Our Town - January 16, 2020

The local paper for the Upper East Side

When you make amazing things happen for people year after year, it doesn’t go unnoticed.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital a top 5 hospital in the nation Learn more at nyp.org/reasons

Becoming one of the top 5 hospitals in the nation doesn’t happen alone.

A leading hospital in the nation is also a leader in telehealth.

It happens with the help of our amazing nurses, staff, volunteers, and the pioneering Columbia and Weill Cornell Medicine physicians.

It’s no surprise that their groundbreaking research and clinical trials have transformed treatments into innovative care—making our hospital a leader in the nation for healthcare:

Great medical care is too important to keep behind the walls of a hospital. That’s why NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a leader in redefining what a hospital’s reach can and should be:

As the hospital with more top doctors than any other, and a dedicated care team to support patients, these and the many more amazing things we do will continue to happen year after year.

T:11”

Our world-class treatments include minimally invasive techniques like focused ultrasound—giving renewed hope to those with movement issues— as well as developing lifelong heart implants for patients not eligible for transplants, teaching a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer effectively, and developing breakthroughs in precision and genomic medicine.

We give people access to virtual urgent care on the go and video follow-up visits to save time commuting to a doctor’s office, deploy a fleet of stroke ambulances to give neurologists real-time remote video access to help stroke victims immediately, and have installed physical kiosks in pharmacies that provide convenient, private, virtual access to expert medical care.

With over 500,000 virtual encounters across 80 services, these are just a few ways NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is making amazing things happen for more people than ever.

Download our NYP App

Learn more at nyp.org/reasons

A top 5 hospital in the nation Ranked by U.S. News & World Report 2019–20. NewYork-Presbyterian has more top doctors in Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors 2019 list than any other hospital in the nation.

A top 5 hospital in the nation Ranked by U.S. News & World Report 2019–20

A top 5 hospital in the nation is right here in NYC

Ranked by U.S. News & World Report 2019–20

The local paper for the Upper East Side CELEBRATE THE YEAR OF THE RAT ◄ CITY ARTS, P.12

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea hold a media availability on crime statistics. Police Academy, Queens.

Monday, Jan. 6. Photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

BUILDING TRUST AND CUTTING CRIME LAW ENFORCEMENT

A talk with Dermot Shea, the NYPD’s new leader

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, ASSOCIATED PRESS

On the Bronx streets where New York City’s new police commissioner started as a patrolman in the crimeravaged early 1990s, gunfire and burned-out buildings were everywhere.

Sometimes the police radio would crackle with a different kind of call, not for a shooting or stabbing but for a sick child, a locked apartment door or a marriage on the rocks.

“I remember thinking, ‘Well, why do they call the police for this? It’s not an

emergency,‘’’ Commissioner Dermot Shea told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “And, you know, you kind of get a little wiser over time. The reason they call the police is because they really have nobody else to call.’’

Shea, 50, is drawing on his early days as he pushes the nation’s largest police department to cultivate deeper bonds with the communities it serves - a key, he says, to building trust and cutting crime.

Shea, the son of Irish immigrants who grew up with four siblings in Queens, wants the NYPD’s 36,000 officers to remember their jobs are primarily about

LEVINE LAUNCHES RUN FOR BP

POLITICS

Council Member showcases record on affordable housing, public health as he announces his campaign

BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM

Council Member Mark Levine announced his candidacy to become the next Manhattan borough president last week, touting a record of fighting for affordable housing as a key credential.

There’s a right and wrong way to develop. We need to develop in ways that are consistent with the scale and character and the history of neighborhoods.”

“The future of the borough is on the line in 2021,” said Levine, 50, whose district encompasses Morningside Heights and Hamilton Heights, in an interview with Our Town. “The neighborhoods of this borough have enormous challenges, and this is an incredibly important job in determining the future of Manhattan.”

With his announcement, Levine joins fellow Democratic council member, Ben Kallos, in the race to succeed term-limited BP Gale Brewer.

@OurTownNYC

INSIDE

'HE MADE RELIGION FUN'

Remembering Dean James Parks Morton of St. John the Divine. p. 18

Both candidates are running on progressive platforms, including the promise not to take money from real estate companies. When asked what — if anything — might set the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

THE ART OF SUBWAY SEATS

The American Folk Art Museum responds to a viral tweet.. p. 2

$90 MILLION BOAT BASIN OVERHAUL

The Parks Department has ambitious plans for the battered marina on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. p. 14

Council Member Mark Levine.

Photo courtesy of Council Member Mark Levine

WEEK OF AUGUST

08-14

Your personal edition of Our Town Eastsider Since 1972

OURTOWNNY.COM

16-22 2020

Council Member Mark Levine

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

OurTownEastSide

WEEK OF JANUARY

Crime Watch Voices NYC Now City Arts

3 8 10 12

Restaurant Ratings 14 Business 16 Real Estate 17 15 Minutes 21

2019

‘MY HANDS ARE OUTSTRETCHED’ P. 19

f d h e s, p gs ng st ts alng ish ass eel

◄ 15 MINUTES,

Eastsider INSIDE

SUTTON PARK,

AT LAST

just For East Side residents, major having access is a accomplishment. p.5

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

IS VISION ZERO WORKING? SAFETY

has seen a surge Five years in, NYC fluctuating and in cyclist deaths – and motorist numbers of pedestrian fatalities

BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM

year that saw 299 In 2014, after a traffic-related incipeople killed in Mayor Bill de Bladents in the city, eliminate all traffic sio set out to

CONTINUED ON PAGE

6

WOODSTOCK SOJOURN 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,

firing Officer Daniel

Pantaleo on

THE BILLY AND GILLY SHOW

Kamala HarWarren, Cory Booker, and Bernie debates,” longris, Amy Klobuchar for the September Pete strategist George Sanders, South Bend Mayor time Democratic doesn’t have former Texas Rep. Artz says. “De Blasioare way down Buttigieg and both Beto O’Rourke. the donors, and close, but none of A few others are in the polls.”

Hank Sheinde Blasio or GilliPolitical consultant that either them are named kopf says it’s “50-50” “Any- brand. returned reBY STUART MARQUES will make the next round: Neither campaign but they’re not quests for comment. thing can happen, agree that Warde Blasio faced to qualify.”

Pundits generally When Mayor Bill held off the more Gillibrand – likely a minimum of Candidates need to ren and Sanderson the first night. off with Sen. Kirsten Democratic presi- 130,000 unique donors and have moderate field and eight other in four qualigot high marks on – on July 31, it Booker and Yang and hit at least 2 percent dential hopefuls the last Billy candidates have the second night, but Biden a might have marked presidential fying polls. Eight the polls. and are assured at the are still ahead in hit those marks and Gilly Show largely igon Sept. 12 Harris Gillibrand Houston and in De Blasio debates. ei- spot onstage Presiawful tough for are former Vice 18 “It’s going to be and and 13. They Senators Elizabeth CONTINUED ON PAGE get the donors dent Joe Biden, ther of them to needed to qualify polling numbers”

POLITICS

dim for Presidential prospects Democratic New Yorkers on the debate stage

C i e Watch

Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset.

