Our Town June 16, 2011

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Pets: The Poop on Uptown Dog Parks

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Since 1970

Trashy Plan Or Just Plain Fight heats up over 2 Asphalt Green BY?

JUST TWO WEEKS AWAY! COMING JUNE 30th

40th Anniversary Issue

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Celebrating Forty Years of Covering the East Side Issue June 30th Dinner Gala June 28th Salute to the Top East Side Families: Tisch, Rudin, Silver, Rubenstein, Morgenthau, Winfield, Miller, Rapfogel Portion of the proceeds to benefit Hunter College Scholarship Program

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By Megan Finnegan Page 4

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express BING PASSES EYE DROP BILL—The state

legislature recently passed a bill authored

by Assembly Member Jonathan Bing that will allow patients with prescription eye drops to obtain refills when needed before their current dose’s expiration date. This will enable patients, especially the elderly who may run out of eye drops before the expiration date due to unsteady hands, to continue consistent

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usage of their medication. Previously, insurance companies would not cover refills prior to the expiration date.

“Eye drops are not something like a pill where you pick it up and put it on your tongue and swallow it,” said Bing.

“You may miss a couple of times before you get it in the right place.”

He noted that eye drops, unlike other prescription drugs, are not sold on the black market or used for illicit purposes, so there is less need to strictly limit dispensing them. The bill won’t place additional requirements on insurance companies, but will require them to cover valid prescription refills.

The bill was brought to Bing by the State Ophthalmological Society and is supported by the New York State Medical Society and the AARP. —Megan Finnegan HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE TAXIS ONE STEP CLOSER—A bill sponsored by Assembly

Community

meeting Calendar Wednesday, June 22 • Community Board 8 Second Avenue Subway Task Force Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Hunter College, 695 Park Ave., West Building Lecture Hall, 6th Fl. Thursday, June 23 • Community Board 8 Health, Seniors & Social Services Committee Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Brick Presbyterian Church, 62 E. 92nd St., Carnegie Room.

This schedule is current as of Tuesday, June 14. For more information, including full agendas, please contact the community boards directly.

Community Board 8: 212-758-4349, cb8.com.

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WOMAN DISAPPEARS ON UPPER EAST SIDE—An Upper East Side woman has

been missing for over two weeks.

Alice O’Toole, 68, was last seen leaving her residence at 643 Park Ave. at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, May 31. Police say she is 5-feet 3-inches tall, weighs 170 pounds and has gray hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to call 800-577-TIPS. All calls are confidential.

—Ashley Welch PANORAMIC OUTDOOR THEATER—The

New York Classical Theatre presents free outdoor performances of The School for Husbands, Molière’s 17th-century com-

andrew schwartz

New York City Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Emma and Thalia Scholl and their father Allan Scholl run through a water fountain in celebration of the $1.8 million in new capital improvements to the John Jay Park Playground. Allan Scholl was the designer of the playground.

Member Micah Kellner that would require New York City’s taxi fleet to be wheelchair- and handicap-accessible has passed the assembly and will move to the senate for a vote.

“Hailing a cab is an iconic New York experience, but people with disabilities have been locked out of this crucial mode of transportation,” said Kellner in a statement.

The legislation would require all new taxis to be wheelchair-accessible, have enough space to accommodate a service animal, make as much noise as a conventional gasoline-powered car so that they can be heard by the visionimpaired, include Braille signage and text in large-sized fonts, and be equipped with an assistive listening system so that riders with hearing aids can communicate with the driver. Currently, only 231 of the 13,237 medallion yellow cabs are wheelchair-accessible or provide other accommodations to people with disabilities.

—MF

A parade-goer cheers with wild abandon as marchers go up Fifth Avenue during the 54th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. edy that tells the story of a young woman who rejects her guardian’s desire for marriage and coaches a more attractive suitor on how to be a good husband. In the manner of the “panoramic theater” that New York Classical is known for, audiences follow the performance through Central Park as the play progresses, for approximately 90 minutes. Currently running Thursday through Sunday until June 26, 7 p.m. Play begins at West 103rd Street and Central Park West.

—Catharine Daddario SONGS FOR GREEN SPACE—A cabaret performance, “Songs of Stage & Screen,” will be held June 22 as part of the free outdoor concert series at the Tudor City Greens Park. The program’s goal is to increase the

audiences for jazz, standards and Broadway music, and to encourage support for and to protect New York green spaces. South Park of Tudor City Greens Park (enter at Tudor City Place, between 41st and 42nd streets, and First and Second avenues). Other concerts Aug. 3 and Sept. 7.

—CD FOOD LOVERS’ TOUR OF ISRAEL—The

92nd Street Y presents an evening of culinary history and tasting with Naama Shefi of the Consulate General of Israel.

Food historian and author Francine Segan discusses what cutting-edge chefs are creating in Israel, while audience members try samples of new and unusual Irsaeli cuisine. Thursday, June 23, 7 p.m., 1395 Lexington Ave., 92y.org; $40.

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Trashy Plan Or Just Plain NIMBY? Fight over East Side garbage site near Asphalt Green heats up

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andrew schwartz

By Megan Finnegan As the city budget deadline looms closer, the fight over the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station has intensified.

Opponents are waging battles to stop it through the courts, the state Legislature and on the ground with petitions and rallies, even as they recognize that the mayor will likely succeed in allocating the capital funds to move forward.

Part of the city’s 2006 Waste Management Plan, the currently defunct transfer station next to Asphalt Green community center and sports fields is slated for a $125 million renovation and conversion to a marine-based waste transfer station.

Last Saturday, residents organized a petition drive at Asphalt Green, lobbying parents as they shepherded kids to the ball fields. Several parents said that the city isn’t taking into account how the neighborhood has changed in the past decade, with more young families moving to Yorkville and the surrounding area.

“This neighborhood didn’t used to have children in it because there was a garbage dump,” said Megan Gerst, a local parent, referring to when the waste station was operational in the mid ’90s.

Now, she said, the influx of families makes it an inappropriate location.

“I love Bloomberg, but he’s very tone deaf on development,” said Dale Cohen, an architect who moved to the area for its relative affordability. She said that the site doesn’t make sense when it could be located on the West Side, closer to New Jersey, where the trash winds up after it has been processed and containerized.

Many opponents have cited the number of garbage trucks that will be circling through the area as a reason that they are against the project.

