Our Town December 15, 2011

December 15, 2011

Three Centuries Of Bellevue

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cops sEEK UppER EAsT sIDE IpHoNE NABBERs Two young men have been teaming up to terrify locals at gunpoint into handing over their smart phones—but these criminals are picky. So far, they’re only targeting iPhones. In three separate instances over the past few weeks, the pair has hit Madison Avenue near East 70th Street and East 74th Street and East 70th Street near Lexington Avenue.

The first suspect, Hispanic, approximately 20 years old, 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, approaches unsuspecting Apple lovers armed with a handgun and demands their iPhone, while the other suspect, Hispanic, about 17 years old, 5-foot-7, acts as a lookout.

Anyone with information about the crimes can call Crime Stoppers at 800577-TIPS (8477), submit tips online at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.

Just make sure to borrow your friend’s BlackBerry to make the call if you’re strolling through the Upper East Side.

Lawyers for the Public Interest, New York Communities for Change, Planned Parenthood of New York City, NARAL Pro-Choice New York and the National Organization for Women NYC. PCB exposure has been linked to endometriosis, infertility, longer conception times and miscarriage, as well as menstrual disorders and early puberty and menopause.

Rosenthal cited the case of a teacher at an Upper West Side school known to contain high levels of PCBs who quit her job after learning she was pregnant, for fear of the exposure she would receive.

Rosenthal recently introduced a bill to the Assembly that would require the Department of Education to remove all toxic lights from schools within three years.

JEWIsH MUsEUM LIGHTs Up FoR sEE THE LIGHT(s) The Jewish Museum’s annual See the Light(s) Hanukkah celebration features family festivals, exhibitions from the

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Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who represents the Upper East Side, announced last weekend her introduction of new legislation designed to help small businesses. The bill would give federal grants to Community Development Financial Institutions to make microloans up to $25,000 available to help entrepreneurs start or expand small businesses. Maloney was joined by several small business owners who have started their companies in New York City thanks to similar loans.

“This bill will expand a vital source of seed money for entrepreneurs who don’t have access to bank loans,” Maloney said in a statement. “The billion-dollar corporation that began in a dorm room or a garage is no urban myth, as the employees of Facebook and HewlettPackard can tell you, but the Great Recession has made it harder than ever for entrepreneurs to access credit.”

Maloney said she hopes the availability of small loans through certified CDFIs will make start-up capital more readily available and help local economies grow.

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MALoNEY INTRos NEW sMALL BIz BILL

MERRY TUBA cHRIsTMAs

LocAL ELEcTEDs BLAsT cITY FoR sLoW pcB REspoNsE While many elected officials and concerned teachers and parents have been working for years to shine the light on the toxic effect of PBC exposure in schools, the most recent studies have shown even more alarming effects on women’s reproductive health. PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) have been detected in lighting ballasts and fixtures in over 800 city school buildings, and while the city acknowledges their danger, it has only agreed to a removal timeline over the course of 10 years.

“As an elected official, but more fundamentally as a woman, I find it outrageous that the city has chosen to drag its feet in removing these toxic lights from our schools,” said Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal at a press conference last week to publicize the most recent findings of the deleterious effects of PCBs on women’s reproductive health.

She was joined by Dr. David Carpenter, a PCB expert and professor at the University at Albany, Reps. Jerry Nadler and José Serrano, New York

museum’s collection of menorahs, eclectic music and other events to honor the holiday season. This Sunday, Dec. 18, Hanukkah Family Day runs from 12–4 p.m. Kids can make Hanukkah lamps and sculptures from found objects, design holiday scenes with illustrator Nancy Cote and dance to the tunes of Ben Rudnick and Friends. The museum’s Lox at Café Weissman will offer a special menu, featuring potato latkes with sour cream and applesauce; sufganiyot (donuts) filled with apricot, hazelnut or mixed fruit jam; Napoleon-style layered latkes with house sour cream, dill sauce and lox; and homemade cheesecake.

Other upcoming events include family concerts

by The Macaroons Dec. 25 and Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Band Allstars in concert Dec. 27. Special exhibitions on view include The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats and The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936-1951.

Hanukkah begins at sundown Tuesday, Dec. 20, and continues until sundown on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

Clad in a beard and Santa hat, a tuba player performs at the 38th Annual Tuba Christmas concert. Held on the ice of the Rink at Rockefeller Center, the concert featured hundreds of tenor and bass tuba players.

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December 15, 2011

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feature

Pounding Away Is Second Avenue the noisiest street on the Upper East Side?

By Allen Houston

B

Sounds of the Upper East Side Our Town spent a brisk winter day capturing the typical sounds of the neighborhood with a Sound Level Meter to measure how loud some neighborhood streets and intersections were. Sound levels are broken into decibels, the universal unit of sound measurement.

86th Street Lexington Avenue

3rd Avenue

2nd Avenue

1st Avenue

80.4 dB

80.3 dB

89.5 dB

83.5 dB

90th Street Lexington Avenue

3rd Avenue

2nd Avenue

1st Avenue

70 dB

74.2 dB

78.2 dB

76.1 dB

96th Street

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Lexington Avenue

3rd Avenue

2nd Avenue

1st Avenue

78.4 dB

75.7 dB

96.7 dB

80.1 dB

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laring horns, jackhammers, speeding buses, raucous bars and construction cranes. New York is a city big in everything, including the amount of noise it makes. On the Upper East Side, no area is louder than the Second Avenue Subway construction zone, where tunnel blasting meets bulldozers meets the new Select Bus Service and narrow sidewalks.

Our Town recently walked the streets of the far Upper East Side from 86th to 96th Street to find out exactly how the main hub of Second Avenue Subway construction compared to surrounding avenues in terms of noise pollution. Using a Pyle Pro sound level reader, measurements were taken between 86th and 96th streets and Lexington to 1st Avenue.

By far the loudest readings were taken at 96th Street and 2nd Avenue, where cranes lifted detritus from a pit and jackhammers pile-drove the pavement.

“There’s too much noise and it affects my business. Who wants to shop in a store where it’s so loud that they can’t think?” asked an employee at Optimo Deli, on 96th Street and Second Avenue.

The reading there was many times higher than in the surrounding streets.

The decibel (dB) is the universal unit of sound measurement, used to note how loud everything is, from your stereo to an idling bus. Decibels are logarithmic, which means that a noise registering at 30 decibels is 10 times louder than

a noise registering at 20 decibels.

