The local paper for Downtown wn TEEN IN A FUN HOUSE < 15 MINUTES, P.21
WEEK OF JUNE
11-17 2015
CLEANING UP THE HUDSON NEWS Panel in Chelsea focuses on the future of the river BY CODY BROOKS
Beginning at Lake Tear of the Clouds, the Hudson River flows 315 miles through New York State. It had once been a source of recreation, farming, and food, but in the middle of the 20th century, rapid pollution caused Americans to hold a different view: never use the Hudson. On Thursday, June 4, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman hosted a discussion with three environmental panelists to address how the river could be cleaned and made safe once again. Held at the SVA Theater in Chelsea, the two primary issues discussed were the shipping of crude oil and the toxic levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) present in the river’s sediment. The panelists agreed that the Hudson River is currently a dangerous waterway. “PCBs are everywhere,” said panelist Daniel Raichel, staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defence Council. From the 1940s to the 1970s, General Electric Co. dumped 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River from two facilities upstate. These chemicals — fantastic for industrial applications such as electrical insulation, yet potentially fatal to humans — have sifted into the sediment of nearly the entire river, the upper Hudson being the most contaminated. Raichel noted that even “fractions of a gram” of PCBs could cause severe health problems such as neurological disorders, cancer, or severe skin lesions, to name a few on the list. In addition to PCBs, oil spills and fires are a distinct possibility not only
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Fabulous upcoming New York State events and must-sees at ILoveNY.com and inside!
THE FLAWS IN COOPER’S LAW INVESTIGATION Only two people have had their licenses suspended since a high-profile law aimed at slowing pedestrian-traffic deaths went into effect BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
Most of Cooper Stock’s friends were able to hold it together during a street renaming ceremony last week at 97th Street and West End Avenue, where the nine-yearold was killed by a reckless cab driver last January. Jacob Hume, age 10, wasn’t one of them. “Cooper was the kind of person who made you feel good about yourself,” said Hume, a classmate of Cooper’s at the Calhoun School. “It’s devastating. I miss Cooper every day of my life.” As Hume spoke, Cooper’s mother, Dana Lerner, break down, choking back sobs. The two embraced after Hume finished, and cried softly together. “I love what you guys said, it meant so much,” said Lerner, as she hugged the rest of his class, now in fourth grade. Last week, students at the Calhoun School marched from their building on 81st Street up to Cooper Stock Way to remember their classmate and draw attention to the issue of pedestrian safety. Cooper and his father, Richard Stock, were struck
Dana Lerner embraces Jonathan Hume, who along with his twin brother Jacob, eulogized their former classmate Cooper Stock at a recent street renaming ceremony. Photo by Daniel Fitzsimmons. by cabbie Koffi Komlani as they crossed 97th Street with the green light. After Cooper’s death, Komlani was charged with a traffic violation and issued a $500 fine by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office. In the months following the tragedy, Lerner devoted herself to advocating for pedestrian safety and railing against reckless driving. Her
injured, their TLC license is immediately suspended pending an investigation. If, during the investigation, the driver is found guilty of the violation or summons, their TLC license is permanently revoked. The bill was signed into law last June and was part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s slate of pedestrian-friendly Vision Zero laws, which included
efforts led to the passage of Cooper’s Law, which revokes a cab or livery driver’s license if they are found guilty of committing a traffic violation resulting in the death or critical injury of another person. Under the law, if a driver licensed by the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission is issued a violation or summons for an accident where someone is killed or critically
lowering the citywide speed limit to 25 m.p.h and other measures. But despite the attention that the issue has received, and the high profile of Cooper’s death, the impact of the law named after him has been disappointing: According to the TLC, in the almost nine months since the
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Downtowner WEEK OF APRIL
SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12
FOR HIM, SETTLING SMALL CLAIMS IS A BIG DEAL presided over Arbitration Man has three decades. for informal hearings about it He’s now blogging BY RICHARD KHAVKINE
is the common Arbitration Man their jurist. least folks’ hero. Or at Man has For 30 years, Arbitration court office of the civil few sat in a satellite Centre St. every building at 111 New Yorkers’ weeks and absorbed dry cleaning, burned lost accountings of fender benders, lousy paint jobs, and the like. And security deposits then he’s decided. Arbitration Man, About a year ago, so to not afwho requested anonymity started docuhe fect future proceedings, two dozen of what menting about compelling cases considers his most blog. in an eponymous about it because “I decided to write the stories but in a I was interested about it not from wanted to write from view but rather lawyer’s point of said Arbitration view,” of a lay point lawyer since 1961. Man, a practicing what’s at issue He first writes about post, renders and then, in a separatehow he arrived his decision, detailing blog the to Visitors at his conclusion. their opinions. often weigh in with get a rap going. I to “I really want whether they unreally want to know and why I did it,” I did derstood what don’t know how to he said. “Most people ... I’d like my cases the judge thinks. and also my trereflect my personalitythe law.” for mendous respect 80, went into indiMan, Arbitration suc in 1985, settling vidual practice
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MANHATTAN'S APARTMENT BOOM, > PROPERTY, P.20
2015
In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS
The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She Over the past on the is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks. President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” p.m. and 7 a.m., can’t come of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits
SLEEPS, THANKS TO THE CITY THAT NEVER UCTION A BOOM IN LATE-NIGHT CONSTR NEWS
A glance it: it’s the middle can hardly believe yet construction of the night, and carries on full-tilt. your local police or You can call 311
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for dollars in fees ated millions of and left some resithe city agency, that the application dents convinced
2 City Arts 3 Top 5 8 Real Estate 10 15 Minutes
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JUNE 11-17,2015
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MAKING NEWS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD BATTERY PARKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CAROUSEL ALL LIT UP AND ABOUT TO OPEN The colorful ďŹ sh Seaglass Carousel at the Battery Park that everyone has
been waiting for will open up sometime next month. Attendees of the Battery Conservancyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual gala Monday night got a sneak preview of the ďŹ sh all lit up, and said it was very exciting to see it in play for the ďŹ rst time. A
spokesperson for the Conservancy said she has no doubt the Carousel will attract families, couples and tourists from all over. She said an exact date for when it will open hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been set yet, but it would be sometime in July.
A couple months back, it was set to open on Memorial Day, but they are still expecting about two-dozen more ďŹ shes to be delivered. Downtown Express
site south of the World Trade Center sold for $48 million. When a design from Selldorf Architects popped up for that plot, 54 stories rose at the corner of Thames and Greenwich. So far, Selldorfâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name is nowhere to be found among the ďŹ les, but the building outlined in the 22 Thames design closely corresponds to Selldorfâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Although it is not clear who will be running the project, another bit of downtown history is about to make way for more towering glass and steel. Curbed.com
TEENS ARRESTED IN CHINATOWN RAPE Three teenagers were arrested on Tuesday for raping and robbing a woman early Monday morning, according to the police. All three of them are sixteen-years-old and from Brooklyn. One of them has already been arrested six times before, and another has been arrested eleven times before. Security camera footage shows the women, beaten and bleeding, walking into a deli asking for help at around 5a.m. Moments earlier, she had been raped by two of the three teens and also robbed of her purse, which held her keys and identiďŹ cation. The police said she was taken to the hospital and is now in stable condition. Downtown Express
GARDEN CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY WITH SALVATION HOPES The Elizabeth St. Garden celebrated its volunteers on the second anniversary of the effort that has brought the Little Italy garden to life on Saturday. Chairperson of Community Board 2, Tobi Bergman suggested a solution that could potentially save the green space. He said the city should shift the affordable housing project currently planned for the Little Italy garden to a vacant site in Hudson Square. The Board had previously hoped to create a park in that space once the current water-shaft project there is completed. Councilmember Corey Johnson said he would have to look into the matter further before making any decisions.
SELLDORF DESIGNING FACETED-FAĂ&#x2021;ADE TOWER FACING THE WTC Representatives from Selldorf have announced that the ďŹ rm is not working on the 22 Thames project anymore. Six months ago, as part of a deal at the American Stock Exchange, a corner
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG
POLICE NAB SUSPECT IN STRING OF MUGGINGS Police say they’ve caught a suspect in a string of six muggings in Central Park, on Fifth Avenue and midtown Manhattan. The New York Police Department says officers arrested 55-year-old Cecil Richardson Friday on robbery and other charges. No telephone number could immediately be found for Richardson’s Manhattan address. It’s unclear whether he has a lawyer who can comment on the charges. Police say the muggings happened between April 10 and Wednesday. The victims handed over amounts ranging from $18 to $300. The NYPD says plainclothes officers saw Richardson accost someone outside a Fifth Avenue store and demand money Friday morning. Police say he hopped into a cab in an unsuccessful effort to elude them. They chased it on foot and caught up when it got stuck in traffic.
CITI BIKES TAKING HIKES A recent rash of Citi Bike thefts confirmed the ubiquitous vehicles’ desirability among local thieves. At 3:05 p.m. on May 27, a 37-year-old man took a Citi Bike from the stand at the northwest corner of Chambers and West Streets without permission or authority. He then rode the two-wheeler on the sidewalk into Battery Park, which was closed at the time. The perpetrator, Corey Cooke, was arrested the following day and charged with grand larceny; the Citi Bike was recovered. At 2:20 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, an 18-year-old deliveryman left a Citi Bike in front of 125 Cedar Street for five minutes while he dropped off some medications. When he returned, the bike was gone. Then at 10:46 a.m. on Friday, May 29, a 15-yearold male youth was observed driving a Citi Bike on a public sidewalk. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the Citi Bike he was riding had been stolen. Stanley Heyward was arrested on May 30 and charged with grand larceny. The Citi Bike was recovered.
OH BABY The management of the Giggle baby boutique had little to laugh about one recent day. At 11:42 a.m. on Friday, May 29, a 31-year-old man entered the store located at 120 Wooster Street, removed
a number of items of merchandise from a table, and left the store without permission or authority. Video is available of the incident. Police searched the area but were unable to locate the thief or the stolen merchandise. The items taken included multiple shirts, skirts, shorts, hats, dresses, leggings, and sunglasses with a total value of $3,853.