“It’s going to be a huge number of trucks every day, six days a week,” said City Council Member Jessica Lappin. “In terms of traffic, noise and safety, there’s an issue with putting that many trucks on York Avenue.”

According to the Department of Sanitation plan, the station will receive about 184 truckloads on a normal day.

“Sanitation said that the ramp will hold 17 trucks, and that there will be no need to queue on the street because the capacity for receiving is 36 trucks an hour,” said Tony Ard, chairman of Gracie Point Community Council, an organization formed to oppose this project.

Megan Gerst, left, with her child, gets people to sign a petition to stop the Waste Transfer Station at East 91st Street at a petition drive last weekend.

“That assumes that the deliveries are as they have forecast them, but they don’t explain anywhere the basis on which that forecast rests.” He said Sanitation isn’t planning on enough enforcement of these best-case circumstances.

Opponents cite the trucks as sources of air pollution from diesel emissions and from the garbage they carry. Major environmental groups, however, say that these emissions are negligible when compared to the vast reduction in the

“We had a garbage station at this location for almost 60 years,” said Council Member Lappin. “I think we’ve done our fair share. The neighborhood has changed and people need to accept that.” number of miles traveled by trucks as a result of operating a marine transfer station.

“If you believe all the rhetoric coming out of Gracie Point [Community Council], you would think that every garbage truck in the city is running around poisoning our kids,” said Jim Tripp, senior counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund. He said the city has made a commitment to update all of their trucks to the latest EPA standards for diesel vehicles, greatly cutting down on emission pollution.

The EDF conducted a study called Trash in the City in 2002, analyzing eight different potential sites for marine or rail waste transfer stations.

The study aimed to measure how much each site would reduce the total vehicle miles traveled by trucks, improve overall city air quality, minimize traffic congestion and adhere to a fair distribution of trash management throughout the city. It found that the East 91st Street location was ideal under all of these criteria.

Tripp said that when the Freshkills landfill closed to commercial waste in the late ’80s, commercial transfer stations sprang up in the South Bronx and Brooklyn where space was cheap and available, not in spots that made the most sense environmentally, and that the mayor’s Solid Waste Management Plan is the first attempt to rectify some unfair distribution of waste that resulted from this haphazard construction.

The EDF acknowledges that trucks lining up day and night would be a concern for the neighborhood, but cites that as a detail to work out, not a reason to halt the facility.

“There’s nothing inherent about this facility that requires that trucks be queuing up for blocks,” said Eric Goldstein, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which supports the transfer station. “What it requires is that this be a well-run and well-managed facility, and the community has every right to demand that.”

Gracie Point has pursued several lawsuits against the city to stop the transfer station. A case recently decided in the city’s favor challenged the characterization of Asphalt Green as a park and therefore subject to the public trust doctrine that would require the city to get state legislative approval before altering it in any way.

In January 2010, a state court concluded that Asphalt Green is not a dedicated parkland subject to the public trust doctrine, and a June 7 decision upheld this.

But a legislative roadblock is still in play. On Monday, June 13, Assembly Member Micah Kellner’s bill A.919 passed the Environmental Conservation Committee. The bill would prevent any kind of waste facility from being built within 800 feet of public housing, such as Holmes Towers on East 93rd Street.

“The mayor’s entire argument that this is an environmental justice issue and that the Upper East Side and Manhattan have to take care of our own garbage is a false one,” said Kellner. “Our garbage gets trucked out to the Holland tunnel to New Jersey. There is a false perception that wealthier communities are dumping our garbage on poorer communities.”

City Council Member Dan Garodnick also pointed out the mixed income nature of the neighborhood in his opposition to the project.

“The people who I actually represent in the neighborhood are the folks in public housing,” said Garodnick. “There has historically been a directing of garbage sites to less privileged neighborhoods, and that is obviously wrong. That does not mean you ruin a residential neighborhood anywhere to make up for it.”

“We had a garbage station at this location for almost 60 years,” said Council Member Lappin. “I think we’ve done our fair share. The neighborhood has changed and people need to accept that.”

Proponents of the transfer station place it within a larger context of the city’s overall plan to better manage residential and commercial waste.

“If this facility advances, it will make it more likely that the recycling facility at Gansevoort will advance, and more likely that the 59th Street West Side commercial waste transfer facility will advance,” said Goldstein. “All those will have a beneficial impact in terms of boosting recycling participation and reducing the air pollution.”

N EW S YO U LIV E B Y

40th Anniversary Issue Celebrating Forty Years of Covering the East Side

Special Commemorative Issue Date: June 30th

Salute to the Top East Side Families: Tisch, Rudin, Silver,Rubenstein, Morgenthau, Winfield, Miller, Rapfogel Jewelers since 1936

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• Special Dinner Gala - You can also purchase tickets to attend our Dinner Gala to celebrate our Anniversary and honor our special honorees.

For more information call your account executive at 212.268.0384 or email advertising@manhattanmedia.com

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Bada-Bing! East Side Pol Tapped by Cuomo Jonathan Bing reflects on legacy and new role in Liquidation Bureau said. “More importantly, victims of abuse that were trapped in these marriages but not able to get out” now have recourse to escape destructive spouses.

He also passed laws that allow rescue and recovery workers who were at Ground Zero after 9/11 to collect benefits years after the fact, due to the delayed symptoms of health problems that many workers experienced over five years later.

“People being denied benefits because of statutes of limitations didn’t make sense,” he said. “I’m very proud that people from around the city and around the state are now getting the benefits they deserve.”

