Oct. 1, 2018: A sukkah on the East River Esplanade in Carl Schurz Park was defaced by vandals on the last day of the celebratory Jewish holiday of Sukkot • Oct. 12, 2018: Members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group, clashed with anti-fascist protesters in street brawls after Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes delivered a speech at the Metropolitan Republican Club on the Upper East Side. • Nov. 1, 2018: A Bronx man allegedly defaced African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan with a racial slur.

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Voices

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

BLESSINGS AND BIG BREAKS EAST SIDE OBSERVER BY ARLENE KAYATT

Getting blessed — Join columnist Cindy Adams and her Yorkie, Juicy, at this year’s 10th annual Blessing of the Animals at Christ Church, located at 60th Street and Park Avenue, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 9th. No pets without people. No people without pets. Always SRO. The services include a procession of animals to the altar — there have been pigs and goats, llamas and horses. And there will be blessings at the altar for the family cats, dogs and birds by Christ Church’s Senior

Minister Stephen Bauman, and Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein from Central Synagogue. No RSVP.

Speaking of blessings — The East Asian mandarin duck that found refuge in New York’s Central Park should get a blessing by proxy to remain safe and stay in the park and not get deported, if it gets icy and it turns out that the duck is undocumented. No news should mean no newsstands — Those silvery stands standing either mid-block or on the corner that claim to be “newsstands” but don’t carry newspapers or magazines have been a pet peeve of mine. In a

May 2017 column, I noted that the proliferation of the structures was taking up valuable street space to sell candy and soda and lottery tickets, but not newspapers. Not only are they operating under a misnomer, but they are crowding the sidewalks. Now Community Board 6 is tackling the issue after receiving an increased number of applications for new newsstand locations in Midtown East. Not only do these “newsstands” unfairly compete with existing brick and mortar businesses that sell the same candy, soda and lottery tickets, but they are also operating under a false premise. If they don’t carry newspapers or magazines, they shouldn’t be

allowed to operate as newsstands. And they also take up precious sidewalk space for the privilege. The public outcry should continue. And the Department of Consumer Affairs, which approves the placement of newsstands, should not be complicit in permitting a misuse of the city’s streets. Kudos to CB6 for taking a stand!

Tenant’s right — It happened here in our town: a residential tenant at 160 East 84th St. won a new lower base rent after the landlord took advantage of the luxury decontrol provisions of the Rent Stabilization Law to deregulate a studio apartment. As reported in New York Law School’s

MY CITY IS GONE PUBLIC EYE BY JON FRIEDMAN

Living in Stuyvesant Town just ain’t what it used to be. You can call this Manhattan 2.0 in 2018. Life is just inconvenient enough for me to remember the glory days. The Pretenders’ elegy, “My City Was Gone” now applies to the corner of my little town. The recent closing of Petite Abeille, a beloved Belgian-American restaurant on my block, is the latest example. Yes, it was overpriced. And, yeah, it was sometimes maddening when no one deigned to answer the phone to record my takeout order, or let the phone ring a dozen times. But it was worth the aggravation. “The Belgian place,” as my neighbors and I referred to it, served the best French fries around. And the French toast — do you see a theme here? — couldn’t be beat. Now, that’s all gone. This is truly a sign of the times. All over the city, bodegas, neighborhood favorites, service establishments such as dry cleaners and drug stores, not

to mention those heartwarming, oldfashioned mom and pop places are all closing their doors for good. Their rents have increased to a point where they could no longer afford to stay in business. For Stuyvesant Town residents alone, the past few years have seen a shocking litany of now-former favorites that were close enough to walk to. Across the street from my apartment, Adriatic, my go-to takeout place for a slice of pizza or a platter of veal parmigiana, left the neighborhood about a year ago. The blessed Carvel on East Twenty-Fourth Street and Second Avenue was a summer staple — until it wasn’t. Di Roberti’s, down on 11th Street, hit the road without saying goodbye, taking the money and running, along with stacks and stacks of the best damn chocolate chip cookies in the city. And, you bet, I still can’t walk past the corner on Second Avenue and 10th Street and scowl, remembering how I could practically fall out of bed and jump on a stool and gobble down the world’s greatest matzo ball soup. (Don’t tell my mother I said that!) More disturbing than me having to schlep a few blocks out of my way

A beloved restaurant, now closed. Photo: Jon Friedman to find new favorite places that serve my favorite grossly unhealthy foods is what this all means. My — our! — quality of life is declining, right before our eyes. For the umpteenth time, Manhattan is changing. More than ever, this is be-

coming a town of haves and get outs. You get the feeling that Gordon “Greed Is Good!” Gekko could run for mayor and win in a landslide because he has eerily tapped into the code of the city in the twenty-first century. Despite politicians’ pledges to build