Friday, January 17 – 4:37 pm.

For more information visit www.chabbaduppereastside.com.

3

14 Restaurant Ratings 16

day Jon Friedman on a 8 love and music. p.

of peace,

SURVIVNG YOUR SUMMER COLD

seasonal How to deal with thefeel worse virus that makes usp. 2 than a winter bug.

We deliver! Get Our Town Eastsider sent directly to your mailbox for $49 per year. Go to OurTownNY.com or call 212-868-0190

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Neighborhood Scrapbook

It was the tweet that went viral to kick off 2020: "All my New Yorkers, which is the best seat?" posted Gabe (@gabefromthebx) on New Year's Eve. New Yorkers from around the city chimed in and debated the numbers. Within a week, the tweet had 19.5 thousand likes. (Seats 1, 5 and 4 seemed at a glance to be the most popular responses.)

Inspired by the subway seat question, the American Folk Art Museum (@afamuseum) put up its own social media posts, including this one on Instagram: "Hey New Yorkers!

Have you weighed-in on the great subway seat de-

THE ART OF SUBWAY SEATS

bate of 2020? All of this train talk has us thinking about Ralph Fasanella’s 'Subway Riders.' We're curious: what do you do while your ride? Do you read the news? Take a quick nap? Stare straight ahead? Swipe left, choose a number, and let us know in the comments.

"While you consider your choice, read Fasanella's poetic and thoughtful take on riding the New York City subway: "Everyone is separate, alone, but very much together. It’s noisy with the creaks and squeals, but peaceful, too, because we move to a rhythm and cadence that gets inside us; that’s comforting, like the noise of the city itself."

”Subway Riders” (detail); Ralph Fasanella; New York City; 1950; Oil on canvas; Gift of Ralph and Eva Fasanella, 1995.8.1. Photo: Adam Reich SERVING BROOKLYN AND THE ENTIRE TRI-STATE AREA

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th precinct for the week ending Jan 5 Week to Date

Year to Date

2019

2018 % Change

2019

2018 % Change

0 0

0 0

n/a n/a

0 0

0 0

n/a n/a

9 0

3 3

200.0 -100.0

7 0

2 3

250.0 -100.0

Grand Larceny

0 29

4 38

-100.0 -23.7

0 22

3 -100.0 28 -21.4

Grand Larceny Auto

1

0

n/a

0

0

Murder Rape Robbery Felony Assault Burglary

Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr

COSTLY GIFT CARD SCAM Police remind the public to be suspicious any time you’re asked to make a payment with gift cards, the untraceable form of remuneration preferred by scammers. Around midnight on Monday, Jan. 6, police said, a 28-year-old man living on East 80th St. got an email from a person he thought was the CEO of the company where he works. The email instructed him to buy gift

cards from Google, Amazon, eBay and Target totaling $5,000. The victim dutifully purchased the cards and sent the gift card codes and photos to the email sender, only to find out later that the person who sent the email was not his company’s CEO.

COSTLY CHECK SCAMS At 6 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, a 67-year-old man living on

York Ave. gave a holiday tip in the form of a $50 check to a parking lot attendant. Police said that three days later the man reviewed his bank account and discovered that his original check had been altered and cashed for $50,000 in Georgia.

More recently, at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8, police said, an 86-year-old woman enclosed two checks in stamped envelopes and handed them to the doorman of her building on East 84th St. to deposit

in a mailbox on the street. According to police, when she checked her bank account later she discovered that the payment amounts and recipient names on the checks had been changed. As a result, instead of $162, the two checks were cashed for a total of $11,575.

COSTLY LOAN SCAM The owner of a local sushi restaurant got a raw deal last year that was only just reported. Police said that on Tuesday, Aug. 20, a man

entered the Akami Sushi restaurant at 1773 First Ave. at East 92nd St. and offered to give the owner a $1 million loan. The lender told the owner, however, that he needed money before he could make the loan. According to police, the restaurant owner wrote several checks totaling $11,195, which were deposited into the lender’s account.

He also gave the lender $150 in cash. Needless to say, the restaurant owner never received the promised $1 million loan.

O P E N 1 2 P M - 1 0 P M E V E R Y D AY

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Useful Contacts

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153 E. 67th St.

212-452-0600

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311

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1836 Third Ave.

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211 E. 43rd St. #1205

212-818-0580

244 E. 93rd St.

212-860-1950

1916 Park Ave. #202

212-828-5829

1850 Second Ave. 360 E. 57th St.

212-490-9535 212-605-0937

1485 York Ave.

212-288-4607

COMMUNITY BOARD 8F LIBRARIES

505 Park Ave. #620

212-758-4340

Yorkville 96th Street 67th Street Webster Library

222 E. 79th St. 112 E. 96th St. 328 E. 67th St. 1465 York Ave.

212-744-5824 212-289-0908 212-734-1717 212-288-5049

100 E. 77th St. 525 E. 68th St.

212-434-2000 212-746-5454

E. 99th St. & Madison Ave. 550 First Ave. 4 Irving Place

212-241-6500 212-263-7300 212-460-4600

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

HOSPITALS Lenox Hill NY-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Mount Sinai NYU Langone

CON EDISON POST OFFICES US Post Office US Post Office

1283 First Ave. 1617 Third Ave.

212-517-8361 212-369-2747

201 Varick St. 128 East Broadway 93 4th Ave.

212-645-0327 212-267-1543 212-254-1390

POST OFFICES US Post Office US Post Office US Post Office

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A NEIGHBORHOOD LOSES ITS BOOKSTORE

COMMUNITY

Supporters speak out as Book Culture’s Columbus Ave. location is closed for unpaid rent

BY JASON COHEN AND EMA SCHUMER

A bookstore on the Upper West Side found itself in a hole it could not climb out of.

After Book Culture fell more than $100,000 behind in rent, city marshals closed the store’s Columbus Ave. location last week. Owner Chris Doeblin hopes the situation is temporary. “Getting the doors open again at Columbus now is our main priority,” he wrote on Facebook.

Last Thursday afternoon, two days after the store was shuttered, Upper West Siders gathered to show their support. They pasted post-it notes on the store’s windows expressing their affection for the neighborhood bookstore and lingered on the sidewalk to reminiscence about the store. Messages on the postit notes and interviews with locals painted the bookstore as a lifeblood of the neighborhood.

Julie Jacobs, who has lived on the Upper West Side for the past 30 years, held back tears speaking about Book

Residents turned out last week to show their support for Book Culture. Photos: Ema Schumer Reside

Culture’s impending closure.

“I remember when Book Culture opened it was this miraculous thing that an independent bookstore could survive,” she said. Jacobs added that in a city lined with impersonal stores, such as banks and drug stores, Book Culture enabled Upper West Siders to “feel more connected” to each other.

