Our Town - January 2, 2020

The local paper for the Upper East Side

THE BEST OF 2019 ◄ CITY ARTS, P.12

CHAIN REACTION SPARKS A RETAIL MELTDOWN

WEEK OF JANUARY

02-08 2020 INSIDE

SHOPS

Mayor Bill de Blasio announces that Loree Sutton, MD, Brigadier General (Ret.), will step down as Commissioner of the Department of Veterans’ Services during an event on the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on October 3, 2019. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

A GENERAL’S NEXT CAMPAIGN

POLITICS

Retired Army leader launches longshot bid to become city’s first female mayor

I’m giving this everything I got. I’m not playing it safe here. I’m playing to win.”

Loree Sutton

BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM

After a decades-long career in the military, and the transient lifestyle that accompanied it, retired Army brigadier general Loree Sutton’s six years in New York has been the longest period of time she’s called any one place home during her adult life.

During this time, part of

which she spent running New York City’s Department of Veterans’ Services, Sutton says she and her wife have come to see the city as their home, but at the same time, they’ve become worried about its future. It wasn’t until she saw hun-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

Scores of national brands are shrinking their footprints and others are disappearing from the landscape in the biggest mercantile shakeout in Manhattan in more than a decade

VISION ZERO'S BLEAK YEAR

Traffic fatalities increased citywide for the first time since 2014. p. 9

BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

Remember Radio Shack? In 2014, the popular electronics chain boasted 30 shops in all the retail corridors of Manhattan. Today, there are zero.

Also vanished from the island’s shopping scene is Payless. Five years ago, the discount footwear chain had 15 stores. Now, there are none.

And Petland Discounts met a similar fate. The seller of parakeets, fish tanks, terrariums and guinea pig food shrank from 11 outlets to zilch.

Each had a long history – Radio Shack was founded in 1921, Payless in 1956, Petland in 1965 – and the demise of all three highlights a brutal trend in the transformation of the borough’s retail landscape.

It isn’t just locally owned bookstores, barbershops, thrift shops, Judaica shops, bars, bodegas, restaurants, green grocers and mom-and-

GET MOVING TO STAY HEALTHY

The many benefits of regular exercise for older adults . p. 6

CHAMPAGNE AND SHOES

Luxury stores adapt to the changing consumer. p. 16

Graphic: Liv Csogrove Source: Center for an Urban Future

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

O AUGUST WEEKK OF

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an NYPD judge recommend at City Hall after Photography Office holds a press conference Appleton/Mayoral Mayor Bill de Blasio 2019. Photo: Michael Friday, August 2,

IS VISION ZERO THE BILLY AND GILLY SHOWTO WORKING? THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS, THANKS GHT CONSTRUCTION

BY RICHARD KHAVKINE

POLITICS

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chair of the City Ydanis Rodriguez, committee, Council’s transportation street s afety on speaks at a rally for of City Hall over the steps has presided legislation on Man Arbitration John McCarten/NYC decades.

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JANUARY 02-08, 2020

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NEW LAWS FOR THE NEW YEAR LEGISLATION

A look at the bills signed by Gov. Cuomo at the end of 2019

BY MARINA VILLENEUVE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York’s governor is putting his signature on dozens of bills that the newly Democratic-controlled Legislature has passed ahead of the new year.

So far this year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed over 400 of the 900 bills passed by lawmakers, while he’s vetoed several dozen bills that he has largely said lack funding.

That’s a lot more bills than typically land on the governor’s desk - usually around 500 to 600, according to Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi.

Cuomo typically faces a 10day deadline to act on bills

after they are passed by the Legislature, but the clock doesn’t start until they land on his desk.

Here’s a look at some bills recently signed by the governor:

HIV DRUGS: New York will now require sexual assault victims to receive the full 28-days course of an HIV-prevention medication. The governor says he and lawmakers have agreed to make sure minors, who may not be able to involve parents or guardians in their health decisions, can immediately access the regimen.

VAMPIRE APPLIANCES: State regulators will take aim at “vampire appliances” by adopting energy performance standards for certain common household appliances. Democratic Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy says it’s estimated U.S. residents spend $19 billion in electricity

QUIT TODAY.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY COMMISSION: The state is tasking a new commission with studying the 400 years of AfricanAmerican history in New York and the U.S. since the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Virginia in 1619. But Cuomo says the bill’s original timelines were too ambitious and that lawmakers have agreed to remove “financial and operations hurdles’’ in the bill, which he approved.

and energy costs from such appliances, which can remain on when not in use.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: New York will start working on an inventory of the state’s electric vehicle infrastructure and look at any geographic gaps under a newly signed bill. Fahy says the legislation will look at where the availability of charging stations, for example, is insufficient.

ENDANGERED ANIMAL SALES:

DIVERSE TV WRITERS: Cuomo also signed a bill to create a tax credit for production companies that employ women and minority television writers and directors.

SEA TURTLES: Cuomo signed a bill to create a protection area for marine mammals and sea turtles around Plum Island, Great Gull Island and Little Gull Island _ which are off of Long Island.

BE THERE TOMORROW.

Photo: Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo

LEAD IN KIDS’ JEWELRY:

ADULT CARE FACILITIES:

Another bill signed into law creates a labeling requirement for children’s jewelry that contains lead. The governor said tweaks to the bill are needed to update the lead standard to current federal standards and make it easier for the state to enforce the requirement.

Residents of New York’s adult care facilities will have the right to be fully informed of their medical conditions, proposed medication or health care services, among other rights guaranteed under a recently signed bill.

New York environmental regulators will be able to designate a species as vulnerable and prohibit the un-permitted sale of articles made from the animals under a bill that Cuomo signed. Cuomo says he and lawmakers have agreed to change the bill so the state environmental agency can label a species as vulnerable if it could become endangered or threatened in the foreseeable future.

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JANUARY 02-08, 2020

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK

MAN CAPTURED AFTER VIOLENT ATTACK Police arrested a suspect in a violent late-night assault. At 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 21, a 32-year-old woman was walking home when an unknown man allegedly came up behind her at 224 East 96th St. between Second Ave. and Third Ave. and began punching her repeatedly with a closed fist, striking her body, face and head and knocking her to the ground. While the woman was on the ground, the suspect continued to punch her repeatedly and also pulled her hair.

The victim suffered visible bruising to her left eye as well as swelling and bruising and blood coming from her mouth and a small abrasion on the top of her head. She was treated on the scene by an EMS team and taken to Metropolitan Hospital. She managed to accompany police on a tour of the neighborhood and gave a positive ID of her alleged attacker.

Christian Ramos was arrested and charged with assault.

LIPSTICK LARCENY Here’s yet another shoplifting incident in a drugstore by yet another repeat offender. At 6:17 p.m. on Tuesday, December 17, a man

Reported crimes from the 19th precinct for the week ending Dec 22 Week to Date

Year to Date

2019

2018 % Change

2019

2018 % Change

0 0

0 0

n/a n/a

0 18

1 13

2 4

2 3

0.0 33.3

169 138

135 147

Grand Larceny

4 40

5 50

-20.0 -20.0

217 229 -5.2 1,628 1,442 12.9

Grand Larceny Auto

1

0

n/a

61

Murder Rape Robbery Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr

entered the Walgreens store at 1328 Second Ave. between East 70th St. and East 71st St., selected items of merchandise and allegedly tried to leave the store without paying. A 26year-old female employee approached the suspect and asked him to return the property, when he struck her in the face with a closed fist before fleeing the location. The employee sustained no injuries and refused medical attention at the scene. She also succeeded in recovering all the stolen items and told police that the suspect had been in that store many times before. The items stolen and recovered were fifteen Maybelline lipsticks totaling $179.85.

Felony Assault

SCAM PHONE CALLS CONTINUE

Burglary

In one recent phone scam incident, at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, December 17, a 72-year-old woman living on East 82nd St. allegedly received a phone call from someone stating that her social security number had been stolen. The caller advised the victim to take money out of her bank account to purchase gift cards, and she would be cleared. Unfortunately, she complied with the instructions and purchased thirteen gift cards valued at $300 apiece, totaling $3,900, and read the redemption numbers to the caller.