A law that Bing wrote last year has helped some of the East Side’s cultural behemoths, like the Metropolitan Opera, stay afloat during the recessionary period, when investments and donations run thin. Sponsored by fellow East Side representative Liz Krueger in the Senate, the UPMIFA (Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds) legislation made it legal for universities, cultural institutions and non-profits to spend a percentage of

their endowments to preserve pro“Nine years of gramming and staff positions durthe commute for ing tight financial periods. half the year to “If somebody gives you a gift Albany was drainand the value goes down, you can’t ing on my family,” spend it,” said Bing of the situation he said. “Being before this law passed. “You had all able to gain executhese institutions cutting programs tive experience, to and cutting jobs when they have be able to basically this money. The small percentage run a multi-mil[they can spend] will allow them to lion-dollar insurkeep going.” ance company but On the local level, Bing has also work in the helped to create new school seats Jonathan Bing is stepping public interest, it’s on the East Side, working on legis- down from State Assembly the exact type of lation to make it easier for schools seat to join the Cuomo ad- opportunity that I to get financing for renovations, as ministration. would leave a very well as facilitating contracts between the gratifying career in the Assembly for.” city and developers and helping schools Political circles are already tossing find temporary locations. He had a hand out Dan Quart, an attorney who until in adding 1,000 new elementary schools recently served on Community Board 8, seats to District 2, where his 4-year-old as the Democratic nominee to fill Bing’s daughter will enroll when she starts seat. While he can’t endorse a candidate kindergarten. in his new position, Bing called Quart Bing said that he’s happy his new posi- a “close friend” and said he would certion will allow him to spend more time tainly be qualified to run for the 73rd with his family.

District spot. andrew schwartz

By Megan Finnegan After representing the East Side in the State Assembly for nine years, Jonathan Bing is trading in his regular jaunts to Albany for a daily subway ride downtown.

Bing was appointed to serve in the Cuomo administration last week, and after the legislative session ends June 30, he’ll take up his new role as the Special Deputy Superintendent of the New York Liquidation Bureau, a state agency whose function is to protect the interests of policyholders and creditors when an insurance company is declared insolvent.

Bing will leave behind an impressive legislative legacy, including authoring the law that makes New York the final state in the country to pass no-fault divorce.

The measure, which removes onerous requirements that one party is assigned blame for a marriage’s dissolution, resulting in drawn out and often nasty legal battles, passed earlier this year, and Bing named it as one of his proudest accomplishments.

“It’s one of the most significant pieces of social legislation” for New York, Bing

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N EW S YO U LIV E B Y

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O u r T o w n N Y. c o m

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Row Your Boat, Gently Down the East River C.R.E.W. to have a community boathouse to educate others,” Hawk said. “And I thought, ‘Oh wow, this organization is for me.’”

Years later, C.R.E.W. moved to its current location on 96th Street by the Stanley Isaacs Playground.

Those interested in rowing don’t need experience on the water. C.R.E.W. has taken out people ages 2 to 88 for a tour of the city waterway without a single injury.

They typically row until dusk.

The East River suffers from a number of unfair stereotypes, C.R.E.W. members said, from being the place mobsters dump bodies to being toxically polluted to having currents that will drown you as soon as you step in the water.

But, they are hoping that this free rowing program will be one of the pieces in bringing the river back to its use as an active waterway.

“Once you get out into the water, all of the sounds of the city fade away and it’s amazingly quiet and beautiful,” Hawk said.

While currents in the East River can reach speeds up to 4 knots, currents in the 96th Street cove, where most of the rowing takes place, often rest at a gentle 0.3 knots.

The group also promotes estuary edu-

andrew schwartz

By Lisa Chen Plenty of New Yorkers travel across, live beside and drive along the East River.

But how many can boast that they’ve actually spent time in its waters?

The East River C.R.E.W. (Community Recreation and Education on the Water) is looking to change that with free open-water rowing sessions that take place at 5 p.m. every Tuesday from the East 96th Street Esplanade entrance. The group’s goal is to raise the profile of the maligned waterway through rowing and estuary education.

The volunteer organization was founded in 1997 after Saint David’s School teacher Tori Gilbert and several students built a Whitehall gig, a 19th-century boat used as a water taxi. They initially stored the boat in Red Hook until a defunct fireboat house on East 90th Street caught their attention.

When the fireboat house became the subject of a news article, East River C.R.E.W. captured the imagination of Mary Nell Hawk, a West Sider who enjoyed kayaking and canoeing and is now the board president and on-water director of the group.

“In the article, Tori mentioned that this old firehouse would be a great place for

East River C.R.E.W. offers free openwater rowing sessions every Tuesday. cation in order to encourage New Yorkers to respect the city’s waterways.

“The estuary is a very productive habitat for fish and wildlife. When we don’t take care of it, life disappears,” said Gilbert, who is also C.R.E.W.’s curriculum coordinator.

The organization also takes special efforts to reach out to children through activities such as fishing.

“We want kids to be connected to what’s going on beneath the surface of the water,” Gilbert said. “Then, they’re less inclined to litter.”

East River C.R.E.W.’s immediate goal is to find more volunteer coxswains so they can increase the number of nights that rowing on the East Side is available.

In particular, they are looking for people with experience in boating and rowing. A coxswain is the person in charge of the navigation of the boat.

Most importantly, East River C.R.E.W. is looking for a few good people who want to go out and explore the river that they may have passed a 1,000 times without dipping a toe into.

“It’s a great equalizer,” said Katherine Winkleman, an Upper East Sider who has rowed with the group five times. “You see people of all races, ages and economic levels joining in the free rowing. It builds an excellent community.”

To volunteer to become a coxswain or for more information, visit eastrivercrew.org.

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The Board of Directors of the 60-86 Madison Avenue District Management Association, Inc. cordially invites you to attend the

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Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 8:30 AM The Hotel Plaza Athenee 37 East 64th Street

RSVP to 212-861-2055 To learn more about the Madison Avenue BID, visit our web site at www.madisonavenuebid.org O u r T o w n N Y. c o m

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No Stretch for Actors Who Play Homeless is happening here and now,” said Frank Rocco, chief operating officer of Jan Hus. The troupe is comprised of nine actors, eight male and one female. Incorporating documentary footage that the performers shot themselves, the play addresses issues of discrimination, violence and an overall inefficiency in the New York City shelter system.

In one scene, a man is brutally beaten with a pipe while sleeping in a shelter. The man who assaulted him falsely believed that he had stolen his hat. The next night, the bloody and bruised man, now on crutches, is denied a bed and turned away by security for partaking in a fight the night before.

For the performers, being a part of the troupe means not only bringing awareness to the adversity they face, but having an outlet to express themselves and establish relationships with others.

“It teaches me self-confidence and how to talk to and deal with people,” said Tairq “El Shabacz” Bennett, 45, a break dancer who has been homeless for a year.

Anthony Horton lives in the subway tunnels and has been homeless for over 25 years. He does not remember his age,

andrew schwartz

By Ashley Welch “Call me what you like. But you won’t call me at home. There’s no phone.”