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st Precinct for May 25 to May 31 Week to Date Murder Rape
WHITE HORSE BLACK DEED
Robbery
At 7:45 p.m. on Friday, May 29, a 43-year-old man was in the White Horse Tavern at 25 Bridge Street having a gathering, when he put his backpack on the floor in front of his seat. When he left the bar at 9:15 p.m., he forgot to take his backpack with him. When he realized his mistake an hour later, he called the bar, talked to the manager, and returned to the location. There the man and the bar employees searched the premises but could not find his backpack. Police also searched the vicinity but could not find the pinched pack either. The contents of the stolen backpack included a 15-inch MacBook Pro valued at $2,500.
Felony Assault
GREENWICH HITCH A deliveryman should have known better than to leave his bicycle unlocked and unattended. At 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27, a 40-year-old
Burglary Grand Larceny Grand Larceny Auto
Year to Date
2015
2014
% Change
2015
2014
% Change
0 1 3 1 5 26 0
0 0 1 2 1 22 0
n/a n/a 200 -50 400 18.2 n/a
0 3 20 31 57 389 6
0 5 19 29 70 375 2
n/a -40 5.3 6.9 -18.6 3.7 200
man was making a delivery at 388 Greenwich Street, when he left his bike unlocked. He returned ten minutes later and discovered that the two-wheeler was missing. The stolen bicycle was an electric model valued at $1,421.
IMMOVABLE VS. REMOVABLE Locking a backpack to an immovable object failed to thwart thieves who removed items from inside the pack. At 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 29, a 34-year-old man was playing basketball inside the Hudson River Park at the
southwest corner of West and Harrison Streets, leaving his backpack locked to a gate. When he went to retrieve his backpack a half an hour later, he found that property was missing from inside the bag. Though he canceled his cell phone and credit cards, he learned that unauthorized charges had turned up on his bankcards. The items stolen from the bag included a Samsung Galaxy phone valued at $600, a Visa gift card worth $342, a Red Lobster gift card worth $100, a Tumi wallet priced at $40, along with a Metro Card, driver’s license, and various credit and debit cards.
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Space is limited, call to register today. 1-877-433-2873 1. AMS 700® Patient Manual. Information and Instructions for Patients Considering an Inflatable Penile Prostheses. American Medical Systems. 2012. 2. Viagra® Prescribing Information, Pfizer Inc. Revised January 2010. 3. Cialis® Prescribing Information, Lilly USA, LLC. Revised October 2011. 4. Levitra® Prescribing Information, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals. Revised November 2011. 5. Penile prosthesis. http://www.essm.org/society/esha/malesd/oraltreatments/penileprosthesis.html. European Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM) Web site. Downloaded May 2013. American Medical Systems, Inc. has sponsored funding for this patient seminar and accompanying educational material. As with any medical procedure, there are benefits and risks. Visit EDCure.org or consult your physician for more information.
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JUNE 11-17,2015
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Jeff Hathcoat (left) and Amy Jo Jackson (center) perform a scene from “As You Like It” with the help of a cooperative audience member. Photo by William Mathis
Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 7th Precinct
19 ½ Pitt St.
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ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin
165 Park Row #11
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237 1st Ave. #504
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224 W. 30th St.
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All the world, even a bar, is a stage for the New York Shakespeare exchange BY WILLIAM MATHIS
On a recent Saturday afternoon, Kim Krane sat in the Albion Bar’s back garden, sipping ipping water. A bell rang from within the Kips Bay bar and Krane, wearing jeans and a tank-top, nk-top, stepped into the bar window. indow. She took a selfie, and morphed orphed into a star-crossed teenager. ager. Krane was among the cast of an unconventional rendering dering of Romeo and Juliet by the he New York Shakespeare Exchange, ange, which since 2009 has putt the bar in bard. With a pub-crawl turned performance on June 6 (with a reprise on June 13), the nonprofi nprofit theatrical program invited nvited audience members – some ome of them captive – to rub elbows, lbows, and bar stools, with actors on four tavern stops during ShakesBEER 2015. “The goal is to surprise se the audience,” said Kelli Ruttle, who played Lady Capulett in the group’s production of Romeo and Juliet. “People don’tt know who is an actor or not.” As the actors climbed d over tables and chairs, makeshift keshift stand-ins for a stage, they y were careful not to step on the e audience members seated att their feet. “We call it gateway Shake-
speare,” said associate producer Casey Van Driest. “As an audience member, it’s easier to understand when it’s done like this.” Later in the afternoon, Amy Jo Jackson, 32, sat on the bar at the Rose Hill Tavern on Third Avenue to play Rosalind in a scene from “As You Like It.” At one point in the scene she took an unsuspecting audience member by the hand and dragged her into the scene. Jackson said she finds the interaction between the audience and the actors afforded by an alternative performance space such as a bar to be more faithful to the spirit of the orig-
inal text. In Shakespeare’s time there was a stage, but no lights or sound equipment to separate the audience from the actors. “It was written that way,” she said. “It was daylight.” “The audience is part of the experience,” said Van Driest. “It’s what the soliloquies were originally for.” Scott Dexter, a professor of computer science at Brooklyn College attending the ShakesBEER Pub Crawl, said: “I feel like both the actors and the audience are much more loose,” he said. “I don’t think it’s from the alcohol, it’s from the infor-
mal environment.” But not everyone at the bars was there for the performance. Plenty of surprised patrons had gathered to watch European soccer powers Barcelona and Juventus play in the Champions League final. They had not expected live theater too. “I’m a Messi fan,” said Mike Chanzis, 26, “but but Romeo and Juliet is my
jam.” Chanzis was wearing a Barcelona jersey at a back table at Tavern on Third with a group of friends. “It was really good,” he said of the performance. But he was not so sure he would have been as appreciative if the performance of “Love’s Labor Lost,” had begun before the blow of the game game’ss final whistle. The project’s organizers are hoping to connect with both the intended audience and the people who just happen to be in the bars they take over for each 10- to 20-minute performance. “We’re looking to
reach audiences who might not yet be there to buy tickets to a regular company show,” said Ross Williams, Shakespeare Exchange’s producing artistic director. “Hopefully this turns into more audiences for every company, including ours.” By bringing Shakespeare’s work into the everyday, Williams and the Shakespeare Exchange hope to awaken the inner Shakespeare fan they believe lurks in all of us. “A lot of people in New York have Shakespeare in their worlds already,” Williams said. “They just forget about it.”
Kelli Ruttle as Lady Capulet at the Albion Bar on 3rd Avenue. Photo by William Mathis
JUNE 11-17,2015
CLEANING UP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 on the Hudson River, but also on the trains transporting oil to it. Crude oil is taken from various sites such as the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana and transported by train to Albany, which then either stays on a train or is loaded onto a barge to travel down the Hudson River to refineries in New Jersey, Philadelphia, or New Brunswick, Canada. According to panelist Hayley Carlock, environmental attorney for Scenic Hudson, these trains and barges are both ill-suited for the task. The trains primarily use DOT-111 tank cars, which were never meant to carry the highly volatile Bakken crude. Carlock warned that they have insufficient lining, external shields, and vents to prevent gas buildups, qualities that caused rail workers to nickname them “bomb trains”. Recent history
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
bears this out: three separate explosions occurred in 2013, one of which killed 47 people and burned down 30 buildings in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. About 25 to 30 of these trains run along the Hudson River per week, each train potentially carrying up to 1 million gallons of crude. If not on trains, the crude is put on barges and shipped down the Hudson River. These barges, Carlock noted, are also unsafe. The oil tanker Stena Primorsk ran aground on its maiden voyage in 2012, slicing a 13 foot gash in its outer hull with 12 million gallons of crude inside; a second inner hull protected against a spill. All three panelists agreed that cleaning up and protecting the Hudson River is a huge task. The PCB cleanup is General Electric’s responsibility due to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), however it is GE’s final year of mandated cleanup, and the panelists expressed
concern that GE will weasel its way out of responsibility. Oil, Carlock explained, is more about prevention. If a spill occurs, the best case scenario would be a recovery of only 5 percent to 25 percent of crude, the rest running downstream or sifting into the sediment. “If there was a spill,” Senator Hoylman asked, “[does the state] have sufficient bonding for a cleanup?” Panelist Paul Gallay, president of the Hudson River advocacy group Riverkeeper, responded by saying “I can’t sugarcoat it: no, a thousand times no.” How can these problems be solved? Gallay urged that activism is the best way to make progress. “What people pay attention to, what people get involved with, what people get active over, politicians take notice.” In the theater, Gallay asked if anyone had participated in a peaceful protest before. About 70 of the 100 people present raised their hands.
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BE THE NEW YORKER WHO REALLY DOES KNOW IT ALL. AGING IN PLACE: A LECTURE PRESENTED BY RUSK REHABILITATION AT NYU LANGONE MEDICAL CENTER. Join us for a discussion on how to remain in your home safely and independently as you grow older. Our expert will share tips on home products and designs that promote independence, and discuss the benefits of “Aging in Place.” Date: Thursday, June 18, 5 : 30pm – 6 : 45pm. Presenter: Megan Rochford, Occupational Therapist. Location: Ambulatory Care Center. 240 East 38th Street. 11th Floor Conference Room.
Info: This lecture is free and open to the public, but you must RSVP. To attend, call 212.263.6952 or email ruskrsvp@nyumc.org. View past NYU Langone lectures at youtube.com /nyulmc.
