The local paper for the Upper East Side
2018
WEEK OF MARCH
OT T Y OT Awards
1-7 2018
Our Town Thanks You P.13
‘SAVE THE UNION CARBIDE BUILDING!’ VIEWPOINT A mega-bank and its ally at City Hall want to tear down a classic of Park Avenue corporate modernism and demolish the legacy of an unsung woman who was one of the great architects of the post-war era Ridership on NYCT buses is down over 11 percent since 2012, MTA data shows. Photo: Michael Garofalo
MTA TO PITCH BUS FIXES THIS SPRING TRANSPORTATION With city buses plagued by declining ridership, officials pledge solutions will be forthcoming BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Though delays in subway service have attracted the bulk of attention surrounding the current struggles of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, steep and steady declines in bus ridership in recent years, concentrated largely in Manhattan, offer a reminder that the New York’s transportations problems extend to street level. Average weekday ridership on New York City Transit buses dropped 5.6 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to preliminary MTA data released last week, marking the fifth consecu-
tive year of declining ridership. Since 2012, average weekday NYCT bus ridership is down over 11 percent. MTA leaders plan to present detailed plans for enhancing bus service and reversing ridership trends this spring. Andy Byford, who took office as president of NYCT in January after previously heading Toronto’s public transportation system, has named improving bus service as one of his top priorities. “Performance is nowhere near good enough,” Byford said of the transit system as a whole at a meeting of the MTA board’s transit committee last week, adding that there are too many performance interruptions on the subway in particular. This spring, officials will release a bus strategy to mirror the subway
BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
It was a wanton act of urban desecration that was executed by one of the city’s storied corporations and blessed by municipal government, to its enduring shame. In broad daylight, wrecking crews demolished the Singer Building, an ornate Beaux-Arts masterpiece that had graced lower Broadway at Liberty Street since 1908. The year was 1968, and it was the early preservation movement’s most spectacular failure. Now, half a century later, that dark chapter in city history is at risk of repeating itself. Crowned by a shimmering mansard roof and glowing multi-story lanterns, the 612-foot, 47-story home of the old Singer Sewing Machine Co. was the tallest building in the world ever to be intentionally torn down. Soon, it could lose that dubious honor: JPMorgan Chase has disclosed plans to raze its 707-foot, 52-story tower at 270 Park Avenue and erect in its stead a super-tall headquarters soaring 1,200 feet and 70 floors. “It would be the largest voluntary demolition in human history,” said Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council, a preservation advocacy group that is galvanizing opposition to the plan.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
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Her mind and hands worked marvels in design.” Nathaniel Owings, a founder of architectural giant Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, about architect Natalie Griffin de Blois
The headquarters of JPMorgan Chase at 270 Park Avenue, a 1961 classic of corporate modernism that was designed largely by Natalie Griffin de Blois, one of the most accomplished women architects of her time. It could be demolished under plans developed by the bank to build a new home, 500 feet higher. Photo: Reading Tom, via flickr
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HANDS-0N SUPPORT FOR PUERT0 RICO COMMUNITY Residents at the Amsterdam Houses on the UWS create a patchwork quilt in solidarity with those suffering from Hurricane Maria BY ASHAD HAJELA
The quilt is imposing: it measures 10 X 8 feet, showing cutouts of hands reaching for the sky below a map of Puerto Rico. Last Thursday, the quilt hung from an exposed pipe near the ceiling of the Amsterdam Houses Resident Association community room on West 64th
Seamstresses including Martha Montalvo (left) and Myrna Escalera worked on the quilt. Photo: Ashad Hajela
Street as residents milled in and out of the room, taking pictures of the handiwork as the Amsterdam Houses Resident Association Executive Board looked on. Designed by residents of the Amsterdam Houses, some of whom hail from Puerto Rico, the quilt is a remembrance of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico last year. The quilt is yet to be completed, but when it is finished, it will be sent to Puerto Rico to honor the mayor of San Juan, Carmen YulĂn Cruz, who spoke out against President Donald Trump’s response to the hurricane. Amsterdam Houses Resident Association President Margarita O. Curet and technology instructor John Figueroa spoke about the work done by Amsterdam tenants. “This is a digital design,â€? said Figueroa, explaining that it was created on a computer and then stitched onto the quilt that the residents made. “We are trying to close the technology gap between residents and their grandchildren.â€? The cutouts of hands, he said, represent the upward reach of
all people, no matter what age or race. And shadows of the Statue of Liberty and a Puerto Rican castle speak to the solidarity between New York and Puerto Rico. Figueroa also emphasized that the caption on the quilt, “Unidos Hacemos MĂĄsâ€? or “United We Do More,â€? resonates through the generations.
It would not have been possible to make the quilt without expert tenant seamstresses like DelďŹ na Esquilin, who used to work for Ralph Lauren and is of Guatamalan origin. Another tenant seamstress who worked on the quilt is Myrna Escalera, whose brother was in Puerto Rico when the hurricane hit. While he is ďŹ ne now, Escalera
was motivated to show her support for him. “They worked together like a family,� said Frances Muniz, the treasurer at the Amsterdam Houses Resident Association about members of the community like Escalera and Esquilin. “They had hope for their families in Puerto Rico.�
When completed, the quilt will be sent to Puerto Rico to honor the mayor of San Juan, Carmen YulĂn Cruz. Photo: Ashad Hajela
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th district for the week ending Feb. 18 Week to Date
Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr
PROPERTY REMOVED FROM PARKED CAR Police remind motorists never to leave valuables in a car parked on the street. At around noon on Saturday, February 24, a 43-year-old man parked his car outside 114 W. 83rd Street. When he returned, belongings totaling $1,300 had been removed from the car although there were no signs of a break-in.
DUANE AGAIN
YMCA LOCKER BREAK-IN
Apparently, some local shoplifters continue to rely on illegal means to keep drug costs under control. In the ďŹ rst incident, at 6:45 p.m. on Sunday, February 18, a man and a woman entered the Duane Reade store at 1889 Broadway and made off with $2,300 worth of Mucinex and other medications. The next Saturday, a man entered the same store about 7 p.m. and took medications valued at $1,100 without paying for the items. Police continue to investigate both incidents.
As if seniors don’t have enough to be careful about when they work out. At 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 18, a 71-year-old man returned to his locker inside the YMCA at 5 W. 63rd Street to discover that his locker had been broken into and some of his belongings were missing, including $50 in cash and several credit cards.
Year to Date
2018 2017
% Change
2018
2017
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
0
0
n/a
Rape
1
0
n/a
2
2
0.0
Robbery
4
0
n/a
20
7
185.7
Felony Assault
4
3
33.3
21
25
-16.0
Burglary
1
4
-75.0
31
25
24.0
Grand Larceny
30
26
15.4
225 177
27.1
Grand Larceny Auto
0
1
-100.0
7
250.0
2
BANANA SPLIT You don’t have to travel far to ďŹ nd lawlessness — not when we have our own Banana Republic right here on Broadway. At 11 a.m. on Friday, February 16, a 30-year-old man entered the chain’s store at 1976 Broadway and ed with clothing valued at $1,300.