Jacobs said that her three children loved the mystery books program, through which customers would buy a book concealed in paper wrapping that staff recommended based on if they had enjoyed a different book.

According to Doeblin, at

one point in 2019, the company, which operates two other stores on the Upper West Side and one in Long Island City, owed four months rent, more than $175,000, on the Columbus Ave. store, which is located between 81st and 82nd Sts. For a time, Doeblin explained on Facebook, the landlord “was gracious enough to show the forbearance that allowed us to stay open and make payments while we clawed our way back to viability.”

Then, five days before Christmas, Doeblin said, he received an eviction notice.

As of last l week, according to Doebl Doeblin’s Facebook post, Book Culture C owed the landlord $140,000 $ rent for the Columbu lumbus Ave. store. “Without makin making this payment,“ Doebl Doeblin wrote, “we will not open a again at Columbus and the bankruptcy of that entity could cause all of our stores to close...”

As Doeblin continues his search for “more investment, partnerships or access to capital” to reopen 450 Columbus Ave. and keep the company from going under, the store’s local supporters describe a place that has been much more to them than just a business.

Adrienne Jenson said that Book Culture had something for the whole family. Standing outside of the bookstore with

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three of her children on Thursday, she beamed with excitement as she described items she had purchased there over the years. Jenson’s personal favorites included the store’s selection of candles and books on New York City history. Her kids loved the toys, which she noted encourage creativity, such as kits to make pottery and a robot. Jenson said that Book Culture has deterred her from moving out of her apartment, which is located just across the street.

Likewise, Ron Wasserman said that Book Culture was one of the reasons why he moved into his apartment around the corner. He fondly recalled a book he bought at the store on music and New York, what he described as

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Voices

Write to us: To share your thoughts and comments go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a letter to the editor.

THE TROUBLING BAIL REFORM LAW

form isn’t very much needed, but somehow it must be done without doing harm. And it sure helps the cause of a safe community, if many more New Yorkers become involved in civic meetings, especially the precinct ones. For information, the 19th precinct community relation officer’s number is 212 452 0613. Call 311 for other precinct numbers. And, again, do share these and other concerns with city officials whose numbers are listed in this paper’s Useful Contact column.

BY BETTE DEWING

The new bail reform law, and the likelihood of repeat offenses, has law enforcers worried. When a Community Board 8 member told me about 19th precinct officers’ concerns, I urged several people to attend the January community council meeting to share their views.

One woman, who lives in a garden apartment in a nodoorman building, said her only concern was that justice would be done after hearing radio talk show host Brian Lehrer recall how a teenager killed himself in jail as he waited so long for a trial for stealing a backpack.

And so thankfully the new law will help prevent such tragedies and general abuses. But under this law, too many perpetrators will become repeat offenders. Do read all about it in this paper’s “Blowback to Bail Reform” in the January 9-15 issue. This most informative interview by reporter Emily Higginbotham with the 19th precinct’s commanding officer Inspector, Kathleen Walsh so needs to be shared - especially with those who never attend precinct meetings and have public forums, like radio talk show host Brian Lehrer,

Protest Anti-Semitism and World Peace Threats

Photo: David Noonan

And do stress Inspector Walsh’s fact-based worry that the new bail reform will increase robbery and larceny on the Upper East Side.

While perhaps not related, a man was recently attacked by two assailants in an attempted robbery on 79th and East End Avenue. And think of places and precincts which aren’t nearly as safe.

That does need repeating, and especially to those with public forums.

Again, it’s not that bail re-

Of course, so much on New Yorkers minds is the hateful rise in the city’s antiSemitic related brutal assaults, not to mention the threats to world peace and hawk-like leaders. Protests are so needed. But again, not forgetting the home-front dangers and problems too often overlooked by say, Brian Lehrer and The Paper of Record. They need reminding – all this and more is so critically needed – for a safe and just New Year – for every NYC precinct. It also means a Safe Traffic City. It can be done if enough of us try. dewingbettter@aol.com

Photo via Amazon.com

WORSHIPPING AT THE ALTAR OF YOUTUBE ON THE TOWN

Megan Angelo’s debut novel “Followers” traces the path from press to fame to money

BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL

“Be a leader not a follower.”

That was my mother’s directive when I was growing up in the Bronx. I took her

advice for decades, until the conception of social media.

I started to follow people I know, people I used to know, ones I don’t really know and celebrities I’ll never know.

Hence, I read with interest Megan Angelo’s debut novel “Followers” — a wake-up call that we are all complicit in helping perpetuate the modern goal: becoming famous. When Floss, one of the story’s three “celebrated”

protagonists, says, “I’ll do anything,” she’s speaking for all of her ilk. They will put their names on books they did not author, endorse products they do not use, support causes they don’t really believe in to look altruistic, and forge relationships with those more famous just to up their own ante.

And we buy it all, literally and figuratively.

Followers traces the present-day path of ambitious

President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com

STRAUS MEDIA your neighborhood news source nyoffice@strausnews.com 212-868-0190

Vice President/CFO Otilia Bertolotti Vice President/CRO Vincent A. Gardino advertising@strausnews.com

Associate Publishers Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth Regional Sales Manager Tania Cade

Account Executives Fred Almonte, David Dallon Director of Partnership Development Barry Lewis

Editor-In-Chief Alexis Gelber Deputy Editor David Noonan

Senior Reporter Doug Feiden Staff Reporter Emily Higginbotham

Director of Digital Pete Pinto Director of Design Christina Scotti

JANUARY 16-22, 2020 friends Floss and Orla as well as takes us 35 years into the future to meet Floss’s daughter Marlow. At the end of the last decade, the first two young women are New York transplants seeking their fortunes. Orla, a budding novelist, works as a blogger for an entertainment website; Floss works at scheming and scamming to get noticed by anyone for any reason.

After finding each other on Craigslist, they begin sharing an apartment as well as ideas about how to make their respective dreams come true.

The plan? Orla will use PR contacts — as well as other tricks of the publicity trade — to get Floss the notoriety she craves. In turn, Floss will always make Orla her plus-one, and introduce her to new industry contacts as the next big literary thing — because if you say something enough times it will eventually be so. Their calculated moves indeed get them press, which leads to fame, which leads to money in abundance.

Collateral Damage The partners in celebrity crime (actually grime) are very proud that they found “a way to be someone who had done something without having to actually do it.” Eventually though, success takes a turn.

Friends get thrown under the bus and innocent bystanders become collateral damage.

What’s the difference though, as long as one can count followers in the millions?

9

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The chapters dedicated to Marlow show us what will become of us if we keep worshipping at the altar of YouTube. She resides in a gated California village where government-appointed celebrities live every moment of the day on-camera. Marlow’s dream is to one day live life off-camera. Playing to her 12 million loyal followers has become a grind and fame has lost its luster. Her new goal is to pursue the truth about her family history, which she has been lied to about since birth, because the concocted storyline made for better TV. In my own life, I am trying to put a stop to reality showsponsored products coming into my home. The last time a box of Kylie Jenner’s make-up was delivered, I went to the computer and found a video that offers a virtual tour of the Forbes cover girl’s cosmetic empire, her massive HQ with the Ben Hur cast of thousands

who do her bidding, her daughter’s nursery adjacent to her C-suite, and all the bells and whistles that a 22-yearold billionaire could dream of.

