Our Town Downtown January 23rd, 2014 by OurTown Downtown

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COMMUNITY NEWS BELOW 14TH STREET • JANUARY 23, 2014

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Solving a Deadly Traffic Puzzle

Geller at his home in 2008

Memorial for a Math Mentor Stuyvesant High teacher remembered for his love of numbers and inspiration to students By Madeleine Jane Cummings When Richard Geller took the stage to address Stuyvesant High School’s graduating class of 2011, he asked the audience, “Why me?” Continued on page 9

ALSO INSIDE DEBATING THE CENTRAL PARK HORSE BAN P.5 MEET THE NEWEST MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL P.10

Following a number of recent pedestrian fatalities -- including four more over the weekend -- experts, residents, and elected leaders look for answers By Joanna Fantozzi The corner of 97th and West End Avenue was crowded with neighbors, activists and local politicians last week for the vigil for two pedestrians killed in separate accidents. The victims included Cooper Stock, age 9, who was killed crossing West End Avenue with his father two weeks ago, as result of a cab driver making a blind left turn. At the vigil, children gripped the hands of tearful adults who held candles in cups—the dim light illuminating angry protest signs demanding change. “This is unacceptable, this isn’t right. This is matter of life and death and we do have to protect our little babies,” said City Comptroller Scott Stringer, speaking at the vigil. “If you can’t drive, get out of your car and stop hurting our children. As a city, let’s get this done now.” Mayor de Blasio last week rolled out his Vision Zero plan, which aims to reduce traffic fatalities to zero in the next 10 years. He has devoted an entire agency to the effort, reporting to the mayor with a plan to improve the 50 most dangerous intersections in New York, expand the number of 20 mph zones in the city and pursue a legislative plan to give the city more power to enforce traffic laws.

While the pedestrian-safety push was prompted by the death of Cooper and a woman in Queens, it was given extra impetus by four more deaths over the weekend, including a 26-year-old woman killed while crossing the street a block from where the vigil was held. “Pedestrians are not protected and we see that every day with a number of accidents. Not only are people hit and killed but they are mostly hit and injured, and these injuries can be really life-altering,” said Christine Berthet, founder of CheckPeds, the Chelsea/ Hell’s Kitchen Pedestrian Safety Organization. “I think the goal of vision zero is good, but dramatic, and when you try to get to perfection you won’t but you will get as close as possible.” In the first two weeks of 2014, there already have been seven pedestrian fatalities in the city, and 11 traffic deaths overall. Last year, there were 173 traffic deaths, according to the NYPD. Everyone with a stake in this issue -- planning experts, residents, parents and elected officials -agree that action has to be taken. Here are some of the specific proposals that have begun to emerge:

Lowering the City Speed Limit from 30 MPH to 25 or 20 MPH This is a common solution, especially considering the fact that if a pedestrian is hit by a car going 30 mph, they have a 50% chance of surviving, but if they are hit by a car going 20 mph, they have a 90% chance of surviving, said Caroline Samponaro, director of Campaigns and Organizing with Transportation Alternatives. “I don’t think a 20 mph speed Continued on page 4

The death of a 9-year-old drew neighbors to a vigil on the Upper West Side. Less than a week later, a woman was killed one block away.

City Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, on pedestrian deaths on the Upper West Side “It’s unthinkable that a single neighborhood should experience three pedestrian fatalities in one week. The UWS stands together in sympathy with the families affected. We’ve engaged the Mayor’s Office directly on this issue, and recommend that the West 96th Street corridor, including 97th Street and West End Avenue, be one of the Vision Zero study sites. But we also need concrete public safety measures implemented immediately -- which includes additional and more visible signage for pedestrians and drivers alike. I pledge to work alongside my colleagues in government and the community to ensure that immediate steps are taken.”

NEIGBORHOOD CHATTER

Luther Gulick Park gets $2.5m in state grants Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced that $2.5 million in state grants were secured to fund major improvements at Luther Gulick Park on the Lower East Side. The grant will pay for the construction of pathways, sidewalks, lighting, bicycle parking, greenery and landscape amenities in the park, said Silver’s office in a press release. Silver, who has been working with Lower East Side resident David Bolotsky and the Friends of Gulick Park, said the improvements will help return to the community a precious open space that children and families will now be able to fully enjoy. “In a neighborhood that has long suffered from a lack of open space, Gulick Park serves an enormous need for our children and all of our residents on both sides of Delancey Street,” said Silver. The money comes from the state Department of Transportation’s Transportation Enhancement Program. Luther Gulick Park is located just south of Delancey Street between Columbia Street and Bialystoker Place.

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Opponents of Seaport plan hope city approval process thwarts development By Daniel Fitzsimmons Last Monday residents from Lower Manhattan gathered with representatives of Community Board 1 and the Howard Hughes Corporation to air concerns over a proposal to develop the South Street Seaport. Howard Hughes wants to build a 600-foot residential tower on the north side of Pier 17, a project that they say will subsidize the rest of their Seaport development plans, which include reconstructing and moving the landmark Tin Building and building a marina at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. The company has already received city approval to redevelop Pier 17 into a shopping, dining and entertainment venue. For residents protesting the plan, the tower is a non-starter. They argue it will block views of the Brooklyn Bridge, is out of character with the Seaport, and that Lower Manhattan doesn’t need any more luxury housing. Residents are also wary of Pier 17 becoming a shopping mecca. In November Howard Hughes said the only way to fund the Seaport’s restoration is to build a residential high rise. Howard Hughes holds a 60-year lease on Pier 17 and other parts of the Seaport with the NYC Economic Development Corporation.

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The company must now receive approval to build the tower through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Process, a hurdle that Howard Hughes vice president Chris Curry said they hope to clear by the spring of 2015. Along with many downtown residents, CB1 also opposes the plan; Seaport Committee chair John Fratta said that Howard Hughes and the EDC kept residents and the community in the dark about about their plans in order to get as far along in the process as they could before the de Blasio administration took office. Details about the proposal were only revealed in November after Lower Manhattan elected officials, including Assemblyman Sheldon Silver and Councilwoman Margaret Chin, sent a letter to Howard Hughes and the EDC decrying their lack of transparency. The de Blasio administration has approached Howard Hughes about including an affordable housing component in the high-rise, but Fratta said he doesn’t know if Howard Hughes has agreed. Even if they do, he said, it won’t change his or anyone else’s mind. “Our issue is very simple; putting a tower in the Seaport historic district is an abomination,” said Fratta. “I mean, you’ve got all lowrise buildings and then you have this monster sticking up in the middle, it’s just outrageous that anybody would consider that.” When asked if opponents of the proposal are considering litigation to stop it, Fratta said, “It’s too early for that, we have to see what happens during the [ULURP] process.”

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Dr. Michael B. Brown, Senior Minister 1 West 29th St. NYC, NY 10001 (212) 686-2770 www.MarbleChurch.org

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

CRIME WATCH By Jerry Danzig

Dispursed Someone made off with a woman’s purse in a club. At 12:30 AM on Saturday, January 11, a 30-year-old woman left her bag unattended on a chair inside a nightclub on Varick Street. When she returned twenty minutes later, she found that her bag was missing. There were no witnesses to the theft, and her cell phone lacked tracking software. The items stolen were a Tory Burch purse valued at $300, a Samsung Galaxy S3 cell phone priced at $600, a New York State driver’s license, a Coach wallet costing $100, $4 in cash, a debit card, a Victoria’s Secret credit card, and a Colombian government ID card. The total amount stolen came to $1,004.

Over the Counter and Out of the Store Two men shoplifted a number of over-the-counter drugs. At 8:30 PM on Wednesday, January 8, two men walked into a chain drug store on Broadway, headed down to the basement, and laid

a large plastic reusable bag on the floor before putting sixty-five bottles of various over-the-counter medications into the bag and exiting the store. Video is available of the incident. The medications stolen were twenty-one bottles of Zantac priced at $509, twenty-nine bottles of Advil valued at $467, two bottles of NyQuil costing $206, three bottles of Zegerid costing $100, seven bottles of Prevacid valued at $90, and three bottles of Aleve costing $26, for a total of $1,398.

Unlocked and Undone Someone stole items from a man’s SUV. At 9:30 AM on Friday, January 10, a 41-year-old man parked his white 2004 Mercedes SUV on the northwest corner of Gold Street and Spruce Street. When he returned at 12:30 PM, he found that the rear side door was not fully shut, and he realized that property had been taken from inside the car. He had apparently locked the front doors but not the rear doors. The items stolen were a Kipling bag valued at $190, $1,050 in cash, various credit cards, a checkbook, and New York State driver’s license.

U-Lock, We Steal Two bicycles were taken outside a gym on Fulton Street. At 4 PM on Sunday, January 12, a 40-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man locked their bikes outside a gym on Fulton Street. When they returned at 5:45 PM, they found that their rides were gone. They had left their bikes U-locked and chained to an overhead scaﬀold; now the U-Locks and the chain were missing. Police searched the area but could not locate the missing bicycles. The bikes stolen were a blue Jamis road bike valued at $3000 and a red-and-white Gary Fisher mountain bike costing $850, for a total theft of $3,850.

Sack Time A woman’s handbag was lifted while she slept on a bus. At 5:30 PM on Monday, January 6, a 35-year-old woman got on a downtown X 28 bus at 42nd Street and Broadway and fell asleep

in her seat. When she woke up at Charles Street and Broadway, she discovered that her bag was gone. The stolen items included a Hermes handbag valued at $900, a Louis Vuitton scarf costing $200, and $50 worth of cosmetics, for a total haul of $1,150.

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Pedestrians Continued from page 1

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limit should be citywide, because certain thoroughfares like the FDR Drive allow for higher speeds,” said Sarah Kaufman, a traffic research associate at NYU. “But side streets should be reduced to 20 mph. There’s no reason you have to plow through a side street when kids are nearby.” Reducing the speed limit is much more complicated than the Mayor simply proposing a new set of laws. First of all, according to legal experts at Transportation Alternatives, the mayor would have to get a special “home rule” exemption because many traffic laws are under the jurisdiction of the state, including speed limits and speed cameras. In addition, the state has the ability to overrule any of the decisions the city makes. Juan Martinez, a general counselor at Transportation Alternatives, said that the City Council recently tried to reduce the speed limit citywide to 25 mph, but couldn’t because it was under jurisdiction of the state.