“CityLand,” the State Department of Housing and Community Renewal set the tenant’s new base rent by using a sampling method. The tenant of the studio apartment challenged the new rent and “sought application of a more favorable [and] allowable formula which would have produced a lower rent.” The New York Court of Appeals agreed with the tenant, and ruled that the building (and others like it) at 160 East 84th St. is ineligible to use luxury decontrol provisions because it was receiving tax incentive benefits under New York City’s J-51 Exemption and Abatement program.

more “affordable” housing, this is still a (very) rich person’s city. Perhaps this is merely a continuation of a decadeslong trend, which probably began when Ronald Reagan was the U.S. President. That’s when I first started noticing the homeless population. Maybe the most relevant equation is to conclude that the more homeless people you encounter on the street, the more this is a haven for the rich. Not long after I moved into Stuy Town, I lugged a bag full of dirty pants and shirts to the local dry cleaner. When I came back to retrieve my stuff, I watched as the woman in line in front of me asked the owner, “Do you take a check?” Of course, he said, nodding. When my turn came, I said, “So, you take checks?” “No” was all he said. Years later, when I reminded him, he shrugged and explained, “I didn’t know you then.” By the way, he’s out of business, too. Now, my dry cleaner, who couldn’t place me in a police lineup, gives me neat print-outs of my orders — and charges a lot more than I used to pay. I guess I could sum up my disillusionment in one sentence. Something is wrong when there are more bank branches within walking distance of my home than bagel places.

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Meet Anderson Simon Seasonal decorations at Penn Station. Photo: Teddy Son

HOME ALONE: AN EXPAT’S HOLIDAY STUDENT LIFE How spending Thanksgiving solo in New York can be just as good as time with others

With the entire city lighting up to celebrate the holidays, it is hard not to get into a festive mood.

BY TEDDY SON

Thanksgiving means going home, celebrating with friends and family, and eating until you just cannot stuff a single morsel of food down your throat. It means sitting around the big table and laughing and smiling with people, and giving thanks for whatever values may be present in your mind over the past year. Overall, Thanksgiving is a festive time when people get together for friendly interactions with their loved ones Well, at least for most people it is. Welcome to being an international student in New York over Thanksgiving. My roommates had gone home for the couple of days of freedom that the school mercifully gives us in between mid-terms and finals. My friends jetted off all over the country to see their families and celebrate. This left me in an empty dormitory with little to do except maybe work on a final paper or study for an exam that is not for another couple of weeks. Whatever I ended up doing, it was little more than a way to pass the time so that the long hours alone would go by at least a bit faster until the people I interact with returned to the city.

That said, this was not necessarily as bad as I had expected it to be. Loneliness sometimes came to say hello, yes. However, I did not let it become the unwelcome guest that had tarnished many of my holidays alone. I found ways to keep myself busy so that I was not whiling away the hours lying in bed wondering what my friends were doing. Waking up and writing essays became the norm for me during this break, which proved to be a good choice considering I had a lot to cover. I would write for an hour or two, then kick back and enjoy the rest of the day. On Wednesday I took a stroll to campus to partake in the Thanksgiving lunch the class board was putting together. On Thursday, I mostly stayed indoors to avoid the cold, but went up to Koreatown in the evening to have my own little taste of home. On Friday, I took advantage of the annual Black Friday sales by going up to the Adidas flagship store in mid-town. On Saturday, I watched soccer. On Sunday, I went out for a little walk in Herald Square before settling in and enjoying my last few hours of freedom as my break drew to a close. My break was not extravagant

in any way. However, I was still in contact with my friends, and I was doing things that made me happy. I was taking the break I needed after midterms to reenergize me for the last few weeks of the semester. Relaxing by myself was not the worst thing in the world, especially when sitting in a heated dorm room while shuddering at the ice cold temperatures of Thursday. The city is a splendid place to be alone. Sometimes it is not, but with the entire city lighting up to celebrate the holidays, it is hard not to get into a festive mood. Try ignoring the gigantic turkey balloon perched atop the awning of Macy’s. Try ignoring the fat turkeys that are served as limited menu items in fast-food restaurants. The city has a way of drawing you into the holidays whether you like it or not. If you happen to be alone like I was, it is a pleasant reminder that I am not left out of the festivities. This break may not have been a particularly memorable one, but it was one I took to give myself a literal break. I had been working nonstop for the entire semester, and maybe what I needed all along was not a turkey with stuffing, not being distracted by hordes of people, just a little me-time to recharge my batteries. Although I would have liked to see my loved ones on this national holiday, my Thanksgiving break was anything but depressing. That is the main thing I am thankful for this year.

