Our Town Downtown August 14th, 2014

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The local paper for Downtown wn A VOICE THAT HEALS <Q&A, P. 18

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14 2014

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In Brief FIRE IN TRIBECA INJURES 7 RESIDENTS, 1 FIREFIGHTER Eight people, including a firefighter, were hurt in a smoky blaze at a residential high-rise in Tribeca. The fire department says the fire broke out at Independence Plaza North at 310 Greenwich St. around 8:40 p.m. Sunday. It was under control by 10:25 p.m. The smoke-related injuries appeared to be minor. Five people were taken to the hospital. Three people refused medical attention. A fire department spokesman says the fire appeared to start on the fifth floor, but smoke from the blaze billowed throughout the 39-story, 400-unit building. The department says 30 units and 150 firefighters responded.

Less than a month after shutting down the popular downtown market, its founder plots a comeback BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

Seemingly rejuvenated by an outpouring of community support, New Amsterdam Market founder Robert LaValva is actively planning the future of the market just three weeks after he abruptly announced its closure. In an interview with Our Town Downtown, LaValva said his surprise announcement three weeks ago that the market had ended - which board members had no prior knowledge of came from the growing frustration of running a minimally funded organization that was wrapped up in a yearslong land use fight with developer Howard Hughes over their plans to develop the historic Seaport District. Relinquishing his role as head of the New Amsterdam Market is one component of this new phase of the organization, which started in 2007 offering locally sourced food and goods in front of the New Market Building on South Street. LaValva has stepped down as president of the market but will retain his membership on the board. Another component is separating the market from the community’s effort to fight Howard Hughes’ plan, which involves building a luxury residential tower at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and rehabilitating other areas of the Seaport. In a major blow to these efforts, which LaValva said contributed to his decision to end the market in midJuly, Howard Hughes was granted approval last year to re-develop Pier 17 into a shopping mall. “Essentially we mounted a very huge campaign along with a couple of other organizations…to preemptively pro-

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Gray’s Papaya in the West Village closed earlier this year, after it could no longer keep up with increasing rent demands from its landlord. Photo by Joseph Devon via Flickr

CAN RESTAURANTS BE SAVED? SAVING SMALL BUSINESS A recent panel of restaurant and real estate experts posed the question -- can restaurants be preserved like landmarks? BY MEGAN BUNGEROTH

Picture your absolute favorite restaurant. If you wanted to ensure it would remain operating for the next 50 years, what would you do? Immortalize the menu? Clone the chef - or, more realistically, have him train apprentices who will take over when he leaves? Keep hiring the same friendly, helpful service staff? Give the owner an influx of cash so that the restaurant doesn’t fold to pressures of increasing supply, labor and rent costs?

Incentivize the landlord so he doesn’t oust the place in favor of a more profitable chain outlet? And even if you could do any or all of these things - do you think you should? Last week, the Greenwich Village Historic Preservation Commission hosted a forum at Judson Memorial Church across from Washington Square Park to ask, and attempt to answer, those very questions. Moderated by the GVHPC’s Karen Loew, the panel of speakers was comprised of Eater NY food critic Robert Sietsema, assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Stacey Sutton, president and owner of Tower Brokerage, Inc. Robert Perl, and food writer and critic Mimi Sheraton. The issue that the audience of

more than 100 people, many of them restaurant owners, had come to debate was whether and how restaurants could be preserved in a city where turnover is abundant, and a successful, thriving business model does not guarantee longevity. Recent news that Danny Meyer’s famous Union Square Café will soon be forced from its eponymous home by a precipitous rent increase was fresh on everyone’s mind; many small restaurant owners wonder how they can compete if a food industry behemoth like Meyer can’t. Even asking the question about restaurant preservation, however, is a fraught exercise that exposes the tensions, and potential contradictions, between free market capitalism and an in-

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POST DECLARES RETURN OF THE SQUEEGEE MEN The New York Post reported last week that squeegee men, “the ultimate symbol of the lawlessness and blight of the 1980s and early 1990s,” have reemerged in Manhattan, heralding a supposed descent into a more crime-ridden city. The paper reported sitings of various squeegee men - people who approach cars in slow traffic or at intersections and spray windshields, with cleaner in bottles or sometimes with soapy water from buckets, and wipe them clean with squeegees or balled up newspaper, in the hopes of getting a few bucks in tips. The practice is illegal and was once a frequent site in New York, but the NYPD has cracked down on squeegee men in the last decade. According to the Post, last week a man was cleaning windshields near the Lincoln Tunnel, as well as on the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 37th Street. The Daily News announced the return of the squeegee men in 2011, and called it a “sign of desperate times.”

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Our Town AUGUST 14, 2014

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS CHECK TENANT-LANDLORD BATTLE CONTINUES ON NORFOLK STREET

dysfunction among men and low libido among women. Members of the public will also be able to participate in the sex therapy program, but at a cost of $50. The program’s co-director, Amy Not long after rent-stabilized tenants Rosenberg, told the news website at 102 Norfolk Street complained that that direct outreach was important their new landlord, Sammy Mahfar of as students might fail to summon SMA Equities, was using harassment tactics to force them out, more evidence the courage to seek help themselves. has arisen of such tactics. Bowery Boogie DNAinfo.com reported that some tenants received a notice stating that mandatory electrical SOLAR TOWER PLANNED FOR upgrades, as well as plumbing upgrades, LOWER EAST SIDE had to be made that would last between three to four weeks. Residents, however, 125 Chrystie Street is looking to get a solar tower, reported NY Yimby. are not buying the letter, referencing their Husband-and-wife architecture team “right to know.” Additionally, SMA Equities Leven Betts recently released renderings is accused of using Google Translate to of what the building will look like. To be translate the letter into Chinese for the called Broome Solar Tower, the nineChinese-speaking tenants, making it story white building will stand on the difficult to understand; residents cited the corner of Broome and Chrystie Streets poor sentence structure and grammar. and contain 35,000 square feet of Bowery Boogie floor space. The building will house 16 apartments with the lower parts of the N.Y.U. TO OFFER FREE SEX building being used by a dance company THERAPY containing a theater, rehearsal space and offices. Construction is slated to begin DNAinfo.com reported that New York in 2015, although permits have yet to be University is planning to offer free sex filed. NY Yimby therapy for its students this fall. Flyers, which were recently posted in each of the 23 dormitories, advertising the MAN DIES AFTER FALLING therapy, state in bold letters, “Having FROM BUILDING problems related to SEX?” followed by referring students to NYU’s Langone The Daily News reported that last Medical Center. The program plans to Tuesday, an unidentified man allegedly treat an array of issues including erectile fell from an office building on Water

Street to his death. The man, reported to be in his 20s and dressed in shorts, fell from a terrace of the building at around 1:30 p.m. He landed behind the building, on South Street; paramedics who arrived on the scene rushed the man to Bellevue Hospital where he died from his injuries a half-hour after arriving. Authorities have not deduced yet whether the man jumped or accidentally fell. Edwin Tejada, a parking garage attendant, told the newspaper that a woman told him that the man jumped. Daily News

WEST VILLAGE ELEVATOR ACCIDENT Two constructions workers were left injured after an elevator at a West Village apartment building malfunctioned last Wednesday, reported the New York Post. At around 11:25 a.m., the construction workers were moving materials between the eighth and ninth floors of the apartment building when the elevator came off its tracks, falling several feet down the shaft and trapping the workers. Emergency FDNY workers fervently worked to secure the car so it did not fall further down the shaft. Once freed, about an hour later, the workers were transported to Bellevue Hospital where they were treated for minor injuries. Residents of the building said that this was not the first time that people became trapped in the elevator since construction began. New York Post

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG REAR AND DEAR A man’s apartment was burglarized. At 3:10 PM on Friday, August 1, a 27-yearold man returned home from work to find the front door of his apartment at 156 Prince Street unlocked. When he looked around his apartment, he discovered that a number of items had been stolen. The burglar’s point of entry was an unlocked rear window. The victim said he had locked his front door before leaving for work at 6:30 AM but had left the back windows unlocked. The items stolen included a Breitling watch valued at $12,000, a Tag Heuer watch tagged at $8,000, a red Giant TCR bike costing $5,000, an Apple laptop priced at $1,000, and an iPad valued at $200; the total stolen amounted to $26,200.

BAD APPLE A shoplifter made off with merchandise from an Apple Store. At 6 PM on Tuesday, July 29, an unknown man removed items from a shelf in the Apple Store at 103 Prince Street, placed them in a shopping

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bag, and left the store without permission or authority. Video of the theft is available. The man stole four iPhone 5S’s valued at $749 apiece, making a total of $2,996.

LAPSED LAPTOP Someone took a man’s laptop from his office desk. At 10:30 AM on Thursday, July 31, a 32-year-old man placed his silver MacBook Pro laptop on the desk of his workstation inside 481 Broadway and left for a business meeting. When he returned some hours later, he found that his laptop was missing. A witness had seen an unknown man remove the computer from the victim’s desk at around 5 PM. There were no surveillance cameras in the office, and though the victim had tracking software on his computer, it was turned off. The stolen laptop was valued at $2,721.

CLEANED OUT A thief snatched a woman’s wallet in a crowded subway train. At 7:55 PM on Saturday, August 2, a 27-year-old woman

boarded a crowded southbound 4 train at the Fulton Street station toward the front of the train. An unknown man boarded the train after her, right before the doors closed. When she attempted to get off at the Wall Street station, she was blocked by the man and thought her bag was caught on his dry cleaning, as she felt it being tugged on. Immediately after she got off the train, she realized that her wallet and its contents were missing from her bag. She subsequently canceled her credit cards. The items stolen were a Marc Jacobs wallet valued at $350, a monthly Metro Card costing $113, a Sephora gift card valued at $90, a Social Security card, a German driver’s license, an employment authorization card, and various debit and credit cards.