Installing More Speed and Red Light Cameras Even though the NYPD has promised to devote more manpower to enforcing speed limits and other traffic laws, crossing guards and traffic cops can’t be everywhere. In May, the City Council passed a resolution asking Albany for more speed cameras -- as many as 200 in school zones and other high-risk areas. However, Albany has given New York a limit of 20 speed and red light cameras that will be in operation at any time. And the maximum fine for getting caught over the speed limit? Anywhere between $50 and $100. Failure to yield and speeding are the two most common causes of pedestrian accidents, according to the activist organization, Right of Way. “Because New York can get overruled by Albany at any time we had to get their permission to use technology that has been improving cities all over the world for decades,” Martinez said. “They didn’t want to give us permission, we negotiated and ended up with a small program.”

Changing the Streetscapes Starting with former Mayor Bloomberg, the typical streetscape in New York, especially in Manhattan, has been evolving since the inclusion of bike lanes and pedestrian plazas. Caroline Samponaro says that Transportation Alternatives has

A candlelight vigil following an unprecedented string of pedestrian deaths on the Upper West Side. noticed a big difference in pedestrian safety, since “streets aren’t operated like speedways anymore.” Really large avenues, especially on the Upper West Side, can be narrowed with the inclusion of specific bike and bus lanes, wider sidewalk curbs and islands that divide the avenues. “Making streets safer for bicyclists has a wonderful side effect of making it safer for pedestrians because there’s a lane of traffic that moves slower than cars that acts as a buffer,” said Kaufman.

Imposing Harsher Punishments for Reckless Drivers It’s common sense that if drivers knew there would be a heavy punishment, they would be less likely to speed or drive recklessly. However, at the moment, drivers can only get a maximum of a $500-$700 fine or a 30-day prison sentence for hitting a pedestrian, even if they kill or seriously injure someone. It

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is incredibly difficult to prove vehicular involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide. Instead, because the case is so hard to prove, said Martinez, the defense will get slapped with a fine or small prison sentence, leaving the injured party to seek compensation through a lawsuit. Martinez says that in many court cases, remorse and cases of “he’s just a kid, he didn’t mean to kill the pedestrian” are common. However, making a left turn without looking is still making a choice, despite the lack of intent behind the results of that choice. “We need to show a moral obligation to drive responsibly and to be careful, and we can do so through implementing serious consequences for people who harm or kill someone else while driving,” said Martinez. “Lawsuits are a lousy way to get justice. The driver doesn’t end up really feeling the consequences. And as a result you don’t get a change in behavior and the cycle continues.”

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

Debating the Central Park Horses Last week’s coverage of the proposed ending of horse carriage rides sparked an avalanche of commentary Since their livelihoods depend on their horses, why would the drivers “mistreat” their horses? The horse-carriages are one of the icons that ARE New York. Who would take a carriage ride in Chicago, Peoria or Cleveland? There is a big difference between pedicabs and carriage rides that has to do with the romance of New York. This has been an issue for so long and those who are against them perhaps have no romance in their souls and I feel sorry for these unhappy people. Melissa Gibbs W. 81st Street No, I don’t think horse and carriages should be banned from the park and streets of our city because a small group of fanatics think they should. Yes, there have been incidents when a horse is harmed in traffic or just collapses for no apparent reason, but those incidents are few and far between. The horse and carriage is a longrevered icon in the city and should be maintained for visitors of all kinds. The virtual romance they inspire has been depicted in one film after another and should be continued for the future. And I’m a lover of all animals. I would further like to say that the many regulations and guidelines now in place are strictly followed by the industry and should therefore be figured into the equation. I will write to the new mayor to voice my opinion and I hope all other New Yorkers who want to save the horses and their carriages should do so also. John Elari W. 74th Street

ONLINE LETTERS “I’m thrilled that Mayor de Blasio is taking the reins in putting an end to carriage horse abuse. Finally, we can all live, work, and play freely, while at the same time, breathing a sigh of relief.” - Wendy

spooks or bolts. This mode of transportation simply isn’t safe in the 21st Century. I am proud to work in a city that has elected such an animal friendly and humane mayor.” Polly McBride

“It is just common sense that horse carriages do not belong in the middle of the most congested city in America. It seems like every few weeks there is another accident in the city between a horse, car and pedestrians. I’m glad that NYC will finally put an end to this inhumane practice.” - Charlie di Giacomo

“Even PETA, as hard as they try, can’t come up with a record of any pedestrian being hurt by a horse and carriage since 1999. Unless you are suggesting that because an activity MIGHT hurt a pedestrian, it should be banned from NYC? If that’s the case, Mayor de Blasio needs to start with a ban on autos in NYC, they are a REAL threat. Animal friendly? Humane? Hardly. He’s ready to make homeless and jobless 220 well cared for horses.” - Katrina

“These horses are private property. They have value and the drivers aren’t going to ‘adopt’ them to people who know nothing about horses and don’t believe draft horses should have jobs. De Blasio is kowtowing to a real estate develop who covets the stables and donated heavily to his campaign.” - Olivia Joan “The horse carriage industry is not only dangerous to the horses but pedestrians are endangered when a horse

“No one will ‘adopt’ the carriage horses. Horses are very expensive to feed, provide with medical care and dental care (yes! they need dental care also) and to have proper horseshoes. There already are many ‘retired’ race horses and wild horses that no one wants to adopt because of the cost. The carriages should just be used inside Central Park.” - Fran Garber

I think that the horse carriage should stay but be limited to Central Park. The horses shouldn’t be on the streets, but I’m fine with them making tourists happy by working in the Park. Sincerely, Marcia Epstein W. 97th Street We are very upset that our mayor, Bill De Blasio, intends to ban the Horse Carriage Trade. We are 82 years of age and have lived at the same address since 1967. We do not believe that the horses are abused in any way. They are kept in clean stalls at stables and fed very adequately. I’ve never seen a skinny carriage horse. Their work is better than the alternative (dog food). If we had known of De Blasio’s plan, we would not have voted for him. If he goes ahead with this, he will not get our vote again. If there are going to be any demonstrations against his plan, please e-mail or call us. We are avid horse lovers. We’d be happy to participate. How many people does he want to put out of work? It’s not just the carriage drivers, there is a whole chain of people. Many years ago my grandfather Albert Wills was a dedicated milkman in Queens for the Renken Dairy. His longtime horse, Red, was very intelligent. He would move from one house to the next without being told , waiting for my granddad, who carried 12 bottles of milk in a metal carrier, to return. He cried when Red died in front of him. We heartily feel that the horse carriage trade should not be banned because of a few activists say so. Could it be that there is money behind this, and someone wants the stables out in order to build another Needle Tower? Doris and George Campbell Amsterdam Avenue

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

For the past few years, I have worked alongside my fellow animal lover friends in NYClass to help put an end to the horse carriage industry in New York. When this industry first took hold in New York 150 years ago, it made sense since it provided, in part, a means of transportation for the city, before the advent of the automobile as we now know it. Today, it has not only morphed into a tourist attraction, at the expense of these wonderful animals, but also has infringed on the quality of life of all who live and/or

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work in Manhattan. No one is looking to deprive anyone else of a livelihood, especially in our current economy, as perhaps some carriage drivers would have it. In truth, instances of animal abuse have been uncovered, and traffic accidents -- even injury to tourists -- have occurred. Our city has enough traffic congestion as it is, compounded by pollution created by gas emissions from cars. This practice has proven, time and time again, to be hazardous to man and beast alike. NYClass has proposed a common

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sense alternative to the horse & carriage: a “green” eco friendly car which can accommodate 8 people. All that the lady and gentlemen who currently steer the horses through traffic need to do would be to brush up on their driving, thereby transferring their skills to a safer and more modern means of tourist transport. I am pleased and proud that Mayor de Blasio has the integrity and the courage to finally right what has been a wrong for way too long. Wendy Glickstein E. 83rd Street

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Friday, January 24 Dzul Dance Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue on 25th Street 8 p.m., $25 The company will perform Javier Dzulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mexico Maya, an evening length journey through the rich history of Maya and Mexico into contemporary western culture. Performed in three sections, the work opens with a telling of the Maya creation legend of the twins who had the power to play ball with the stars, moons and sun. They were summoned to the underworld and sacrificed, but their blood created the first human being. The second and third sections are devoted the Javier Dzulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experiences and life in the U.S. and his vision for the future. 646-312-5073

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Is the West Side Fairway Cheaper? A reader wrote asking why some groceries cost more at the Upper East Side location than the Upper West Side

can of Bumble Bee wild Alaskan salmon at the Fairway on East 86th Street is priced at $7.19 a can â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but the same exact product is only $5.49 at the Upper West Side Fairway on Broadway and 74th Street. J. Rubin, a local shopper, wrote to Fairway, and to us, to try to get to the bottom of this discrepancy. We decided to see for ourselves. We sent a reporter to compare prices for a host of products (see chart) at the West Side and East Side locations. Prices were checked on Thursday, May 23, and do not include any sales or specials. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what we found: While a few prices were indeed higher on the East Side (Frosted Flakes and Twinning tea will set you

.com STRAUS MEDIA ď&#x161;ş MANHATTAN PRESIDENT Jeanne Straus ACTING EDITOR Megan Bungeroth â&#x20AC;˘ editor.wssp@strausnews.com CITYARTS EDITOR Armond White â&#x20AC;˘ editor.cityarts@strausnews.com STAFF REPORTER Joanna Fantozzi FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Alan S. Chartock, Bette Dewing,Jeanne Martinet, Malachy McCourt, Angela Barbuti, Casey Ward, Laura Shanahan PUBLISHER Gerry Gavin â&#x20AC;˘ advertising@strausnews.com

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Product

back a couple extra dimes) there were also a few items more expensive on the West Side, like Chips Ahoy and Ghiradelli hot chocolate. Many prices, however, were the exact same. But what about that glaringly high mark-up on the salmon? Fairway did not respond to our email, but did respond to Rubinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s email, apologizing for what turns out to be a pricing error, which the store said they have since corrected. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The retail for the Bumble Bee Wild Salmon should be $6.49 at our 86th Street location, and $5.99 at Broadway, and these retails were corrected,â&#x20AC;? said a customer service representative in an email. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The difference in these retails is due to promotional pricing we received from our vendor at our Broadway location. We are sincerely sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you, and we thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.â&#x20AC;? It seems that Fairway is offering a fairly even grocery shopping experience for both the Upper East and West Sides.