Further down, at 92nd Street and Second Avenue at Delizia Pizzeria, the sound was a relatively peaceful 78.1 decibels. Joe Pecora, owner of Delizia and head of the Second Avenue Business Association, said he’s grown used to the clanging and banging outside of his store.

“I’m focused on trying to make it through the next four years,” Pecora said. “The lines of communication are open with the MTA, and if there’s a problem, I talk with them about it.”

His opinion mirrored those of several dog walkers, who said that the construction noise has become the background of their life.

The goal of the New York City Noise Code is to reduce “the making, creation or maintenance of excessive and unreasonable and prohibited noises within the city [that] affects and is a menace to public health, comfort, convenience, safety, welfare and prosperity of the people of the city.”

One person who thinks that trust has been breached and wants to calm some of the construction clatter is Arlene Bronzaft, a psychologist and noise expert who has served under the past four mayors as chair of the noise committee in the city’s Council on the Environment.

Bronzaft got started in the field after she conducted a study on the effects of train noise on children in school in 1974.

A group of students endured the con-

Second Avenue at 96th Street measured much louder than other parts of the Upper East Side. stant clatter of an elevated subway rumbling past and were found to be behind their peers in reading by a grade level.

Bronzaft went to the Board of Education and the Transit Authority to implore them to install soundproofing and lubricate the tracks to quiet the trains. Both measures were implemented, and the classrooms near the tracks were markedly quieter. A year later, Bronzaft tested the same students and found them up to speed with their classmates.

The Upper East Sider blames poor planning on the decibel stretching level of Second Avenue—as well as the addition of the Select Avenue Bus line rumbling along the narrow roads.

“I’m very angry because I don’t think they implemented the precautions that they should have when they started,” Bonzaft said.

All construction projects are required to have a noise mitigation plan. The New York Noise Code recommends using quieter tools and equipment, though it’s only a recommendation, not a requirement.

Bonzaft said they should require noise-reducing mufflers on jackhammers or portable street barriers to reduce the sound that reaches nearby areas.

“The question that you have to ask is, does it have to be so loud? Are there things that they could have done differently?” she said.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who has been instrumental in pushing the Second Avenue Subway project to fruition, said she hasn’t received noise complaints for the subway project.

“However, I have been advised that recent blasting for the excavation of the 72nd Street cavern occurred near the debris-removal shaft, and that may be

why those blasts were more audible. I understand that as blasting moves elsewhere in the cavern, the sound levels should decrease. In any event, the MTA should be using the best available noiseabatement technology, and I will ask them to confirm that they are doing so,” she said in a statement.

Bonzaft’s biggest worry is how loud the ventilation building that is being built on 69th Street to circulate air into the subway and allow for evacuation is going to be.

“I’m already hearing how nervous the community is getting about this. The thing to do is to make sure that, going forward, everything is as quiet as possible. Once you have a noisy neighbor, try and quiet them down and see how well that works.”

A Range of Sounds In decibels, how loud these sounds are to the human ear. Ambient noise is higher in the city, making it harder to control the level of sounds in our surrounding environment.

(Chart taken from the New York City Noise Code) Whisper: 30 dB Normal conversation/laughter: 50–65 dB Vacuum cleaner at 10 feet: 70 dB Washing machine/dishwasher: 78 dB Midtown Manhattan traffic: 70–85 dB Motorcycle: 88 dB Lawnmower: 85–90 dB Train: 100 dB Jackhammer/power saw: 110 dB Thunderclap: 120 dB Stereo/boom box: 110–120 dB Nearby jet takeoff: 130 dB N EW S YO U LIV E B Y

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news

A Few Centuries, New Money Woes for Bellevue

By Megan Finnegan Bungeroth Bellevue Hospital Center has celebrated many milestones in its 275 years of continuous operation. The hospital that recently opened a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit is also known for opening the very first maternity ward in the country, in 1799, and performing the first cesarean section operation in the United States in 1867.

The new Children’s Psychiatric Emergency Care Center can trace its roots, at least in spirit, to when Bellevue established the first psychiatric inpatient unit dedicated solely to children in the United States in 1923—or even earlier, when in 1879 the hospital opened a “pavilion for the insane,” a revolutionary concept at a time when mental illness was rarely recognized or treated as such.

Now, the hospital, part of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), is known not only for its psychiatric care but for working on public health issues like running a program for survivors of torture.

Dr. Eric Manheimer, M.D., has seen many changes at Bellevue in his nearly 15-year tenure as medical director, but

the most pressing challenge right now is, unsurprisingly, depleted funding.

“We go through different cycles of financial distress,” Manheimer said.

“When I came here in ’97, there were layoffs and it was a very difficult time. The city system has, over those 15 years, really tried to modernize itself and get itself as efficient and effective as possible, and I think it’s done a marvelous job. It still has a way to go, and we’re in another one of those economic downturns.”

The good thing about being a longstanding public hospital, Manheimer said, is that they’ve weathered lean budgetary times before and are accustomed to stretching resources, so are better equipped to handle the financial decline.

In fiscal year 2011, 38 percent of the hospital’s 125,798 emergency room visits were by uninsured patients. Bellevue, like all public hospitals, receives reimbursements and funding from government programs, but even that system is currently changing.

“The industry is moving toward a much more patient-centered care focus,” Manheimer said. A percentage of patients are polled after their hospital visits and

Horse-drawn ambulances outside Bellevue, which is now 275 years old. are asked how they found the quality of care; the hospital can receive more or less funding depending on the answers.

“Getting this entire operation of doctors and nurses and aides and housekeepers to really focus in that direction is a monumental effort,” Manheimer said.

Catering to impending health care changes also brings up the requisite financial challenges.

“Who’s going to pay for health care for

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the 580,000 uninsured who came through the doors of HHC last year?” asked Lynda Curtis, executive director at Bellevue and a senior vice president of the HHC South Manhattan Healthcare Network, “We’re finding that we are seeing a much larger portion of middle-class folks, folks who worked on Wall Street when the economic bottom fell out; we see a lot more of that group showing up for just regular kinds of care.”

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news

Snapshot of East Midtown Partnership Neighborhood BID celebrates 10th anniversary

beautification projects.

Giovanna Miranda of BoConcept, a contemporary and modern furniture company, became interested in the East Midtown Partnership because he thought it was important that businesses have a strong connection to the community in which they work.

“I thought it was important that businesses have a stronger visibility and help promote employment and build community—all of the things that the BID was doing.”

Over the past year, the group has been building its social media network that now includes more than 2,500 Facebook and Twitter followers who receive their regular blasts. They have started a Social Stop program to let people see parts of East Midtown, such as the Friars Club and Instituto Cervantes, that they might not have been to before. And they’ve created a series of YouTube videos with people who work and live in the area talking about their favorite parts of community.