An actor in thick black glasses wearing an over-sized white T-shirt recites these words to a crowd of about 50 people tightly packed into a church basement.

It is the opening night of Hellter Shelter, a play about corruption in the New York City shelter system created and performed by the Jan Hus Theatre Troupe, a group made up of homeless actors.

The ensemble, which is part of an outreach program of the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church and Neighborhood House at 351 E. 74th St., is a division of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, an organization committed to giving a voice to members of society who are not usually heard.

The actors spent months developing the play by drawing from personal experiences living on the streets and in shelters. Every scene illustrates something that has happened to at least one of the performers.

“It really pulls back the veil of reality and shows people the nitty-gritty of what

The Jan Hus Theatre Troupe, a group made up of homeless actors, created Hellter Shelter, a play about corruption in the shelter system. but has been told he is 50. Co-writer and illustrator of the book Pitch Black, a story of his life underground, Horton said he appreciates the companionship the troupe offers.

“It gives me a chance to do something I don’t normally get to do—to associate

and interact with people,” he said.

According to Katy Rubin, the artistic director of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, the purpose of Hellter Shelter is two-fold. The first half of the play consists of the performance. The audience is then invited to discuss the problems they just witnessed and brainstorm possible solutions.

“It’s an opportunity for deep solidaritybuilding with the homeless,” she said.

Mike Newton, 38, has been living on the streets on and off since he was a teenager. While he said he hopes the audience enjoys the show, it is important to him that they take away something more.

“I hope they become more aware of the problems we face,” he said, “and to not look down on us, because we are people, too.”

Yet for Horton, something transcends even that.

“These are my family members,” he said. “I’ve never had a family. This is the closest I’ve come. Anything else we do here is extra.”

The final performance of Hellter Shelter will be June 22 at the Cornerstone Center at 178 Bennett Ave.

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File: 14194a NS-LIJ Home CareNAd EW S Size: 10” x 5.541” Publication: Our Town/ West Side Spirit Publication Day: Weekly

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profile

East Sider’s Silk Road “Song”

By Allen Houston Upper East Side author Mingmei Yip is a busy woman. In addition to being a celebrated writer whose third novel, Song of the Silk Road, was recently released, Yip is a master calligrapher and is classically trained on the Qin, a traditional Chinese instrument, which she plays in concert several times a year.

The Chinese-born writer’s novels typically center around a strong female character, such as the Buddhist nun in Petals From the Sky or the last courtesan in China in Peach Blossom Pavilion.

She has lived in the East 90s with her husband for the past decade. Our Town sat down with her to talk about the art of writing and her latest novel.

Our Town: What is your writing process like? Do you write every day?

Mingmei Yip: At this point I don’t have to write every day anymore. But when I do write, I work very long hours. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, though. Writing is actually very, very hard. The hardest thing is that I have a lot of energy for the first chapter of the book, but then the problem becomes how do you fill 400 pages and make sure every sentence has its own unique rhythm. It’s important that each sentence is aesthetically appealing to people.

Do you do any outline before you start working?

No, I’ve never used an outline because it’s too constrictive to me personally. I always end up going in a different direction than the one I start with. I do keep a notebook and a pen with a light by my bed, because if I get an idea while I’m working on a novel, I want to make sure and write it down. If I don’t, I’ll forget it or it starts to feel faded the next day when I start back to work.

Mingmei Yip with her new novel.

I was paid for my writing was when I was 15 for an art review that I wrote for a newspaper. Later, I became a professor of music in Hong Kong and then I got married and we moved to Cleveland.

I couldn’t find a job teaching Chinese music in Ohio. At that point, I decided I was going to write a novel.

Did your first novel come easily?

Not at all. In my whole career, I’ve met two people who wrote a novel and got an agent and publisher right away. Most people struggle for a very long time. It took me a lot of rejections and 14 years for my first novel to get published.

You come from a very colorful background. Tell us about your family.

My mother’s family owned the Pepsi-Cola plant in Vietnam and my father was a professional gambler who gambled away everything, including all of my mother’s jewelry. Addiction to gambling is such a destructive behavior.

After such a long period of rejection, what motivated you to keep going?

Actually, at one point I did almost give up because I got so many rejections. It wasn’t because of the humiliation of it all but because I questioned whether this was how I should be spending my life. Was I doing the right thing? What if I waste 20 years of my life and never get anywhere?

But that was all very temporary. I finally sold my first novel, and now it’s been published in more than a dozen languages.

I get fan mail from all over the world and that’s one of the most satisfying things.

Someone in Australia wrote me a letter saying that whenever he’s depressed, he takes my book down and reads it and it makes him feel better. That’s a very gratifying feeling.

How do you start writing?

I’ve always loved to write. The first time

For more information, visit mingmeiyip.com.

How long does it take you to write a novel?

It takes six to nine months to write, but the editing takes much longer because I’m a perfectionist. I usually go through 10 or 11 drafts before I give a copy to the editor.

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pets

is a bit tricky, but the hilly trek is perfect for energetic dogs and walkers.

Further downtown, the Riverside Park dog run at West 87th Street has a much calmer vibe. In addition to the dog bowls, water access and plastic bags offered at most dog runs, West 87th has a tub for cold hose-water baths on hot summer days.

Owners can also use the raking tools provided there to clean up dog waste, a refreshing alternative to the hand-ingrocery-bag technique. Dog walker Max Boingeanu prefers the 87th Street one for its tranquility. Near the 72nd Street spot is the dog-friendly Boat Basin Café, where dogs and their humans can enjoy the sunset and a cool beverage together.

For East Side residents, the Carl Schurz Park on East End Avenue at 86th Street is a favorite. Dog lovers will enjoy this park’s annual “Halloween Howl” dog costume competition.

Owners should be familiar with dog run rules and etiquette before venturing into any dog run. A list of rules can be found centralparknyc.org/visit/generalinfo/dogs-in-the-park/. Vernado also suggested that owners “understand that this is a place for dogs to be dogs.” She discourages bringing expensive toys, as they can easily be taken or ruined by other dogs. It appears to be a dog-eat-toy world out there.

The Poop on Uptown Dog Runs When it comes to play areas, beauty is in the eye of the owner

of Dog Run Fun, a canine “play and walking business.

He said Upper West Side dog runs—and particularly 105th Ceil Ainsworth Street, which is the biggest in Manhattan Media the area—are the best because 63 West 38th St. people are less “uppity” about New York NY 10018 the rules.