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THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013

June 2, 2013

May 30, 2013

NY Times Hunter, The Saddest Smartest School Around Elite East side high school ranks last in happiness study By Adam Janos

unter College High School, at 71st East 94th Street, is a school of superlatives. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regularly recognized as one of (if not the) most successful public schools in the city and nationwide, and is an ivy feeder, putting its graduates on the fast track to a life amongst the intellectual elite. Now, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been saddled with a less-stellar distinction: saddest spot in New York. A new study by the New England Complex Systems Institute

.com STRAUS MEDIA ď&#x161;ş MANHATTAN PRESIDENT Jeanne Straus

released August 20 took a measure of mood in the city using geo-tagged tweets. Twitter users are known for their informal, concise language, and tweets are frequently accented by the use of emoticons like â&#x20AC;&#x153;:)â&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;:(â&#x20AC;&#x153;). After researchers established a correlation between the emoticons and the words that would accompany them, they divided all the chosen tweets by location and mapped the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mood. Yaneer Bar-Yam, the studyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s principal investigator, notes that high-density traffic spots like the midtown tunnel are associated with more negative emotions, while Central Park and Fort Tyron Park â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the peaceful, green lungs of Manhattan â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are associated with positive sentiment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We looked at the locations with strong positive or negative sentiment, and the results are intuitive, which is strong confirmation that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing the right thing,â&#x20AC;? he said. And, according to the study, in all of New York City, the most negative place to be is Hunter College High School. Several Hunter grads rushed to defend the institution. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had a really great time there,â&#x20AC;? Mynette Louie, an independent film producer from the class of â&#x20AC;&#x2122;93 says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happy about commuting over an hour to get to schoolâ&#x20AC;Ś but I had a good time, because I was surrounded by all these smart peopleâ&#x20AC;Ś it was pretty nerdy, but it was also just fun.â&#x20AC;? Caroline Friedman, class of â&#x20AC;&#x2122;06, thinks the atmosphere was

EDITOR IN CHIEF ,ZMF 1PQF t FEJUPS PU!TUSBVTOFXT DPN EDITOR .FHBO #VOHFSPUI t FEJUPS PUEU!TUSBVTOFXT DPN CITYARTS EDITOR "SNPOE 8IJUF t FEJUPS DJUZBSUT!TUSBVTOFXT DPN STAFF REPORTERS +PBOOB 'BOUP[[J %BOJFM 'JU[TJNNPOT FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS "MBO 4 $IBSUPDL #FUUF %FXJOH +FBOOF .BSUJOFU .BMBDIZ .D$PVSU "OHFMB #BSCVUJ $BTFZ 8BSE -BVSB 4IBOBIBO PUBLISHER (FSSZ (BWJO t BEWFSUJTJOH!TUSBVTOFXT DPN ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS 4FUI - .JMMFS $FJM "JOTXPSUI ,BUF 8BMTI ADVERTISING MANAGER .BUU %JOFSTUFJO CLASSIFIED ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE 4UFQIBOJF 1BUTJOFS DISTRIBUTION MANAGER +PF #FOEJL 063 508/ JT QVCMJTIFE XFFLMZ $PQZSJHIU ÂŞ CZ 4USBVT .FEJB .BOIBUUBO --$ t 4FWFOUI "WF /FX :PSL /: 4USBVT .FEJB .BOIBUUBO QVCMJTIFT 0VS 5PXO t 5IF 8FTU 4JEF 4QJSJU t 0VS 5PXO %PXOUPXO $IFMTFB $MJOUPO /FXT t 5IF 8FTUTJEFS To subscribe for 1 year, please send $75 to 063 508/ D P 4USBVT /FXT 8FTU "WF $IFTUFS /: 13&7*064 08/&34 )"7& */$-6%&% 5PN "MMPO *TJT 7FOUVSFT &E ,BZBUU 3VTT 4NJUI #PC 5SFOUMJPO +FSSZ 'JOLFMTUFJO

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intense, but never cutthroat competitive. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in law school now, and when I was applying Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d hear stories that at some law schools, people will rip out the relevant pages from the library books so other people couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t read it. It was nothing like that,â&#x20AC;? Friedman says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At Hunter, there was a lot of cooperation: people were sharing notes, people were copying homework.â&#x20AC;? Still, Friedman notes that there was limited sunlight in the classrooms (the students refer to the building itself as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the brick prisonâ&#x20AC;?), and advises current Hunter College High School students to, â&#x20AC;&#x153;go to the park during lunch. spend some time in the courtyard.â&#x20AC;? Other alumni are less glowing in their reviews of the Hunter community; Sachi Ezura, class of â&#x20AC;&#x2122;04, remembers high school as one of the most difficult times in her life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One thing I remember, is that everyone would go home and write in their Xanga or their Livejournal [online blogs]. And this one kid, all the popular kids used to pass around his blogâ&#x20AC;Ś people reveled in each othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sadness.â&#x20AC;? Ezura herself spent considerable time in the nurseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office when she would get upset, and she notes that in her classâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s yearbook, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a drawing of her crying on a page entitled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Day in the Life of the Senior Class at Hunterâ&#x20AC;?. Michelle Kang, class of â&#x20AC;&#x2122;02, thinks a large part of the stress was related to the high pressure of the school combined with the inherent stress of living in New York. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I mean, you think all the typical things American kids get to do in high school: driving around, going to football gamesâ&#x20AC;Ś I was in the middle of this dense, dirty place, trying to catch a train.â&#x20AC;? Kang has since moved to Seattle, and is getting her masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in architecture. Still, all Hunter alumni seem to agree that the experience, however painful or enjoyable, was indispensible. And when asked, all maintain that their closest friends in adulthood are people they met while at Hunter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think if people can step away from [the academic pressure] and appreciate that this is the time in your life when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re surrounded by the most intelligent, special people, that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot to be gained by that,â&#x20AC;? Benjamin Axelrod, class of â&#x20AC;&#x2122;02 says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a really good group.â&#x20AC;?

Catholic/Christian Social Rubin Museum of Art,150 West 17th Street, btwen 6th and 7th avenues 6 p.m., Free Every Friday night the CafĂŠ at the Museum becomes the K2 Lounge, offering a special Pan Asian Tapas menu to accompany the eveningâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DJ and unique thematic gallery tours and programs. Admission to the galleries. Drink specials from 6-7 p.m. The Catholic Fellowship will have a separate area reserved for us in the lounge. Meet some new people, make some new friends and experience the unique collection, display, and preservation of the art of the Himalayas and surrounding regions, especially that of Tibet rmanyc.org; cfnetwork.org

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

September 25, 2013

September 5, 2013

NY Times cityArts

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PAGE 18

NYPRESS.COM

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Village Halloween Parade Faces Obstacles in Comeback The Town & Village Synagogue

Churches and synagogues throughout Manhattan are ďŹ nding their ďŹ nancial plans thwarted by preservation eďŹ&#x20AC;orts By Megan Bungeroth

tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to argue against preserving the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s historic, soaring monuments to God. Churches and synagogues throughout Manhattan have been targeted by preservation enthusiasts since the city first created the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965. They have good reason: without landmark status protection, surely many of these places, which give religious congregations a home and neighborhoods an inimitable character and sense of history, would have been torn down

long ago. The side not often heard above the rallying cries of well-meaning preservationists, however, is that of the actual church or synagogue members. The landmark process, meant to protect and preserve historical assets that theoretically belong to everyone, can sometimes end up displacing the very people who hold the actual deeds to these properties and destroying the community that resides within the building in order to preserve its facade. On the Lower East Side, a well-known synagogue is hoping to avoid a landmark designation that some in the community are eager to obtain. The Town & Village Synagogue on East 14th Street has occupied a building for decades that has been technically calendared (meaning that a vote was already taken to schedule a hearing) by the Landmarks Preservation Commission since 1966, though a hearing was never Continued on page 8

ALSO INSIDE WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HAPPENING IN HELL SQUARE? P.4

RESTAURANT HEALTH GRADES P.13

After its ďŹ rst cancellation in a three-decade history last year, the parade is struggling to ďŹ nd enough money to raise itself from the dead By Omar Crespo

he Village Halloween Parade has had quite the rough year. Last year, hurricane Sandy left the costumes, floats, and music inoperable. This year, organizers have been forced to turn to Internet crowd funding in hopes of keeping the event going. Sandy left the parade in dire need of donations and funding, which left its organizers in a state of limbo. Jeanne Fleming, the paradeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s head coordinator for the past 33 years, is optimistic the event will come together for this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Halloween. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We hope so,â&#x20AC;? she said. Because of the unintended shutdown of the parade last year, the event coordinators have had to try and recoup the losses suffered. The parade committee turned to the popular crowd-sourcing website

Continued on page 8

October 29, 2013

westsidespirit.com

(212) 868-0190 PAGE 6

Monday, January 27

My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer

FIRST IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD ourtownny.com

Municipal Art Society, TBA after ticket purchase 11 a.m., $20+ On this tour with art historian Sylvia Laudien-Meo, we will visit several of New York Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memorials: 9/11 (Reflecting Absence), Eleven Tears (the AmEx 9/11 memorial), the Irish Hunger Memorial and Andy Goldsworthyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Garden of Stones. Other memorials, like the African Burial Ground and the Vietnam Memorial will be included in the discussion through images: what is the importance of memorials for our city? What needs do they fulfill? Which designs work best? How does their role change with time? Please note that the price of this tour includes admission to the 9/11 Memorial. mas.org/tours

Saturday, January 25

Kickstarter, which helps artists fund their creative pursuits through public monetary pledges. The Kickstarter campaign, which began on September 16, has been slowly making its way to the $50,000 green-light goal. If the full amount isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pledged by a October 21 deadline, the parade wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get any of the funds. Fleming said that compared to the hundreds of thousands of people who have attended and enthusiastically supported the parade over the decades, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Kickstarter response has been lukewarm.â&#x20AC;? As of press time, the campaign had raised $41,975 from 732 backers, and five days left. The $50,000 collected this year will go to investment insurance for the businesses and individuals who donated last year but did not get a parade. Before this new digital venture, support for the parade came in the form of sponsorship from companies, businesses and TV licenses, as well as from grassroots-level funding such as children selling cookies or restaurants donating food. Recently, the Greenwich VillageChelsea Chamber of Commerce, which represents small businesses in the downtown area, announced that the Rudin Family Foundations and the Association for a Better New York will give a $15,000 matching fund if the parade

October 17, 2013

Manhattan Memorials

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

otdowntown.com

The Flea Theater, 41 White Street btwn Church and Broadway 7 p.m., $15-$25 Follows two estranged sisters, one needy mother and one intolerable sheep. Stuck in a forgotten prairie town, clashing sisters Sarah and Hannah unite when they attempt to housebreak momâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beloved sheep, Vicky, the lone survivor of the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former flock. But family secrets make bad shepherds. And the sisters must choose: reconcile their past or sacrifice their future. Runs January 25 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;to February 15, Wednesday through Sunday at 7 p.m. 212-352-3101; theflea.org