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THE FLAWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 law went into effect, only two drivers have had their licenses suspended under Cooper’s Law -- and none have been permanently revoked. Lerner said she was “horrified” to learn that her son’s law had only been used twice, information that came through a Freedom of Information Law request filed by this newspaper. “The point is there’s too many reckless drivers out there,” said Lerner in an interview. “Cooper’s Law is a way for the TLC to do something about this, and clearly they’re not. Things are falling through the cracks.” Helen Rosenthal, the New York city councilmember who championed Cooper’s Law, was not aware that the law had been applied so infrequently, and said that, as a result, she is considering tweaks to the legislation. An analysis of the law reveals two critical weaknesses. One is that in order for it to be triggered, the driver must be issued a summons or violation at the scene of the accident, or retroactively. Out of dozens of NYPD accident reports examined by this paper that were part of the FOIL request, only two TLC licensees were issued summonses or charged with crimes. In one case the charges were dropped. In the other case, that of livery car driver Joseph Mergile, who was arrested in January for backing over a person shoveling snow on a sidewalk in Brooklyn, Cooper’s Law was applied. His TLC license
JUNE 11-17,2015
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com was suspended and an investigation is underway, in accordance with Cooper’s Law, said the TLC. The victim in that case was listed as critical but not likely to die, according to police reports. Another driver had his license suspended under Cooper’s Law since it was passed last September, but the details of that incident are unclear as it happened recently and fell outside of the scope of this paper’s records request. The other weakness is that Cooper’s Law is only applied to accidents where someone is killed or critically injured. In March, a California woman named Rosemarie Mifsud was pinned between two cabs in Times Square, completely dislocating her right knee and shattering her left leg. But because medical professionals at the scene deemed her injuries non-life-threatening and said she was likely to live, Cooper’s Law did not apply. According to Mifsud, driver Mohamed Gendia initially claimed he didn’t see her, and then later said the accident occurred due to icy conditions at the time. “At first he said he didn’t see me, that was his first defense,’” Mifsud said. “So that leads me to believe that he was distracted because how could he not see me? I was loading my luggage into the cab and next think I know I was pinned.” Records indicate Gendia’s TLC license is current. A month and a half after hitting Mifsud, records also show he was hit with a TLC summons for using an electronic communication device while driving. Mifsud, who has been out of
Dana Lerner, mother of Cooper Stock, embraces her son’s former classmates at the Cooper Stock Way street renaming. Photo by Daniel Fitzsimmons.
Calhoun School students march in memory of former classmate Cooper Stock, who was killed by a reckless cab driver last January. The students called themselves “Cooper’s Troopers” and carried homemade signs highlighting safe driving. Photo by Daniel Fitzsimmons. work since March and has at least another six months of recovery, said she has nightmares about the accident every night and said it doesn’t seem right that Gendia is back behind the wheel catching fares, especially given Cooper’s Law. “Absolutely, I don’t feel that he should be driving. I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through,” she said. “If I was holding a child’s hand that child would have died immediately because of the way I was hit.” Several incidents examined closely from last September to this April, where it seems Cooper’s Law should have come into play but did not, include cases like the fatal accident of famed CBS correspondent Bob Simon. According to police and news reports, livery car driver Abdul Rashad Fedahi accelerated into a Mercedes that was waiting at a red light in Chelsea, careened into a metal stanchion in the intersection, and killed Simon, who was a passenger in Fedahi’s car. The Manhattan DA’s office declined to comment on whether charges have been brought against Fedahi, but said the case remains open. News reports at the time said Simon was not wearing his seatbelt at the time of the accident. In April a delivery truck driver for the Daily News named Jonathan Long was killed in Brooklyn when his vehicle was
clipped by a green cab whose driver, according to police reports, disobeyed a steady red signal. Police reports indicate driver Tazul Islam was not charged at the scene and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said they do not have him listed as a defendant in their system. The TLC licenses of both Fedahi and Islam were suspended in the wake of the accidents that killed Simon and Long, but because Cooper’s Law does not appear to have come into play, could be reinstated. According to several news reports, Fedahi’s license was suspended at least six times before the crash that killed Simon. The apparent reticence on behalf of law enforcement to issue summonses or make arrests in accidents that cause critical injuries or fatalities exploits a weakness in the law, said Rosenthal. “I always felt that the crux of the problem was that Cooper’s Law is dependent on the driver getting a summons, that’s my concern,” said Rosenthal, who expressed a desire that police issue more tickets and arrests at the scene of serious accidents. “That’s the weakness of the law that I would like to see fixed.” Lerner said it’s fine to tout Cooper’s Law as another tool to keep pedestrians safe, “but what is happening to these drivers? Where are they now?
People aren’t even given tickets until afterwards.” In Cooper’s case, Komlani wasn’t charged with a failure to exercise due caution violation until eight months after the crash and after considerable pressure from pedestrian advocates. Under Cooper’s Law, Lerner wonders, who is following up on whether TLC drivers are charged with traffic violations in these accidents and initiating investigations? “The question is, shouldn’t Cooper’s Law mean that these drivers are no longer allowed to drive in a cab the minute they’re charged?” she said. Rosenthal requested her own data from the TLC after she was reached for comment on this story, and said that since the law went into effect, TLC licensees have been involved in 34 accidents where a person was killed or critically injured. Of those, two had their licenses suspended as a result of Cooper’s Law, while another six lost their TLC licenses as a result of other laws. A TLC spokesperson said the two investigations have been initiated under the law since it was put into effect, but “thus far, circumstances have not called for any revocations pursuant to Cooper’s Law.” Rosenthal said she doesn’t know if Cooper’s Law isn’t being applied in enough cases, but agreed that the critical injury stipulation was another
weakness. “You’re piquing my interest in thinking about a tweak to the law, but Cooper’s Law only takes into account critical injury or death,” said Rosenthal, who noted her office would be looking into reexamining portions of the law given recent findings. While Lerner doesn’t fault Rosenthal for the way the law is written, she said revelations about its use are evidence of systemic dysfunction in enforcement. “You’ve got all these different agencies, and one of them is assuming the other one is supposed to do something, and no one’s doing it,” said Lerner. “I don’t have a bone to pick with Helen [Rosenthal] about this. I think her heart was in the right place, all of our hearts were in the right place. I think you can’t for one minute believe that the system is going to take care of the victims, and that’s my whole point.” But the limitations of Cooper’s Law had no effect on his friends and supporters, who marched last week with homemade signs and fond memories to the street corner now bearing his name. “Goodbye, my friend,” said one classmate, as 10 blue and orange balloons floated on the air above West End Avenue, one for every year of Cooper’s life, if he were still alive.
JUNE 11-17,2015
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
TENANT NOTIFICATION BILL NOW LAW NEWS Landlords required to advise tenants on non-emergency repairs BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer and Councilmember Rosie Mendez passed legislation requiring landlords to provide tenants with advance notice for nonemergency repair work that will result in disruptions to building services. The new law establishes a general baseline of 24 hours’ advance notice for most work. For work affecting elevators, the bill requires 10 business days’ notice for major alteration work and 24 hours’ notice for any other work that will suspend all elevator service for more than two hours.
Mendez and Brewer said the legislation closes a gaping hole in the city’s tenant-protection laws, which previously did not provide any advance-notice requirements. “Before this law, a wheelchair-bound tenant could leave for work in the morning and return in the evening to find the elevator offline for hours, having never heard a whisper about it. Now tenants will have a right to fair warning and an opportunity to plan around disruptive maintenance work,” said Brewer. “It’s also no secret that no-notice quality-of-life disruptions labeled as ‘maintenance work’ are a frequent harassment tactic to push tenants out of rent-stabilized apartments. The new notice requirements in this law will be easy for honest, everyday landlords and building managers to respect, but they will
take another harassment tool away from abusive landlords.” Mendez said the new law codifies common sense and common courtesy. “No longer will tenants come home from a hard day’s work to find out that work in their building is interrupting some basic service and/or possibly obstructing access to their apartment,” said Mendez. “This law requires that landlords notify tenants when such work will affect services and for how long.” According to a joint press release from both elected officials, landlords and management companies already provide advance notice of planned repairs to tenants – but many others do not. The reasonable notice requirements established by Int. 222 would help tenants plan ahead to minimize the impacts of these ser-
vice disruptions on their lives, and also help tenants distinguish between disruptions for planned work on the one hand, and emergent service failures
or landlord harassment tactics on the other. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of
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Buildings will be responsible for enforcement and rulemaking in relation to the new law. The law will take effect in the fall of 2015
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Voices
Write to us: To share your thoughts and comments go to otdowntown.com and click on submit a letter to the editor.
Poetry $12.50 AN HOUR if you were to ask me straight out i’d tell you the time i’m most haply contented is when alone amidst the souls of Nature adrift on the lake in July surrounded by enclosed within structures spanning the trials of time each with their own persona; adrift letting the ripples carry the row at the lake’s own pace floating, flowing uptown past the gazebos guided by the funneled breeze until the vessel finds its own niche, a cove mouth of a downhill stream Mother Nature’s own womb-tomb, a microcosm of our own life processes: the flies hum-buzz for fish freshly, fleshly preyed upon; anchored ashore i wonder to what relation these beasts of burden and beasts of prey have to this Sunday sprint, sitting along side the New York Times bare chested … enchanted; the bullfrog is my witness for he now and then has seen it all and croaks and croons to the break of day: “Blue bird, Blue bird, since I am a friend to thee change thou the wind for me” the hour draws to a close, “Hurry up please, it’s time” i row back still flavoring, favoring that isolated moment losing my way a bit at the bend but alas, dock and feed upon a vendor’s fresh lemonade. Russell Aaronson
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TURNING LEMONS INTO LATTE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION BY MARY ZHUO KE
I want to address multiple points today, but I will start with one, and then we can continue onwards to form a line, since a line is essentially just a string of points. First and foremost, I would like to thank my best friend for being with me for all these years. Four years ago, I remember being apprehensive, but at the same time wanting to know what being another step closer to adulthood was like. These years just passed by so quickly, and we were just bombarded with so many events. But together with my best friend, I learned to have confidence and to not be afraid to show it. Together with her, I learned to be a more affectionate person, and learned to be an open-minded, objective individual. And together with her, I learned how to be a woman, and how to help others to as well. Now who is this best friend? Well of course, my best friend is Cathedral High School. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my best friend. She is caring like Sr. Patricia and Sr. Eileen. She is intelligent and knowledgeable, like my teachers. She can be straightforward and unintentionally funny sometimes, like Ms. Lawlor. She is trendy, like Ms. Spagnuolo and her fashionistas. She even has more flexibility than I can muster, like Mr. Cartolano, who can definitely drop it low. And most importantly, she is my beloved sister, like
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the graduating class of 2015 sitting before me. All that Cathedral has to offer reminds me of a basket of lemons. And what do you do with a basket of lemons? You order a venti three-pump, skim milk, light water, no foam, extra hot chai tea latte with a twist of lemon at Starbucks...OF COURSE. It is sad to have to leave you all, but you are approaching something new. At some point in your lives, you might come across failure, family concerns, heartaches, or mental and physical pain. Whenever I experience hardship, I like to think about how my situation could have been worse. So if you ever find yourself struggling, know that there is someone else in this world who is probably struggling with you. Nevertheless, look forward to what is to come. When you need guidance, seek it, because you are not meant to live alone in this world. Never forget to show appreciation where it is due, because in this fastpaced world today, genuine gratitude can go a long way. I could not have come this far without God, my family and friends, Sr. Deborah, and Sr. Alice, just to name a few people who are sitting with us on this very day to offer even more support. They
SEND US YOUR GRADUATION SPEECHES Graduation season is here, and we’d love to run your school’s speeches. Send them to us at news@ strausnews.com.