“We’ve spent the last few years reorienting the organization, including chang-

andrew schwartz

By Allen Houston Upper East Siders raised a glass to the East Midtown Partnership as it celebrated its 10th anniversary Dec. 8th at Central Synagogue.

The Business Improvement District, which extends roughly from 63rd Street down to Grand Central Station and from 2nd to Madison avenues, hosted its first get-together in 2002.

The 10th anniversary meeting was a chance for residents and business owners to celebrate the hard work of the past decade and look forward to the future.

Some highlights of the organization’s time include helping more than 1,000 people through the rehabilitation and work training programs that it offers, removing 12 million pounds of trash from neighborhood streets and assisting more than 20,000 with their security patrol.

The group has beautified more than 75 tree beds in the area by planting daffodils, begonias, mums and other flowers.

It also works closely with The Fund for Park Avenue and gave them a check for $15,000 at the meeting to help with their

Herbert Suarez with his winning photo and Robert Brynes of East Midtown Partnership. ing the old name and logo and getting new people on the board of directors, and it’s been paying off in growth,” Rob Brynes, president of the East Midtown Partnership said.

The Partnership’s annual photo contest is perhaps its most well-known marketing tool in the community. This year, teen Herbert Suarez took home the $1,000 prize for snapping the best photo of life in the

neighborhood. His and 13 other winning photos were collected for the Partnership’s 2012 calendar.

“It’s the people that make this organization,” said Barry Schneider, a member of the board of directors. “They are the ones that breath life into it and are making such a success.”

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news

Landlord Turns to Supreme Power on Rent Upper West Side building subject of case to end rent stabilization

By Megan Finnegan Bungeroth Upper West Side landlord James Harmon is tired of his rent stabilized tenants paying well below market rate for the apartments in the five-story West 76th Street brownstone he inherited, so he’s turned to the U.S. Supreme Court to relieve him—and the rest of the state—of rent regulations.

Harmon filed a lawsuit against the chair of the Rent Guidelines Board, Jonathan Kimmel, and the commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, Darryl Towns, alleging that the rent regulations violate his Fifth Amendment right to receive compensation from the state for what he says is the taking of his property. When the court ruled that there was no taking of property, Harmon appealed on the basis of the 14th Amendment, claiming that he had been denied the right to due process. That’s what caught the attention of a law firm in California, Pacific Legal Foundation, which has jumped in in support of Harmon’s case to ask the Supreme Court to hear his appeal.

R.S. Radford, the attorney who filed the amicus brief on behalf of the firm, as well as the conservative policy think tank the Cato Institute and the Small Property Owners of San Francisco Institute, said that Pacific Legal takes on cases that affect the public interest.

“Jim Harmon and his wife own a building in New York City that has some rent controlled units that are occupied, apparently, by fairly affluent tenants, and he simply can’t use the property the way he would like to,” Radford said, explaining his interest in the case.

Harmon, who could not be reached for comment, told the Daily News last week that he wants to be able to pass the building on to his children and grandchildren, and that the rent regulations pose unfair limits on his rights as a property owner.

Radford frames it as a few lucky renters unfairly gaming the system.

“How is society better off because these three folks have a claim to fame in his building? The answer to that should be up to the courts,” Radford said.

But the ramifications of this lawsuit, if

it were kicked back to the lower court and eventually came out in Harmon’s favor, would go far beyond one local landlord.

“If this were to happen, we’re talking about more than a million rent regulated apartments in New York that would suddenly cease to be rent protected,” said Sue Susman, president of the Central Park Gardens Tenants’ Association. “I’m guessing that 96 percent would be people who cannot afford to rent elsewhere. The median income for rent stabilized tenants is $36,000.”

Susman said that while that kind of decision is still years away, if it ever comes, she’s already hearing from tenants who are afraid of how the case might affect them.

Other groups have petitioned the court on behalf of Harmon, including the Rent Stabilization Association of New York, a trade association of about 25,000 landlords and building owners that has been arguing for years, in many venues, that New York’s rent regulations place undue burdens on building owners and hurt the housing market.

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“After more than 50 years of rent regulations, it’s time for the courts to rule that the rent laws as currently structured are unconstitutional because they have not in any way, shape or form corrected the issues they were intended to address,” said Mitch Posilkin, general counsel at RSA. They argue that the state is doing nothing to actually ameliorate the continual housing emergency, defined as a vacancy rate of less than five percent, and that rent regulation was intended to be temporary.

Posilkin said that RSA advocates for a gradual phase-out of rent regulations, and that other government programs should step in to help those who can’t afford market rate rents.

Radford agreed. “It would be so much simpler and so tremendously less expensive, both directly and in terms on the market as a whole, for the city and the state of New York to issue rent subsidies to people whose income is so low that it’s a hardship,” he said.

The Supreme Court has asked the city to file a response by Jan. 4, 2012, and will then decide whether to hear the case.

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This vertically-integrated development, design, and construction company collaborates with the buyer and offers a complete turn-key house in five months.

These high-end cottage-style homes, which provide “old home charm” minus “old home hassles,” have been particularly attractive to New Yorkers looking for a country retreat.

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December 15, 2011

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arts

Vote Early, Vote Often

Gingerbread house contest at Le Parker Meridien benefits City Harvest

By Regan Hofmann Midtown at Christmas is an exercise in sensory overload. From the tourist-trapping mayhem of the windows at Macy’s to the OCD-inducing antiquariana of Bergdorf’s displays, from the scrum for skates at the Rockefeller Center rink to the desperate jingle of the carriage horses at Central Park, it can be easy to flag in the face of so much glitter and sound.

Sometimes, simplicity is all you need— no bells, whistles or strobe lights, just creativity, humor and good old-fashioned craftsmanship.

Oh, and cookies. Did we mention cookies?

On view in the atrium of Le Parker Meridien (119 W. 56th St., betw. 6th & 7th Aves.) through Jan. 6 is the hotel’s third annual gingerbread house contest to benefit City Harvest. This year, seven New York City bakeries and restaurants have contributed their take on the candycoated childhood favorite brought to new architectural heights.

What better way to raise awareness and cash for a nonprofit organization that

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rescues unused food from restaurants, grocery stores and manufacturers and distributes it to the hungry across the five boroughs than with more food? While the display is free to view, $1 will get you a ballot to vote for your favorite, a highly contested title for the chefs and bakers participating. As one might imagine, the organization has seen need rise over the last 12 months and are especially hopeful this year’s contest will top last year’s draw of over $16,000. Since every dollar allows the organization to bring in four pounds of food, ballot-stuffing is highly encouraged.