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Miracolo 15 Gramercy Park South 2 p.m. Set in Italy in 1895, deals with a subject still relevant today - healthcare. If you got really sick who would you trust? The new musical is about two people trying to heal an ailing tycoon, using opposing methods. A surgeon (Roberto) and a miracle healer (Apollonia) fall deeply in love but the forces of big medicine interfere and all hell breaks loose at this heavenly spa. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll take a miracle to get these lovers back together. But then itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Italy, where amore conquers all. RSVP only. 212-724-5282; miracolothemusical.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

OUT & ABOUT

Tuesday, January 28 Ingrid Dee Magidson’s Exhibit Gallery Unix Gallery, 532 W 24th St 10-6 p.m., Free In her three-dimensional, enigmatic portraits of kings,queens, nobility, and courtiers from centuries past, Ingrid Dee Magidson brings back to life her subjects and re-imagines these individuals to immortalize them in time. Runs through March 4. unixgallery.com

sports photography editor at The New York Times, discusses the editor’s craft, trends in sports photography and how photographers find work at magazines. His talk is part of the i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration lecture series, which features presentations by digital photographers, hardware and software developers and industry experts. Presented by the MPS Digital Photography Department. sva.edu

Wednesday, January 29th David Krakauer’s The Big Picture Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place 7:30 p.m., Free Krakauer’s sextet, a new constellation of musicians, meticulously chosen to display their virtuosity and poetrywith these stimulating new arrangements and interpretations of familiar movie soundtracks by classic film music composers - among them, Marvin Hamlisch, Wojciech Kilar, Vangelis, Sergei Prokofiev, Ralph Burns, Jerry Bock, John Kander & Fred Ebb. mjhnyc.org

Brad Smith 136 West 21st Street, Room 418F 7 p.m., Free Brad Smith, director of photography for Sports Illustrated and the former senior

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

Perry Creek

WA L N U T S

perrycreekwalnuts@hotmail.com

530.503.9705 perrycreekwalnuts.com To f ind the right doctor, you need the right referral.

ESSAM in Conversation with Svetlana Mintcheva 133/141 West 21st Street, Room 101C 6:30 p.m., Free New York-based street artist ESSAM (a.k.a. Essam Attia, BFA 2011 Photography) and Svetlana Mintcheva, founding director of the Arts Advocacy Project at the National Coalition Against Censorship, talk about art in the street as distinct from art in a museum, regulations of public space and the relationship between an artist’s mission and the constraints of the law. Presented by the BFA Visual & Critical Studies Department. freeessam.com; ncac.org

Have you tried naturally healthy, fresh, organic walnuts? Home grown, hand picked shelled or in shell.

Mark Tribe 136 West 21st Street, Room 418F 7 p.m., Free A lecture by artist, writer and MFA Fine Arts Chair Mark Tribe. Presented by the MFA Fine Arts Department. marktribe.net

Thursday, January 30 Spiritual Sounds Town and Village Synaogue, 334 East 14th St (between 1st and 2nd Ave) 7:30 p.m., Free Evening of Interfaith Recitation and Music with clergy, leaders & choirs from East Village Faith Communities. tandv.org

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

888.7.NYU.MED ( 888.769.8633 )

Having the right doctor is essential. When you call our Physician Referral Service, a registered nurse or a referral specialist will help you connect with the best doctor to meet your healthcare needs. They can also give you information about our doctors’ education, specialties, office hours, languages spoken and insurance participation.

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PAGE 7

OPPORTUNITY Motivated and talented low-income public high school students are eager to go to college but can’t afford SAT prep.

Submitted by Nancy Thomas of Melville, N.Y.

“Sarah decorated my horse name Rico for our Decorate a Horse Contest at Thomas School of Horsemanship.”

Pampered pets IMPACT Every year, New York Cares brings its Kaplan SAT Prep program to public schools throughout the city. In 2012, volunteers worked in 40 schools and helped 1,000 students get into the colleges of their choice, including several admissions to Cornell and New York University.

Pets from across the area celebrated National Dress Up Your Pet Day on Jan. 14, by sporting various outfits, tutus, hats and more. Pet owners snapped a photo and are sharing them with us. For more photos, visit nypress.com.

Submitted by Lindsay Smith Dischley of Hoboken, N.J.

“Maggie had fun posing under the Christmas tree while visiting family over the holidays in Sparta.”

Volunteer or Donate at newyorkcares.org. Submitted by Suzanne Darcy of NYC

New York Cares is New York City’s leading volunteer organization.

PAGE 8

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

Photo credit: Lauren Farmer

"This is Cheddar Cheese at Christmas time. We decided to make the cheesy baby dress as Santa Claus, because in reality, she truly is. She provides us with love and happiness every day which surpasses any Christmas gift I have ever received. To view more images of Cheddar, visit her Instagram, @ cheddarcheesepuff." www.nypress.com

Submitted by Betty Kerr of NYC

"Here we have Katya, on Monday, Jan. 7. It was 5 degrees outside when we awakened to frigid Arctic air that gripped the east. Katya decided we should head south to a sunny warm beach. She's one cool cat, chic in her sylish shades."

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

He had taught math at the school for 29 years, but hadn’t ever been chosen to give the faculty address. “Maybe I was chosen for the approximately five basketballs that I confiscated from students during your four years at Stuyvesant,” he said. “Or the 17 Frisbees I took away, or the 113 decks of playing cards, or the 257 cell phones I took away and brought to Ms. Damesek’s office.” All prime numbers, he said, with a fist pump. Mr. Geller loved prime numbers. There were cheers. He paused. “No, I don’t think so,” his tone leveling, his audience now hushed. Everyone knew why he’d been chosen. He had cancer. And though he had been responding well to recent treatments, the disease was taking over.

Stuyvesant High teacher Continued from page 1

class. Still, she thought, the school needed a real memorial. With a few of his math department colleagues and the help of assistant principal Maryann Ferrara, Barbara started brainstorming more ways to commemorate her husband’s life at the school. The idea of arranging the glass bricks by his classroom door to spell out his trademark phrase was discussed, but eventually the committee decided to install a plaque. Black, with beige lettering, the plaque bears his name, date of birth, and date of death. “A master teacher,” the text begins, “Richard shared his love and enthusiasm for mathematics and inspired admiration and respect from his students and colleagues.” Lower down, the well-worn phrase appears in quotation marks: “MATH is #1.” But if math was #1, family wasn’t ever far behind. He had other interests – good food, cycling, travel – but often they sprung out of love for his family. When his daughter Liza went into remission for a childhood illness, his friends took him out to celebrate at Lutece, a top restaurant. That relief-filled night sparked a passion for well-prepared food and fine dining. Every evening, he and his wife took turns making gourmet meals, savoring the one uninterrupted hour a day they had to spend time with each other. He often visited top restaurants and knew chefs by name. When his son, Jason, became interested in cycling, he picked up the hobby too, and rode for miles. He gave guests the “five borough bike tour,” rode to school from his home on the Upper West Side, and signed up for long bike trips with his wife. “Even when he was really sick, he insisted on going for a bike ride in Central Park,” Barbara said. During a time of crisis, Richard drove more than 100 miles to visit relatives who needed support. And well after Lisa recovered from cancer, he tutored her extensively in order to ensure she could attend Stuyvesant. He moved through life swiftly, with passion and a fierce dedication to the people he loved. But cancer soon caught up. It came first in 2001, in the nonthreatening form of a stage 1 melanoma. He had it promptly removed. But nine years later, his dermatologist found a suspicious mole that turned out to be a slightly more advanced melanoma. Again he had surgery, and the procedure went well. His surgical oncologist reassured him that the cancer had not spread. But by March, 2011, a persistent dry cough led Geller to the doctor’s office for more tests.

He moved through life swiftly, with passion and a ﬁerce dedication to the people he loved. But cancer soon caught up. Geller died five months later, on November 1, 2011, at the age of 65. Many memorials followed his death: the miniature football placed by his grave (he was a Giants fan); a commemorative issue of The Stuyvesant Spectator; two scholarship funds; and a book by his brother, about his cancer battle. Now, three years later, Stuyvesant High School is adding one more: a memorial to his math teaching, to be placed outside his old fourth-floor classroom this spring. Geller’s second wife, Barbara, donated her husband’s library of math books – a collection 400 volumes strong – to the high school immediately after his death. She and her niece, Katie Kennedy, designed bookplates, which pictured Richard shouting, “MATH IS #1,” the phrase he was known for repeating in

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

Student tribute to Geller After a chest x-ray, they discovered that the cancer had metastasized and was now in his lungs. “He never smoked a day in his life,” his brother Harold insists. But Richard’s lungs were covered in tumors. The family Googled furiously. How long might he live? What treatment options were available? What were the latest drugs being tested and could he participate in the trials? They found some hope in the form of new research, but the more they read, the worse things seemed. “I felt like shit, of course,” Harold said. “For a malignant melanoma which has metastasized... the odds are very bad. I think only 15 percent live more than a year.” The cancer symptoms accumulated. There was the joint pain, the cold sores, the rashes, the fatigue, and on some days, difficulty sleeping and breathing. “Even through all of this,” Geller said, during the commencement speech, “the best part of the day is teaching math.” His doctors tried to schedule appointments for after 3 p.m., so that Richard would miss as little school as possible. He graded papers in the hospital, and hours before he died, his son Jason heard him leading a lesson in his sleep. Geller was restless in bed, and then got up and said, “Take one, and pass the rest back. Are there any questions?” Those were his last words. Though Geller had always loved math, he had not always dreamed of becoming a teacher. The profession had been a way of avoiding Vietnam, a war he deeply opposed. Signing up to teach at an inner-city school guaranteed that his name would be struck from the draft, so in 1968 he signed up to teach math at Junior High School 143. He started teaching at Stuyvesant in 1982, where he also taught math and soon took over the math team. He covered the walls of his classroom with posters of mathematicians and

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newspaper clippings about the math teams’ many victories. One of his former students, Mike Develin, praised Geller for keeping the “200 rambunctious nerds” who made up the math team organized. “The juggernaut would not have existed without his keeping us in line and inspiring us,” Develin wrote, on a memorial Facebook page of The Stuyvesant Spectator. “And it’s no small stretch to say that he was a pivotal figure in my becoming a mathematician,” Develin added. Geller won awards for his teaching, though his toughness didn’t always endear him to students. The author of a 2007 book about Stuyvesant referred to him as “a grizzled math teacher” and “a notoriously tough grader.” “He was tough on them, but they learned a lot,” Harold said. Over the years he’d had the opportunity to meet many of Richard’s students. Though Richard had many friends, his brother explained, he wasn’t a socializer. “He was shy and introverted, and that’s something that the students probably wouldn’t believe,” Harold said. The new memorials are important to Barbara, as she wants him to always be remembered for what he cared passionately about: teaching and math. Both Barbara and Harold plan to visit the memorial within the next month, having seen the proofs but not the plaque in person. Many of the students who remember Mr. Geller already paid their respects and contributed to their own memorials three years ago. They attended the funeral at Riverside Memorial Church, read obituaries, submitted stories to the student newspaper, wrote blog posts, taped pieces of paper that read, “MATH is #1” to their lockers. But soon the school will have one permanent place of remembrance – a reminder that life can be fleeting, death quick. As plain but as precious as prime numbers.