TWO WOES IN A ROW Someone made unauthorized charges on two successive American Express cards belonging to a woman. At 9 AM on Wednesday, February 26, a 43-year-old woman was checking her bank statements when she noticed

1ST PRECINCT Report covering the week 7/28/2014 through 8/3/2014 Week to Date

Year to Date

2014

2013

% Change

2014

2013

% Change

Murder

0

0

n/a

0

0

n/a

Rape

0

0

n/a

5

7

-28.6

Robbery

0

2

-100

26

39

-33.3

Felony Assault

0

1

-100

40

46

-13

Burglary

3

0

n/a

93

120

-22.5

Grand Larceny

20

19

5.3

530

623

-14.9

Grand Larceny Auto

2

0

n/a

8

20

-60

that unauthorized charges had been made on her American Express card. She canceled the card, which she still had in her possession. She told police that she had left the card in her daughter’s backpack for emergency use on days when her daughter was with a nanny. Then at 9 AM on July 13, she noticed that new unauthorized charges had appeared on her replacement American Express card, which had also been in the daughter’s bag. She canceled

that card as well. She told police that the nanny/babysitter had not used the card. The unauthorized purchases were made online and in person at MTA stations. The total of the unauthorized charges came to $1,327.

PREMEDITATED A downtown yoga studio was burglarized. Sometime between 9:30 PM on Friday, August 1 and 9 AM the following morning,

property was removed from the Yoga Works studio at 459 Broadway without permission or authority. everal individuals had access to the location, including two cleaning services who had keys and keycodes. The building alarm had been disabled, and there were no signs of forced entry, nor any fingerprints. Video may have captured the incident. Property stolen included $467 in cash, a safe valued at $450, and a plastic rolling pin tagged at $200, making a total of $1,117.

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Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 7th Precinct

19 ½ Pitt St.

212-477-7311

NYPD 6th Precinct

233 W. 10th St.

212-741-4811

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230 W. 20th St.

212-741-8211

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230 E. 21st St.

NYPD 1st Precinct

16 Ericsson Place

212-477-7411 212-334-0611

FIRE FDNY Engine 15

25 Pitt St.

311

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227 6th Ave.

311

FDNY Engine 28 Ladder 11

222 E. 2nd St.

311

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42 South St.

311

ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin

165 Park Row #11

Councilmember Rosie Mendez

237 1st Ave. #504

212-587-3159 212-677-1077

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224 W. 30th St.

212-564-7757

State Senator Daniel Squadron

250 Broadway #2011

212-298-5565

Community Board 1

49 Chambers St.

212-442-5050

Community Board 2

3 Washington Square Village

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212-736-4536

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212-674-0947

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SCHOOL OVERCROWDING MAY BE CONTAGIOUS EDUCATION The west side of lower Manhattan, plagued by over-packed public schools, should serve as a warning for the growing east side

The Spruce Street School in the Financial District is just one public school downtown feeling the squeeze of overcrowding due to poor planning.

BY ALEJANDRO MENJIVAR

LOWER MANHATTAN Jostling for a seat at a public school in lower Manhattan has become as ingrained in city life as jostling for a seat on the subway, and the process is similar – there’s little one can do to ensure a seat but wait, hope and try to keep frustration and aggression at bay. “The issue of overpopulation is going to continue to grow, there is no plan for real middle school growth in the downtown area,” said Kristin Moshonas, a vice-president of the PTA for the Spruce Street School, P.S. 397, in the Financial District. The school currently serves pre-K through 5th grades. “When Spruce Street opened as one of the new schools downtown, it was already packed.” Moshonas is one of a number of parents who anxiously wait for the public school system to catch up to the number of kids in the district. “It is sad that some families don’t have a seat for their children, even if they live next door to a school,” said Moshonas. “We are facing a challenging situation.” One of the problems is that the dense growth of downtown means that schools are often built into tightly-packed areas. Spruce Street School currently shares a plaza with a hospital and a parking lot. “It is not place for a school to be around those things, and the parking lot with cars constantly moving in and out is a danger to the young children,” Moshonas said. As the city and the Department of Education scramble to keep up with the demand for elementary and middle school seats in district 2 (which stretches from the Upper East Side, through midtown, and into the west side of lower Manhattan), many blame the current squeeze on a poor planning process that didn’t properly adjust for the post-9/11 residential construction boom. Shino Tanikawa, president of the Community Education Council for district 2, said that the city didn’t use the metrics when calculating how many school seats would be needed for neighborhoods like Tribeca, Battery Park City, the West Village and the Financial District, all of which have seen big changes with new developments over the past decade. “For these city projects, they were using outside contracts which looked at these problems according to areas marked out in city planning. The problem is that since the consultants are using the areas

There is a certain amount of space, we can’t get more room from thin air.” Kelly McGuire, principal of the Lower Manhattan Community Middle School marked out for city planning, they do not line up with the actual areas they are supposed to be studying,” Tanikawa said. She said that consultants look at a district and calculate an average for the number of families, the growth of the neighborhood, how many will send their children to private school, but do not look at how these numbers can change on case by case basis depending on neighborhood. “The city does not do the calculations well, or accurately. The system is flawed and doesn’t work correctly on a neighborhood basis,” said Tanikawa. “They don’t look at the percentage of families which send their children to private school. They assume that the number will be about 30 percent, but in actuality one neighborhood could send around 60 percent, as is the case in some places downtown,” and some could send a lower percentage. The variants by neighborhood push the need for a more in-depth analysis of neighborhoods and populace, in order to correctly determine the need for school facilities in an area. Schools elsewhere downtown are seeing similar overcrowding trends. “I can’t speak for elementary schools, but in middle schools there is a large growth of students in incoming classes,” said Kelly McGuire, principal of the Lower Manhattan Community Middle School on Broadway near Beaver Street. “Classes are jumping from around 26 students to 30, 32.” McGuire said that she hears from parents who are nervous about class sizes becoming too big and negatively impact-

ing students’ abilities to learn. “Parents are very concerned. The first question many ask is about class size. The problem is that large classes are now a standard in lower Manhattan,” McGuire said. “There is a certain amount of space, we can’t get more room from thin air.” Overcrowding is even an issue for local private schools. Gina Malin, director of school advisory services at The Parents League, a non profit association of parents and independent schools, said that she hears increasingly from parents who fear they won’t be able to find a private school spot in their own neighborhood - sending a kid to private school nearby used to be a clear benefit to gambling with district placement that could send a student to another neighborhood. “As population has increased tremendously, the spots are becoming tight,” Malin said. “Parents are now looking at other neighborhoods, and have to travel with their children.” Some education advocates hope that all of this crunching on the west side of lower Manhattan will serve as a warning to the Department of Education to plan differently for the impending construction boom on the east side. On the Lower East Side, the city is developing a site formerly known as SPURA (Seward Park Urban Renewal Area) and now called Essex Crossing into a massive new neighborhood, complete with retail, office space and 1,000 residential apartments, half of which will be designated affordable for low-, moderate-and middle-income families. That means an influx of children, and hopefully, if the DOE takes the right actions, an influx of public school seats.

AUGUST 14, 2014 Our Town

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CAN RESTAURANTS BE SAVED? CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Tell the world

YOUR STORY

7 "ROADWAY p 3OHO .9# 212.226.3413

stinct to keep history intact. Loew addressed that dichotomy in her introduction. “Skeptics will ask, how do you preserve a business, a living breathing thing?,� she said. “Supporters will ask, what business person can

pay double or triple the rent when the lease is up?� The rent conundrum, it seems, is paramount. While t he pa nel members d iscussed all the myriad reasons a restaurant can succeed or fail, none of those reasons loomed as large, and perhaps insurmountable, as that of the control a landlord has of a restaurant’s ultimate fate. Sietsema, who earlier this

year caused a stir when he published his own proposal on preserving certain restaurants in the city on Eater, hit this point early and often. “Grey’s Papaya went out of business. It was a cheap eating place people depended on. It had a significance to the history and story of New York,� Sietsema said, pointing to the long-standing hot dog joint as one example

Lexington Candy Shop has been in business for 89 years, and is a rare exception to the story of small, independently owned restaurants getting priced out by high rent.

AUGUST 14, 2014 Our Town

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extort these culinary gems. Still, he thinks it could only work if the business model is already viable. “You can’t just do it to save a place from going out of business,” he said. “If it has historical value, it needs to be protected. There aren’t many of these businesses left. In the fabric of New York, there just aren’t that many businesses that deserve this kind of protection. I happen to think we’re one of them.” Not many would argue with putting Lexington Candy Shop on a short list of restaurants worth saving. But what about the neighborhood institutions without the historic façade and intergenerational story? Big Nick’s Burger and Pizza Joint, on Broadway between 76th and 77th Streets, was a beloved Upper West Side eatery. The food was shockingly varied – you could order classic American fare along with Greek standbys and Italian favorites, from a menu with hundreds of items – and reasonably priced, a boon for local families looking for a cheap and crowd-pleasing meal out. It closed last year. On the restaurant’s Facebook page, a post explained: “After 51 years, we have lost our lease after two years of difficult and torturous negotiation…We cannot handle an increase from $42,000 to $60,000++a month for 1,000 square feet.” Many decried the loss of Big Nick’s – but would it have even made it onto the radar of a preservation panel in the fi rst place? Sietsema might not think so; he wants to only protect places where the food is good. Robert Perl, who has had first-hand experience as a landlord to restaurants, said that’s not enough of a metric either. “Sometimes the restaurateurs have more money than the landlords. Do we want to look at this as a factor?” Perl said. He also pointed out the potentially thorny moral problem of deciding who should get help from the city – what if a restaurant owner is abusing his workers, not paying fair wages? No one at the panel, or for that matter around the city, could provide easy answers to these questions. But it’s worth considering, the next time you step into your favorite local spot – what would you do to keep it around?

