Our Town Downtown April 23rd, 2015

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The local paper for Downtown wn A DOCTOR WITH HEART < Q&A, P.21

WEEK OF APRIL

23-29 2015

CITIBIKE PEDALING PAST EARLY GLITCHES Bike service rolling out new apps as it expands uptown BY MEGHAN BARR

New Yorkers may soon be able to count calories burned and miles traveled while pedaling Citi Bikes, the bicycle-sharing program with a troubled history that is undergoing a major overhaul as it expands on the Upper West Side and Upper East Side. The new CEO of the company that owns Citi Bike says a revamped smartphone app will soon offer such detailed fitness stats and allow people to make real-time reports of such issues as flat tires or broken seats. Jay Walder, a mass transit veteran who used to run the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, envisions the bikes becoming a seamless part of the city’s transportation network, with plans in the works to incorporate docking stations into architectural design plans for massive new development projects such as Hudson Yards, which is being touted as the new Rockefeller Center along the Hudson River. “We are still defining how bike share should fit into the urban fabric of the city,” said Walder, who became chief executive officer of Motivate, the company that owns Citi Bike, several months ago. “Maybe it could be inside of businesses. Maybe it could be inside of buildings. Maybe it could be built into the environment.” A plan to incorporate Citi Bike into Hudson Yards is in the works, said

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WELCOMING THE WHITNEY’S RETURN The museum’s new neighbors anticipate crowds, but mostly for the better BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO

After almost 50 years uptown, one of Greenwich Village’s famed museums is coming home. The Whitney Museum of American Art, which got its start a century ago when Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney founded her Whitney Studio Club in the neighborhood, will once again open downtown. “People have been very positive about it,” said Tobi Bergman, chairman of Community Board 2. “It started in the Village and it’ll be great to have it back. It will be great to have an art museum here.” The Whitney’s newest incarnation — a $422 million, Renzo Piano-designed building at Gansevoort and Washington streets — opens its doors May 1 and hosts a block party the following day. Its neighbors mostly seem ready to embrace the museum as their district’s cultural beacon. While the Whitney calls the bustling, predominantly commercial Meatpacking District home, the quiet, tree-lined Village blocks just south of Gansevoort Street retain a cozy atmosphere, where children ride scooters past charming brownstones and baby carriages line the sidewalk outside a nursery school on Horatio Street.

The Whitney Museum, seen from Gansevoort Street. Photograph by Karin Jobst, 2014. On a recent afternoon, neighborhood residents said they were generally looking forward to what the museum’s visitors would bring to what was one of the Village’s — and the city’s — quieter enclaves just a few years ago. Merav Harris, who lives a block south of the museum on Horatio

Street, said the Whitney would change the neighborhood’s texture for the better, even though she worried her rent would increase. “I think we need the arts,” said Harris, 29, about the commercial district. “It’s all about shopping.”

Our Take THE DANGERS OF SPRING After an interminable winter, there’s something glorious about the first warm day of spring. But the sunshine brings danger, too. Last weekend, as New Yorkers scrambled outside to enjoy the warmest day of the year, 20 people were shot in the city, one fatally, in more than a dozen incidents. In part, the surge in violence sticks to a familiar seasonal rhythm: as the weather warms up, and people head outside, crime rates rise, too. Criminals are no dummies; they don’t like the cold any more than the rest of us. But this year’s warm season brings with it some unusual omens. While the city protested the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island and police shootings around the country, a lot of risidual anger remains. Warmer weather, combined with the spark that could come from yet another shooting at any moment, could prove particularly dangerous. That, and myriad other reasons, makes it that much more important for Mayor Bill de Blasio to approve the 1,000 additional police officers that NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton has requested. The mayor -inexplicably, really, for the leader of America’s biggest city -- has held out, deeming the extra cops as unncessary. As he’s waffled, the homicide rate in the city has inched up, and weekends like our last one have rattled New Yorkers. de Blasio is a smart student of our civic history. He knows that no New York mayor -- ever -- has been effective without the support of the NYPD. He could get that by adding the 1,000 new officers now, for what could be a long, hot summer.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 Downtowner WEEK OF APRIL

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

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

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

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

2015

In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS

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

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

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

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APRIL 23-29,2015

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WHAT’S MAKING NEWS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL CONSIDERS DECRIMINALIZING SOME OFFENCES The City Council is discussing proposals that would decriminalize offenses such as fare beating, public consumption of alcohol and public urination but that face opposition from Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, the Daily News reported. If the measures were passed into law, several offences would earn violators summonses to administrative court rather than arrests and a likely day in criminal court, according to the

newspaper. But Bratton last month suggested that decriminalization of what are some of the most common criminal offenses would lead people to increasingly out laws. “I’m not supportive of the idea of civil summonses for these offenses because I think that they’d be basically totally ignored, that they don’t have any bite to them, if you will,â€? the Daily News quoted Bratton as saying during a City Council hearing last month. According to the Daily News, the seven offenses that would be considered under Council

Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s proposal are alcohol, public urination, bicycling on the sidewalk, being in the park after dark, failure to obey park signs, littering and unreasonable noise. The newspaper said that according to its analysis, those seven offenses accounted for about 42 percent of summonses issued between 2001 and June 2014 by police.

INCOME INEQUALITY HIGHEST IN MANHATTAN Income inequality is most pronounced in Manhattan The City Council is considering proposals that would decriminalize offenses such as fare beating and public consumption of alcohol. If passed, the offences would earn violators summonses to administrative court rather than arrests. Photo: David Tan via Flickr

than in any other U.S. county with a population of more than 100,000, according to a Queens College sociology professor. Crain’s New York Business Magazine reported that Andrew Beveridge discussed research last week showing that the median income of Manhattan’s top 20 percent of households – just more than $420,000 – is nearly 43 times than the median income of the bottom 20 percent of households — $9,681. When including the ďŹ ve boroughs, Beveridge’s research shows that income of the highest-earning quintile — $241,445 — is 26 times that of the bottom 20 percent – $9,188, Crain’s reported. That disparity would make New York the ninth highest among U.S. cities.

NEW YORK FASHION WEEK HAS NEW HOME IN MIDTOWN AND SOHO Months after New York Fashion week wrapped up their last show at Lincoln Center, the fashion event landed two new venues, CNBC reported.

IMG, the event’s production and marketing company, announced April 13th that the Skylight at Moynihan Station, a historic post office in Midtown, and Skylight Clarkson Square in Soho would be the event’s two new locations. The Midtown location can accommodate a 1,000 guests in one room and 500 guest in the other. A third-oor space can be used for exclusive events. Clarkson Square also has two spaces, which can 500 and 250 people, respectively. “We’re looking forward to reintroducing the industry to a showcase of creative talent, style and innovation that made the New York runways famous,â€? Mark Shapiro, chief content officer at IMG, told CNBC. The New York State Supreme Court ruled last year that Lincoln Center could not renew the event contract, in effect agreeing with New York City Parks Advocates that the event took away public space.

SHAKESPEARE PRODUCTION RISKS CANCELLATION A production of “Romeo and Juliet� scheduled for Castle

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Clinton this summer is in jeopardy, Downtown Express reports. Billie Andersson, the artistic director of the new nonproďŹ t company, Shakespeare Downtown, has appealed for money through the crowdfunding site Indiegogo for an infusion of cash. Andersson’s is hoping to raise $35,000 by the end of the month to cover such things as audio rentals, lighting, security and costumes. “We will do everything that we can to raise the money,â€? she told Downtown Express. “The worst case is that we’ll have to do it the following year. It’s not like I’m going to abandon it.â€? If Andersson is successful in raising the funds this year, she plans to start rehearsals in May and to schedule performances at the historic castle from June 2nd to June 27th. She must still get the National Park Service, which administers Castle Clinton, on board. Andersson and the agency are still in discussions regarding a use permit. Community Board 1, the Battery Conservancy and the Downtown Alliance are all in support of the production, the Downtown Express said.

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APRIL 23-29,2015

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG

COMPTROLLER FINDS VIOLATIONS AT CITY ANIMAL SHELTERS City Comptroller Scott Stringer said New York’s overcrowded animal shelters kill some sick dogs and cats, and refrigerate carcasses near medicines administered to living animals. Animal remains also have been spotted next to shelter employee lunches, he said. “How we treat our most vulnerable creatures is a reflection of our decency as a society,” Stringer said as he released findings of an audit of cityfunded shelters at a Manhattan news conference. He said Animal Care & Control, the non-for-profit organization that rescues homeless or abandoned animals, “has failed.” “We found vaccines and animal remains stored in the same fridge,” he said, adding that “incredibly, we found 499 occasions of expired drugs being given to animals.”

“I haven’t seen anything like it,” Stringer added. Animal Care & Control issued a statement Sunday saying that the organization has cooperated with the comptroller’s office throughout the audit, which was conducted between December 2013 and March 2014. “ We w i l l cont i nue to strengthen our policies and procedures to ensure optimum performance and the best possible care for our animals,” said Animal Care & Control, which posts an online “kill list” each day. The organization spends over $100 million taking in more than 30,000 animals each year at shelters in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island, plus drop-off centers in the Bronx and Queens. In 2014, more than 21,000 animals were placed with adopters or partner organizations and more than 1,600 returned to owners.

THE CHEMISTRY WAS ALL WRONG Two thieves used a chemical weapon on a subway rider. At 5 a.m. on Friday, April 10, a 21-year-old man was riding the northbound number 1 train

when he was approached by two men. The pair sprayed an unknown substance into the man’s face and then pushed him to the subway floor. They then took the victim’s wallet, in which he had $145 in cash, and credit and debit cards. The victim got off the train at the Chambers Street station while both perpetrators stayed on the train. The victim told police that he had seen the same two men inside Andy’s Deli, on Seventh Ave. South, before all three boarded the train. A canvass of the area proved fruitless but police were looking at video taken at the deli.

MARLBORO MARAUDERS At 2:31 a.m. on Sunday, April 12, thieves took 140 packs of cigarettes, with a retail value of about $1,700, from a shelf near a register inside the Duane Reade store at 250 Broadway. Police described one of the robbers as a teenage male. A canvass of the area proved negative. The items stolen were 54 packs of Marlboro Kings valued at $648, 16 packs of Marlboro Gold valued at $192, and 70 packs of regular

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Marlboros priced at $840, making a total haul of $1,680.

STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st Precinct for April 6 to April 12 Week to Date

PLANET BANDIT A combination lock was not protection against a determined locker thief at a local gym. At 6 p.m. on Monday, April 13, a 44-year-old man put his phone and other items in a locker at the Planet Fitness gym at 25 Broadway and secured it with a combination lock. When he returned to the locker room one hour later, he found his lock gone, along with the items, which included a New York attorney’s ID valued at $250, a Long Island Railroad pass priced at $243, a Samsung Galaxy 3 cell phone tagged at $250, a Metro Card valued at $40, $35 in cash, and a Jump Drive flash drive priced at $20. He subsequently canceled his stolen credit and debit cards, but at 6:42 p.m., an attempt was made to charge $32 on his Capital One card.

Year to Date

2015 2014

% Change

2015

2014

% Change

Murder

0

0

n/a

0

0

n/a

Rape

0

0

n/a

1

3

-66.7

Robbery

1

1

0

10

12

-16.7

Felony Assault

4

2

100

20

23

-13

Burglary

1

6

-83.3

41

48

-14.6

Grand Larceny

23

18

27.8

237

239

-0.8

Grand Larceny Auto

0

1

-100

2

2

0

MERCERLESS Thieves broke into a locked car parked on Mercer Street and made off with items worth nearly $2,000 on Saturday, April 11, police said. A 36-yearold man and a 31-year-old woman parked their black 2011 Audi A4 sedan in front of 84 Mercer St. When they returned, they found the driver’s-side rear window had been broken

in and two bags were missing from the backseat. The items stolen included a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses valued at $300, a pair of Vince sneakers priced at $225, a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses tagged at $200, a pair of Rag & Bone jeans priced at $200, and a pair of Seven7 jeans valued at $200, along with various other items of apparel, makeup and bags with a total value of $1,855.

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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.

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230 E. 21st St.

NYPD 1st Precinct

16 Ericsson Place

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FIRE FDNY Engine 15

25 Pitt St.

311

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227 6th Ave.

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222 E. 2nd St.

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42 South St.

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ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin

165 Park Row #11

Councilmember Rosie Mendez

237 1st Ave. #504

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Councilmember Corey Johnson

224 W. 30th St.

212-564-7757

State Senator Daniel Squadron

250 Broadway #2011

212-298-5565

Community Board 1

49 Chambers St.

212-442-5050

Community Board 2

3 Washington Square Village

212-979-2272

Community Board 3

59 E. 4th St.

212-533-5300

Community Board 4

330 W. 42nd St.

212-736-4536

Hudson Park

66 Leroy St.

212-243-6876

Ottendorfer

135 2nd Ave.

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Elmer Holmes Bobst

70 Washington Square

212-998-2500

COMMUNITY BOARDS

CHELSEA’S ‘GRASS’ ROOTS CAMPAIGN A Friends of 20th Street Park rally. Photo: NYC Park Advocates

NEWS Proposal for park on West 20th Street gaining momentum BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

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A campaign to turn a vacant lot in Chelsea into green space gained traction recently when it was featured on Councilmember Corey Johnson’s participatory budgeting ballot. The proposal would provide $200,000 for the demolition of a Dept. of Sanitation-owned low rise on the lot, at 20th Street between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue, and environmental cleanup at the site. The effort to create a park in one of the most open spacestarved neighborhoods in Manhattan began some five years ago, when Matt Weiss started a family with his wife and learned there were no parks nearby where his child could play. “We had a son, and we very quickly realized there were wonderful green spaces for kids all the way east and all the way west, and we quickly learned there was nothing in the center of Chelsea that could accommodate a family like ours,” said Weiss. In 2010, Weiss started raising awareness about the need for a park in Chelsea. He and other organizers identified a former sanitation department lot on 20th Street that was ideal for the creation of green space. After digging into the history of the site and discussing their idea in the community, the organizers, who coalesced under the name “Friends of 20th Street Park,” found out from Community Board 4 that the space had already been earmarked in 2007 for the possible creation of affordable housing. Undeterred, the friends group continued to promote the idea and unearthed a CB4 document from years earlier that laid out needs in the district.

It turns out, said Weiss, the notion of creating a park at the site on 20th Street predated the idea of using the space for affordable housing. And though affordable housing is a very worthy cause, said Weiss, there are a greater number of potential sites that can be repurposed to create affordable housing than there are sites that could potentially be converted into a park. “I think there’s been interest for some time in turning this site into a park,” said Weiss. The lot is a quarter-acre in size, about 10,000 square feet, he said, and Friends of 20th Park have succeeded in gathering more than 4,000 signatures from residents supportive of the idea. Two years ago, the group held an expo with pro-bono architectural renderings of what the park could look like. “There are lots of players here, lots of schools and PTAs, and the demand that comes with kids and outdoor space,” said Weiss. “I think there’s an opportunity for a small play space, seating for everyone, and trees, at the very least.” Ultimately, he said, it will be up to the parks department. Weiss said the (potential) park’s presence on a participa-

tory budgeting ballot made it real for him and for others who have been fighting for years for green space in Chelsea. Weiss said this is the first time people can make a tangible step by voting to create the park, “instead of just attending a rally.” “We’re very excited, we had a very strong get-out-the-vote campaign,” said Weiss. “Voting just wrapped up yesterday, but we’ve been informed that turnout was off the charts. I’m cautiously optimistic because our cause has been around for five years and has built up a lot of interest and awareness.” But even if the proposal doesn’t pass, Weiss said the attention it’s getting in the community adds to a critical mass of voices that will be hard to ignore as more momentum is gained. “Even if we score highly I think it will send a really strong message to our elected officials that there’s real will, and political will, to create a park,” said Weiss. And that’s not just an abstract idea. Friends of 20th Street Park is in the process of incorporating as a tax exempt non-profit, a move that speaks to their increased potency in Chelsea, said Weiss.

The group works closely with Johnson’s office on the initiative, as well as with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and State Assemblyman Brad Hoylman. And the momentum for a park in Chelsea exists outside of the possibility it will receive funds through participatory budgeting. Asked to comment on the park’s development, Manhattan Parks Commissioner William Castro said in a statement, “NYC Parks supports this acquisition, and we are beginning the process to identify the amount of funding needed to build a park here.” According to Matt Green, Johnson’s liaison with CB4, the city’s Office of Environmental Remediation has already embarked on a four-month environmental review of the site. Phase one of OER’s study involves ascertaining the site’s history, while the second phase involves testing the soil for possible contaminants. Taken together, said Green, both phases take about four months. “Hopefully by July we’ll know more about what the cleanup will entail once we get the results back,” he said.

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WHITNEY’S RETURN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Bergman, the community board chairman, noted that this pocket of the West Village isn’t overwhelmed with foot traffic, although he expects more taxis will travel the area’s cobblestone streets in route to the museum. Lauren Danziger, executive director of the nonprofit Meatpacking District Improvement Association, said the organization is in talks with the museum as well as with the city’s Department of Transportation and the local police precinct about the anticipated influx of traffic to the area. The city council also recently approved a business improvement district in the neighborhood, she said, which will bring more sanitation, landscaping, maintenance and public safety resources to the Meatpacking District. Danziger reflected on the near-constant change that’s taken place in the district. In the last few decades, “it’s been a meatpacking hub, and then it was a nightlife and LGBT playground, and then it’s where fashion designers relocated because it was gritty and cheap,” she said. “The Whitney is the coup de grace so to speak,” she said. “It will do wonderful things for the neighborhood, but the neighborhood is already doing wonderful things.” And unlike the New Museum, which signaled change for the Bowery neighborhood when it opened its new building on that street in 2007 in what was once a parking lot, the Whitney is set to open in an already attractive and vibrant district anchored by the High Line, boutique hotels and a velvet-rope nightlife. Ricky Madan, a video editor who works at Goldcrest Post on the corner of Horatio and Washington streets, said he’s curious to see how the Whitney will add to already swelling crowds in the neighborhood. “It’s going to be interesting,” he said. “Especially because this neighborhood already has a lot of foot traffic.” But he welcomes the presence and proximity of the institution. “I think it’s great,” he said. “I can go on my breaks.” Lindsay Herbert, who moved to an apartment on Horatio Street near West Street from Boston six months ago, said that although the museum will attract yet more people to the neighborhood, they will be something of a corrective to the boisterous weekend throngs that fill the Meatpacking District’s bars and restaurants. “I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “I would like more culture here. It’s fabulous.” But one local, Phillip Spaeth, said he feared an influx of tourists would further transform the district and, before long, make it difficult for smaller commercial establishments to meet already rising rents. Spaeth, 28, an actor who walks his French bulldog in the neighborhood, bought an apartment on Horatio Street about six years ago. He thinks places like Nonno Gourmet grocery and Kava Café, both a block south of the museum on Washington Street, could struggle, and the imminent openings of more commercial establishments on Horatio Street just west of Washington could further herald the loss of the neighborhood’s “small-town, small-city kind of vibe.” The district, he said was “turning into Soho,” with high-end boutiques themselves more akin to museums than inviting retail shops. For all the Whitney could portend for the area, though, he said he would be among the Whitney’s visitors. “I’ll enjoy it,” he said, noting that three membership offers have arrived recently through the mail. “I’m happy it’s here. I just think it has implications.” For Upper East Side resident Carol Marcus, the opening of the Whitney’s new building is bittersweet. She frequented the museum’s Madison Avenue and 75th Street location, just around the corner from her apartment. “I will miss it dearly,” Marcus said on a recent afternoon, as she visited the Whitney’s new neighborhood. “But I will make it down here.”