According to Druck, a three(212) 284-9724 Fax: (212) 268-0502 dog-per-person rule is enforced email: production@manhattanmedia.com in some runs because owncc: cainsworth@manhattanmedia.com ers complain, concerned that The dog run at Carl Schurz Park. large groups with walkers can popular runs. quickly turn 4.917”W x 2.687”H, 1/8 page into unsafe packs, potentially For Christina Vernado and her pep- starting fights and preying on other lone py Bichon Frise, it’s all about attitude. runners. But holding dogs outside to wait Please Run Ad on Thursday: 06.09.11 Vernado prefers the dog run in Riverside their turn doesn’t exactly inspire calm, Park at West 105th Street because people says Druck. Other owners wait until they are not as protective of their dogs. know a large group will be there so their “This is where they learn how to be dogs can be more social. Luckily, most dog around other dogs,” she said. runs have an enclosed area for smaller.

At the 105th Street run, the energy is The dog run in Morningside Park is “a high and the views are great: Dogs of all bit of a secret,” according to dog walker sizes chase each other in circles and own- Marina Gorey. The shady, wood-chipped ers play along or sit at sunny picnic tables, spot is a short walk down the stairs and with the Hudson River as a backdrop. the path from the 114th Street entrance to Robert Druck is the owner and founder Morningside Park. Finding it the first time

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By Marley Gibbons Most Manhattan dogs spend the majority of their time cooped up in apartments, often bored and alone. They frequently rely on the kindness of neighbors or professional dog walkers for their daytime outings. But walking slowly on a leash only goes so far toward keeping them fit and happy: To maintain their physical and psychological wellbeing, they rely heavily on the dog runs that dot the city’s parks.

Gary Rosenberger, a financial journalist who is a long-time owner of rescue dogs and a strong canine advocate, believes running is essential for city pooches.

“Dogs need exercise to stay sane,” Rosenberger said. “When it’s time to leave the dog run, the owner has to chase the dog around with the leash… the dog doesn’t want to leave.”

Uptown Manhattan has plenty of places for dogs to run and play. (For a list of dog runs throughout NYC, visit nycgovparks. org/facilities/dogruns.) But dogs and their caretakers have many well-founded opinions about which is the best. An informal survey revealed several of the area’s most

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DINING

New World Meets Southern Rhone

the floral notes really jump on the palate.

Wildflower bouquet up front gives way to notes of endive and mango with a mild, white pepper finish.

So, when you reach for a bottle of white to pair with those grilled scallops at your summer barbeque this year, try something other than your typical California Chardonnay.

You may be pleasantly surprised!

Hearty and sassy grapes result in new take on undiscovered classic To start with the most well-known of these varietals, Viognier has already begun to stake its claim in the American wine market. Sometimes unfairly thought of as an alternative to a full-bodied Chardonnay, this grape definitely has an identity of its own. The Cline Cellars Viognier 2009 ($9.99 at Beacon Wines and Spirits, 2120 Broadway at W. 74th St., 212-877-0028) is a great introduction to anyone nervous about trying something new. The scents from the glass may remind you that this wine is from an area known for big-bodied Chardonnay, with lots of mango and pineapple. On the palate, however, there are no buttery or vanilla-laden notes.

It’s all lush tropical fruit with more mango and

By Josh Perilo papaya flavors up front, and a refreshing grapefruit and green herb finish.

Now, for those strange varietals that I mentioned before that you may not have heard of: Marsanne and Roussanne.

In the blends that hail from the Rhone, these grapes are the more complex varietals of the bunch. They tend to be used to add perfume and floral accents, while the Viognier delivers most of the fruit. In Australia, this equation has been turned on its head with the John Duval Plexus White Marsanne Roussanne Viognier 2010 ($32 at Yorkshire Wines, 1646 1st Ave. at E. 85th St., 212-717-5100). The two lesser-known grapes take centerstage.

The nose starts with powerful scents of lilac and lavender. The palate, while not overly fruity, gives up some grapefruit in the middle, but it is the herbal frontof-palate, and the peppery finish, that are the main event here.

In the U.S., we’ve taken the underdog

and lifted it up as well. The Zaca Mesa Roussanne 2007 ($23.50 at 67 Wines and Spirits, 179 Columbus Ave. at W. 68th St., 212-724-6767) shows what this underappreciated grape can do by itself. Scents of orchid, magnolia and papaya leap out, but

Follow Josh on Twitter: @joshperilo.

Where Cheesy Meets Over Easy At lunch time, this grilled cheese mecca has lines snaking around the atrium of the Citicorp Center, so use my strategy: breakfast. There are no lines at the small takeout window, and your sandwich might cost $3 less than some of the lunchtime offerings—like three cheese melt ($7.95) or beef ‘n’blue ($8.95). Order the roasted tomato and Monterey jack frittata with pork sausage on a buttermilk biscuit ($5.50). I’m fussy about biscuits, and this brown) are inside ($5.50). I usually think one is made from it’s gross when my teenage son scratch and tastes stuffs french-fries in his hamit, fluffy and dotburger bun, but I think he’s 601 Lexington Ave. ted with herbs. onto something because the (Atrium of Citicorp Center The combo of a crunchy “tot” (note, singular) fat spicy breakfast works well with the high qualat E. 53rd St.) sausage patty with 7 a.m.–10:30 a.m., Breakfast ity ham and fried egg inside lacy frittata is like the brioche bun. Eating these 212-759-MELT a tough-talking unusual ’wiches at a table in road worker dating the outdoor atrium should start an elegant damsel. The pair has chemistry. any day sunny side up.

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By Josh Perilo I will be taking a short reprieve from my recent jag on sparkling wines to write about another tasting I went to this week.

I noticed an interesting trend that really pleased me, and I wanted to comment on it and, hopefully, help push it along.

For the last couple of decades, the Southern Rhone Valley in France has been known in the U.S. for a handful of red wines, most notably the Châteauneuf-duPape. This red import is actually a blend of many grapes (there are 13 permitted to be used, actually), with the major players being Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. In the American marketplace, this wine is essentially the mascot for that lush and hilly southeastern French region: big, spicy reds with a lot of fruit that are great on their own, but match well with food.