In a second incident, at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, December 24, a 90-yearold man living on East 68th St. allegedly got a call from a supposed

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It was only after handing over the money that the victim called his grandson and realized that he had been scammed.

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STATE LEGISLATORS State Sen. Jose M. Serrano State Senator Liz Krueger Assembly Member Dan Quart Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright

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GET MOVING TO STAY HEALTHY

AGING

The many benefits of regular exercise for older adults

BY DAVID NOONAN

If you’ve celebrated more than, say, 50 New Years, you don’t need a newspaper article to tell you how hard it can be to make a resolution and stick to it. The older we get, it seems, the more difficult it is to make real change – to quit a bad habit or start a new routine.

Of course, the irony is, the older we get the more we may need to make changes to stay healthy and head off the sundry problems that can accompany aging. And so, in the interest of keeping things simple, let us consider the myriad benefits of getting up off the couch.

In more than 30 years as a journalist covering health and medicine, I have yet to come across an intervention as powerful, effective and cheap (read: free) as physical activity. I’d call exercise a miracle cure, except there’s nothing miraculous about it. Decades of research have confirmed the health benefits of physical activity and documented its underlying mechanisms.

A significant portion of that research has focused on older adults, including people who

Essentially, in terms of brain function, you can think of [regular exercise] as turning back the clock to a younger age.”

Professor Arthur Kramer have had heart attacks or strokes, were overweight or obese, had Type 2 diabetes, were at increased risk for Alzheimer’s, cancer and other disorders, as well as healthy subjects. Among other things, those studies have shown how regular exercise can reduce the risk of developing 13 different types of cancer, improve sleep, mood and your sex life, and how it can actually change the adult brain, improve cognitive function and reduce the risk of developing cognitive impairments, including memory problems.

At the cellular level, Mayo Clinic researchers concluded in 2017 that high-intensity aerobic training improves the function of mitochcondria, the powerhouses of cells, which normally decline with age.

The bad news is just 20 percent of Americans engage in the minimal recommended amount of regular exercise, and 64 percent don’t do any-

thing at all. The good news is, it’s never too late to start.

Here are a few reasons why you should.

Sleep Insomnia and other sleep issues are common among older adults. While there are a number of over-the-counter and prescription drugs (the class of so-called hypnotics) available to treat sleep disorders, studies have shown that exercise can be an effective alternative.

One randomized, controlled trial involving sedentary adults 55 and older with chronic insomnia, found that “aerobic physical activity with sleep hygiene education is an effective treatment ap-

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proach to improve sleep quality, mood and quality of life.”

(Sleep hygiene education is basically tips about things like going to bed at the same time every night, not taking naps and so on.) The improvements, including better sleep duration and decreased “daytime dysfunction,“ were documented after just 16 weeks of exercise.

Another paper that reviewed several studies comparing exercise and drug treatment concluded that “improvements after [regular] exercise are similar to improvements after hypnotic drug use.”

Heart Health The benefits of regular exercise on the cardiovascular system are well documented, and so is the natural decline in aerobic capacity as we age.

While healthy older adults can significantly increase their aerobic capacity with regular exercise, research has shown that seniors with heart disease, including those who have had heart attacks, can also benefit.

For example, in one trial, 181 patients with chronic heart failure – and a mean age of 65 – increased their aerobic capacity by 10 percent after just three months of supervised training, and 14 percent

after 12 months, compared to non-exercising heart failure patients.

In another trial involving 200 heart failure patients aged 60 to 89, regular aerobic training increased the distance they could walk in six minutes ( a surrogate measure for aerobic capacity) by 15 percent. The patients also reported improvements in quality of life. Given their compromised condition, even small improvements can have a significant impact on patients with chronic heart disease .

Cognitive Function Arthur F. Kramer, director of the Center for Cognitive and Brain Health at Northeastern University, has been studying the aging brain since the 1970s. In his exploration of the effects of physical activity – “I mostly work with older adults, and we’re basically just getting people off the couch to walk more.” – Kramer has his previously sedentary subjects exercise an hour a day, three days a week for periods of six months to a year. That doesn’t sound like much, because it isn’t. But it gets the job done.

“Maybe they’re improving their aerobic fitness 10 or 15 percent, at the outside,” says Kramer. “But those kinds of

improvements show pretty dramatic changes. Essentially, in terms of brain function, you can think of it as turning back the clock to a younger age.”

Some of the underlying structural changes responsible for such a response (occurring at a time in life when the brain would normally be expected to shrink) include an increase in the volume of gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, volume increases in the hippocampus, which is involved in memory, learning and emotion, and volume increases in the caudate nucleus, which plays a role in executive function and learning. In addition, exercise-induced changes to the brain’s white matter increase the brain’s signaling efficiency.

As Kramer points out in his oft-cited 2003 meta-analysis “Fitness Effects on the Cognitive Functions of Older Adults,” the largest benefit of improved fitness among people 55 and up was in the area of “executive control,” the complex, goal-directed behavior that involves reasoning and other higher cortical functions.

And speaking of complex, goal-directed behavior, here’s to getting plenty of exercise in 2020.

JANUARY 02-08, 2020

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JANUARY 02-08, 2020

Voices

LET’S MAKE NEW YORK A NEUROTIC NY SPORTS THE WORLD’S SAFEST CITY FAN’S 2020 RESOLUTIONS

BY BETTE DEWING

The New York majority rejoice, and sigh with relief at Governor Cuomo’s veto of the bill to legalize e-bikes and e-scooters. Evidently, government’s first duty to protect public welfare is unknown to the majority of elected officials who passed this law, which would cause more deaths and injuries, not to mention stress, in this high-density city. Lamentably, State Senator Liz Krueger is in the minority who opposed the bill. Thank her, as well as the governor.

The Governor veto was based mainly on the lack of helmet protection, and of course the speed, which is even more perilous for walkers already at risk for nonmotorized bikes and scooters’ wholesale aversion to the laws of the road – laws too little enforced.

Thanks, Matilda!

Ah, but what does the governor’s 88-year-old mother and UES resident think of that? Matilda has been such a champion for various causes as the state’s First Lady and beyond. Indeed, she was honored with this paper’s annual OTTY award. And during the event’s reception she spoke to elder attendees especially about their city concerns, especially safe walking. She promised to relay the message

Now at 88, part of the fastest growing age group, we urge her speak to her son about addressing city bike and scooter riders’ wholesale aversion to the laws of the road, and the lack of enforcement. Consider how once she was honored for mentoring youth and is likely still active but now elder walkers especially could sure benefit from her active concern.

And we would sure like to see her on the arm of her son – and maybe she needs a walker or wheel chair - it would help the cause of elder inclusion, and Bernie Sanders’ so needed campaign to overcome elder loneliness. And yes, even elders like Matilda can be lonely, especially but not only after Christmas and Chanukah, when families often disperse – like the song says, why doesn’t anyone ever stay in one place anymore? Gotta work on that too.

Failure to Yield Is a Killer But about safe walking and the alarming spike in traffic tragedies, a New York Times piece last month noted, “six pedestrian deaths in a three-day period last week served as a reminder of the dangers that still plague New York City’s streets.“ Thankfully the paper of record is now on board, but so desperately needed is regular coverage

of what might best be called “traffic tragedies.” And don’t forget serious injuries.

And, this is mostly about motor vehicle dangers. Obviously, the city’s Vision Zero needs to do more, especially about all-out enforcement of the foremost cause of death and injury – drivers’ failure to yield when turning into a crosswalk.

On-site warning signs are essential, especially. And not only at high-risk corners. Penalties must be as strong as those for drunk driving. Distracted driving and biking have got to go – so does distracted walking.

Be Super Visible!

This longtime safe traffic activist, who surprisingly is rarely consulted, (gotta change that) urges walkers to, of course, obey the laws of the road but also be as visible as possible. Wear light-colored clothes after dark. If possible, swing your arms briskly when crossing.

Above all, even though it means going out of your way, cross where vehicles cannot turn into you, Smile too – it sooths the brain.