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now a unique relic, but restaurants like it used to dot the neighborhood and the city. Philis and his business partner know that they keep going year after year partly due to a consistent and quality product – the $8.50 milkshakes, while a bit steep, are exceptional, and made with real ice cream brought in from Philadelphia – and partly due to their ability to transport diners back to an earlier time when Coke came in bottles and you could sidle up to the counter at any corner shop and order a tuna melt and an egg cream for a couple bucks. The prices have risen, of course, but the food and atmosphere remains largely unchanged. You can still sit at the counter and order an egg cream; they haven’t made any major renovations or changes to décor since 1948. But one of the most crucial elements of their longevity, Philis acknowledges, is the cooperation of their landlord. “We have a very fair landlord,” Philis said. His rent goes up every year, he said, but he feels that his landlord deals in good faith. “From what I see and hear, that is the exception.” Philis also has made a concerted effort to keep up with the times, not by changing his food but by updating his business practices. His wife operates the shop’s social media accounts, and they have a website. They advertise heavily – something they never used to do in his father’s day, Philis said – to tourists, putting ads on the NYC visitors’ information channels that run in hotel rooms and in tourist brochures. They’ve even offered a Groupon. Philis has seen a lot of neighborhood institutions like his fold, but he is hesitant to suggest that the city should regulate or save them all. He praised Danny Meyer, by way of example, for being a great chef and restaurant owner, and spoke admiringly of his Union Square Café, but he wouldn’t necessarily include it on a list of storied institutions to be preserved. For the small number of generations-old restaurants, he thinks that the city could offer protection in the way of lowered property taxes, or zoning changes like what has been done on Columbus Avenue to restrict banks, or some kind of legal way to allow landlords to make a reasonable profit but not

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of a place that should have been saved. “Why is it that restaurants like this have to go out of business when the landlords make ridiculous demands?” Restaurants, even successful ones, survive on thin profit margins, and a sudden large increase in any costs can throw that out of balance. A woman in the audience stood up during the Q&A – she was remaining anonymous, she said, for fear that something she said would get back to her vindictive landlord – and related the exasperating situation she found her own restaurant in, year after year. “The games that my landlord plays are just on another level, and there’s no one to turn to and say, this is not normal,” she said. Her restaurant on Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District is the only one left standing on her block, she said, and it’s been there for 16 years. And every year, she fi ghts astronomical increases and allocates more money to pay her landlord. Recently when their lease was up for renewal, the woman said, she received a retroactive water bill for $250,000. “The man [her landlord] won’t even sit down with us to negotiate our lease. We have 15 employees, we contribute to the community; we’re a legitimate business,” she said. “I allow myself each year to get extorted. We’re keeping up, but barely.” Some posit that market forces should not be curtailed by regulation, and that the numbers will bear out what people really want to save. “Who says,” asked Mimi Sheraton, “that future generations will want to go to the same old places?” It’s a fair questions, but there are a handful of restaurants in the city whose very existence shows that history and market demand can work together. At the Lexington Candy Shop on the Upper East Side, co-owner John Philis has been watching customers come and go from behind the counter for his entire life. The shop at Lexington and 83rd Street is surrounded by chain stores like Starbucks, Hot & Crusty, Shake Shack, and it’s been in business continuously since 1925, founded by Philis’ grandfather; it’s on Sietsema’s proposed list of restaurants the city should preserve. The soda fountain and diner is

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Our Town n AUGUST AU A UG GU UST 14, 2014

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< BIG COMPANIES ABSENT FROM TIMES SQUARE CHARACTER DISPUTES Re “Ticket Me Elmo? City Mulls Law For Impersonators,” (August 7, 2014) it occurs to me that all of these characters are under trademark by some pretty big and powerful companies, including Disney and Marvel. Where are they in all this? After all, it only takes one profanity-

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using Elmo or cop-punching Spiderman – and the ensuing “bad press” – to tarnish the image of a character into which these companies have poured billions of dollars. It seems to me that Disney et al could easily put the kibosh on this practice by simply refusing

to allow the use of their trademarked images in this fashion, unless specifically licensed by them. Why have we heard nothing from them? Ian Alterman, Upper West Side

LETTER

AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEBATE Comments from the web on Councilwoman Margaret Chin’s op-ed, “Working for Affordable Housing, Piece By Piece,” July 31, 2014: “The garage on Essex Street is being renovated with millions in taxpayer funds. Chin, why do you think it’s prudent to now tear the building down and build low income housing. You’re wasting our money. Please stop being a typical politician that wastes our dollars. You should be ashamed to be pushing for affordable housing on this garage.” Rino “The first shots have been fired. The hidden agenda is not for housing but to benefit wealthy developers. Fifthy units of affordable housing in exchange for a playground or park. The lies and deceptions are already starting. Developers are foaming at the mouth. It’s time to stand up and fight.” JoeM “Thanks for taking a principled stand on this against the NIMBY opposition, Chin. The sad part is that while most people support the broad goal of affordable housing, the only people who show up to public meetings on this are the selfish few who have a perk that they’re going to lose out on (or worse yet, are afraid of the perception that they’re losing out on).” ohnonononono “‘It can be difficult to commit to giving up a public resource in order to make way for housing.’ Parking is not a public resource. Only private car owners can use it. Most Manhattan residents, especially in Chin’s district, do not own cars. Housing is a much better use for this space which contributes to the public good. Resident

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Have an opinion about your neighborhood or a story you think we should cover? Send your letters, complaints, questions, suggestions and ideas to news@strausnews.com.

MEMORIES OF SOUTHBRIDGE A reader whose parents used to live in Southbridge Towers is now priced out of the area A comment from the web on our story “Downtown Tower Residents at a Crossroads,” August 7, 2014, about a potential privatization of Southbridge Towers in the Financial District: My parents and I were one of the earliest residents of Southbridge when it was still only a small ad in the newspaper. Many people ignored it, thinking who the hell wants to live opposite the Fulton Fish Market and near Wall Street. Little did they know that this area would be developed to what it is today. I bought my parents a one-bedroom with terrace at 333 Pearl Street and bought myself a studio at 66 Frankfort Street. We both had many good years living there. I had to give up my studio as I moved to Asia where I am still living. Dad died and Mom continued to have several more good years until that sad day of 9/11. Her apartment faced the WTC and she was on her terrace witnessing the series of events that followed. She kept her shades down and was never the same woman and mother that raised me. Mom died two years ago at 95 years old in her apartment, which due to the unfair rules of not allowing succession I had to give it up. It should be noted that the current management team are one of the rudest group of people I have ever dealt with. When my mother became ill with dementia I gave up my career, moved in with her and gave her a quality life for close to four years. Did they care when I asked them if I could take over her apartment and pay the surcharge whatever it would be...not a chance. I was handed a piece of paper and given the time frame to clean it up and give it up. I am now a 65-year-old man and cannot afford to live in NYC or return to Southbridge where I spent the best years of my life.

bobk49

STRAUS MEDIA-MANHATTAN President, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com Group Publisher - Manhattan Vincent A. Gardino advertising@strausnews.com

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Staff Reporters, Gabrielle Alfiero, Daniel Fitzsimmons Block Mayors, Ann Morris, Upper West Side

Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side

AUGUST 14, 2014 Our Town

Op-Ed

A pedestrian’s cry for help BY JOANNA KAHN n Thursday evening, July 17, many of us gathered at the corner of West End Avenue and West 95th Street to remember Jean Chambers, who lost her life in the latest pedestrianvehicle fatality on the Upper West Side, and to call for traffic safety actions. The particular area has been bombarded with traffic deaths in the last year. We have lost family members, friends and neighbors. Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal chooses to call this horrific experience of four pedestrian-vehicle fatalities this year in this area an “epidemic.” For those of us who walk these streets daily, this is a “war zone.” We see and hear these two- to three-ton moving pieces of steel with angry, annoyed, confused drivers honking, screeching, turning erratically, crashing into each other and, with great sorrow and pain, colliding into fragile flesh. Often the vehicles are manned by speed incentivists; but at the very least, they are driven by people double or triple tasking at the wheel, not paying attention or caring about traffic laws or pavement aids and street signs and driven, themselves, to get somewhere fast or first. City government has stepped in and made some changes that feel like bandaids for a situation that calls for reconstructive surgery. The public seems to have no clear and honest sense of why city government is making the choices it is making in its attempt to prevent any additional vehicle collisions leading to pedestrian deaths. In rectifying the traffic patterns, it does not appear the city’s primary concern is fragility citizens’ lives. In the wake of these incidents, there has been greater enforcement of some of the laws which are in place. More drivers are being ticketed for going through red lights at West End Avenue and 96th Street. The road markings, signal changes and altered flow of vehicular and pe-

