Our Town Downtown - December 24, 2015

The local paper for Downtown wn A HOLIDAY COOKIE PRIMER < FOOD & DRINK, P.16

WEEK OF DECEMBER

24-30 2015

Our Take

A FRESH APPROACH TO THE HOMELESS PROBLEM NEWS Mayor hopes outreach ‘surge’ will make a difference

BY JONATHAN LEMIRE AND COLLEEN LONG

A surge of outreach teams set to be deployed by New York City to deal with its persistent street homelessness problem has a deceptively simple goal: talk to as many homeless people as possible, as often as possible.

That increased frequency of contact, many experts believe, could help persuade the homeless, even those who have lived on the street for years, to finally go to a shelter. The number of staffers doing the outreach -- which started this past week with plans to double to more than 300 by March -- will flood an 8-mile stretch of Manhattan, checking each block daily to try to make contact with the estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people living on the streets of the nation’s largest city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio hopes the tactic, which has had mixed results in other U.S. cities, could help the city “crack the code” of what has been a chronic problem. He stressed that, while the city looks to create permanent affordable housing, it still can offer a bed in a shelter, hotel or room donated by religious organizations.

“Now, more than ever, we’re going to provide the housing they need,” the mayor said during a radio interview. “So if we can get them in the right

WELCOME BACK, MR. MAYOR

to leave.

The de Blasio administration has shifted into high gear in recent weeks to combat the homelessness problem after taking months of criticism for not acting quickly.

There are about 58,000 people living in the city’s

direction, we actually have a place for them to go.”

The teams will engage each homeless person and offer services, such as shelter, medical care or a hot shower, officials said. The hope is that the homeless people, many of whom are mentally ill, will begin to trust the familiar faces and eventually accept help. But they can’t be forced

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR A DOG LOVER NEWS Two dozen dogs, and their owners, turned out to honor the founder of an animal rescue organization

BY MICKEY KRAMER

Tina the chihuahua, Tilly the pitbull-mix, and Yorkie terriers Sigmund Freud, and, yes, Trump, were among the 25 or so canines who paid tribute, along with over 60 humans, to Emelinda Narvaez, the founder of Earth Angels Canine Rescue.

The memorial, on Saturday at Jan Hus Presbyterian Church,

honored Narvaez, who passed away on December 2.

“I feel so lucky to have known her and so sad that such a beautiful light in the world is now gone,” said longtime Earth Angels volunteer Judy Ross. She said that her dog Carmine -- “a beautiful 75 pound ball of mush” -- adopted through Earth Angels in 2005, is a wonderful reminder of Narvaez.

Narvaez, who was 70, spent about 40 years rescuing dogs in New York City and was in route to saving a dog whose guardian was about to enter a nursing home, when she was felled by a heart attack. Her niece Emelinda Banuchi, who used to travel the streets with Narvaez looking for stray

dogs to feed and save, called her aunt, “a hero to the dogs.”

For the memorial, the sanctuary was decorated with handmade posters featuring pictures of dogs adopted throughout the years, dogs currently available for adoption and tributes to Narvaez with words such as “woof woof mommy, we miss you.”

The stories of gratitude, admiration and love for Narvaez were vast, tear-filled, and extended the scheduled one-hour event to almost two.

Diego Aguirre and Jamey Poole brought Rusty James, a gray and white pitbull they’ve had for four

Mayor Bill de Blasio left us all a holiday gift this week, in the form of an admission -- his first, by our count -- that he has stumbled in his first two years in office. “I want to do better,” the mayor said.

If acknowledging your mistakes is the first step towards not repeating them, de Blasio is moving in the right direction. Much of the first half of his first term has been marked by a haughtiness that has turned off even people who voted for him. That, and his initial failure to acknowledge a rise in homelessness aand a fraying of relations between the community and the police, left the impression that he was out of touch, or worse, uninterested in the nitty gritty business of governing.

Speaking to reporters this week around a tablle in the Governor’s Room of City Hall, de Blasio was surprisingly candid about that failing.

“When you actually have to start with the substance, the world gets a little more interesting,” he said, later adding: “I’m not going to change my level of belief that a lot of things have to change in this city. But I also understand the status quo doesn’t always yield so easily.”

Indeed, it does not. That kind of change takes diligence and persistence and a willingness to seek out competing voices and to adapt.

Those are not characteristics that we would associate with the Bill de Blasio of the last two years. As we enter 2016 and beyond, here’s hoping he’s learned his lesson. The city has no shortage of pressing problems, and is ready to get down to the business of solving them.

We’d love to have the mayor join us.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Photos by Barbara Ross Downtowner

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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

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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

n OurTownDowntow

COM

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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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DECEMBER 24-30,2015

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WHAT’S MAKING NEWS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD PANEL RECOMMENDS RAISES FOR CITY ELECTED OFFICIALS

An advisory panel has recommended raises for the city’s elected officials, including for Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Photo: Kevin Case, via Flickr

join the MOOOvement

An advisory panel has recommended raises for the city’s elected officials, including a 23 percent pay bump for the 51 council members and a 15 percent raise for Mayor Bill de Blasio, The New York Times reported. The Quadrennial Advisory Commission, which is charged with reviewing elected officials’ pay, suggested that the mayor’s raise would better reflect the office’s responsibilities, The Times said.

Raises for elected officials, whose salaries have not increased in a decade, must be ratified by the City Council, the paper noted.

The proposed raise for the mayor would bring his salary to $258,750. De Blasio, though, has said he would not accept the raise in his first term, which ends in just over a year, the newspaper said. The commission’s recommendations would bring council members’ salaries to $138,315.

The panel, though, recommended that the council posts be reclassified as full-time occupations to minimize the potential

for conflicts of interest tied to outside employment, The Times said.

BUSINESSES TO CLOSE, MAKE ROOM FOR CONDOS The Raccoon Lodge, the longtime tavern on Warren Street, will close by the end of the year to make room for yet another luxury condo tower.

Several other businesses along the West Broadway block between Warren and Murray Streets, including the Cricketers Arms pub, Palermo Pizza, Mariachi’s Mexican restaurant, the pan-Asian Mangez Avec Moi eatery and the New York Dolls strip club, will also shutter, DNAinfo reported.

Crain’s New York Business reported in May that Cape Advisors had bought the properties for $1,000 a square foot with plans to tear down their buildings and then build a 46,000-square-foot condo tower on their footprints.

PRIVATE SECURITY FIRM FOR BATTERY PARK CITY Despite pronounced opposition from both residents and elected officials, the Battery Park Authority appears set to hire a private firm to take over the community’s security duties, DNAinfo reports.

The authority’s decision was announced at a packed community, at times raucous forum held last week at which the authority’s chairman said that a contract with security firm AlliedBarton had been signed, the news site reported Residents and local elected officials, among them Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Councilwoman Margaret Chin and state Sen. Daniel Squadron, had called for a rethinking of the authority’s proposal to install socalled “safety ambassadors” to, in effect, replace park enforcement officers.

Residents had criticized the authority’s plan for being shortsighted, in part because the safety ambassadors would not be empowered to issue summonses or make arrests.

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A special Jazz service in the Sanctuary.

Holy Communion. Followed by a festive reception in the Marble Loft (274 Fifth Ave).

Chad Tanaka Pack, preaching; Chris Whittaker, music.

DECEMBER 24-30,2015

3

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG

PAIR ARRESTED IN $3 MILLION COCAINE BUST A private in the U.S. Army Reserves and another man are facing drug-related charges after authorities seized $3 million worth of cocaine shipped from Boston to New York City.

Mark Soto, 23, and Xavier HerbertGumbs, 24, were arraigned in Manhattan on charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to a statement from Bridget G. Brennan, New York City’s special narcotics prosecutor. Bail was set at $400,000.

Both Soto, who’s in the Army Reserves, and Herbert-Gumbs live in Puerto Rico.

An ongoing investigation by state and federal prosecutors identified the pair as members of a major narcotics trafficking network. Both were arrested during traffic stops in the Bronx.

Authorities say Herbert-Gumbs possessed 110 pounds of cocaine, which was pressed into brick-shaped packages. Soto was arrested a short time later with about 26 pounds of cocaine in the trunk of his vehicle, prosecutors said.

Soto’s vehicle also contained an iden-

tification card with Herbert-Gumbs’ name and photograph, they said.

Investigators say the cocaine had been transported from Boston to New York.

Soto’s attorney did not immediately return a call for comment. An email to the Army Reserves press office for details about Soto’s assignment was not immediately returned.

A number for Herbert-Gumbs’ attorney went unanswered Saturday.

Herbert-Gumbs’ occupation wasn’t immediately clear.

WHAT A CROC Time for a little holiday shoplifting.