Your thoughts are most needed. Somehow, we, along with Matilda and Andrew, are going to make 2020 the safest traveling year ever. Make New York “The Safe Traveling City!”

To be continued of course. dewingbetter@aol.com

PUBLIC EYE

larged, crushed spleen, surely he can manage to top the New England Patriots. Let’s cheer for Sam until he loses to the Pats.

5) Don’t Nix the Knicks: Let them flourish in the draft and find someone to play with R.J. Barrett – and let’s appreciate their Garden neighbors, the WNBA’s hard-working and entertaining local team, the New York Liberty!

BY JON FRIEDMAN

It’s the time of year when we all tell ourselves the most fanciful, life-affirming lies and dress them up as “New Year’s Resolutions.”

Forget about losing weight and being more tolerant, charitable, patient, understanding and as nice as all getout. That’s child’s play compared to what I’m proposing. I’m going to try to be a better New York Sports fan in 2020.

Think about my self-imposed, Herculean task, up against the likes of the horrible Giants, the aimless Jets, the tantalizing Yankees, the maddening Mets, the waittill-next-year Nets, the utterly inconsequential Knicks and the maybe-just-maybe Rangers. (We don’t acknowledge the Islanders and Devils where I live.)

Here, then, are my Top Ten NY Sports Fan Resolutions:

1) Give the Yankees Time to Gel: Even with the ballyhoo

surrounding the signing of star free-agent pitcher Gerrit Cole (for a total of $324 million over nine years) and many players returning from a year of injuries, the Yankees may not steamroll the baseball world right away. Let’s give the Bronx Bombers some time to mesh. All right, Bombers – you’ve got 6 games

2) See a Silver Lining in Queens: The Mets have once

6) Savor Kevin Durant at 100 Percent! With the Warri-

Resolution No. 8: Cheer hard for Derek Jeter at his Hall of Fame induction. Photo: mccarmona23 via flickr

again been crushed in off-season public relations by the Yankees. But the Mets have their own ace in Jacob deGrom, and rookie phenom Pete Alonso, their version of Aaron Judge. Let’s give the Mets some time to put the pieces together for new manager Carlos Beltran. They’ve got 12 games.

3) Overlook the Giants Fiasco: The New York Giants

may just be the sorriest franchise in all of professional sports, considering that the team sells its fan base on the memories of past greatness and NFL tradition. Let’s not boo them in 2020 until they topple out of playoff consideration, say by Week Three.

4) Believe in Sam I Am: If Jets quarterback Sam Darnold could risk death by en-

ors, Kevin Durant was the most feared scorer in the NBA. In 2020, he will join the Nets after recuperating this season from a knee injury.

7) Let the Rangers Grow Up:

About a decade ago, the Rangers wisely decided to build through the addition of young players. The result was a trip to the NHL Finals in 2014. The team is doing it again now,.

Let’s hope heroic goalie Henrik Lundqvist gets to sip from the Stanley Cup next year.

8) Cheer for Derek! When Derek Jeter goes into baseball’s Hall of Fame next summer, let’s cheer hard for him.

No New York athlete has been as clutch or classy in my memory.

9) Pray for Tom Terrific: Tom Seaver, the best pitcher in New York baseball history, is hurting mightily out there in Wine Country. Let’s silently thank him for all he has stood for in this town.

10) Collectively. Be More Patient, Understanding and Tolerant of our Sports Heroes. Hey,

I will if you will!

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Mayor Bill de Blasio signed new safe streets legislation into law on November 19, 2019, the latest step in the Administration’s progress implementing Vison Zero to make New York City’s streets safer. Photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

VISION ZERO’S BLEAK YEAR STREETS

Traffic fatalities increased citywide for the first time since 2014

BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM

It was a challenging year under Vision Zero. For the first time since the street safety initiative was implemented in 2014, traffic fatalities have increased citywide.

On Dec. 22, the mayor’s office released citywide data showing there were 215 traffic deaths this year as compared to 203 recorded in all of 2018.

Most notably, cyclist deaths more than doubled from the previous year with 28 recorded. Just in the last two weeks of the year, six pedestrians were killed in a span of three days.

“While we’ve made tremendous progress over the past six years with Vision Zero, there is still undoubt-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

A ghost bike memorial for cyclist Robyn Hightman, 20, who was struck and killed by a truck on Sixth Ave. at 23rd St. in June. Photo: David Noonan

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Calendar NYCNOW

Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com

EDITOR’S PICK

Sat 4 A RAISIN IN THE SUN Tato Laviera Theatre 240 East 123rd St 3:00 p.m. $15 harlemrepertorytheatre.com 917-697-3555 Lorraine Hansberry’s classic drama tells of a black family’s experiences in south Chicago, as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances with an insurance payout following the death of the father.

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DISCOVERY WALK FOR FAMILIES: HARLEM MEER

Beach Café 1326 Second Ave 9:30 p.m. $20 and up With a professional career that began at age 13, award-winning pianist Arthur Migliazza brings the Boogie Woogie and Blues piano tradition back to life through highly skillful piano playing and engaging storytelling. thebeachcafe.com 212-988-7299

Charles A. Dana Discovery Center 110th St between Lenox & Fifth Ave 11:00 a.m. Free (registration required) At the northeast corner of Central Park, the rocky landscape surrounding the Harlem Meer has a storied history. Explore the Meer’s history and design, and hear about what it takes to maintain a healthy and beautiful water body through hands-on exploration and guided activities. nycgovparks.org 212-310-6600

EVEN Hotel 221 East 44th St 6:30 p.m. $39 A 15-minute happy hour (with two complimentary glasses of wine) will kick off the party. Your Drunk Yoga teacher will then bring everyone to their mats for a 45-minute beginner-friendly yoga class with wine inhand. Finally, a 30-minute “wine-down” will conclude the event. dodrunkyoga.com 917-288-4264

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THE BEST OF 2019 EXHIBITS

A look back at an extraordinary year for art in New York.

BY MARY GREGORY

A New MoMA The renovation at the Museum of Modern Art did more than open new spaces. It opened perspectives, understanding and conversations.

The physical alterations are a success. The metaphysical ones are huge and important, and it’s impossible to tell where they’ll lead. If you change history, you change the future. MoMA’s inclusion of more women artists, artists of color, and international artists tells a whole new story of humanity.

Art City NYC’s public art was museum-worthy, free and en-

riching again this year. Alex Katz sculptures added élan to Park Avenue. The MTA Arts and Design unveiled new permanent masterpieces like “The Arches of Old Penn Station” by Diana Al Hadid. Keith Haring’s mural “Crack is Wack” at East 128th Street and the Harlem River Drive was restored. NYC Commission on Human Rights’ firstever Public Artist in Residence, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh’s murals proclaim women’s strength. Deborah Kass’s OY/YO sculpture spent 2019 at the Brooklyn Musuem, and the Public Art Fund presented works by Carmen Herrera, Pope.L, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, among others. The most uplifting may have been Yayoi Kusama’s balloon “Love Flies Up to the Sky” floating above the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Hilma’s Time This year we learned that abstraction was pioneered by a woman. Hilma af Klint’s magnificent, magical works filled the Guggenheim’s rotunda with color, forms, spirituality, and energy. Rooted in nature, mysticism, and the power of one woman’s vision, her paintings and drawings were largely unknown, but

With 350 objects including iconic and little-known, it was the kind of show that only someone deeply engaged with Warhol’s work could organize. It was also a generous farewell, as De Salvo recently left the Whitney to bring her talents to Dia in 2020.

A New Master

Yayoi Kusama’s “Love Flies Up to the Sky” filled the Manhattan sky on Thanksgiving. Photo: Adel Gorgy

are now unforgettable.

Still Time Vija Celmins’ “To Fix the Image in Memory” at the Met Breuer through January 12th, was years in the making, but worth the wait. Celmins’ technical mastery is off the charts. Her meticulous renderings – or as she terms them, redecriptions – of space, oceans, deserts, spider webs, and more remind us that infinity is within our everyday experience.