PAGE 9

The District’s Newest School Parents meet principal of M.S. 177, opening this fall By Daniel Fitzsimmons

A Concert of Comic Operas Scenes from works by Berlioz, Donizetti, and Mozart, plus Stravinsky’s One-Act Mavra James Levine, Conductor Directed by Edward Berkeley Featuring singers from the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and Juilliard Opera with the

JUILLIARD ORCHESTRA Costumes by Kim Krumm Sorenson Lighting by Paul Hudson

Tuesday, February 11 at 8 Friday, February 14 at 8 Sunday, February 16 at 2 2014 Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Juilliard Tickets $40 (Orchestra), $30 (Mezzanine) Online at www.juilliard.edu/MetJuilliard CenterCharge (212) 721-6500 JANET AND LEONARD KRAMER BOX OFFICE at Juilliard 155 West 65th Street, Monday – Friday, 11AM – 6PM

PAGE 10

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

Parents crammed into the auditorium of a school on the Upper East Side to meet the principal of a new middle school that’s slated to open in the same building next year. M.S. 177 will enroll about 80 sixth-grade students for the 2014-15 school year. Full implementation is slated for the 2016-17 school year, by which time the school will serve 255-300 students in grades 6 through 8. The existing school, P.S. 158 Bayard Taylor, is a kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary school with about 775 students, located at York Avenue and 77th Street. Parents at the packed meeting - many of whom had kids enrolled in Bayard Taylor were mostly concerned about the enrollment process for M.S. 177, though some were also concerned about how the two schools would co-exist in the same building. Fifty-percent of students enrolled next year at M.S. 177 will be screened by the new principal and other administrators, and will most likely be accepted based on high test scores and other achievements. The other half will be drawn from a District 2 lottery of applicants who expressed interest in the school by attending an information session. District 2 Superintendent Mariano Guzman said applicants can apply to M.S. 177 through the screened process, unscreened process (lottery), or both, and that applications to the new middle school won’t affect those made to other District 2 middle schools. However, he stressed that in the years ahead, applying to M.S. 177 could affect applications to other schools as the new middle school is integrated into the overall process. Christina Riggio, the principal of the new school, was on hand to introduce herself and answer parents’ questions about M.S. 177. She said M.S. 177 will be hiring six teachers to teach three classes. Class size will be in the high 20s. With only 80 seats up for grabs, in a middle-school-hungry district, parents were at the meeting to learn about the enrollment process in the hopes that their graduating fifth-grader would land one of the spots. Still, some Bayard Taylor parents, like Abhinav Chandra, are fearful that adding hundreds of more students to the school will strain the building’s resources and space. “There are programs at [Bayard Taylor] right now that are not compensated programs,

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Christina Riggio, the principal of M.S. 177 they’re there just because the space is there, so are they going to be cut? Gym? Is that going to be cut?” said Chandra. Another parent asked Riggio how students who were selected for M.S. 177 under the lottery process would receive extra help if they fall behind, as both screened and unscreened students will share the same classrooms. Riggio said the administration is prepared to enrich or collapse the curriculum for higherachieving students, while slowing it down for students who are struggling. “The other thing we’re considering is having a coach so that we have a second body in the room to push in for those students who may need it,” said Riggio. “In the beginning of the year we’re going to take great strides in getting to know your students.” A language course will not be offered for sixth-graders next year, Rizzio said, and interest in music, arts and language will most likely be addressed by way of lunch clubs and after school programs. Guzman cited another District 2 school with a high Asian population that has a Mandarin lunch club. Riggio said several logistical points were still to be decided, such as what time M.S. 177 will start and end and whether students will be able to leave school premises during lunch. The new middle school will occupy the fifth floor of the school building, which will undergo construction this summer. Riggio taught social studies at a public middle school in the Bronx for six years and was involved in Teach For America. She was also a lead teacher at the DOE, mentoring other teachers, and an achievement coach. Riggio holds a masters in elementary education and teaching from Pace University and a masters in school building leadership from Columbia. “I love middle school,” she said. “It’s a transitional time in kids’ lives. With change comes an opportunity to expand their interests and their love of learning.” For more information, call the District 2 office at 212-356-3815. Contact Christina Riggio at middleschool177@gmail.com.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

STREET SHRINK

I’ve been reading a lot about the eye region and empathy. What do studies say about it? – Sacha, Chelsea, Cover your mouth with your hand and you can still use your eyes to convey most emotions. You’ll flutter your eyes to flirt. Blink rapidly to hold back tears. Or you’ll smize - the Tyra Banks-perfected practice of smiling with your eyes by stretching them like a lemur in the night. The eye’s architecture is one of the most complex elements humans possess. A structure so carefully and artfully designed that the brain devotes a third of its energy on making sure our eyes function efficiently. Though our eyes serve as our prime secret weapon to lure singles at a bar, we also rely on them to register other emotions like fear and sadness. It’s these traits that build our empathetic muscle. In fact, those with impairments in the eye region might help mental health care professionals address youth who present with psychopathic tendencies, like callous and unemotional traits. Callous-unemotional traits in children include a consistent disregard for others’ emotions as well as an extreme lack of empathy. One study found that a group of kids who presented with these callous-unemotional traits had specific problems when attending to the eyes of other’s faces. It didn’t matter whether the person was happy, sad, or angry - the child couldn’t accurately assess which emotion was conveyed. But, when this group of kids was asked to look at the mouth region of others, they were able to report the emotion and showed no differences to kids who lacked callous and unemotional traits. So, when someone is conveying that they feel scared by widening their eyes, a person with psychopathic traits might exhibit fear blindness and won’t be able to register a victim’s fear. In effect, they lack empathy due to eye impairment. A study by Dr. Yoast Van Baardewijk further tested this empathetic theory by comparing kids with high callous-unemotional traits to those with autism; both groups show a characteristic neglect of the eye region. However, the reasons for this deficit are different. Autistic individuals avoid eye-gaze because they lack social awareness to maintain eye contact, whereas those with callous-unemotional traits might show inattentiveness to the eyes due to deficits in brain areas, like the amygdala, the part of the brain that controls fear and anxiety. Other research by Dr. Mark R. Dadds looked into whether eye contact contributes to psychopathic-like traits. His research suggests that one’s caregiver might play a role in recognizing emotion in another’s eyes. The idea is that caregivers who properly attended to their infant by feeding them when hungry and providing warmth and comfort by constant eye-gazing, modeled a set of appropriate emotions. But, caregivers who were neglectful and failed to attend to the child’s needs might also have averted eye contact and failed to model appropriate emotions. There are a slew of characteristics that we can remain cognizant of when treating youth who present with callous-like traits and one of those is children who have a deficit in recognizing another’s eye region. It’s this specific area where empathy is registered. On a more practical level, when taking to the streets of NYC, we can use our eyes as signals to people of our own emotions. We can also show that we understand where others are coming from by locking eyes and directing our gaze. Stretch your eyes and you just might build your empathetic muscle. Kristine Keller received her Master’s in Psychology from New York University. Have a question for our Street Shrink? Email news@strausnews.com with “Street Shrink” in the subject line.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

ASK MARGARET

Dear Margaret, Recently I attended a birthday party for my 5-year-old son’s classmate. I found myself chatting with another parent about how our kids end up with an enormous number of birthday gifts from these parties, which each of their classmates usually attend bearing presents for the guest of honor. When I asked this fellow parent how they handled the influx of goodies (in addition to gifts from grandparents, aunts, uncles, and family friends), he shocked me by revealing that he and his wife spirit away the gifts from his son’s birthday party, hide them, rewrap them and give them to him for Christmas! While I understand the impulse, I feel a little uncomfortable about this plan. What do you think? Signed, Perplexed Partygoing Parent Dear Parent, Kids these days are showered with more toys than they could ever play with - it’s a wonder they’re not stressed out trying to schedule quality time for each and every Pokeman. Combine the abundance of gifts with the scarcity of storage space in most Manhattan apartments, and you’ll have to start shoveling a path down the hallway every day so your kids don’t get buried by their own fun. Not to mention that some parents try mightily to impress upon their children the fleeting and superficial value of material possessions, which is tough when they’re clutching the hottest items from the Toys ‘R’ spring catalogue. Your question, though, isn’t how to stem the flow of toys, but whether this dad’s creative solution is ethical or icky. Should unsuspecting parents be unwittingly funding the Christmas bounties of their children’s classmates? The problem here isn’t really the regifting. It’s hard to fault a parent for throwing up their hands and saying “enough” to the steady stream of gifts for their little ones. Especially if this particular kid’s birthday falls in the months leading up to Christmas, which I’m guessing it does, it can be an exercise in parental failure to go out and find a whole new lineup of gifts when their child has just received everything on their wishlist weeks before. Despite what your 5-year-old has told you, there are a finite number of stuffed bunnies that will fit with him in his twin bed. What’s irking you is that most parents

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forking over $59.99 for the latest Wii U game for the birthday kid du jour expect to be simply reciprocating what other parents will later do for their kid, not playing Santa. Technically and etiquette-wise, a giftee is free to do whatever he or she wishes with a gift (provided the gifter has received a thank you!) But this arrangement, premeditated as it is, seems like a breach of the social contract that’s been set up among your circle of parents and offspring. The solution, though, isn’t to scold this parent, nor is it to let that tidbit spill to the other parents at the next coffeehouse meet-up. If it truly bothers you, the whole culture of gift-giving among your kids’ friends needs to shift. Maybe that means sending an email to the class list asking that parents collectively agree on a price limit for classmates’ birthday party gifts, or a no-gift policy, or even a collection for a local charity in which the kids could get involved (like a neighborhood food bank). But that’s assuming you want to deal with that inevitable headache and some potentially nuclear fallout from the kiddos. If you want to maintain the status quo but don’t feel right about your gifts being recycled through family holidays, just pick out thoughtful, nice presents for your kids’ friends, and get them engraved with their birthdate. Do you have a pressing neighborhood question for Margaret? Email news@ strausnews.com with the subject line “Ask Margaret.”