CITIBIKE PEDALING PAST EARLY GLITCHES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Joanna Rose, a spokeswoman for real estate giant Related Companies, whose CEO is a major investor in Citi Bike and owner of Hudson Yards. Launched in May 2013 to much fanfare, the wildly popular public bicycles have endured a bumpy ride. Superstorm Sandy swamped and damaged a fleet of bicycles in Brooklyn in 2012 and delayed the program’s debut. Bikes got stuck at docking stations and were poorly maintained. The app wasn’t reliable. People complained of a dearth of bikes in the most high-trafficked areas of the city. Alta Bicycle Share, its parent company, was nearly bankrupt when it was bought by a group of investors, then re-branded as Moti-

vate in a restructuring deal that relocated the company from Portland, Oregon, to New York. Walder, who had been running Hong Kong’s mass transit system since 2011, was hired to turn the company around. “The problems actually ended up being the software and the operations. And what a bummer,” said Caroline Samponaro, who works at Transportation Alternatives, a powerful transit advocacy group that helped launch Citi Bike in 2013. “Here you are, sort of getting this whole new transit system. And really the only thing keeping people from using it is the system itself.” She said the rider experience has improved tremendously since Walder took the helm. One major improvement stems from Citi Bike’s app software, which has been completely rewritten. Now, if you dock a bicycle, you will see the app update showing it has docked within 10 to 15 seconds, Walder said. That process used to take several minutes or

longer. “As I said to one of the suppliers ... `You do know that a New York minute is about 15 seconds,” Walder said. Motivate is upgrading all 12,000 docking points in the city and overhauling every single bike, with 4,500 of them already refurbished. And it’s doubling the number of bicycles from 6,000 to 12,000 to forge ahead into new neighborhoods, including Long Island City in Queens and Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn. After that, Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Upper West Side will be the next neighborhoods to join. Eventually, Walder wants the company’s bike share programs across North America to be linked in such a way that a New Yorker who travels to Chicago, for example, could use the Citi Bike key fob to hop on a bicycle in that Midwestern city, creating a seamless intercity bicycle network.

6

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Sports

Neighborhood Scrapbook

ASPHALT GREEN RANGERS ADVANCE

ART EXHIBIT AT 32BJ

Asphalt Green’s U15 Rangers premier team has advanced to the knock-out round of the New York State cup competition after securing 2-1 and 5-0 victories followed by a 1-1 draw in group play. They are already guaranteed to finish in either 1st or 2nd place in the group depending on the final result of two rival teams, so coach Aaron Landon can already begin preparing his talented squad for the next round of competition.

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More neighborhood news? neighborhood celebrations? neighborhood opinions? neighborhood ideas? neighborhood feedback? neighborhood concerns? Email us at news@strausnews.com

The 32BJ union will be holding its annual members’ art exhibit on June 13 at the union headquarters at 25 W. 18th St. The event will be held from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. with food and drinks. All are welcome. The initiative is intended to promote the outside interests of union members, once they are off the job. Pictured, a moment from last year’s event.

THE POET LAUREATE MAKES HER DEBUT Esther Lazarson, a 91-yearold dubbed “The Poet Laureate of the Upper West Side” in an article in this newspaper. made her poetryreading debut, in an event April 18 at the Bloomingdale Library on W. 100th Street. Lazarson read for more than an hour from her book, “Everyday Poems for Every People,” as well as from other poems written since its publication.

Esther Lazarson, left, reading from one of her poems.

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Voices

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

< IN PRAISE OF VEGAN SCHOOLS To the Editor: I am 93 years and 4 months old, and I have to say what a treat it was to read and see the children at Peck Slip public school enjoying their all-vegetarian cafeteria lunches. (“No Hot Dog Day at This School,” April 9) I was a vegetarian for 20 years and turned

to an all-vegan diet a few years ago. (It’s NEVER TOO LATE to start!) The health of humanity and the environment, and the abject cruelty to the factory farmed animals are the most common sense reasons to consider and hopefully stick to a plant-based diet. For the sake of a healthier and less-cruel

planet, I hope that many more NYC public schools will choose the all-vegetarian (make it “vegan”!) lunch menu. Natasha Brenner Chrystie St.

Students at P.S. 343, the Peck Slip School, on Chambers Street, enjoying their all-vegetarian lunches, which have been in place since last school year.

OP-ED

Letter NO FAN OF PEDESTRIAN PROPOSAL

THE DOWNSIZING OF THE CITY: A NEW YORKER’S STORY BY PHYLLIS KAY

To the Editor: Irv Lepselter’s so-called solution for pedestrian safety (Voices page, April 16) is ridiculous. Having cars come to a stop before a pedestrian crosswalk while having the favorable light will cause more congestion at intersections. What the city should do at the “biggest” intersections is install turn arrow signals, while having the Do Not Walk signal continue for pedestrians, until turn cycle is completed. For this to work, the pedestrians would have to WAIT ON SIDEWALK for walk signal, highly UNLIKELY. Pedestrians and bicyclists need to ALSO obey the rules of the road, or be ticketed. Richard Hecht

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

I represent the disappearing middle class that lives in New York City, is of a certain age and who now must retrench from a rental building that’s no longer affordable. According to my doctor — an optimist — I will probably live till I’m 89 years old or so, and if he’s right, I will outlive my money by quite a few years. Ergo, DOWNSIZE! AND DIVEST! Since I live in a nice, one-bedroom in an old building, I will have to find a tiny studio — a bit of space — somewhere, somehow, in the city I love and have always known — born here, must die here, etc. At the moment, I envision a decorative tent poised under the 59th Street bridge, armed with scented candles (all I can afford), and my Aubusson rug underfoot. But before I can downsize, I must divest! That means selling antiques and collectibles that I hauled back from Paris, London and Florence during a fashion career heyday that afforded me two expenses-paid trips a year and time for haunting antique shops and flea markets in between fashion shows. I love my things, and have “parting syndrome.” My divesting effort started with a

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

visit from a representative from Doyle auction house. A zip inand-out meeting occurred, with the focus on my French cassolets, gilded bronze candlesticks from the late 1700s, and on a French clock, circa 1814, made by the clockmaker to the Louvre, with provenance. I named my clock “Alliette,” after a French friend. It has been with me 25 years; I wind it once a week. I love her. Parting syndrome. I purchased these two beauties on a perfect spring day in Paris, memorable for a fashion show in a lovely Beaux-Arts building with a garden where breakfast was served, and outstanding, since it was the opening collection of a new designer, Christian LaCroix. Then I was off to the Paris Opera to see Rudolph Nureyev dance. The finale that day? Buying my clock and cassolets. They are still mine. The problem with the business of divesting is that, these days, collecting trends tend toward the contemporary — French is not so desirable, and offers equate to about half of what I paid. To face this impending loss (I haven’t sold anything yet), I’ve supplied myself with therapy: At least half a brownie a day, and the irrational purchase of lottery tickets several times

a week to reinforce my natural optimism, and to give me hope. I’ve learned that most selling is done online these days, and a lot of stores and estate buyers won’t visit you unless they can first view your treasures. You lure them to your premises with pictures. I am in the process of doing that now, with mixed results. An offhand visit from Mr. Flowers, the owner of a small store, sartorially resplendent in camel-hair coat, English style, confirmed that I was out of sync with current trends. My possessions were too European and not sufficiently modern luxe, or the look of the moment. He offered me $200 for assorted costume jewelry pieces, which I declined as I could not part with some of them. Besides, they are worth more. On the positive side, I just found an estate buyer. I had sent a photo of a small, glass-topped side table, and he liked it. I must now send more pictures in hopes he will ultimately visit and then buy something. From here on, my Mac will be busy, blasting out pictures of my wares. I don’t know how this will end for me. Will trends change soon enough that my possessions will take on renewed cachet?

President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com Account Executive Editor In Chief, Kyle Pope Fred Almonte, Susan Wynn editor.ot@strausnews.com Director of Partnership Development Deputy Editor, Richard Khavkine Barry Lewis editor.dt@strausnews.com

Staff Reporters, Gabrielle Alfiero, Daniel Fitzsimmons

And why hasn’t Downton Abbey moved things in my direction? I wonder what Mario Buatta thinks of all this — the Prince of Chintz must be upset. If I win the lottery, I’ll ask him to dress up my new apartment. We could spend a lot together, and a spread in Veranda magazine could help move the trend in our direction. For all those divestors out there hungering for a sale, here’s my advice: Network with everyone you know or have known. Research stores and auction houses online. And email as many pictures as possible. Set your price so you can negotiate to your benefit. With any luck, you’ll make the sale. I’m still hopeful that the new season of Downton Abbey will inspire younger buyers to appreciate the beauty of eras gone by, and to develop a taste for that glorious past, of which I have some. And in the end I hope to stay in New York, far removed from the vision of a decorative tent under the 59th Street Bridge. Phyllis Kay is a native New Yorker. A former fashion industry executive, Kay has lived in her current apartment, on the Upper East Side, for 10 years.

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

APRIL 23-29,2015

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

The Sixth Borough

The Barn Raising

BY BECCA TUCKER “You’re going to be ripped,” I said, maybe too cheerfully. “Ripped and crippled,” husband Joe grumbled. “Just call me Sisyphus.” (He’s the Greek king doomed to roll a boulder up a mountain for all eternity.) Joe has spent all of Saturday and Sunday for the past two weekends digging up rocks and boulders and tossing or rolling them out of a 16-foot by 32-foot area of the mountain we live on. Sometimes toddler Kai and I join him, Kai finding “teeny tiny Kai-sized rocks” to clear, while I pry out a few medium Mama-sized rocks and place them on the stone wall that is emerging on the north side of the site. Then we move along to some less tedious activity. This is the kind of moment I’m glad I didn’t end up being a lesbian. Who would do this work? A backhoe, probably. (Don’t get me wrong, I come from a long line of strong women who move couches on their own at age 60. I bang out 10 pull-ups every morning. We are plenty tough, but when it comes to brute strength there’s no sense arguing that a musclebound dude doesn’t have a leg up.) Joe is preparing this ground for the shed that’s going to arrive on a truck in three weeks. If you saw the last column, you’ll remember that I was leaning toward buying an old shipping container to house our next batch of chicks. When the subject came up at our Passover seder, I winced and took evasive action, knowing I’d be outnumbered and

talked out of my redneck vision. But the conversation didn’t go quite like that. An uncle – who of all that supercharged generation inherited the greatest heap of infectious energy – recommended that we get “one of those kits” and have a family barn-raising. We’d all get together and put it up, Amish style. That way they’d all feel a sense of ownership of our chickens, our farm. These are city folk; some of them will be traveling from Boston. None of us knows anything about building, which is why we arranged the date around the availability of one family friend from the Adirondacks who actually knows what he’s doing. I was moved, incredibly grateful, and… yikes, the date we settled on was in a month and a half. I needed to pull the trigger on a kit. I hadn’t even known such things as shed kits existed, where the pieces come precut and ready to be hammered and drilled into a quaint New England saltbox or a classic gambrel-roofed barn, in which you can store Christmas decorations or a snowmobile, or in our case a couple hundred chickens. At first they looked charming in the catalog shots, all decked out with horses and flowers, but then I started to notice that most of my neighbors have one. The prefab shed is, a little sadly, the new American barn. But it probably was better than a rusting cargo container. The first place I called, which was mysteriously thousands of dollars cheaper than all the others, wouldn’t be able to deliver in time. Uh oh. In two days of eye-searing internet reconnaissance I’d dug up exactly one more option for a behemoth shed with as much square footage as