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Useful Contacts
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POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct
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MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH
HOLY WEEK 2018 Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com
EDITOR’S PICK
Sun 4 THE MOVE-MENT New York Society Library 53 East 79th St. 3 p.m. $25 212-288-6900 nysoclib.org
Dr. Michael B. Brown preaching
The Move-Ment looks at four historical movements: Slavery, the Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter, and examines how women were and are an integral part of each. This one-woman piece by writer/performer/educator Shontelle Thrash combines lecture and performance to show how people are “moved” to bring about change. 212-288-6900. nysoclib.org
March 25, Palm/Passion Sunday 10:00am - Family Worship, Prayer Circle and Bible Study with Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton 11:00am - Courage (Mark 11:1-11) March 29, Maundy Thursday 7:00pm - Trust (Mark 14:32-36) Commemorating Jesus’ final night with dramatic readings, and special music by The Marble Choir. Holy Communion. March 30, Good Friday 11:30am - Instrumental Music for Prayer and Meditation Noon - Atonement (The Passion Story) Solemn Masterworks of Lamentation sung by The Marble Choir and Festival of Voices, with Orchestra 1:00-3:00pm - Prayer Vigil April 1, Easter Sunday 8:15am - Prayer Circle 9:00 & 11:00am - Life
View the full schedule at MarbleChurch.org/Worship/Lent-HolyWeek Event listings brought to you by Marble Collegiate Church. 1 West 29th Street / New York, New York 10001 212 686 2770 / MarbleChurch.org Download the Marble Church App on iPhone or Android
Iranian glazed ceramic tile work, from the ceiling of the Tomb of Hafez in Shiraz, Iran. Province of Fars. Photo: Pentocelo, via Wikimedia Commons
Thu 1
Fri 2
Sat 3
THE GROWTH OF THE ART WORLD IN THE MIDDLE EAST ▲
VOCES8 NEW YORK PREMIERE
WORLDWIDE PLAY-IN WEEKEND
Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer 869 Lexington Ave. 8 p.m. $25-$40 The renowned British a cappella octet VOCES8 will premiere their program “A Choral Tapestry,” exploring the rich timbres of vocal music spanning five centuries. The program includes anthems and motets from the English Chapel Royal and the Sistine Chapel in Rome, as well as traditional folk songs and spirituals. 212-744-2080 svsc.info
Diller Quaile School of Music 24 East 95th St. 7 p.m. Free The Associated Chamber Music Players presents its sixth annual “Worldwide PlayIn Weekend,” during which musicians around the globe come together to experience the joy of playing chamber music. Don’t miss the NYC installment. 212-369-1484 acmp.net/wpiw
Asia Society New York 725 Park Ave. 6 p.m. $20/$15 students & seniors Leading experts discuss the rapidly developing structure and patronage of museums in the Middle East. Roxane Zand, deputy chairman, Middle East and Gulf Region, Sotheby’s, and Anna Somers Cocks, foundereditor and chairman of The Art Newspaper, present their insights. 212-288-6400 asiasociety.org/new-york
MARCH 1-7,2018
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Sun 4 Mon 5 Tue 6 IN THE NEWS WITH JEFF GREENFIELD: MAGGIE HABERMAN AND ALEX BURNS Kaufmann Concert Hall at 92Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. 7.30 p.m. $35 Can’t turn away from the news? Here’s your chance to go behind the headlines with The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Alex Burns. They’ll discuss the Trump administration, the role of the media in politics, and the freedom and future of the press. 212-415-5500 92y.org
THE ALBERTINE BOOK CLUB READS ‘BLACK MOSES’ ▼
RECITAL SERIES: LINDEMANN YOUNG ARTISTS CONCERT
Albertine 972 Fifth Ave. 7 p.m. Free Cecile David-Weill and Caroline Weber moderate a group discussion on Alain Mabanckou’s “Black Moses,” translated from the French by Helen Stevenson. The book’s protagonist, Tokumisa Nzambe po Mose yamoyindo abotami namboka ya Bakoko, or Moses for short, has been called a contemporary Oliver Twist. 212-650-0070 albertine.com
Park Avenue Armory 643 Park Ave. 7:30 p.m. $40 The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program is considered one of the most prestigious. This is an early opportunity to hear some of the next generation’s opera greats. 212-616-3930 armoryonpark.org
Wed 7 ‘THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE’ ▲ Scandinavia House 58 Park Ave. 7 p.m. $12 This wry comedy, a response to the current refugee crisis, follows displaced Syrian Khaled (Sherwan Haji) as he lands in Helsinki as a stowaway. Meanwhile, middle-aged salesman Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen) leaves behind his wife and job and buys an unprofitable seafood restaurant. After Khaled is denied asylum, the paths of the two men cross by chance. 212-779-3587 scandinaviahouse.org
314 W. 14th St.
426 W. 58th St.
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EVERYONE’S BUSINESS! BY BETTE DEWING
More gun control — absolutely — appallingly, shamefully, long overdue. So thankfully, all-out attention is paid after the horrific Florida high school massacre of 15 students and two heroic teachers. Beloved family members, they are whose loss is felt forever, and the grieving must be remembered and forever supported. And don’t forget grandparents and other kindred often overlooked in our nuclear family society. And isn’t that one of the problems — the lack of natural support systems?
Kids, especially, too much on their own – ah, but so are their grandparents and other elder kindred. Well, this surely needs ongoing discussion and led by Upper East Side granddad, Sherman Yellen, and as an established playwright, essayist and social critic, can really get this message across. Ah, we are surely grateful for the new “Kid Power” with nationwide marches and protest and taking “Never Again” to the White House. And may civic actions also become a natural part of their lives. And related to this latest horrific shooting of innocents, surely the
many “missed flags” must be addressed, and not only by law enforcement and the FBI, but by the citizenry. An all-out bipartisan “Get Involved Party” is long overdue, one that goes beyond “saying something” about a suspicious box or package seen on the street or subway. Although it’s much harder to report suspicious behavior of someone we know — and even risky ... and on so-called social media, even a threat about being a professional school shooter gets a pass. But it wouldn’t if “saying something” were a major mandate — and with little to fear. Students would surely have said more about their classmate’s forbidding behavior. Ah, the passing of Billy Graham also reminds how often do you hear a Thou Shalt Not Kill sermon? And
Voices
are faith groups enough involved with members’ problems — or speak of the supportive community found in 12-step meetings held on their premises. Ah, but beware a conventional AA and Al-anon directive which says alcohol abusers must hit bottom all by themselves. Intervention does work, but is too rarely tried – we’ve been so carefully and wrongfully taught in general to mind our own business – not to be our brother’s and sister’s keeper. And schools sure need to teach communication skills — above all. The conflict resolution kind. Yes, they exist but most lamentably, somehow, they fell out of favor. Faith and mental health should be stressing these “get along, without going along,” rules — and not only to prevent violence. And yes, this column is all over
the place – more than usual, you say? Well, I do have a recovering eye malady, which on Presidents’ Day initially received not only effective but enormously caring treatment from the First Avenue and 81st Street Urgent Care medics. Some doctors and hospitals and nursing home rehabs could take some caring lessons from them. Maybe we all could — for a non-violent society. As for that bipartisan Get Involved Party, revive we must, Russian social critic, Pulitzer Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s timeless Harvard commencement address mandate: “Everyone” he said, “must make everything their business!” If you remember nothing else from this column ... and It can be done if enough of us try. dewingbetter@aol.com
FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD TO OUR TOWN BY CHRIS DASTOOR
For the last six weeks, I have been interning at Our Town as a journalism student from the lower west side ... as in 10,000 miles lower and west. I study at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. It’s been a short stay, but I’m grateful for how much I have experienced within that time. Adelaide is a predominately suburban city, with a central business district located on the Torrens River. Our winters are mild (average low of 45 degrees), but our summers are extremely hot, often hitting 100110 degrees. It’s home to 1.3 million people over 1,258 square miles. It’s a multicultural city, but most of the population is white. We have a growing arts and entertainment scene, which is becoming one of our biggest industries. The idea of working in a different city, even if only temporarily, always appealed to me. You develop a bet-
ter understanding of a place, as opposed to coming through as a tourist. Manhattan always stuck out in that respect. Although it is one of the globe’s great tourist destinations, I was drawn to the experience of living in the Big Apple. I was overwhelmed upon arriving. I thought I was used to multiculturalism, but New York is another level. The amount of choice of what to do, what to eat and where to go, as well as conversing with people from a diverse range of backgrounds felt like I was re-starting my whole adult life from scratch. Given that Adelaide never sees cold weather like New York, dealing with an East Coast winter was a struggle. Working in it was fine, once I got into my routine it was easy catching the train and getting to work, but trying to spend time outdoors and exploring the city was a challenge. While I was at Times Square, my phone froze from the cold! Despite that, being in Times Square was sur-
real; even in bad weather it’s still as bright and beautiful as on TV. Central Park is beautiful, and adds the perfect contrast in the skyline. I can’t believe how much I enjoyed the subway. OK, “enjoyed” is an overstatement; I was generally using it to commute and I certainly got the full “New York City subway experience” with delays, crowds, homeless sleepers and violent passengers, but these issues exist at any metro network. At home, there is less coverage and the time between trains or busses is usually half an hour, so I avoid using it. Here, I don’t even check the subway schedule, I just go to the station and wait five minutes for a train. My biggest pet-peeve during the whole trip was the take-away coffee cups. Coffee places in Australia generally use insulated paper cups that don’t burn your hand when you hold it for extended periods of times. The cardboard sleeves are meant to mitigate that effect, but they are
completely ineffective. I thought living in a less densely populated city was easier, but being able to walk out the front of my building and cross the road to get pizza or go to Dunkin’ Donuts is amazing. I thought I’d miss driving my car, but I haven’t thought about Taylor (the name of my white Suzuki Swift) at all. I didn’t experience driving here, but it looks awful. Despite the occasional rude drivers here, the people are generally friendlier here than their reputation suggests. It was never hard to find someone willing to help you out if you had a question or were lost, and people might still chat with you at a traffic stop. Although it wasn’t easy settling in upon arrival, Manhattan became to feel like home, despite my short stay. It’s sad that my journey here is over, after spending so long planning for it. I hope to make it back, although I don’t really know what the future holds.