I then made my 22-year-old daughter Meg watch it as I schooled her that every time she buys one of this manufactured celebrity’s lip glosses, she is giving up her hard earned money so that Kylie Jenner can buy yet another Birkin bag. I also tried to impress upon her that rather than being obsessed over the lives of these famous for fame’s sake “stars,” she could focus on making her own life the best it can be.

As Orla’s mother Gayle put it so eloquently when comparing herself to the Internet-famous: “I’m more interesting at home in my kitchen.”

Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novels “Fat Chick” and “Back to Work She Goes.”

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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

Tue 21 SMALL DAYS AND NIGHTS BY TISHANI DOSHI WITH SALMAN RUSHDIE Asia Society 725 Park Ave 6:30 p.m. $20-25 asiasociety.org 212-288-6400 Award-winning poet Tishani Doshi discusses her newest novel “Small Days and Nights” with author Salman Rushdie.

Photo: amazon.com

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

Architectural New Wave: From Ruins to the Future of Housing

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17TH, 5PM Japan Society | 333 E. 47th St. | 212-832-1155 | japansociety.org Learn more about the reshaping of Tokyo from leading sustainability architects Fuminori Nousaku and Mio Tsuneyama. They’ll talk about their adaptive approach and their structure “Holes in the House,” as seen in current exhibition Made in Tokyo: Architecture and Living, 1964/2020 ($15).

Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22ND, 6PM NY Academy of Medicine | 1216 Fifth Ave. | 212-822-7200 | nyam.org Gun violence and mental illness expert Jonathan Metzl probes the way a Trumpian strain of belief became so powerful “it overwhelmed even the basic instinct for self-preservation” (free).

Just Announced | A Night of Philosophy & Ideas

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST, 7PM Brooklyn Cent. Library | 10 Grand Army Pl. | 718-230-2100 | bklynlibrary.org Top philosophers from around the world gather for a 12-hour sleepover, complete with philosophical debates, screenings, readings, art, and music. French-American economist Esther Duflo, winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, kicks off the evening with a keynote (free).

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

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

Photo: Ninian Reid via flickr

Thu 16

Fri 17

Sat 18

NAMESAKES: HONORING AFRICAN AMERICANS IN NYC PARKS

ADULT SALSA WORKSHOP

▲BENEFIT FOR AUSTRALIA

Park Avenue United Methodist Church 106 East 86th St 6:30 p.m. $40 Join Global Dance NYC for an all-levels evening of dancing with one of the best salsa teachers in NYC, Sekou McMiller. No partners or experience needed. globaldancenyc.com 646-831-9727

Ryan’s Daughter 350 East 85th St 7:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. $20-50 Ryan’s Daughter hosts a variety show featuring comedy, music, and more to bring the community together to help the devastation in Australia. eventbrite.com 212-628-2613

Arsenal Gallery 830 Fifth Ave 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Free Many of New York City’s parks and monuments honor African Americans who have shaped the landscape of our culture. This photo exhibition highlights a sampling of such namesakes throughout the city. nycgovparks.org 212-360-8114

JANUARY 16-22,2020

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Subscribe today to Clinton Photo:Frank Miller via theirishtimes.com

Sun 19

Mon 20

Tue 21

THE BIG BROWN COMEDY SHOW

▲FILM: NUALA (2011)

AN EVENING WITH ARTIST STAN DOUGLAS

The Comic Strip Live 1568 Second Ave 8:00 p.m. $20 Check out NYC’s top Arab, Indian, Pakistani and other “Brown” comedians being hilarious by joking about everything from Donald Trump to pop culture. comicstriplive.com 212-861-9386

Scandinavia House 58 Park Ave 7:00 p.m. $11 The Origin 1st Irish Festival presents this award-winning documentary about the memoirist Nuala O’Faolain, who organized her own passing from the world in the same blunt, public and courageous fashion as she lived her life. origintheatre.org 212-253-8300

Guggenheim Museum 1071 Fifth Ave 6:30 p.m. $18-25 Artist Stan Douglas discusses his new video installation, which conjures his longstanding interests in doubling, alternate histories, and technologies of seeing, through the lens of quantum entanglement and science fiction. guggenheim.org 212-423-3500

Wed 22 ◄BOOM 59E59 Theaters 59 East 59th St 7:00 p.m. $60-75 An explosive solo performance that documents the music, culture, and politics that shaped the Baby Boomers (1945-1969). Rick Miller takes us through 25 turbulent years and gives voice to over 100 influential politicians, activists, and musicians.

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CELEBRATE THE YEAR OF THE RAT CULTURE

New York offers a rich menu of options for celebrating the Lunar New Year

BY MARY GREGORY

Lunar New Year celebrations fill the city with vibrant colors, flavors, and lots of sounds. January 25 rings in the Year of the Rat. According to the Chinese zodiac, the rat is wise and clever, a peaceful homebody. But there’s no reason to stay home when New York offers so many ways to celebrate. Before lion and dragon dances fill the streets of Chinatown on February 8 and 9, there are many extraordinary and some unexpected offerings.

New York’s China Institute starts the season early with a workshop on the arts of calligraphy and paper cutting on January 18, a musical performance on the 20th, and a focus on cutting-edge Chinese fashion on the

celebrates Lunar New Year throughout the museum with free performances, storytelling, activities and special works of art on view in the Asian wing. Look for beautiful costumes, family fun, and some of the most stunning depictions of rodents in the history of art.

metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-celebrates/festivalsand-special-programs/lunar-newyear-2020

27th, all free at The Oculus at the World Trade Center. They’re also hosting a month-long arts festival at their home at 40 Rector Street, with the main celebration on February 2nd, featuring puppetry, lanternmaking, dances and dumplings.

The Asia Society’s “Moon Over Manhattan” family day brings a traditional costumed lion dance, kids’ story time, Korean mask-making, puppets, and kung-fu demonstrations.