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Follow Our Town Downtown on Facebook and Twitter Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com

EDITOR’S PICK

Thu 29 Downtowner

FILM SCREENING AND DISCUSSION: ‘IN THE FUTURE THEY ATE FROM THE FINEST PORCELAIN’ Apexart, 291 Church St. 7 p.m. Free 212-431-5270 apexart.org Residing somewhere between sci-fi, archaeology and politics, this film combines live action and CGI techniques to explore the role of myth in history, fact and national identity. This film takes the form of a fictional video essay and is as uncategorizable as it is fascinating. You’ll leave with a head full of ideas, questions and wonderment. Join exhibition curator, S.I. Rosenbaum and New York Magazine writer, Abraham Riesman to discuss the film.

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Thu 29 Fri 30 ‘VENUS AND ADONIS’ AND ‘SĀVITRI’

► A CONVERSATION WITH BLONDIE

The Flea Theater 20 Thomas St. 7:30 p.m. $37 The New Camerata Opera presents a double bill of Gustav Holst’s “Sāvitri” and John Blow’s “Venus and Adonis.” Blow’s reinterpretation of the ancient myth features sensual English baroque music and grapples with themes of power play, manipulation and yearning. Additional performances Dec. 1-2. 212-226-0051 theflea.org

The Cooper Union 7 East 7th St. 6:30 p.m. Free Chris Stein and Debbie Harry, founding members of the era-defining band Blondie, discuss Stein’s new book of photographs “Points of View: Me, New York City, and the Punk Scene.” Rob Roth, Blondie’s creative director, will moderate. Stein will sign copies of his book following the discussion. 212-353-4100 cooper.edu

Sat 1 ▲ MADE IN CLAY 2018 Greenwich House Pottery 16 Jones St. Noon, Free This annual handmade holiday sale features artwork ranging from functional pottery to sculptures and other small objects by over 50 artists. Greenwich House has helped immigrants settle into New York since 1902, and proceeds to go helping it serve its members and neighbors. 212-242-4140 greenwichhouse.org

NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

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PEOPLE LIKE US: THE NEED FOR GREATER DIVERSITY IN GOVERNMENT

Rubin Museum of Art 150 West 17th St. 3 p.m. $45 Join these internationally renowned activists for a discussion on the economics of climate change, the role of Indigenous peoples in climate activism, and the connections between violence against women and violence against the land. 212-620-5000 rubinmuseum.org

The Drawing Center 35 Wooster St. 6:30 p.m. $10 Esteemed writer Zadie Smith and artist Toyin Ojih Odutola come together for a discussion of the “Afroternative,� the alternate history and present that permeates Odutola’s work, and how it collides with our reality. 212-219-2166 drawingcenter.org

NYU School of Law, Lester Pollack Colloquium Room 245 Sullivan St. Noon, Free The demographics of the United States are rapidly changing. However, most of the country’s leadership continues to ďŹ t a familiar model: white, wealthy, Christian, and male. Join Dr. Sayu Bhojwani for a discussion of why this is, and how it can be changed. 212-998-6100 law.nyu.edu

Wed 5 ▲ ANNUAL CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING Washington Square Park, under the Washington Square Arch 6 p.m. Free Enjoy a yearly holiday tradition as the sparkling lights on the tree are illuminated to mark the beginning of the Christmas season. It’s rumored that Santa Claus himself might make an appearance ... 212-396-5873 washingtonsquareparkconservancy.org

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NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

ALL THAT GLITTERS AT THE MET Jewelry across the world and the ages BY MARY GREGORY

Not every culture cherished paintings or fancy furniture. Not every culture created books. Not every culture wanted much in the way of clothing. But every culture since the beginning of history has found a use for jewelry, posits Melanie Holcomb, curator at The Met’s department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters and organizer of “Jewelry: The Body Transformed,” a stunning, revealing and dazzling exhibition. Rituals of birth, marriage and death, declarations of deep inner beliefs and statements about social and political status all find expression in jewelry. According to Holcomb, “To fully understand the power of jewelry, it is not enough to look at it as miniature sculpture.” Instead, she’s organized an exhibition culled from the Met’s encyclopedic holdings that focuses on jewelry’s interaction with and effects on the body and spirit. With some 230 glittering works on

An Edo or Meiji period (mid-19th century) lacquer comb with flower-shaped roundels from Japan. Photo: Adel Gorgy

IFWHAT: YOUJewelry: GO:The Body Transformed WHERE: The Met Fifth Avenue WHEN: Through Feb. 24, 2019 view, the show sparkles, but it also draws viewers into a contemplative conversation about what we, as humans, say about who we are through what we wear. It’s been this way for millennia. Few of us today need to glance beyond our own selves to find some piece of adornment meant to express personality, remember someone dear, tell time, gather hair, or just beautify. “Jewelry is one of the oldest modes of creative expression — predating even cave painting by tens of thousands of years—and the urge to adorn ourselves is now nearly univer-