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constantly remind me that we are all called to service. We are called to make this world better, using whichever talents we discover within ourselves, just like our predecessors have, and we are called to do so with the virtues of integrity, humility, and generosity. You all will meet incredible
people, in mind and spirit, of all cultures, faiths, and personalities. But embrace this, since this world is similar to a basket of oranges, filled with dietary fiber, potassium, calcium, vitamin C, and an abundance of other ingredients. What do you do with a basket of oranges? You make delicious orange
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
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juice. Thank you. Mary Zhuo Ke is this year’s valedictorian at Cathedral High School in Manhattan. This is an edited version of the speech she delivered at the June 3 ceremony at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Block Mayors, Ann Morris, Upper West Side Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side
JUNE 11-17,2015
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
NO ROOM AT THE NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL Sabin Danziger, left, with Stephan Russo at the Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center. Photo by Zeena Saifi
TWO WEST SIDE SAFETY NETS ARE STITCHED TOGETHER Goddard Riverside and Lincoln Square are merging, as demand for social services surges BY KYLE POPE
Two of the Upper West Side’s most prominent social-service centers are merging. Goddard Riverside Community Center and Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center are joining forces, in a combination that underscores the soaring need for social services in New York even as wealth in the city continues to climb. While the deal is described by both sides as a partnership, it is, in effect, a rescue of Lincoln Square, which has struggled financially and has had to cut its programs. Lincoln Square, formed more than 65 years ago, serves about 1,000 people in struggling parts of the West side, primarily at the New York Housing Authority-run Amsterdam Houses. Though it has managed in the past year to climb back to break-even, after falling hundreds of thousands of dollars
into debt, its board came to the conclusion last year that it needed a bigger partner if it was going to be able to offer the kind of services, from programs for seniors to housing support, that were needed. “We decided as a board that we were in a relatively weak situation,” said Sabin Danziger, Lincoln Square’s board chairman. “We weren’t giving the programs we thought the community deserved. We were living from Monday to Tuesday and didn’t have the resources to grow properly.” In Goddard, Lincoln Square has found a partner that is among the city’s largest safety-net providers. With a staff of 350 people and an annual budget of around $28 million, Goddard helps more than 17,000 people a year with college counseling, homeless outreach, job training and services for older New Yorkers, among other programs. Since its founding in 1959, Goddard has grown both organically and through merg-
ers like this one; indeed, the modern version of the organization was created when two of the neighborhood’s original settlement houses, as they were called – both of them founded in the late 1880s – joined forces. The expansion of organizations like Goddard have come as more and more city services are offloaded to private groups, many of them straining under the added demands. Even as government services have been scaled back, homelessness in the city is at a postwar high, and the poverty rate is climbing. Stephan Russo, Goddard’s executive director, said Lincoln Square was always a good fit for his organization, though the added costs and demands of taking it on were a concern. “Sure, I had a little trepidation,” he said. “When you take on new clients, you have to be able to sustain the services.” Russo said he is confident Goddard will be able to not only absorb Lincoln Square – whose staff of 35 and budget of $1.8 million make it a fraction of Goddard’s size – but enhance its services. Russo will oversee both organizations. Lincoln Square’s incoming executive director, Susan Matloff-Nieves, begins next month and will report to Russo.
Overcrowding at P.S. 199 has forced parents to take action BY ZEENA SAIFI
As the final school bell sounds at P.S. 199 on a recent Monday, parents scatter around outside the school’s long gates on W. 70th Street, trying to gather their children, who are still shuffling around inside the playground. While these parents are trying to get their kids out of the school, getting in P.S. 199 is tougher than ever. In a West Side version of a growing citywide problem, demand for kindergarten slots at the school now far outpaces available seats, infuriating parents who live in the school’s zone, but nevertheless are being told their children likely won’t find a slot. “Every year, the wait list keeps getting longer,” said Andrew Davis. “I don’t understand why they didn’t plan ahead for this problem.” Davis and his wife Laura Schiller have started a petition to advocate for making space for all zoned kindergarten children for the 2015-2016 school year. Davis said 94 kids were announced on the waitlist as of April, and that he now has more than 200 signatures on the petition. The number of siblings who get automatic priority have doubled since last year, and now 57% of children who applied without siblings didn’t get a spot. “This is a crisis,” reads the
petition, which is addressed to Mayor Bill de Blasio and schools Chancellor Carmen Farina. “It is devastating to a community when a school can’t accommodate this large a portion of their residents. Families can’t live in an area where they can’t plan their children’s education.” Another father, Brian Goldstein, said there a number of solutions to the problem, but that eliminating a classroom, which is what the school has done, isn’t one of them. “When your waitlist increases, removing a kindergarten class doesn’t seem to be the smartest thing to do,” he said, chuckling. “It kind of defies logic.” Similarly, Schiller said if classes have actually reached full capacity, it is the school’s job to find an alternative space in their zone. “After we had kids five years ago, we decided to stay in the neighborhood only because of the school,” she said. “We lived in small apartments, paid high mortgages, rents, and taxes all because we thought we would have a spot. And now that we don’t, it’s very heartbreaking.” According to Goldstein, some people have been using fraudulent addresses or have been renting studios near the school just to get their kids in. And when their kids finally do get in, they either stop using the address or stop renting the studio. He said the school needed to have more comprehensive means of validating people’s
addresses. “No one is asking for anything that is unreasonable,” he said. “But we feel that P.S. 199 is our school and according to the chancellor’s regulations, it is their job to accommodate the people of their zone.” Davis and Schiller both said that the success of P.S. 199 is what has created the clamor for admission. “We know the school is special, and we don’t want to compromise the quality of the education it provides,” Schiller said. “We just want the opportunity to find solutions.” In the petition, parents have asked that the kindergarten classroom that had been cut be reinstated, and that schools officials meet with parents to discuss some kind of solution. “The lack of transparency of this decision, and the failure of the DOE to come up with a short-term strategy has shifted the burden to families,” the petition reads. “The consequences are being placed on the shoulders of our four and five year old children.” To read the parent’s petition, go to change.org and search for PS199
OVERCROWDING AT YOUR PUBLIC SCHOOL? We want to hear about it. Email us at news@ strausnews.com
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST The local paper for the Upper East Side
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LUXURY MEGA-TOWER COMING TO SUTTON PLACE EXCLUSIVE East Side officials already gearing up to fight the project BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
Plans have been drawn up for a luxury 900-foot condo tower in Sutton Place, which, if completed as planned, would rank as one of the tallest buildings in Manhattan. The 268,000-squarefoot tower will become the second-tallest on the Upper East Side, behind the in-progress 432 Park Avenue at 1,400 feet, and one of the tallest in the city. Construction permits
PIANO ARTIST MASTER CLASS: DEIRDRE O’DONOHUE
degree views of Midtown, Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan, Central Park and the East River.” The 268,000 square feet of buildable space and air rights, which includes 58,000 square feet of inclusionary housing rights, have already been delivered. It’s unclear if the affordable housing will be offered on- or offsite, or how many units of affordable housing will be included. Representatives for The Bauhouse Group, which owns the site, declined to field questions about the Sutton Place Development, but a representative of the company provided a press release to Our Town that said the
April 7, 2015
75 Third Ave. at 11th Street, Room C205 3 PM, Free Acclaimed pianist and NYU faculty member Deirdre O’Donohue invites all burgeoning musicians to attend his master class in classical piano. http://events.nyu. edu/#event_id/64304/view/ event
April 8, 2015
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
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AMERICAN SONG ►
November 5, 2014
April 17, 2014
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York, NY 10010 8:00 PM, $30 An interior designer tries to save her business by pitching a reality TV show to the BRAVO THE BABY SODA JAZZ Network. Zany, goofy and heartwarming. A RIGHT TO THE IMAGE: BAND ▲ 866-811-4111 PANEL DISCUSSION http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/ Pier 45, Hudson River Park, calendar/EventList.aspx?eventid 353 West St, New York, NY 323 Sixth Avenue at West n=19140&view=EventDetails&in 3rd St 10014 formation_id=185192 7:00 PM, Free 7:00 PM, $14 for adults, $10 Enjoy the smooth stylings of for children + seniors the Baby Soda Jazz Band, one A Q&A session with NADINE’S COLORING of New York’s most renowned the creators of “A Right to BOOK “street jazz” groups. the Image,” a harrowing http://www.hudsonriverpark. Provincetown Playhouse, 133 documentary about how the org/events/baby-soda-jazzMacDougal Street, New York, NY media covers human suffering band-2015 and injustice. Guests include 3:00 PM, Free Pamela Yates, Susan Meiselas An 11-year-old girl is left and Charif Kiwan. traumatized by her father’s SAVED BY THE 90S: https://ff.hrw.org/ death. Unbeknownst to her A PARTY WITH THE film/right-image-panelfriends and family, she finds BAYSIDE TIGERS solace in the imaginary world of discussion?city=New%20York her coloring book. Poignant and Le Poisson Rouge, 158 touching. Bleecker St, New York, NY HEART-STAR SALON: http://events.nyu. 10012 READING AND edu/#event_id/63665/view/ 11:00 PM, $15 in advance, PERFORMANCE SERIES event $20 at the door If you’re a 90’s kid, you’re St. Mark’s Bookstore, 136 East not going to want to miss this 3rd St, New York, NY 10009 one. Head down to Le Poisson 7:00 PM, Free Rouge for a night of drinking and The third installment of a poetry dancing, with live music from the and performance series, starring Bayside Tigers. Must be 21 or banjoist Maggie Carson and writer/ over to attend. performer Francis Weiss Rabkin. 212.505.FISH 212-260-7853 http://lepoissonrouge.com/ http://www.stmarksbookshop. lpr_events/saved-by-the-90s- THIS LAND IS OUR com/event/heart-star-salonjune-12th-2015/ LAND: THE POWER OF Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY 10012 2:00 PM, $20 in advance, $25 at the door From the National Dance Institute, a celebration of RE-DESIGNING WOMEN American music genres, from bluegrass to blues to jazz. http://events.nyu.edu/#event_ Baruch Performing Arts id/63935/view/event Center, 55 Lexington Ave. New