AsiaSociety.org/NY

chinainstitute.org/lunarnewyear2020/

The Orchestra Now presents “The Sound of Spring” its first annual Chinese New Year concert in conjunction with the US-China Music Institute at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall on January 26. Musicians from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing join the orchestra, bringing sounds of the sheng bamboo flute, the two-stringed erhu, the lute-like pipa, and a traditional folk singer from Shaanxi Province. The mostly contemporary works include The “Spring Festival Suite” by Li Huanzhi, a composition for pipa inspired by poetry, and “Long Teng Hu Yue (Prancing Dragons and Jumping Tigers)” a work for percussion instruments. “Yan’an-Yan’an” sums

JANUARY 16-22, 2020

The Madison Avenue Lunar New Year Celebration on February 1 takes the form of a kind of celestially inspired shopping spree. Local retailers place a “wishing tree” at 710 Madison Avenue. Add a wish, collect stamps from stores, and take them to Philippe by Philippe Chow for snacks and a lucky red envelope with a gift card inside.

madisonavenuebid.org/lunar-newyear/ Madison Avenue’s Lunar New Year Celebration starts with wishes and ends with lucky red envelopes. Photo: Courtesy Madison Avenue BID.

the spirit of the holiday with the lyrics “a time of happiness, a global endeavour, the journey begins, hold fast to your loved ones.”

jazz.org/events/t-10418/

The New York Philharmonic, conducted by Long Yu, performs a Lunar New Year concert at David Geffen Hall on January 28. It includes the New York premiere of a composition inspired by ping pong, a violin concerto titled “The Butterfly Lovers,“ Zhou Tian’s “Gift,“ and the acclaimed pianist, Haochen Zhang, in Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Lunar New Year is also known as the Spring Festival, a time to look for harbingers of renewal. It’s a heartening thought in the coldest part of the year in New York, and a good reason for everyone to have fun with fireworks, a wish, a dance or a song.

nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/1920/lunar-new-year

The Shanghai Ballet’s “Grand Swan Lake” with Tchaikovsky’s music performed by the New York City Ballet Orchestra, brings principal dancers Wu Husheng and Qi Bingxue along with 78 others, including an eyeful of elegance – 48 swans – to the stage of the David H. Koch Theater from January 17-19.

davidhkochtheater.com

Flavors of the East fill the Upper The Shanghai Ballet’s “Grand Swan Lake.” Photo: Courtesy The Shanghai Ballet.

East Side on February 1. The Met

Yu Hongmei will perform with The Orchestra Now at Rose Hall on January 26. Photo: Karl Rabe.

JANUARY 16-22, 2020

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

LEVINE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 two apart, Levine said he would not speak negatively about his opponent.

“I am not to speak badly about anybody,” he said. “I am incredibly proud to represent one of the most diverse districts in New York City ... and to have built at every stage of my political career coalitions which are as diverse as this borough and city. That’s what we need to represent the fabulous diversity of this borough. That’s who I am. That’s what my campaign will be.”

“Right to Counsel” Law Levine pointed to two pieces of legislation that he views as some of his most important work since being elected to the City Council in 2014: a ban on flavored e-cigarettes passed last year and a “right to counsel” for those facing eviction.

“In my role as health chair, a major victory that we just won against big tobacco was move to protect the children of this borough from addiction to e-cigarettes,” said Levine of the legislation passed after deaths across the country linked to vaping. “We got the bill up against the full for ourselves corporate lobby.

I’m not afraid to take on tough fights like that. I’ve won my fair share.”

Likewise, he said legislation guaranteeing tenants facing eviction the right to counsel has helped lower the number of evictions. According to Levine, evictions dropped by 38 percent since the law went into effect in 2017.

“This has been a game change for tenants in the midst of an epidemic of evictions, fueled by the fact that almost no tenants historically have had attorneys and every landlord has,” said Levine.

“We made New York City the first place in America to change that. Newark, San Francisco, Cleveland, Philadelphia, have now passed similar legislation.”

The right to counsel legislation, Levine said, helps keep families in their homes, which he noted is important at this moment while the city deals with a homelessness crisis.

“The worst homeless crisis since the Great Depression is

Mark Levine with 32BJ SEIU workers. Photo courtesy of Council Member Mark Levine’s campaign

happening in a good economy,” said Levine. “And we should all be scared about what that crisis will look like in the next recession.”

Housing for ‘Regular New Yorkers’ He said more affordable and supportive housing needs to be built specifically for the homeless population.

In doing so, he said the city also needs to rethink how it deals with large-scale development and how it affects neighborhoods.

“We have an affordable housing shortage but there’s a right and wrong way to develop,” said Levine. “We need to develop in ways that are consistent with the scale and character and the history of neighborhoods. These hundred story towers on millionaire’s row are providing no housing to regular New Yorkers.”

He said the towers also pose a threat to the city’s green spaces by casting long shadows and changing the ecology of these spaces, including Central Park.

“On a cold day, you’ll see it.

Everyone congregates to the sun and the shady parts of the park are empty,” said Levine.

“But what happens if the entire southern part of the park is in a shadow?”

He said as borough president he would introduce new zoning rules that would prevent development from blocking out the sun around the city’s parks.

Another key initiative Levine said would be a focus of his tenure if elected would be improving the city’s bus transportation.

“This shouldn’t be a borough where it’s faster than to walk than to take a bus. Bus transit right now is on a death spiral. Usership is dropping,” said Levine. “People are getting off the bus and into cars, which only makes traffic worse.”

So far, Levine has received endorsements from district leaders across the borough, as well as Council Member Margaret Chin and Assembly Member Al Taylor. Both said Levine was a great collaborator on policy issues.

In making the case for his candidacy, Levine said his approach to public service is informed by what he learned when he began his career as a public school teacher in the South Bronx.

“So much of my career now and all the service can be traced to those years in the classroom,” Levine said. “It’s given me a profound understanding for how difficult teaching is. It’s only shaped who I am as an elected official.”

BUYING OR SELLING A COOP, CONDO, OR HOUSE? The Experience to Give You Exceptional Results.

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JANUARY 16-22, 2020

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS JANUARY 2 - 8, 2020 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 10021, 10022, 10028, 10128, 10029.

Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received.

2nd Avenue Deli

1442 1st Ave

A

Alex Cafe & Deli

1018 Lexington Ave

A

Banquet Kitchen

455 Madison Ave

A

China Taste

1570 2nd Ave

Not Yet Graded (24) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38ºF) except during necessary preparation. Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Domino’s Pizza

1396 1st Ave

A

El Chevere Cuchifritos

2000 3rd Ave

A

Famous Famiglia Pizzeria

1398 Madison Ave

Not Yet Graded (43) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist. Single service item reused, improperly stored, dispensed; not used when required.

Flora Bar

945 Madison Ave

A

Good Health Cafe

1435 1st Ave

A

Green Kitchen

1619 2nd Ave

A

Ines Cafe

419 E 74Th St

A

Jefferies Cafe (5th Floor)

520 Madison Ave

A

La Guadalupe Restaurant

179 E 115Th St

A

Mike’S Bistro

127 E 54Th St

A

Patisserie Vanessa

1590 Park Ave

A

Red Star Chinese Food

112 E 116Th St

A

The boat basin as it appears today. Photos: Courtesy NYC Parks

$90 MILLION BOAT BASIN OVERHAUL PARKS

The Parks Department has ambitious plans for the battered marina on Manhattan’s Upper West Side

BY JASON COHEN

The 79th Street Boat Basin, one of the Upper West Side’s quirkiest features, may get a much-needed $90 million face-lift if a Parks Department plan secures the necessary approvals.