Gems Do More than Sparkle Two shows at the Met bookended the year with looks at jewelry that did way more than dazzle. In “Jewelry: The Body Transformed” at the beginning of 2019 and “The Colmar Treasure,“ on view at The Cloisters through Jan. 12, curators Melanie Holcomb and Barbara Boehm revealed how through objects humble or spectacular, what we treasure can preserve history, proclaim power, seduce, subjugate, elevate, or decorate. Self-adornment, something everyone who’s ever lived has done, has the ability to tell epic stories.

When Amy Sherald’s painting of Michelle Obama was revealed, we knew we had a great new American portraitist. She’s been painting for decades, but her second act for most of us was “the heart of the matter...” at Hauser & Wirth, an exhibition of glorious paintings of African American women and men suffused with everyday elegance. Sherald incorporated literary and art historical references to create monumental works.

An Old Master Leonardo da Vinci’s last great painting, “St. Jerome Praying in the Wilderness,“

was never completed, though he worked on it, on and off, for more than 30 years. Its unfinished state uncovers the thinking process of this polymath Renaissance genius. To celebrate his 500th anniversary, we got an in depth look at a Vatican masterpiece from Leonardo expert, Met curator, Carmen C. Bambach.

A Rightful Place “Art of Native America: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection” (ongoing) at the Metropolitan Museum brought the creations of indigenous American artists out of the galleries for Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, and into the museum’s American Wing – a potent and significant move, at the Dikers’ request. The exhibition offers a sweeping view of Native American art across distances and ages, and tells important stories about America and its people.

The Whitney Biennial The 2019 Whitney Biennial raised lots of questions, both from the audience and the artists. It was a beautiful exhibition, filled with poetry and, at times, rage – varyingly explosive, smoldering, or reflective. History and newness were on view, voiced by an inclusive, diverse roster of artists. More, please.

Warhol Revisited

Hilma af Klint, “Altarpieces” (1915) © 2018 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Photo; David Heald

If you thought you knew Warhol, the Whitney’s Donna De Salvo taught you a thing or two in her immersive retrospective “Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again.”

Sometimes the king is a woman, 2019. Oil on canvas. © Amy Sherald.

Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Joseph Hyde

JANUARY 02-08, 2020

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SUBSCRIBE NOW Ydanis Rodriguez, chair of the City Council’s transportation committee, spoke at a rally for street safety legislation on the steps of City Hall on May 8. Photo: John McCarten/NYC Council

VISION ZERO

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 edly more work to do to make our streets safer,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement.

“The recent traffic fatalities have made us even more determined to keep Vision Zero moving forward.”

As of Nov. 30 — when the city’s Vision Zero data showing the location of where fatalities occur was last updated — traffic deaths in the Chelsea, Upper West Side, Upper East Side and Down-

The recent traffic fatalities have made us even more determined to keep Vision Zero moving forward.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio town neighborhoods for 2019 were largely on par with the previous year, with Chelsea having four more deaths than 2018. Between Nov. 30 and

Dec. 22, there were 17 more traffic deaths, but the location of these deaths were not recorded on Vision Zero’s official website.

Citywide, the picture was bleak. In 2018, 10 cyclists were killed throughout NYC, but the numbers rose to 28 in 2019. Pedestrian deaths went up from 115 in 2018 to 117 in 2019. The year came to a particularly brutal end in late December. In what the New York Times called “a deadly 72 hours,“ 6 pedestrians were killed in three days in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS DECEMBER 19 - 25, 2019 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/ restaurant-inspection.shtml.

GOODBYE, JERRY LIVES

A former theater critic recalls the Tony award-winning composer of “Hello, Dolly,“ “Mame” and “La Cage Aux Folles”

BY LEIDA SNOW

Jerry Herman, composer of countless ear-worm Broadway tunes with inevitable sounding lyrics, died Thursday at 88. There were numerous awards, among them Tonys for “Hello, Dolly!” and

“Mame.” And there were star vehicles for the likes of Carol Channing, Angela Lansbury, Barbra Streisand, and Bette Midler.

Winning the 1984 Tony for “La Cage aux Folles” meant something special to Herman, and not only because it was the first time a Broadway musical dealt, however gingerly, with the intimacies of a gay relationship. His acceptance speech included a comment about there still being room for his kind of pizzazz. At a time when brilliant compos-

ers like Stephen Sondheim were exploring dark subjects and presenting them with sophisticated music and ambiguous lyrics, Herman reveled in songs that sent audiences out of the theater singing. Many of them went on to become standards.

Louis Armstrong’s version of the title song of “Hello, Dolly” was a world-wide phenomenon.

In the audience to review “La Cage,” I was surprised at the lump in my throat during the “Song On the Sand.” Her-

DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE US TO LOOK INTO? DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE US TO LOOK INTO? DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE US TO LOOK INTO? Email us at NEWS@STRAUSNEWS.COM

Jerry Herman with Lisa Kirk (right) and the author, when Herman won the Drama Desk Award for "La Cage Aux Folles," 1983-84.

Photo: Cathy Blaivas

man wasn’t only about catchy tunes and up-beat lyrics. He shared the heart that was on his sleeve, and audiences responded.

A favorite memory of Herman took place far from Broadway. I was doing a story in Turku, Finland. From the window in my hotel, I could see the city square and a theater marquis. The show was “La Cage” — in Finland’s second language: Swedish.

I contacted Jerry Herman, and he graciously replied to assure me that, yes, he was receiving royalties for the production.

Herman is survived by his longtime partner, Terry Marler, and by millions of us who will be grateful to be reminded, as in his song, that “The Best of Times is Now.”

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BITTERSWEET MEMORIES OF THE LOWER EAST SIDE VIEWPOINT

Looking back at a childhood in Stuyvesant Town

BY ASHLEY AROCHO

I went to Wo Hop, a Chinatown hole in the wall, for the first time in 1987. I was still in my mother’s womb, and she and my father took the 6 train from their studio apartment on 85th St. between First and York.

Eventually they moved to the Lower East Side, and as I got older we would make the short trek to Chinatown every New Year’s Eve from our apartment.

My parents and I would order Wo Hop staples: boiled dumplings and beef with black bean sauce on noodles, which cost around $6.95 and $7.95 for both. It was a convenient and cheap option, since my mother was exhausted from all the cooking during the holidays.

We moved to Stuyvesant

Town in 1991. The two-bedroom apartment was off-putting at first because it was located across from a Con Edison plant, at the bustling intersection of 14th St, and Avenue C, full of cars and pedestrians. But that’s what made our StuyTown apartment so special. After a while we got used to all the noise, and my parents appreciated the $700 rent. It was affordable and convenient.

Family Traditions The holidays were special, with my mother cooking pernil, arroz con gandules and pasteles. My mother, an admissions secretary for a medical college, came to New York from Puerto Rico when she was a few months old. She grew up in Bedford Stuyvesant’s Marcy Projects. My father, a retired magazine art director, was raised in the South Bronx. He’s also Puerto Rican, and they both speak Spanish – something I didn’t pick up.

I understand some Spanish,

but it is still something I want to strive to learn and speak.

My parents felt bad that they didn’t do more to teach my sister and I, but I’ve never held it against them.

My father’s mother – my Grandma Saro – moved in with us when I was six. She always talked to us in English, though Spanish was her first language. She was like a second mother, but she passed away at the age of 96 in 2013.

She took care of my sister and me and cooked the best bistec encebollado (steak and onions). The three of us shared a room together, and she would pray the rosary every night, lighting one of her saint candles.

My sister and I shared bunk beds, and at first I was on the top bunk until she got old enough to make the switch.

My grandmother slept diagonal to our beds and had her table stand next to her with a lamp, candle, bible and figure of Mary. Although it was slightly crowded, sharing that room was wonderful because I never felt alone.

A Changing City

The author, with her parents and Grandma Saro, in Stuyvesant Town in the 1990s.

I have so many fond memories of that apartment throughout the years, but Stuyvesant Town & Peter Cooper Village were owned

by MetLife and then sold in 2006 to Tishman Speyer Properties. They are currently owned by Blackstone Group LP and rebranded as a luxury apartment complex, currently offering one-bedroom apartments for upwards of $3000, which is unfair to natives like me.