Egyptian Broad Collar from the Amarna Period ca. 1353–1336 B.C. Photo: Adel Gorgy

sal,” said Max Hollein, director of The Met. Beginning in a darkened gallery filled with clear cases presenting spotlighted, precious objects, the opening vision is both jaw-dropping and subtle. In a hurry to gaze at so much opulence, viewers might miss that the see-through cases, as they stand before them, line up so that foot ornaments, like spectacular hammered gold sandals and toe covers, then lead to waist ornaments, chest and neck pieces, and finally crowns. They reach from ancient Egyptian, to Bronze-age Celtic, to China’s Tang dynasty, to the Chimú people of Peru, to the Dan peoples of the Côte d’Ivoire, to William Harper’s intriguing, painterly 1994 “Brooch: Homage to Cy Twombly and Joseph Cornell” and beyond. Thanks to the Met’s extensive collection and Holcomb’s curatorial creativity, we can conjure, with our mind’s eye, a figure decked out in a whole world’s worth of jewelry. Such visual wizardry reminds us to pay attention to sight lines, those often missed but evocative placements curators and designers work so hard to engineer, hoping to spark viewers’ imaginations. Here, they’re as brilliant as some of the gems on display. The gold and emerald Crown of the Andes, placed at eye-level in a glass window, overlooks a 12th century sculpted Indian dancer. Each echoes the other’s sensual lines and curves. Distinct sections present jewelry that ruminates on the Divine Body, the Regal Body, the Transcendent Body, the Alluring Body and the Resplendent Body. They start with Mesopotamian funerary beads from about 2500 BC and take the viewer across time and around the world. We learn that ancient cultures summoned the divine by rattling “noisy” jewelry. In traditional Japanese women’s wear, only the hair was ornamented, with exquisite combs and pins. Medieval

Jasmine Bud Necklace, 19th century, India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala), gold with rubies strung on black thread. Photo: Adel Gorgy rulers announced their power and wealth through crowns, chains and rings. (It should never be hard to spot the king, Holcomb points out in the wall texts.) Swords and hilts spoke of masculinity. Lustrous pearls draw attention to skin tones. A carefully placed brooch or pendant can lead the eye artfully to the décolletage. Masks transform wearers, just as jewels seem to animate sculptures. Allure and seduction can be put on or taken off with the right kinds of jewelry, and in contemporary culture, jewelry can be used in traditional ways or to make challenging statements. The exhibition concludes with contemporary pieces that speak directly to this moment. Rich or poor, regardless of gender, decked in gold and platinum or clay beads and feathers, all people have found ways to express notions of wealth, power, spirituality, pride and beauty through adornments of the face, neck, wrists, ears, ankles and more. From dazzling crowns to humble combs, as the show points out, it’s all how you wear it.

“Yashmak” Shaun Leane, Designed for Alexander McQueen,Spring/summer 2000, edition 2017, Aluminum, Swarovski crystal. Photo: Adel Gorgy

NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS NOV 14 - 20, 2018 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.

Pasteur Grill & Noodles

85 Baxter St

A

Kam Hing Cafe

118 Baxter St

A

Cafe Clementine

227 West Broadway

A

Barry’s Bootcamp Fuel Bar

1 York St

A

Maman

211 W Broadway

Grade Pending (43) Food contact surface improperly constructed or located. Unacceptable material used. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Dunkin Donuts

5 Park Place

A

New Fresco Tortillas

63 Reade Street

A

Tribeca Tavern

247 West Broadway

A

Dirty Bird To Go

155 Chambers Street

Grade Pending (22) 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/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Joe’s Ginger Restaurant

25 Pell Street

A

218 Restaurant

218220 Grand Street

Grade Pending (23) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.

The Original Vincent’s Establish 1904

119 Mott Street

Grade Pending (27) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. 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. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Starbucks

110 Church Street

A

Jeremy’s Ale House

228 Front Street

A

Lobster Gogo

190 Front St

Not Yet Graded (64) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food from unapproved or unknown source or home canned. Reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) fish not frozen before processing; or ROP foods prepared on premises transported to another site. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.

Luna Pizza

225 Park Row

A

Matryoshka (Spa 88)

88 Fulton Street

Grade Pending (3)

Magic Mix Juicery

102 Fulton Street

A

GFG William

93 Beekman St

Grade Pending (21) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.

Il Principe (Aka Cafe Hugo) 523 Greenwich St

Grade Pending (42) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.

Cafe Hong Kong

51 Bayard St

Grade Pending (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Asian Wok

88 Fulton St

A

New Shun Wei Restaurant

45 Catherine Street

Grade Pending (29) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.

Civic Deli

111 Worth St

A

Project Cozy

398 Broome St

Grade Pending (18) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.

CLOSED (33) 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.