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The MTA will review elevator and escalator systems at stations on the Second Avenue subway due to questionable performance that one official characterized as “not where you want it to be for a system that’s that new.” Photo: Steven Strasser
ACCESSIBILITY AN ISSUE ON SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY RIDERSHIP MTA: elevator and escalator performance at Second Avenue stations “unsatisfactory for new systems” BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
After one year in operation, the Second Avenue subway is nearing ridership forecasts and easing pressure on the nearby Lexington Avenue line, but the stations’ new escalators and elevators are failing to meet expectations. Performance of the escalators and elevators in the Second Avenue subway is “unsatisfactory for new systems,” Janno Lieber, chief development officer with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said last week at a meeting of the MTA Board’s transit committee.
“Their performance is sort of borderline to our standard,” Lieber said. The MTA applies the same performance standards for elevator and escalator to systems of all ages, including recently installed systems like those at the Second Avenue subway stations. “I actually have directed the team to engage a consultant to review not just the caliber of the system but the installation process,” Lieber said, adding that the review would examine “if there was anything that went wrong in how they were installed or that we can learn from going forward, because clearly it’s not where you want it to be for a system that’s that new.” The Second Avenue subway now serves an average of 190,000 riders each weekday, Lieber said, just shy of the 200,000 daily riders projected by MTA officials before the line was built. Lieber added that
MTA data indicates the Second Avenue subway has helped reduce ridership at frequently overcrowded Upper East Side stops on the nearby Lexington Avenue line “in excess of 40 percent.” Lieber did not share detailed performance data for the elevators and escalators at the Second Avenue stations. At press time the MTA had not responded to a request for comment. The Second Avenue subway, which opened on January 1, 2017, features three new stations on Second Avenue at 72nd, 86th and 96th Streets and an expanded station at 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue, all of which are fully accessible to disabled riders when elevators and escalators are operational. Roughly three-quarters of the city’s subway stations are noncompliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The only dedicated Assisted Living Facility in New York City specializing in Enhanced Memory Care.
Ensconced in the landmark neighborhood of the Upper East Side, Residents continue to enjoy the heart and soul of this incomparable city they have always loved. • Beautiful Upper East Side Environment • Each floor a “Neighborhood” with Family Style Dining & Living Room • 24-hour Licensed Nurses & Attendants specially trained in dementia care • Medication Management • Around the clock personal care, as needed • Housekeeping, Linen & Personal Laundry • Courtyard & Atrium Rooftop Garden • Chef prepared Meals Nation’s first recipient of AFA’s Excellence in Care distinction.
80th Street Residents in Central Park with the Essex House Hotel peeking from behind.
430 East 80th Street, New York, NY 10075 Tel. 212-717-8888 www.80thstreetresidence.com
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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS
Average Weekday NYCT Bus Ridership
FEB 14 - 20, 2017 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. Oslo Coffee Roasters
422 East 75 Street
A
Food Mart Deli
1321 York Avenue
A
Bagels & Co
500 E 76th St
A
Vanguard Wine Bar
1372 1st Ave
A
The Simone
151 East 82 Street
A
Ethyl’s
1629 2nd Ave
A
Pitchoun
241 E 81st Street
A
Amura Japanese Restaurant
1567 2nd Ave
A
Roma Pizza
1572 3rd Ave
Grade Pending (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Starbucks Coffee
400 East 90 Street
A
Table D’hote
44 East 92 Street
A
Selena Rosa Mexicana
1712 2nd Ave
Grade Pending (24) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
JJ Brown Cup
1707 2nd Ave
A
Thais New York
1718 2nd Ave
A
Burger King
154 E 116th St
A
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
1908 3rd Ave
A
Pee Dee Steak
2006 3 Avenue
Grade Pending (18) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment.
El Aguila
1634 Lexington Avenue
Grade Pending (22) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Earl’s Beer & Cheese
1259 Park Ave
A
Aloaf Cafe
170 E 110th St
A
MKZ Yummy City
1557 Lexington Ave
Not Yet Graded (43) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Kahlua’s Cafe & Restaurant
2117 3 Avenue
A
MJ Pizza
1976 1st Ave
A
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Source: MTA
BUS FIXES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 action plan announced last summer by MTA Chairman Joe Lhota. Byford said that his team is planning to present a plan to the MTA board in April regarding implementation of improvements to local bus service. “That’s coming together, and that will be a comprehensive piece of work,” he said. Darryl Irick, president of MTA Bus and senior vice president of NYCT Buses, told MTA board members that the plan will take “bold and radical steps to really turn the bus system around.” “President Byford has challenged me and my team to take steps to improve the bus system and arrest the steady decline in ridership,” Irick said. “We accept that challenge and we envision that challenge to be very bold, very aggressive, relying on many of the timehonored techniques that we’ve used in the past such as [Select Bus Service].” Though 2017 ridership data on a route-by-route basis is not yet available, ridership drops in past years have been most acute in Manhattan. Average weekday ridership on Manhattan local bus routes dropped 3.4 percent from 2015 to 2016, the largest drop of any borough. From 2011 to 2016 local bus ridership in Manhattan fell 16 percent, according to a report released last fall by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. The MTA cited reduced customer demand as justification for service cuts to several Manhattan bus routes last year, including the crosstown M31, M42, M66 and M72 routes. The move was criticized by some bus riders and local elected officials, who claimed that ridership drops could be attributed to slow and infrequent bus ser-
vice. (The M31, M42, and M66 routes were each among the four slowest buses in the entire city, according to Stringer’s study.) Critics feared the service changes would lead to what some bus advocates characterize as a self-perpetuating cycle of cuts and further ridership drops spurred on by decreased service. Lhota has called for the enhanced enforcement of traffic laws and the implementation of a congestion pricing plan to improve traffic flow and bus efficiency. The Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group, wants the MTA to allow riders to board buses using all doors to reduce the amount of time buses spend at stops. In March, the MTA will unveil a new performance metrics
dashboard for the bus system. The dashboard, which will be available online, is intended to present riders with data measuring service quality in a userfriendly format. The dashboard will allow users to track recent and historical performance of the bus system using a number of new metrics, including bus speeds, additional wait time and additional on-bus time, in addition to so-called legacy performance measurements long used by the MTA such as wait assessment. The tool will be similar to the subway performance dashboard released by the MTA last fall, which allows users to track systemwide performance and data measuring individual subway lines.
NYCT President Andy Byford has promised to release a comprehensive plan to improve bus service. Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit
MARCH 1-7,2018
BUILDING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
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It would also erase from our skyline a structure that helped define mid-century Manhattan as the capital of capital and positioned Park Avenue as the must-have corporate address. Most troubling of all, it would negate the breakthrough work of a woman pioneer in the old boy’s club of post-war American architecture. Natalie Griffin de Blois is not a household name. That’s regrettable. She helped make midtown midtown. As senior designer at the architectural laboratory of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, she was a driving — if often uncredited — force in the classics of American corporate modernism, including such branding statements as the Lever House of 1952 and the Pepsi Cola Building of 1960, both on Park. Both are typically attributed to Gordon Bunshaft, SOM’s Pritzker Prize-winner and a legend in the male-dominated field. “It has been said that she did all the work,” Bankoff said. “And he got all the credit.”