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destrian traffic through the Broadway nexus seems to have helped. Changes such as longer lead times for pedestrians before vehicles begin to move at intersections and the addition of signs indicating no turning during specific hours have been mounted at certain intersections. We are thankful for this and other signage that is new and states such. But it is not enough. Signage, whether on a post at the corner or written on the pavement, is too easily ignored. Police presence for enforcement is limited at all the places and times it is needed, probably by budget. So, what more restrictive measures can be taken? What are the questions to ask that will lead to Mayor Bill De Blasio’s and Commissioner William Bratton’s Vision Zero Action Plan becoming a reality? Start here: why do we have pedestrians and vehicles moving at the same time through crosswalks? Why, if the exit from the West Side Highway at West 95th Street does not allow but possibly two cars to see pedestrians crossing from Riverside Park are cars and pedestrians allowed to move through that crosswalk at the same time? Why aren’t there pedestrian exclusive times in the traffic signal cycle in which pedestrians can cross diagonally as well as in the linear mode, creating the opportunity for those on foot with or without canes, strollers and dogs in tow, to know the comfort and safety of vehicles not moving into their space? Continue with: why can’t there be an additional ingress/egress to the West Side Highway which is pushed away from pedestrian traffic, for the most part, such as at West 79th Street? It appears city government has forgotten, to too great an extent, the pedestrian traffic stream in the interest of vehicle traffic flow. Over several years now, there have been vehicle flow and concomitant pedestrian flow changes, beginning with the closing of the West 95th Street entrance to the Henry Hudson Parkway, the loss of the southbound exit to West 96th Street off the Henry Hudson Parkway, the closing of the southbound West 72nd entrance to the Henry Hudson Parkway and continuing with the institu-

tion of dedicated “Turn Only” lanes and cross-hatched areas on the roadways. Then, the West 96th Street and Broadway subway station was moved to the middle of the busy vehicle traffic artery and brought a huge exponential increase in the number of pedestrians crossing into the street at those corners. These changes have been a death knell to street safety in the area. They carved away space in which vehicles and pedestrians moved, sending them elsewhere, thus making for greater vehicle congestion at certain spots and for pedestrians being in vehicle alleys. This congestion has incited drivers and pedestrians, alike, to take the situation into their own hands; one has watched this escalate for years now. There are a lot of unintelligent, uncaring and dangerous moves in which drivers and pedestrians engage. For numerous reasons, we do not seem to be able to monitor ourselves as drivers, pedestrians or the caring community-minded in our own best interests. What can we do about that? Let’s implore the government to help us through this as we, hopefully, re-consider and re-shape our own behavior in the light of these recent vehicle-pedestrian tragedies. The public needs city government to advocate forcefully and broadly for us with substantive, principled and adequate choices and enforcement surrounding traffic safety. We need city government to take strong steps and, most probably, some fiscally expensive steps, to which we must relent in order to be protected. City government has to hear from us and understand that we are willing to re-educate ourselves, to do our part and to obey the laws. In turn, or even before, government administrators need to understand we, citizens, want the best possible action plan from them for the most vulnerable in the equation, the pedestrians. It is imperative actions be put in effect very quickly. Please let each of us find the will and the willingness in ourselves to request ourselves and our government take stronger measures and quicker action than so far exhibited. Let this happen before we have one more tragedy.

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Our Town AUGUST 14, 2014

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST The local paper for the Upper West Side

SOUP BURG CLOSED AFTER RENT INCREASE

Out & About 15 BILINGUAL BIRDIES

SAVING SMALL BUSINESS Venerable Upper East Side restaurant to be replaced by a TD Bank branch BY CATHERINE ELLSBERG

Soup Burg has served up its last bowl. The restaurant, which had called its Lexington Ave. and 77th Street location home for the past 10 years, was ďŹ nally forced to call it quits June 29 after the building’s landlord tried to raise the rent exponentially. Unable to pay the higher rent, Soup Burg’s owner, Jimmy Gouvakis, had to make the difficult decision to close the restaurant—a family-owned business since 1963—to make way for the building’s new tenant, TD Bank. Gouvakis has had the difficult news hanging over him since April; since then, his customers have showered him with support -- as well as a healthy dose of outrage. Many neighborhood fans and long-time customers see the closing of Soup Burg as part of a sad, and larger, epidemic—the ousting of small businesses, and the rampant excess of banks and chain stores that replace them. Nikki Henkin, who lives above the Soup Burg and who has been a devoted customer from the beginning, described the restaurant as a favorite local hangout. Located directly across the street from Lenox Hill Hospital, Soup Burg has long “served a neighborhood function,â€? says Henkin, catering to the hospital staff, neighborhood doormen, and “just people.â€? The restaurant, which was open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., represented a neighborhood spirit for many people, including Henkin, who describes such small restaurants as “(necessities) in every community.â€? Other Soup Burg patrons have taken the restaurant’s closing as a particular blow and, to a degree, a sign of a wider decay:

“How far can we go with this? Are we just going to end up with a lot of banks?� added Henkin. Joie Anderson, another local devotee, chastises Mayor de Blasio, who in her eyes has allowed everything to “turn into a Duane Reade and a TD Bank.� For Anderson, these “mom and pop stores give character� to the area, and are welcome remedies to the ubiquitous Starbucks or Panera chains. At places like Starbucks, Anderson complains, there are different workers there every time you visit; Soup Burg, on the other hand, promises personalized attention, regularity, and consistency. “You go into Soup Burg and they act like you’re their favorite customer,� Anderson says, noting that such local joints keep “New York from being a suburban shopping mall.� But as angry as Henkin, Anderson, and a slew of other customers are, Gouvakis, has

been equal parts levelheaded and nostalgic. Recognizing that “a lot of people are upset,â€? Gouvakis acknowledged that this is “all part of business; it’s nothing personal against us.â€? Gouvakis, who owns Soup Burg with his two partners—his brother John and his brother-in-law Timmy— plans on relocating to somewhere else on the Upper East Side, an area they love and are now long familiar with. In the meantime, Gouvakis spent Soup Burg’s ďŹ nal day serving up last meals, to people and dogs alike. Joking that in his next life he’d “rather live with dogs than most humans,â€? Gouvakis has been known to hand out bits of ham to neighborhood pets. Gouvakis also made one of his famous cheeseburgers for his mother. “It was a pleasure being here for ten years,â€? Gouvakis told me: “This was my second family.â€?

July 3, 2014

July 6, 2014

The local paper for the Upper East Side

UPS tells employees to lie, overcharge customers: suit

U.P.S.’S SECRET MANHATTAN PROBLEM One of the Hagan brothers’ 11 Manhattan UPS stores, now closed.

“ Employees in virtually every Manhattan (UPS

BUSINESS

Store) location were so comfortable with the practice of ‌ lying about expected delivery dates, withholding accurate price quotes and overdimensioning boxes to trigger higher retail billable rates, that they would gladly engage in conversations on the topic.� A former UPS franchisee

A former franchisee accuses the shipping giant of routinely gouging customers throughout the city BY KYLE POPE

Last month, when nearly a dozen UPS Stores across the city closed down in a single day, the initial focus was on the customers put out by the shutdown: dozens of people found themselves unable to access their rented mailboxes, while others complained of packages lost in the The UPS Store believes shuffle. On the West Side, a blog surfaced the allegations made against to swap information about the fate of a store on West 57th Street. it and UPS ... to be false. What none of these customers knew at The UPS Store customer service team is doing all we the time, though, was that they had uncan to assure the customers wittingly become part of a much bigger in the Manhattan store area – and at times bizarre – dispute involving affected are taken care of� the franchisee who until the shutdowns

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What can Brown screw from you? Two former UPS franchisees accuse the worldwide delivery service of telling employees to lie about the size and weight of packages in order to jack up prices on unsuspecting customers. Brothers Robert and Thomas Hagan, who owned and operated 11 UPS stores in Manhattan, claim in a federal lawsuit that a typical scam was to “add inches to the sides of measured boxes,� as well as an “enhanced declared value,� which allowed clerks to charge customers more. For example, a package with a length, width and depth totaling 26 inches would cost $106.85 to overnight from New York to Pittsburgh, but a 29-inch package would cost $117.19. In some cases, customers were overcharged as much as 400 percent, legal papers allege. “It’s pretty ugly,� said Steve Savva, the Hagans’ attorney. “It seems to be systematic, and the customers have no way of knowing.� The Hagans allege in court filings that The UPS Store, a subsidiary of the publicly traded United Parcel Service, was responsible for violating “the covenant of good faith and fair dealing� by: t 5FMMJOH DVTUPNFST UIBU HSPVOE EFMJWFSZ DPVME OPU CF HVBSBOUFFE BOE XPVME take longer than it actually would, in order to entice them to buy expensive, guaranteed air delivery. t $PODFBMJOH UIF DPTU PG DIFBQFS TIJQQJOH TFSWJDFT t $IBSHJOH DVTUPNFST GVFM TVSDIBSHFT GPS BJS EFMJWFSZ FWFO XIFO QBDLBHFT XFSFO U shipped by plane but by truck. Videotapes offered as evidence show UPS Store employees cheating customers,

UPS, and their right to operate a UPS store was revoked. But, in an effort to clear their name, the Hagans have ďŹ led an extraordinary claim against UPS in Federal Court that lays out, over 200 detailed pages, what they say is a systemic effort by UPS to rip off its Manhattan customers. The Hagans, UPS franchise owners since 2008 whose business grossed $6 million a year at its peak, even brought in a private investigator to secretly document the abuses they say occur at every UPS store in the city. Among their claims: Customers are routinely duped into paying more than necessary for shipping Employees are encouraged to lie about the weight and dimensions of packages to result in a higher bill Customers are told that one method of shipping is the cheapest, when often it is not The Hagans, in their lawsuit, says the deception is so widespread at UPS in

May 1, 2014

May 11, 2014

Mulberry Street Library, 10 Jersey Street (btwn Lafayette & Mulberry Streets) 10:30 a.m.; free A Spanish and live music program for children ages 0-5 years old with a parent/caregiver. The bilingual musicians teach through live music, movement, puppetry and games. Each session ends with a lively bubble dance party! Children learn basic vocabulary and short phrases JAZZ AGE LAWN while playing with instruments PARTY and fun props. nypl.org

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Our Town MAY 8, 2014

From Vandals to Artists: Time Rouses More Appreciation for Graffiti

THESE WALLS CAN TALK ART Current exhibits explore NYC streets’ past and present BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO

Last November, one of New York’s most iconic art exhibits was uncermoniously whitewashed. Outdoor art space 5Pointz, a destination in Long Island City where graffiti writers from all over the world came to leave their mark, was covered over with white paint last November at the behest of the building’s owner, Jerry Wolkoff. When the vast walls of colorful graffiti were covered, Long Island City resident Jeffrey Leder took notice. Wolkoff had allowed graffiti writers to legally create work on his property for more than a decade, but now plans to demolish the building and construct residential high-rises after winning legal disputes with the 5Pointz artists. Leder, who operates an art gallery a block away, joined forces with Marie Cecile-Flageul, a member of the 5Pointz community who also manages its press, to curate “Whitewash,� an exhibition responding to the destruction, featuring work by nine artists who once painted at 5Pointz. Included in the exhibit are paintings by Meres One, the longtime curator of 5Pointz as well as prints