More and more, however, I’ve been starting to see the other side of the Southern Rhone showing up in wine stores. I’m speaking of the underrepresented white wines from the Southern Rhone. Like the reds, these wines are blends as well. The major grapes that are used here are Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne. These are not your typical crisp, chill-to-freezer-temperature white wines. These are big and bold with lots of body and character; wines that could wrestle any Cali Chard to the ground without the help of an oak barrel.

What I noticed at this tasting, however, wasn’t a proliferation of white Rhone wines, but of the white Rhone varietals being transplanted and grown in New World areas. California and Australia are starting to churn out their own versions of these hearty and sassy grapes, and the result is a refreshing new take on an old and undiscovered classic.

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new york family

Sleepless in the City

When new parents struggle to help their baby sleep, a qualified professional can make all the difference

By Leah Black

I

knew I was desperate when I asked my cousin how she got Sula to sleep through the night. Sula is her 2-year-old Weimaraner. I was willing to look anywhere for help in getting a good night’s rest for my son and I, even from a dog.

Months of sleep deprivation as a new mom will do that to you. It will also result in behavior you never could have envisioned pre-parenthood, like crying hysterically at 4 a.m., throwing stuffed animals at your husband’s head and calling 911 because you accidentally locked your baby in the apartment.

It all started when my son was a newborn. After the one-week honeymoon phase in which Avi lounged around in a perpetual slumber and my husband and I congratulated ourselves on having a great sleeper, he woke up and seemingly wouldn’t go back down.

So, when I learned about Smooth Parenting—a sleep consulting and parent-coaching service in the city that helps your baby sleep through the night—I

jumped at the chance to work with the woman behind it, Diana Blanco.

On the phone, I told Blanco my story, which I was sure would be one of the worst she’d heard. Though he was 5 months old by then, Avi was still waking anywhere from three to five times a night, taking minuscule 40-minute naps,

Welcome To The Family!

For great parenting resources, fun weekend events and savvy shopping tips, sign up for our weekly email newsletter at newyorkfamily.com. and getting up as early as 4:30 a.m. Neither he nor I had slept through the night since the day he was born.

“This seems like a pretty typical situation to me,” she said. “It should be easy to fix.”

I hung up the phone feeling relieved, and tried to control my excitement when

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a week later Blanco came for a visit.

Blanco was everything she had seemed like on the phone—sweet, smart and passionate about baby sleep. Certified by the World Coach Institute and a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, she reminded me of a gentler version of the Supernanny. “[As parents], we all know in our heart what to do, but we hear and read so many things about what we are supposed to do that it gets confusing,” she told me when I shared the varying strategies I’d used thus far to help Avi sleep.

To prepare for our session, Blanco had given me a sleep log to fill out.

It involved charting Avi’s daily schedule, including when he slept, how he fell asleep, his general moods, when he nursed and the activities we did. Blanco had studied the log with the careful eye of a detective. Settling down on my sofa, she pulled a thick file out from her purse, complete with charts and stats detailing his sleep patterns.

Then, Blanco presented me with every parent’s dream: a customized sleep plan. It involved a set schedule—including naps that were spaced close together and a temporary super-early bedtime of 5:45 p.m. It was ambitious: Avi was to take two to three hours worth of naps a day, and sleep for 11 to 12 hours at night.

Could my adorable, terrible sleeper really do that? Blanco was confident.

Despite her many success stories, however, I was nervous the afternoon Blanco left our apartment. It wasn’t easy implementing her plan in the following weeks. But after just two days of doing

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most of what she said, Avi went from waking four to five times a night to waking just once, and in the course of two weeks, his naps lengthened to over an hour each. It took a few more months for him to sleep through the night—my own inhibitions got in the way of that. Still, by the time I was ready to make it happen and cut out his last night feed, Blanco was right by my side. “I’ll stay by you until you’re all getting a good night’s sleep,” she wrote me in an email, offering advice and support along the way.

Today, Avi is a year old and a great sleeper—something I never thought I’d be able to say.

Blanco knows how much a good night’s sleep can change a family, which is why she loves her job. “When you have a client say, ‘It changed us, we have a happier child, a happier family’… I never felt so fulfilled in cooperate America,” she said.

For more information, visit smoothparenting.com.

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June 16, 2011

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SATURDAY, JUNE 18 MUSIC

Sea Goddess Song—Southern Italian folk music, dance and theater company I Giullari di Piazza and Brazilian guest percussionist Dende perform in “Honoring the Sea Goddess,” with Neapolitan, Sicilian, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and Dominican music. Cathedral of St. John the Divine/St. James Chapel, 1047 Amsterdam Ave., stjohndivine.org/seagoddess; 8 p.m., $25.

THEATER

Witchita Love—Repertorio Español presents the world premiere of the off-beat romantic comedy Locuras en Wichita, a play in which a Puerto Rican woman and Mexican man fall in love when they meet at an assisted-living home in Kansas. 138 E. 27th St., repertorio.org/wichita; $25.

THEATER

Angelina on Stage—The Vital Theatre Company resumes performances of Angelina Ballerina: The Musical, a family-friendly show based on the well-known children’s book about a dancing mouse.

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Monday, June 20

MUSEUM

Green Photography—The Museum of the City of New York presents Moveable Feast: Fresh Produce & the NYC Green Cart Program, an exhibition that documents the NYC program that provides communities with access to fresh fruits and vegetables via hundreds of independently owned, mobile produce stands known as Green Carts. Featuring new photography by LaToya Ruby Frazier, Thomas Holton, Gabriele Stabile, Will Steacy and Shen Wei, the exhibit chronicles the initiative over the course of a year. The photographs capture not only the Green Carts, but also the stories of the vendors, customers and the communities in which they are located. 1220 5th Ave., mcny.org.

TUESDAY, JUNE 21

SUNDAY, JUNE 19

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Dicapo Opera Theatre, 184 E. 76th St., angelinathemusical.com; 1 p.m., $29–$49.

MUSIC

Mountain of Music—Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts presents the open-air premiere of John Luther Adam’s Inuksuit, a large-scale piece for 99 percussionists, as part of Make Music New York. Morningside Drive at 110th

Bryant Park Film Fest

HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival presents Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). Jack Nicholson stars in the movie about a revolt against the evil Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) at a mental facility. Lawn opens at 5 p.m. Films begin at sunset, typically between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. The Lawn, between 40th and 42nd streets & Fifth and Sixth avenues, free. forms music from her new CD Now & From Now On. Cover includes free edamame, popcorn and beverages. Miles Cafe, 212 E. 52nd St., 3rd Fl., milescafe. com/ny; 8:30 p.m., $19.99.