ONLY THE DIVINITY KNEW Indeed, SOM has belatedly acknowledged that the firm’s signature works on Park Avenue could never have taken shape without de Blois. For she not only cracked the glass ceiling, she also built it: “Her mind and hands worked marvels in design,” wrote Nathaniel Alexander Owings, an SOM co-founder, in his 1973 autobiography. “And only she and God would ever know just how many great solutions, with the imprimatur of one of the male heroes of SOM, owed so much more to her than was ever attributed by either SOM or the client.” Lever House and Pepsi Cola are both designated landmarks. Both will endure. But there is a third SOM building in the International Style, its design team led by de Blois, which has never been designated, though in 2013, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) found it “may merit designation.” And that is the old Union Carbide Building at 270 Park — a sleek black-and-silver, glassand-steel tower, with doubleheight lobby, built to straddle the railroad tracks, completed in 1961, a masterpiece both of elegance and restraint — that
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Contact us at (212) 838-2900 or office@nycsmilespa.com 30 East 60th Street w Suite 1201 w New York, NY 10022 The Singer Building on lower Broadway at Liberty Street in a 1920s-era photo. It was razed in 1968 and has remained the tallest building in the world ever to be intentionally demolished -- a dubious status it will lose if JPMorgan Chase completes plans to tear down its headquarters at 270 Park Avenue. Photo: New York Public Library Digital Collection JPMorgan Chase wants to disassemble. The chief cheerleader of the demolition? None other than Mayor Bill de Blasio, who on Wednesday, February 21st joined bank CEO Jamie Dimon in announcing plans for the new 2.5 million square-foot tower, which would be built on the ashes of the current 1.5 million square-foot de Blois building. Under the city’s 2017 East Midtown rezoning plan, a 78-block district enveloping Grand Central Terminal, where scores of office buildings are over 75 years old, can now be rejuvenated, redeveloped or replaced outright with taller, modern towers. JPMorgan is expected to become the first major project to take advantage of the initiative through a complex purchase of air rights from nearby landmarks, like Grand Central or St. Patrick’s Cathedral for instance, in return for substantial contributions to mass transit or other public realm
improvements. Those are worthy goals. But so is retaining our heritage, our history, our architecture — and even the stainless steel mullions, glazed with Union Carbide products, that de Blois used to frame her building. The city has been down this road before. Ernest Flagg’s Singer Building was leveled three years after the creation of the LPC in 1965, which itself came into existence, a year after the destruction of Pennsylvania Station, to forestall similar calamities. Those were the early days of preservationism. No such excuse exists 50 years later. It should never have happened then. It should certainly not happen today. And LPC, now a mature agency with a decent track record, cannot in good conscience make the same mistake twice. Landmark 270 Park Avenue. Or as Bankoff wrote to 10,000 followers in an emergency eblast last week, “Save the Union Carbide Building!”
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2018
O T T Y Awards Our Town Thanks You
Rev. Dr. Cathy Gilliard
Nina McLemore
Ignazio Terranova
JoAnn Difede
Chris Lenahan
Leslie Granger
Valerie Orellana
Warren Scharf
James Clynes
Viola Goodman
Tony Fisher
Rabbi Raphael Benchimol
Lt. John McGinty
Capt. James Graney, Jr.
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2018 OTTY WINNER
THE CALL TO SERVE The Rev. Dr. Cathy Gilliard creates a welcoming environment at Park Avenue United Methodist Church BY ELISSA SANCI
To celebrate Park Avenue United Methodist Church’s 175th birthday, its congregation hired an archivist to delve into its storied history. The most notable discovery that stuck with the Reverend Dr. Cathy Gilliard revealed that one of the church’s earliest pastors was an abolitionist who had been suspended for publicly speaking out against slavery. This particular moment in PAUMC’s history stood out so boldly to Gilliard because, a few months earlier, she had become the church’s first AfricanAmerican pastor. “For a pastor to be speaking out against slavery, which was a crime against state and church 180 years ago, to say slavery is wrong,” Gilliard says. “And for me to come and be the first African-American pastor of this church ... that was like coming full circle.” PAUMC has not strayed far from its
progressive roots — in fact, its diversity is one of the things Gilliard says she loves most about her church. She says that of 130 people the small church brings in each week, there are nearly 30 represented nationalities, with members spanning different ages, sexual orientations and socioeconomic and political backgrounds. “In my own theology, I wanted to be in a context where I was able to live out fundamentally what I believe, and that is God is God of all people,” Gilliard says. Gilliard has served as PAUMC’s senior pastor for nearly seven years, but her ministry career reaches back much further than that. Originally from North Carolina, Gilliard says she knew she was meant to preach when she felt the call to serve almost 26 years ago. “This was the thing that I feel that I was put on this Earth to do,” she says. After receiving her Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School and her Doctorate of Ministry from the United Theological Seminary, Gilliard served on the pastoral staff
“People report coming to us and feeling at home. They feel safe.” Photo courtesy of Cathy Gilliard
at a North Carolinian Baptist church until she was approached by a United Methodist pastor from New York. The pastor offered her a spot on the Christ Church United Methodist’s staff, but there was a catch: not only did it mean she’d have to move cities, but it also meant Gilliard, originally ordained an American Baptist, would have to adopt a different Christian denomination. “It was an opportunity to step into something that was, for me, other,” she says. “Because I was quite comfortable in my traditional AfricanAmerican Baptist Church in the South, and here was there opportunity to say, ‘Cathy, what do you really believe? Do you stay “comfortable” where you are, or do you take a leap of faith and step into something new and learn something else?’” And so Gilliard took that leap, joining the United Methodists in New York. She was part of the Christ Church United Methodist’s staff on Park Avenue for eight years before she moved 26 blocks north to serve as PAUMC’s senior minister in July 2011. Gilliard speaks highly of her staff; together, they put great emphasis on giving the church a strong and meaningful community presence. Whether it’s as small as the quote board hanging next to the door with inspiring words of wisdom, or as big as the semiannual fundraising rummage sale used to send local children to summer camp, Gilliard strives to
make a difference for the Upper East Side. “People report coming to us and feeling at home. They feel safe,” Gilliard says, pride in her voice. Being able to create a welcoming environment is the most rewarding part of the job, she says, which she’s able to do by keeping her sermons relevant: rather than read the gospel word for word, she’s giving it new meaning by relating it to what’s going on culturally and socially in this country. Not only is Gilliard PAUMC’s first black pastor, but she’s the church’s second woman. She’s a mother of two sons, and a grandmother to five. She’s also a divorcee, another unrepresented cohort within the church. “When people come and see me, I think that’s helpful,” she says. “They think, ‘Oh my god, it’s a woman! And she’s divorced! And she’s happy!’ It’s healthy; it’s real.” She draws inspiration from the people in her life — her mother and her grandmother, her theological mentors, the staff she works alongside at PAUMC — and she says she’s glad to be in a place where what she’s doing matters. “I’ve been exposed to these people who’ve done these amazing things and so I want to do my little part, whatever that is,” Gilliard says. “And not only by showing up in black skin and femininity, but also by making my mark in the body of Christ as best as I can.”
Congratulations to the 2018 OTTY Honorees. You Make Our Community Strong. www.EastMidtown.org
MARCH 1-7,2018
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2018 OTTY WINNER
2018 OTTY WINNER
EMPOWERING WOMEN Nina McLemore’s clothing has become the brand of choice for influential women today BY SHOSHY CIMENT
What do Elizabeth Warren, Doris Kearns Goodwin, the president of Cornell University, and the CEO of PepsiCo all have in common? Professional goals aside, they all wear the same brand. Nina McLemore Inc. has become the brand of choice for influential women today. Nina McLemore herself, the CEO of the company, is at the helm of this groundbreaking movement in women’s fashion. With 14 stores in various locations and a distinct trademark style, McLemore designs and produces quality clothing for those seeking a professional yet elegant look. McLemore, who has lived on the Upper East Side for over 20 years, originally started her business out of her apartment there. One of her first retail stores opened on the Upper East Side in 2011. “I like supporting a local neighborhood and being with other locally-owned stores, rather than the large international brands,” explained McLemore. “We try to have a warm, friendly atmosphere in the store to give that local store feeling when you walk in.” McLemore was involved in the fashion industry long before she started her own business. “I had grown up making, with my mother, all of my own clothes, so designing a collection was something I learned at an early age,” remarked McLemore, a Mississippi native. After working for Liz Claiborne as an executive and founding Liz Claiborne Accessories, McLemore realized she was an entrepreneur at heart. She decided to earn her MBA from Columbia Graduate School of Business and invest in consumer and women-owned businesses. She finally started Nina McLemore Inc. when she recognized the opportunity in the market for professional attire for women in the workplace. “My main reason for starting this business was to help women achieve their goals,” explained McLemore. “To design clothes so that when they
“My main reason for starting this business was to help women achieve their goals. To design clothes so that when they walk into the room, everyone knows they belong at the table.”