Leder about the debut of the exhibit. “It was a celebration 5Pointz of the life of 5Pointz and also showed that there mourning its death.â€? was a need for While “Whitewashâ€? is a di- graffiti culture rect response to the recent as a tourist events at 5Pointz, the Jeffrey destination spot, Leder Gallery is not the only and so therefore local space exploring graf- any gallery or art fiti’s presence in New York institution that City. In February, Museum of can provide people the City of New York opened with their graffiti “City as Canvas,â€? an exhibi- ďŹ x will do so.â€? tion of 1980s graffiti art. City Gregory J. Lore, a non-proďŹ t organiza- Snyder, author tion that preserves and pro- of “Graffiti motes folk and grassroots Lives: Beyond arts movements, opened its the Tag in New new gallery space in April York’s Urban Undergroundâ€? with “Moving Murals,â€? a photographic display of graffiti-covered subway cars shot by photographers Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper during the 1970s and early 1980s. “Graffiti is so emblematic of the way people can be creative in their own environment,â€? said Steve Zeitlin, founding director of City Lore, who noted that, while graffiti still exists in the city, painted train cars are rare. In August, Gothamist reported that a tagged 4 train was spotted in the Bronx, though Zeitlin said it didn’t stay in public view for very long. “They never make it out of the train yard,â€? Zeitlin said. While graffiti is more policed now than in the 1970s and 1980s, street art has become a more accepted public display in urban areas, thanks in no small part to the international celebrity of clandestine British street artist Banksy, who completed a month-long ‘residency’ on New York City’s streets in October. Gregory J. Snyder, a sociologist and professor at Baruch College whose book “Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York’s Urban Undergroundâ€? resulted from a decade of immersive research into graffiti’s subculture, makes a distinction between the two forms. “A lot of what we consider street art was antici

Above, a train mural from the City Lore exhibition. Photo by Henry Chalfant

“

Left, Henry Chalfant and graffiti writer SHARP at the City Lore exhibition opening. Photo by Fernanda Kock

the early 1990s stared deďŹ antly at Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s cleanup efforts. Snyder also acknowledged the open tension between graffiti writers and street artists. “Street artists do not necessarily have to answer for their vandalism the same way that graffiti writers do,â€? he said. “Graffiti is thought to break windows, where street art is just, ‘hey, I’m putting up art.’ So it’s a little bit easier in the public mind to be a street artist than to be a grafďŹ ti writer, and I think both of those subcultures like it the way it is.â€? Abby Ronner, director of the City Lore gallery, echoes Snyder’s sentiments. “They’re totally different aesthetics,â€? Ronner said, noting that the City Lore exhibit explores an era when graffiti was transitioning from pure vandalism to legitimate expression in the art world’s view. Graffiti’s presence in galleries and museums isn’t new, Snyder said, nor is its alignment with ďŹ ne art. Brooklyn Museum exhibited graffiti in 2006 and included some of the same artists as the Museum of the City of New York show which

sent artists rooted in graffiti and street art. Many artists who were part of graffiti’s halcyon days have gone on to professional art careers, including Barry McGee, also known by his tag name Twist, and Steve Powers, known as ESPO, who are now successful studio artists. Still, Ronner notices a recent uptick in public interest. “In New York City, the cost of living is increasing so signiďŹ cantly and quickly, and there’s so much commercial development,â€? said Ronner. “A lot of people feel New York is being lost. The very deďŹ nition of New York and the character of it are lost. People are seeking old New York City culture.â€? Snyder suggests that Banksy’s mainstream success and the current popularity of street art renewed some interest in graffiti art and its culture, though he wonders if the recent events at 5Pointz affected gallery and museum attention. “Curators have a good sense of the moment,â€? said Snyder, who said that, though 5Pointz became a prestigious space for graffiti writers from all over the world it wasn’t necessarily home to

May 8, 2014

May 13, 2014

FIRST IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD The local paper for the Upper East Side

The local paper for the Upper West Side

(212) 868-0190

The local paper for Downtown

onstage. Suitable for all ages. isadoraduncan.org; 212-6915040

HOUSE ON THE HUDSON South Street Seaport, Pier 16, Fulton St at South St 9:30 pm; $30 Experience partying on a boat with New York Water Taxi’s House on the Hudson with a night of drink specials, dancing, and DJs. Save your ticket, because it will grant you free admission to Time Square’s Sky Room club so you can keep the party going. nywatertaxi.com; 212-7327678

The local paper for Downtown

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This remarkable project features the work of Vo, a Danish artist whose parents ed Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Vo has created a fullscale replica of the Statue of Liberty, in 250 unassembled pieces; each segment has been constructed using the original material and method devised by the monument’s designer, FrÊdÊric Auguste Bartholdi. publicartfund.org

16 CHILDREN’S STORY TIME: PETE THE CAT AND THE NEW GUY Barnes & Noble, 97 Warren Street (btwn Greenwich Street and West Broadway) 11 a.m.; free Get ready for school with Pete the Cat, Kimberly and James Dean’s story about an alley cat name Pete who is excited to meet the new guy in town. Join us for our special Storytime in our Children’s Department! barnesandnoble.com

DANH VO, WE THE PEOPLE City Hall Park, Vesey to Chambers St, btwn Broadway & Park Row Daily, dawn to dusk; free

Governor’s Island, 10 S St. Slip 11 a.m.; $35 general admission plus $2 ferry roundtrip The Jazz Age Lawn Party is New York City’s original prohibition era inspired gathering and offers a magical opportunity to travel back in time. Guests are invited to discover and experience one of the most colorful and formative epochs in American history. Activities include vintage portraits, a Charleston dance contest and a 1920s motorcar exhibition. jazzagelawnparty.com

DOWNTOWN DANCE FESTIVAL Robert F. Wagner Park, Battery Pl btwn West St & 1st Pl 6 p.m.; free Join this free dance festival, which offers performances by Lori Belilove and the Isadora Dance Company, as well as a chance for kids to dance

18 FACE OFF PRESENTS: BATSU! Jebon Sushi and Noodle 15 St. Mark’s Place (btwn Second and Third Avenues) 7:30 p.m.; $18 In Japan, batsu means “punishment� and the batsugame is a form of comedy competition where the losers are forced to endure hilarious and outrageous penalties. Face Off Unlimited has blended this wildly popular piece of Japanese culture with their own hysterical style of improv comedy to create BATSU! Hosted by former Japanese child star Brian “Bu-Chan� Walters, with the help of the beautiful, yet merciless, Noriko Sato, BATSU! is full contact cultural

AUGUST 14, 2014 Our Town

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begins at dusk. Free popcorn. hudsonriverpark.org

XOREGOS PERFORMING COMPANY

comedy! Four warriors compete in comedic challenges to avoid electric shocks, paintball guns, a giant egg-smashing chicken, and many more hilarious and jaw-dropping punishments! 18+ recommended / 21+ to participate/drink faceoffunlimited.com

THE POET IN NEW YORK Bowery Arts and Sciences, 308 Bowery, btwn Bleecker & E. Houston Sts

9 p.m.; $10 Nikhil Melnechuk hosts this weekly reading and open-mic series, with featured poets including Christopher Soto and Eduardo C. Corral. Arrive half an hour early to sign up for the open mic. bowerypoetry.com; 212334-2216

19 TUESDAYS AT THE PAVILION: ARTS & CRAFTS The Pavilion in Union Square Park, 20 Union Square West 3 – 5 p.m.; free Union Square Park’s playground isn’t the only place kids can have fun in the park! Bring your little ones to The Pavilion in the North Plaza to explore fun new topics every

month through arts and crafts (coloring, assembling foam picture frames, food bracelets etc.) with Baby Loves Disco (a Summer in the Square favorite)! There is limited space available. Registration is required. nycgovparks.org

“GO WITH THE FLOW” The Hole, 312 Bowery, btwn Bleecker & E. 1st Sts 12 - 7 p.m.; free In this group show of 19 artists, including Greg Bogin,

Keltie Ferris, and Austin Lee, spray painting migrates from the sides of buildings to canvas. theholenyc.com; 212-4661100

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RiverFlicks Big Hit Wednesdays: Captain Phillips Hudson River Park, Pier 63 (cross at West 22nd and West 24th Streets) 8:30 p.m.; free See a movie under the stars. Based on the true story of Richard Phillips, a U.S. cargoship captain who surrendered himself to Somali pirates so that his crew would be freed. Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) and his crew are carrying freight around the Horn of Africa when four Somali pirates forcefully take over their ship, the MV Maersk Alabama. Captain Phillips is rated PG-13. Movie

You Never Forget Who You Grew Up With.

New York Public Library, Jefferson Market Library, 425 Sixth Ave, btwn Christopher & W. 10th Sts 6 p.m.; free This is the last night to see Xoregos perform its comedy, Eros and Psyche, which includes music by James Barry and direction and choreography by Shela Zoregos. Audience members are encouraged to bring along a blanket and a picnic to the show. xoregos.com; 212-310-6600

The rough touch of tree bark, the scent of freshly mowed grass, the gentle hum of pollinating bees as a flower blossoms — green spaces touch lives and all five senses. Green spaces are a vital part of growing up — they enhance lives, make memories and connect people with their neighborhoods and communities.

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Be a part of preserving and enhancing green spaces where we live, work and play. To volunteer, to learn how to help your community and to donate, visit ProjectEverGreen.org or call toll-free (877) 758-4835.