The complex was originally developed for WWII Veterans and middle-income tenants, but that has changed with the gentrification of a neighborhood that was once more multicultural and affordable.

The only reason I got to live there for so long was because I lived with my parents and sister until I got married in 2017. Now I occasionally get to sleep over if I have a late night event because it is so darn convenient.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live in that neighborhood again. My hus-

The author, second from left, with her sister and parents outside Wo Hop in Chinatown. Photos: Courtesy of Ashley Arocho

band Matthew, a dispatcher for college engineering and maintenance, and I, a highereducation public relations coordinator, can’t afford it.

We are moving from Flushing, Queens, where we pay $1391 a month for a rent-stabilized apartment, to Richmond Hill, Queens, where we will live with his grandmother in a two-family home. It’s affordable, at half the price of our current apartment, though not as convenient as

Manhattan. But it’s home.

One More New Year’s Eve I am LES for life. But now, in my Queens apartment I leave up my tree in a box until Jan. 6 for Día de los Reyes (Three Kings Day). And I travel for over an hour to get to my parents’ hoping the trains aren’t running too bad.

Last New Year’s Eve, after we returned from Chinatown, my sister, Matthew and I sat in my parents’ StuyTown liv-

ing room watching “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” waiting to see the ball drop. We sipped on coquito and drank wine while enjoying arroz con dulce (rice pudding), or an assortment of pastries my mother would put out.

It was all so bittersweet.

That’s why Matthew and I decided to bring in 2020 at my second favorite place after the Lower East Side – Disney World.

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Business

CHAMPAGNE AND SHOES SHOPPING

Luxury stores adapt to the changing consumer

BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, ASSOCIATED PRESS

To get that monogram tote bag by Louis Vuitton or leather Flashtrek sneakers by Gucci, the go-to place had been luxury department stores.

Not anymore.

Now, there are far more options to access exclusive labels. You can buy them at online sites like Netaporter.

Or get them barely used through sites like Fashionphile and The RealReal. You can even rent an entire rotating wardrobe through companies like Rent the Runway.

“The consumer is king. And they can buy luxury brands in different places,‘’ says Steve Sadove, former CEO and chairman of Saks Fifth Avenue and now senior adviser a MasterCard.

The new entrants have disrupted the luxury sector by

Clearly, shopping is much more about an experience.”

Jamie Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom stores creating different channels to attain the seemingly unattainable. For luxury department stores that once had a lock on where the well-heeled could shop, that has forced them to reimagine their approach. They now offer new services as well as food and alcohol to lure back customers who were once exclusively theirs.

At Nordstrom’s women’s flagship in Manhattan, for instance, customers sip champagne and nibble on small bites while trying on shoes.

Recognizing the growing popularity of second-hand sites, Neiman Marcus is rolling out shops where customers can sell their designer belongings as part of a partnership with Fashionphile, an

Taking photos of Bergdorf’s 2019 holiday windows. Photo: Phil Roeder, via flickr

online resale accessories company. And as part of a $250 million renovation of its flagship store in Manhattan, Saks Fifth Avenue has dedicated its main floor to luxury handbags that’s staffed with 50 handbag style advisers, in addition to sales associates.

Meanwhile, brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton are opening more of their own stores and expanding online.

Robert Burke, a luxury consultant, says they are trying to control their future as they watch their products get discounted on resale sites.

Joseph Aquino, president of real estate services firm JAACRES, sees luxury’s future with fewer stores that focus on “less product” and “higher prices.”

Looking for a Deal In one sense, traditional luxury stores are no different than other brick-and-mortar retailers that must now fiercely compete with online rivals. But the exclusivity they used to command by catering to a niche market of wealthy spenders is beginning to erode, especially among the new-moneyed set of shoppers in their 20s through their 40s who can afford high-end merchandise but may still be looking for a deal.

Millennials and Generation Z accounted for 47% of luxury consumers in 2018 and for 33% of all luxury sales worldwide in 2018, according to a study by consulting firm Bain & Co. Together, however, they contributed to virtually all of the market’s growth, compared with 85% in 2017.

Overall, the global market for personal luxury goods is healthy, buoyed by a strong economy and the spending power of China. The sector reached a record high of $286.53 billion in 2018 - a 6% increase from the year before,

Bergdorf Goodman 2019 holiday window. Photo: Sabeen Shahid, via flickr

according to Bain. Jewelry in particular has been one of the top luxury growth categories.

In the U.S., luxury sales excluding jewelry have fallen 1.9 % through November compared to a 3.4% increase in overall retail sales excluding autos and gas, says MasterCard SpendingPulse, which tracks sales across all types of payments. That’s in part because of store closures and a drop in international tourists.

“A Wider Playing Field” Luxury shoppers like Sabina Gill present challenges to luxury department stores.

The 42-year-old banker from Manhattan says she’s doubled her annual spending on jewelry and clothing to $20,000 in the last few years.

But while she used to shop at places like Saks and Bergdorf Goodman, now she’s spending most of the money on sites like The RealReal or Netaporter. If she buys at Saks,

she uses the retailer’s online personal shopping service.

“E-commerce gives you a wider playing field versus going to the store,“ Gill said.

The fragmented luxury market has hurt retailers like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. Sales at stores open at least a year at Neiman Marcus fell in its latest fiscal third quarter as it was forced to heavily discount. The drop, reported in June, reversed six straight quarters of increases.

The privately-held retailer hasn’t publicly reported sales since then.

Nordstrom department stores saw net sales down 4.1% even while its more price-sensitive Nordstrom Rack stores had a 1.2% increase in the latest quarter ended Nov. 2.

Neiman Marcus decided to invest in a minority stake in Fashionphile earlier this year after its own survey showed half its customers buy or sell

pre-owned luxury items.

Geoffroy van Raemdonck, CEO of Neiman Marcus, says the luxury business used to be about the product; now, it’s more about the services.

Nearly 30 Nordstrom stores now have Rent the Runway drop-offs as part of a partnership with the rental service. The new women’s flagship store in New York also features seven eating and beverage spots - the most of any Nordstrom store.

“Clearly, shopping is much more about an experience,“ said Jamie Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom stores and the great-grandson of the company’s founder. “It’s not just about getting through their lists. They want to bump into something new, something they didn’t come into find. I think great stores do that well.”

JANUARY 02-08, 2020

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CHAIN REACTION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 pops of every stripe that have fallen victim to brick-and-mortar retrenchment.

It is also the national retail chain stores – which typically occupy larger blocks of space and can leverage bank financing to secure better deals on rent – that are bailing out of leases and shuttering shop locations.

The number of chain outlets in Manhattan dwindled by 3.1 percent, a loss of 91 store locations, from 2,982 in 2018 to 2,891 in 2019, a new report by the Center for an Urban Future found.

That accelerates a 2.3 percent decline recorded the previous year, in which 67 national retail stores closed their doors – and it means a sharp 5.4 percent decrease, marked by 158 closures, took place from 2017 to 2019, according to the think tank’s data.

“There has never been a time when Manhattan posted a decline two years in a row,” said Eli Dvorkin, the editorial and policy director for the Center, which has been researching retail chains since 2007 and issuing annual reports since 2008.

“By contrast, in 2010, during the recovery from the Great Recession, there was a 5.1 percent increase in the number of national chain store locations in Manhattan,” Dvorkin added.

The End of Crumbs, Gold’s and Chevy’s The data in the current report, “State of the Chains, 2019,” shows that Manhattan has the city’s highest concentration of chain stores, at 127 locations per square mile, five times greater than the citywide average of 26 locations per square mile.

As the explosive growth in the city’s chain stores cooled, Manhattan was the canary in the coal mine.”

Eli Dvorkin, Center for an Urban Future That dominant retail presence meant that in 2018, when the other four boroughs saw a modest uptick in chain retailers, the city as a whole still saw its first-ever overall decline, completely fueled by Manhattan. In 2019, all five boroughs lost chains, 304 stores shuttered, and the record 3.7 percent contraction pared the citywide tally to 7,832 chain locations from 8,136 a year ago.