Ignazio “Iggy” Terranova coordinated the Sanitation Department’s efforts to ensure that trash pickup continued uninterrupted during construction of the Second Avenue subway. Photo: Michael Garofalo
KEEPING SECOND AVENUE CLEAN Iggy Terranova helped merchants and residents navigate garbage collection challenges during a decade of subway work Nina McLemore likes “supporting a local neighborhood and being with other locally-owned stores.” Photo courtesy of Nina McLemore walk into the room, everyone knows they belong at the table.” To Nina McLemore, first impressions can mean everything and clothing is a large part of that. “We are women and that can be an advantage — so dressing with a sense of style, in color with a tailored and yet feminine jacket skirt, dress or pants — sets you apart. We are visual people and respond positively to great art, and clothing is an art form.” In addition to her professional success, McLemore is active in various community projects and non-profits. She has been a member in several women’s organizations such as the Committee of 200, the International Women’s Forum, Women Presidents’ Organization, and Women Corporate Directors. “We actively search out smaller local charities to work with that focus on women, children, education and health,” said McLemore, who has worked with the Animal Medical Center, Junior League, the New York Women’s Forum for their scholarship program and the Girl Scouts of Greater New York where she served on the board of directors. Other than starting her own successful business, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is McLemore’s greatest accomplishment. “You can get through almost anything if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other and breathe very deeply,” said McLemore. “Great lesson for the long endurance it takes to build a company with a product that you have to reinvent four times a year!”
BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Now that trains have been running on the Second Avenue subway for over a year, it’s sometimes tempting to take the new line for granted. But few who lived or worked along the corridor during the decade-long construction period will soon forget the problems posed by the project — or the people who helped solve them. While some of the subway-related challenges were immediately clear to anyone walking down Second Avenue, others were less obvious. For example: With so many corners, curbs and sidewalks blocked by barricades and construction equipment, how does trash get picked up? Ignazio “Iggy” Terranova, citywide community affairs officer with the Department of Sanitation, was the man tasked with making sure that garbage collection proceeded smoothly during the project’s most trying days. It was anything but a routine undertaking: coordinating garbage collection during the biggest expansion of the subway system in decades necessitated a block-by-block plan tailored to meet the community’s needs during ever-changing construction conditions. “There was no set protocol,” Terranova said. “It wasn’t a cookie-cutter type deal. This was a custommade bake shop, basically.” The custom plan required direct engagement with residents and business owners. Terranova walked the length of the subway corridor with colleagues from other city agencies and the MTA, meeting with every Second Avenue business to gauge garbage volume, collect input on problems and concerns, and make arrange-
ments for trash to be put out and picked up as easily as possible. The walk-throughs were a constant effort. Terranova revisited the strip on a regular basis, meeting with new businesses as they came in and refining block-specific plans to work within changing traffic configurations as construction proceeded. “I think I lost the most weight walking up and down these blocks,” he said with a laugh. Terranova still cherishes the relationships he built with many merchants over the course of his visits. “I became friends with such good people here,” he said. “Over the years we got to know each other. We attended so many meetings and did so many walk-throughs together.” Gregg Galante of the Second Avenue Business Alliance called Terranova an “unsung hero” in the building of the Second Avenue subway, writing that he “was quick to find immediate solutions to address garbage pick-up problems, meeting and working with merchants, and residents and stakeholders, listening and getting feed-back from them and letting them know what was going on.” Terranova said the department tried to be as sensitive as possible to the corridor’s businesses, which faced difficult times during construction. “We understood that the people here were living through a hard time, so we didn’t want to hurt them in terms of summonses,” he said. “So we made sure it was always education first and talking to them and giving them a chance to fix the situation before it came to that.” With the barricades finally removed and the Second Avenue subway moving below street level at last, Terranova reflected on the years of effort that went into the immense project. “It definitely teaches you how if you really put your head to it, you really can do things in New York City and make it work,” he said.
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2018 OTTY WINNER
2018 OTTY WINNER
BETWEEN THE SHELVES AT THE CORNER STORE In a digital age, independent bookstores are thriving, due in no small part to the personalized touch of people like book buyer and manager Chris Lenahan. BY ALIZAH SALARIO
In her pioneering research into the use of virtual reality technology in PTSD treatment, JoAnn Difede has worked with 9/11 first responders and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Photo: John Abbott
TREATING PTSD WITH VR TECH JoAnn Difede’s groundbreaking treatment of 9/11 first responders BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
JoAnn Difede’s office looks like many others on the sprawling medical campuses of the Upper East Side, but within the walls of her workplace patients are transported from their ordinary surroundings to virtual worlds as part of an innovative protocol for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Difede, a professor of psychology in psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine and attending psychologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, began studying PTSD as a doctoral student at a time when the disorder was not yet a household concept and treatments had not yet been developed. Difede would go on to conduct research into a PTSD treatment protocol known as behavioral exposure therapy for burn patients. In the course of the research, the September 11 terrorist attacks took place. Difede soon sought to apply exposure therapy in combination with virtual reality simulations in treating disaster workers who were at Ground Zero. “It sounds dramatic, but given the number of people that were in Lower Manhattan, I was aware that there would literally be thousands and thousands of people who would have post-traumatic stress symptoms, yet we had no treatment that was considered effective,” Difede said. For individuals who were at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, a range of stimuli associated with the events, from tall buildings to airplanes to blue skies, could prompt PTSD symptoms. To those suffering from the disorder, Difede said, “It’s like it’s happening again and you’re there. I’m talking to you and all of a sudden I see, in my mind’s eye, a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. That’s distracting, upsetting and intrusive. And what it is is a fragment of a memory that hasn’t been stored in the file drawer that says ‘the past, it’s over.’”
Difede’s study on virtual reality treatment of World Trade Center survivors, which proved successful, was one of the very first to research the use of the technology to reduce PTSD symptoms. In virtual reality treatment sessions, patients put on headsets and find themselves immersed in computer-generated scenarios designed to help them engage emotionally with their memories. The software developed for World Trade Center scenario places the viewer at ground-level near the towers; in subsequent research Difede has applied the treatment to veterans experiencing combat-related PTSD. By re-engaging with their trauma in a safe environment, patients eventually learn to reassess cues that became associated with danger, such as tall buildings. “The idea is that if you’re numb and avoidant, you’re pushing what’s fearful away and that sort of bypasses the brain’s sense of agency,” she said. “All of those images are popping around in your mind anyhow, and this helps a person gain mastery over it, a sense of control.” Difede continued, “It helps them process all of that, so that their brain goes, ‘Oh, this is actually a memory that happened years ago. It’s not happening now.’” Difede, who serves as director of the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies, a joint Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYorkPresbyterian program, said that advances in technology in recent years — as virtual reality has become a burgeoning multibillion-dollar industry used in education, entertainment and gaming — have lowered barriers to those who could benefit from the mental health applications or virtual reality. The rig used to treat World Trade Center first responders requires a $25,000 head-mounted display weighing 10 pounds. Today, a smart phone can be placed in a widely available plastic headset to create a portable treatment device for a fraction of the cost, opening an avenue for PTSD treatment to be widely disseminated in community clinics. “We can now offer the treatment in a way that’s much more easily accessible to many people,” Difede said.
Chris Lenahan wouldn’t mind spending our entire interview talking about books. “I’ve been a huge reader all my life,” says Lenahan, the store buyer and manager at The Corner Bookstore. With a background in history and literature, Lenahan was a natural to assume his responsibilities at the shop, at Madison Avenue at 93rd Street. Part of his job entails sitting down with publishers several times a year to peruse catalogues of upcoming titles. Lenahan always keeps two things in mind: the store’s point of view, and his customers’ perspectives. “For this neighborhood, we do a lot of good literary fiction, as well as a lot of mystery and suspense fiction, and a lot of really good nonfiction, a lot of biography, a lot of history.” In the era of Amazon and e-readers, Lenahan says that “indies” like The Corner Bookstore offer one thing the internet cannot: human connection. “I think small stores like us, we provide personalized service. We know our books, and we know what people want,” he says. For instance? “Two biographies were sort of dueling it out over Christmastime. The Ulysses Grant by Ron Chernow and the Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. Both of them sold enormously well,” says Lenahan. The Corner Bookstore, which opened its doors in the late 1970s in a restored brownstone that
boasts a terrazzo floor and tinned ceiling, is more than a place to pick up a new title. The store also hosts numerous events showcasing local authors, often shining the spotlight on debut novelists, and is connected to schools in the neighborhood as well. “Having been here for 40 years, many people kind of see us as an anchor in the neighborhood and we’re really glad to fulfill the role,” says Lenahan. “What I love about this neighborhood is that it really is a neighborhood. A lot of people think of 86th to 96th Streets along Madison Avenue as the main street [of this neighborhood].” The bookstore is more than just a place to pick up a new title in no small part due to Lenahan, who has worked at the local establishment for nearly 30 years. He’s doing what he loves — talking about books — and it shows. So what’s on his must-read list? “I’m reading a few things. I just finished a short novel called “The Tin Man” [by Sarah Winman] and I just read the new Richard Flanagan novel [“First Person.”],” he says. He mentions a debut novel, “Asymmetry” by Lisa Halliday, and “The Golden Age” by Joan London. Lenahan could go on, but he’ll save it for the customers. Customers come in looking for not just books, but a connection. Says Lenahan, “It’s this, I think, that’s what kept us going.”