Last year’s winner was, suspiciously enough, Norma’s Restaurant at Le Parker Meridien. Home field advantage? We’ll see if their streak continues with this year’s “Mini Parker,” a replica of the hotel itself complete with reception desk, restaurant and guest rooms. Don’t worry, they didn’t go so far as to put a mini gingerbread house contest in the lobby, so you won’t get sucked into an M.C. Escheresque recursive nightmare, tracking tinier upon tinier versions of yourself looking at

Decem ber 15, 2011

the model looking at yourself looking at the model.

A strong challenger is first-time participant BLT Steak/Casa Nonna pastry chef Julie Elkind, whose replica of the Central Park boathouse could easily pass for the real thing. OK, so the pillars are peppermint sticks rather than white stone, and the soft green patina on the roof is from the 700 pieces of Orbit sweet mint gum that act as shingles, rather than aged copper. Aside from those slight details, you’d never know the difference.

Also in the running is Gramercy Tavern’s Nancy Olson, whose Olson Manor uses gold-leafed pretzel twists as unexpectedly beautiful, delicate crenellation on its gothic roof.

But the creations don’t stay strictly within the realm of the architectural.

Unlike in previous years, bakers weren’t given any thematic constraints when they received their instructions earlier this year and were free to build any kind of structure they wanted. Of these, Baked Ideas’ typewriter, strung with a rice paper ribbon and spewing forth a sugar cookie

Julia Elkind’s replica of the Central Park boathouse. alphabet, takes the concept to new creative heights.

The longer you spend looking at the entries, the more delicious details you’ll uncover. Just don’t try to eat them; while the structures are all technically edible (one of the contest rules), the construction material is doctored to make it stronger and less perishable than your average gingerbread man. Thankfully, they still smell just as good, and the hotel’s lobby espresso bar is helpfully selling a number of gingerbread-themed treats to ease your pain. And while you’re in the lobby, pick up a ballot or three from the concierge desk to help bring hungry New Yorkers their own holiday treats.

N EW S YO U LIV E B Y

Dining

Penniless Picks The best wines of 2011 From the moment I smell turkey in the oven to the seconds before the ball drops in Times Square, I rejoice in the same holiday gift every year: a bevy of “best of” lists. Top TV shows, top movies, top albums…it is my No. 1 annual guilty pleasure.

The fact that I have my own column allows me the luxury of publishing my own best of list. I had so much fun doing it last year that I’ve decided to do it again this year. So, without further ado, I would like to present the 2011 Penniless Picks: 5.

Kicking off the list is the unusual, inexpensive and delicious Batasiolo Moscato Rose ($15.99 at 67 Wine and Spirits, 179 Columbus Ave. at 68th St., 212-724-6767). Starting with a salmonhued mousse, the glass immediately gives up a massive amount of candied apple and rose petal scents with a floral note in the background. The palate on

this dessert wine is intense. Equal parts sweet and tart come on strong, with a wallop of orange marmalade up front.

The flavor morphs mid-palate to butterscotch, and the finish, which is long and solid, also provides a hint of rose candy.

This is one of the best Moscato d’Asti’s I’ve tried in a long time.

4. I am not, traditionally, a fan of fume-style sauvignon blancs. That’s why I’ve put Groth Vineyards Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2010 ($18.99 at Sherry-Lehmann Wine and Spirits, 505 Park Ave. at 59th St., 212838-7500) on this list. It comBy Josh Perilo pletely changed my mind about what a sauv blanc that has spent time in oak should taste like. The flavor profile is luxurious and super round thanks to the wine aging on its lees. This gives it a soft texture but doesn’t rob the wine of its acidity. It’s like biting into a fresh apricot.

3. This was not a banner year for

pinot noir tastings, personally speaking. That being said, Siduri “Van Der Kamp” Pinot Noir 2009 ($36 at Sussex Wines and Spirits, 300 W. 42nd St. at 2nd Ave., 212-867-5838) is easily one of the best wines I’ve tasted all year, let alone the best pinot noir. This wine is a powerhouse. Showing the use of oak, but not in an overpowering way, there is star anise, rosewood, coffee and vanilla on the nose. The palate gives up a ton of candied cherry right up front, then becomes spicier in the middle and finishes with notes of tobacco and wet earth. An absolutely dynamite wine.

2. Putting a barolo on a best of list almost seems like a no-brainer, but the Elio Grasso Barolo Runcot 2004 ($130.69 at Morrell and Company, 1 Rockefeller Plz., 212-688-9370) is no typical barolo. The nose is compact and sweet with cedar, pine and other sweet wood scents. The palate starts with flavor notes of caramelized sugar, which morph into molasses and baked fig. The tannins balance the fruit flavors, along with a pleasant, espresso-like bitter-

ness. The finish is stoic. An absolute masterpiece.

1. The No. 1 spot goes to an obscure dessert wine from Hungary. That’s right.

A Hungarian dessert wine. The type of wine is called Tokaji (pronounced Toe-Keye) and it has a 500-year-old tradition. Throughout my career I have tasted and enjoyed many, but the Royal Tokaji 2000 Betsek First Growth, 6 Puttonyos ($88.95 at Sherry-Lehmann Wine and Spirits, 212-838-7500) left me speechless. There was butterscotch, hazelnut, honey roasted almonds and candied orange on the nose. A bright acidity underpinned the heady and rich notes of caramel, tea, blanched almond and cinnamon on the finish. This is, quite simply, one of the greatest things I have ever tasted.

Special Mention must go to the Pinot Bianco Alois Lageder 2009 ($12.99 at Garnet Wines, 929 Lexington Ave., betw. 68th & 69th Sts., 212-772-3212) from the northern Italian province of Trentino-Alto Adige. There were white peach and wet stone scents on the nose, with palate notes of lemon zest, white pepper and edamame. From a producer who makes consistently thrilling white wines, year in and year out, count this one as another “W” for Alois Lageder.

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A season to play. A season to give.

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Golden Years for Fido and Fluffy

pets

Pet’s senior years bring a host of health issues

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How about taking a new best friend home for the holidays? When you adopt from the ASPCA®, your pet comes spayed or neutered and up-to-date on all .687”H, 1/8vaccinations, page with a microchip and free follow-up vet exam. So stop by our Adoption Center today and find your perfect pet with our Meet Your Match® Ad on Thursday, 12.15.11 program. Or, pick up a Gift-A-Pet Certificate – the perfect gift for someone with lots of love to give.