At 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 6, two men removed a pricey jacket from a mannequin in the Authentic Preowned store at 461 West Broadway and left the store without paying. Police said one of the thieves distracted a female store employee while the other removed a Gucci crocodile jacket valued at $8,995, police said.

CHAIN GANG In a contest between security and merchandising, security is often playing catch up. At 4:40 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 10, two men took a blush Palazzo chain valued at $2,550 and a Palazzo handle strap tagged at $2,650 from a front display in the Versace store at 160

Mercer St. and fled. Police searched the area but could not find the two shoplifters.

STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st Precinct for Dec. 7 to Dec. 13

UNWELCOME GUEST

Week to Date

A certain guest left a party with more property than he had brought to the gathering. At 6:42 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 10, a 39-year-old man checked his property, including a MacBook, an Amazon Kindle Fire and other items at the coat check room in the Trading Post bar and restaurant at 170 John St. Surveillance video taken about an hour later showed someone else taking the checked items. Police said the thief apparently was seen at a Trading Post table during a private party for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, which is based on Wall Street. Besides the MacBook, which is valued at $3,500, the Kindle, tagged at $600, the other stolen items are a USB drive priced at $500 and an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite worth $200.

2015 2014

% Change

2015

2014 % Change

Murder

0

0

n/a

1

0

n/a

Rape

0

0

n/a

7

8

-12.5

Robbery

3

1

200.0

74

45

64.4

Felony Assault

0

1

-100.0

84

70

20.0

Burglary

2

1

100.0

119

141

-15.6

Grand Larceny

25

20

25.0

1,029 872

18.0

Grand Larceny Auto

1

0

n/a

21

-32.3

MONCLER MENACE One shoplifter did a double dip in a SoHo boutique. At 5:50 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 13, a 40-year-old man entered the Moncler store at 90 Prince St. and concealed one a jacket under his own garment and took off. He was not done yet, however, as he came back and took a second item. Merchandise

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stolen included a Moncler jacket valued at $1,820, and a Moncler Sebiniere jacket priced at $2,375.

ILL-BEING There was nothing relaxing about a recent yoga class for five participants.

At 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 13, five women ranging in age from 24 to 51 were attending a yoga class in the Yoga Works studio at 459 Broadway after having locked their property in the location’s locker room lockers. When the class was over at 4:50 p.m., the

Year to Date

31

women found several of their personal items missing. The stolen items include an iPhone 6+ valued at $1,000, a Samsung Galaxy cell phone tagged at $600, a Marc Jacobs wallet worth $500, an MZ Wallace wallet valued at $350, an Anthropologie card worth $250, a Tory Burch wallet ticketed at $200, a Jai store card worth $160, along with cash, credit and debit cards, driver’s licenses, an insurance card, and other items. In all, the ladies in the yoga class had been victimized to the tune of $3,348. Yoga Works employees told police that a locker master key existed.

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DECEMBER 24-30,2015

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Useful Contacts 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

49 Chambers St.

212-442-5050

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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The FDR Drive in the days following Superstorm Sandy.

AUDIT FAULTS NYCHA PREPAREDNESS PLANS NEWS Stringer says 400,000 tenants at ‘extreme risk’

BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

In what city Comptroller Scott Stringer called a failure to learn lessons from Superstorm Sandy, an audit by his office found that the NYC Housing Authority’s current emergency preparedness and disaster recovery plans would leave more than 400,000 public housing tenants at “extreme risk” in the event of a crisis.

Among the audit’s findings is that the housing agency keeps faulty emergency contact information for tenants with disabilities, that there is no systematic plan for preparedness drills and training in place, and NYCHA currently has only ad hoc emergency staffing plans.

Perhaps the most damning failure is that three years after

Sandy, NYCHA says fixes are on the way over the next five years, meaning it will take the agency a full eight years after Superstorm Sandy to implement adequate emergency measures.

“More than three years after Superstorm Sandy struck New York City – damaging 402 NYCHA buildings and shutting off essential services including heat, hot water, electricity, and elevators for tens of thousands of residents – we found that NYCHA is still woefully unprepared to face another emergency,” said Stringer.

In response to Stringer’s audit, NYCHA released a statement that said it overlooked several components of NYCHA’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, which is currently in progress, and said Stinger narrowed the scope of the audit which resulted in the loss of four months of “important information on

NYCHA emergency preparedness improvements.”

“This audit, in a series of NYCHA audits, is yet another example of the Comptroller cherry picking data and shifting timelines to paint an outdated picture of NYCHA,” said NYCHA Chief Communications Officer Jean Weinberg.

Stringer called on NYCHA to accelerate its emergency preparedness plans.

“People’s lives, safety, and homes depend on NYCHA taking the simplest, most basic steps to prepare for disaster.

The Housing Authority must – must – accelerate its disaster preparations now,” said Stringer.

The audit also found NYCHA failed to provide any information about the existence of generators at 55 percent of its developments, reducing the Authority’s ability to respond to power outages. NYCHA said the agency is working on in-

stalling GPS tags on each generator.

Auditors made 19 recommendations, including that NYCHA ensure that information on all disabled tenants is current, accurate, and sufficiently comprehensive, so that those residents can be easily identified and assisted during an emergency. In their response, NYCHA said information on disabled tenants is self-reported and the agency is working to improve their data.

Stringer’s overall assessment was that the agency should shorten its timeline for having a comprehensive plan in place.

“NYCHA has employed the ostrich method of emergency planning – sticking its head in the sand and hoping that we never have another major disaster,” Stringer said. ”When it comes to ensuring the safety of NYCHA tenants, five years is an absurdly long time to wait.”

DECEMBER 24-30,2015

5

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

AMAZING IS WAKING UP. “It was like a flashbulb went off in my eyes.” That’s the last thing Nancy Jarecki remembers before a blood vessel in her brain exploded.

Forty percent of people who suffer brain aneurysms like Nancy’s don’t survive. And of those who do, many have severely impaired brain function.

But the skilled neurosurgery team at NewYork-Presbyterian helped Nancy beat the odds. When she opened her eyes in the recovery room, she wasn’t just awake—she was, to her own amazement, very much herself.

nyp.org/amazingthings

6

A FRESH APPROACH

shelters, a nearCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 record high. Part of the delay, de Blasio acknowledged, was not having an accurate count of the number of street homeless, something the new program, dubbed Home-Stat, aims to fix.

“It will be the most comprehensive street outreach effort directed at the homeless ever deployed in a major American city,” the mayor said.

Other cities have tried this approach, including San Francisco, which formed an outreach team a decade ago and until last year focused on canvassing to find and convince homeless people to move to shelters. But it had to change the model to focus on on-site medical care because there wasn’t enough shelter for the more than 6,500 homeless people.

Colorado Springs operates an outreach team through the police department, with input from homeless and civil liberties advocates. Houston’s team includes both police and mental health professionals.

In New York, there will also be a newly trained team of about 100 police officers who primary duty will be to deal with the city’s homeless. Over the years, po-

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR A DOG LOVER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 years. Aguirre served in the Marines, and said adopting Rusty has helped calm him and that Narvaez “saved both our lives.”

“I wasn’t complete until he came into my life,” Aguirre adds.

Tucker Ranson and Virginia Martinez adopted Pebbles, a chihuahua-mix, from Earth Angels in 2007. “Emelinda brought this wonderful gift into our lives, so we wanted to honor her [at the memorial]. Our lives would be so empty without her,” Ranson said.

While sitting on the floor of the sanctuary with Sigmund Freud, Zahra Meherali explained that she used to foster dogs for Earth Angels when one day Narvaez said to her, “I have your dog.”

Meherali thought she meant her next foster dog, but Narvaez had another, more permanent arrangement in mind.

Eight years later, Sigmund and Meherali couldn’t be happier. Meherali adds that

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com lice have increasingly relied less on arrests in favor of trying to move people into hospitals.

But Police Commissioner William Bratton suggested this week that he would look into some legislative modifications to expand police officers’ authority when dealing with the homeless.

For instance, the law currently prohibits begging within 10 feet of a bank ATM; Bratton wants that expanded to ATMs found in stores.

That suggestion and the new outreach teams concerned some homeless advocates, who fear unwarranted arrests or confiscation of property.

“This new program is just more of the same,” said Jesus Morales, a member of Picture the Homeless, who has lived on the street for over 15 years. “More case workers, more cops; that does nothing for me. Find us housing.”

Giselle Routhier, policy director of Coalition for the Homeless, called the outreach program “a step in the right direction” but cautioned that the city needs to implement it carefully.

“To do this right, there should be trained social services providers going out there who can listen carefully on what the needs of the homeless are and offer real solutions,” she said.

her mother also has a Yorkie adopted from Earth Angels.