THE FED AT 100 Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall Street (at William Street) 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; $8 general admission, $5 seniors and students “The Fed at 100” illuminates the complex workings of the nation’s central bank on its centennial anniversary and explores the pivotal role the Federal Reserve has played throughout the history of American finance. The Museum’s largest exhibition to date, “The Fed at 100” encompasses three galleries and a theater. We invite you to explore “The Fed at 100” and discover how the Fed affects you on this milestone anniversary moaf.org

CONRAD HERWIG: THE LATIN SIDE OF HORACE SILVER Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St at Sixth Ave 8, 10:30 p.m.; at tables $35, at bar $20, plus $5 minimum With help from pianist Michel Camilo, New York trombonist and jazz maestro Conrad Herwig concentrates on the music of hardbop great Horace Silver, who passed away earlier this summer. bluenote.net/newyork; 212475-8592

projectevergreen.org (877) 758-4835

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re-use

ways to your old newspaper

Use it as wrapping paper, or fold & glue pages into reusable gift bags.

2

4

Add shredded newspaper to your compost pile when you need a carbon addition or to keep flies at bay.

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7

Use newspaper strips, water, and a bit of glue for newspaper mâché.

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Crumple newspaper to use as packaging material the next time you need to ship something fragile.

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Tightly roll up sheets of newspaper and tie with string to use as fire logs.

After your garden plants sprout, place newspaper sheets around them, then water & cover with grass clippings and leaves. This newspaper will keep weeds from growing.

Make origami creatures

Use shredded newspaper as animal bedding in lieu of sawdust or hay.

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Make your own cat litter by shredding newspaper, soaking it in dish detergent & baking soda, and letting it dry.

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Wrap pieces of fruit in newspaper to speed up the ripening process.

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Cut out letters & words to write anonymous letters to friends and family to let them know they are loved.

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Roll a twice-folded newspaper sheet around a jar, remove the jar, & you have a biodegradable seed-starting pot that can be planted directly into the soil.

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Make newspaper airplanes and have a contest in the backyard.

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Stuff newspapers in boots or handbags to help the items keep their shape. Dry out wet shoes by loosening laces & sticking balled newspaper pages inside.

a public service announcement brought to you by dirt magazine.

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Our Town AUGUST 14, 2014

Teenage Scenes

Art

Photography contest encourages students to shoot photos -- without a cell phone By Gabrielle Alfiero

The Instagram hashtag #nyc has more than 21.5 million posts and features a range of subjects, from the Statue of Liberty to street buskers to piping hot bowls of ramen, all designed for tagging, liking and social media sharing. But a local business is encouraging teenagers to put down their phones and pick up cameras to capture scenes of the city. H and B Digital, a photography shop on West 46th Street near the Diamond District, recently launched “City Through Your Eyes,” a city-wide student photography contest. Open for entries through September 30, the contest urges students ages 14-21 to submit work representing life in New York. Thus far, the contest has received about 70 submissions, but John Morabito, marketing director for H and B Digital, antici-

pates an influx of entries come September, once students are back at work on school art projects. Young photographers lean toward familiar subject matter, Morabito said; portraits of friends, still lives and street photography from neighborhood blocks aren’t uncommon, though he thinks teenagers are capable of pushing beyond the usual. “I’d always see an elderly person or an older person, or someone from a completely different walk of life that I would never talk to otherwise,” Morabito said about his early days as a photographer, when shooting the unfamiliar was a challenge. “I’d really like to see some of those photos where we can instantly tell where the photographer had to have stepped outside of their comfort zone to take this photo.” For McDonald Layne, a former photography professor at York College in Jamaica, Queens, encouraging his students creatively means getting them away from their myriad devices and screens; he even discourages relying on the monitors on the backs of digital cameras. The contest requires that all submissions be shot on a camera (even a disposable one), printed on photo paper and mailed or delivered to the shop. “I try to get them from in front of the television screen,” said Layne from H and B Digital’s stock room, an organized series of shelves stacked with boxes of digital cameras, lenses and headphones. “Everything is digital. Nobody actually knows how to pick up a pen and paper and write or draw. They don’t do that anymore. Everything is tap, tap, tap. So it’s important for me to teach

children to actually take their hands and their minds and do stuff on paper.” One of Layne’s students has already entered the contest, a 14-year-old named Tiara, whom he taught at Shorehaven Community Center in the Bronx. She captured self-portraits, a black-and-white scene of her young cousins playing at the beach and a still life of her Converse sneakers. Layne taught her about cropping, digital effects in Photoshop and working with manual camera settings, and even helped her set up an art show at Savoy Bakery on 110th Street in East Harlem, where she was taken aback when patrons asked her about her work. “She’s like, ‘What am I supposed to say?’” Layne said. Not all public school students in the city have a mentor like Layne; nearly 30 percent of the city’s public schools are without a full-time arts teacher. Without a course requirement and an instructor’s guidance, Morabito said he may not have picked up a

camera. “In high school I had to take an art class,” Morabito said. “And all the cool kids who I hung out with took photography.” But he got hooked on the art form and spent all his free time in his school’s darkroom developing prints, and went on to study photography in college. The student work will be critiqued by a panel of expert judges, including Luiz C. Ribeiro, a former staff photographer and photo editor for the New York Post. The top three contestants will win a DSLR camera, which Canon donated to the competition. Morabito hopes that the contest will expose the participants to the possibilities of an artistic career or pastime. The winners of the DSLR cameras could book professional event photography jobs with that level of equipment, Morabito and McDonald said, and the contest’s organizers have already scheduled an exhibition of the submitted work for late October in Brooklyn, with 10 more venues interested in showing the prints. “Photography and the arts in general can be utterly transformative for kids,” Morabito said. “Not to be too lofty about this—I don’t know if participating in one photo contest is going to have that transformative effect on them—but you never know, and if it does, that’s awesome. If it plays a part in that overall life-long transformative scheme then I’d be really happy about it.” For more information and to download an entry form, visit http://www.handbdigital.com/info/ City_Through_Your_Eyes

Photography and the arts in general can be utterly transformative for kids.” John Morabito, marketing director at H and B Digital Above: Photo submissions from 14-year-old Tiara, who took shots of her cousins as well as self-portraits and still-life photos.

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AUGUST 14, 2014 Our Town

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FOR THE WEEK BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO

KIDS

PUPPET PRODUCTIONS This family art workshop, presented by Mad. Sq. Kids, teaches crafters of all ages how to build puppets with a range of materials, including wood, clay and cloth. Inspired by Rachel Feinstein’s “Folly,” the current Madison Square Park art installation that includes a series of aluminum sculptures crafted to resemble illustrative theater scenery, the workshop is open to children of all ages. Saturday, August 16 Madison Square Park, northwest lawn Entrances on East 26th Street 10 am to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. FREE

MUSIC CHUCK BRAMAN JAZZ BAND Chuck Braman’s jazz quintet was birthed by the drummer and bandleader’s desire to perform the widely underappreciated compositions of Texasborn bebop trumpeter Kenny Dorham, which were written in the 1960s and performed by Dorham’s own quintet, co-led by prominent tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. Braman’s iteration also performs music by Freddie Hubbard, Hank Mobley and Thelonious Monk. Friday, August 15 Pier 45 on the Hudson River (at Christopher Street) 7 p.m. FREE

BRAZIL FEST The Cornelia Street Café presents a series of evening performances by musicians who celebrate Brazil’s musical traditions. Performers in the three-day series include jazz guitarist David Acker, who has recently recorded with Brazilian composer Rubens Salles, and Afro-Bahian samba duo Bons Ritmos, in their first New York appearance. Wednesday, August 20 through Friday, August 22 Cornelia Street Café 29 Cornelia Street Assorted show times $10 cover

FOOD LIFE’S A PICNIC IN GRAND CENTRAL STATION Grand Central Station’s Vanderbilt Hall brings

the outdoors inside, with picnic tables and live entertainment. Guests can dine on food from Café Spice, Two Boots Pizza, Murray’s Cheese and other vendors and satiate a sweet tooth with cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, cheesecake from Junior’s and gelato from Ciao Bella, among other dessert staples. Every afternoon and evening, live performances take over, including numbers from Broadway musicals “Chicago” and “Motown,” as well as performances by local jazz bands and a magic show from the Big Apple Circus. August 18 through August 22 Grand Central Station: Vanderbilt Hall 89 East 42nd Street 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. FREE

THEATER “THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA” While the choices of free outdoor Shakespeare this summer aren’t limited or without star power— John Lithgow currently takes on the role of the title character in the Public Theater’s production of “King Lear”—Barefoot Shakespeare Company offers a performance of what some consider Shakespeare’s first play. “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” performed at Summit Rock in Central Park, explores many of Shakespeare’s common themes, including love, friendship and loyalty. Wednesday, August 20 and Thursday, August 21 Central Park, Summit Rock Entrance at West 81 Street and Central Park West 6 p.m. Saturday, August 23 Central Park, Mineral Springs Entrance at West 67th Street and Central Park West 4 p.m. FREE

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Our Town AUGUST 14, 2014

Food & Drink

< OPENTABLE INTEGRATES PAYMENT FEATURE Reservation-booking service OpenTable now offers diners the option to pay their tabs from their mobile phones, without having to wait for a check. The company started testing a pilot program of the mobile service in San Francisco this February, and it is now available to diners at nearly 50 Man-

hattan eateries, including JoJo on the Upper East Side, Atlantic Grill at Lincoln Center and Café Cluny in the West Village. The payment service, which is integrated into the reservation app, allows diners to view their itemized checks anytime during a meal, choose a tip amount and pay their bills with their regis-

RECIPES FOR BETTER LIVES COMMUNITY KITCHEN At the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, unemployed aspiring food service workers learn culinary skills that help them forge new careers BY LIZ NEUMARK

Dreams of food find expression in many ways. Some are driven to a career in the food world by thoughts of entrepreneurship, culinary passion or Food Network fame, while others see the entry level jobs as a way out and up. The West Side Campaign Against Hunger, on West End Avenue and 86th, has been a leader in the anti-hunger movement for decades. WSCAH provides food for about 15,000 families a year through its supermarket-style pantry, translating to 1.7 million pounds of healthy food. “The people who come to West Side Campaign

Against Hunger for food have the potential for upward economic mobility. We use our core strengths in distribution and preparation of healthy food to offer a pathway toward jobs that can offer household stability to our customers,” executive director Stewart Desmond said. In WSCAH’s 12-week long Chef’s Training Program, chef/instructor Andrea Bergquist teaches the skills needed to work in the kitchen, and in concert with counselors, how to make successful life changes. Applicants have never worked in food service and are unemployed. The process seeks to determine what obstacles individuals are facing. In the early weeks, there are dropouts. It is the reality of what culinary work entails – washing dishes, sweeping floors, standing up for long hours – that makes “getting out of one’s comfort zone” difficult. The group meets four times a week from 12 - 4 p.m.