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By Robin Brennen Your veterinarian may recommend blood Adopt a Senior Pet Month occurred in work to assess kidney, liver and hormone November, so it seems a fitting time to function, red and white blood cell counts chat about health care for our aging pet and electrolyte levels. Screening X-rays population. can highlight organ enlargement and some When is your pet considered a mem- cancers. Blood pressure monitoring helps ber of the AARPets? The answer is “it establish the presence of hypertension, depends.” which can be a symptom of certain diseases.

In general, small breed dogs live longer Subtle changes in any of these meathan large breed dogs, and cats live lon- sures, even in a pet that appears healthy, ger than dogs. Therefore, different breeds can signal early onset of illness. Even if enter the golden years at different times. these tests come back normal, they offer The American Association of Feline valuable insight and a basis of compariPractitioners recently came out with a son for future tests. feline life stage guideline that classifies Even perfectly healthy seniors can slow cats between the ages of 11 and 14 as down and appear slightly less enthusiastic seniors, while those 15 years and older about things that thrilled them when they are considered geriatric. These life stages were younger. Their five senses can dull are important to identify to assist the pet over time, making them less responsive to owner and the veterinarian in mapping external stimuli. Keeping the mind sharp out a plan for wellness aimed at keeping and active can slow this progression down.

Fluffy alive lonExercising the mind ger. A similar and body, maintaining guide for canine The challenge is in detecting their routine and prelife stages will venting “couch potato” these issues early enough soon be released. syndrome helps keep to intervene and make a It is certainly your pet stimulated and difference in the outcome. reasonable to engaged.

Cats and dogs are not expect that health Nutrition is imporcare needs change necessarily forthcoming with tant at this life stage. as a pet ages, complaints of aches and pains Matching caloric intake just as they do to activity level is vital and ailments, so we need to to maintaining a healthy in people. Senior dogs and cats are be astute at looking for them. weight. Older, overmore prone to weight animals are more osteoarthritis, dental disease, kidney, liver prone to diabetes and arthritis. Senior and heart issues, cancer, hormone imbal- diets are often formulated with reduced ances, hearing and vision loss and cogni- calories and restricted in some nutrients tive dysfunction (senility). The challenge as the body’s requirements change over is in detecting these issues early enough to time. intervene and make a difference in the outSubtle changes in your pet’s behavior come. Cats and dogs are not necessarily can be a first clue to an underlying probforthcoming with complaints of aches and lem. Increased thirst or frequency of urinapains and ailments, so we need to be astute tion or accidents can be a sign of kidney at looking for them. problems. Decreased appetite can be the Senior pets need twice-yearly veterinary first indicator of many issues, including check-ups at a minimum. The rationale oral pain. Reluctance to use a litter box behind this is that changes in health status or go out for a walk can suggest arthritic can occur in a short period of time. Subtle pain. As a pet owner, you play a key role in changes in weight, water consumption, early detection. appetite, mobility or behavior can be detectThe golden years can be a great time ed through careful questioning by your vet. for you and your pet. With good prevenA thorough physical examination can detect tive medicine, you can help your pet grow growths, heart murmurs, lung issues, eye old gracefully. problems, organ enlargement, hydration status and joint pain and evaluate oral health.

Robin Brennen is chief of veterinary Diagnostic testing can assist in early services & VP of program operations at detection of many age-related diseases. Bideawee.

N EW S YO U LIV E B Y

gift guide

The Season For Gifting

By Mia Weber

For holiday (s)hoppers

Your little ones can snuggle up with Babo the bunny while you unwind and pamper yourself with organic holiday soaps.

Babo Bunny Holiday Stocking Stuffer

by Babo Botanicals $18, babobotanicals.com

From practical winter-weather gear to a charming dollhouse, this list of holiday finds has a bit of everything for kids (and some for parents, too!)

For the young glamour girl

For the “big” kid

This sweet wool party dress is the perfect combination of upscale chic and childlike whimsy—perfect for holiday occasions and dress-up days.

Bonaventura Dress by Sierra Julian $145, sierrajulian.com

It’s easy to get lost in all the adult sophistication of new technology.

Check out these nostalgic cases to remind yourself to stay playful!

Etch A Sketch® iPhone Case by Headcase $24.99, getaheadcase.com

For the charitable chef Savor some sweet moments whipping up pancakes and noshing on gingerbread and biscotti with the fam.

Plus, spread some holiday cheer—15 percent of every purchase goes to the charity of your choice.

Breakfast Gift Box by Baking for Good $60, bakingforgood.com

For the littlest linguist

Give your children a head start at becoming little citizens of the world—they will learn over 180 words and phrases in a new language.

Spanish Deluxe Gift Set

by Little Pim $84.95, littlepim.com

For the astute accessorizer

This precious purse in a classic plaid is the perfect size for an urban kid’s winter essentials—mittens, tissues and chapstick!

Girl’s Plaid Purse

by The Children’s Place $9.95, childrensplace. com

For the eco-friendly entertainer

Add pizzazz to your morning orange juice or afternoon snack time with this globalized, environmentally friendly set of glasses—a percentage of the proceeds goes to UNICEF. “Our Future” Juice Set

by Green Glass $56, greenglass.com O u r To w n NY. c o m

Online Options for the Last-Minute Shopper It’s not at all too late to finish your shopping online, and you can often find great deals right from the comfort of your couch. Here are our top picks:

For the truly unique find FredFlare.com This quirky online shop sells such whimsical fare as LEGO Star Wars Mini-Figure Alarm Clocks ($44), available in Darth Vader, Storm Trooper, and Yoda. They specialize in useful but odd accessories and gadgets that somehow seem stylish and hip, like a beer making kit ($65) or the Holly GoNightly sleep mask ($15), modeled after the one Hepburn donned in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. They’re offering free UPS ground shipping with a $100 purchase if you use the code “bicycle,” and free shipping with a $25 purchase until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 16 with code “zoom.”

For the no-brainer, stress-free choice Amazon.com You can’t go wrong with the mother of all online retailers. Amazon is offering its free super saver shipping for Christmas delivery through Thursday, Dec.

15, and offers more expensive options up through local express delivery on Christmas Eve (where available) to ensure that your procrastination goes unnoticed. The Kindle e-reader is a can’t-go-wrong pick, with a $79 model, and gift cards can be cashed in for anything under the sun. They even offer email and printable gift cards, so if you forgot someone on the list, Christmas morning isn’t too late.