Bill Dodson and Ania Kucharski attended the service with their two Yorkies. One, the previously mentioned Trump (Dodson wanted to clarify that Trump came “named” already) was a labor of love for Narvaez. Trump was abused and very sick, but Narvaez paid for multiple operations before choosing Dodson and Kucharski as the perfect parents. “Emelinda was very happy that Trump would have a friend,” Dodson recalls.

Narvaez had a house in the South Bronx and Ross explains that a couple of days after Narvaez died, Ross saw two stray cats patiently waiting for Narvaez to feed them. “It broke my heart and was a stark reminder as to how many lives were affected by Emelinda and what a hole her death left in the world,” Ross says.

Earth Angels still has a number of dogs, mostly pitbulls, which need loving homes. “Emelinda has been such an inspiration that we all want to continue the work that she did,” Ross said.

To adopt, foster, or volunteer: Earthangelsnyc.org, 917-648-7070, or email earthangelsnyc@gmail.com

DECEMBER 24-30,2015

A WIN FOR OPPONENTS OF JHL NEWS State Supreme Court orders nursing home project to reexamine the impact of construction on surrounding community

BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

A State Supreme Court judge ruled that in approving Jewish Home Lifecare’s plan to build a 20-story nursing home on West 97th Street, the NYS Dept. of Health did not adequately take into account the impact that noise and hazardous material would have on the surrounding community.

In her ruling, Judge Joan Lobis said that the DOH followed proper state environmental review procedures, but that, “in certain substantive areas…did not take the requisite hard look at specific environmental issues.”

The ruling vacates and annuls the DOH’s approval of JHL’s application and calls for an amended Final Environmental Impact Statement that reconsiders findings on the issues of noise and hazardous material.

JHL has sought to build its nursing home on a parking lot that’s situated 30 feet from P.S. 163, an elementary school, and is surrounded by three housing complexes. P.S. 163 parents and local residents each filed Article 78 proceedings, which are used to challenge decisions by a local or state agency.

At issue is the effect that construction noise would have on students at the school and the possibility that hazardous materials from the parking lot, which was found to contain toxic levels of lead and other contaminants, would be dispersed into the air during the work. The two Article 78s were combined in Judge Lobis’ decision.

JHL’s mitigation efforts included wetting down the parking lot during construction to reduce the risk of contaminants being picked up by the air and providing P.S. 163 with noise attenuating windows.

In a statement, JHL said it’s moving forward with preparations to begin construction next summer and will consider appealing the court’s decision.

“Jewish Home will take appropriate steps in order to move ahead with plans to construct the Living Center of Manhattan on West 97th Street,” JHL said in their statement.

“We remain committed to working with the school’s parents to identify workable solutions. At the same time, Jewish Home will consider its other options, including appealing the decision.”

According to Rene Kathawala,

P.S. 163 students protest JHL’s plan to build a 20-story nursing home next to their school at a Dept. of Health hearing at the school last year. Photo by Daniel Fitzsimmons. a P.S. 163 parent and lawyer who is representing fellow parents in their suit, the proceedings argued four main points: the effect that construction and the nursing home itself would have on traffic in the neighborhood, the possibility of building the nursing home at a JHLowned site on West 106th Street, which the community contends is a better location, and the questions of noise and hazardous materials.

Lobis’ ruling did not find merit with the first two arguments concerning the project’s impact on traffic and the West 106th Street site. Kathawala said, however, that the most significant portions of the proceedings concerned noise and hazardous materials.

“The essence of our case was noise and hazardous materials, they lost both of those and they lost both of those in significant and material ways,” he said. “[The FEIS] demonstrates their lack of concern about the mitigation measures, which is why the judge vacated it.”

Kathawala also took issue with the notion that JHL has worked with parents on finding solutions to their concerns. He said the noise attenuating windows the company offered the school blocked eight to 13 decibels less noise than what the parents’ expert recommended.

“JHL is trying to build a $252 million dollar nursing home [next to] an elementary school, and they’re spending $350,000 on mitigation efforts,” said Kathwala. “That tells you all you need to know.”

Through a spokesperson, JHL declined to elaborate on whether they would file an appeal or proceed with a review. The spokesperson said JHL does not anticipate that the summer 2016 start date of construction will be significantly delayed. The project has experienced significant delays, however, due to legal challenges. According to news reports from 2013, construction was supposed to commence in the fall of 2014.

JHL’s statement also indicated its understanding that the court’s decision requires the company to file a supplemental EIS. But Kathawala said a SEIS only comes into play if

there’s been significant changes made to the FEIS, and that Lobis’ decision actually requires them to reevaluate the FEIS’ findings altogether.

“It’s not just sitting there and rewriting [the FEIS], they need to reexamine the underlying facts and apply the law properly to get the mitigation correct,” said Kathawala.

In her decision, Lobis ordered “an amended FEIS, to reconsider the findings on the issues of noise and hazardous material.” The JHL spokesperson did not clarify JHL’s understanding of what’s required of them in the judge’s decision by press time.

Albina De Meio, vice president of the Park West Village Tenants Association, which filed an Article 78 on behalf of local residents, said the association is pleased with the outcome of their challenge.

“The purpose of the Article 78 was to put in question the decision made by the New York State Department of Health on the Environmental Impact Statement findings and process,” said De Meio. “All of us who reside at Park West Village and in the immediate neighborhood are pleased with the decision issued by Judge Lobis.”

Local lawmakers also praised the court’s decision.

“This is a win for P.S. 163’s students: under the plan that was approved, a huge, high-rise project could have choked and deafened a high-performing school with dust and noise,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer in a statement. “Judge Lobis saw what we saw: the State Department of Health was wrong to approve this massive construction project next to P.S. 163.”

Councilmember Mark Levine, in whose district the project resides, applauded Lobis’ decision and touted legislation he’s sponsoring in the city council to set restrictions on construction next to public schools.

“This ruling marks a victory in the push to protect the students of PS 163,” said Levine. “I am grateful for the tireless work of the parents of PS 163 and the surrounding community as our fight continues.”

DECEMBER 24-30,2015

7

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Our Perspective

Chelsea History

Holiday Season Means Extra Stress for Retail Workers

By Stuart Appelbaum, President Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW

W

Photo by Raanan Geberer

CHELSEA’S TIES TO ‘NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS’ St. Peter’s church is a mainstay of the neighborhood

BY RAANAN GEBERER

Like most Manhattan neighborhoods, Chelsea changes constantly. One of the mainstays of the neighborhood, however, has always been St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, which has been in its current building at 346 W. 20th St. since 1838.

The church, one of two Episcopal churches in the neighborhood (Holy Apostles on 9th Avenue and 28th Street is the other one), is also a link to the founder of Chelsea. Clement Clark Moore, whose “Chelsea” estate gave the neighborhood its name and who is best known for writing “The Night Before Christmas,” was one of several founders of the church in the early 1830s.

According to the church’s website, “Moore, who also donated much of the construction costs, became an early warden, vestryman and musician at St. Peter’s.”

As old as the church’s Gothic Revival building itself is, it isn’t the oldest feature on the grounds. The wrought iron fence and gates in front of the building date to 1790, according to the church. They were originally part of St. Paul’s Chapel, near the World Trade Center, and were given to the church by Trinity Church Parish in 1846.

The church has five Tiffany glass windows and seven J&R Lamb Studios windows. In addition, it contains an interesting three-panel mural painted in the aftermath of World War II, “Our Lord Blessing a Soldier and a Sailor,” by local resident and wartime Col. Ted

Witonski.

Another interesting feature of the church is the 100-foottall clock and bell tower, which was one of the tallest structures in Manhattan when the church was consecrated in 1838. The clock was installed in 1888, and it kept time continuously until 1949, when one of its hands broke loose.

In addition to religious services, St. Peter’s hosts a variety of groups, from a local Girl Scout troupe to the Pictorial Photographers of America to Chelsea for Peace. It also sponsors a food pantry that provides bags of groceries to approximately 1,800 people each month. The church’s Music in Chelsea concert series, featuring classical music, jazz, folk and more, raises money the food pantry.

Since 1975, the church has

also hosted the Chelsea Community Church, which its website describes as an “inclusive, independent, lay-led and non-denomination Christian community.” This writer and his wife have gone every year, with a succession of cats, to the church’s Blessing of the Animals service, held every October. The church meets every Sunday at noon, after St. Peter’s holds its service.