I think small stores like us, we provide personalized service. We know our books, and we know what people want. “Many people kind of see us an an anchor in the neighborhood,” says Chris Lenahan, the store buyer and manager at The Corner Bookstore. Photo: Ray Sherman
MARCH 1-7,2018
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Weill Cornell Medicine & NewYork-Presbyterian congratulate ¿Ĕ 0²  ‰’™…‰ & all of the ùïðá OTTY award recipients.
Care That Connects To You.
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Visit weillcornell.org and nyp.org
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2018 OTTY WINNER
A CEO MATCHMAKER FOR PETS AND OWNERS Bideawee provides a safe haven for homeless cats and dogs. Now, Leslie Granger is bringing the century-old animal rescue into the future. BY ALIZAH SALARIO
Granger considers Bideawee to be her “second family and second home.” Photo: Sylvain Gaboury/ PMC via Getty Images
When Leslie Granger was considering the position of President and CEO at Bideawee animal rescue, her husband encouraged her to take the job – on one condition. “My husband said he was very happy for me, as long as I agreed to no more [animals] for right now. I have to curb my enthusiasm when I fall in love with them all over again,” says Granger, who owns two rescue dogs and three cats. Bideawee, which means “stay awhile” in Scottish, is one of the nation’s oldest no-kill animal rescues. Granger spent almost seven years at Bideawee in marketing and development before a brief stint away to help reestablish the New York City Opera. In September 2017, Granger returned to Bideawee, an organization she considers to be her “second family and second home.” Now at the helm, she leads staff and over 1000 daily volunteers who put their heart and soul into rehabilitating and caring for animals. “It’s not just a transaction for us,” explains Granger.
“Typically, Bideawee will take in an animal from a transport. Most recently, [we] did a rescue from Puerto Rico. [The animals] fly in on a plane, then they’re evaluated, spayed, neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and given any kind of surgery they need,” explains Granger. “We really do pride ourselves on the level of care that we give every animal that comes through the door.” The relationship between pets and their owners is at the core of Bideawee’s ethos. The adoption staff are called “matchmakers,” and “pet parents” can return to the organization for medical services and to visit pet behaviorists on staff throughout their dog or cat’s lifetime. “We really try to match the personality of a cat or dog that would fit best with a potential adopter. Are they active? Are they couch potatoes? Do they have experience, and are they willing to take an animal that might have quirks?” says Granger. Bideawee also trains pet therapists to go into
schools or airports, where they support people waiting in security lines or for their flight to take off. It’s part of Bideawee’s commitment to the larger New York City community, and to Granger’s goal of moving the organization into the future while staying true to the mission Flora Kibbe, who founded Bideawee in 1903. Though Kibbe didn’t have the right to vote, she did have the fortitude and insight to create a safe haven for animals, explains Granger. “Kibbe chose the location because of its proximity to the river [on 38th Street between First Avenue and FDR Drive],” says Granger. “One of the problems [back then] is that when people no longer had use for their horses or dogs, they threw them into the river.” Kibbe’s legacy is one that Granger is proud to continue into the 21st century. Says Granger, “I enjoy being able to see the work that we do come to a happily ever after on a daily basis.”
2018 OTTY WINNER
STAYING, AND HELPING, IN PLACE Mount Sinai’s Valerie Orellana strives to make a difference in the local community BY CHARMAINE P. RICE
Strengthening Communities
CON EDISON IS PROUD TO SUPPORT THE
OTTY Awards AND CONGRATULATE ITS 2018 HONOREES
Everything Matters
When Valerie Orellana joined Mount Sinai in 1986 as a registered nurse, little did she know that this hospital where she was born would also be the place where she’d fall in love, meet her husband, and deliver her own daughter. Today, Orellana serves as the system vice president, talent acquisition and HR operations, where she spends much of her time sourcing senior level talent and working directly with each of the Mount Sinai Health System Hospital presidents. During her tenure in human resources, she performed extensive work with the immediate community, engaging and identifying talent pipelines in East Harlem. Orellana takes great pride in Mount Sinai’s commitment to sourcing and developing local talent. “Patients like to be taken care of by people that understand them. We look to hire folks that match the patients,” she said. A key pipeline for local talent is Mount Sinai’s partnership with STRIVE, a nonprofit agency headquartered in East Harlem. STRIVE provides skills training, certification and job placement services. Over the last seven years, Mount Sinai Health System and STRIVE have worked together to create customized training programs, establish internships for young adults, and place hundreds of STRIVE graduates into full- and part-time positions. The programs run for 12-weeks and take place during the evening hours. Orellana attends STRIVE graduation ceremonies, where she, along with Mount Sinai recruiters, speak about the available openings and have dinner
Valerie Orellana joined Mount Sinai in 1986 as a registered nurse. She is now a vice president there. with the graduates. During a packed open house several years ago, Orellana came to the realization that there was a job for every single person who attended. “I recognized from that moment on that there was a job for every single person in the community to be at Mount Sinai. You don’t have to be a doctor, you don’t have to be a nurse, you don’t have to be a clinician. We have actors who perform at the Morchand Center for Mount Sinai medical students to practice on. We have jobs for teachers, for those in finance, for engineers and mechanics. You name a title and there is a position here for that person,” Orellana said. “It’s really a great privilege to be a part of Mount Sinai.”
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2018 OTTY WINNER KARPOFF AFFILIATES 4FOJPS .PWF .BOBHFS t 3FBM &TUBUF #SPLFS
KARPOFF AFFILIATES JT ZPVS TJOHMF TUPQ GPS TFOJPS MJGF USBOTJUJPOT BOE SFBM FTUBUF CSPLFSBHF OFFET Warren B. Scharf has been executive director of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House since 2003. Portrait, Environmental, Warren
IN THE VANGUARD OF ADVOCACY Early on, Warren Scharf went from Wall Street to the nonprofit world BY MICKEY KRAMER
Warren B. Scharf has spent nearly three decades years helping those most in need. For the last 15 years he has done so mostly on the Upper East Side, as executive director of the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House. “I was at a big Wall Street law ďŹ rm and my wife Jane [Spinak] was always encouraging me to do what makes me happy and to help people who lacked the ability to defend themselves and it went from there,â€? Scharf said. In 1989, Scharf was appointed attorney-incharge at the Brooklyn Office for the Aging of the Legal Aid Society. Subsequent posts were with the Brooklyn Neighborhood Office of the Legal Aid Society and vice president of The Partnership for the Homeless. Scharf, 58, who grew up in Whitestone, Queens, was greatly inuenced by his parents who, he says, “believed in social justice and making sure to take care of those who need help ... being a good neighbor.â€? Scharf, who graduated from Columbia College where he studied East Asian languages and cultures and then Columbia Law School, is especially proud of the legal services provided by Lenox Hill. “Demand for the Neighborhood House’s legal services has never been higher,â€? he said. “We continue to be one of the few resources on the East Side for low-income individuals and families to turn to for help with their civil legal problems.â€? Over the last two years, the staff at Lenox House’s legal advocacy department has more than doubled, from 11 to 23, and now provides legal services that beneďŹ t more than 5,000 lowincome New Yorkers who have encountered difďŹ culties with their housing, access to beneďŹ ts and health care, and other issues. Lenox Hill’s senior center, known as “The Center,â€? is another extensive resource within the organization’s East 70th Street Neighborhood House, at the corner of First Avenue. There,
Given what’s going on in society, it’s critically important to have a place where the young and old can get the services they need.
community members can get meals, health and wellness services, and programs in the arts and ďŹ tness. “Given what’s going on in society, it’s critically important to have a place where the young and old can get the services they need,â€? Scharf said. In 2011, Scharf and Lenox Hill instituted a “farm to institutionâ€? model for their food service program, which serves 350,000 meals yearly to seniors and children. All of the food, including sustainable ďŹ sh and grains, is purchased from New York State farms. “Now clients can eat food that’s healthier and tastes better,â€? Scharf says. Under his tutelage, Lenox Hill also initiated “Teaching Kitchen,â€? which instructs other nonproďŹ ts how to convert to the “farm to institutionâ€? model. Scharf said that, to date, they have helped 30 organizations serve 3 million meals. The goal, he said, is expanding to 80 non-proďŹ ts this year. The New York State Health Foundation awarded “Teaching Kitchenâ€? its 2016 Emerging Innovator Award. Other features of Lenox Hill are the programs for early childhood development, English classes for speakers of other languages along with a comprehensive network of programs and services to help homeless and formerly homeless improve their lives. “The consequences for our clients can be great, so we’ve assembled a special team that can make real improvements in their lives, which is exciting and fun,â€? he said.