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Broadway, New York, NY 10002 1:00 PM, Free Want to learn how to make your own earrings or necklaces? Then check out this hands-on class in jewelry making, hosted by gem artisan TaLoveous Goodwin. Recommended for adults only. http://www.nypl.org/events/ programs/2015/06/17/madenypl-presents-jewelry-makingtaloveous
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Acclaimed jazz legend David Murray is joined on stage tonight by pianist Geri Allen and drummer Terri Lynne Carrington. Tickets are sold on PIGEONS & PLANES PRESENT: a first-come, first-served basis. http://www.bluenote.net/ ELLIPHANT▼ newyork/schedule/moreinfo. cgi?id=13028 Santos Party House, 96 Lafayette Street, Ground Floor WILDLIFE South, New York, NY 10013 SUPERHEROES 8:00 PM, $16 Swedish- born singer/ rapper Elliphant comes down to the Chatham Square Library, 33 Santos Party House to perform East Broadway, New York, NY some 10002 of her most renowned 3:30 PM, Free MECHANICAL RIVER ▲ material. Must be 16 or over to Your kids will love this one! A attend. naturalist from the New Canaan (212) 584-5492 Nature Center will give kids; and Mercury Lounge, 217 E http://www. their parents; a close look at the Houston St, New York, NY santospartyhouse.com/event/ wondrous superhuman talents 10002 index/id/4200 sported by the animal kingdom. 6:30 PM, $10 Recommended for ages 5 and Head down to the Mercury up. Lounge to sample the smooth, THE GRISWOLDS http://www.nypl.org/events/ funky sounds of the lo-fi folk programs/2015/06/16/wildlife- project Mechanical River, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey superheroes performed by Joel Hamilton. St., New York, NY 10002 (212) 260-4700 Doors open at 8:00 PM; $15 http://www. This Australian indie group mercuryloungenyc.com/ is coming to rock the Bowery DAVID MURRAY TRIO event/849703-mechanicalBallroom with their unique, FT. TERRI LYNNE river-new-york/ eclectic sound. Must be 16 or CARRINGTON over to attend. http://www.boweryballroom. Blue Note Jazz Center, 131 W. 3rd JEWELRY MAKING com/event/807141-griswoldsSt., New York, NY 10012 WITH TALOVEOUS new-york 8:00 PM, $20 for bar seating, $35 for table seating Seward Park Library, 192 East
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
A SUMMER STAPLE TURNS 30 A look back at the origin of the annual music festival SummerStage BY WILLIAM ENGEL
In the 1980s, independent music producer Joe Killian was working with some of the best musicians New York had to offer. Seemingly every style of music, from zydeco to salsa to flamenco to klezmer, passed through Killian’s ears. And then it hit him. Why, he wondered, shouldn’t this privilege be extended to everyone in New York, as opposed to a privileged few in the music industry? “I wanted to curate a series that represented the best of our musical communities,” he said. “I wanted to give an opportunity to these musicians who didn’t have a platform.” In 1985, Killian developed the idea for SummerStage, a free music festival in Central Park, in the hopes of exposing New Yorkers to the esoteric music he heard over the years. “It’s not that New York didn’t have free entertainment,” said Killian. “There was ‘Shakespeare in the Park’, you know. But Shakespeare is an easy draw because he’s got 500 years of being lauded as the greatest English writer.” Now, 30 years later, the festival is still brightening up Central Park and the outer boroughs, with stages in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, and shows no signs of
slowing down. This year’s festival, which runs through Sept. 24 at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield and at venues in each outer borough, will feature performances from the 11-piece Tedeschi Trucks Band, British soul-funk group Jungle and numbers from musical “The Wiz,” among other performances. The festival also offers dance performances, spoken-word readings and film screenings, including a showing of “Time is Illmatic,” a documentary about the life of New York rapper Nas. Erika Elliott, artistic director for SummerStage, said that the spirit of the festival has always been about showcasing new artists, a tenet of its founder. “Conceptually, the goal has always been to use the platform of SummerStage to introduce new talent and new artists, to really celebrate the cultural diversity of the city,” she said. The first act Killian ever booked for SummerStage was an artist he’d long admired but had yet to work with, jazz band Sun Ra and the Omniverse Jet Set Orchestra. Killian had seen composer Sun Ra perform many times in the 1970s and 1980s, and was quick to confirm him as a performer for the inaugural show in 1986. As venues went, Killian saw no better locale than Central Park, which in the mid-‘80s was less scrubbed and family-friendly. “Central Park was a dangerous place,” Killian said. “People look
at that as a negative, but I saw it as an opportunity.” When SummerStage got its start, the New York City Police Department mandated that each show had to end by 6 p.m., Killian said, since the department wasn’t responsible for the park in the evening. Shows started in the afternoon, making them a draw for families. As the years went by, SummerStage began to develop a reputation among musicians. Killian remembers booking New York punk legends Sonic Youth for the 1992 festival. “They said they wanted to perform with Sun Ra,” Killian said. “They, of course, had known Sun Ra had played the first SummerStage, which motivated them to say yes to me.” SummerStage isn’t only about giving the floor to new talent. Elliott added that she and her colleagues are always happy to book famous bands and artists. This year will feature performances from rapper Scarface and funk legend George Clinton, among others. “I absolutely want to have artists that are iconic, and the best of the best of any given genre,” Elliot said. But even established artists can sometimes surprise audiences, Killian said. When former Velvet Underground front man Lou Reed played the festival in 1991, he recited some of his spoken word poetry, instead of playing hits from his solo records. Eventually, Killian said, SummerStage was a household name, with Central Park’s stage as a sought-after venue for recording artists. “We cracked it kind of early, but it was only a few years later that it really exploded,” he said. “All of a sudden we became a standard, and artists started saying, ‘I want to play there. It’s a cool place to play.’” For Elliott, a Los Angeles native, SummerStage is a uniquely New York spectacle. “Since I came here, I’ve just been in awe of what SummerStage has to offer,” she said. “In L.A., there are some music festivals, but nothing like what I’ve seen in Central Park.”
JUNE 11-17,2015
Lou Reed reads his spoken word poetry at SummerStage in 1991. Photo by Jack Vartoogian.
“Time is Illmatic,” a documentary about rapper Nas, who performed at SummerStage in 2004, screens at this year’s festival. Photo by Lisa Andracke.
TOP5
JUNE 11-17,2015
13
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
FOR THE WEEK
“Building Stories”: Two Woman Show
BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO
FRIDAY, JUNE 12TH, 8PM
OUR ARTS EDITOR
ATP Gallery | 269 Bleecker St. | 212-691-1770 | allthingsproject.wordpress. com
DANCE
Catch a talk with the two artists behind a show of mixed media and photography that explores the intersection of personal narratives and the architecture of Hong Kong and New York. (Free)
KIDS DANCE AT THE JOYCE
Salon Thursdays: The Gilded Age & European Art
KIDS DANCE, an ensemble of 40 young dancers, performs three original works by choreographer Eliot Feld, including a premiere of his new work “A Yankee Doodle” along with “KYDZNY” and “Dotty Polkas.” The ensemble is made up of students at Ballet Tech Public School, a tuition-free, audition-based school for promising young dancers. Kids Dance at the Joyce June 11-14 Joyce Theater 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street June 11-13 at 7 p.m., June 13-14 at 2 p.m. Tickets $10-$39 To purchase tickets, visit joyce.org or call 212-242-0800
IN CONVERSATION
FILM
DANCE AS EQUALIZER
“THE WOLFPACK” SNEAK PREVIEW
Dance instructor Susan Slotnick takes her teaching to unlikely locales by working with prison inmates. Slotnick discusses how dance introduces discipline and focus into the lives of inmates and young people. Onetime-incarcerated dancer André Noel performs his solo work “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and young dancers from Slotnick’s company join former inmates and professional dancers in a performance. Dance as Equalizer Friday, June 19 92nd Street Y Buttenwieser Hall Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street 8 p.m. Tickets $15 To purchase tickets, visit 92y.org or call 212415-5500
Crystal Moselle’s documentary film follows the Angulos’, a large family with seven children that live in a Lower East Side housing development and spend most of their time inside: the children were barred from leaving the apartment by their father. In a preview of the film ahead of its June 12 opening, the six Angulos boys join the director for a Q&A. June 11 Walter Reade Theater W. 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue 7 p.m. Tickets $18 To purchase tickets, visit filmlinc.com or call 212-875-5601
THEATER
KIDS
“ADA/AVA” “ADA/AVA” a multimedia theater work from
BASEBALL STORY TIME WITH SALLY Chicago’s Manual Cinema, melds puppetry, live music and theater elements into the story about COOK Sally Cook knows a thing or two about baseball. Her latest book, “How to Speak Baseball: An Illustrated Guide to Ballpark Banter,” reveals the meanings behind some of the sports odd phrases, like “up the elevator.” Her 2007 release, “Hey Batta Batta Swing!: The Wild Old Days of Baseball,” unearths some of the sport’s uncanny history. Baseball Story Time with Sally Cook Saturday, June 13 Book Culture 450 Columbus Ave., at W. 82nd Street 11 a.m. FREE For more information, visit bookculture.com or call 212-595-1962
Ada, a woman in her 70s who struggles after the death of her twin sister. The performance employs more than three hundred shadow puppets, overheard projection and silhouettes of live actors. “ADA/AVA” June 16-July 5 Three-Legged Dog 80 Greenwich St., between Rector and Edgar Streets Assorted show times Tickets $24 To purchase tickets, visit thetanknyc.org or call 212-563-6269 To be included in the Top 5 go to otdowntown.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.