Street, millertheatre.com; 5 p.m., free.

THURSDAY, JUNE 22 JAZZ

Jazz Serenade—Eliane Amherd per-

June 16, 2011

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Community Pages Classified Advertising Department Information Telephone: 212-268-0384 Fax: 212-268-0502

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June 16, 2011

The difference between “welcome mat” and “doormat”

By Jeanne Martinet The other day I ran into my friend Julie on the street. She looked exhausted.

“I haven’t been home for two days,” she told me.

“Why not?” I asked.

“I have no privacy there anymore!” she confessed. It turned out a friend had asked her if he could stay in her apartment “for a few days” while the contractors were finishing up the renovations on his own, newly-purchased apartment.

“Contractors?” I practically yelled at her. “My god, Julie. You know what ‘a few days’ means to contractors! It could be weeks… even months. What were you thinking?”

“I know, I know,” said Julie, putting her hand up to her forehead in despair. “It’s been over a week already, and he doesn’t show any signs of leaving. He keeps talking about how upset he is that they put the wrong flooring in and how they have to rip it all out. He’s very apologetic about it.”

I steered her into a nearby coffee place. “You’re the one who should be apologetic, Julie, when you tell him he needs to leave.”

The unwanted houseguest is a common problem for people who live in places like New York City, where it’s almost impossible to find a cheap place to stay— and which happens to be the preferred destination for so many vacationers. I have heard numerous stories about people who come to visit for a few days and settle in for a month. This is why host/ guest pre-communication (“hospitality foreplay”) is so important. The host needs to define the terms of the “guest-ation

period” before the guest(s) gets settled into the host’s office or living room. And the host should have no guilt about setting limits.

What are these limits? When you’d like to put out the welcome mat, but don’t want to be a total doormat, how long should you let someone stay? How do you know, until someone is actually in your home, how much you will be bothered (or not bothered) by his presence? We’ve all heard the saying (generally attributed to Benjamin Franklin) about fish and houseguests smelling after three days, but this maxim is really only half true. A really great guest who has come at the perfect time—when your work is slow, or the kids are off at camp—can stay for a week and it can be more pleasurable for you than a difficult guest who has arrived at an inopportune time and stays for only one night.

A visit from a couple with several very small, very precocious children can make a half a day seem like a month. If you live in east Texas and hardly ever have houseguests, a two-week visit from good friends can feel like heaven; however, if you live in a place like Manhattan, where most people’s living space is cramped and the flow of houseguests never-ending, you may opt for a strict two-nights-only rule.

There is no question that the friend who needs to stay with you because they are having a problem of some kind—be it divorce or demolition—is often the trickiest. You feel horrible saying no, and yet

facts are irrelevant to those who unilaterally declared “sharing doesn’t work” (one can just imagine them teaching children this bad lesson!).

40 To The Editor: The very conservative Keep Your Bike...

I attended this EXPERIMENT to create two 2 meeting (“Get Your cross-town shared paths Bike Out Of My Park,” deserves a chance. One of June 9) and was those routes uses the 102nd arK Street cross-town mixed-use P Y M shocked by the rude f O Out behavior of many of connector of the loop that East Side slams crosstown path. the CB8 members. The already exists today, and really West says build it.

Conservancy politely is no change at all. Thousands pointed out that there of cyclists use the park and has been a shared deserve reasonable accompath for walkers and cyclists connecting modations. A 5-mph shared cross-town Central Park West and the loop drive at route deserves a try, and the Conservancy 106th Street and that there have been no should be applauded for working with complaints and everyone gets along. Such park users to create it. Cyclists have been Healthy Manhattan:

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East Siders ‘Dump’ on Waste Station

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Elderly Attack Shakes Neighborhood

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Blackboard Awards Make the Grade

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there is nothing socially beneficial about the experience for you, for the most part. It’s just an intrusion on your life.

And while we—at certain times—could, would and should put a friend-in-need up for however long they need it, it is not by any means de rigueur. The problem is, it’s hard for most of us to say no to a friend. This is one of those times when a white lie may save you both from painful awkwardness. If the friend desires to stay longer than you want him to, the best thing may be to simply tell him you have someone else coming to stay at the end of the week—or that your apartment is being painted, or your bathtub reglazed.

After our iced mocha lattes, I finally convinced Julie that she would not be a horrible person if she asked her friend-turned-houseguest to leave. We began to strategize.

“Hey, what about bedbugs?” said Julie with a sudden gleam. “What if I told him I think I have bedbugs? Would that work?”

“No,” I said emphatically, “some things are too horrible to fib about. It’s bad karma. Besides, next thing you know he’ll tell someone else you have bedbugs and that will be the end of your social life.”

Although, I thought to myself, there is one good thing about bedbugs. You don’t have to feel bad about trying to get rid of them.

Jeanne Martinet, aka Miss Mingle, is the author of seven books on social interaction. Read her blog at MissMingle. com.

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killed on the transverses and badly need a safe route to be able to ride across the park on a few designated surface paths.

The transverses should be restricted to motor vehicles, as they aren’t safe for cyclists.

By the numbers, cars cause many times more death and injury than cyclists.

But to most members of this committee, their perception of cycling has no relationship to facts, and they would prefer yelling at cyclists to sitting down like good neighbors and working things out.

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N EW S YO U LIV E B Y

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Elder Abuse Is All-Too-Common Crime

By Jessica Lappin and Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. At the Amsterdam Nursing Home in Harlem, elderly residents—away from their families and loved ones—look to nursing aides for care and support. Although Jose Ramos was entrusted with protecting the nursing home’s elders, he instead preyed on a helpless victim and violated her in unthinkable ways. Last month, Ramos, a certified nursing assistant at the Manhattan facility, was sentenced to seven years in state prison for sexually abusing a disabled and speech-impaired resident.

In another case, a 98-year-old wheelchair-bound man suffering from Parkinson’s disease was exploited by Harry Abrams, with whom he shared an office. Abrams claimed the senior was like a father to him, but after the victim broke his hip and was admitted to a nursing home, Abrams illegally accessed the victim’s bank account information and stole $400,000. Abrams was sent to jail and had to provide full restitution to the victim.