Part of the program with counselors includes learning how to set goals, dream big and then achieve them. I joined the summer season class toward the end of their program, a smaller group than usual with about 10 men and women, ages ranging from mid-20s to mid-50s. Chef Andrea began with a review from the various Wednesday food sections – a Village Voice article about restaurants losing leases (the theme of gentrification resonated with the group); featured recipes from The New York Times about peaches spurred a thought about a future recipe; a story in Metro NY about BBQ and reading nutrition labels, all pointing to developing an awareness of trends and a sensitivity to details in the restaurant and food industry. A brief conversation about cooking methods for rice (there are three options) and a discussion about grains preceded the move to the

tered credit card. Servers will see when checks are paid and diners are free to dash when they choose; a payment receipt is then sent by email. OpenTable isn’t alone in the space. PayPal, the startup Cover and a handful of other options exist for mobile bill payment.

kitchen for some hands on work. On the menu: Feta, tomato and watermelon salad (the ubiquitous first course in restaurants citywide became an exploration of new flavors and unusual combinations as well as seasonality) and granola (highlighting the conversation about oats and nutrients). Our two hours of cooking and talking were exhilarating. The students’ passions, curiosity, knife skills and food literacy were evident. I felt a hearty dose of homegrown food-love in comparison with the jaded veneer of the lauded urban foodie. I worked with Sade and Daquan figuring out our plan of attack for a very large watermelon. Questions like “what have you learned” and “where do you want to work” accompanied our figuring out how best to get the seeds out of the now sliced watermelon. Linda shared her love of hospitality, making the transition from a former job in social services to hopefully, a job in catering. There were aspirations for entry into the restaurant world, or the dream of operating a food truck or small entrepreneurial venture. “I want to learn about new things.” The salad was done – the ingredients

ABOUT THE PROGRAM The culinary program at West Side Campaign Against Hunger is 10 years old, but only recently, as a result of Chef Andrea Bergquist’s efforts, has the focus centered more on job training. The program is funded with grants from Robin Hood, Episcopal Charities and WSCAH’s general operating funds. WSCAH, located in the heart of the Upper West Side, is in the downstairs space of a multidenominational house of worship & community house. Many neighboring institutions support WSCAH but to most residents, it is unknown, and hunger, an unfamiliar reality. combined with a delicious and simple dressing of olive oil, sherry vinegar and mint chiffonade. The reaction? Delightful and startling. The combo was surprising but aptly analyzed as “a combination of sweet, salty and sour.” The pride in creating something so beautiful and intriguing was palpable. It was offered to waiting pantry clients (food critics all), an elegant footnote in sobering circumstances. What happens post graduation? Students will have earned their Food Handlers Certificate and appointments with job placement counselors. Almost half will get jobs and receive more training. Chef Andrea emphasized that the program is about skills but also motivation to develop their lives. “It is about people overcoming obstacles – it is a long road and food is the garnish for that journey.” Her greatest pride is seeing students who get work and come back happy. In households everywhere, meals are prepared several times a day – for most it’s a chore, but for others it sparks something previously undiscovered and before you know it, a universe of possibility opens up. Dreams of cooking, working in a kitchen and feeding others begin; turning food into art, work into passion. Eating is never the same again, and hopefully, neither is life. Liz Neumark is the CEO of Great Performances catering company and the author of the cookbook Sylvia’s Table.

AUGUST 14, 2014 Our Town

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 tect the fish market and the rest of the Seaport,” said LaValva. Two-hundred people packed a city council hearing, which required a change in venue to accommodate the crowd, and 5,000 people signed a petition against the plan, while hundreds wrote emails in support of preserving Pier 17. Famous chefs lent their support in a video, and it wasn’t enough. “There was clearly a very big showing of support citywide, as well as beyond the city, for preserving the old fish market. And instead it was not only not preserved, but it was essentially tied into being a part of a future development,” said LaValva, referring to another round of Seaport development that Howard Hughes is trying to pass. “So yes, it seemed to me at that time that there was no point in crying over spilled milk, maybe it’s time to move on.” But the Seaport wouldn’t let him go. LaValva said when he made the announcement that the market had ended, he “received almost 500 emails. It was shocking to me personally. I knew people liked the market but I didn’t know there was that

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level of appreciation for it.” Support from people inside his circle, like market vendors, as well as from other food organizations and personalities in the city made him realize the value of the New Amsterdam Market and the niche it had carved out for the local food scene in the city. “I was quite exhausted from these 10 years of battling and dealing with no budgets and so on and so forth, and feeling like I couldn’t go on any further,” said LaValva. “But seeing that kind of encouragement made me see things in a different light.” But LaValva said the New Amsterdam Market needs to have an identity separate from the struggle against what those in the community see as overdevelopment of the Seaport. Most people, he said, regard the market as synonymous with the fight against Howard Hughes. “People began to see the market in that light only, and that’s what I feel is important to make people begin to distinguish,” said LaValva. “And it’s not an easy thing to do, people don’t necessarily want to figure out the complexities of a situation. I myself had a hard time separating the market from the campaign at the Seaport.”

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So what would that separation look like? For one, a possible change in location. LaValva said he had a hard time securing funding for the market because benefactors who might otherwise be inclined to lend their support didn’t want their names attached to a contentious real estate battle under the Bloomberg administration. “I had people literally telling me it’s too controversial and they don’t want to be seen supporting it,” said LaValva, who worried the market’s location was a threat to its existence. Roland Lewis, board chair of the New Amsterdam Market, said they’d like to stay on South Street in front of the New Market Building, but aren’t ruling out other possibilities. “The market can and may live elsewhere other than the Seaport depending on how things work out around the Seaport,” said Lewis, who noted the board is glad that LaValva is continuing to lend his expertise on the market. “I’ve been talking to officials from community boards and elsewhere about other possibilities downtown, but right now we’re not changing course.” There are issues other than location to figure out as well, like new programming, finan-

cial backing and staffing the market. But the board, and LaValva, are by no means hanging up their spurs when it comes to fighting Howard Hughes. “That’s our first priority right now, to re-staff and retool,” said Lewis. “That said, [the market] is still a voice for what we hope will be a better version of the re-development and preservation of the historic Seaport district.” LaValva agreed that the market would always be tied to the fight, but said the Seaport’s future is dependent on the level of community support it has. “If people want to do some-

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thing about the South Street Seaport, they have to begin speaking up, and be very loud about it,” said LaValva. “It can’t just be me leading this campaign, it can’t be one person or one organization. It has to be many, many people and they have to come together.” Howard Hughes is set to unveil a new proposal, possibly in the fall, that takes into account several suggestions from the Seaport Working Group, a coalition of residents and elected officials that acts as the voice of the community when it comes to the Seaport. “What I myself do as a person

I’m not a hundred percent sure yet,” said LaValva of the fight against Howard Hughes. “I know that I’m very tied to that fight so people look to me and see me as a proponent of that so I don’t think that I can lock the door and walk away and never look back, and I don’t intend to.” In the short term, Lewis and the board are hoping to hold a market in the coming months. “How many markets and when they start again is still an open question,” said Lewis. “I’m hoping for the fall, that’s our intention.”

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Our Town AUGUST 14, 2014

Property

< DOWNTOWN RETAIL MARKET BOOMING Driven by two massive malls that are set to open, downtown Manhattan’s retail-space buying frenzy is in full swing. CBRE, a real estate analysis group, recently reported that average asking rents along Broadway from Battery Park to Chambers Street are up 22 percent to $277 per square

In Brief CITY ENDS LEGAL SPAT OVER BUILDINGWORKERS WAGE LAW City officials have ended a legal challenge to a “prevailing wage” law for some buildingservices workers, paving the way for its implementation. A Manhattan judge signed off Friday on a move by both sides to end the mayor vs. City Council dispute, which arose during former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration. Current Mayor Bill de Blasio had promised to implement the law. “Today’s ruling will now allow the administration to advance its goal of expanding the number of jobs that pay a living wage to hardworking New Yorkers,” city lawyer Jeff Friedlander said in a statement. The measure guarantees pay topping $20 an hour for security guards, janitors, handymen and other workers at buildings that that get more than $1 million in city subsidies or lease significant space to the city. Bloomberg vetoed it in 2012, saying it would discourage companies from doing business in the city. “While this bill would result in higher wages for some workers, these increases would come at the cost of job creation,” he wrote in a veto message. Then he sued the City Council after it overrode his veto. A judge struck down the measure last year, saying state minimum wage preempted the city measure. The City Council appealed, as did the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ.

foot. This time last year, average asking rents were $227 per square foot along the same corridor. The figures were presented as part of CBRE’s second quarter 2014 retail market report. According to the report, Brookfield Place, 200,000-square-foot luxury mall on Vesey

USING HISTORY AS A WEAPON AGAINST THE WRECKING BALL PRESERVATION Upper West Side residents want the landmarks commission to reconsider a building slated for demolition BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

Upper West Siders opposed to a developer’s plan to demolish a building on West 79th Street are calling on the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to take a closer look at the building’s historical merits. In a letter to the LPC and local elected officials, Robert Withers, whose apartment on West 80th Street overlooks the rear of 203-209 West 79th Street, said “there is a major error of fact that has crept into these hearings: the idea that the existing building was totally demolished in the 1970s.” The building was originally four separate row houses built in 1896-97 that were combined into one apartment building in the 1970s, according to Dept. of Building records. The original front-facing Renaissance Revival façade visible on West 79th Street was replaced with a brick façade. Although the building isn’t landmarked, it resides in the

Upper West Side – Central Park West Historic District and the developer, Anbau Enterprises, must first receive LPC approval before making any changes to it. In a hearing before the LPC, Anbau said there are no traces

of the original row houses due to the work done in the 1970s, and therefore the building has no historical merit. Its initial application to demolish the building and replace it with a 16-story luxury residential building was denied by the

Street, is 85 percent leased by retailers like J. Crew, Michael Kors and Hermes. As of June, the World Trade Center Mall, at 365,000 square feet, is about 80 percent leased, according to the Wall Street Journal. Both properties are expected to bring a flood of customers when they open later this year.