Three Eighty Ate, Starbucks

388 Greenwich St

A

One More Thai

6 Clinton Street

Grade Pending (16) 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.

New Territory Cake Shop

77 Catherine Street

Mei Yu Spring Restaurant

29 Catherine Street

A

New Wing Wah Bakery

246 Grand Street

A

Smashburger

136 William St

A

New Rong Hang Restaurant

38 Eldridge Street

A

Sushi Hana

111 Rivington Street

Grade Pending (21) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. 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/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.

Joe’s Shanghai Restaurant 9 Pell Street

A

Original Puglia Ristorante Italiano

189 Hester Street

A

Queen Bakery II

139 Centre Street

Grade Pending (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food from unapproved or unknown source or home canned. Reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) fish not frozen before processing; or ROP foods prepared on premises transported to another site.

Food King Chinese Restaurant 56 Market Street

A

NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

BEST OF

Inside the new bookstore. Photo courtesy of Shakespeare & Co.

SHAKESPEARE AND CO. RETURNS TO THE UPPER WEST SIDE BOOKS A buzz in the community about a new independent bookstore BY JASON COHEN

After more than 20 years of shuttering its doors on the Upper West Side, Shakespeare and Co. has returned to the neighborhood. In 1996, Shakespeare closed its first store at 81st and Broadway, but the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the independent bookstore opened its third location in the city at 2020 Broadway. The new store, located between 69th and 70th Streets, is 3,000 square feet and features a cafe, Wi-Fi and a machine where customers can self-publish books. Dane Neller, CEO of the company, said there is a buzz in the community about the new store. “This was a very underserved

“Being small allows you to reach your customers better. I think employees like the fact they’re part of an independent bookstore.” Dane Neller, CEO, Shakespeare & Co. area and we thought that we could serve that area again,” Neller said. “There’s still a very strong demand for people to go to bookstores.” Neller feels that one of the reasons their store stands out amongst its competition is its “Espresso Book Machine,” which the company invented and patented a few years ago. It can make a book in three minutes and also provides authors an outlet to print books as well.

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“I always believed that this would be the future for bookstores,” he remarked. “They [customers] love it,” Neller commented. “It means a small bookstore can have infinite inventory.” Neller feels that the digitization of books, online booksellers and Amazon, will not have a negative effect on his company. He believes that Shakespeare is much more than a bookstore. As a small independent bookstore, he explained, people feel at home there and it is a much more intimate setting than being at a big box store. “I think being small allows you to reach your customers better,” Neller said. “I think employees like the fact they’re part of an independent bookstore.” Shakespeare & Co. has an Upper East Side location near Hunter College at 939 Lexington Ave, between 68th and 69th Streets, and a location in Philadelphia. It’s also planning on opening a West Village location at 450 Sixth Ave in spring 2019.

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NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

Business

GIVE THE GIFT OF NO-PLASTIC STRAWS not ready for the #NoStrawChallenge, look for these options:

SHOPPING For the holidays, how to help friends and family protect the environment BY LEANNE ITALIE

Big problem or a fraction of the world’s plastic consumption? You decide, but know that single-use plastic straws are a recent target of environmental activists. As restaurants debate whether to voluntarily dole them out and lawmakers feverishly write bans against them to protect the ocean and sea life and to reduce stress on landfills, alternatives to plastic straws are plentiful. Some are downright gifty. If you want to feel better about yourself and your holiday gift choices, and to urge someone on your list to give up plastic because they seem

YES, TIFFANY & CO. Let your loved one sip in style with a selection of reusable, luxury straws from Tiffany, because who doesn’t love to see a blue box with their name on it come gift time? One, in sterling silver covered in rose gold vermeil, comes as a crazy straw with a twist at the bend at the top. The straw comes with a tiny band of the Tiffany blue in enamel, just to make sure people know its origins. $375. Another lets the sterling silver shine with a little monkey crawling up a vine. $425.

A rebirth of paper straws. Photo: Marco Verch, via flickr dots and chevrons, and special-occasion themes like black-and-white patterns or baby blue dots. Lots of brick-and-mortar stores are into paper straws, too. Prices vary.

PAPER CAN BE COOL The disposable paper varieties of straws are enjoying a rebirth. Some are more festive than others. Amazon has an ample assortment in party-worthy metallics, colorful

BAMBOO & GLASS In addition to metals, from Tiffany level to more affordable in stainless steel, some materials not routinely associated with straws have become

more widespread amid the plasticstraw debate. Bamboo is having a moment all over the place, in utensils, plates — even toothbrushes. If you think bamboo straws would go unused by your giftee, paper varieties in bamboo prints are available by the box. Prices vary for bamboo straws. One company, Brush with Bamboo, sells a cute bundle of 12 tied with string, for $20. They are grown organically and artisan-made in northeast India, where bamboo straws are traditionally used to drink beer. As for glass, well, some companies insist their offerings are shatter free. A box of four , with a little cleaning brush, goes for $7.99 on Amazon. Two are bent. Ecostraw. com sells a nice variety for all types of drinks.