For the fashionable last-minute gift Net-a-porter.com This fashion retail site stocks only the latest and greatest fashions, so while you should be prepared to drop a pretty penny, you’re sure to get a pretty purse, like the latest Chloé bag ($1,850), in exchange. Net-a-porter also offers editors’ picks, style advice and a carefully curated selection of luxury retail fashion items, so whether you want to deck someone out in a Lanvin wool felt cape (on sale, 30 percent off, for $2,404) or a simple pair of Aubin & Wills leather mittens ($175) you know you’ll satisfy the fashionista on your list. Plus, they offer free shipping!

—Megan Finnegan Bungeroth D e c e mb e r 1 5 , 2 0 1 1

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gift guide For the cozy city kid With fun faux furs, stylish scarves and cuddly knits, this winter accessory collection is hot, hot, hot!

Hats & Scarf by Appaman Price range at appaman.com

For the app-savvy artiste Witness the wonder of a children’s classic reinvented for the smart phone experience.

Harold and the Purple Crayon iPad app

by Trilogy Studios $6.99, itunes.apple.com

For the sketching stylist Harold’s innovative imagination takes on the fashion world with this literary tee.

Harold and the Purple Crayon Tee $22, outofprintclothing.com

For the pint-sized professional With a fan base that includes the Beckham boys, this cheeky tee takes “business casual” to a whole new level.

Little Man Baby Tee by Blume $56, blumegirl.com

For the tiny trekker Keep your kiddies’ toes warm, dry and totally in vogue with these luxe yet sturdy desert boots.

Suede Lace Ankle Boots by Naturino $74-79.75, naturino.com

For crusaders against the cold Show any blizzard who’s boss with this efficient and tech-savvy heater.

Dyson Hot Fan Heater

by Dyson $399.99, dyson.com

For the travel-ready toddler

For the organic infant How can you go wrong with a classically inspired, super soft, natural fiber teddy that also happens to be washing machine durable?

Cuddle Bear by TANE Organics $63, taneorganics.com

Gear up for your next cosmopolitan vacation by handing some of the planning over to the youngest adventurer in the family.

Not-For-Parents Book Series by Lonely Planet $14.99 each, shop.lonelyplanet.com

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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

December 15, 2011

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events

Holiday Event Highlights on the Upper East Side It’s the busy season for churches, synagogues and others celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, and there are many events on the Upper East Side; some musical, some just fun and some solemn. This week and next we are highlighting a small sample:

CHRISTMAS EVENTS All Saints Church Greening of the church with poinsettias, Christmas wreaths and other decorations, Dec. 20, 7 p.m. (casual dress).

Christmas carols, Dec. 24, 10 p.m., followed by Eucharist at 10:30.

Christmas services, Dec, 25, 10 a.m.

593 Park Ave., 212-758-0447.

Brick Presbyterian Church Candlelight Carol Service: The church’s professional choir, under the direction of Keith S. Tóth, will be performing carols, accompanied by Daniel Kirk-Foster on the church’s Anderson pipe organ and 1898 Steinway concert grand piano.

This service of traditional Advent and Christmas sacred music is a Brick Church tradition and one that will bring beauty,

peace and joy to you in the busy holiday season. Admission to the meditative service is free and parents are encouraged to avail themselves of the child care provided. Dec 18, 4 p.m.

62 E. 92nd St., 212-289-4400.

Church of the Epiphany The Epiphany community’s children and adults (and sometimes animals!) participate in a Christmas pageant as shepherds and sheep, kings and angels to bring to life the events of the night Jesus was born. Dec. 18, 11 a.m.

1393 York Ave., 212-737-2720.

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church The Motet Choir of the University of Chicago perform with the Collegium Musicum of Columbia University in a concert that features traditional Jewish and Christian music for the holidays alongside a cappella choral masterpieces from throughout the centuries, including the Thomas Tallis Christmas Mass, “Missa Puer Natus Est” and “Shirim L’Yom Tov” (Four Festive Songs) by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran. The Motel Choir is a mixed choir of 28

singers under the direction of Dr. James Kallembach. The concert is free, although there is a suggested donation of $10. Dec. 16, 7 p.m.

7 W. 55th St., 212-247-0490.

Prelude music, 11:40 a.m.

869 Lexington Ave., 212-744-2080.

St. Ignatius Loyola Church Family Mass, Dec. 24, 5 p.m. (doors at 4:15 p.m., Prelude begins at 4:30); Mass of Christmas, 8 p.m. (doors at 7:30 p.m., Prelude begins at 7:45); Midnight Mass (doors at 10:45 p.m., Prelude begins at 11:15).

Christmas Day Mass, Dec. 25, 9 a.m.; solemn Mass, 11.

980 Park Ave., 212-288-3588.

Upper Midtown Chabad The synagogue is organizing a community menorah lighting with children’s activities, latkes and other treats, Dec. 21, 4:30 p.m.

Corner of Sutton Place and East 57th Street, 212-758-3770.

St. Vincent Ferrer Church Angelica Women’s Chamber Choir, a women’s chamber choir directed by Marie Caruso, sings medieval, traditional and contemporary carols, featuring Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols,” with harpist Lisa Tannebaum. Suggested donation $20, $10 for seniors & students, Dec 18, 3 p.m.

Christmas vigil Mass, Dec. 24, 5:30 p.m.; Prelude music, 9:30; midnight Mass, 10:30.

Christmas Day Mass, Dec. 25, 8 & 10 a.m.;

HANUKKAH EVENTS

Hanukkah on Ice Chabad Upper East Side celebrates the first night of Hanukkah with a menorah lighting, ice skating, children’s activities and music starring the MACCABEATS. Children under 3 free, $18-22 for children and adults. Dec. 20, 6–9 p.m.

Trump Wollman Rink in Central Park, 212-717-4613.

92nd Street Y Singing, dancing, Hanukkah treats and menorah lighting in the lobby at 4:30 p.m., Dec. 20–27 (except Dec. 24 and 25).

1395 Lexington Ave., 212-415-5500.

Coats.

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Hats.

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DONATE.

VOLUNTEER. ADMISSION $22/adult, $18/child 3-13 online $25/adult, $20/child 3- 13 at the door

Brought to you by Chabad of the West Side and the participating Chabad Centers of New York City: Upper East Side | Midtown | Israel Center Harlem | Columbia University | Washington Heights | The W.60s

N EW S YO U LIV E B Y

Thatcher Sings Streep’s Iron Lady makes history

By Armond White Before confronting Meryl Streep’s remarkable transformation as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, it behooves us to consider Thandie Newton playing Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in Olivier Stone’s W. Newton’s portrayal of a female public figure invading a masculine realm necessitated combining tenacity with feminine reserve—a rare sight, especially in the genre of biographical political drama.