PAGE 11

cityArts

Edited by Armond White

New York’s Review of Culture . CityArtsNYC.com

Pop Origami Doug McGrath Reimagines Broadway’s Jukebox Musical By Armond White

ne of the best aspects of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (at the Stephen Sondheim Theater) is seeing book writer Doug McGrath’s origami treatment of American pop music history. McGrath, who has directed the excellent films Infamous and Nicholas Nickleby) starts with bio-pic basics about singersongwriter Carole King’s life in the 1960s. (Prodigy Carole Klein from Queens, N.Y., began writing and selling songs at age 16.)

PAGE 12

There are at least five sides to Beautiful’s story: King’s rise among songwriting peers; the turning point when early rock-n-roll shifted from an interpretive performer’s medium to a musician-composer-singer’s art form; the social confluence of ethnic, racial, feminist consciousness; the expansion/ explosion of the entertainment styles; and the launch of King’s solo career with the success of her semi-autobiographical 1970 album Tapestry that brought female singer-songwriters to national prominence. McGrath unfolds these sides through clever dramatic placement of emblematic songs that, under Marc Bruni’s brisk direction, transforms oldies nostalgia into something more. King’s songs (co-written with Gerry Goffin, alongside compositions by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann) come across as more than a series of

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

greatest hits and also as reflections of the writers’ personal lives. “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” is enriched when presented as Goffin’s masculine lyrical view of his seduction of King yet sung publically as a girl’s confession of romantic bliss and insecurity. Through such complexity— and originality--McGrath captures that special thrill when a musical’s songs artfully express its characters’ feelings, but he also looks back with sociological hindsight at rock-n-roll’s crossgender innovation—the emotional richness that made those records produced for teenagers (“a girl singing girl’s songs” as Don Kirshner says) yet expresses the deepest feelings of men and women around the world. When reprised, some of the songs turn into showbiz simplicity. Bruni’s staging recalls the sparkle of other jukebox musicals, an enjoyable if superficial quality

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Jessie Mueller in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical even when a bit anachronistic: Josh Prince’s choreography turns East Coast R&B groups The Shirelles and The Drifters (both the epitome of mid-century Negro social advancement) into the stylized, quicksilver toughness of Motown’s later, differently energetic acts). This never offends because it is all in the spirit of cultural transformation that Beautiful prances through. This ungritty show doesn’t cover King’s personal rollercoaster travails as described in her autobiography A Natural Woman or Sheila Weller’s Girls Like Us. But the feeling for pop-music history and what it says about the emotional life of American youth who embarked upon the songwriting tradition of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway and made it their own is something better than a spinoff of Glee or a 21st century version of vaudeville. McGrath understands the way King, Goffin, Weil and Mann (among other pop composers of their era) articulated intimate experience with sharp observation (“On Broadway,” “Walking in the Rain,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday”) in fresh idioms that became universal. There have been many shows about this pop revolution—

from Leader of the Pack: The Songs of Ellie Greenwich to Jersey Boys, An Evening with Janis Joplin and Motown: The Musical—and given the range of Beautiful’s score, it isn’t merely the Carole King story, even when it resorts to backstage cliches. Still, it makes entertaining an aspect of our cultural history usually better served by journalism (as in Janet Maslin’s classic essay on the Singer-Songwriter phenomenon in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll) or that might otherwise be as dry and predictable as a PBS documentary. The performers do right by the songs: the early Ensemble medley “It Might as Well Rain Until September” is rousingly harmonized and Jake Epstein, Anika Larsen and Jarrod Spector respectively turn Goffin, Weil and Mann into pop-group combos. As King, Jessie Mueller gets the uncanny plaintive vocal quality of the Tapestry years and conveys the modest, girlish, non-star quality that King maintained even while writing songs that conquered the world. Follow Armond White on Twitter at 3xchair

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

DANCE CITYARTS

COAT

DRIVE Now – December Now - February 31 7th

Jane Comfort’s dance troupe

Making Art A.S.A.P at APAP Local festival brings dance, theater and music to town at reasonable prices By Valerie Gladstone

ho said ticket prices for dance, theater and music were too high for the average New Yorker? In fact, usually they are but in January every year, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) comes to town offering a multitude of artistic delights at very reasonable prices. Established 57 years ago and a New York City event since the ‘70s, the Washington DC-based organization offers a sampling of what’s new and engaging from the US and abroad for industry professionals to select from and decide what to bring back to their communities in the coming year. While one must sign up for the conference to attend many events, just as many are open to the public. This year it took place throught January, with performances all over the city. “The priority is to network,” says Scott Stoner, director of APAP, on the phone recently. “Presenters, artists and audience members get a chance to interact in ways that are not usually available to them. It’s very

practical and it’s very inspiring.” This year APAP is collaborating with other major festivals and series, including Under The Radar, globalFEST, Winter Jazzfest, Focus, Prototype and Coil, meaning any even wider range of theatrical experiences will be available. Those attending the forums get a chance to hear keynote speakers from the worlds of music, dance and theater, including Diane Paulus, artistic director of the American Repertory Theater, choreographer Kyle Abraham, dancer Wendy Whelan and actor and playwright Taylor Mac. New England-based choreographer Adele Myers has participated for three years. “I wanted to gain exposure,” she says. “It’s been great for the conversations with presenters, other audience members and dancers. It also gives us a chance to try out new dances. We’ve gotten work at new theaters every year. I don’t know how else that would have happened.” Choreographer Jane Comfort echoed her words. “Something good always comes out of it,” she says. “Once I wanted to try an abstract work, which I rarely have done. The day after I showed it, I got a text from the American Dance Institute, asking if I wanted to take part in its incubation program. I had been trying to get a grant to do that. The participants need a lot of stamina but if you’re simply someone interested in any or all of these arts, it’s an incredible education.”

Keeping New Yorkers warm for 25 years. Donate at any New York City Police Precinct or other locations citywide. For a full list of collection sites, dates, and times, visit newyorkcares.org.

Text iCARE to 85944 to donate $10 to 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. New York Cares Day is run by New York Cares, the city’s leading volunteer organization, and the New York City Department of Education. Photo: Craig Cutler © 2012 New York Cares, Inc.

For Coat Drive collection sites in New Jersey, visit jerseycares.org.

*A one-time donation of $10 will be billed to your mobile phone bill. Messaging & data rates may apply. Donations are collected for New York Cares by mobilecause.com. Reply STOP to 85944 to stop. Reply HELP to 85944 for help. For terms, see www.igfn.org/t.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

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PAGE 13

CITYARTS AUCTIONS

Eye on Auctions Americana and more up for bid By Caroline Birenbaum

he New York auction season resumes next week with Americana and Old Master works of art. Pieces from a number of stellar private collections, new discoveries, and works not previously on public exhibition will be on display during previews starting this weekend. Refer to the websites for schedules, illustrated catalogues-and sometimes videos, blogs, press releases and lectures about highlights.

Christie’s christies.com A single catalogue encompasses three Americana sales, each including works from the esteemed collection of Eric Martin Wunsch. Important Silver to be sold Jan 23 features a pair of sauceboats by Paul Revere, and a set of tablespoons he made for Daniel and Mary Turner Sargent of Massachusetts (her father owned the famed “House of the Seven Gables”). Among the American Furniture & Folk Art on Jan 24 are paintings and sculptures from the wide-ranging Kristina Barbara Johnson Collection. In addition to wonderful porcelains, the Jan 27 auction of Chinese Export Art contains a

Weill Music Institute

China Trade album and a large oil on canvas commemorating the visit of the first official envoy of the British Empire to the Celestial Kingdom. On Jan 28, a single-owner sale of Graphic Masterpieces by Goya, with complete sets of the “Caprichos,” “Desastres de la Guerra,” “Tauromaquia,” and “Proverbios,” ushers in the Old Masters sessions. Old Master Paintings on the morning of Jan 29 showcases Artimesia Gentileschi’s “Self-Portrait as a Lute Player,” a number of lovely paintings from the Toledo Museum of Art being sold to benefit the Acquisitions Fund, and several paintings from the Wunsch Collection. That afternoon, a session of Renaissance Art presents more works from Toledo, paintings being sold by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to benefit European Paintings Acquisitions, and an exquisite illuminated “Book of Hours” known as the “Rothschild Prayerbook,” recently restituted to the heirs of Max Stern. More Old Master Paintings, followed by Old Master and Early British Drawings & Watercolors on Jan 30 round out the series, to be discussed in a lecture, “Old Masters in Focus,” on Jan 26 at 1 pm.

Sotheby’s sothebys.com Jennifer Tori

Free

Neig hbor hood Conc ert Marina Harris, Soprano Robert Mollicone, Piano

Marina Harris

Saturday, February 8 at 5 PM

Advent Lutheran Church

Singing a virtuoso Mozart aria or piercing audience’s hearts in a sacred work by Bach, there’s little soprano Marina Harris can’t do. Robert Mollicone brings a conductor’s insight to the program with his nuanced piano accompaniment.

2504 Broadway (at 93rd Street) Manhattan adventnyc.org | 212-903-9670 1 2 3 | Bus: M104 This concert is part of the Marilyn Horne legacy at Carnegie Hall. Thanks to The Honorable Gale Brewer for making this concert possible.

Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concerts are sponsored by

Free concerts in all ﬁve boroughs! carnegiehall.org/NeighborhoodConcerts

PAGE 14

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

Of special note among the Important Americana offered on Jan 24 is a rare silver handseal for the First Continental (Rifle) Regiment. On the 25th, Visual Grace: Important American Folk Art from the Ralph O. Esmerian Collection, includes pottery, walking sticks, a weathervane, decorated furniture, and drawings by selftaught Alabama street artist Bill Traylor that have been exhibited in various museums, including the recent show at the American Folk Art Museum. Fine Old Master Drawings on Jan 29--the Tiepolo’s may remind you of the recent Venetian Drawings show at the Morgan Library--are followed by Old Master Paintings & Sculpture on Jan 30. The morning session includes spectacular paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, in particular a large close-up by Honthorst of a “Merry Group behind a Balustrade,” whose delectable young woman lute player has not been on view since 1883, “Child and Nurse in an Elegant Townhouse,” a subtle domestic scene with a complex composition by Jacob Ochtervelt, and what is likely a marriage portrait by Jan Molnaer of himself and his painter-wife Judith Leyster. A special early afternoon session, The Courts of Europe, exhibits princely taste from the Renaissance to the Rococo, notably Boucher’s oval painting, “The Sleep of Venus” that belonged to Mme. De Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV. Additional Old Master Paintings & Sculpture resume at 3 pm. Antique Carpets and Textiles from Distinguished Collections, including

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Grandma Moses’ “The Old Covered Bridge” Azerbaijan silk embroideries and a Safavid “Topkapi” prayer rug, and final sessions of Old Master & 19th Century Paintings & Drawings follow on Jan 31.