“As the explosive growth in the city’s chain stores cooled, Manhattan was the canary in the coal mine – the leading indicator that there was trouble in the chain space, and all was not well,” Dvorkin said.

Indeed, a record 18 national retailers went into near-death spirals in 2018, closed all their city locations and were subsequently removed from the Center’s 2019 analysis.

(Some still maintain stores outside New York.)

The casualties include Crumbs Bake Shop, which was founded on the Upper West Side; fitness club Gold’s Gym and fast-food mecca Chevy’s Fresh Mex, which each closed locations in the Theater District; and quirky novelty retailer Brookstone, which had been based in Battery Park City.

It was also a terrible year for national shoe stores: Payless filed for its second and final bankruptcy in February as the vestigial traces of Nine West, Stride Rite, Rockport, Aerosoles, Easy Spirit and Traffic

A CVS pharmacy on Second Avenue and East 86th Street. As the number of national retail chain stores in Manhattan fell by 3.1 percent, CVS went in the other direction, adding 10 locations for a total of 64 and giving it the No. 5 spot in the rankings of the borough’s top 10 national brands.

A Dunkin’ Donuts shop on Broadway at West 96th Street. The fast-food chain boasts 174 stores in Manhattan and added eight in 2019, giving it the No. 2 spot in the rankings of the borough’s top 10 national retailers. Photos: Douglas Feiden

Shoes evaporated from the cityscape.

“I can remember when there used to be wall-to-wall shoe stores up and down Broadway,” said Les Dweck, a retail and commercial broker who operated in midtown and retired in 2003. “They were unavoidable, and that was the idea. Now, the local shoe store is called Amazon.”

The Decline of Subway, Ricky’s and McDonald’s The Center’s 12th annual ranking of national chains showed that more Manhattan retailers are shrinking their footprints than expanding them. Among the key findings of the report: ■ RETREAT OF THE MERCHANDISE RETAILERS. Numerous chains that sell clothing, cosmetics, accessories, jewelry, vitamins, pet supplies and household goods posted steep declines in 2019.

Take Ricky’s, the beauty supply, costume and accessories chain, which had 18 Manhattan stores in 2009 and grew to 24 in 2014. Since then, it has shed all but its two locations in Soho and Union Square.

The clothing trade has also been battered. J. Crew, for instance, which now has 10 stores on the island, closed three between 2018 and 2019, and Lululemon Athletica, which has 11 stores today, shut two.

The Gap closed three locations, H&M two – and Bebe, Eileen Fisher, Dress Barn, Chico’s, Charlotte Russe, Forever 21, Free People and the Men’s Warehouse each dropped a single store.

■ PULLBACK OF THE FAST-FOOD PURVEYORS. Broad-based, yearover-year declines were also reported in 2019 for national restaurant chains, pizza parlors, bakeries, juice bars and ice cream and yogurt shops.

Subway, the omnipresent fastfood giant, posted dramatic losses in 2019, closing 11 of its Manhattan franchises. The company still has 98 stores, the fourth largest tally by number of locations in the borough – but it had 171 in 2014, meaning that it pared 73 outlets and diminished its footprint by 43 percent over five years.

McDonald’s fared slightly better.

The seventh largest chain retailer in Manhattan, it closed two stores in 2019 and has 56 locations today, down from 69 in 2014, a decrease of 19 percent.

JANUARY 02-08, 2020 Not all the changes in the national fast-food trade were negative: Chick-fil-a doubled its Manhattan presence, from five stores in 2018 to 10 today, while Taco Bell jumped from 11 outlets in 2018 to 15 in 2019.

■ COFFEE IS KING, DONUTS A CLOSE SECOND. Coffee, tea and donut chains were a rare bright spot, and two of them maintained dominance in Manhattan as No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the borough’s rankings of the top 10 national retailers.

Starbucks held the top post by a comfortable margin with 231 locations in 2019, a decline of a single shop from the previous year, while Dunkin’ Donuts took second place with 174 stores, debuting eight new locations over the past year.

The No. 3 slot went to Duane Reade / Walgreens, the top pharmacy in Manhattan, with 139 stores.

But its growth spurt stands in contrast to Rite Aid, which has been shuttering shops since Walgreens acquired it, shriveling from 36 in 2014 to 27 today.

■ THE SUDDEN RISE OF A RETAIL ZIP CODE. Hudson Yards came out of nowhere as a brand-new shopping destination, and now, the zip code where it is housed, 10001, boasts the highest number of national chain stores both in the borough and citywide for the first time.

Since 10001 includes Herald Square, it was always rich in retail.

Not like today: The zip code’s 183 locations mark a 13 percent gain from 162 in 2018 – and it had to overtake the 170-store Staten Island Mall, which lost shops, in order to claim the top position.

Boding ill for the future of national shops in Manhattan is one stark line from the Center’s report: “Overall, our analysis found that more of the city’s chain retailers are shrinking than are growing,” it says. invreporter@strausnews.com

A Petland Discount store on West 23rd Street off Eighth Avenue in Chelsea before it closed in March 2019. The pet chain, a fixture in Manhattan since its founding in 1965, shuttered all 11 of its stores in the borough and totally vanished from the retail landscape.

JANUARY 02-08, 2020

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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com “Get Points on the Board”

Onboard the USS Arlington, docked off Midtown Manhattan, Brigadier General (Ret.) Loree Sutton, Commissioner for NYC’s Department of Veterans’ Services, joined the Mayor on May 23, 2018 to help kick off the 30th annual Fleet Week New York. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

NEXT CAMPAIGN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 dreds of servicemen and women across the country stepping up in the 2018 midterm elections to run for office that she also saw an opening for herself to bring a different type of leadership to New York, and more specifically, to the mayor’s office.

In November, Sutton, 60, announced her candidacy to become the 110th mayor of New York City, running as a Democrat.

“We love our city. We love its quirks, its characters, its traditions, its teams — and we’re very worried,” Sutton said in an interview with Our Town. “As I started to imagine our city’s future, I became even more worried. And I had a hunch. The hunch was: as our city goes, so goes our country; and as our country goes, so goes much of our world. I can’t fix the world. I can’t fix the country. But I started thinking, ‘Well, what about stepping up to serve right here in our city?’”

Sutton acknowledges that with little name recognition and limited political experience it will be an extraordinary challenge to be elected as the city’s first female mayor. In the process, she will have to take down two skilled politicians in the city’s comptroller, Scott Stringer, and City Council speaker, Corey Johnson, who are both expected to enter the race.

But Sutton believes she has the right approach, experience and strategy to win over voters come 2021.

“In this time, this most unusual moment — it didn’t exist just a recent time ago, it may not exist going forward — there is a hunger for a different type of leader and a different type of leadership,” said Sutton. “And this is a time when politics as usual seems to have run its course.

And, as a non-politician ... I can look at older and during problems through fresh eyes.

I can look at new and emerging challenges with a fresh vision.”

Criticizing Her Former Boss This vision is grounded in both her military and government experience. During her 30-year tenure she served as the commander for various army hospitals, went to Iraq during the first gulf was and retired as the Army’s highestranking psychiatrist. She worked as the director of Defense Centers for Excellence, which provides guidance to the defense department on psychological health and traumatic brain injuries, until 2010. Most recently, under Mayor Bill de Blasio, she helped expand the city’s veterans’ services into a municipal agency.

In this role, she was able to bring down the number of street homeless veterans, and she wants to replicate that effort of outreach to the rest of the city’s homeless popula-

tion. Sutton said her approach to this problem — and the other challenges such as closing Rikers Island, criminal justice reform, real estate development, keeping storefronts open — is from the neighborhood and community level.

“I think that community members have to be engaged early and often, not just as a hasty afterthought, which is all too often the case,” said Sutton. “I think that the next layer is going to have to be someone who is committed to cultivating, honoring, nurturing relationships — and not just transactional relationships.”

Sutton said traditionally leaders have taken a piecemeal approach to solving these issues, and she thinks it hasn’t been successful.