LPC, but not in the interest of historical preservation. Anbau will likely come back before the LPC with a more palatable plan that nonetheless involves demolishing the building. Anbau did not respond to a request for comment. The LPC considers the building as having a modern style façade, and three commissioners agreed at the recent hearing that the building could be demolished without any significant impact to the surrounding historical district. However, residents of the West 80th Street building are seeking to challenge that assumption. Withers said although the four row houses were combined in the 1970s, “it is not true that the original townhouses were demolished and that there is no trace of them. Many of us who live in the row houses on the south side of 80th Street have a clear view of the back of this building. The surface has been stuccoed over, but clearly displays important design elements and architecture of the original townhouse.” The original features Withers points to are three garden terraces on the middle and upper floors of the West 79th Street building and a private garden on the ground level that features 20-foot high rose bushes and trees. Gina Higginbotham, who’s lived in the same building as Withers for 38 years, and whose apartment also overlooks the West 79th Street building, said there’s significant opposition in the community to Anbau’s plan, and that critics packed a Community Board 7 landmarks committee meeting and the recent LPC hearing to voice their displeasure with the prospect of a luxury residential building in the area.

The project also has significant detractors in Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal, and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. The adjacent Lucerne Hotel on West 79th Street, which was designated a landmark by the LPC, has hired a lawyer to fight Anbau’s proposal. While the noise, dust and debris will be a significant nuisance to Higginbotham and others in the neighborhood, she said she’s more concerned that Anbau will build right up to her kitchen window. As it stands now, there’s about 15 feet of space between her kitchen window and the West 79th Street building. “On a personal level I’m more worried their bathrooms are going to be in my kitchen, there’s going to be no air or light in this apartment,” said Higginbotham. “The other thing that bothers me on a broader level is the inhumanity and mean-spiritedness of picking a building where people are going to be displaced.” Higginbotham said she knows people in the West 79th Street building that have lived there for 30 years, and has watched their kids grow up. According to her, local residents are mostly against the plan “because it will throw people out of their homes.” But according to Jacqueline Peu-DuVallon, a historical preservation expert working in Manhattan who also used to work for the LPC, the building is unlikely to have retained any of the original character that would be of interest to the commission. “It’s inconsequential in this case, it’s your typical row house rear. There’s nothing special about it,” said Peu-DuVallon.

YOUR FIFTEEN MINUTES

AUGUST 14, 2014 Our Town

17

A VOICE THAT HEALS Q&A

ents couldn’t afford to pay for everything.

Subway accident survivor Renee Katz turns her experience into art

You referenced your nurse, Ethel, who really helped you while you were in the hospital. Are you still in touch with her?

the hospital, which was really helpful.

So you can still play the piano.

BY ANGELA BARBUTI

Renee Katz does not just want to be known for the accident that changed her life, and captured the attention of the entire city when she was only 17. A promic & ising flutist at the High School of Music Art during the crime-ridden 70s, she was way pushed in front of an upcoming subway train and her hand was severed at the wrist. Although it was reattached, she had to abandon her acceptance into the New d inEngland Conservatory of Music, and stead, endure countless surgeries at Bellevue Hospital. h reThrough her positive experience with habilitation, she decided to give back, and py at went on to study occupational therapy NYU. However, her passion for music was oice still in her heart, so she minored in voice there, and to this day, is still deeply conming nected to her singing. Besides performing in cabaret clubs here in the city, she also released an album in 2013. k of In June, she published her first book e she poetry, which she actually began while was in the hospital year ago. “My main goal is that I always wanted to be known forr my nder talents, not the girl who was thrown under mea subway train, but a girl who did somentelthing with her life, and who has an intelligent voice,” she said.

Although it was highly publicized at the time, me, explain your accident for people who are not familiar with it. I went to the High School of Music & Art, hool which is now the La Guardia High School ight of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Right before my graduation, in June of 1979, I was rain pushed in front of a subway train. The train went over me and I somehow rolled to the left and got almost out of the way, butt my rist. hand did not and it was severed at the wrist. ime. Microsurgery was in its infancy at the time. evue They found my hand and I went to Bellevue Hospital and in a 16-hour operation, they nist reattached it. I was a flutist and a pianist and and was about to go to the New England Conservatory at Tufts.

Your rehabilitation was at the Rusk Institute, ute, and Dr. Howard Rusk helped with the costt of your treatment. I can’t really say enough about it. It’ss an e fuamazing place. I got to perform at the ably neral of Dr. Howard, which was probably one of the biggest honors of my entire life, tion. because he was the father of rehabilitation. He helped me personally because my par-

If you look through those stages of grief, one of them is denial and one is where you’re feeling sorry for yourself. And I would say I had those two stages. Ethel whipped me into shape. She gave me a pen and paper and told me to start learning how to write with my left hand. She told me to write the ABCs. And while I was doing that, I was getting surgeries for my hand and undergoing skin grafts, and was in a lot of pain. She put me into perspective. I lost touch with her recently and would love to be able to find her again. I hope she gets my book.

The next time you took the subway again was when you started NYU. What did you study there? I had underdone eight surgeries or more and had had a lot of occupational and physical therapy, so I decided I was going to give back what was given to me. I majored in occupational therapy and minored in voice. I kept on studying music, and was in choirs. I redirected my focus and passion, because I needed music in my life.

I read that as an occupational therapist, you created certain techniques for people with injuries; can you explain those? I developed some one-handed techniques. I can use my right hand as, what we call, “an assist.” I developed some techniques for hand splinting for people who have limited use of one hand, and I use that in my work.

How was music part of your healing process? Even in the hospital, I found other people who had had accidents. I found a piano a nd people ere who w we also musicians, and started singing there. My voice teacher also came to

I can, but it’s limited. My main instrument is my voice now, and my writing. I’m a cabaret singer, and was nominated for a MAC award. I’ve performed at Don’t Tell Mama and Eighty Eights in the Village, which closed. But Don’t Tell Mama is still there and the owner is a lovely person, cabaret veteran Sidney Meyer.

You named your book, “Never Been Gone,” after a Carly Simon song. Why did you choose that title? Because when you have a bad accident, there are ways to come back and I feel that my soul and passion for music have never been gone. There are always ways to redefine your life, whether it’s through music or occupational therapy. There are always passions within you where if you look deep enough and have the support and love around you, you can find them. My parents are inspirations to me.

Your dad is a Holocaust survivor. How did that affect you growing up? He’s a survivor, and has done amazing things with his life. My father never dwelled, he tries not to dwell on the past. He keeps on going like a little Energizer Bunny. But, on the other hand, when you’re thrust in the media like I was at 17, that type of personality does help you get through life. It helped me go to college, get through all that surgery, and move on. But sometimes you need to stop and think. And I think young people who are thrust into that media light, do not have that time to grieve. And later on in life, I did get a chance to grieve through divorce, and writing poetry. It’s important to do that. And media is great, I got thousands of letters from people all around the city, and I had them plastered all over my hospital walls for inspiration. New York is incredible for that and all that support helped me moved forward.

How did you meet your new husband? I met him online, but we talked for a long time before we actually met. He’s a wonderful person. I’m lucky.

When did you decide to publish your writing? Well, as you can see, much later in life. I never tried to capitalize on my accident, and I still haven’t. This is a labor of love. It’s a dedication to my parents, my son, people who are known and loved, and other survivors. The book is very honest and open, and it took a lot of courage to write a lot of that. One of the poems is about that, it’s called “Vulnerability.” To learn more about Renee, visit www. reneekatzmusic.com

Renee Katz continued her musical career even after a terrible subway accident took the use of her right hand and thwarted her promise as a floutist.

18

Our Town AUGUST 14, 2014

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19

CLASSIFIEDS Classified Advertising Department Information Telephone: 212-868-0190 | Fax: 212-2868-0190 Email: classified2@strausnews.com Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm | Deadline: 2pm the Friday before publication ACCOUNTING/FINANCIAL SERVICES ALLSTATE INSURANCE Anthony Pomponio 212-769-2899 125 West 72nd St. 5R, NYC apomponio@allstate.com

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20

Our Town AUGUST 14, 2014

We Chose CUNY! NT STUDE

ht g i r b l u F lar Schona Wahab Madniter College Hu

More Award Winners Than Ever

TY FACUL

ht g i r b l u F lar Scho DiSalvo DanyieCol llege Cit

A record 22 City University of New York students, plus 14 faculty members, received highly esteemed Fulbright Program grants this past year for research and teaching abroad. Fulbright winners share their knowledge, skills and cultural perspectives and return home enriched for further study, service and advancement. — James B. Milliken, Chancellor

cuny.edu/awardwinners

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