Bonhams bonhams.com There are nice selections of Fine American & European Furniture, Silver & Decorative Arts on Jan 23 and Maritime Paintings and Decorative Art on Jan 24, where a late 18th-early 19th century pine figurehead of a “Baroque Gentleman” upstages the ships’ portraits and other maritime paraphernalia.

Keno kenoauctions.com A manuscript draft of an historic document hidden in the archives of the Morris-Jumel Mansion in New York will be offered in a single-lot sale on Jan 26. Until now, only the 1775 printed version was known, and authorship of the plea for reconciliation, addressed to the people of Britain from the American Continental Congress, was attributed to Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. Based on the handwriting, this newly discovered 12-page draft is said to be by Robert R. Livingston, with edits by Lee; as such it suggests that Livingston played a greater role in the American Revolution than previously believed. Proceeds from the sale will fund an endowment for the Morris-Jumel Mansion, Manhattan’s oldest house, which was built as a summer home in 1765, served as Washington’s headquarters during the Revolutionary War, and became a museum in 1904. It is one of the notable New York historic houses open to the public (morrisjumel.org)

Swann swanngalleries.com A delightful sale of 20th Century Illustration on Jan 23 presents unique works on paper ranging from sweet nursery alphabets to racy pin-ups, including many drawings by “New Yorker” and other magazine cover artists and cartoonists, iconic book jackets and illustrations, early advertisements by Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), inscribed drawings by Maurice Sendak, extending the Americana Week theme up to the present day.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

FILM CITYARTS

SIXTH BOROUGH

Leaning In In my case, it means dumpster diving, head ﬁrst By Becca Tucker

Disney’s Frozen

Freeze-dried Disney Thawing out the clichés and commercialism of Frozen By Armond White

isney Animation is no longer simply Disney Animation as proven by the megablockbuster Frozen (to date: over $300m gross). This neo-fable has social prognosis and prospective commercial potential prefabricated into its mytholgy. Frozen’s tale about two temperamentally different sisters, the frolicking, touchy-feely Anna (Kristen Bell) and the repressed Elsa (Idina Menzel) whose neuroses manifest in literal frigidity (everything she touches turns to ice, snow, tundras) resembles a committeemade checklist of marketable points. In post-Pixar lingo, that’s a series of recognizable tropes audiences can take to be classical without needing to be convincing. Who needs credibility when you sell updated clichés like a refurbished cellphone? Elsa’s sensual crisis updates Han Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, Anna’s rowdiness recalls last year’s Brave, loss of the girls’ parents is primordial while the unfortunate sibling rivalry reflects a modern complex vulgarly derived from Mary Gaitskill’s Two Girls Fat and Thin. Trouble is, Disney Animation turns these elements into set-pieces to show off technology (impressive

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

evocations of arctic locales, perspectival marvels like saw blades cutting through ice into chilly waters that is better than any 3D) which overwhelms the thinly-conceived story and characterizations. The contrast of technical innovation and mundane “fantasy” narrative stops Frozen from sparkling. Almost immediately there is an incessant musicalization of the story modeled after The Lion King (a pseudo-native chant under the opening credits) and plot points that are really song cues and songs that are merely applaud-seekers: Menzel belts-out a solo that exposes Disney Animation’s craven attempt at stealing from Broadway’s Wicked (another sisterhood fable). At least there is visual interest in Frozen (a rarity in this era when advanced computer graphics have returned visual fancy to the cookie-cutter) but when directors Cchris Buck and Jennifer Lee’s skills are combined with the usual Disney cuteness (fuzzy animals revive Anna) and canned-Broadway tunes, there’s little chance for a fable to truly frighten or inspire. The message of female empowerment could be powerfully clear (just as Brave made the same obvious points that Beasts of the Southern Wild sentimentalized) yet there’s an equally powerful cynical calculation by Disney Animation to undercut sexual tradition with the romance of sexlessness. Frozen returns cartoons to infantilism--smug infantilism with a Broadway tune where its heart ought to be. Perfect for new generations of eunuchs. Follow Armond White on Twitter at 3xchair

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

These days I can’t pass a garbage pile without sticking my head and most of my torso into the can. Usually I find something irresistible. At the end of my shared driveway, for instance, is a recycling bin that’s a constant source of useful flotsam like empty ice cream cartons that can be turned into flats to start seeds, glass pickle jars that make ant-proof food storage containers, egg cartons to hold and give away our own chickens’ eggs, juice jugs that can be transformed into sap buckets and attached to one of the sugar maples in our yard. Whenever I pass the recycle bin on foot, headed to the park for a jog, its siren song compels me to flip open the top and insert myself at the waist. Until recently, I saw myself as basically profligate: after dinners with college friends, when they’d start dissecting the bill, I’d throw down more than my share and wander across the street to window shop. These days, you’d be more likely to find me out back behind the kitchen, looking for scraps to feed my chickens. After a small dinner party at my mom’s apartment in D.C., I pulled from her kitchen trash an avian feast: a baked potato, beet peelings, salad greens and cantaloupe rinds, plus a container of spoiled sour cream. “Really? You’re going to take that all the way home?” Even my mom, the notorious family pack rat, was surprised. “Do not forget it in my fridge.” I put a garbage can in the lunchroom at work specifically for food scraps for aforementioned chickens. At the end of the day, if no one’s in the lunch room, I sift through the main garbage for apple cores and bread crusts that didn’t make it into the food scraps bin. It doesn’t exactly enhance my professional image to be rooting around in my co-workers’ soggy half sandwiches, I admit. I haven’t quite figured out what “leaning in” means but I don’t think it’s supposed to be this literal. Husband Joe has developed garbagevision in step with mine. He calls it “a different level of consciousness.” He’s been

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re-using squares of tinfoil, saran wrap, the bags from cereal boxes, even the oil left over after making home fries, which he served in a saucer at breakfast recently. “Seems a shame to waste it,” he said, as we dutifully swirl forkfuls in the viscous orange liquid. A Buenos Aires newspaper reported that every month Jorge Bergoglio, better known now as Pope Francis, returned 30 rubber bands from the daily newspapers that were delivered to his house to the kiosk whence they came. The pioneering farmer, Mark, who became the subject of the memoir The Dirty Life, kept a ball of used dental floss, in case someday he had to sew up a hole in his pants. Angry environmental activist Derrick Jensen spent nine years dumpster diving foodstuffs like watermelons and expired ice cream that he fed to himself, his cats, dogs and chickens. A constant awareness of what’s being tossed can be wearing. Side effects include depression, disgust, despair, empathy with the Unabomber. Part of me wishes I could go back to tuning out the pile of “obsolete” electronics (obsolescence is relative. I’ve seen flat-screen TVs in there) that I drive past on my way to work. How the single village of Florida, NY, can excrete an endless stream of televisions, printers, scanners, and fax machines is a question that plagues me. Still our ranks continue to grow. The morning after her dinner party, my mom was slicing up the remainder of the cantaloupe for breakfast. “The chickens love cantaloupe rinds?” she said, opening the fridge to put sections of rind into the bag of scraps that I was going to take home. “You feed them this and you get eggs,” she said. “I’m getting it.” Becca Tucker is a former Manhattanite who now lives on a farm upstate and writes about the rural life.

PAGE 15

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS

January 8 - 14, 2014

Pizzetteria Brunetti

626 Hudson Street

Grade Pending (24) Filth flies or food/refuse/ sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/ refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Bloomberg

330340 West Street

Papaya Dog

333 6 Avenue

Monument Lane

103 Greenwich Avenue

One If By Land Two If By Sea

17 Barrow Street

Mas (Farmhouse)

39 Downing Street

Grade Pending (17) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment.

Wallflower

235 West 12 Street

Grade Pending (45) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. HACCP plan not approved or approved HACCP plan not maintained on premises.

Oficina Latina

24 Prince Street

Grade Pending (25) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

La Esquina “The Corner”

106 Kenmare Street A

Restaurant Grades The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website on December 13, 2013 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. Falanghina

130 Saint Marks Place

Not Graded Yet (31) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Westville

173 Avenue A

Five Tacos

119 Saint Marks Place

Takashi

456 Hudson Street

Onegin

391 Avenue Of The Americas

Grade Pending (27) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. 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.

Greenwich Village Bistro

13 Carmine Street

Grade Pending (24) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Cafe Espanol

Little Italy Pizza

Cafe Condesa

78 Carmine Street

180 Varick Street

183 West 10 Street

Closed by Health Dept. (38) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.

The Little Prince

199 Prince Street

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

Uncles Boons, Llc

7 Spring Street

Broadway Gourmet

584 Broadway

Hoomoos Asli

100 Kenmare Street A

Fair Folks

96 West Houston Street

Lost Weekend

45 Orchard Street

Spunto

65 Carmine Street

Happy Family Kitchen

213 East Broadway

Starbucks Coffee

345 Hudson Street

Taquitoria

168 Ludlow Street

Grade Pending (46) 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 nonfood areas.

PAGE 16

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

NEIGHBORHOOD REAL ESTATE SALES Reported January 13 - 19, 2014

Neighborhood

Address

Apt.

Sale Price

BR BA Listing Brokerage

205 E 22 St. 235 E 22 St.

#6H

$1,050,000

Douglas Elliman

#Res1

$1,310,000

Neighborhood

Address

Apt.

Sale Price

BR BA Listing Brokerage

Battery Park City

225 Rector Place

#2C

$786,608

225 Rector Place

#1H

$526,686

32 Washington Squ

#1E

$2,162,500

Douglas Elliman

225 Rector Place

#2H

$323,874

35 E 10 St.

#4E

$375,000

Corcoran

225 Rector Place

#2K

$323,874

184 Thompson St.

#Ma

$992,000

Douglas Elliman

225 Rector Place

#3A

$349,578

19 W 9 St.

#4F

$670,000

Douglas Elliman

225 Rector Place

#3D

$321,303

36 E 14Th St.

#1112A

$7,753,973

225 Rector Place

#2F

$323,874

65 W 13 St.

#10D

$3,615,000

Ave. Real Estate

225 Rector Place

#1A

$264,754

43 5 Ave.