She also hasn’t been shy in criticizing establishment politicians, including her former boss. The New York Post reported last week, Sutton angered de Blasio’s chief of staff, Emma Wolfe, after she sent out an email to supporters critical of ThriveNYC, the mayor’s $1 billion-dollar mental health initiative, which is run by his wife, Chirlane McCray.

“What I’ve seen over these last several years is a piecemeal pattern of leadership, reactive leadership, probably the crisis, big ideas that are not followed by implementation and operations,” said Sutton.

In her own campaigning so far she’s attempted to set herself apart from the other potential candidates. First, by announcing her own candidacy early, which she said has given her a heads up to “get points on the board.” And, second, by reaching out to voters directly by making cold calls.

“You got New Yorkers, you know, carrying on with their everyday busy, frenetic New Yorker lives, and they get a cold call in the middle of all these distractions of the presidential race, impeachment proceedings, and yes, the holiday season,” said Sutton. But she makes that call, she said, and introduces herself, tells them she’s running for mayor and asks them to meet to talk about her campaign, she says they take her up on that offer.

She thinks this approach has given her campaign a shot at success.

“I started out with no war chest, but that’s changing.

What I am learning and experiencing is this hunger for a different kind of leadership that I felt myself. I looked

General Loree Sutton on Aug. 18, 2014, when Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed her to be Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs. Photo: Rob Bennett/Mayoral Photography Office

around and I didn’t see anyone else who was stepping up to provide a different kind of leadership. And so I’m giving

this everything I got,” said Sutton. “I’m not playing it safe here. I’m playing to win.”

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

Songs of Gratitude: Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15, Opus 132

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4TH, 2:30PM NYPL Performing Arts | 40 Lincoln Center Plaza | 212-870-1600 | nypl.org The central movement of Beethoven’s string quartet no. 15, written in the painful last years of his life, is a “Holy song of gratitude.” Catch a new year’s celebration of healing arts with a New York Classical Players performance of the movement, along with short essays on gratitude (free).

Book Launch: “How to Live a Good Life: A Guide to Choosing Your Personal Philosophy”

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7TH, 6PM NY Society for Ethical Culture | 2 W. 64th St. | 212-874-5210 | nysec.org Editors Skye Cleary, Massimo Pigliucci, and Daniel Kaufman join contributor and Ethical NYC Leader Emerita Anne Klaeysen to launch their guide to an “examined and meaningful life” (free).

Just Announced | Book Review Live—Inside “Tightrope”: Stories of the America Left Behind

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14TH, 7PM The TimesCenter | 242 W. 41st St. | 888-698-1870 | timestalks.com The first event in a new TimesTalks series celebrating the written word looks at the latest book by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn ($63, includes book copy).

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

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

JANUARY 02-08, 2020

YOUR 15 MINUTES

A ‘MISSIONARY’ OF JAZZ MUSIC

Club co-owner “Spike” Wilner talks about the mystical aspects of improvisational music - and the practical realities of running an arts business

BY CECE KING

The fee at Smalls Jazz Club is $20 for most, but owner Michael “Spike” Wilner says, “Angels, Wizards and Holy People are always free.” Wilner and his partner Mitch Borden also own Mezzrow, a sister-club across the street from Smalls on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village.

For Wilner, the bottom line is to preserve jazz culture and create spaces where music and artists can thrive. Also a pianist, he credits his club’s

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success with his musician’s perspective. Jonny King, an old friend of Wilner and fellow pianist, described him as “a missionary in the jazz community.” Wilner is enthralled by the mystical components of improvisational jazz and never hesitated to pursue the art professionally, so it comes as no surprise to learn that Wilner’s family tree includes Moses Sofer, a Kabbalist rabbi, and the abstract impressionist painter Marie Wilner.

Straus News spoke with Wilner about his story and the business of jazz.

What’s the feeling when one enters Smalls or Mezzrow?

When you arrive at either Smalls or Mezzrow, it feels like you’re coming home. Both clubs have a very warm feel-

ing. They’re convivial, and there’s always great music playing. You see your friends, your family, and everyone’s happy to see you. The clubs are places where people gather together, listen to music, and share their day with each other.

What drew you to jazz, and when did you know you wanted to pursue the art professionally?

I never really thought about the professional aspect, but I always wanted to spend my life listening to and studying the music. I loved the piano from age 12. My mom had a piano in the house. When I was in second grade, she started me on lessons. But I was pretty much self-taught, auto-didactic. I listened to a lot of music. I got really interested in ragtime and Scott Joplin, so I studied and played that a lot.

In high school I started to meet other kids who were into jazz. I joined the high school jazz group. By the time I got to college, I was deep in it. I went to the New School for Social Research jazz program. I got a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music and started playing professionally. When I was a kid, there were a lot of jazz clubs in this city, and it was quite a large scene.

How did you come to run Smalls?

Smalls was open when I started playing professionally.

It was a place we played in and hung out at a lot. I got to know the owner, Mitch Borden, quite well. We became very good friends. I never intended to be a club owner, and I kind of still don’t really want to do it, but I did it because Smalls was closing.

Mitch was looking for somebody to be his partner and invest in Smalls. I thought it was the only way I could keep my gig, so I decided to go for it. I owned an apartment in Harlem that I decided to mortgage. I dove in headfirst into the jazz club business and had to take some time to really learn what I was doing. I’m still learning.

Spike Wilner (right) and co-owner Mitchell Borden. Photos courtesy of Smalls Live

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

Why did you decide to open up a second club and name it after Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow?

We opened Mezzrow five years ago. Smalls was so popular that we couldn’t accommodate all the people. We wanted a place to hold people while they were waiting for their show at Smalls. But Mezzrow ended up taking on a life of its own, as its own club.

Mezz Mezzrow was a clarinet player from Chicago in the 1920s. He was best friends with Louis Armstrong. He wrote a great book called “Really the Blues: The Autobiography of Mezz Mezzrow.”

That book had a lot of impact on me. Mezzrow was a Jewish jazz guy who loved the music and culture around it, so I identified with him strongly.

He also hung out right around here when there was another club in the neighborhood, in Mezzrow’s vicinity.

When so many jazz clubs have closed recently, why do you think yours are thriving?

The people who run jazz clubs generally don’t know what they’re doing. They have high expectations, financially, and they don’t understand the jazz scene. I run the clubs from the perspective of a musician rather than a business owner. Some of my choices haven’t made me a lot of money, but I have a lot of love for the music and the scene. I know everybody, who’s good and who’s not good, so the musical level at the clubs is very high at all times. Smalls kind of runs because we keep it so inexpensive.

We’re very conscientious of keeping a musical community in that space. Other clubs are very strict about who comes in and who doesn’t, who pays and who doesn’t. We’re very open to musicians coming in, so we let people in especially as it gets later. It’s an older way of thinking about jazz clubs. In the old days, they were more communal rather than, say, concert venues.

You have been compiling a jazz archive of performances at your clubs, which is now available on the Smalls Live website [smallslive.com]. What’s the genesis of that idea?

The archives came out of my desire to preserve the music. I put recording equipment in the club, so I could keep track

Cool cat: “Spike” Wilner at the piano. of everything happening. It started to grow rapidly until it became clear that I needed to organize it. We decided to make it available to people.

We have about 17,000 recordings and more than 4,000 musicians recorded. We devised a revenue share plan that we thought was the most fair for artists. Starting next year, we’re changing everything into a not for profit called the Smalls Live Foundation, to support our archive and the mission of running the club and supporting artists.

What would you say to someone who isn’t in the jazz world about why jazz is one of the greatest art forms?

Jazz has got two faces, the public face and the private face. The public face is the culture and the legends. The public face gets misunderstood the most. That’s the face where people talk about race or culture or style, though none of those things matter much. The real thing is the core, which is what most people miss.

The esoterica, the mystical side, is this very mysterious process by which jazz is played and musicians communicate with each other in a psychic fashion, rather than using words. Sometimes spontaneous things happen. If you’re a Zen Buddhist like myself you can recognize the very close similarity between Zen and jazz in terms of the spontaneity of the action; the bigger mind does the work rather than the conscious mind. That makes this music

very special and rare, but that aspect is only for the indoctrinated.