we’d need: the Roanoke, constructed in Pennsylvania’s Amish country, which comes in at about eight times the cost of the shipping container and nine times the charm. It would be tight, but they thought they could get it to us in time for the barn raising. Sold. In addition to keeping our fingers crossed that the shed arrives in time, now we’re in a dead sprint to clear a space to put it, level it out as best we can and pour concrete footings. Time is tight, as is poor Joe’s lower back. This past Saturday, as Kai and I awoke from an afternoon nap, Joe came into the bedroom and announced that he’d had a “revelation”: we would just put the shed on the existing pasture, where it was already flat. Now, it wasn’t much of a revelation that the pasture was flat, or that it would be easier to put the shed there. This was the voice of exhaustion talking. I’d done some reading of homesteading books, and I knew that we should not be using our limited flat land for a coop. Of our 6.7 acres, more than two-thirds is a steep wooded mountain; the rest is heavily utilized pasture and growing and living space. We really should expand upward. But given that I was just rising from a siesta, I didn’t feel I was in much of a position to tell him he was wrong. I made the point as gently as I could, but didn’t push it. If we put the barn on the pasture, life would go on. Better that than a husband with a hernia. But he knew. Sunday morning he was out there, rolling rocks. Becca Tucker is a former Manhattanite now living on a farm upstate and writing about the rural life.

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

Safety Advocates Want Harsher Penalties for New York’s Drivers

THE TRAGEDY AFTER INVESTIGATION As many as 260 pedestrians are expected to die this year on New York City streets. But almost none of the drivers involved in those cases will be prosecuted -- adding to the nightmare for the families of the victims.

see Reyes punished for Ariel’s death, now more than a year and a half ago, in June 2013. Russo said in an interview that she finds cruel irony in the fact that she teaches history to boys the same age as Reyes, who was 17 when he ran over Ariel and her grandmother in a Nissan Frontier SUV in front of the little girl’s preschool on the Upper West Side. This is why she initially sympa

sterdam Avenue in an attempt to flee from cops who had seen him driving erratically and ordered him to pull over. The chase ended with the fatal crash on 97th Street. Originally, by giving him bail and charging him as a minor, Judge Carro was giving Reyes a chance to avoid having a public criminal record. But on Sept. 3, Reyes was again stopped for driving recklessly, without a license This time in speeding

March 2, 2015

December 4, 2014 The local paper for the Upper East Side

November 5, 2014

April 17, 2014 The local paper for the Upper West Side

LOST DOG TALE, WITH A TWIST LOCAL NEWS

A family hopes that Upper West Siders will help bring their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel back home Upper West Side For the past week, Eva Zaghari and her three children from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, have been papering the Upper West Side with over 1,300 flyers asking for information on their beloved dog Cooper. ?We are devastated, please return our dog,? the sign implores. The catch though, is that Cooper didn?t technically get lost, or even stolen. He was given away. When she explains the story, sitting at Irving Farm coffee shop on West 79th Street before heading out to post more flyers around the neighborhood, Eva and her kids are visibly distraught. About a month ago, on September 5th, her husband Ray had arranged to give the dog away, via a Craigslist ad. He mistakenly thought that removing a source of stress from his wife and kids ? walking and feeding and caring for a dog, tasks which had fallen mostly to Eva ? would make everyone happier

October 2, 2014

October 8, 2014

FI R S T I N YOU R N E I G H BO R H O O D

(212) 868-0190 The local paper for the Upper East Side

The local paper for the Upper West Side

The local paper for Downtown

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APRIL 23-29,2015

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

LOST DATA? DON’T PANIC. At Tekserve, we can recover data from almost any computer or device. Whether it’s formatted for Mac, Windows, Linux, or even iOS, we have

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

24 GUATEMALA DESPUÉS: RETHINKING THE PAST, REIMAGINING THE NOW 66 Fifth Av. and 13th Street Noon-6 p.m. This collaborative curatorial art project between the New School and Ciudad de la Imaginación reclaims histories, reveal invisible injustices, and engage in dialogues that relocate our imagination of the present. (212)229-5108, www. events.newschool.edu/ event guatemala_despues_ rethinking_the_past_ reimagining_the_now#. VTO61lbjPwI

Street 1 p.m., Tour, $25 Visit 7 modern art galleries in the downtown center for contemporary art — with exhibits in painting, sculpture, electronic media & photography. Led by Rafael Risemberg. (212)946-1548, www. nygallerytours.com

HEALTHY KIDS DAY Chinatown YMCA 273 Bowery and East Houston Street 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Free Children can have fun during an initiative to improve their health and well-being through a full day of activities. Enjoy the Paint room, Martial Arts, Snack station and more. (212)912-2460, www. thelodownny.com/calendar/

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▲ TEETH GNASH TENNESSEE Invisible — Exports 89 Eldridge St. between Grand and Hester strees 11 a.m.-6 p.m. This “rolling exhibit” showcases an array of artworkk made by artists in pairs. (212)226-5447, www. invisible-exports.com

Visit Tekserve with your device or hard drive for a free consultation.

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25 NEW YORK GALLERY TOURS ON THE LOWER ER EAST SIDE 196 Bowery near Spring

index.php?eID=9802

26 NY CHILDREN’S THEATER FESTIVAL: THE SOCK WHO LOST HIS MATE The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street 2 p.m., $19.50 Insecure Sock, Left,

undertakes a thrilling quest to rescue his mate, Right, and liberate all the socks who have gone missing on laundry day. www.nyctfest.org

9/11 MEMORIAL 5K RUN/WALK FAMILY DAY ▼ Pier 26 West and North Moore Streets Join the annual 5k run/walk to raise awareness of the museum and encourage others to volunteer in honor of September 11. Food and activities available for all. (212)627-2020, www.911memorial.org

APRIL 23-29,2015

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◄ DUCT TAPE CRAFTS Seward Park Library, 192 E. Broadway 4 p.m., Free Make some fun crafts out of duct tape. Free programs, materials provided. (212)477-6770, www.nypl. org/events/calendar

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

your opinions and concerns at the Community Board 1 Monthly meeting. Open to the Public. (212) 442-5050, www. nyc.gov/html/mancb1/html/ community/community.shtml

COMMUNITY BOARD 3 MONTHLY MEETING The Scholastic Building 166 Essex St., between East Houston and Stanton Street Learn about the updates in your neighborhood and voice your opinions and concerns

10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Swap your old books with others in this month long book swap. (212)406-7440, www. torlykid.com/pages/happenings

DOWNTOWN IS OUR HOME Our Town Downtown is Your Paper

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PAGE 4

photo-shathe-desk tex that. Look ting ring, sta rting this and week.

Now Get it Delivered to You by Mail SILENT MOVIE NIGHT HOSTED BY MATTHEW BRODERICK

at the Community Board 3 Monthly meeting. Open to the Public. (212)533-5300, www. nyc.gov/html/mancb3/html/ calendar/calendar.shtml

John L. Tishman Auditorium, University Center 65 Fifth Ave. and 13th Street 7 p.m., Free Enjoy original scores from well known silent movies performed by the New School of Music. http://events.newschool.edu

29

28 COMMUNITY BOARD 1 MONTHLY MEETING Southbridge Towers -Community Room 90 Beekman St. and Pearl Street 6 p.m., Free Learn about the updates in your neighborhood and voice

ENRICO PIERANUNZI QUARTET, VILLAGE VANGUARD 178 Seventh Ave South and 11th St. (212)255-4037 Keyboardist Enrico Pieranunzi likes to adapt classical music to the jazz gigs he performs with saxist Donny McCaslin, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Clarence Penn. www.villagevanguard.com

APRIL BOOK SWAP MONTH Torly Kids, 51 Hudson St

The Wild Project 195 E. 3rd St between avenues A and B. 8 p.m., $25 When Medea’s husband Jason leaves her and the kids for another wife, Medea the ultimate revenge by jeopardizing the lives of her children. Come enjoy this greek mythology classic. (212)228-1195, www. phoenixtheatreensemble.org

MOVIE TIME AT SEAWARD PARK LIBRARY Seaward Park Library, 192 E. Broadway 4 p.m., Free Come refresh you memory before watching the upcoming release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron by watching the movie that started it all : The Avengers. Free admission. (212) 477-6770, www.nypl.org/events/ calendar?location=67

Just $49/year Downtowner - More Neighborhood News - More Local Events - More News You Need to Know YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS SOURCE

To Subscribe: Call 212-868-0190 or go online to otdowntown.com and click on subscribe

12

APRIL 23-29,2015

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com m

KEEPING STUDENTS ON THEIR TOES Ellison Ballet grooms young dancers for professional life

BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO

With days to go before Youth America Grand Prix, an international ballet competition held at Lincoln Center, ballet teacher Edward Ellison looked on as two of his young students rehearsed their pas de deux in preparation for the show. Juliette Bosco, 12, wore a royal blue tutu, pointe shoes and an attentive gaze. Her partner, 15-yearold Theo Pilette, matched in a blue velvet jacket. As the pair moved, Ellison interjected softly and often, calling Bosco “sweetie pie” as he corrected her posture. “One day, he’ll be frustrated because I’m not listening to corrections and the next day he’ll be super happy,” Bosco said after rehearsal, free of her tutu and relaxed in a black sweatshirt, black athletic pants and Uggs. “I understand him completely.” Through his company, Ellison Ballet, Ellison prepares serious classical dance students for a professional ballet career. A onetime soloist with the San Francisco Ballet, Ellison spent years as a freelance teacher and coach working with young dancers throughout the United States and Europe, a traveling gig that grew frustrating. “I would start to build something with who I was working with and as soon as I started to see the fruits of the labor, if you will, then I would leave,” Ellison said. “I started feeling that I wanted to do something more long term.” He formed Ellison Ballet in 2005, after a friend casually suggested that he start a school where his occasional students could seek consistent instruction. He will celebrate the company’s 10-year anni-

versary with a student and alumni showcase at Symphony Space May 15 and 16. “Just that idea, start a school and start small, I couldn’t shake it,” he said. “I was just almost obsessed with that idea. And I thought, ‘Yes. I’m going to do this.’” Ten students enrolled in the first year of the program, and over the past decade the school, open to dancers ages 12-19, has swelled only slightly to include one class of boys and two classes of girls, broken up by age group. Though capped at 15 students, each class typically has only about 10 dancers who gain admission solely through audition. By its second year, the school earned a reputation as one of the more selective programs because Ellison turned students away, even if that meant leaving spots unfilled, he said. “It gave people the idea that this school is no joke,” Ellison said. Young dancers from across the country and the globe audition for the full-year program and take part in summer intensives at the school, based at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center on West 60th Street, not far from the New York City Ballet’s Lincoln Center home. “The amount of knowledge he has about classical technique is incredible,” said Rebecca Reeves, a 20-year-old dancer from Melbourne, Australia, who came to Ellison Ballet two years ago on the recommendation of her instructor. “He understands what it means to be an artist. He pushes you to dive so deep into the character that you become the character on stage.” Sara Ezzell, 19, started training with Ellison in 2012 after taking one of his classes. “He has so much passion and gives so much that I immediately knew this was the place,” she said.