Stone’s ambivalent concept in W. constrained Rice—as well as Bush—between tribute and satire. Yet Newton trod an unmistakably original middle ground; it was a bold artistic victory in the face of media-wide scorn.

Streep and director Phyllida Lloyd achieve a similar take that! victory in The Iron Lady, going against prevailing liberal preconceptions: They humanize Thatcher’s rise in British politics with a specific understanding of (rarely seen) feminine tenacity. The Iron Lady doesn’t confuse its tribute because Streep and Lloyd (whose goofy Mamma Mia! collaboration grossed a fortune, thus gaining personal power) find a deeper core to Thatcher than her political achievements.

Streep and Lloyd emphasize a principled woman’s wily resolve. They give emotional detail to moments that define the character while also shaping an era (“Move to the right!” she instructs her daughter during a driving lesson; “Someone must force the point,” she tells political advisors). If this upsets liberals who can’t tolerate the opposition articulating a polemic, that’s too bad. Streep and Lloyd force politics to provide deep, rousing human insight.

The British, being Shakespeareans, are past masters of a tradition of replaying, if not reexamining, political history through the perspective of complicated heroism. It’s a distinct form of culture, unlike Americans’ current tabloid-partisan tendency seen in Stone’s W. and the wretched Frost/Nixon. Watching Streep’s Thatcher score points about the miners’ strike, equating the Falklands War to Pearl Harbor and disparaging pseudofeminism (“Instead of doing something they want to be someone”) is theatrically thrilling as well as politically challenging.

Streep’s maturity (the hallmark of her socially attuned and underrated perforO u r To w n NY. c o m

mances in Lions for Lambs and Jonathan Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate) grants greater subtlety to her flamboyant gift for mimicry. Her old-lady tics and vocal lilt are as authentic as Dame Edith Evans in The Whisperers.

Lloyd provides delicacy and rapport worthy of such eloquent historical

film biopics as The Young Mr. Pitt, Becket and the recent Amazing Grace. But Lloyd also nimbly depicts the context of Thatcher’s passion in a clever montage of female high heels among male wing-tips, a speech from St. Francis and a syllogism about thoughts, words, actions, habits and character that allows Streep/Thatcher to really sing. The obtuse, however, will not sing along. Jim Broadbent and Meryl Streep in Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady.

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CLASSI FI E DS Classified Advertising Department Information Telephone: 212-268-0384 | Fax: 212-268-0502 | Email: advertising@manhattanmedia.com Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm | Deadline: Monday 12 noon for same weeks’ issue

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Albany Tax Deal: A Start, But Far From Done

By Liz Krueger In another whirlwind session in Albany, Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed through a new tax plan that will generate $1.5 billion in much needed additional revenue for the state. I supported the plan because that revenue will make it easier to balance the budget without devastating cuts to education, health care and social services, and because it creates a more progressive tax structure than we would have if we did nothing. But there is also plenty to be critical of, both in terms of the minimal progressive reform to our tax structure and the record-breaking 26 minutes the Legislature and public had to review the contents of the package.

Most of the discussion of taxes in the last year or so has focused on extending some version of the high-income earner surcharge, or “Millionaires’ Tax,” which expires at the end of 2011. I supported extending this tax as necessary, recognizing that the hardship caused by our poor economic climate needs to be shared and that the burden is currently falling disproportionately on the poor and middle classes. But I have always believed there were better options, such as increasing the number of PIT tax brackets and indexing for inflation, which could generate revenue while creating a fairer tax structure.

While the package that was adopted last week uses the model of increasing the number of brackets as a means to promote progressivity, it does so in a particularly timid way and ends up being substantially less progressive than the expiring surcharge.

Under the new plan, while people making over $2 million will pay a rate of 8.82 percent, almost as large as the 8.97 percent they pay under the expiring millionaires’

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Decem ber 15, 2011

tax, people making between $500,000 and $2 million will get a very substantial 1.14 percent decrease in their tax rate, which will revert to the previous top rate of 6.85 percent. At the same time, those making between $40,000 and $150,000 will see their tax rate decrease a mere .4 percent, to 6.45 percent. A truly progressive reform could have done a lot more for the middle class if it didn’t focus so much on protecting those making $500,000 or more.

Of course what we passed was better than the alternative of doing nothing. Then, when the millionaires’ tax expired, a single person making $20,000 or a couple making $40,000 would pay the same tax rate as people making 10, 20 or even 100 times more. Since the rich often have interest, dividend and capital gains income that is taxed at a lower rate, the actual tax rate paid by the very wealthy is often less than that paid by lower-income individuals.

Rushing through complex changes to tax policy at the request of the governor without allowing bills to age three days can make for bad policy, since things get done without the careful review of consequences, whether intended or unintended. I have long been critical of the use of messages of necessity to pass legislation—in fact, I sued the state over it a few years ago.

One issue that has already been raised is that the provisions in the same tax bill reducing payroll taxes dedicated for the MTA appear to have weakened “lockbox protections” for MTA funding passed into law earlier his year. While Governor Cuomo has stated he is committed to replacing the revenue the MTA will lose due to the reduction in the payroll tax,

these changes may make it harder to enforce that commitment or even to know they have been violated.

While this package clearly doesn’t get everything right, it at least starts us down the road to fundamental reform of our tax system, something I have long advocated for. I also believe we need to go beyond simply looking at the income tax.

As chair of the Select Committee on Budget and Tax Reform for 2009-2010, I explored a variety of ideas about how to modernize personal income, sales and business taxes. While I believe that such changes can and should enhance state revenues, it is also clear that reforming our outdated tax structure could encourage economic development by creating a more transparent and equitable system that rewards models that increase living wage job creation and ends wasteful tax expenditures that create uneven playing fields for small and medium businesses while decreasing our tax base.

My goals for tax reform are two-fold.

First, we need to ensure our tax structure is providing adequate revenue to support vital public services and that the burdens of taxes are equitably distributed. Second, we need to bring our tax structure into the 21st century and make sure that we use it to encourage economic development. This week, we took some steps toward these goals, but much remains to be done to created the modern, progressive tax system New York needs.

Liz Krueger is a state senator from the Upper East Side.

TweeT SPeak @jimmyfallon Central Park: “Have the best week!” Me: “Oh, get over yourself!