Since 1991, the Parish House for St. Peter’s, next to the main church building, has hosted the Atlantic Theater Company. Since that time, according to the theater company’s website, it has hosted more than 125 plays at the location, known as the Linda Gross Theater. In 2012. Atlantic completed an $8.6 million renovation of the space.

orking in the retail industry any time of year can be a challenge. But for the holiday season, it can be downright daunting for workers tasked with handling everything from crowds of holiday shoppers to the flood of post-holiday returns.

For many RWDSU members, employed at retail stores such as Macy’s, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and Bloomingdale’s, it’s the most stressful time of year. Big crowds, irritable customers, long hours, and the need for workers themselves to take care of their own holiday obligations can all weigh heavy on workers’ shoulders. Too many shoppers don’t appreciate the pressure that retail workers are under this time of year.

And, especially for retail workers in non-union stores, the stress of the holidays is stacked on For non-union retail top of the daily obstacles they face every day of the year: workers, it can be insufficient hours, poverty a struggle just to wages that won’t support survive - to say families, and unpredictable nothing of providing scheduling that makes it their families with a difficult to work another job, joyous holiday. plan childcare, or attend school.

Non-union retail workers may be forced to work when they don’t want to, regardless of their own holiday plans, and they likely won’t be compensated fairly for working holiday time. For these workers, it can be a struggle just to survive – to say nothing of providing their families with a joyous holiday.

With a union, workers have the assistance of contract protections, a voice in the workplace, With a union, and a way to effectively workers have the communicate their concerns assistance of with management. They can contract protections, make their jobs better, and create better lives by coming a voice in the worktogether and joining a union. place, and a way to This holiday season, if you are communicate with working in retail, hang in there, management. and call on your fellow workers and your union for support and assistance. And for everyone, when you are doing your holiday shopping, take some time to consider the stress the workers who are helping create holiday memories are under. Lend a smile, and some patience to workers and your fellow shoppers. It’s the time of year we can all give a little back and do our best to spread good will.

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For more information, visit

www.rwdsu.org

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DECEMBER 24-30,2015

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Voices

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

Editorial

A NEW WRINKLE ON SCHOOL SEGREGATION For months now, we’ve been harping on about the shameful segregation of our city schools. As real estate values soar, diversity in our neighborhoods goes down. The result is one of the most segregated school systems in the country, as bad as the climate that led to forced desegregation by the courts in the 1970s.

That’s the storyline we know.

Now, thanks to some impressive, groundbreaking research from the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs, a new wrinkle has been added to the debate, and it doesn’t reflect well on parents in some of the city’s gentrifying neighborhoods.

The study acknowledges that segregated housing begets segregated schools, particularly at the primaryschool level, when kids tend to attend the neighborhood school they’re zoned for.

But this study shows that the demographics of the neighborhood don’t tell the whole story. Schools in many neighborhoods — especially ones with predominantly black or Latino populations — tend to be even more segregated than the neighborhoods themselves, essentially meaning that white parents are pulling their kids out of the public system in those neighborhoods, opting for private or charter schools.

Case in point: P.S. 191 on the Upper West Side, site of a recent, nasty fight over school overcrowding at nearby P.S. 199. A plan to shift kids from the (predominantly white and top-performing) 199 to (the predominantly black and Latino and poor-performing) 191 was met with angry protests and letters, forcing the city to back down.

STRAUS MEDIA your neighborhood news source

But here’s the thing: The study found that 80 percent of the kids at P.S. 191 are black and Latino. However, only 21 percent of the people living in the zone are black and Latino.

What that means is that a big chunk of the white families who live in the zone are choosing not to participate in the neighborhood school; clearly, there are more than real estate values at play here.

New Yorkers pride themselves on their openness and inclusivity. David Dinkins called it our “gorgeous mosaic.”

Apparently, that changes when it comes time to send our kids to school.

Values that we wear as badges of honor in our 20s and 30s fade as our families grow. Diversity is fine, we say, but not if it comes at the price of our own kids’ education.

It’s sad, but telling, that the New School center had to end its report with a section called “Why Integration Matters.” Poorer schools, it said, tend to have trouble keeping good teachers and are more likely to have lower expectations for their kids; higher-income parents have the political clout to demand better.

“The key,” the report concludes, “is to find ways to encourage more middle-class parents who live in economically mixed neighborhoods (or white and Asian parents living in racially mixed neighborhoods) to send their children to the neighborhood schools.”

Until that happens, the segregation in this city will worsen, and the inequality gap will continue to spread from our wallets to our kids.

— The Editors

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

Associate Publishers, Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth Sr. Account Executive, Tania Cade

THE FLYING OF TIME SENIOR LIVING

BY MARCIA EPSTEIN

Did you ever notice how the day after Monday is Friday? Or so it seems.

I actually love Mondays. A new, clean week. My favorite restaurants will be empty for lunch. The movies will have available seats and no lines.

But suddenly it’s Friday again. Just like that, in a blink. Where did the week go? What happened to the days in the middle? Time is not only flying, it’s on a jet plane. Scary, isn’t it? When you’re a kid, time seems so endless, days so long, so … stretchy.

Now it’s whoosh, and another week is gone. Is there a scientist who can explain this?

Another thing I’m noticing is that I’m receiving in the mail brochures, flyers etc. about assisted living facilities and burial sites. Not that I asked for them! Sorry, cemeteries, but I’m going to be cremated. I doubt this information will reach them and I expect to receive more of

their unsolicited mail in the future.

As for assisted living, well, I hope to avoid that entirely. As most of us do, I hope to remain in my home until I’m taken out feet first. I’ll do anything necessary to achieve that goal, though if it comes to being a burden to my children I make have to rethink it. In any case, I don’t know how I got on these lists and I wish I could end these fruitless and wasteful mailings. To my thinking, burial is a waste of space, but each to their own. I remember turning 50 (a millennium ago) and receiving the AARP magazine. How did they know, I wondered? It’s same with these brochures. They just know.

Are you Grandma, Nana or Bubbe?

I am Grandma Marcia because there is a Grandma Hennie and I don’t like any of the other options and neither did Hennie. Nana makes me think I should be baking ginger snap cookies. Are you Grandpa, Zaide, Papa, or Poppy? My mother was Grandma, and I am Grandma. But wait, me, Grandma? It happened rather late, actually. My first grandchild was born when I was in my 60’s. And, of course, it’s wonderful. There’s nothing like it. But it shakes one up a bit, doesn’t it? First I was just Marcia.

Eventually I was Mommy. Grandma snuck up on me. An old friend used to joke that when she had grandchil-

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

dren they would call her Ms. Pat. Hah! She was Grandma in a snap.

It’s like the rest of life; we adjust to everything and some of it we end up welcoming with open arms. Literally!

I attended a lovely luncheon hosted by a member of BAiP (Bloomingdale Aging in Place). BAiP has many activities, and lunches and dinners are hosted by whoever in the organization has the urge and are common throughout the year. We went to Sookk, a small Thai restaurant on Broadway between 102nd and 103rd Streets. The food was delicious and very reasonable. The restaurant is run by a family and they are more than generous in their portions and their smiles. Definitely worth a try.

Has anyone noticed what seems to be a slowdown of buses on the West Side? I’ve waited up to 45 minutes on Columbus, Amsterdam and Broadway. People are grumbling and muttering to themselves at the bus stops. When a bus finally arrives, it’s the battle of the walkers and canes.

I’m sure the MTA would deny a slowdown, but c’mon folks, it’s obvious.

And then, while waiting for that elusive vehicle, along comes a bus practically shouting “NOT IN SERVICE.” Grrr!!

And so it goes.

Block Mayors, Ann Morris, Upper West Side Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side

DECEMBER 24-30,2015

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Scrapbook

“THERE MUST BE SOMEONE WHO CAN GIVE MORE KIDS THE CHANCE TO GO TO COLLEGE.” ROSENTHAL RECOGNIZED BY AARP AARP named West Side Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal one of two “Capitol Caregivers” in New York for 2015, putting her among a select, bi-partisan group of elected officials from across the country to be recognized because they have fought for family caregivers. Dozens of AARP volunteers and other advocates joined at Manhattan’s Atlantic Grill to celebrate the state’s enactment of the CARE (Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable) Act. Assemblymember Rosenthal sponsored the CARE Act and guided the bill to a unanimous, 119-0 vote in the Assembly following 59-0 approval in the State Senate. Rosenthal is pictured at right, with Beth Finkel, State Director of AARP for New York.

Fernanda New York Cares Volunteer

Sports

BE THE SOMEONE.

ASPHALT GREEN SWIMMING AT JUNIOR NATIONALS The Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics National Group attended Junior Nationals in Atlanta over the weekend of December 12, the country’s highest-level competition for 18 and under athletes.