How do you reconcile practicing jazz and maintaining its improvisational core?

I’m a Zen Buddhist, so I like to play as spontaneously as I can. But I spend time practicing the piano each day. I study classical music on my own. I love to play Beethoven, for example, but I won’t perform it.

I perform at Smalls and Mezzrow each week, and this schedule keeps me focused on the music. I recently became a father; I have an elevenmonth-old baby daughter now, and so I haven’t been touring.

I don’t think spending a lot of time writing tunes and preparing for records is really that good an idea. Most jazz musicians have too much time on their hands. A lot of them would be better if they got a job and played at night without practicing too much. Great jazz musicians can be great lawyers, great doctors. They can do anything they want, because it takes a high degree of mental skill to be a jazz musician.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Know somebody who deserves their 15 Minutes of fame? Go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.

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Blessed Cheerful Chipper Chirpy Contented Delighted Elated Happy Jolly Joyous Lively Merry Perky Tickled Upbeat

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3 7 2 8 5 6 1 9 4

5 1 8 3 6 9 4 7 2

4 2 9 7 8 1 3 6 5

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47. Cincy player

C O N T E N T E D B A M K Q T

44. Corner pieces

Y J E M M Y E B L L L R F A V

43. New Mexico resort

L P C P C H I R P Y E G E A T

42. “The King and I” role

Y U P J I Z N H Z P T B R W I

40. It precedes a return

Y J E M M Y E B L L L R F A V

L J F A R O M H L L P D D C B

39. Hairdo

L P C P C H I R P Y E G E A T

E N M R H E R Y A U E J E K Q

38. Disentangle

Y U P J I Z N H Z P T B R W I

V H X B E Y P T J S O J L F D

37. Internet

L J F A R O M H L L P D D C B

I G R U H E D P S R R I K Z G

36. African capital

E N M R H E R Y A U E J E K Q

L V Y Y T Y H E I H G X C Z A

31. Naturally occurring petroleum

V H X B E Y P T J S O J L F D

I C F Y H G L C A H I N I I K

30. Tapi___

I G R U H E D P S R R I K Z G

U S C U O B H R X R C A T L T

28. Gas guzzle rate

L V Y Y T Y H E I H G X C Z A

K M X N D E L I G H T E D P O

27. Bright light

I C F Y H G L C A H I N I I K

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53

K M X N D E L I G H T E D P O

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46. Seat of justice 48. Manure 49. She 50. Vitamin C ingredient 51. Commonly, poetic 52. Big fuss 53. Long-eared beast Down 1. Slightly improper 2. Eye 3. Barnyard sounds 4. Rubberneck 5. Belonging 6. Grand prix cars 7. Rani’s wear 8. Involved with 9. Effortlessness 11. Making into a habit 13. Get the wrong end of the stick 15. NY opera 19. Google founder 22. “Harper Valley ___” 23. Lease 24. Amphibian

2

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Across 1. Actor Lowe 4. Musical “G” 7. Enclosure for return 10. Seaweed gelatin 12. ___ timer 13. Cass Elliot 14. Petitioner 16. Eye section 17. _______day 18. Advantages 20. Colorado Native Americans 21. SW Missouri river 22. Appeal for help 25. Selfishness 29. Non-stick material 32. Parody 33. Theseus’ land 34. Dance partner 35. Microwave 36. Hundredweight 38. Overly conceited 41. Make bubbly 45. Person, place or thing

Level: Medium

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Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9X9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3X3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.

T

18

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9

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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

by Myles Mellor

48

2

CROSSWORD

51

Eastsider 1

JANUARY 02-08, 2020

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JANUARY 02-08, 2020

CLASSIFIEDS MASSAGE

PUBLIC NOTICES

MERCHANDISE FOR SALE

Sell it in the Classifieds 845-469-9000 • 973-300-0890 • 570-296-0700

NOTICE OF SALE OF COOPERATIVE APARMENT SECURITY BY VIRTUE OF A DEFAULT under the terms of a Security Agreement dated January 26, 2007 executed by Paul Foster and Stephanie Foster, Debtor(s), to BNY Mortgage Company LLC, Secured Party, in accordance with its rights as holder of the Security, Nationstar Mortgage LLC d/b/a Mr. Cooper by Jessica Prince-Clateman, DCA #1097640 and/or Vincent DeAngelis, DCA # 1127571 and/or Karen Loiacano, DCA #1435601 will conduct a public foreclosure sale of the security consisting of 535 shares of stock of 240 EAST 55TH TENANTS CORP., all right, title and interest in and to a Proprietary Lease between said Corporation and debtor for apartment 8E, in building known as 240 East 55th Street, New York, NY 10022 together with all fixtures and articles of personal property now or hereafter affixed to or used in connection with said apartment on January 15, 2020 at 1:15 pm the Rotunda located at the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre St., New York, NY 10007 in satisfaction of an indebtedness in the principal amount of $150,525.93 plus interest, late fees, attorney fees, maintenance in arrears and all other advanced charges. Apartment is sold “AS IS” and possession to be obtained by the purchaser. Said sale is subject to: payment of all sums due, if any, to 240 EAST 55TH TE-

Telephone: 212-868-0190 Email: classified2@strausnews.com

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

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

NANTS CORP. and the consent if necessary, of said corporation; any existing tenancy; payment of all expenses and fees of the Secured Party with respect thereto; terms of the sale and auctioneer’s fees. The Secured Party reserves the right to bid.

A 10% down payment in certified funds or bank check payable to Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC is required at sale with a balance of bid due within thirty (30) days. #97996

York 10021, together with fixtures and articles of personal property now or hereafter affixed to or used in connection with Apartment 15-R on January 15, 2020, at 1:30 PM at the Rotunda, New York County Supreme Court, 60 Center Street, New York, New York, in satisfaction of an indebtedness in the principal amount of $249,900.00 plus interest from 4/1/18, subject to open common charges. The Security will be sold in “AS IS” condition with no warranties expressed or implied either relating to title, possession, quiet enjoyment or any other warranty. Possession to be obtained by the purchaser.

The sale is subject to: payment of all sums due, if any, to Theso Corp. and the consent if necessary, of said corporation; any existing tenancy; payment of all expenses and fees of the secured party with respect thereto; terms of sale and auctioneer’s fees. The secured party reserves the right to bid/purchase and reject all bids to the extent that the amount bid for the apartment is not greater than the amount due to the secured party for the outstanding principal plus interest. A 10% down payment in certified funds, bank check or money order payable to Cohn & Roth, LLC, Escrow Account, (no endorsed checks or endorsed money orders will be accepted) is required at the conclusion of the bidding. No cash will be accepted. All funds must be exhibited to the auctio-

neer prior to the commencement of bidding, unless proper funds have been verified you will not be permitted to bid. The balance of the successful bid is payable at closing which shall be held within thirty (30) days of the auction date. To obtain a copy of the terms of sale call Cohn & Roth, LLC at (516) 7473030 between 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Cohn & Roth, LLC Attorneys for Secured Caliber Home Loans, Inc., Creditor 100 East Old County Road Mineola, New York 11501 (516)747-3030 #97903

NOTICE OF SALE OF COOPERATIVE APARMENT

BY VIRTUE OF DEFAULT in a security agreement executed on April 1, 2011, between Francisco R. Quijada and JP Morgan Chase Bank, National Association, successor in interest by purchase from the Federal Deposit Insurance Company as Receiver of Washington Mutual Bank, F/K/A Washington Mutual Bank, FA, and in accordance with its rights as holder of the Security, Caliber Home Loans, Inc., by Jessica Prince-Clateman, DCA #1097640 and/or Vincent DeAngelis, DCA # 1 127571 and/or Karen Loiacano, DCA 1435601#: will conduct a public sale of the security consisting of 790 shares of the capital stock, and all rights title and interest in and to a proprietary lease to Unit # 15-R in a building known as and by the street address, 300 E. 71st Street, Apt. 15R, New York, New

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