Nate Grove, chief of Waterfront and Marine Operations for the Parks Department, presented the proposed plan to Community Board 7’s Parks and Environment Committee on Dec. 16th.

The project will demolish the facility’s aged wooden support structure and replace it with modern steel and concrete construction to meet modern waterfront codes and climate resiliency guidelines.

The work will include

Dock and gangway damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

dredging the basin to increase the depth of the water, which will improve navigation at all tides and mitigate tidal surge.

In addition, debris/ice protec-

tion will be restored and the number of slips will be increased to address the 14year wait list, which has nearly 800 names on it.

JANUARY 16-22, 2020

15

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The design plan for the new boat basin includes additional boat slips. Rendering: Courtesy NYC Parks

The project is funded by $28.3 million from FEMA and $60.9 million from the mayor.

Located in the Hudson River, along the shore of Riverside Park at 79th Street, the marina, completed in 1937 and expanded in 1968, is maintained and operated by the Parks Department and is the only facility in the city that allows year-round residency in boats. However, only

10 of 116 slips are occupied year-round, and as of Nov. 1, 2010, department rules prohibit houseboats from docking at the basin.

A Favorable Response While the CB7 committee listened to the presentation, no resolution was made or voted on. The committee (not the full board) is working on a letter that will recap the Dec. discussion and include issues ques-

tions for future consideration.

Elizabeth Caputo, co-chair of the committee, said attendees at the meeting supported the project. “The response was quite favorable from the community that was in the room,” she said. But she stressed that no decision was made and she hopes the Parks Department will return in a few months when the project is ready for a vote.

According to Caputo, members of the public at the meeting were especially keen on the idea of increased accessibility to the marina, and that the project focuses on climate resiliency guidelines.

“Using that space for a place that is environmentally friendly and accessible and sustainable is what our committee cares about,” she said.

“We care about the environmentally sound practices. Our

focus as a board is making sure that any project in our district is fairly and equitably serving all those who use the park.”

The Parks Department plan calls for construction to begin in June 2021 and be finished

by October 2021 or May 2022.

Dan Garodnick, president and CEO of the Riverside Park Conservancy, said the condition of the Boat Basin is one of a number of challenges facing

the park. “Riverside Park has enormous infrastructure needs – from flooding, to crumbling staircases, to the work surrounding the repair of the Rotunda and Boat Basin, and beyond,” he said.

“We appreciate that the city is beginning to focus its attention on Riverside Park in order to address these issues.

It is long overdue.”

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An aerial view of the original boat basin, circa 1937.

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JANUARY 16-22, 2020

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Business

REAL ESTATE MARKET STARTS TO TURN REAL ESTATE

After several years of decline, the NYC market began to approach stasis in the fourth quarter of 2019

BY FREDERICK PETERS

As the fourth quarter of 2019 moved toward a close, the peaks and valleys which characterized the year in the New York City real estate market became even more visible in hindsight. Actually, there was only one peak, and quite a lot of valley!

During the first quarter, the market struggled through paralysis to generate a few transactions during its last weeks; transaction volume accelerated enormously during the second quarter in anticipation of the increased Mansion and Transfer Taxes due on transactions closing after July 1.

These last weeks of June were the 2019 peak, with closing agents managing five or six closings each day as everyone rushed to get their deal closed under the wire before hundreds of thousands of dollars were added to their transaction costs. The third quarter suffered accordingly; as all the deals anticipating the uptick in taxes had rushed to close before July, transaction volume plummeted. And now, looking back at the fourth quarter, the market has begun to approach stasis after a number of years of decline, with a larger number of $4 million deals than in any December in recent years (according to the Olshan report).

To be clear, the stasis gradually being achieved in the market is one of price, not volume. After peaking in 2015/2016, our market in Manhattan has seen price declines of between 15% and 25%, depending on unit size

Ask A Broker

and neighborhood. Many prices, especially those of larger co-op units perceived as needing upgrades, are now at 2011 levels, as much as 25% below their highs of a few years earlier. Condo prices have undergone a similar fate, especially those at the midpriced and higher ends above $5 million, although the decline is less precipitous at closer to 15%. This differential illustrates the increasingly clear gap between co-op and condominium values.

Co-op Board Rigidity While condos certainly suf- Photo: Steven Strasser fer from overbuilding, their convenience, multiple ameni- have long since ceased makties, and ease of purchase con- ing offers on properties they trast them ever more perceive as overpriced. Alattractively with co-ops. Co- though many sellers still find op boards, inexplicably, have this hard to accept, others heeded none of the warning have learned that a property signs of declining compara- priced to market can actually tive values. With their oner- sell promptly, with several ofous board package fers. While it remains unlikely requirements, frequent board that any property will trade rejections, and complex reno- above its asking price, we vation rules, these co-op have seen a number of sales in boards increasingly drive po- the fourth quarter where the tential purchasers into the trades have been at, or close arms of the new condomini- to, asking prices which were ums where renovation is not clearly fair.

While many buyers required, and owners can swim, work out, hold meet- throughout the market conings, and dine – all without tinue to hold back in the belief ever leaving the building. This that the market has further to rigidity on the part of boards fall, evidence to the contrary exacts a steep price from fel- is mounting. During Q4, my low shareholders, as co-op firm [Warburg Realty] has values continue to diminish transacted a number of deals relative to those of condo- on properties which were many months on the market. miniums.

As prices stabilize at lower Through a process of re-priclevels, buyers have begun to ing and re-marketing, a numre-enter the marketplace. This ber of these have sold at happens slowly, so while the numbers appropriate to fourth quarter was not strong today’s realities. in terms of either contracts signed or offers accepted, we Election Effect What do I anticipate for do feel a thaw in the market2020?

I anticipate a first quarplace. As has been true for over a year now, the key to ter stronger than either the sales has been sellers’ ac- final quarter of this year or the knowledgement of the change first quarter of 2019. Prices which has occurred. Buyers will be lower but transactions

should flow more smoothly throughout the marketplace.

New resale inventory will arrive on the market in January and February, but not in enormous quantity. If the market does indeed continue to stabilize, more new listings will likely be placed on the market in the second quarter, and those which are priced well and staged attractively should sell within 30 to 60 days. The market will slow during the third quarter, as it does every four years, when attention to the Presidential race picks up.

As for the fourth quarter, the Presidential election results will influence market stability in New York as it will across the country, though not necessarily in the same ways.

We live in interesting times.

But even in interesting times we have to live somewhere.

Opportunities abound in New York for those wise or brave enough to seize them. This quarter, the market began to turn. Remember, the bottom of the market is only ever perceptible once it has passed.

Frederick Peters is the CEO of Warburg Realty, a luxury residential real estate brokerage in New York City.

Reprinted with permission from Frederick Peters’ Forbes column.

Photo: Chrysolvalantis Skoufris

BE SURE TO HIRE AN EXPERIENCED LAWYER

BY ANDREW J. KRAMER

My offer was just accepted for my first small co-op purchase in the city.