Isabel Gormley was the top AGUA finisher with a 12th place finish in the 400 IM. Krystal Lara made the B-final in the 100 backstroke, setting a new team record. Aaron Glas set a new personal best, and Sophia Zhang qualified for Summer Junior Nationals. Nicole Aarts and Carly Fried also made finals.

newyorkcares.org

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DECEMBER 24-30,2015

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HAPPY GIFTS.

DONE RIGHT. FRESH DESIGN. STUFF. TOTAL SERVICE.

Out & About More Events. Add Your Own: Go to otdowntown.com

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Thu 24 Fri 25

Sat 26

CHRISTMAS EVE FAMILY EUCHARIST AT ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL▲

“ANT MAN” ►

Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Ave., at 92nd Street 11:15 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

“Mother,” “Salt for Svanetia,” St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway and “October” and “Storm Over Fulton Street.

Asia.” Part of the museum’s 3 & 5 p.m. Free.

Soviet film series.

A 45-minute service for 212-423-3200. families and children of all ages, thejewishmuseum.org/calendar/ featuring a Christmas pageant, events/2015/12/25/powerbrief children’s sermon, hymns, of-pictures-film-screeningsand the Trinity Youth Chorus. mondays-and-fridays 212-602-0800. www. trinitywallstreet.org/events/ christmas-eve-family-eucharist- HEART OF THE PARK 3?date=2015-12-24 TOUR Central Park, in front of the Samuel F. B. Morse statue, inside the Park at 72nd Street.

2 p.m. Free Washington Arch 5–6 p.m.

Walk straight through the The Rob Susman Brass Quartet, heart of Central Park and enjoy a great variety of its scenic, a song leader, and the revelers sculptural, and architectural from all over the city will sing elements. the familiar tunes of the holiday season. Songbooks provided.

212-868-0190. www. www.nycgovparks.org/ centralparknyc.org/events/ events/2015/12/24/christmasindividual-events/heart-of-theeve-caroling-at-the-washington- park-tour-12-25-2015.html arch

CHRISTMAS EVE CAROLING

BOTTLEROCKET.COM/GIFTS-CARDS BOTTLEROCKET WINE & SPIRIT 5 W 19TH ST NEW YORK, NY 10011

212-929-2323

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POWER OF PICTURES

Hudson Park Library, 66 Leroy Street Forced out of his own company by former protégé Darren Cross, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) recruits the talents of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a master thief just released from prison.

212-243-6876. www.nypl.org/events/ programs/2015/12/26/filmscreening-ant-man

Sun 27 AMERICAN DANCE MACHINE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Ave. 2 & 7:30 p.m. Starting at $10 A living archive of musical theater dance, ADM21 reconstructs original

DECEMBER 24-30,2015

choreography oreography from revered musicals sicals for an enchanting new program gram filled with live music andd special guest stars.

212-691-9740. www.joyce. org/performance/american/performance/americandance-machine-fornce-machine-forthe-21st-century-2/#. e-21st-century-2/#.

Vm9fWUorLIU m9fWUorLIU

Tue

29 TWELFTH WELFTH NIGHT GHT FESTIVAL ESTIVAL St. Paul’s Chapel at Trinity Church, Broadway oadway and Fulton Street. eet.

1 p.m. Free For this year’s festival at Trinity Wallll Street, Meridionalis and Thee Bishop’s Band join forces to present “Con la armonía del cielo: o: Christmas in 17th Century Guatemala.” atemala.” www.as-coa.org/events/ twelft elfth-night-festivalmeridionalis-and-bishops-band ridionalis-and-bishops-band

WONDERSHOW ONDERSHOW The Cutting Room, 44 East 32nd nd St. 7:30 p.m., $20 in advance, $25 at the he door.

Patrick Terry, a renowned magician, gician, joins forces with world class ss conjurers to present an incredible redible night of mystery and illusion sion unlike anything you’ve ever seen. en. tickets.thecuttingroomnyc. ickets.thecuttingroomnyc.

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

com/event/1006077wondershow-new-york/

Wed

30 ERIC FRASER + EHREN HANSON, SPIRAL MUSIC The Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th St. 6-9 p.m. Free Fraser, a bansuri flute player, and Hanson, a tabla player, are both members of the Brooklyn Raga Massive music collective.

212-620-5000. rubinmuseum.org/events/ event/eric-fraser-ehrenhanson-12-30-2015

FRANK STELLA: A RETROSPECTIVE Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort St. Noon & 3 p.m. Free with museum admission Daily tour of the museum’s Stella retrospective, showcasing his prolific output from the mid1950s to the present through approximately 100 works.

212-570-3600. whitney. org/Events?view=month&sta rt=2015-12-30

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DECEMBER 24-30,2015

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Robert Kondo, Remy in the Kitchen, “Ratatouille,” 2007. Digital painting.

Copyright: Disney/ Pixar

TELLING THE STORY OF KIDS’ CLASSICS EXHIBITION The Cooper Hewitt showcases the geniuses behind Pixar

BY MARY GREGORY

Storytellers have been key to human society since before there was writing, never mind computer technology. Pixar Animation Studios has mastered (or invented) countless tools and techniques, yet all of them are there to serve the story. In films like “Finding Nemo,” “Cars,” “Inside Out” and its newest, “The Good Dinosaur,” art, design and science merge into magic. There are

fascinating tales behind these beloved classics, but since stories don’t tell themselves, Cara McCarty, curatorial director, and her team at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum decided to tell Pixar’s in The Design of Story -- an exhibition that’s equal parts studious, serious, and fun.

McCarty and her team first conceived of a Pixar exhibition more than three years ago.

Since then, the museum has undergone a major renovation, including the creation of the Process Lab, a special gallery with interactive equipment that gives visitors a glimpse into the methods designers use. It’s the

perfect place to engage inquisitive minds, especially when the display involves characters like Wall-E and Buzz Lightyear.

The lab’s two galleries are filled with dozens of drawings and digital paintings, sculptures and models, story boards and plans selected to offer a glimpse into the design decisions that underlie the films.

While there are lots of things to attract and engage young visitors, it’s not like a Harry Potter theme park, filled with costumes, props and souvenirs.

Rather, it’s a way to understand the planning and preparation that goes into each stage of production.

“Working with Pixar was a real eye opener for me,” McCarty said. She and the other curators met with Pixar’s creative team to discuss their work and methods. Together, they came up with a visual representation of their process, designing a target-like medallion, McCarty explained, with “Story” at the center. Surrounding it, and next in importance are “Appeal” and “Believability,” which are arrived at through the third layer, “Research,” “Collaboration” and “Iteration.” All are crucial, and the exhibition shows how it all comes together.

When the artists started working on the cute little ants that starred in “A Bug’s Life” they found that six legs weren’t so cute, so it was back to the drawing board for Flik and the gang. Four legs made the characters seem a little less buggy, increasing their appeal factor. Remy, the rat from Ratatouille, may have begun with anatomical studies of rodents, but the designers knew they had to make him a little cuddly, too. The Parr family,

a.k.a. “The Incredibles,” lived in mid-twentieth century California. To make the story feel believable—less like a cartoon and more like an action film— designers put tremendous research into the architectural styles, furniture, cars and clothes that show up in the film.

That’s where Pixar ties into the Cooper Hewitt. Background elements, like George Nelson’s “Ball Wall Clock” were so accurately portrayed that they can be matched to the actual ones in the museum’s collections. The same thing happens with Eames chairs and hundreds of other items the curators identified as they watched all the films. Visitors can trace and link them in the lab’s interactive computer displays.

To see how Pixar utilizes Iteration, visitors can look to Woody, from “Toy Story.” In successive sculptures and drawings he evolves from a gruff, weathered old cowboy to the adorable character kids and adults have come to love.

Visitors are offered the tools to try their own hands at cre-

ating a loveable, believable character starting from just a squiggle, and while it’s a tight, small show, it’s surrounded by a whole museum’s worth of other wonders that can easily fill a day.

At the end of each Pixar film, when the final credits roll, it takes a second or two for the live actors’ names to scroll past. The list of writers, animators, technicians, programmers, artists, sculptors, and visual and sound effects editors rolls on and on. All of them have to be thinking in unison, sharing a vision, following not just story boards, but myriad esthetic considerations to create a story that’s not just believable, but memorable and meaningful.

“There’s magic, and a lot of imagination,” McCarty said, “but there’s a lot of reality. I think that’s the brilliance of Pixar, that they are able to pick up on and distill things down to the essence with a high credibility factor. And,” she added with a chuckle, “lots of fun.”