In rehearsals, Ellison’s energy matches the moment. Rehearsing a scene from “Carmen” with 20 dancers, Ellison rarely sat down, and demonstrated movements and expressions while telling the girls to “put a little more jalapeno in it” when their performances registered as sweet. With Bosco and Pilette, he was more subdued and measured, but no less in command. Students attend ballet classes every day from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so dancers seek alternatives to traditional academics. Ezzell earned her high school diploma through an online program with the Harvey School, a private academy based in Katonah, New York. Bosco is home-schooled and devotes each weekend to studying. Some students who are far from home live in dormitory housing on West 88th Street. Ellison believes in establishing a strong technical foundation, and students receive daily instruction from the same teacher for years, a common practice in Russian schools but less frequently employed in the United States, said Ellison, who trained mostly with Russian teachers. In addition to Ellison, the school employs two other instructors, each responsible for one class. Dancers in the program have caught the attention of European and Russian artistic directors, including Mikhail Messerer, ballet master with the Mikhailovsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, who cast Ellison Ballet students in his company’s fall program at Lincoln Center. Bosco danced a solo in the performance, filling in for a company soloist who had struggled with the choreography. “I can’t imagine how that professional dancer felt being replaced by a 12-year-old,” said Ellison. “She

just nailed it.” In the lastt five years, every ry graduate from m the program landed contracts acts with ballet companies, including ncluding with Eifman Ballet in St. Petersburg and Pariss Opera Ballet. Reeves hopess to continue her career in her er native Melbourne. Ezzell, who o performs as Giselle at the Ballet Theater of St. Petersburg Conservatory nservatory later this spring, will soon on exit the program and is likely to accept an offer from a ballet company any shortly, though she’s short on details. “Until the papers have been signed, nothing g is for shizzle,” she said. After their performances with the Mikhailovsky sky Ballet, Messerer invited both Pilette and Bosco to train with the e Vaganova Academy, a premierr ballet school in St. Petersburg that at originated some of the training g techniques Ellison adopted. Juliette’s tte’s mother, Christina, who moved ved from Fairfield, Conn. to Weehawken, awken, New Jersey, to ease the daily ily commute to the west side of Manhattan anhattan for dance classes, hopes her daughter will spend at least another year with Ellison Ballet. “It’s going to be very difficult in the future to lett go,” she said. For Bosco, the e youngest dancer at the school, ol, letting go may prove difficult as well, though she dreams off following her idol, Russian dancer Natalia Osipova, into ballet stardom with the Bolshoi oi Ballet in Moscow or the Royal yal Ballet in London. “He’s basically lly the best teacher in the world,” Bosco said of Ellison. “I don’t think you can find anyone better than him, m, even in Russia.”

Juliette Bosco, 12, the youngest student at Ellison Ballet, with Mikhail Messerer of Mikhailovsky Ballet. Photo: Andrew Buss

5 TOP

APRIL 23-29,2015

13

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

FOR THE WEEK BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO OUR ARTS EDITOR

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

Concert, Farewell, Father, Friend and Guardian: A Musical Elegy Commemorating President Lincoln’s Death

SUNDAY, APRIL 26TH, 6PM

GALLERIES

Merchant’s House | 29 E. 4th St. | 212-777-1089 | merchantshouse.org

KELLY SAVAGE: PESTERING AND ARTIST AS ALLY

A slide lecture on Lincoln’s assassination and funeral is joined by a live performance of music composed in 1865 for a grieving nation. ($30)

For her show “Pestering,” which closes April 25, Brooklyn artist Kelly Savage formed large paper images on the wall of the gallery with tiny, meticulous cutouts that, when seen up close, reveal themselves as insects and bugs, a commentary on how women are labeled as nags and pests. The artist leads a discussion about the artist’s role as an advocate for communities. Kelly Savage: Pestering and Artist as Ally Saturday, April 25 Soho20 548 W. 28th St. suite 333, near 11th Avenue 5 p.m. FREE For more information, visit http://soho20gallery.com/ or call 212.367.8994

Profits and Persecution: German Big Business and the Holocaust

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29TH, 7PM Barnes & Noble | 36 Battery Pl. | 646-437-4202 | mjhnyc.org An expert in 20th century Germany describes how cooperation spiralled into complicity for the nation’s business community in the Nazi years. ($15)

Just Announced: LIVE from the NYPL | Werner Herzog and Paul Holdengräber

TUESDAY, JUNE 16TH, 7PM TSENG KWONG CHI: PERFORMING FOR THE CAMERA

THEATER

This career retrospective of 1980s downtown Manhattan fixture Tseng Kwong Chi, the first of its kind for the Hong Kong-born Canadian photographer, features the artist’s celebrated self-portrait series “East Meets West,” in which he snapped photos of himself in front of American iconography, such as the Brooklyn Bridge and Mount Rushmore. Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera Through July 11 Grey Art Gallery at New York University 100 Washington Square East, near Washington Place Gallery hours: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Wednesday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Suggested donation $3 For more information, visit nyu.edu/greyart, or call 212-998-6780

TOAST

IN CONVERSATION CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON AND RITA MORENO Dancer and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon began training with the Royal Ballet School in London at the age of 11, dancing with the company before coming to New York, where he became New York City Ballet’s first resident choreographer. Wheeldon discusses his career, including the recent debut of the Broadway musical “An American in Paris” which he directed and choreographed, with stage and film star Rita Moreno. Christopher Wheeldon and Rita Moreno Monday, April 27 Symphony Space 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street 7 p.m. Tickets $15 To purchase tickets, visit symphonyspace.org or call 212-864-5400

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building | 476 Fifth Ave. | 917-275-6975 | nypl.org The always fascinating filmmaker Werner Herzog returns to the NYPL for a conversation on the Ancient Greeks. ($25)

Poet Lemon Andersen’s new work, which incorporates elements and characters from black spoken word narratives, follows D-block inmate Willie Greene, who has served 27 years in Attica Correctional Facility, as the institution’s 1971 riots break out. ToasT Through May 10 Public Theater 425 Lafayette St., near E. 8th Street Assorted show times Tickets $20 To purchase tickets, visit publictheater.org or call 212-967-7555

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

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

,2015 ARY 12-18 5  FEBRU 12-18 ,201 Town n FEBRUARY

OurTow 12 Our 12

KIDS

CHIELE, EGEGOONBNESLSCOHNIEDISLEISP, PLALAYY RREBE EL ON D

STORY PIRATES GREATEST HITS SHOW National education organization Story Pirates brings sketch comedy to kids with musical performances by professional actors and musicians. The show is built solely on stories written by young children, with characters that include flying cats, tickle monsters and kung fu. Story Pirates Greatest Hits Show Sunday, April 26 Lincoln Center Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse 165 W. 65th St., 10th floor of the Rose Building, near Amsterdam Avenue 11 a.m. Tickets $25 To purchase tickets, visit lc.lincolncenter.org/ shows or call 212-258-9595 To be included in the Top 5 go to otdowntown.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.

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EVERY WEEK IN Downtowner

14

APRIL 23-29,2015

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS APR 13 - 17, 2015

Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits

The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml. Palm Restaurant

200 Chambers Street

A

One World Observatory

1 World Trade Ctr

Not Graded Yet - No violations were recorded at the initial nonoperational pre-permit inspection conducted on 04/14/2015, or violations cited were dismissed at an administrative hearing.

Aroma Espresso Bar

100 Church Street

A

Remix

24 Murray Street

A

Muscle Maker Grill

10 Murray Street

Grade Pending (20) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

47 West 14 Street

Grade Pending (21) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Pierre Loti Cafe & Wine Bar 258 West 15 Street

A

Periyali

A

35 West 20 Street

Chelsea Square Restaurant 368 West 23 Street

A

Dirty Bird To-Go

204 West 14 Street

A

Blue Ginger

106 8 Avenue

Grade Pending (16) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream

48 1/2 East 7 Street

A

Pho Seng

174 2 Avenue

Grade Pending (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Shellfish not from approved source, improperly tagged/labeled; tags not retained for 90 days.

Soho Tiffin Junction

42 E 8Th St

Grade Pending (18) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.

L’express

249 Park Avenue South

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

Tea And Sympathy

108 Greenwich Avenue

A

Umami Burger

432 Avenue Of The Americas

A

Current

59 Chelsea Piers

Not Graded Yet - No violations were recorded at the initial nonoperational pre-permit inspection conducted on 04/13/2015, or violations cited were dismissed at an administrative hearing.

Da Umberto Restaurant

107 West 17 Street

A

One 7 Karaoke

29 West 17 Street

Grade Pending (20) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Colicchio & Sons

85 10 Avenue

Grade Pending (31) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Virage

118 2 Avenue

A

Lea Wine Bar

230 Park Avenue

A

Bahr Che

26 Astor Place

A

David’s Bagels

273 1 Avenue

A

Prime & Beyond New York

90 East 10 Street

A

Lui’s Thai Food

128 East 4 Street

A

Asia De Cuba

415 Lafayette St

Not Graded Yet (27) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

North Square

103 Waverly Place

A

Neta

61 West 8 Street

Grade Pending (24) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment.