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2018 OTTY WINNER
H UNTER C OLLEGE P RESIDENT J ENNIFER J. R AAB AND THE
H UNTER C OMMUNITY CONGRATULATE
HON . JAMES CLYNES N EW Y ORK C ITY C IVIL C OURT N EW Y ORK C OUNTY D ISTRICT 9 F ORMER C HAIR MANHATTAN COMMUNITY BOARD 8
DR . TONY FISHER P RINCIPAL H UNTER C OLLEGE H IGH S CHOOL AND ALL RECIPIENTS OF THE
2018 OTTY AWARD
www.hunter.cuny.edu
THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM SOLVER From the board to the bench — James Clynes’ legacy at CB8 BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
The issues are thorny and complex, the challenges daunting and the advocates disputatious. No matter: Managing the warring parties to forge tough compromises is the mission of the community board chair. And few public servants have fulfilled that task with more equanimity or dexterity — while also managing to ruffle fewer feathers — than James Clynes, the former chair of Community Board 8 on the Upper East Side. Make that Judge Clynes. After joining the board in 2006 and serving for 12 years, the last three in the unsalaried No. 1 post, he was elected, unopposed, to a 10-year term as Civil Court judge in November 2017. A 1984 University of Notre Dame Law School graduate, admitted to the New York bar in 1986, Clynes credits his legal experience — everything from criminal prosecutions to civil and commercial litigation — with helping him maintain order and decorum on a potentially fractious board. “I’ve been in a courtroom for the last 30 years of my professional life, where everybody has to act with respect for each other, and it teaches you to keep control and avoid chaos,” he said. That style and background has vested him with the perspective of both advocate and mediator: “Over the years, it has been wonderful to see Jim as CB8 chair handle many controversial issues masterfully,” said City Council Member Ben Kallos, who represents the district. “Whether it was CitiBike expansion, new LinkNYC kiosks, completing the Second Avenue Subway, or perhaps most controversial, crosstown bike lanes, he has always been a strong and effective partner in service to this community,” Kallos added. As unofficial mayor of the expanse between 59th and 96th Street and Fifth Avenue and Roosevelt Island, Clynes oversaw a district with some 230,000 people. And these are opinionated East Siders. So he had to juggle close to 230,000 viewpoints on traffic flow, transit woes, landmarks, liquor licenses, zoning texts, building variances, street fairs, sidewalk cafes and other bread-and-butter issues falling within the board’s purview. “It was like herding kittens, and Jim has done a very good job as a kitten herder,” said Dave Rosenstein, who first joined CB8 in 1991. Managing 50 civic-minded, volunteer board members, citizen activists in their own right, was also central to his duties, and Clynes was adept at controlling the agenda. “His even temperament brought a certain air of dignity to the board,” said Rita Popper, who has served on CB 8 for nine years. Among Clynes’ innovations: He created the board’s first Waterfront Committee to promote access and jump-start improvements to the East River Esplanade. “The idea was that Upper East Siders should enjoy the East River just like Upper West Siders enjoy the Hudson River,” he said. His job may have looked easy. The truth is, it was anything but. Still, the mission of boosting quality of life, while balancing public interests
James G. Clynes served 12 years on the board of Community Board 8, the last three at the helm, before his election last year to a 12-year term as a Civil Court judge. Photo: New York York State Unified Court System
I’ve been in a courtroom for the last 30 years of my professional life, where everybody has to act with respect for each other, and it teaches you to keep control and avoid chaos. with commercial and business interests, showcased his role as municipal problem solver. “There are the bike advocates, and there are those concerned about bike hazards,” Rosenstein said. “There are supporters of development, and those concerned about preservation. There are those sensitive to the need for affordable housing, and those for whom it’s not on their radar.” How did he keep board proceedings from spinning out of control? “He had a strong hand and was firm in managing the process so we got a lot of things done,” Rosenstein added. Meanwhile, on Clynes’ watch, the East Side changed forever: “The biggest accomplishment for the community was the completion of the Second Avenue Subway, which has totally improved the lives of Upper East Siders for generations to come,” he said. Clynes summed up his service on January 25th at his judicial induction ceremony in a downtown courthouse: “I’ll always live in Community Board 8 because the community will always live in me,” he said.
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2018 OTTY WINNER
2018 OTTY WINNER
TRAINING FUTURE GENERATIONS Hunter College High School’s principal on education, and his own atypical path BY SHOSHY CIMENT
Viola Goodman in Viola’s Smart Shop, the First Avenue shop she and her husband opened in 1943. Photo: Carson Kessler
SHE KNOWS YOUR SIZE IN A SNAP Viola Goodman has been selling bras on First Avenue for nearly 75 years BY CARSON KESSLER
Viola Goodman can guess a woman’s bra size with a quick glance. Goodman’s cultivated her expertise over nearly 75 years time, which is how long she’s been in the lingerie business, all of it on the Upper East Side. But a life in lingerie was not what Goodman had imagined for herself after she earned a master’s degree in history from Columbia University. Soon after graduating, Goodman’s husband, Max, a mechanic, was stricken with an infection in his knees and could no longer ply his trade. “Somehow this store was empty,” Goodman recounted. “It was dry and clean, and my husband needed work.” Viola and Max opened Viola’s Smart Shop in 1943. “Every woman needs a brassiere, so I decided it was a good product to sell,” she said. Her lingerie boutique, on First Avenue just north of 77th Street, is sandwiched between a children’s clothes shop and a vacant storefront. For 74 years, Goodman, who preferred to let people guess her age, has personally serviced women on the Upper East Side, ensuring each leaves her shop with the best fit. She prides herself on style and quality. It’s a selling point for many of her longtime and newer customers that Viola’s Smart Shop is no Victoria’s Secret. Experience and quality is what Goodman believes sets her boutique apart.
“Many women come in here, and the garment is so tight, they can’t breathe!” Goodman said, suggesting that big-name stores in her industry train young women to sell bras for commission. “I know they’re going to come to me because I give them what’s right.” While customers peruse racks of nightgowns and robes, they enter the store because of “braguru” Goodman, not the outdated window display. “I had always loved the fact that Viola had this store for a very long time and kept it going,” co-worker Connie Norkin said. “That’s really a testament to Viola and her passion, commitment and energy to keep this store going in a neighborhood that is changing.” After noticing a sign in the window on the way to her gym, Norkin, a graphic designer, stopped to talk to Viola about possibly helping her spruce up the displays in the windows. Goodman had little interest in modernizing. Instead, she asked Norkin to help inside the shop as a salesperson. The matter-of-fact Goodman prefers her store just the way it is, almost identical to the way it was in 1943 with her loving husband Max. Max passed away about 10 years ago. But many customers continue to ask for him. “The old timers,” Goodman laughs. With her children and grandchildren in all different states, Goodman works six days a week, reserving Sundays for cooking her favorite pot roast with fresh vegetables (“and no salt!”). “I’m busy, and I’m happy,” Goodman said of her 48-hour workweek. “My work keeps me going.”
Tony Fisher realized he wanted to be an educator when he was in 10th grade. When his best friend from high school needed someone to teach him all of geometry the night before the final exam, Fisher stepped up to the plate. “I would say it was then that I knew I wanted to be a teacher,” said Fisher, now the principal of Hunter College High School on East 94th Street. “I just really enjoyed explaining stuff.” As the principal of the one of the most prestigious high schools in Manhattan, Fisher serves as the fearless leader for Hunter’s 1,265 gifted students. During his time at HCHS, he has been an instrumental part of significant academic initiatives, such as the introduction of a mandatory ninth grade computer science course, the school’s Institute for Responsible Media, a computer science research program, and a school writing center. One of his proudest accomplishments at Hunter has been differentiating the seventh and eighth grade students as an individual unit from the high school through separate counseling programs and advisory initiatives. But in addition to academic initiatives, Fisher has also been a part of efforts to improve students’ mental health. For many of the school’s students, it can be difficult to stay mindful in such a high-pressure environment. As part of a recently-introduced pilot program, all seventh graders partake in exercises three days a week that focus on improving mindfulness and controlling breathing. “If this makes some students less anxious and helps, then it’s worth it,” said Fisher, who hopes to extend the program to other grades, pending its success. Although Fisher knew he was going to go into education eventually, he initially pushed it off. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Yale University, Fisher decided to continue his studies before going to teach. “I figured if I went straight to teaching, I would never want to go back,” said Fisher, who chose to get his a Ph.D. in math from the University of Chicago after college. “When I told people in the math department that I was going to teach high school, I got these really funny looks,” he remarked, explaining how
Tony Fisher serves as the fearless leader for HCHS’ gifted students. Photo courtesy of Tony Fisher his goals strayed from the traditional route of becoming a professor. “There was a lot of surprise that that’s what I was doing.” Fisher started at HCHS in 2006 as chair of the school’s mathematics department. After a year, he was appointed assistant principal and three years after that, principal, a position he has served in for the past eight years. Although a part of Fisher misses teaching students in the classroom, he has enjoyed his roles in administration as well. “Once I became an administrator, I discovered that I liked thinking about bigger pictures,” Fisher said. “I liked thinking about the whole school.” A few years ago, Hunter came up a new approach to approaching school culture that focuses on six core values — compassion, creativity, curiosity, integrity, respect and responsibility. To Fisher, these are the values he hopes students take with them when they graduate. “I want students leaving here to think about how they’re leading their lives in those terms,” he remarked. “It’s so cheesy to say you want students leaving a place to go out and sort of think about making the world better. But I believe in it and I say it a lot.”