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DECEMBER 24-30,2015

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

FOR THE WEEK

BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO OUR ARTS EDITOR

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

Outside the Home

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26TH, 12:30PM Tenement Museum | 103 Orchard St. | 212-982-8420 | tenement.org

MUSIC

Tour the once-teeming streets of the Lower East Side—retracing the daily round of the immigrants who settled here during the turn-of-the-20th-century—on a 90-minute walking expedition. ($25)

DAVID BROZA’S ANNUAL “NOT EXACTLY CHRISTMAS EVE” CONCERT Every December since 2001, Israel’s David Broza brings his eclectic sound to 92nd Street Y. Influenced by the music of the countries he’s called home, including Israel, Spain and the United States, Broza’s albums have included poetry by Townes Van Zandt and, most recently, featured Israel’s Andalusian Orchestra of Ashkelon. Country artist and songwriter Steve Earle also makes an appearance.

David Broza’s Annual “Not Exactly Christmas Eve” Concert Thursday, Dec. 24 92nd Street Y Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street 7:30 p.m.

Tickets $60-$75 To purchase tickets, visit 92y.org or call 212-415-5500

Dreaming in Yiddish: 4th Annual Adrienne Cooper Memorial Concert

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26TH, 8PM Museum of Jewish Heritage | 36 Battery Pl. | 646-437-4202 | mjhnyc.org Stars of the klezmer and Yiddish world come together for a concert to celebrate the life and work of Adrienne Cooper, Yiddish singer, scholar, and former Assistant Director at YIVO. ($36)

Just Announced | Originals: How Nonconformists Move the World— Adam Grant and Malcolm Gladwell

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH, 7:30PM 92nd Street Y | 1395 Lexington Ave. | 212-415-5500 | 92y.org

ART LUMINARIES As Christmas lights twinkle throughout the city, a different lighting display shines in downtown Manhattan. With Luminaries, an installation at Brookfield Place’s Winter Garden, 650 lanterns draped from the ceiling glow with LED lights and change in color as visitors put their hands on touch stations. Light shows take place every two hours.

Luminaries Now through Jan. 10 Winter Garden at Brookfield Place Entrance at 200 Vesey St., between West Street and North End Avenue 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

FREE For more information, visit artsbrookfield.com

A WRITER’S CHRISTMAS: DICKENS & MORE In a free exhibition of items from its collection, New York Public Library presents pieces of literary yuletide cheer, including a Christmas card from James Joyce, a card typed by Jack Kerouac to his wife, and Charles Dickens’ personal copy of “A Christmas Carol,” which is filled with his notes, that he used for readings.

A Writer’s Christmas: Dickens & More Now through Jan. 4 New York Public Library Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street Hours: Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday 10 a.m.8 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

To be included in the Top 5 go to otdowntown.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.

FREE For more information, visit nypl.org or call 917-275-6975

KIDS WINTER RECESS WONDERLAND The Children’s Museum of Manhattan has a full roster of events to fill the days during school vacation, including costume decorating inspired by the Rockettes’ bedazzled garments, a science talk about the sun with a team from the American Museum of Natural History, and New Year’s Eve crafting where kids can make their own noisemakers to ring in 2016.

Winter Recess Wonderland Dec. 28-31 Children’s Museum of Manhattan 212 W. 83rd St., between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue Assorted times Museum hours: Sunday-Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Admission $12 For more information, visit cmom.org or call 212-721-1223

Adam Grant (Give and Take) joins fellow original thinker Malcolm Gladwell for an exploration of innovation and bucking tradition. ($45)

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

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

Now Get Real Time Bus, Subway & Alternate Side Parking Information Here

IN CONVERSATION KARMA: CAUSE, EFFECT AND THE ILLUSION OF FATE In discussion with actor Peter Sarsgaard, climatologist James Hansen, who brought attention to global warming in 1988, talks about the key takeaways from the recent Paris Climate Change Conference.

Karma: Cause, Effect and the Illusion of Fate Wednesday, Dec. 30th The Rubin Museum of Art 150 W. 17th St., near Seventh Avenue 7 p.m.

Tickets $25 To purchase tickets, visit rubinmuseum.org or call 212-620-5000

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DA VINCI, NOW IN KNOTS A textile show at the Met shows the master in a new light

BY MARY GREGORY

Any time there’s a work by Leonardo da Vinci on view anywhere in the Northeastern U.S., it’s worth considering a trip. Any time there’s one in New York, it’s practically a no-brainer.

The Metropolitan’s exhibition Fashion and Virtue: Textile Patterns and the Print Revolution, 1520–1620 opens with a fascinating look at a group of woodcuts showing complex, elegant knot work designs thought to be embroidery patterns. The woodcuts were made in da Vinci’s workshop after his original designs.

Da Vinci was drawn to knotty problems, and to knots themselves. In his intellectual and artistic circle,

knots both signified complexity and symbolized infinity. Here, he formed them into a graceful circular motif of geometric perfection. His original six patterns were so stunning and so significant that an artist no less than Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) decided to copy them.

Associate curator Femke Speelberg, who organized the exhibition, explains in a blog post that Dürer “encountered the prints during a trip to Italy undertaken between 1505 and 1507. Copying after other artists was uncharacteristic for the famous artist from Nuremberg, but the ingenuity and appeal of these designs led him to set aside his scruples and create the woodcuts, to be able to share the beautiful designs with his northern colleagues.” She also noted that Dürer’s

“Ein new kunstlich Modelbuch” published in Cologne in the 16th century, one of many needlework design books on display Photo by Adel Gorgy Detail from a Todd Oldham Evening dress in silk and plastic, 1992-93 Photo by Adel Gorgy

DECEMBER 24-30,2015

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Cultural Events The Garden of Eden embroidered in the late 1500s shows virtuosic painting with thread Photo by Adel Gorgy conscience didn’t allow him to place his signature on another artist’s design, but that didn’t bother the subsequent owner of the woodblock, who didn’t hesitate to carve an AD insignia in the center of the design to spur sales. The very rare woodblock itself, along with the original da Vinci that inspired it and Dürer’s homages are all on display.

The exhibition, filling the first floor of the Lehman wing through January 10, goes on to explore the creation, dissemination and popularity of printed pattern books made between 1520 and 1620. They were the original fashion magazines, and they became wildly popular in Renaissance Europe. One look at the paintings of the period in the galleries upstairs will show that these people took their clothes seriously. Lace collars and jeweled hems sewn together with golden threads adorn both secular leaders and saints.

The Met has one of the world’s finest collections of these pattern books, and seeing them on display is extremely visually engaging. But seeing them grouped among samples of the final product, either as textiles or garments, or in paintings of sitters wearing them, brings it to a whole different level. And tracing how these early patterns influenced subsequent designers and craftspeople for centuries underscores the tremendous historical significance these early patterns had.

The exhibition includes a touching and gentle painting by Francisco de Zurbarán of the Virgin Mary as a young girl, caught in a moment of spiritual communion as she is embroidering. The wall text makes the point that needlework was thought of as a virtuous occupation for women, as opposed to racier pursuits like singing, dancing or playing cards. Depictions of Mary at needlework were common throughout the Renais-

sance, and young women’s education included sewing lessons well into the 20th century.

While the show incorporates several examples of humble, homespun textiles, like the charming sampler done in 1669 signed by “I.S.” an unknown girl of just 10 years of age, the spectacular works are jaw-dropping showstoppers. There’s a silk velvet panel embroidered with a depiction of the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden done in England in the late 16th century. It stretches over six feet and shows, under a spreading apple tree, Adam and Eve on the left, covered by leafy embroidery. Below them is a river populated with swimming fish and floating ducks and a bank of blossoming flowers all depicted in thread. In the center is God, robed in rich red and crowned with an embroidered gold halo, angels flying above him. And at the right, the angel escorts them from Eden. It’s nothing short of virtuosic.

One room features a whole wall of patterns realized—drawings and textiles placed side-byside. Also on display are works from Mexico to Bhutan, from the 1500s to the present, and ecumenical and everyday garments that remind us that we all gather under one great robe, or, more prosaically, that we all put on our pants one leg at a time.

An opportunity to see so many works from so many different departments—prints and drawings, the Costume Institute, European Paintings, as well as international loans—coming together to form a new way of understanding the evolution of fashion is rare and delightful. A chance to see a da Vinci of any kind is not to be missed.

And for anyone who’s ever tried his or her hand at turning a paper pattern from Simplicity into a wearable garment, this show will boggle the mind.

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DECEMBER 24-30,2015

Food & Drink NEW YORK CHOCOLATIERS UNDER FIRE

The Brooklyn chocolate makers who run Mast Brothers in Brooklyn find themselves in hot water after allegations that they lied about their chocolate-making methods, an accusation that the brothers denied before admitting to a small part of

the claim in a Dec. 20 New York Times story. Rick Mast told the Times that when the pair--who maintain that their chocolate bars are derived from a bean-to-bar operation-first started concocting their confections, they used industrial chocolate at times.