This week we observe Elder Abuse Awareness Day—a time for us to recognize the toll that elder abuse takes on hundreds of thousands of older New Yorkers.

We cannot let our seniors suffer in silence.

A recent New York study estimated that nearly a quarter million older New Yorkers are suffering from some form of abuse, and that financial exploitation is the most common. Elder financial abuse alone costs older Americans more than $2.6 billion a year, according to “Broken Trust:

Researchers estimate that for every known case of elder abuse, there are 24 more cases that go unreported.

Elders, Family, and Finances,” a March 2009 study by the MetLife Mature Market Institute. But that is only a rough estimate.

Despite this pervasiveness, elder abuse remains a hidden crime that often goes undetected, unrecognized and unreported.

Cases involving high-profile victims such as Mickey Rooney and the late Brooke Astor brought the issue to our attention, but most abused seniors suffer in silence. Researchers estimate that for every known case of elder abuse, there are 24 more cases that go unreported.

Because these sorts of cases so often

go unreported, we ask anyone with information on elder abuse to call the DA’s Elder Abuse hotline: 212-335-8920.

While prosecuting cases when they come to light is important, it is even more critical that we work to prevent these crimes from happening in the first place. This requires the help of both the public and private sectors. Often, by the time financial scams are detected and reported to law enforcement, the funds have been depleted and cannot be recovered. In these instances, prosecution can punish the wrongdoer, but no one can undo the damage that has been done. To address this issue, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has reached out to banks to help them develop systems and protocols to monitor seniors’ accounts and stop these criminal schemes before the funds are lost for good.

Additionally, a number of city agencies, organizations and medical groups have formed the New York City Elder Abuse Network, which promotes advocacy, education and services to prevent and address elder mistreatment. Unfortunately, the current budget crisis mean that programs vital to protecting seniors are now on the chopping block. Case Management Services, a program that funds the front-

Stamping Out Lung Cancer

By Philip Ardell I am sick of lung cancer.

It killed my wife Cynthia. It killed two of my cousins. It killed several friends.

The leading cause of cancer death among women today is not breast cancer. It is lung cancer. The leading cause of cancer death among men today is not prostate cancer. It is lung cancer. Many of these victims are in their twenties and thirties. Too many are veterans and minorities. Each year, more people die from lung cancer than breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers combined. Thirty years ago, the five-year survival rate for lung cancer was 15 percent. Today, the five-year survival rate for lung cancer is 15 percent. It is rarely caught early, so treatment is usually futile and costly: the money goes mainly toward palliation and end-of-life care.

If you think only smokers get lung cancer, you are mistaken. Eighty percent of new victims are non-smokers or former smokers. Even if everyone in America stopped smoking today, lung cancer would still lead all other cancers in mortality. Because O u r To w n NY. c o m

it’s thought of as a smoker’s disease, lung cancer lacks the cachet of compassion the other cancers get, and so, thanks to stigmatization and misunderstanding, it continues to thrive. It is the most expensive cancer in human and financial costs.

My wife was a non-smoker. Cynthia was an educator, a school administrator, a lawyer and a singer. She sang Berlin, Gershwin, Porter and other golden-age Tin Pan Alley composers at senior residences in Manhattan such as the Esplanade, the Atria, the Isabella Geriatric Center and the Jewish Home and Hospital. She sang at Emerson (MA) hospital rehab the day before she had brain surgery to remove a metastasized tumor.

If she could do that, I decided that I could go to Washington and lobby against lung cancer.

I lobbied for the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act (LCMRA) of 2011. On February 2, I went to the offices of Senator Gillibrand, Congressman Nadler, and others. I asked them to co-sponsor LMCRA because it is the best step we can take as a nation to attack this plague.

The LMCRA is critical in changing the situation. Do we screen for lung cancer?

No. Do we have universal protocols for treating patients? No. Do we dedicate money for research to a degree anywhere commensurate with the toll lung cancer takes on our citizens and economy? No. Lung cancer gets a pittance compared to breast cancer—about one-tenth, although last year four times as many people died of lung cancer as breast cancer. And mortality numbers do not improve across demographic and ethnic groups—women, African Americans, Hispanics—either.

(Sources: National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institute of Health).

A screening procedure has recently tested successfully. It can identify people at high risk even before they exhibit evidence of lung cancer: smokers, former smokers and people exposed to various contaminants such as radon and environmental and chemical pollution.

The LMCRA will dedicate money to funding research to develop more protocols for screening, prevention, treatment

line defense against elder abuse, is slated to be cut by 30 percent. This would mean the elimination of home visits and personal attention to seniors, which are essential for protecting abused elders.

Even in the best of financial times, protecting against elder abuse is an enormous undertaking. The federal government recognized the urgency of this mission when President Obama signed the Elder Justice Act into law in March 2010. This legislation provided a comprehensive approach to combating elder abuse, neglect and exploitation at the federal level, and offered a powerful tool to protect seniors from abuse. But over a year after it was signed into law, the Act remains unfunded.

Child abuse cases cause outrage and condemnation on a daily basis, and rightfully so. Now it is time that elder abuse is also recognized as a despicable crime that deserves our immediate attention.

If you suspect elder abuse, please, do not let it go unreported. Our city’s grandmothers and grandfathers are depending on you.

Jessica Lappin is an East Side City Council Member and Cyrus R. Vance Jr. is the Manhattan District Attorney.

and—eventually—cures. It authorizes all federal health agencies (including those in the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments) to coordinate resources for early detection and treatment. It has been drafted through a bi-partisan, bicameral effort. But all its good will be for naught if it fails, or even if it passes but is not funded by this congress.

Significant private funding won’t come until there is significant public funding.

You can help by emailing or otherwise contacting your legislators and telling them that it’s past time we mobilize as a nation to defeat lung cancer. Urge them to become co-sponsors, or at least support it through passage and funding.

The most efficient way to take action is to email or call your members of congress at 877-727-5068. You can get additional information from the Lung Cancer Alliance at 800-298-2436.

We all need to be sick of lung cancer.

It won’t go away if people stop smoking.

That’s wishful thinking. If the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act dies of neglect, so will hundreds of thousands of Americans this year, next year and for years to come.

Philip Ardell lives on the Upper West Side.

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