Cherry

355 W 16Th St

Grade Pending (19) Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Mcdonald’s

724 Broadway

A

La Palapa

77 St Marks Place

A

Mermaid Inn

96 2 Avenue

A

Oh Taisho

9 St Marks Place

A

O’hanlon’s Bar

349 East 14 Street

A

Saikai

24 Greenwich Avenue

A

Graffiti

224 East 10 Street

A

Lena

1 W 8Th St

A

Vinny Vincenz

231 1 Avenue

El Coco

197 7Th Ave

A

Game

248 West 14 Street

Grade Pending (17) Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.

Grade Pending (21) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Highline Ballroom

431 West 16 Street

A

Klong

7 Saint Marks Pl

Grade Pending (21) Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

APRIL 23-29,2015

15

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Real Estate Sales Neighborhd

Address

Price

Bed Bath Agent

Battery Park City

200 Rector Place

$745,000

1

1

Corcoran

Battery Park City

2 River Terrace

$1,190,000

1

1

Battery Park Realty

Battery Park City

280 Rector Place

$475,000

Battery Park City

30 W St.

$980,000

1

1

Corcoran

Chelsea

148 W 23 St.

$1,625,000

2

1

Douglas Elliman

Chelsea

259 W 21 St.

$1,200,000 1

1

S.M.Apfel Company

Chelsea

127 W 15 St.

$575,000

0

1

Corcoran

E Village

38 E 1 St.

$6,090,000 3

3

Corcoran

E Village

226 E 12 St.

$298,000

0

1

Citi Habitats

E Village

222 E 11 St.

$1,650,000

E Village

70 E 10 St.

$2,775,000

2

2

Owner

E Village

184 E 7 St.

$505,000

1

1

Anna Pastoressa

E Village

226 E 2 St.

$780,000

2

1

Compass

E Village

99 Ave. B

$1,345,000 2

2

Corcoran

E Village

141 E 3 St.

$1,175,000

1

1

Halstead Property

E Village

167 Ave. C

$17,303

E Village

169 Ave. C

$31,145

Financial District

20 W St.

$680,000

0

1

Nestseekers

Financial District

20 W St.

$785,000

1

1

New York Residence

Financial District

40 Broad St.

$1,430,000 2

2

Corcoran

Financial District

15 William St.

$1,670,000

2

2

Prodigy International

Financial District

15 William St.

$1,075,272

1

1

Douglas Elliman

Financial District

20 Pine St.

$1,300,000 2

1

Keller Williams Nyc

Financial District

88 Greenwich St.

$645,000

0.5 1

Town Residential

Financial District

123 Washington St.

$1,303,360

1

Corcoran

Financial District

120 Greenwich St.

$405,807

Flatiron

105 5 Ave.

$2,050,000 2

Flatiron

15 Union Square W

$6,125,000

Flatiron

280 Park Ave. South

$1,235,000

1

1

2

1

Sotheby’s

The Maher Group

Reach Manhattan’s Foodies

96%

39% of readers report eating out

more than four times a week ink

n MAY

23 E 22 St.

$1,605,016

Flatiron

27 W 19 St.

$5,200,000

Flatiron

16 W 16 St.

$487,500

0

1

Douglas Elliman

Fulton/Seaport

99 John St.

$738,231

0

1

Nestseekers

Fulton/Seaport

111 Fulton St.

$1,825,000 2

2

Luiman Real Estate

Fulton/Seaport

264 Water St.

$1,094,618

1

1

The Marketing Directors

Gramercy Park

205 3 Ave.

$565,000

Gramercy Park

1 Irving Place

$1,400,000 1

1

One Irving Place Realty

Gramercy Park

305 2 Ave.

$1,170,987

1

1

Cantor And Pecorella

Gramercy Park

230 E 15 St.

$380,000

0

1

Brooklyn Properties

Greenwich Village

44 E 12 St.

$1,660,000 1

1

Citi Habitats

Greenwich Village

54 E 11 St.

$4,300,000

Greenwich Village

67 E 11 St.

$486,720

0

1

Douglas Elliman

Greenwich Village

67 E 11 St.

$399,000

0

1

Keller Williams Nyc

& Dr Food

1, 2014

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FES TIVALS

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Downtowner YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS SOURCE

16

APRIL 23-29,2015

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Business

< FAST FOOD WORKERS TAKE TO STREETS Workers at some of the city’s fast food chains advocated for higher wages on April 15, the New York Post reported. Protesting outside some of their employers’ locations, the workers demanded an increase in pay to at least $15

In Brief OFFICIALS URGE FCC AND VERIZON TO BETTER SERVE SENIOR CITIZENS A coalition of city, state and federal elected officials sent a letter to the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission urging the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau to revise Verizon’s Lifeline program to include multi-lingual notices and inform subscribers of recertification and service changes. Overseen by the FCC, the Verizon Lifeline program provides seniors—many of whom struggle financially due to fixed incomes with vital discounts to their landline phone service. In 2014, Verizon opted to work with Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), a third party provider, on the recertification process. Shortly thereafter, hundreds of longtime recipients of the Lifeline program found their benefits discontinued without prior notice. Officials raised concerns over the third party’s confusing recertification process, in which forms are only offered in English.

CITY COUNCIL: RESTORE PARK FUNDING City Council Parks Committee Chair Mark Levine announced recently that in its response to the mayor’s preliminary budget, the City Council is advocating for restoration of funding to critical parks programs. The council’s proposa, “would enhance crucial public investment focused on low- and middle-income parks, as well as funding for additional gardeners, maintenance workers and PEP officers throughout the city,” according to a release from Levine’s office. “The $21 million in parks funding called for by the City Council supports continued enhancement of our parks with an eye towards making sure that improvements are felt equally in each neighborhood throughout the city - including low- and moderate-income areas,” said Levine. “The council’s proposal will help our parks thrive and be the vibrant centers of community that they should be for every New Yorker, no matter where they live.”

BREWER APPOINTS 316 TO COMMUNITY BOARDS Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer announced a slate of 316 appointments to Manhattan’s 12 community boards. The appointments will take effect on May 1, 2015, and include 90 new members, more than a quarter of the total appointments. “On zoning, land use, and how government interacts with our communities, Manhattan’s community boards are at the center of it all,” said Brewer. “It’s exciting that so many New Yorkers want to volunteer their time, their energy, and their skills to help our borough and our city.” Brewer’s office continued its revamp of the community board application process by making Manhattan the first borough to accept community board applications online, scoring applications in a formal review process, and evaluating applicants’ participation in structured group problem-solving and discussion scenarios rather than one-on-one interviews.

an hour. The Service Employees International Union, which organized protests at 230 locations nationally, is working to unionize fastfood restaurant employees, the Post reported. Meanwhile, a report issued by advocacy group

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United shows the astronomic cost of such low wages on the public, finding that public assistance for restaurant employees costs more than $9.4 billion a year.

WELCOMING OLDER WORKERS AGE SMART EMPLOYER AWARDS A tailor who uses seasoned workers to offset a shortage in the city Bridge Cleaners and Tailors is owned by Victoria Aviles, a Colombian immigrant in her 60s, who worked her way up from sweeping in a dry cleaners to becoming a couture tailor and business owner. She is now joined by her 29-year-old son Richard. “Every tailor here comes from a different country. Many of them have been offered to make more somewhere else, but they stay because they feel at home here,” Richard said. “We’re running less of a business and more of a family. Everyday for lunch, someone cooks a large dish and they all share it for lunch. When one tailor’s house burnt down, everyone chipped in, clothes, food and money.” The business, with stores in SoHo and Brooklyn, highly values its older workers, particularly its 15 tailors, who are all in their 60s and 70s, as there is a shortage of tailors citywide. They do not have a clear plan for how to replace these tailors if they decide to leave. “There are skills not found or taught here in the U.S.,” said Richard. “Even at FIT, they are not teaching proper sewing techniques. It is more of an art. And then computers have also taken over. For example, if the business is looking for a seamstress and a pattern maker, someone from FIT might know how to make a pattern, but then can’t cut it. You can design suits, but you can’t tailor them.” Richard says that tailors

working by hand are still the only way to custom tailor clothing. “A machine for the foreseeable future will not be able to remove certain stains or alter a garment to a person’s preferences,” he said. “I don’t know what we’ll do,” he said. “Thankfully there are still people out there in other countries who know how to do this work.” Richard says that he values older workers for a list of reasons, in addition to needing them for their skills. “I find that older workers take the job more seriously. People who have endured pain in the past feel they have to prove themselves and get validation from their job,” he said. He also said that older workers also see the whole – the context of their work – because of their experience, instead of just the one piece they are working on.

The business also tries to make the work place as comfortable as possible for all workers, who often work long hours. When one worker asks for a change to their work station – like fatigue mats or more comfortable chairs – they buy it for everyone. They have also moved clothing closer to people’s stations and structure the space so they do not have to go up and down the stairs. While his mother has an iPhone that she does not turn on, Richard brings technological expertise and a desire to streamline their process. “We used to have post-its all over. It was the way we assigned tasks to everyone, to each other. They were everywhere. It was the worst thing ever. So I got everyone email addresses, we all got an app, and we now have a task management system. It’s not a choice.” He says it is important to bring everyone along with the

technology, so they don’t get left behind. “If you do not change with the times, you’ll get swallowed up,” he said. “Companies and people become irrelevant. Those types of businesses are disrupted by smaller, leaner, lighter start ups.” Do you know a business that thrives with the help of its older workers -- do you run one? Apply for a 2015 Age Smart Employer Award. This award, in its second year, recognizes New York City businesses and nonprofits that organizations that have policies and practices that help to hire, retain, and engage four generations of workers. The awards are an initiative of the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center and The New York Academy of Medicine, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. For more information about the awards and the application process, visit www. agesmartemployer.org

APRIL 23-29,2015

17

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

BINDING TOGETHER A COMMUNITY SENIORS Volunteers gather to find the lost art of bookbinding

If you like Our Town Downtown, you’re gonna love getting a personal copy at home with Our Town - Downtowner!