#4S

$1,091,244

30 W St.

#Ph3f

$3,950,000

43 5 Ave.

#4E

$508,756

200 Rector Place

#30D

$676,000

20 E 9 St.

#9L

$610,000

250 South End Ave.

#3D

$475,000

Djk Residential

20 E 9 St.

#7A

$660,500

225 Rector Place

#3G

$559,600

Clickit Realty

23 Waverly Place

#5J

$525,000

Corcoran

333 Rector Place

#Ph1w

$1,252,703

Corcoran

63 E 9 St.

#10K

$970,000

Halstead Property

70 Little W St.

#9N

$1,540,000

Nestseekers

45 5 Ave.

#4A

$660,000

Zollinger And Associates

1 River Terrace

#9H

$850,000

240 Centre St.

#3G

$3,850,000

344 W 23 St.

#6E

$970,000

Town Residential

455 Fdr Drive

#A807

$625,000

212 W 18 St.

#12Cd

$12,473,562

Douglas Elliman

575 Grand St.

#F1206

$700,000

Halstead Property

170 W 23 St.

#2A

$696,500

Halstead Property

473 Fdr Drive

#M404

$560,000

Loho Realty

345 W 14 St.

#2E

$1,684,580

417 Grand St.

#C202

$450,000

201 W 21 St.

#8E

$360,000

417 Grand St.

#C303

$450,000

147 W 22 St.

#8N

$1,200,000

11 Prince St.

#1B

$1,850,000

Douglas Elliman

147 W 22 St.

#8S

$2,800,000

49 Howard St.

#4S

$1,600,000

170 2 Ave.

#2E

$712,500

Douglas Elliman

112 Prince St.

$4,575,000

Sotheby’s International

317 E 3 St.

$539,000

Douglas Elliman

22 Renwick St.

#2A

$1,574,235

Brown Harris Stevens

234 E 14 St.

#3A

$585,000

Corcoran

185 W Houston St.

#5G

$775,000

Warburg

111 4 Ave.

#4E

$1,110,000

Brown Harris Stevens

22 Renwick St.

#8B

$1,725,933

Brown Harris Stevens

#8L

$385,000

22 Renwick St.

#7A

$1,751,390

Brown Harris Stevens

20 W St.

#17J

$690,000

New York Residence

42 Wooster St.

#2Nofr

$4,500,000

3 Hanover Square

#8E

$605,000

Keller Williams

15 Broad St.

#2604

$1,630,000

Douglas Elliman

50 Pine St.

#11S

$1,160,000

123 Washington St.

#52F

$2,138,325

75 Wall St.

#30P

$1,466,022

15 Broad St.

#1614

$1,900,000

7 E 14 St.

#19T

15 Union Square W

Chelsea

E Village

Financial District 130 Water St.

Flatiron

Fulton/Seaport

Gramercy Park

Related Sales Greenwich Villa

Corcoran

Little Italy

Lower E Side

Corcoran Nolita Soho

90 Prince St.

#3A

$1,930,000

93 Worth St.

#603

$1,425,550

Douglas Elliman

35 Vestry St.

$2,786,000

Shvo

93 Worth St.

#501

$1,395,003

1.5

Douglas Elliman

270 Broadway

#18D

$5,152,500

Stribling

City Connections Realty

101 Warren St.

#2630

$3,320,000

Brown Harris Stevens

$940,000

311 Greenwich St.

#6H

$900,000

$1,375,000

101 Warren St.

#9J

$3,300,000

Corcoran

16 W 16 St.

#9F

$569,000

93 Worth St.

#706

$3,054,750

4 W 21 St.

#9C

$1,290,000

Arm Real Estate Group

93 Worth St.

#506

$1,695,386

10 W 15 St.

#2021

$580,000

Douglas Elliman

39 North Moore St.

#3B

$3,300,000

Brown Harris Stevens

260 Park Ave. South

#5K

$1,250,000

Brown Harris Stevens

416 Washington St.

#4J

$2,100,000

Town Residential

16 W 16 St.

#6Rs

$920,000

Corcoran

37 Warren St.

#3A

$2,902,012

Corcoran

111 Fulton St.

#620

$695,000

Owner

465 Greenwich St.

#Unit2

$1,150,000

99 John St.

#310

$656,771

Nestseekers

Two Bridges

155 Henry St.

#201

$210,000

99 John St.

#1203

$554,946

Nestseekers

W Chelsea

99 John St.

#2212

$560,037

Metropolitan Living Ltd

235 E 22 St.

#Res1

$930,000

36 Gramercy Park E

#12N

$3,235,000

Nestseekers

312 E 22 St.

#1A

$675,000

Douglas Elliman

235 E 22 St.

#11V

$325,000

Douglas Elliman

305 2 Ave.

#701

$1,686,500

Cantor And Pecorella

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

Tribeca

520 W 19 St.

#3C

$3,645,000

Citi Habitats

455 W 20 St.

#3E

$6,618,625

Corcoran

455 W 22 St.

#2A

$1,221,900

StreetEasy.com is New York’s most accurate and comprehensive real estate website, providing consumers detailed sales and rental information and the tools to manage that information to make educated decisions. The site has become the reference site for consumers, real estate professionals and the media and has been widely credited with bringing transparency to one of the world’s most important real estate markets.

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PAGE 17

CELEBRITY PROFILE

The First President in New York Historian Harlow Giles Unger pays homage to the presidency of George Washington in his newest book By Angela Barbuti At the intersection of Wall and Broad Streets, George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States almost 225 years ago. The building where the event took place, Federal Hall, housed Congress at that time in history. Although our first president had strong ties to New York City, his allegiance spread across the entire country. In fact, he was elected unanimously, and according to author Harlow Giles Unger, he was “the only man who could unite the nation.” Unger, a New York native, decided to write his 22nd book, Mr. President, on Washington, who he considers to be “the greatest president in American history.” On February 6th, he will be at the Mid-Manhattan library discussing how the first popularlyelected president in the world held the new nation together.

People may not realize that New York City was the original capital of our nation. Yes, indeed. It was the original temporary capital until Congress could decide on a permanent site. And, of course, people in Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress met during the Revolutionary War, wanted their city to be the capital. Most agreed it was too far north, and the idea was to unify the nation. Eventually, Maryland and Virginia decided to give land to the federal government, what is now the District of Columbia. Philadelphia became the temporary capital for the 10 years leading up to the transfer in 1800 to the District of Columbia.

When Washington ﬁrst became president, he lived here in the city. He was living in New York City in a house that was loaned to him by the Postmaster General, Samuel Osgood. Then he moved to Philadelphia, when the capital moved there.

One of the points you make in your book is that when Washington got his title, there was no real power behind it. Well there was no title, actually. There’s a

PAGE 18

funny story about how he got his title because no one knew what to call him. During the Revolutionary War, he was “General.” People called him “Your Excellency.” Finally, James Madison, who was a congressman then, pointed out that the Constitution prohibited titles. So they realized that they’d have to call him, “Mr.,” and that’s how he got his title, “Mr. President.” But after he became Mr. President, he realized that the Constitution had prescribed him to be a figurehead. It says that the executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States. But it fails to define “executive power.” People expected him to sit at his desk and nod off to sleep like a nice old man and let Congress have all the power. But his name was George Washington, he wasn’t going to sit by and do nothing. Little by little, he assumed powers that were not given to him by the Constitution.

Oh, he’d be absolutely appalled to see the nation’s infrastructure deteriorating while we spend our national treasure in places like Afghanistan.

the first place. Actually, he never ran for anything; he was elected unanimously. John Adams realized at the Continental Congress that they would have to pick a Commander-in-Chief who would be acceptable to the North and the South. And he picked Washington and it was a brilliant choice. Not only was Washington a brilliant military commander, but he had the support of both Southerners and Northerners. Washington wanted to quit after the first term, and Jefferson went to him, saying, the North and South will only hang together if they have you to hang on.

What’s one example of Washington asserting power? Sending troops to war against the Indians. The Indians were considered foreign nations then. Without authorization by Congress, he raised a small army and sent them to war against the Indians in the Ohio territory to prevent their attacks on American settlers. Since then, in all the wars in our history, Congress has only declared war five times. Washington set the precedent. Presidents have taken us to war in violation of the Constitution. To his credit, President Obama publicly recognized this when he was tempted to send troops into Syria. He wasn’t going to do it without a Congressional declaration of war. That was the first time anyone has publicly recognized the Constitutional prerogative of Congress to declare war.

You also stress that Washington did not want permanent alliances with the foreign world. Why do you think he was so adamant about this? He wasn’t going to let foreigners dictate our policies. Once you enter into a treaty, pact, or any other arrangement with a foreign country, they have the right to dictate our actions. We had lived under foreign tyranny for more than a century prior to that and he wasn’t going to cede our sovereignty to any foreign power. We are now trapped in a war in Afghanistan and have been trapped in wars in Vietnam and Iraq. We’re not masters of our own fate. And this is what Washington warned against.

What do you think he’d say today about our foreign entanglements?

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The year he was elected, he took a 29-day tour around the country so people could get to know him.

How do you research your books?

He felt it was necessary. After all, they had no real dissemination of news or pictures. All you had were painted portraits in those days so people didn’t even know what the president looked like. In the interest of national unity, he wanted all the people to get to know him and know that he truly represented them.

During that journey, he refused to stay in people’s homes, and instead chose to stay in taverns and inns. Exactly. He refused to stay in private homes and indirectly insulted Governor John Hancock when he reached Boston, by refusing to stay at his lavish mansion on Beacon Hill. He felt that by staying in someone’s private home, he would insult those whose homes he didn’t stay at, and it would be a show of favoritism. He wanted to have allegiance to all of the people and not any single interest group.

Although Washington was a twoterm president, you explain that he did not want to be elected to a second term. He didn’t want to run for president in

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I’ve accumulated a huge library of original books, biographies, and collections of manuscripts. Of course, I use the Library of Congress extensively. And go to the sites that have collected the papers of each of these presidents that I’ve written about. The papers of Washington are at the University of Virginia. Gradually they are being put on the internet. The papers of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, which are at the Massachusetts Historical Society, much of that now is on the internet page by page on your screen. But you have to be able to read his handwriting, and that becomes difficult.

Where are your favorite historical places in Manhattan? The New-York Historical Society is a great place to go in terms of American history. Federal Hall, where Washington took his oath of office. There’s still a building there - it’s a newer building. Federal Hall at that time was a different building. It had just been refurbished with the House of Representatives to meet on the ground floor and the Senate on the second floor. For more information on Harlow’s event, visit: www.nypl.org

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