Now I need to hire an attorney. My cousin offered to handle the legal work for half the price of any of the real estate lawyers I contacted, but she hasn’t handled a real estate transaction before. Should I hire her?

Keep looking. New York City has a tremendous number of real estate attorneys and, believe it or not, some charge very reasonable flat fees. This is certainly not a place to cut corners. Experience and speed will help seal the deal (it’s not official until the Contract of Sale is signed by both parties).

An attorney that doesn’t have real estate experience is a red light,

and one that doesn’t have knowledge of the world of Manhattan co-ops is a recipe for disaster. In addition to looking out for your best interests, your attorney needs to conduct their due diligence (reading the board minutes, reviewing the Offering Plan and building financials) in a thorough and timely manner. If they miss a beat or waste time, the home you may be dreaming about could become someone else’s future address. Bottom line, there’s no substitute for experience. Hire smart.

Andrew Kramer is a Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker with Brown Harris Stevens. Direct your real estate questions to askandrew@bhsusa.com.

You can learn more about Andrew at www.kramernyc.com or by contacting him at 212-3173634

JANUARY 16-22, 2020

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The Very Reverend James Parks Morton passed from this earth on Saturday, January 4, just three days before his 90th birthday. Born in Houston, Texas, this much loved, iconoclastic figure served as the Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine for 25 years, from 1972 to 1996. During that time, he helped transform the Cathedral, one of the world’s largest sacred spaces, from a cold, and to some even frightening cavernous empty space, to the thriving vital center of the renaissance on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Appointed by Bishop Paul Moore, who once referred to him as the Cathedral’s internal combustion engine, Dean Morton was an inspirational, visionary faith leader to New York and the world. He had the gift of helping the many who had the great privilege of knowing him, to see, feel and celebrate the deep connections between faith, the environment, art and social justice and so many other aspects of their lives and culture. As author James Carroll said at the service last week celebrating his life, “he made religion fun”.

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Dean Morton changed so many lives, including mine.

Through his inspiration, support and guidance. my view of the world expanded exponentially. I always like to refer to him as the “Ultimate Yes Man.” With him it was always, “Yes, let’s find a way to do that” As a Jew, I found a home at his Cathedral. When I was able to get up early enough to attend his 7:15 a.m. Thursday morning Russian Orthodoxthemed service, I was often given the privilege of reading the Hebrew Bible scripture.

Afterwards, the members of

The Very Rev. James Park Morton during his years as Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Photo: Courtesy of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine

the eclectic gathering of as many as 30 people – from someone with no home to the Ambassador from Ethiopia – would take turns outdoing each other with a sumptuous and very creative breakfast.

Dean Morton referred to us as the Cathedral Mafia.

Those who found themselves at home at Dean Morton’s Cathedral, and in his community, included extraordinary world citizens, among them the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Ravi Shankar, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Mohammad Yunis, Helen Caldicott, Jesse Jackson and so many others. As a Blue-Blooded Episcopalian who could count among his relatives a former New York Governor and a Vice President of the United States, Jim could find the language to help everyone feel like we were one family at home in one world. His fond term for the congregation and himself – “us chickens” – let us all know that we all belonged, and our gifts were welcome.

Faith and Values Early in his tenure at the Cathedral, in 1974, he hosted an International Symposium on the Holocaust. It offered Jews and Christians the opportunity to confront the Holocaust in an open exchange – a “Yes we hear you” from the Christian world to the Jewish community – and fostered a conversation about suffering in the context of faith. The four-day event was a perfect example of his relentless drive to bring people together.

Jim Morton believed that each of the many faith traditions was like a vessel that was fashioned to carry a set of values forward through time.

To stay effective and relevant, sometimes the vessel needs to be repaired, sometimes it may need to be replaced. But the fundamental truth is the understanding that if we are on this earth - that is already all the confirmation we need to know that we are valued and loved as members of one human family..

As James Carroll reminded us this past Saturday night, Jim loved birds. Early on, he invited four peacocks to take up residence on the Cathedral grounds (or “Close” as it is called). One of his highest compliment would be to call or refer to someone as a “Great Bird.” I may have even been called this once or twice.

But certainly this man, the Very Reverend Ringmaster of our kaleidoscopic circus of humanity, was the greatest bird of all in our high flying flock. An extraordinary, larger than life Holy Soul who changed the face of New York and our world in ways no one could ever even begin to measure.

As the Episcopal Bishop of New York, Andrew Dietsche, said at the holy celebration and farewell “75 years after its creation, the Cathedral had found a man who’s vision was big enough to fill it”.

Marc Greenberg is the founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing which was founded at the Cathedral in 1985.

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people - whether that means rushing to a crime scene, comforting a victim or merely lending a hand.

In many ways, he said, officers are “the glue that holds the city together.’’

“Hopefully that’s the message we get to our cops and recruits, that everything you do is about helping people, working with people, serving people,‘’ Shea said.

Eventful First Month Shea was sworn in Dec. 2 as the city’s 44th police commissioner, succeeding James O’Neill, who left after three years on the job to become a security chief at Visa. Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was awed by Shea’s intellect and saw him as “the future of the NYPD.” Critics chided de Blasio for picking another white man to lead the department, which has had only two black commissioners. Since then, Shea has appointed the NYPD’s first black chief of detectives and has made other changes to diversify the leadership.

It’s been an eventful first month for Commissioner Shea, between a rash of antiSemitic attacks and the fatal stabbing of a Barnard College freshman - a case with the added sensitivity of youth suspects. Then there were the security implications after the U.S. last week killed a top Iranian general, and continued fallout from statewide reforms that eliminate bail for nonviolent felonies.

In previous leadership roles, Shea developed datadriven strategies for fighting and preventing crime, and helped move the NYPD to a community-oriented philosophy that encourages officers to interact with residents.

Those changes followed a controversial era of stop-andfrisk and “broken windows’’

Hopefully that’s the message we get to our cops and recruits, that everything you do is about helping people, working with people, serving people.”

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea

Mayor Bill de Blasio presides over the ceremonial swearing-in for Dermot Shea as the 44th Police Commissioner of the New York City Police Department at One Police Plaza on Monday, December 2, 2019. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

policing, which viewed lowlevel offenses as a gateway to bigger crimes. A judge found stop-and-frisk discriminatory.

Now, with crime in the city already very low, Shea wants to push further. He yearns for a day when the NYPD measures crimes prevented.

“We’re at a unique point, just as we were at a unique point in 2014 and we pivoted away from how we policed this city and maintained order and drove crime down and accomplished that softer touch,‘’ Shea said.

“Because we’ve gone through that process already, where neighborhood policing started the last couple of years, where we’ve started to build a lot of these relationships, we’ve changed the mindset of officers on what policing looks like.’’

“Front Row Seat” Shea joined the department in 1991. He took the test as something of a fallback while majoring in economics at a state university in Oneonta, New York. Shea, working as a union doorman after college, wasn’t keen on spending his life sitting at a desk. As he entered the police academy, Shea said he was told being an officer is a “front row seat to the greatest show on earth.’’