Eater reported that, after a letter on the company website stated that “we have been making chocolate from bean to bar since the beginning” the company shared an updated letter, admitting that, in the earliest days, they “tested” with remelted chocolate.

Via jen collins on Flickr

SUGAR, SPICE, EVERYTHING NICE Homemade holiday treats, delicious and easy to make

BY LIZ NEUMARK

The best part of the holidays is giving yourself permission to eat too much of everything from turkey and ham, roast, fish, sides and bread, to indulging in tempting desserts. New Year’s Eve — and, at the very least, a mental commitment of returning to the gym after the holidays — gives us license to savor the delicious sweets we resist year round.

Here are a few my favorite treats (after all, if you are breaking the rules then make it worthwhile).

These are good as hostess gifts or to keep yourself. And it’s the holidays for goodness sake, so relax, have fun in the kitchen by yourself or invite some kids or friends to join you. The more, the messier — I mean the merrier!

Holiday Sea Salt Caramels You will want to have a candy thermometer for this, a worthwhile investment, as you will want to make these over and over. You will also need wax paper or cellophane for wrapping individual caramels. Great Performances’ pastry chef Rob Valencia makes these for us to bring to our customers throughout the holiday season. Yields a 9 x 13 pan.

Ingredients: 2 cups heavy cream 10 Tb sweet butter 2 tsp fleur de sel 3 cups sugar ½ cup light corn syrup ½ cup water Spray pan w/ pan spray or use vegetable oil, line bottom with parchment paper and lightly spray.

Bring cream and butter to boil, set aside.

Boil sugar, corn syrup and water in heavy 3-4 quart saucepan. Do not stir ingredients but swirl pan to mix, cook until light amber in color.

Carefully stir in cream mixture, being aware that sugar mixture will bubble up. Stir frequently, and boil until candy thermometer registers 242 de-

grees, about 10 minutes.

When mixture reaches temperature, mix in fleur de sel. Immediately pour into greased pan and let cool on level surface for two hours.

Cut into 1-inch squares and wrap in wax paper or cellophane.

bake until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center is nearly clean when removed, about 25 minutes. Carrot cakes should be a little moist, so take care not to over bake it. Allow the cake to cool in the pan, then turn it out and frost it.

For the frosting: Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together in the bowl of an electric mixer on high speed. Lower speed to medium and gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar, adding more or less to your preferred consistency. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake, let set for 5 minutes. Cut into squares and garnish with candied ginger if using.

Maple Walnut Caramel-Corn Balls, by Liddabit Sweets’ Jennifer King, from “The New Greenmarket Cookbook” Now that you are interested in caramel, and practice makes perfect, here is another caramelbased recipe from my friends at Liddabit Sweets, an amazing Brooklyn-based handcrafted candy company. I became addicted to their caramels years ago in the New Amsterdam Market. This recipe appears in a cookbook I adore, “The New Greenmarket Cookbook,” where you are more likely to find recipes for every seasonal vegetable, hence the double delight of getting this treat.

(The cookbook and the popcorn balls are a great gift set.)

Ingredients: Vegetable oil for greasing 18 cups popped popcorn (about 2⁄3 cup unpopped kernels) 8 Tbs (1 stick) unsalted butter 3⁄4 cup granulated sugar 3⁄4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 3⁄4 cup maple syrup, preferably grade B 1⁄2 cup light corn syrup 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) 1 1⁄2 tsps baking soda 1 Tb salt Grease two heatproof spatulas and one extralarge bowl. Place the popped popcorn in the bowl and set it aside. Pop the corn kernels, or buy some really freshly made popcorn. (My note: Make enough to snack on while you cook!)

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sugars, maple syrup and corn syrup. Using a heatproof spatula, stir to combine. Bring to a boil and insert the candy thermometer. Stirring often, cook the mixture to 290°F and stir in the walnuts, if you’re using them.

Remove from the heat, gently add the baking soda, and stir thoroughly. The mixture will foam

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

A version of pumpkin bread pudding, a delicious and simple to make holiday-time treat. Photo: esimpraim, via Flickr slightly.

Carefully pour the hot caramel evenly over the popcorn and, using the spatulas, toss gently and constantly — as you do a salad — until the popcorn is coated with caramel, about 1 minute.

Add the salt and toss again. Then, using greased hands, shape the popcorn into balls (anywhere from tennis ball to softball-size) and place on sheet pans to cool.

Carrot-Ginger Squares This is an all-time favorite and very easy to make. I like it because it can be made as two layers and turned into a cake as easily as it can be poured into a 9x13 baking dish can cut into finger friendly squares. Carrots are also in abundance at the farmers market, so there is an element of seasonality to it! This recipe appears in my cookbook, “Sylvia’s Table.”

Ingredients: For the squares: Butter or vegetable oil to crease the pan 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour plus more for the pan 1 cup of sugar 1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice ½ tsp ground cloves ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg 1 tsp baking powder 1 ½ tsp baking soda 3 eggs lightly beaten 2/3 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shredded carrots (about 4 smallish ones) 1 ½ Tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger ½ Tbsp Myers’s rum or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 2 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled For the frosting: 12 oz cream cheese at room temperature 2 Tbsp butter at room temperature 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract About 3 cups confectioners’ sugar Minced candied ginger, optional Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour the pan, tap out excess.

Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda and powder together in large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine well but do not over mix.

Pour the batter into the pan, place in over and

Great Performances’ Pastry Chef Rob Valencia recommends this dish because it is so versatile.

He serves it warm right out of the oven and loves it cold from the fridge a few days later. For entertaining purposes, you can assemble the ingredients early in the day and pop into the oven during the meal for a stunning grand finale! The great aroma will whet your appetite!

Ingredients to fill a 9x9 casserole baking dish: 5 eggs 2 yolks (reserve whites for your morning eggs!)

1 cup granulated sugar 2 cups half & half 1 10 oz can pumpkin puree (I like Libby’s) 4 oz butter, melted ½ tsp pumpkin pie spices 1 lb brioche, diced, toasted in oven on baking tray 2 Tbsp cinnamon sugar to garnish Mix together all ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour over diced bread, let soak about 30 minutes. Fill a ceramic casserole dish, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake in a 200-degree oven for 30 minutes until the top is brown. The consistency inside will be moist and custard-like.

Happy, tasty holidays!

Liz Neumark is the CEO of Great Performances catering and the author of the cookbook “Sylvia’s Table.”

DECEMBER 24-30,2015

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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS NOV 16 - DEC 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.

Gemma

4 East 3 Street

A

Rainbow Falafel

26 East 17 Street

A

Continental

25 3 Avenue

A

Visana

321 1St Ave

Not Graded Yet (23) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.

Bowlling

27 Waverly Pl

Not Graded Yet (19) 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.

Beijing Chinese Restaurant 223 East 14 Street

A

Hawkers

225 E 14Th St

Not Graded Yet (24) 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.

Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Banana Leaf Ny

328 E 6Th St

Not Graded Yet (5) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Joe’s Pizza

150 East 14 Street

Grade Pending (23) Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment.

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.

Little Poland Restaurant

200 2 Avenue

Grade Pending (3)

The Canal Park Inn

508 Canal St

A

Canton Kitchen

171 Hester St

Not Graded Yet (22) 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 not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Maple

30 Vandam St

Not Graded Yet (19) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.

Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Landmark Coffee Shop

158 Grand Street

A

Civic Deli

111 Worth Street

Grade Pending (27) 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.

Insufficient or no refrigerated or hot holding equipment to keep potentially hazardous foods at required temperatures.

Caffe Bene

Injera Restaurant

106 Mott St

11 Abingdon Sq

Grade Pending (25) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.

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.

A

Farina

15 8Th Ave

Not Graded Yet (12) 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.

Manhattan Monster

80 Grove Street

A

Hangar Bar

115 Christopher Street A

Phillip Marie

569 Hudson Street

A

High Street On Hudson

637 Hudson St

Not Graded Yet (12) 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.

Maison Kayser

326 Bleecker St

A

Luzzo’s La Mtp

52 Gansevoort St

Grade Pending (34) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.

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 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.

Jekyll Pub

91 7Th Ave S

A

Best Of The Best Delicatessen

11 Park Place

A

Warren 77

77 Warren Street

A

Lenwich

25 Park Place

A

Aaa Burrito Mariachi

189 Church St

A

Little Park

85 W Broadway

A

Delimarie

106 Duane Street

A

Canteen Cafe

125 Barclay Street

A

Oliva Gourmet / 225 Bistro 225 Broadway

A

Starbucks

110 Church Street

A

Jupioca

113 Church St

A

Muscle Maker Grill

10 Murray Street

A

Corte Cafe

2 Lafayette Street

Grade Pending (42) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.

Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours.

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.

Arome

325 Broadway

A

The Hummus & Pita Co.

79 Chambers Street

A

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf 280 Broadway

A

Lilly O’briens

Grade Pending (44) 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.

Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.

Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

18 Murray St

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

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A NEW GOLD STANDARD FOR FOODIES Bo Peabody, founder ounder of a new app, sform the ratings wants to transform taurants system for restaurants

BY ANGELA BARBUTI

Venture capitalist pitalist and high-end restaurant aficionado Bo Peabody noticed that restaurant taurant rating systems had barely progressed ogressed in our current data-driven world. orld.

Having experience erience in online startups — he founded nded Tripod, one of the first social networks, etworks, while still in college — Peabody abody decided to put together an app pp that allows users to input their preferences eferences for anything from cocktailss to soundtracks to find a restaurant that hat approximates their concept of an ideal deal dining experience.

“It’s not so much uch that we’re trying to tell you that this his restaurant is universally better than han another one. We’re trying to tell you that this restaurant might be better er for you than the next restaurant,” he e explained.

The restaurants nts are rated by surveytaking members ers who must either apply or be invited d to join. Peabody refers to them as Manhattan’s anhattan’s “restaurant nerds” who are already devoted diners rs at the city’s most notable spots. Eventually, Renzell ll will offer subscriptionss that allow members to have access to exclusive events ents hosted by the restaurants ants on the list.

Another aspect pect that makes Renzell ll different is that all the data received will be shared with the eateries, ies, which will, in turn, n, throw parties for Renzell members. “I’ve ve been shocked by the e interest the restaurants nts have in welcoming g a new, modern way of doing ratings,” Renzell zell said.

“We just had d an incredible response.” nse.”

How did this idea ea come about?

For the last ast 20 years, I’ve been n living two parallel lives. ves. I’ve been a technology ogy and media entrepreneur preneur most of my time me living in New York. I’ve done a few startups and been also an investor in several veral others.

In my other life, fe, I’ve been a restaurateur and have owned, together with h a partner, as many as three restaurants ants and a large catering business. All off them are located up in the Berkshires. s. Our oldest restaurant,

which is called Mezze, is in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and we’re celebrating our twentieth year this year, which we’re very proud of. And we have another restaurant in Great Barrington called Allium.

And then we have a catering business that does 40 we dd i n g s a year as well as a bunch of other events. I’ve been living in New York since the late ‘90s, and within the last five years, I’ve always eaten in the better restaurants in the city, just because I have a

passion for it. And it really dawned on me that the whole ratings and reviews ecosystem around restaurants is totally antiquated. And by living my other life of a technology entrepreneur, like all of the different industries that have been modernized by data, I saw that the ecosystem around ratings and reviews for restaurants has been totally left behind.

These experiences that people are having in these restaurants, which

are now as long as tthree hours, they’re entertainment experiences and there’s a lot of things thing that go into them and just having a few people go in and subjectively rat rate them or too many people who proba probably don’t have enough context to rate them, is just a bad way to do it. And the right way to do it is to have a big enough group e of people where you ca can get enough data about the restaurant, restaura but a small enough group where you yo know something about every one of o them.

How were the restaurants chosen?

We decided that if we w were going to take this approach, that we obviously couldn’t do it for hundreds and h hundreds of restaurants. restaurant In order for it to really work, you have to have a h group of people who ar are anonymous and eating in the restaurants on res their own dime. And you yo have to get enough of them to do it over a long enough period of time sso that you can actually make the data science work.

So we decided to choose choos what ended up being 32 different characteristics ch that we thought made ma up what it means to be a great gre restaurant And we scored in New York. A 230 restaurants restauran in New York on all those 32 criteria. we wrote an alAnd then w gorithm that th essentially stack-ranked those 230 stack-rank restaurants based on restauran those 32 diff di erent scores gave every one that we ga And half of the of them. A were existing scores w rating ssystems like Spectator and Wine Sp Michelin and New York and the other Times a half of them were primary research prima we did around that w the rrestaurants’ business principles busine the reputations and th of the owners and those things. all th And that’s how ended up with we e this stack-rank of top 230 restauthe to rants and we decided tthat we would choose 54 and that from us wanting came fro to have a list that was big enough for it to matour members to ter and for ou be able to have ssome degree of for it to be small variability. And also fo restaurants on enough that all the re the list would respect ea each other.

Since high-end restauran restaurants have already proven themselves, themselve why do you think your ratings system will matter?

I think it will matter, but only for a pretty small audience. This is not meant for a big audience; this is meant for a relatively small audience that actually cares about the difference and the gradations in the top hundred. And that’s why our survey covers eight different attributes for the dining experience and within those, there are 41 different granular details that we cover. So when we issue our ratings, as a consumer, you’ll be able to go in and say, ‘I care about cocktails, soundtrack, lighting levels and comfort of the seats.’

Who are the survey-taking members?

Right now, members are the people who are doing the data collection for us. They’re taking the surveys that are allowing us to create these ratings. We’ve gone through the process of finding 300 people who are going to these places anyway, and we find about five more every day through an application process. Ultimately, the data will be available to everybody, but right now, the people who are our members are just the people who are giving us that data. That will allow us to give any consumer a much better view of what these places do well than they can get from any other ratings source.

Explain how consumers can use Renzell.

There’s going to be three different ways that you can potentially interact with Renzell. The first way, which is available now, is to be accepted as a survey-taking member. That’s a free thing. We’re going to give all the data back to the restaurants, and in exchange for that, they’re going to do exclusive events for us. And that we’re going to package up into a membership club where people will pay a yearly fee to be able to go to those events.

The ones who will be paying will not be allowed to review. There’s going to be two totally separate apps. The first, which we have today, is for the people taking the surveys. When we gather up all these events, we’re going to build a separate app that people will pay to have access to which will have all of the data in it and access to all the events. The third way is just by looking at all the data which we’re going to release publicly in September of 2016. www.renzell.com

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27th Annual

COAT DRIVE

November 17th - December 31st

Keep a New Yorker warm this winter.

Start your own coat drive among friends, family, or colleagues.

Sign up at newyorkcares.org

#CoatDrive Or text COAT to 41444 to donate and keep a fellow New Yorker warm this winter.* The Coat Drive is a program of New York Cares, New York City’s leading volunteer organization.

Photo: Craig Cutler © 2015 New York Cares, Inc. *Messaging & data rates may apply.

Text STOP to 41444 to stop; Text HELP to 41444 for help.

DECEMBER 24-30,2015

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CLASSIFIEDS

Telephone: 212-868-0190 Fax: 212-868-0198 Email: classified2@strausnews.com

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ANTIQUES/COLLECTIBLES

Directory of Business & Services To advertise in this directory Call #BSSZ (212)-868-0190 ext.4 CBSSZ MFXJT@strausnews.com

CARS & TRUCKS & RVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

ANTIQUES WANTED

TOP PRICES PAID

EMPLOYMENT

Chinese Objects Paintings, Jewelry Silver, Furniture, Etc. Entire Estates Purchased

800.530.0006

HELP WANTED

Answer holiday letters from New Yorkers in need.

MASSAGE

MERCHANDISE FOR SALE

newyorkcares.org/winterwishes

The only holiday gift many New Yorkers will receive this year may be from you.

Antique, Flea & Farmers Market SINCE 1979

East 67th Street Market

(between First & York Avenues) Open EVERY Saturday 6am-5pm Rain or Shine Indoor & Outdoor FREE Admission Questions? Bob 718.897.5992 Proceeds BeneďŹ t PS 183

New York Traditional Acupuncture 1BJO 3FMJFG t 'BDJBM 3FKVWFOBUJPO 8FJHIU -PTT t %FQSFTTJPO t *OTPNOJB 4USFTT t 4DJBUJDB t "SUISJUJT t "MMFSHZ

Free Consultation 212-355-2988 www.acupunctureon.com

30 E. 60th St, New York, NY (bet Park & Madison Ave)

SOHO LT MFG

PUBLIC NOTICES

462 Broadway MFG No Retail/Food +/- 9,000 sf Ground Floor - $90 psf

SERVICES OFFERED

+/- 16,000 sf Cellar - $75 psf Call Farrell @ Meringoff Properties 646.306.0299 WANTED TO BUY

Where students learn from course work, internships and more

GRADUATING READY | PlazaCollege.edu 718.502.6248WORKFORCE Remember to: Recycle and Reuse

Register Now For January 718.502.6248 | PlazaCollege.edu 118-33 Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills

118-33 Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

www.otdowntown.com Your Neighborhood News

The local paper for Downtown

DECEMBER 24-30,2015