@gregbodenlos Camped out at my favorite UES coffee shop (sorry, @starbucks) (@ Little Brown Chocolate Bakery and Coffee).

@Greg Morabito Where will Orlando Bloom eat now?

RT @EaterNY: Upper East Side’s Le Caprice to Close, Possibly Relocate

@MuseumPlanning Guggeheim’s Maurizio Cattelan Crowds Prompt Extended Hours

@CurbedNY UES Townhouse from Breakfast at Tiffany’s hits the market asking $5.85 million.

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Relatively Speaking, It’s Not That Interesting Having high-profile writers interviewed by family members doesn’t really work

By Christopher Moore Like so many other things, it should work, but it really doesn’t.

The failure in question is having family members interview one another in a public forum. At my neighborhood cultural hot spot, Symphony Space, I have survived two family-ish interviews this year: Katie Roiphe interviewing her mother, Anne Roiphe, and, more recently and even less successfully, Griffin Dunne talking with his aunt, Joan Didion.

The family thing promises some delicious glimpse into the personal relationships in an author’s life. But it does not always deliver. Or it delivers and turns out not to matter much. Our great writers use their lives as fodder in fascinating ways, but when they are not turning the phrase, real life can look dull.

It turns out that knowing someone well and understanding their work—let alone

having a talent for coming up with questions—are separate matters. And it does not take long to find out that other people’s family relationships are not necessarily more interesting than our own. My last phone conversation with my mother was about seven times more interesting than Joan Didion’s onstage interview with her nephew.

Ah, Didion. She’s frequently an amazing interview. Now she’s back with a new round of aggressively depressing musings. Blue Nights is looser and less structured, more of an incantation following the death of Didion’s daughter, Quintana Roo. The book is lovely and lyrical and, like its author, uncompromising about life’s harsher truths. The high point of Didion’s appearance Nov. 30 came when a young woman in the audience pressed for a happy ending. She said she wanted a sense of “redemption,” like she got in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Didion, in brutal-

but-honest mode, told her young fan, “I wasn’t thinking in those terms.”

It’s instructive that the good moments came when the audience was asking the questions. Dunne is cute, affable and well-spoken, but better at talking about himself than at asking his aunt questions.

It’s not a crime; most of us are better at talking about ourselves. It only becomes a misdemeanor when somebody decides to make the private family chatter a public event.

Dunne was a lot less probing about Didion’s work and life than Charlie Rose was on public television.

Earlier this year, the Roiphe-Roiphe team talked on a smaller stage at Symphony Space. They were better, since Katie Roiphe bothered to have enough intelligent questions. Anne Roiphe, promoting her memoir, was fantastic because she cannot be anything else.

Even at the Roiphe event, though, I found myself wondering whether someone with a close personal relationship

to the subject usually asks the right questions. Relatives take a writer’s life for granted, being so near to it, and get bogged down in their own story of surviving in a famous person’s shadow.

At the Didion event, with the conversation measly, Symphony Space’s founding artistic director, Isaiah Sheffer, bravely came onstage to ask her a few questions, but she sounded ready to go home.

I hate being bitchy about Didion. She’s a master and an inspiration. I saw her standing outside Lincoln Center this fall at the memorial tribute to film director Sidney Lumet. I wanted to go up and tell her that I love her, but that already happened at my journalism school graduation. Apparently, I should have offered to interview her—even if, to win the job, I have to pretend we are related.

Christopher Moore is a writer who lives in Manhattan. He can be reached by email at ccmnj@aol.com and is on Twitter—@cmoorenyc.

citiquette

The Myth of the Lift Is getting a ride all it’s cracked up to be?

By Jeanne Martinet It seemed like a no-brainer at the time.

I mean, if you have to go to a funeral in New Jersey and you’re faced with a choice between public transportation (in this case, a bus from Port Authority followed by either a long walk or a short cab ride) and a ride in a friend-of-a-friend’s car, you choose the ride, right?

That’s what I did. Now, it’s true that I live uptown and I had to take the subway down to the Village, where the owner of the car was. But what’s a 20-minute subway ride if it saves me from having to take the Port Authority bus?

Unfortunately, we had to wait another 15 minutes for the other passengers to arrive (there were two other ride seekers). But then we were off.

Right away it was apparent that no one, least of all the driver, knew where we were going, and using the GPS on a cell phone while driving at high speeds on the highway turned out to be not so O u r To w n NY. c o m

effective. We got hopelessly lost—the kind of lost where there is no possibility of retracing your steps; the kind of lost where you spend an inordinate amount of time looking for a gas station in the hope of getting directions, which gets you even more lost than you were before. My anxiety was intensified by the amount of blithe socializing going on inside the car; there was a lot of, “So how do you know so-and-so?“ when everyone should have been focused on looking for the right exit. No one but me seemed to care that we were going to be horribly late to what we had been told was a very small funeral. I thought with longing of the Port Authority bus.

This was not the first time I had been seduced by the seeming luxury of getting a ride. Every Christmas I am invited to a party in Westchester and I usually go to great lengths to arrange a ride; often it’s

with someone I do not know very well.

Last year, on the way back not only did the car I was in get lost, it broke down.

It took me four hours to get home. Once again I found myself wondering, why didn’t I just take the train?

Just why does “The Ride” have so much allure for New Yorkers?

Offer someone a ride to a party on the other side of the park and it seems too glorious to pass up.

All of us have at least a bit of car envy. Door-to-door service.

Privacy. You are not dependent on the transportation system; you are in control. Driving is how the other half— that is, the rest of America--lives.

But the rest of America doesn’t risk spending hours stuck in Midtown traffic or looking for a parking space. And, for the most part, the rest of America are driving their own cars. When you accept a ride from someone else, he is in control. It’s really bad form to jump out

and say, “Thanks for the ride!” while the driver searches for a space. You can be within sight of your dinner party (or even worse, a theater event, with the minutes ticking down toward curtain time) and be stuck circling around and around the block, praying to the parking gods and getting more stressed out with every second.

The key to this whole ride business, as with so many other areas of life, is who you are with. If you are riding with good friends, you won’t care that much if you a little lost. Last Saturday I opted for a cab ride home with friends who offered to “drop me off,” even though I knew by the time we found a taxi and crawled along the West Side Highway it would take much longer than the subway. We sang Cole Porter songs to each other and so it was fine.

But, when in doubt, I say opt for the good old MTA. So often we forget that one of the best things about New York City is that no one has to drive. Why else are there so many cocktail parties here?

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

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