THURSDAY, JUNE 18TH, 6:30PM Dahesh Museum of Art | 145 Sixth Ave. | 212-759-0606 | daheshmuseum.org Head on a shopping spree with the rich and famous of late 19th-century NYC, whose desire for instant culture led them to buy traditional European art in record quantities (and prices). (Free)
Just Announced: Penn & Teller
THURSDAY, JULY 2ND, 6:30PM The TimesCenter | 242 W. 41st St. | 888-698-1870 | timestalks.com Thirty years after their New York debut, hear from illusionists Penn Jillette and Teller as they prepare for their Broadway return. ($40)
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
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14
JUNE 11-17,2015
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS MAY 30 - JUN 5, 2015
Ramen-Ya
181 West 4 Street
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.
Grade Pending (21) Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
Istanbul Grill
310 West 14 Street
A
Fat Cat Billiards
75 Christopher Street
A
Pieces
8 Christopher Street
A
Bleeker Street Pizza
69 7 Avenue South
A
Dos Caminos
675 Hudson Street
A
Garage
9799 7 Avenue South
A
Scarpetta
355 West 14 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. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Stk
28 Little West 12 Street
Grade Pending (20) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Love Craft
The Black Rose Ny
50 Avenue B
117 Avenue A
Not Graded Yet (17) 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. Not Graded Yet (32) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed.
Jennifer’s Way Bakery
263 East 10 Street
A
Cork ‘N Fork
186 Avenue A
A
Papa John’s Pizza
210 1St Ave
A
Pyramid
101 Avenue A
A
Market Table
54 Carmine Street
A
Bedlam
40 Avenue C
A
442 East 14 Street
A
848 Washington Street
A
Coffee Shop Diner
The Standard Grill And Biergarten
Elephant & Castle
68 Greenwich Avenue
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 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.
The Clam
420 Hudson Street
Grade Pending (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment.
2 Bros Pizza
319 6Th Ave
A
Gaetana’s Cucina Italiana
143 Christopher Street A
Wallflower
235 West 12 Street
A
Gaslight
400 West 14 Street
A
Bantam Bagels
283 Bleecker St
A
Gotham Bar & Grill
12 East 12 Street
A
Village Yokocho
6 Stuyvesant Street
Grade Pending (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food 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.
Republic Restaurant
37 Union Square West Grade Pending (21) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Karma
51 1 Avenue
Grade Pending (21) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. 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.
Paquitos
143 1 Avenue
Grade Pending (25) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
Local 92
92 2 Avenue
A
Grand Sichuan Eastern
La Panineria
172 8 Avenue
1 W 8Th St
Grade Pending (24) 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. Grade Pending (38) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. HACCP plan not approved or approved HACCP plan not maintained on premises.
Brownstein Caterers
557 West 23 Street
A
Bateaux New York
62 West 23 Street
A
Hana Sushi
211 7 Avenue
A
Blossom
187 9 Avenue
Grade Pending (5) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
Yakiniku Futago
37 W 17Th St
Not Graded Yet (19) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
The Duplex
61 Christopher Street
Grade Pending (39) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
JUNE 11-17,2015
15
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Real Estate Sales Neighborhd
Address
Price
Bed Bath Agent
Lower E Side
417 Grand St.
$948,000
Battery Park City
380 Rector Place
$870,000
1
1
Djk Residential
Lower E Side
575 Grand St.
$1,270,000
Chelsea
253 W 16 St.
$499,000
0
1
Corcoran
Lower E Side
473 Fdr Drive
$750,000
2
1
Charles Rutenberg
1
0
Brown Harris Stevens
2
2
Douglas Elliman
1
1
Douglas Elliman
3
3
Corcoran
1
1
Corcoran
Chelsea
212 W 18 St.
$14,000,000
Lower E Side
210 E Broadway
$550,000
Chelsea
333 W 21 St.
$565,000
Lower E Side
500 Grand St.
$660,000
Chelsea
161 W 16 St.
$562,000
Lower E Side
570 Grand St.
$320,000
Chelsea
112 W 18 St.
$2,000,000
Soho
111 Mercer St.
$5,250,000
E Village
735 E 9 St.
$3,050,000
Soho
390 W Broadway
$2,360,000
E Village
217 E 7 St.
$707,000
Soho
543 Broadway
$3,000,000
E Village
407 E 12 St.
$1,310,000
Soho
203 Spring St.
$628,700
E Village
111 3 Ave.
$550,000
Soho
25 W Houston St.
$152,100
E Village
211 E 3 St.
$1,900,000
Soho
242 Lafayette St.
$2,396,000
E Village
169 Ave. C
$17,303
Soho
158 Mercer St.
$34,000,000
Financial District
15 William St.
$1,939,766
Tribeca
44 Lispenard St.
$2,300,000
Financial District
123 Washington St.
$1,415,367
The Marketing Directors
Tribeca
261 Broadway
$1,750,000
1
2
1
1
2
1
Brown Harris Stevens
Douglas Elliman
Financial District
15 William St.
$1,116,002
1
1
Douglas Elliman
Tribeca
93 Worth St.
$2,860,000
Financial District
88 Greenwich St.
$1,095,000
1
1
The Dressler Group
Tribeca
47 Walker St.
$2,305,000
Financial District
90 William St.
$1,150,000
W Chelsea
445 W 19 St.
$825,000
Flatiron
23 E 22 St.
$4,250,000
2
2
Douglas Elliman
W Chelsea
453 W 22 St.
$301,158
Flatiron
17 W 14 St.
$785,000
W Chelsea
500 W 21St St.
$8,604,212
Fulton/Seaport
99 John St.
$1,410,000
W Chelsea
177 9Th Ave.
$4,100,000
Fulton/Seaport
99 John St.
$535,000
W Chelsea
520 W 23 St.
$800,000
Fulton/Seaport
99 John St.
$875,000
W Chelsea
500 W 21St St.
$3,507,871
W Chelsea
421 W 22 St.
$2,851,100
$2,013,204
317 E 18 St.
$529,000
Gramercy Park
310 E 23 St.
Gramercy Park
Nestseekers
2
2
Cantor And Pecorella
W Village
3 Sheridan Square
$660,000
$499,900
0
1
Sotheby's International Realty
W Village
111 Barrow St.
$2,295,000
340 E 23Rd St.
$1,650,000
2
2
Rp Miller Realty Group
W Village
344 W 12 St.
$746,000
1
1
Corcoran
Gramercy Park
205 3 Ave.
$520,000
1
1
Town Residential
W Village
299 W 12 St.
$1,200,000
0
1
Corcoran
Gramercy Park
130 E 18 St.
$680,000
1
1
Warburg
W Village
31 Jane St.
$1,500,000
Greenwich Village
25 W 13 St.
$640,000
W Village
44 Horatio St.
$6,250,000
3
Brown Harris Stevens
Greenwich Village
42 W 13 St.
$675,000
1
1
Warburg
W Village
167 Perry St.
$1,095,000
1
1
Corcoran
Greenwich Village
145 W 12 St.
$415,000
W Village
99 Bank St.
$710,000
0
1
Owner
Greenwich Village
55 E 9 St.
$2,425,000
W Village
32 Downing St.
$775,000
1
1
Corcoran
Greenwich Village
15 W 12 St.
$1,100,000
W Village
227 W 11 St.
$810,585
1
1
Time Equities, Inc.
Greenwich Village
42 E 12 St.
$3,700,000
Greenwich Village
60 E 8 St.
$1,325,000
Greenwich Village
60 W 13 St.
$55,889
1
Douglas Elliman
something
have
Do
0
you You’d
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16
JUNE 11-17,2015
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
In Brief
Business
BRATTON DEFENDS CRIME STATS Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, writing in the one tabloid known for championing the controversial police practice of stop and frisk, took to the New York Post recently to say that a decrease in the tactic is not correlated to an uptick in crime. Bratton allowed that while murders and shootings are up over last year’s low numbers, “the increase is not a harbinger of collapsing law enforcement or crime raging out of control, as some local columnists would have it. Nor is it evidence that the steep decrease over the past four years in reasonable-suspicion stops — or ‘stop-andfrisks,’ as they’re colloquially known — has caused the increase in shootings.” Bratton dismissed columnists who predict a sustained decrease in the tactic will mean a return to the bad old days of New York City as “armchair criminologists.” According to NYPD statistics at the end of May, the city was up 22 murders and 33 shootings over a period of five months. “Back in 1993, when we averaged about 37 murders and 100 shootings per week,” wrote Bratton, “these recent increases would not have amounted to even a week’s worth of murders and shootings.” Bratton said the department doesn’t take take any comfort that the increases are relatively small because each incident has repercussions on the mostly young victims and perpetrators. “On the other hand, to suggest that this relatively minor increase has been caused by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s opposition to reasonable-suspicion stops is a ludicrous misrepresentation,” wrote Bratton. As evidence, Bratton said, in 2011 the NYPD reported about 685,000 reasonable-suspicion stops.
DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES NEW LABOR AGREEMENT Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials recently announced a deal on several new labor agreements with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York that the administration says will cover an estimated $8 billion of construction projects and will save the city over $347 million. This amount includes an estimated savings of over $70 million related to citywide renovation work, over $84 million related to Department of Environmental Protection renovation work, and over $195 million related to School Construction Authority work, according to City Hall. The Health and Hospitals Corporation is also analyzing whether to enter into a PLA that will yield additional savings. In negotiating the current citywide renovation and labor agreements, the city said it focused on methods to increase opportunities for Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises, and created notable exemptions within the agreement to improve M/WBE participation in city construction work. The city and the BCTC also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding focusing on increasing opportunities for women, new high school graduates of the city’s public schools, returning veterans and employees of certified M/WBEs by providing them with expanded career paths to good-paying construction jobs through apprenticeships. “We are using every tool we have to reduce inequality in this city, and today’s agreement will ensure that the city will create good-paying jobs while managing our city projects in a cost-effective and fiscally responsible manner,” said de Blasio. “And for the first time ever, the city has negotiated provisions to open doors of economic opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses and create new pathways to good jobs for New Yorkers.” Maya Wiley, counsel to the mayor and M/WBE Director, said the agreements will insure that city investments will create a pathway to prosperity for a diverse group of workers and business owners who help build our city.