BY SARA TRACEY

Tucked into a third-floor room in a brick building in Atlantic City, a small group of people is saving history. Or repackaging it, at least. In the workroom of Myriam’s Dream Bookbindery, senior citizens bind, cut and print books to make them close to new. The core group of about 10 volunteers work for churches, synagogues and school districts, says bookbindery coordinator Emmy Todd. The seniors even bind together newsletters from Crestwood Manor, a senior living facility in Manchester Township. Most projects come from individuals wanting dog ears removed and history-worn covers of their family books repaired. Bibles and other religious books top that list, although cookbooks, dissertations and manuscripts also come across their desks. All the volunteers are age 55 and older. Some say they do it for the challenge. There are between eight and 13 steps - depending on the person you talk to - to bind a book. Sometimes hours of work stretch through weeks. Others do it for the love of books, the same love that motivates people to want to give their books a second life. With ebooks and other new technologies, there aren’t quite as many people looking to preserve their books these days. “You see school budgets shrinking, and (repairing books) isn’t a priority,” Howard Rosenfeld told The Press of Atlantic City. He’s been a volunteer for the past five years and is a member of the BERON Jewish Older Adult Services board. It was a funeral that brought Sue Stryker to the bookbindery for the first time. She ran into Todd at her father-in-law’s funeral. Todd asked Stryker if she was retired. The former art teacher and director of special education for the Pinelands Regional School District said yes. “I went through an informal training session,” says Stryker, 67, of Galloway Township, who started volunteering with the bookbindery in 2011. “I worked in schools for 30 years. Kids just aren’t careful with books,”

she said. “Most of the books we see are covers that are coming off, or writing in the margins.” Usually, volunteers take classes at the bookbindery to learn the various stages of disrepair and the steps to reverse them. Stryker instead shadowed different volunteers for a few weeks. She ultimately settled in with Ruth Gold, the “expert printer” of the group. Stryker learned how to arrange the hot-type letters used for printing covers - upside-down and in reverse order - so they appear properly on the pages and book covers. Gold died two or three years ago, after losing a battle with breast cancer, Stryker said. Two photos of her grace the wall behind Stryker’s workstation, bookends to the hundreds of letterpress symbols and the hot press. Letters and symbols are arranged by size. Some a large enough for Stryker to pinch between her thumb and forefinger. Small ones require extraction with a long pair of tweezers. One of the most expensive pieces of equipment she works with is a set of bronze Hebrew letters. The fall and winter months are the slow season, until summer comes and schools send out dozens of books to be repaired at a time. In the down time, Stryker brings out her acrylic paints every so often and leads whoever’s volunteering that day through an impromptu painting lesson. “For every customer, you can see their books are precious to them,” she said. Stryker admitted she has a Kindle at home, but said she appreciates a good printed product. Sam Marziano says he loves a challenge. When he was a tool designer for the federal government through the Vietnam War,

Marziano helped develop technology to help soldiers operate the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. He took those tinkering talents to the bookbindery when he started in 1990, when the organization was still in its original Ventnor location. At the time, volunteers handgrooved the binding - making space for threads that would keep the pages together - using a hack saw. Marziano did that one better: He built a groover at home, which saws six indents into the binding at once. He’s created other tools to help the restoration process, including narrowing the blade that cuts book pages. Instead of lasting through one year, Marziano claims his five-degree change has extended the life of the blade for several years. It was last changed on Sept. 7, 2011. On March 30, Marziano returned to the bookbindery after suffering a stroke. The man who used to walk four miles around the Links at Brigantine Beach can now trudge through two. But he said he’s not ready to slow down. “Life is full of surprises, good and bad,” said Marziano, 89. “When you get something bad, it’s a challenge.” He’s got a record of some of those challenges around his workspace in the bookbindery. Before-and-after pictures of his favorite projects surround the corner of the bindery where Marziano keeps his tools. He spent 40 hours - not at once, mind you - reworking a rough, roughly 1,600-page Bible. “They show me their book, and I show them what I’ve done,” he said, waving a wizened hand across the photographs. “Their reaction when they get it back, `Is that my book?’ it’s worth a million dollars.”

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A DEBATE OVER PARKING ON 74TH STREET Will the looming educational and medical complex on 74th Street create a parking and safety problem? BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

A joint-venture by Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and CUNY Hunter College to build a medical and educational facility on East 74th Street has cleared almost every hurdle needed before construction can begin. Taken together, the hospital and school will occupy a 1.1 million-square-foot building on 74th Street between York Avenue and FDR Drive. Sixty percent of the space will be allocated to MSK’s cancer outpatient facility and CUNY will occupy the remaining 403,000 square feet. The only thing standing in the project’s way is an appeal of a dismissed lawsuit that was brought by Yorkville residents who allege the city engaged in spot zoning when it approved the project and that its environmental review process was flawed. But another, much smaller, component of the lawsuit has raised a question over whether MSK/CUNY, and the city in approving the application, provided an adequate amount of parking to meet the new facility’s demand. Al Butzel, an attorney representing the Yorkville residents who brought the suit, organized under the moniker Residents for Reasonable Develop-

ment, said demand for parking will far exceed supply when the facility is completed in 2019. “There’s going to be huge amounts of traffic going into this space and it’s going to overwhelm any parking garage capacity that they’re building,” said Butzel. “It’s going to overwhelm the neighborhood because [the MSK facility] is ambulatory. Everyone has to come either by taxi, car, foot or bus, and a lot of people are going to come by car. They’re going to jam up the streets and make things miserable for everyone.” According to MSK/CUNY’s study of the impact that their facility will have on the surrounding community, the proposed project will generate 316 vehicle trips during peak morning hours, 329 vehicle trips during peak midday hours, and 375 vehicle trips during peak evening hours. Those projections take into account trips made by personal vehicles, taxis, delivery trucks and ambulances, and include projections for both the MSK and CUNY facilities. According to MSK/CUNY, access and egress to the garage, which would be provided via valet parking, will be located on the south side of East 74th Street. To mitigate the parking volume, MSK/CUNY plans to build an underground, 248-space parking facility. Of those who cannot find parking space in their facility, “drivers would drop off the patients at the [MSK facility] first before cir-

culating to find off-site parking,” according to the study. A spokesperson for MSK said the planned parking facility will be for patients and visitors to the facility, and that CUNY Hunter staff will not be allowed to park there while MSK staff will be asked to park elsewhere. “The [environmental review] showed that few, if any, CUNY/ Hunter staff would drive to the facility and therefore parking was not needed for that portion of the project,” said the spokesperson. “MSK agreed to a series of measures to encourage staff parking at the farther ring of garages.” But Bob Jackman, a Yorkville resident who chairs Residents for Reasonable Development, pointed out that it’s not so much a lack of parking that’s the issue, but rather traffic safety for pedestrians in an already congested part of the Upper East Side. “This community is already overburdened with traffic around 74th Street and you can’t get anywhere on York Avenue in the morning or afternoon,” said Jackman. “To think that we’re going to add to that, during the day, is incredible. The impact on traffic safety in the community is going to be extreme.” In dismissing RRD’s suit, Judge Alexander Hunter said MSK/CUNY’s existing environmental impact statement, which includes transportation and traffic studies, is sufficient.

A rendering of the proposed 1 million square foot Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital/CUNY Hunter College facility on East 74th Street. Butzel questioned the validity of the MSK/CUNY traffic studies and said it’s hard to challenge, in court, reports that are carried out by experts hired by an applicant. “It’s all just done with smoke and mirrors, but you can’t really attack it,” said Butzel. “It’s part of our suit but not really a strong part.” According to City Planning’s

report on the project, MSK/ CUNY is actually building more parking space than current zoning provides for in that area. In its review of the proposal, the planning commission said MSK/CUNY applied for a permit to build 248 parking spaces in their underground garage, 82 more than the 166 spaces that would be, “permitted as of right on the subject property.” “[MSK/CUNY] has indicated that they expect many of those visiting the facility for treatment to arrive primarily by automobile, thereby generating a greater need for parking spaces,” said the commission in approving MSK/CUNY’s permit for more parking space. “The commission believes that the accessory garage would adequately provide for the pa-

tient and visitor communities and minimize the demand for parking and consequent traffic and circulation in the vicinity of the building.” Jackman disagrees. If construction goes ahead as planned, he said, the facility will put Yorkville residents at risk, particularly the elderly and school-aged children. “Within three or four blocks of the proposed facility, there’s a public elementary school, two private schools, and a public high school. There’s also a preschool on the same block as this planned facility. You’re talking about a real concentration of kids in this area,” he said. “I think we’ll see more pedestrian injuries and deaths as a result [of the MSK/CUNY facility].”

APRIL 23-29,2015

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CEO of world’s largest ad agency says readers are better able to retain information in print than online

DECISION ON M.T.S. RAMP IN MAYOR’S HANDS Activists hope de Blasio shifts ramp to 92nd Street BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

After months of discussion -and what seems like a lifetime as one of the most-debated issues on the Upper East Side -- a decision from city officials on whether to move the marine transfer station’s access ramp one block north has been referred to Mayor Bill de Blasio, according to sources briefed on the issue. At a March 30 meeting, Dept. of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia told Pledge 2 Protect, a community group advocating against the MTS on the Upper East Side, that the matter had been turned over to the mayor’s office, and that a decision should be forthcoming in the weeks following the meeting, sources said. In a statement, Pledge 2 Protect president Kelly NimmoGuenther said she believes de Blasio will agree to move the ramp. “After meeting with the commissioner, we are confident that Mayor de Blasio will agree that moving the ramp is necessary to save lives,” said Nimmo-Guenther. “However, we hope he will realize that this is not enough, and there are other important measures that we have put forward which will further protect New Yorkers.” In a comment to Our Town, a sanitation department spokesperson said Commissioner Garcia, at a March 25 city council preliminary budget hear-

ing, said that a decision on the ramp would be made in May. Other sources told Our Town that at a community advisory group meeting last Friday, Tom Killeen, the deputy director for solid waste management operations for DSNY, said a decision on the ramp is about four weeks away. If the ramp is moved from 91st Street to 92nd Street, in accordance with a proposal floated by Asphalt Green and traffic engineer Sam Schwartz, the sanitation department indicated it may keep the 91st Street ramp for emergency use. After hiring Schwartz to conduct a study on alternative sites for the ramp, Asphalt Green, whose athletic campus would be bisected by the current access ramp at 91st Street, launched an ad campaign last year to convince de Blasio to move the ramp a block north in accordance with Scwartz’s proposal. Sources said the sanitation department has made other concessions in connection with the MTS but does not go far enough in assuaging community concerns that operating the facility at 91st Street will seriously impact the health of the people who use the center. For instance, the department has agreed to conduct occassional air pollution studies but has not committed to continually monitoring air quality around the facility. “With continuous monitoring, it would be possible to shut down activity at the MTS if pollution exceeds safe lev-

els, something to which the city has not agreed,” said the source. In another example, the sanitation department has agreed to put emission-capping pollution controls on city-owned garbage trucks, but will not be requiring private operators who use the MTS to comply with emission caps until 2020. “The community wants the city to require it now,” said the source. And while the sanitation department has agreed to place traffic control officers at the ramp, the community is asking for trained crossing guards and NYPD traffic officers at major intersections around the facility. Specific locations for the crossing guards will be determined after a pedestrian safety and traffic study is conducted to determine the best truck routes. Nearby NYCHA residents are also asking for plantings and/ or a solid barrier to create a diesel air and noise pollution buffer zone along the future truck routes and the existing FDR Drive. Also, pollution control air filters on all air conditioning units in Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center and Eisman Day Care center have been requested. “The commitments already obtained from the city and those being requested are so numerous and complex that continuous monitoring will be needed by the community to make sure that the city keeps its word,” said the source.