PASTA & WHEAT

ing but many are no-GMO, fully biodegradable and come in wide sizes worthy of bubble tea. One version is called Hay! Straws and comes tall at 7.75 inches, in a cute box of 100, for $8. Shorter ones are also available. They’re made from wheat stems and are sold with a warning to sip through them, not ingest them. Another company calls itself, yes, Pasta Straw. It says it’s working on a gluten-free version. So what’s the draw? Well, Pasta Straws says on its website that paper straws biodegrade in 30 to 60 days. Pasta Straws do it overnight and are edible, the company said. A sample pack wrapped in paper with a company sticker includes 24 and goes for $7.99. The problem: Generally, pasta straws don’t last as long as, say, glass or metal. Upside, they don’t get soggy like paper straws.

They may not be the longest last-

AMAZON EXPANSION: A TOUGH FIGHT FOR TALENT EMPLOYMENT NYC industries face increased competition as the tech giant plans to hire in the tightest job market in decades BY ALEXANDRA OLSON

When tech giants like Amazon expand, other companies don’t just worry about losing business. They also fret about hanging on to their employees. Some of the industries that have defined New York City and the Washington, D.C., area will face increased competition for talent when Amazon sets up shop in their territory, with plans to hire 50,000 new workers amid the tightest job market in decades. The expansion comes at time of fierce demand for computer programmers, mobile app developers, data scientists and cybersecurity experts. Salaries keep rising as companies from banks to retailers seek new technology professionals to expand their online presence and automate operations. Particularly in demand are soft-

ware developers, with many switching jobs each year. Even some banks have eased up on their dress codes to project a hipper image. “It’s a very competitive market in New York,” said William Lynch, president of the New York-based fitness tech company Peloton. “It really requires you to be smart about how you are reaching the new hiring pipeline.” Tech employment in the U.S. has grown by an average of 200,000 new jobs each year since 2010, a trend that is expected to continue for at least the next decade, according to an industry report from Computing Technology Industry Association, or CompTIA, which analyzes data from the Labor Department and other sources. The figure includes all people employed by tech companies, as well as tech professionals in other industries. In New York, big banks are among the biggest employers of computer technology professionals. J.P. Morgan Chase employs 50,000 people in technology and hired its first artificial intelligence research chief in May. Goldman Sachs has said one-quarter of its employees work in engineeringrelated roles. Amazon’s traditional

retail rivals are striving to expand their online business and develop new technologies to improve operational efficiency. But young professionals are flocking to tech companies, lured by the idea of changing the way people do everything from buying homes to exercising. “In the past, the traditional career path has been to go into financial services, investment banking and consulting. What we see now is a surge of interest in tech companies,” said Dan Wang, a professor of Business and Sociology at Columbia University. Amazon will begin recruiting in a few months for its two new headquarters in New York’s Long Island City and the Washington suburb of Arlington, seeking talent to support an empire that has expanded to include cloud computing services, advertising and, video streaming and TV production. The company expects to hire about 25,000 people over several years for each location. The average salary will be about $150,000 a year. Amazon’s move is only the most dramatic example of technology companies expanding their presence in the

East Coast. Instagram opened a new office in New York over the summer and plans to hire hundreds of engineers. Google is reportedly looking to add 12,000 more employees in New York City. Amazon, now 24 years old, will have to contend with New York’s thriving startup scene, where companies flush with venture capital offer young people big roles and the chance to upend new industries. That’s the kind of pitch prospective employees hear from Peloton, which announced plans Monday to move into bigger headquarters in midtown Manhattan in 2020. The fitness tech company, which received $550 million in new investment in August, will be hiring thousands of people across locations in the next years, especially in technology, marketing and sales, said Lynch, the company president. It currently has nearly 100 positions open in New York City. “We are aware of Amazon and it’s amazing for New York City. But Google has been here. We’ve been recruiting against Google for a long time,” Lynch said. The scramble for talent goes beyond

tech workers. Technology companies employ more than 3.7 million people in supporting roles like marketing and financing, according to CompTIA. That panorama is top of mind for people like Dimple Bansal, a business graduate student at Columbia University who is focusing her studies on technology strategy. Last spring, she took an internship at Airbnb and over the summer she interned at Google. “Tech is a growing landscape. I think it’s exciting to bridge the divide between pure technology skills, and to bring the business mindset to these companies that are touching so many lives,” said Bansal, 27. Wang, the Columbia professor, said startup fashion brands could benefit from partnerships if Amazon leverages its New York location to venture into the luxury market. But Wang said that could mean a competition for workers from rivals like Walmart-owned Jet. com, which currently has job openings for dozens of engineers in its New Jersey headquarters, across the Hudson River from New York. “If I were working at Jet.com, I would be very tempted by Amazon,” Wang said.

NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

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Laurie M. Tisch, President of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund; Patricia A. Caldwell, Board President of SPOP; Nancy Harvey, CEO of SPOP, Jennifer J. Raab, President of Hunter College. Photo courtesy of Hunter College

HONORING ‘URBAN HEALTH HEROES’ Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab and Illumination Fund Founder and President Laurie Tisch announced this year’s recipients of the eighth annual Joan H. Tisch Community Health Prize. These awards honor individuals and nonprofit organizations in the New York metropolitan area for distinguished accomplishment in urban public health. The 2018 recipients are Claudia Aristy (Hunter College ’07), who serves as Director of Children of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read (ROR) Program as well as the Health Education and Literacy for Parents (HELP) Project; and the Service Program for Older People, Inc. (SPOP), one of the first agencies in the U.S. to focus on meeting the mental health needs of senior citizens aging in place in their communities. Both recipients were honored at a ceremony and reception on Tuesday, November 13 at

The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. “We are proud indeed to recognize these urban health heroes,” said President Raab. “They are perfect examples of the Tisch Family’s extraordinary effort to identify and acknowledge people and organizations that make a major impact on their communities.” Said Laurie M. Tisch: “The Service Program for Older People, Inc. and Claudia Aristy have both exhibited their unwavering commitment to serving those in need in our communities.” Made possible by support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, the Prize is part of the Joan H. Tisch Legacy Project, which is based at Hunter College, and is a tribute to Joan H. Tisch in recognition of her humanitarian activism in health care and social services.

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Staff of the Service Program for Older People. Photo courtesy of SPOP

NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

PLACIDO DOMINGO FETED AT MET OPERA FOR HIS 50TH ANNIVERSARY MUSIC Celebrating the legendary singer’s milestone appearance BY RONALD BLUM

Placido Domingo’s eyes watered and his voice quavered. After portraying dozens of characters over a half-century on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, he got emotional being himself. “For us, the opera singers, it is just like Frank Sinatra said: New York, New York, if you made it, you made it everywhere,” the 77-year-old singer from Spain said Friday night when he was honored on stage for the 50th anniversary of his Met debut. Dom ingo’s ca reer w ith the Met started a few days ahead of schedule on Sept. 28, 1968, when he replaced an indisposed Franco Corelli as Maurizio in Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur” with Renata Tebaldi in the title role and Fausto Cleva conducting. Domingo’s performance Friday in the title role of “Gianni Schicchi,” the third opera of Puccini’s “Il Trittico,” was his 52nd role and 695th appearance at the Met as a singer and conductor. During a ceremony after the opening opera, “Il Tabarro,” Met general manager Peter Gelb gave Domingo a pair of gifts. “Since you have owned this stage for your entire career, we thought we’d give you a piece of it. So this was removed from the stage earlier this week,” Gelb said before bestowing a chunk of flooring. Then he presented Domingo his leather jacket from a 1990s performance of Verdi’s “Otello,” which had been dipped in gold to mark the golden anniversary. “This puts you and Elvis in the same class,” Gelb said. Domingo’s wife Marta, son Alvaro and two grandchildren looked on as a montage of Domingo’s career was shown, including a scene from “Sesame Street” with Miss Piggy. “The generations go, go, go.

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Placido Domingo onstage on Friday, Nov. 23, duing his 52nd role and 695th appearance at the Met as a singer and conductor. Photo: Ken Howard for the Metropolitan Opera I’m very happy to be surviving,” Domingo said. A few bouquets of flowers were thrown from the audience. “There are some of you that you were at my debut,” he said. “You are the judges. You are the ones that make an artist. So thanks to you I have been coming for a half-century.” A tenor for most of his life, Domingo switched to baritone parts about a decade ago. He has sung 150 roles, by his count. “The last 20 years, it seems to me like that they are five,” he said after the ceremony, “Time passes so quickly. One wishes that the time, maybe we can do it in a slow motion now the next years.” Domingo received a standing ovation of about two minutes when introduced. Four famous colleagues were recognized from the audience: Martina Arroyo, Sherrill Milnes, Teresa Stratas and James Morris. “I think Placido’s a miracle, and one of the most amazing parts of it is Marta,” Stratas

said. Milnes first worked with Domingo in Guadalajara, Mexico, during Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” and Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). “I knew there was a special musicality because he was a tenor who could count. So if you said let’s hold it two beats or four beats or three beats or whatever — boom! You got it,” Milnes said. “No other tenor did that. And just multiply that a thousand times. It’s crescendi, the decrescendi, all the lovely musical things. He’s just sharp that way, probably the best.” Domingo is known for indefatigable energy. Morris remembered making his Iago role debut at the Met opposite Domingo’s Otello in 1995. “If he had two days off or three days off, he was going here, going down to Acapulco or whatever,” Morris said. “I said, Placi, you’re like a shark, if you stop swimming, you’ll drown.”