SEEING SECOND AVENUE THROUGH AN APP NEWS Reaching out to businesses hurt by subway construction BY PANYIN CONDUAH
Businesses on Second avenue have a new way of reaching out to their customers: there’s an app for that. Nancy Ploeger, president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, along with Councilmembers Ben Kallos and David Garodnick, announced the launch of the Second Ave. app last month. The app is designed to help businesses that have been hurt by the ongoing construction of
the Second Ave. subway. The app gives users easy access to the 457 businesses along the avenue. “We have a lot of young people around Second Avenue and of course everyone using apps today,” said Ploeger. Kallos and Garodnick helped find money for the project, allocating $10,000 to bring the idea to life. According to Kallos, public-private partnership was an essential model for supporting the small businesses that suffer because of necessary infrastructure improvements. Out of the seven software companies that applied, Liquid Talent was chosen to design the application. Nine months after the contract was signed, the applica-
tion came to existence. Throughout the process, the businesses gave their feedback after participating in beta testing. Web portals for people who are less tech savvy are also available online to post offerings for the phone app. Ploeger sees the app helpging businesses such as restaurants and retailers who are constantly changing their menus and promoting specials. She also hopes businesses like beauty salons can make use of the technology to create an online presence. Since this app is meant to continue past the completion of the subway line, Ploeger plans on working with owners to make the most use of it. “It enables them to have a free
way to market themselves,” she said. Aside from the app, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce is hoping to promote business the old school way, launching “Mondays on Second.” Every Monday for the entire summer, a business on Second Avenue will be profiled and then promoted via social media platforms. Dave Goodside, owner of the Beach Cafe, is hoping the app brings in business. “It’s a great way for consumers that either are philanthropic at heart and want to keep these Second Avenue stores going or people who just like a good value,” he said. The 2nd Avenue app is now available for both iPhones and Androids.
JUNE 11-17,2015
17
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
The History of Chelsea
The High Line in the days of horseback The elevated rail line, now Chelsea’s tourist star, has a long and seedy past BY RAANAN GEBERER
The High Line is certainly the most popular attraction in west Chelsea today, attracting 5 million visitors annually. Most local residents know that the High Line itself was originally a freight railroad. But its history goes back well before the elevated structure was even constructed. Where tourists now walk, cowboys once rode on horseback. In the 1840s, the Hudson River Railroad, the ancestor of today’s MetroNorth Hudson Line, built a street-level railroad with tracks on 10th and 11th avenues. After the line was merged into the New York Central in 1869, most passenger trains were re-routed into Grand Central. A local train known as the “Dolly Varden” provided passenger service to the West Side until around 1930, but in the main, the route became a freight line. But even in horse-and-carriage days, operating a street-level railroad was dangerous. In 1852, a law was passed stating that a mounted “cowboy” had to ride in front of the trains to alert pedestrians and vehicles. That still wasn’t enough. According to the rail fan website www.kinglyheirs.com, in 1908, the city’s Bureau of Municipal Research reported that since 1852, the trains had killed 436 people. Both 10th and 11th avenues became known as “Death Avenue.” Protests were mounted, plans were made, but it wasn’t until 1929 that the city agreed to build the High Line to replace the street-level freight tracks below 34th Street (the northern portion of the former freight line is now used by Amtrak trains heading to Albany and Buffalo). A brochure from 1934, celebrating the New York Central’s opening of the High Line, describes the original terminal on Spring Street, which had eight tracks and 14 elevators, and gives the names of the freight customers (such as Nabisco, whose building is now the Chelsea Market). Perhaps the most innovative feature of the High Line was the fact that it went right through many of the buildings that it served, off-loading goods inside these openings. One of these openings can still be seen at the former Bell Laboratories building between Bank and Bethune streets, now the Westbeth residential complex. Some street-level rail traffic persisted for years, possibly to serve customers that the High Line couldn’t access. The last street train ran in 1941, according to the New York Times, and that trip’s “cowboy,” George Hayden, wore a 10-gallon hat to celebrate. The High Line prospered for many years, serving the Meatpacking and Printing districts. But beginning in the 1950s, truck traffic began to eat into its volume. The freight terminal and the line south of Bank Street in Greenwich Village were abandoned in the 1960s. When the line was taken over by Conrail, which was created by the government to run bankrupt freight lines, the writing was on the wall. The last train, which carried three
cars of frozen turkeys, ran in 1982. In 1984, rail fan Peter Obltetz, described by the Times as an “eccentric neighborhood visionary,” bought the line for $10, but after owners of businesses underneath the structure, who favored demolition, mobilized against him, the federal government reversed the sale. In 1991, the Times reported, another section of the line, between Bank and Gansevoort streets, was sold for real estate development. Meanwhile, the line continued to deteriorate, attracting vandals, prostitutes and arsonists. In 1999, two Chelsea residents, Joshua David and Robert Hammond, had the idea of making the unused structure into an elevated park and formed Friends of the High Line. Around 2001, this writer attended a debate at a local political club between the Friends, who displayed their plans for the park, and the Chelsea Property Owners Group, who complained of debris falling from the line and a lack of drainage that meant that “when it rained, it poured.” Then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, like the property owners, wanted the line demolished, but the Friends had the advantage of celebrity. A 2004 fundraiser covered by the Times was headlined by Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and Edward Albee, among others. In 2005, the Bloomberg administration assumed control of the former rail line, and ground was broken in 2006. The High Line Park opened in sections, in 2009, 2011 and 2014. Today, on the High Line, visitors can experience t’ai chi, walking tours, meditation, comedy, music, gardening and even boxing. But there’s two things they won’t see. The first is a freight locomotive—and the second is a cowboy.
DRAGGING MEN TO THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE HEALTH June is men’s health awareness month Despite having higher rates of death and lower life expectancy than women, men are half as likely to visit a doctor for an annual physical as women. Men should see a doctor at least once a year for a physical exam. Keeping track of changes in one’s health and body is the best way to detect problems early, before they become serious. Here are a few important numbers which are checked during a physical: • PSA level: Prostate-specific antigen is a substance produced by the prostate. High PSA levels may indicate prostate cancer, an enlarged prostate, an infection (prostatitis), or another issue or condition. • Cholesterol: High cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, two of the top five leading causes of death for men in the United States. • Weight: Being overweight or obese can cause or contribute to a host of medical problems, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, joint problems and osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and gallstones. • Liver Enzyme Levels: Checked as part of a routine blood test, the presence of elevated numbers of certain liver enzymes can be an early indicator of liver damage or disease. “We want to change the way men look at annual doctor visits, and give them better reasons to go more often,” said Ash Tewari, professor and chair of the Department of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System. “Men need to be aware of the importance of regular medical care, from their general physical and mental health to issues and conditions specific to men.” • Women are 100 percent more likely to visit the doctor for annual examinations and preventive services than men. • Men die at higher rates than women from the top 10 causes of death. • Although 115 males are conceived for every 100 females, women outnumber men eight to one by age 100. • 1 in 7 men will develop prostate cancer • Family history is a significant predictor for prostate cancer. A man with a father or brother who has had prostate cancer is twice as likely to develop it himself.
Jeffrey Markowitz, an attorney and administrative judge, went for a routine blood test in 2014 and learned that he had an elevated PSA, a sign of prostate cancer. Even at the relatively young age of 43, he had known he was at a high risk of the disease. As an African American, his race, combined with a family history, meant he had to be careful. African Americans are more than two times as likely to die from prostate cancer as Caucasians. His doctor referred him to Tewari, who confirmed the diagnosis of prostate cancer. After eight months of active surveillance, a second biopsy showed the cancer had progressed. Tewari used robotic surgery to remove Markowitz’s prostate on April 7, 2015. Almost two months post-surgery, he is feeling great. “I want to help ease the stress of the unknown, the details, like what happens when the catheter is removed. I was terrified of what I assumed would be painful, but the support of my family and care team helped carry me through,” he said. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men, and it can be very treatable when detected early. The stage of prostate cancer at diagnosis is the best indicator of survival, which emphasizes the importance of regular health screenings. By understanding the risks and warning signs, men who develop prostate cancer can improve their outcomes. New advances in treatment include: • Active Surveillance and Anxiety: A prostate cancer diagnosis does not necessarily call for immediate intervention. In some cases, actively monitoring and keeping an eye on tumors on the prostate is preferable to surgery. However, in many cases, patients who are prescribed an active surveillance regimen develop anxiety because of the disease and opt for surgery. • Fusion Biopsy and Focal Therapy: Fusionguided biopsy is an imaging technique which combines MRI and ultrasound imaging to better visualize the prostate during procedures. The ability to utilize fusion-guided biopsy will allow doctors to use focal therapy, a method of treating only the cancerous areas of the prostate, leaving the rest of the gland unaffected. This precise treatment technique presents a contrast to traditional approaches, where removing the entire prostate leaves patients safe from cancer, but facing profound sexual and urinary side effects.