Shea’s older brother, James, entered the academy in the same class. He retired from the NYPD as a deputy chief and since 2013 has been public safety director in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he was a key figure in the response to last month’s deadly attack on a kosher grocery store.

Shea’s younger brother, Paul, joined the Army after the Sept. 11 attacks and is now

a major. Their late father was also in the Army.

Commissioner Shea worked in narcotics and was a precinct commander in the Bronx in the 2000s before moving into the first of several top leadership positions.

In 2014, Commissioner William Bratton called with a new assignment running CompStat, an analytics system that Shea said is “probably the engine that drives the NYPD.’’ Shea would sleep in his office at police headquarters the night before weekly CompStat meetings, at which leaders study statistics and strategies for targeting highcrime areas.

Sometimes he wouldn’t be done preparing until as late as 1 a.m.

Shea, who was chief of detectives before becoming commissioner, attributes his work ethic to his late father, a bartender and handyman whom he recalled missing work just once, after falling in snow and breaking his knee.

Shea’s parents emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s but didn’t meet until living in New York.

His mother, Ellen, grew up in a Tobercurry home with a thatched roof and no indoor plumbing that was smaller than his office, Shea said, recalling a visit he made in the 1970s. His father was from County Laois.

Upon being appointed commissioner, Shea spoke of how proud his father and other relatives would have been, telling a City Hall crowd: “I can assure you there is a hell of a celebration going on in Heaven. You would have to know my father ... There was probably some Irish whiskey being spilled.’’

JANUARY 16-22, 2020

WELCOME HOME, SKY BLUE FC SPORTS

Alyse LaHue talks about carving out a bigger fan base in NYC as the NWSL team prepares for move to Red Bull Arena in the upcoming 2020 season

BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM

Come springtime, New York City will have another professional sports team to call its own. After years of playing at Rutgers University, Sky Blue FC, of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), will be playing their home games at Red Bull Arena — just over the river in Harrison, New Jersey. It’s a chance for the club to play in front of a bigger audience at a superior facility, and for soccer fans in the metro area to watch some of the top talent in the American game — such as Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan — come to compete with their respective clubs week in and week out.

The club, which is owned by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, in recent years struggled on and off the pitch with reports that players were being subjected to poor working conditions. But in the last eight months, Sky Blue, which is captained

by U.S. women’s national team star Carli Llloyd, has sparked new life with its move to Red Bull, the hiring of a new head coach and general manager, and big roster changes this offseason that are making the team a threat once again in the NWSL. Alyse LaHue, Sky Blue’s general manager, spoke to Our Town about all of these changes and how she’s working to expand the team’s fan base to Manhattan.

What does the transition to Red Bull Arena mean for the club and the players?

We’ve always thought that if we got ourselves to a more dense geographic center, and obviously Red Bull Arena does that by being in North Jersey and being so close to New York City ... then more fans would be able to come on to the games. After having the opportunity

21

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

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

to play two games there in 2019, and seeing the fan response, it helped set the bar for success for us. To be able to play in that environment, on a beautiful pitch in that venue, obviously, the players enjoyed that experience. So being able to take them back there for a full season feels really great.

What style of play can people who are coming out to a game for the first time expect to see from Sky Blue?

In spite of the growth that the club has been going through, I still think this team has remained competitive.

The team fought and got out of the basement last season and we’re really proud of that; but for us, looking forward, it’s the playoffs. This is a league from top to bottom that is incredibly competitive. We want to be a playoff bound team. You’ve got to made big moves and we’ve recently made a trade and we’ll continue to look at our roster and see what we can do to build that out. Freye Coombe, our head coach, has come in, and we’re excited to get a full season under her belt and really give her the opportunity to build out her roster the way that she sees it to be the best, most competitive roster that’s going to put on entertaining style of soccer on the field.

How do you plan to engage new fans and embed Sky Blue into NYC’s sport culture?

For us it’s about being a part of the fabric of the community. I’m a firm believer in living, working and finding the community in which you’re going to be having your games. That means our players are in the community, as well as our coaches, me as a general manager, and our staff. We’ve developed some partnerships over the last year that we launched, whether that was in the public school system, animal welfare agencies or with women’s equity groups, and we’re going to continue some of those partnerships in the 2020 and expand upon them now that we are in North Jersey and clustered in New York City.

With that proximity to New York City, we know we have an opportunity to attract more adult fans. Our fantasy camp (taking place on Jan. 18 at SoFive in Brooklyn) is essentially

Alyse LaHue, Sky Blue FC general manager, after a match last season at Red Bull Arena. Photo: Sky Blue FC photographer Jesse Louie an opportunity to do up a fun skills camp for adults, 21 years and over, to be coached by our pro players. And it’s really just about having fun and bringing more people into the Sky Blue club, and providing an experience that’s not just for children or just the youth soccer player. We’ve had a huge response to it and we’re already planning our next one.

For people who are not yet fans of the league and Sky Blue, what’s something you want them to know about this club?

This is a club for the fans. It’s the fans’ club. To me, one of the most important things is for the fans to know that you have a home with us. You’re welcome here and your voice is heard. I listen to you. So make sure you speak up and be a part of this club. That’s going to affect the direction of where we go.

Season ticket memberships are currently on sale for the 2020 season: skybluefc.com/tickets.

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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CLIENT: ABLE HEALTH CARE

Backed by American Standard’s 140 years of experience $ 2 Ultra low entry for easy entering and exiting 3 Patented Quick Drain® fast water removal system 4 Lifetime Warranty on the bath AND installation, INCLUDING labor backed

by American Standard 5 44 Hydrotherapy jets for an invigorating massage

NEW YORK CITY Zone ONLY

1

1,50

Includes FREE American StandardRight Height Toilet

Limited Time Offer! Call Today!

888-609-0248 Receive a free American Standard Cadet toilet with full installation of a Liberation Walk-In Bath, Liberation Shower, or Deluxe Shower. Offer valid only while supplies last. Limit one per household. Must be first time purchaser. See www.walkintubs.americanstandard-us.com for other restrictions and for licensing, warranty, and company information. CSLB B982796; Suffolk NY:55431H; NYC:HIC#2022748-DCA. Safety Tubs Co. LLC does not sell in Nassau NY, Westchester NY, Putnam NY, Rockland NY.

CLOVER MILL ASSOCIATES, INC. 337 Merrick Road Lynbrook NY 11563 • 516-568-1800

SAVING0S

FREE IN-HOME EVALUATION!

FAX 516-872-1398

Ad for: NY Classified Ad Network (NYNT)

Use this during week of Monday, January 13, 2020 ONLY Size: 2 column x 4” (3.125” wide x 4” high) FILE: NYNT011320_nyc.cdr Revision 0 Set: December 30, 2019 Program: CorelDraw 14.0

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JANUARY 16-22, 2020

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

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Equal Housing Opportunity