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

“I WISH SOMEONE WOULD HELP THAT HOMELESS MAN.”

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

NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

One Person’s Manhattan

FIRE IN THE BELLY How 9/11 turned a communications specialist on Wall Street into a firefighter on the Upper East Side BY HARVEY COHEN

It was September 11, 2001, and David Guilford was at his desk in downtown Manhattan working for Goldman Sachs. He was preparing for another typical day — arranging video, audio and PowerPoint presentations for the masters of the universe whom he served. It was a job he liked but as the son of a life-long New York City cop and with other relatives who served in the New York Fire Department, he always felt something was missing. Was he really doing anything to help his fellow citizens? Did his job have any real meaning? Was there more he could do? Somehow deep inside, he always knew the answers. But then that day on 9/11, his life changed. From his office he could see the destruction, the chaos, the death caused by the two planes that hit the World Trade Center. That’s when he heard his true calling. He took the test to become a New York City firefighter and also took tests to become a cop in both Nassau and Suffolk counties. He passed them all. But the decision was really very easy. Nothing could match the courage and dedication of those firefighters on 9/11. They put their lives at risk and so many of them had made the ultimate sacrifice to save others. How could

David Guilford. Photo courtesy of David Guilford

You trust your life every day to your fellow firefighters. How many people at other jobs have that kind of trust.” David Guilford, firefighter anyone serve any way greater than that? Guilford began his training in the FDNY probie training program. But no matter how difficult that training became, he never gave up. He lifted weights to gain strength. He ran and ran to increase his endurance. And he practiced and practiced with the tools of the firefighting trade. He learned how to climb up to roofs, he carried dummies on stretchers and most of all, he stretched his own abilities. And it felt good. He preferred the discipline, the order and the precision of a military style operation. It was good to be away from the constraints of an office, and most of all to know he would be helping people and saving lives. On his first day at a firehouse, Guilford was out on a call within the very first hour. And though he recognized the danger that was possible, he really wasn’t afraid because he trusted his training and his fellow firefighters. Reflecting on that, he says: “You trust your life every day to your fellow firefighters. How many people at

Collecting supplies for victims of Superstorm Sandy. Photo courtesy of David Guilford. other jobs have that kind of trust.” Every firefighter knows that very little matches the dangers of blindly walking through smoke filled halls. “You enter a burning building,” Guilford says, “you can’t see anything, all you have are your hands to feel where you’re going. But you just keep moving forward.” And he never really does know what he’ll be facing in the next few feet or in the next room. It could be a ceiling that’s about to collapse, a wall that’s about to fall or a child desperately gasping for their last breaths. He remembers being called one time to a church on East 68th Street where a small child had suffered a seizure. Dave performed CPR in the middle of the street and then continued working on the child in the ambulance all the way to the hospital. The child survived. “I became a firefighter to help people,” Guilford says. “It’s a great feeling knowing that’s what I can do every day.” Superstorm Sandy also offered another chance to show his love of service. Though the area around his firehouse on East 85th Street wasn’t hit hard by the storm, Guilford was moved and affected by the devastation and ruin caused in other parts of the New York area. So he contacted the manager of a local bar on the corner of his firehouse and he put together a drive to collect food, merchandise and clothing and store it on the sidewalk in front of the bar. Initially he expected to collect just enough to fill up his own car. But goods kept coming and coming. The first night he actually slept on the street to watch over and protect what had been collected. After two more weekends of collections, it all added up to a total of 28 truckloads of canned food, batteries, cloths, toys and even supplies for pets. It meant a lot for Guilford, but even more for those people who had been flooded from their homes and separated from their

FIRE SAFETY TIPS DO Call 911 in case of fire, smoke, odor of gas or medical emergency Have working smoke/carbon monoxide (CO) alarms Have an escape plan and practice It Know if you live in a fireproof or nonfireproof building Close the door when escaping from fire

DON’T Play with matches or fire Overload electrical outlets Use extension cords improperly Use frayed or cracked electrical cords Leave candles burning unattended Source: FDNY

families and jobs. When Guilford is not fighting fires, he likes to swim at a local Upper East Side pool and run and exercise in Carl Schurz Park. He also co-leads the FDNY Triathlon team and spends many weekends training with the rest of the team by running and cycling in Central Park. One can only wonder how many lives have been saved and helped because on the day of New York’s worst tragedy, David Guilford found the best way to serve.

Know someone we should profile in One Person’s Manhattan? Call 212-868-0190 or email nyoffice@strausnews.com

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NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

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NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018

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