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WHY THE FRICK FOLDED NEWS ANALYSIS The museum’s expansion was thwarted by an opposition that it underestimated BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO
Just months after the Frick Collection announced a renovation and expansion, a grassroots effort to block the project quickly began to take shape. The opposition, which began with a small group of local residents, ballooned to a grassroots and online force, collecting thousands of signatures and winning the support of preservation groups and even well-known artists. Yet despite the clear threat developing, Frick officials stayed stoic, confident that the proposal would clear the
Ian Wardropper, Director of The Frick Collection; photo: Michael Bodycomb
necessary hurdles and receive approval from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. That early confidence now seems like a miscalculation. On June 4, a year after the Frick first announced its plan, the museum’s board of trustees elected to change course and revisit the expansion in a way that won’t eliminate a tiny garden on E. 70th Street that had become a flashpoint for the opposition. Museum director Ian Wardropper, who had argued that the expansion was critical to the Frick’s growth, is now having to reassess how the Frick will move forward. From the outset, the Frick underestimated the size and strength of the opposition. While Wardropper said that he expected criticism, particularly of the destruction of the garden, the public reaction was more fervent than museum officials anticipated. The profile of the garden, a small, flourishing patch to the east of the Frick mansion continued to rise as time passed. “There was such an outpouring of emotion toward this garden,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, founder and president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation and an early opponent of the plan. “When you stop to think about it, it is this little postage stamp.” Frick officials maintained that the garden, built in 1977 on the site of three museumowned townhouses that the Frick razed, was a temporary substitute for an eventual addition, a claim that some critics refute, due to the wording of a 1977 press release, found by Birnbaum, that suggests the garden was intended as a permanent fixture. Birnbaum noted that the museum remains “good stewards” of the garden. “When we’re involved in controversies with landscapes, most often the landscape is in bad shape, and people will line up behind seeing its demise,” Birnbaum said. The Frick’s garden, now in full bloom after a lengthy winter, doesn’t appear to need much improving, which helped secure its fate. The Frick has immediate needs, officials say, but, unlike the garden, it hides them well.
Unite to Save the Frick supporter James Andrew posted this image of the E. 70th Street garden and reception hall, which were both at risk of destruction, on his Instagram page in October. Photo: James Andrew.
The now-foregone addition on the garden site would have replaced the narrow reception area with an expanded entrance hall to better accommodate an audience that has grown by around 20 percent in recent years. The Frick also hoped for a larger, 220-seat auditorium, the museum’s first classrooms and a larger, updated conservation room to replace the crowded existing area, as well as improved wheelchair access. Elizabeth Ashby, an Upper East Side resident and co-founder of preservationist group Defenders of the Historic Upper East Side, said she knew early on that the museum’s proposal, which she called a “misjudgment,” would earn criticism. Community members she spoke with were “aghast” at the possibility of
a new building on the garden lot, having come to cherish the residential scale and aesthetic of the museum. “The plan was what did the deed,” said Ashby. “I don’t think there was anything [the Frick] could have done to make people want to support it.” After its announcement in June of 2014, the museum hoped for a presentation to LPC in early 2015, a date that kept moving. In that time, an opposition force mounted. The grassroots coalition Unite to Save the Frick formed by early fall, four months after the museum’s announcement. By November, the group’s online petition had 2,800 signatures and the support of local preservationists. A month ago, prominent artists, including Frank Stella and Richard Prince, added their names to an opposition
letter addressed to Mayor Bill de Blasio and the chairman of LPC. Wardropper said that, despite the outcome, the museum did right by its neighbors and community when it left time for a lengthy public discourse before an eventual application to LPC. “We could have rushed into things and taken people off guard,” Wardropper said. “We didn’t do that. That’s not really our way.” David Masello, a Frick member and executive editor of design magazine Milieu, was one of the earliest opponents of the expansion, and, as he wrote in the New York Times when the Frick first announced its plan, doesn’t see much need for change at the museum. He suggests that the Frick regain some public favor that could have been lost over the
past year by opening the garden, which has always been inaccessible to the public. The withdrawal of the existing proposal might also help rehabilitate a blemished image that comes from defending a contested push for expansion. The Frick remains a beloved New York institution, one that’s both a neighborhood gem and a destination. In its failure to win support for the expansion, the museum’s successes and singularity as an institution become more apparent. Those who cherish the museum’s intimacy fear that a change of the magnitude the museum proposed would jeopardize what has become unique during New York’s era of mega-development. “It would have changed the whole milieu of the museum, which could be a really sad thing,” Masello said.
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Photo Credit: Kate Kinder water
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paintings of celebrities, and pop culture. But actually, drawings were essential to Warhol’s creative output. This exhibit, organized by The Andy Warhol Museum, offers works, such as Mao, Have Gun Will Shoot and Mother and Child, created during one of the most prolific periods of his life. Many of these drawings are on view to the public for the first time.
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MUST DO DEEP SEA FISHING
Long Island Reel ‘em in on a Long Island fishing charter or party boat, regardless of the outing. They’ll provide the reels, bait, tackle, plus captains and crew to “school” you. Take off on an unforgettable deep sea fishing charter from Montauk, Orient or any of the many other local marinas that offer ocean fishing.
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SAVE THE DATE IRONMAN 70.3 SYRACUSE
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Photo Credit: Josh Timmerman
Syracuse. June 21 Watch or compete in this Ironman Race, held in Syracuse beginning in the Jamesville Reservoir. Athletes start this challenging triathlon with a 1.2 mile, single-loop swim, then proceed through the Highland Forest recreational area with a 56 mile bike course rolling through the picturesque countrysides of Onondaga, Madison and Cortland counties. Finally, the athletes finish the race with a 13.1 mile run in and out of Jamesville Beach County Park. Take the challenge or just come on out and cheer for these dynamic athletes.
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Hyde Collection. Glens Falls. Opens June 21 Think Andy Warhol and think colorful iconic
DEEP SEA FISHING
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JUNE 11-17,2015
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
To read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes” go to otdowntown.com/15 minutes
STAYING HOME AND HAVING FUN Emily Skeggs auditioned for a lead part in the hit Broadway musical Fun Home on a Monday and was on stage two days later
entertaining shows. There are times we need to just laugh and enjoy ourselves and have something make us feel happy. However, there’s also room in this world for shows that make you think a little bit differently about the world around you. Fun Home is a real story, it’s someone’s life brought alive on stage and is something you’ve never seen before on Broadway.
BY RACHEL SOKOL
Broadway’s newest hit musical Fun Home — based on the graphic novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel — officially opened to rave reviews this season. Currently, Emily Skeggs plays teenage Alison (called Medium Alison) in the production, which explores the confusing, strained relationship between a father — a veteran, English teacher and funeral home director who struggles with his sexuality — and his daughter (Alison, portrayed by three different actresses, including Skeggs) a lesbian and professional artist who takes theater-goers on a complex and emotional journey through her childhood memories. In her debut role, Skeggs, a New York City native, was Tony-nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (though the award went to an actress from “The King and I.”) As she prepped for the big night, (“I’ve actually never been to Radio City Music Hall — crazy, right?” she exclaimed) Skeggs talked about the musical and the city she calls her home.
“Fun Home” sounds like this jubilant, upbeat show, but it’s much deeper than that. The story is about truth and honesty and being true to ourselves and what happens when you don’t allow The cast of Fun Home. Photo: Joan Marcus yourself to be who you are — and who can’t relate to over the city and is incredibly diverse. that? Hopefully, after the show, peoYou get a cross-section of interests ple walk away having learned someand everyone has a passion for some- thing about the world and themselves. thing. The school keeps you focused It’s socially and politically changing during a time in your life when it can the face of commercial Broadway be hard to live in New York City while theatre right now, and it’s exciting to figuring out who you are as a teenager, meet people who feel changed in a way and what you want to do. LaGuardia they wouldn’t necessarily feel if they can help you with that; it’s a really cool saw something else. place. OK, native New Yorker — tell us about
your favorite hangouts in the city. Where were you when you found out you were nominated for a Tony? Smushed into a Subaru! I’m part of a group called The Shakespearean Jazz Show; we mold the rhythm of Shakespeare with New Orleans jazz. I sing and dance in the band, which we formed at Emerson College. I was traveling with my bandmates on the way to a middle school assembly and we live-streamed the nominations on my friend’s iPhone and just started screaming when my name was announced. I didn’t think I’d be nominated! I’ve lived on the Upper West Side my whole life, except for college, and people who watched me grow up in the neighborhood have been congratulating me, which is so nice.
You graduated from LaGuardia High School. What did you love about it? Emily Skeggs in Fun Home, at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Photo: Joan Marcus
LaGuardia attracts students from all
When Fun Home first ran off-Broadway at The Public Theatre, you replaced the original Medium Alison. How was the audition process? I already knew about the show; the Public Theater just knows how to nurture young, new shows that just need love — they give them a platform to do what they need to do. When I had the chance to audition, I was in a good, confident place in my life and I was ready to go. I auditioned on a Monday and went on stage that Wednesday. I took over role halfway through the run and I haven’t stopped working since. It’s been a whirlwind. Fun Home came along at a time when I was just ready.
What do you want people to know about Fun Home, if they haven’t seen it yet? I think that there is a huge place in this world for big, glitzy, glamorous,
I get my morning coffee at Plowshares Coffee Roasters and sometimes stop by this great bar called the Dive Bar. It used to be the epitome of a dive bar, but now it has all this fancy artwork on the walls for sale. The Upper West Side is constantly changing, which has been exciting to see over the years. I also love walking around Riverside Park where I spent lots of time as a kid. Fun Home is playing at Circle in the Square Theatre. To learn more about Emily Skeggs, visit: www.emilyskeggs.com
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One block north. That’s where we want Mayor de Blasio to move a ramp planned to carry 150 garbage trucks a day through the heart of our 91st Street campus, which provides community sports and fitness for 1 million visits annually — including 400,000 kids.
We’re grateful to those who’ve joined us: Comptroller Scott Stringer Public Advocate Letitia James Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney State Senator Liz Krueger Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer Council Member Ben Kallos Council Member Margaret Chin Council Member Costa Constantinides
Council Member Rafael Espinal, Jr. Council Member Daniel Garodnick Council Member Vanessa Gibson Council Member Corey Johnson Council Member Stephen Levin Council Member Mark Levine Council Member Rosie Mendez Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez Council Member Deborah Rose
Council Member Helen Rosenthal Council Member Ritchie Torres Council Member Mark Treyger Manhattan Community Board 8 CIVITAS Residents for Sane Trash Solutions And more than 10,000 New Yorkers
Now, we just need one more name. Mayor de Blasio, please join us. Together we can work toward a safer Asphalt Green, a safer Community and a safer New York City.
movetheramp.org Asphalt Green is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting individuals of all ages and backgrounds achieve health through a lifetime of sports and fitness. We deliver free and lowcost community programs to over 31,000 children annually in schoolyards, gymnasiums and pools across New York City.