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WEEK OF JULY
23-29 2015
PAVING THE WAY FOR OTHERS Phyllis Gonzalez, a longtime Chelsea tenant advocate, has a street named after her
HUNDREDS ATTEND VIGIL FOR TRAFFIC VICTIMS Families speak out against ‘aggressive’ driving culture, advocate for enforcement
BY HARRISON STEVEN CADE BY LOGAN HENDRIX
Phyllis Gonzalez was a dauntless presence in Chelsea for decades. She served as president of a local PTA, as a member of both the Hudson Guild’s Advisory Council and Community Board 4, and as a secretary for the Citywide Council of Presidents of the New York City Housing Authority. But it was as the four-term president of the Elliott-Chelsea Houses that she had her greatest influence. Gonzalez, who was 65 when she died in September 2012, fought to improve conditions at the housing project however and wherever she could, friends and family said. She accomplished all this despite suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and congestive heart problems. “She had wanted to be a nurse, but when that didn’t work out she directed her energies toward helping the community. She just wanted to help people,” Gonzalez’s daughter, Marion, said. “She was bighearted. And she believed that everyone deserved to have what they needed. She just automatically assumed these responsibilities.” On July 18, under a blazing noonday sun, Gonzalez was given a permanent post in the neighborhood to which she was long dedicated when the southwest corner of 29th Street and Ninth Avenue was renamed Phyllis Gonzalez Way. State Senator Brad Hoylman, who attended the dedication ceremony along
Union Square was a sea of yellow and gray T-shirts in commemoration of loved ones who have died in traffic crashes in the city. Among them was Amy Cohen, a founding member for Families for Safe Streets, whose 12-year-old son, Sammy, was killed by a van outside of the family’s Brooklyn Heights home in October. Cohen implored the crowd to start using the word “crash” instead of “accident.” “The word ‘accident’ suggests something unavoidable and inevitable,” Cohen said. “When we refuse to say ‘accident’ we are insisting that something can be done to save lives.” Vigil for Vision Zero, which drew hundreds on a warm, humid evening July 14, was organized by Families for Safe Streets and Transportation Alternatives, which is advocating for safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians and stricter enforcement of traffic laws. The event took its name from the de Blasio administration’s pivotal traffic-safety initiative, the goal of which is to eradicate traffic deaths and injuries in the city. Friends and family gathered on stage holding pictures of their lost loved ones. Denise Baum, held a newspaper detailing the death of her husband, Rubin Baum, who was
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Fabulous upcoming New York State events and must-sees at ILoveNY.com/summer15 and inside!
Hsi-Pei Liao holds a picture of his daughter, Allison, who was killed in 2013.He was among hundreds of others who attended the Vigil for Vision Zero at Union Square Tuesday evening. Photo: Logan Hendrix
Our Take THE FUTURE FOR OLDER NEW YORKERS Never has there been a better -- or worse -- time to grow old in New York City. This week, we kick off what will be a months-long look at the frustrations, and the joys, of senior citizens in America’s biggest city. We’re beginning this effort by debuting a new, biweekly column on our Voices page by veteran Manhattanite Marcia Epstein, called “Senior Living.” Give it a read and give us your thoughts. Marcia’s column marks the beginning of a series of stories and investigations on elderly New Yorkers, who, perhaps more than any other demographic group, are feeling the brunt of the city’s transformation. Think of any of the hotbutton issues in New York today: affordability, crime, transportation, development. Chances are that elderly New Yorkers are feeling the brunt of them more than the rest of us, either because of fixed incomes, or limited mobility or other vulnerabilities. For decades, New York City has been seen as a blissful place to retire. The transit was good, the culture untouchable, the chances for social interaction varied. All of those things are still true. But it’s also become a brutally difficult place for older people. What is it like to grow old in a city that prizes the new? What can we be doing to make New York a more hospitable place? Join us in coming months as we tackle these issues, all of us, together.
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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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
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