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“Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, said...that clients and agencies may want to rethink the shift of ad dollars into online media at the expense of traditional outlets, The Times of London reported. Mr. Sorrell said that print media may be more powerful than people think. According to The Times, Mr. Sorrell said recent research has found that traditional media can be more engaging and readers are likely to better retain information in print magazines and newspapers than with online and mobile content.”

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If you like Our Town Downtown, you’re gonna love getting a personal copy at home with Our Town-Downtowner! Everything you like about Our Town Downtown is now available delivered to your mailbox every week in Our Town - Downtowner From the very local news of your neighborhood to information about upcoming events and activities, the new home delivered edition of Our Town - Downtowner will keep you in-the-know. And best of all you won’t have to remember to grab a copy from the box or the mailroom every week.

It’s your neighborhood. It’s your news. And now it’s delivered directly to your mailbox every week!

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

To read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes” go to otdowntown.com/15 minutes

A DOCTOR WITH A LOT OF HEART Dr. Jennifer Mieres spreads cardiac awareness

BY ANGELA BARBUTI

When Dr. Jennifer Mieres started her career, there were few women in the field of cardiology. Today, she is one of the leading experts in heart health, with a special focus on women. She goes above and beyond her job description, and works to educate the female population by providing simple steps that can prevent heart disease. Her book, Heart Smart for Black Women and Latinas, and documentary, A Woman’s Heart — which was nominated for an Emmy — do just that. Her newest project, Rx: The Quiet Revolution, premiered on PBS on April 2nd. As an executive producer alongside filmmaker David Grubin, she explained that the documentary tells the stories of health care professionals across the nation who put their patients at the heart of their practices. Mieres’ jobs as senior vice president in the Office of Community and Public Health at North Shore-LIJ and professor of cardiology at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine means she’s had to “hang up her stethoscope.” Although she is no longer seeing patients, her work is dedicated to impacting policy to foster their empowerment. An Upper East Sider, Mieres’ home, as well as her professional roots, are in Manhattan. She began her training at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt and was later chosen to be the chief of nuclear cardiology at NYU Langone Medical Center. The 55-year-old has seen the extraordinary advancements in the field over the years. “When I started medical school, a heart attack was just about lethal. Now we have drugs that break up a clot and started putting stents in,” she said.

When you were seven, you knew you wanted to be a heart doctor after your grandfather passed away from a heart attack. My grandfather having heart disease, or hardening of the arteries as it was called, made me vow to be a doctor. I thought that if I was a doctor I could help him and he wouldn’t

have to die and leave us all. And so I pursued the sciences. I grew up in Trinidad and then went to Bennington and was on the path to becoming a physician. I went to BU for medical school where I met Dr. Alice Jacobs, a female cardiologist, and she inspired me and showed me that cardiology was what I wanted to do. There were very few women in cardiology at the time. I did my training in New York City, at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt, and I met another strong female role model, Dr. Judith Hochman, who inspired me to continue my path in cardiology, but also do research and look at women and heart disease. She became my hero, mentor and sponsor, not only for my academic advancement, but for the areas of work-life balance and motherhood .While at St. Luke’s, I also met Doctors Alan Rozanski and Gordon DePuey, who had just come to St. Luke’s from Cedar Sinai and they were focusing on imaging of the heart, and that’s how I became involved in nuclear cardiology. They supported my success and my becoming the first female president of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology.

cruited by NYU to be their director of nuclear cardiology and was there for four years, after being the director of nuclear cardiology at North Shore in Manhasset.

What is nuclear cardiology?

You were nominated for an Emmy for producing a PBS documentary called A Women’s Heart. Did you ever think you would become involved in the film world?

Nuclear cardiology involves using a small amount of radioactive material to look at the blood flow to the heart during rest and exercise. And the whole theory is that if you have blockage of the arteries, blood flow will be normal at rest, but when you exercise, you would see deficiencies in the flow. I became a nuclear cardiologist, really an imager, and used that skill to figure out which tests were better for diagnosing coronary artery disease in women.

What was your experience like at NYU? It was really a great experience for me. I had the chief of cardiology, Dr. Glenn Fishman, and Dr. Hochman, my mentor, who were very supportive. It was an academically focused environment. There was a lot of support for clinical research and community outreach and engagement. At the time I was president of ASNC [American Society of Nuclear Cardiology]so that was highly supported. I got re-

You wrote the book Heart Smart for Black Women and Latinas. What sparked that project? I had been volunteering for the American Heart Association since 1999. My mantra in life is that you got to give back, which came from my mom and dad.The reason to write the book came from the people I met along the way when I was doing lectures across the country for the American Heart Association. They said, “You have to make it simple for us.” I would always say that 80 percent of heart disease can be prevented. And the women who I would meet would say to me, “It sounds good, but if you could write it down and make it simple, it would be something we can refer to.” There were books about heart disease, but they were written from the intellectual perspective. The idea is that simple things can become part of your daily routine to fight heart disease.

No. Part of who I am is an educator. The producer I work with said, “People in this country take their cues from the media. The way you reach people is by getting people to tell their stories on film.” And I never thought I could do it, and then I took the challenge and it was quite an impressive journey.

Your new documentary is called Rx: The Quiet Revolution. Why did you choose that name? I saw that we still live in a country where people are not partners in their health, so the idea came to show communities in the United States that have taken health care into their own hands. I felt it could be a powerful piece, so I partnered with David Grubin who had produced The Mysterious Human Heart. We put our heads together to figure out what to call it.

“RX” was his idea and he added “The Quiet Revolution,” because after he had toured the country and spoken to patients, doctors, nurses and medical teams, somebody said to him, “This is a quiet revolution.” Not many knew about these patterns of care in the United States. My goal was to change the health care conversation. No one is really talking about the true meaning of that patient partnership. A large percent of health care outcomes occur outside of the doctor/patient or medical team encounters. So how do you empower people? How do you get them to be partners?

What have you learned through your research for the book and documentaries? I really learned about people’s perceptions. I found that most people want to do the right thing, but there were lots of cultural and personal misperceptions on health and medications. I learned that there was definitely a lack of trust of the medical community and that the doctor/patient community was fractured.

What is the hardest part of your job?

It’s integrating the tenets of diversity into daily health care delivery. It’s much easier when training medical students because they’re thirsty and open to a whole new model where patients come first. Dealing with a large health system and trying to make cultural competency and elimination of disparity a key part of everyday life is just a little bit challenging. And understandably so, because health care is in a huge transitional phase right now and doctors are burdened with paperwork and electronic medical records, so I work with my team to integrate small changes one step at a time to foster cultural and linguistic competency into the daily practice of medicine. Follow Mieres on Twitter @DrJMieres. For more information on Rx: The Quiet Revolution, visit: www.rxfilm.org

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POLICY NOTICE: We make every effort to avoid mistakes in your classified ads. Check your ad the first week it runs. We will only accept responsibility for the first incorrect insertion. Manhattan Media Classifieds assumes no financial responsibility for errors or omissions. We reserve the right to edit, reject, or re-classify any ad. Contact your sales rep directly for copy changes. All classified ads are pre-paid. REAL ESTATE - SALE

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Allstate - The Wright Agency Anthony Wright 718 671 8000 Ao65989@allstate.com Auto.home.life.retirement CARMEL Car & Limousine Service To JFK… $52 To Newark… $51 To LaGuardia… $34 1-212-666-6666 Toll Free 1-800-9-Carmel

Directory of Business & Services To advertise in this directory Call Susan (212)-868-0190 ext.417 Classified2@strausnews.com

ANTIQUES WANTED

TOP PRICES PAID

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

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800.530.0006

Frank E. Campbell The Funeral Chapel Known for excellence since 1898 - 1076 Madison Ave, at 81st St., 212-288-3500 Hudson Valley Public Relations Optimizing connections. Building reputations. 24 Merrit Ave Millbrook, NY 12545, (845) 702-6226 John Krtil Funeral Home; Yorkville Funeral Service, INC. Independently Owned Since 1885. WE SERVE ALL FAITHS AND COMMUNITIES 212-744-3084 Marble Collegiate Church Dr. Michael B. Brown, Senior Minister, 1 West 29th St. NYC, NY 10001, (212) 689-2770. www.MarbleChurch.org Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers NYC’s Coolest Place to Skate! ChelseaPiers.com/sr 212-336-6100 WANTED TO BUY

ANTIQUES WANTED Top Prices Paid. Chinese Objects, Paintings, Jewelry, Silver, Furniture, Etc. Entire Estates Purchased. 800-530-0006. CASH for Coins! Buying Gold & Silver. Also Stamps, Paper Money, Comics, Entire Collections, Estates. Travel to your home. Call Marc in NY: 1-800959-3419 I Buy Old Tribal Art Free Appraisal 917-628-0031 Daniel@jacarandatribal.com WE BUY-TOP DOLLAR PAID Fine & Costume Jewelry Gems-Silver-Gold-Jade Antiques-Art-Rugs Call Gregory@718 608 5854 Certified GIA Gemologist

SOHO LT MFG

462 Broadway MFG No Retail/Food +/- 9,000 sf Ground Floor - $90 psf +/- 16,000 sf Cellar - $75 psf Call Farrell @ Meringoff Properties 646.306.0299

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

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APRIL 23-29,2015

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