Once I became an administrator, I discovered that I liked thinking about bigger pictures…. I liked thinking about the whole school.
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2018 OTTY WINNER
2018 OTTY WINNER
LEADING THE WAY FOR ‘LITTLE MOROCCO’
STAYING COOL WHEN THINGS GET HOT 2 firefighters from a Yorkville firehouse were among the first on the scene of a rooftop fire BY CHARMAINE P. RICE
With a connection to his birthplace, Rabbi Raphael Benchimol created a community at the Manhattan Sephardic Congregation BY SHOSHY CIMENT
When Rabbi Raphael Benchimol was asked to become the Rabbi of the Manhattan Sephardic Congregation (MSC) at the young age of 23, he could not refuse. Born and raised a Moroccan Jew, Benchimol was eager to transport the rich culture of his birthplace to his newfound home in the Upper East Side via a new type of congregation. “As I always say, you can leave Morocco, but Morocco does not leave you,” said Benchimol. Founded in 1990, MSC was originally created as a center for Torah study and worship for wandering congregants, specifically those with a Moroccan background and of Sephardic descent. At the time of its conception, Benchimol was adamant that Moroccan Jews should be able to experience their heritage and style of prayer while living in America. “Being young and energetic, and having been given firsthand the opportunity to understand and appreciate the rich tradition of Moroccan Jewry, I felt that I had a larger purpose and was on a different kind of mission,” explained Benchimol, who, to this day, remains the rabbi of MSC, and is the author of several books. But Benchimol’s connection to his homeland was present long before he decided to launch the first full-service Sephardic congregation on the Upper East Side. “The Moroccan traditions, customs, prayer services, rituals and culture, and the awe and respect given to the rabbis, have been etched in my memory,” explained Benchimol. Born in Rabat, Morocco, Benchimol always excelled in his Hebrew studies. After emigrating from Morocco to Miami, Florida at age 8, Benchimol continued his studies in the Landow Yeshiva in Miami and then earned his rabbinical ordination in 1988 from Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim, the Lubavitch seminary in Brooklyn, NY. It was only after he heard about a group of Sephardic men seeking a Moroccan-born rabbi in Manhattan that he started to think about starting a congregation.
Under Benchimol’s guidance, MSC has led programs targeted at the Upper East Side Jewish community and beyond. Photo courtesy of Manhattan Sephardic Congregation “The time was then ripe for the group to organize a Moroccan synagogue,” Benchimol said. “The rest is history.” Under Benchimol’s guidance, MSC has led initiatives and programs targeted at the Upper East Side Jewish community and beyond. MSC currently hosts weekly Torah classes, free Hebrew school programs, singles events, weekday and Holiday services and a women’s monthly challah bake. To further cater to the growing spiritual needs of the Upper East Side Jewish community, Benchimol created the Aleph Learning Center in 2002. “With the Aleph Learning Center, we wanted to reach out beyond the walls of our own synagogue,” said Benchimol. The Center offers Jewish education, events, programs, and publications to encourage religious growth for Jews of all ages and backgrounds. But Benchimol’s service to the Jewish community stretches beyond the limits of the Manhattan. In 2012, Benchimol received an award from the King of Morocco for rehabilitating and renovating the Jewish cemeteries and sacred sites in Morocco. “I was deeply humbled and moved by it,” said Benchimol. “I believe it was an event not just for my honor, but also a way to pay tribute to a remarkable country, my birth country of Morocco, and to its royal family.” Despite his accomplishments in Manhattan, Benchimol believes in the importance of recognizing one’s roots. He hopes to eventually create a space on the Upper East Side to house ancient Moroccan-Jewish artifacts to preserve the two thousand year heritage. “In order to stand confidently and look forward to a positive future, one has to first look back into one’s past, family, ancestry, traditions and religion,” said Benchimol. “These are the things that shape, mold and make a person who he is today.”
For Captain James Graney Jr. and Lieutenant John McGinty, a passion for helping New Yorkers stay safe and a strong teamwork ethic are what drives them as longtime members of the New York City Fire Department. A 34-year veteran of the FDNY, Graney has been with Engine Company 22 since 2004 and McGinty has been with the FDNY for 19 years and with Ladder 13 for the past 3 1/2 years. Engine 22/ Ladder 13 serves Yorkville and beyond the neighborhood as needed and is located at 159 East 85th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues. “What I love most about the job is helping to keep New Yorkers safe — being a firefighter is a rewarding career and it takes a lot of rigorous training and teamwork. I also enjoy the camaraderie of the firehouse, it’s like an extended family,” Graney said. Ladder 13 was the first to arrive at the scene when a rooftop fire broke out last May at a 6-story apartment building on East 83rd Street and Park Avenue. The building houses local Jesuit priests, and at the time, was vacant while renovations took place. Smoke from the fire, billowing from the rooftop, was seen for miles. “It looked like the entire roof was on fire and there were things raining down on the street but we got things under control pretty quickly,” McGinty said.
Captain James Graney Jr. has been with Yorkville’s Engine Company 22 since 2004. Photo: FDNY The fire — accidentally caused by torch work — was contained to the roof. But students at the Loyola School, next to the apartment building, were temporarily relocated to Regis High School. Graney and McGinty both said that communication is key to keeping residents calm — and safe. “Firefighters train non-stop to ensure the safety of civilians as well as provide them with guidance in terms of evacuating a fire situation. Most importantly, providing accurate, first-hand information as a witness to a fire is critical to our members so we can help those in the event of a fire or injury,” Graney said. While at the scene, “we try to let people know that we’re here to take care of the problem,” McGinty said. “This is a job where you really have to be a team player. There’s nothing individual about this. In order for us to be successful and to get the job done, we have to work together as a group.”
“This is a job where you really have to be a team player. There’s nothing individual about this.” Lieutenant John McGinty, a 19-year FDNY veteran, has been with Yorkville’s Ladder 13 for 3 1/2 years. Photo: FDNY
FDNY Lieutenant John McGinty
MARCH 1-7,2018
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Kenneth L. Davis MD and the Mount Sinai Health System Congratulate
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MARCH 1-7,2018
RABBI RAPHAEL BENCHIMOL Manhattan Sephardic Congregation
JAMES CLYNES Community Board 8
CONGRATULATES
THE 2018
“OTTY� HONOREES
DR. JOANN DIFEDE NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital & Weill Cornell Medicine
DR. TONY FISHER Hunter College High School
REVEREND DR. CATHY S. GILLIARD Park Avenue United Methodist Church
VIOLA GOODMAN Viola’s Smart Shop
CAPTAIN JAMES GRANEY & LIEUTENANT JOHN MCGINTY FDNY
LESLIE GRANGER Bideawee
CHRIS LENAHAN Corner Bookstore
NINA MCLEMORE Nina McLemore
VALERIE ORELLANA Mount Sinai
GLENWOOD BUILDER OWNER MANAGER
MANHATTAN’S FINEST LUXURY RENTALS
WARREN SCHARF Lenox Hill Neighborhood House
OFFICER IGNAZIO TERRANOVA NYC Department of Sanitation
MARCH 1-7,2018
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NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP / MAINSTAGE - 79 E 4TH ST
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AMY AND THE ORPHANS 186 REVIEWS JUST OPENED
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S LONG LOST FIRST PLAY (ABRIDGED) OPENS MAR 2
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A side-splitting Shakespearean spoof! Uproarious and rapid-fire, the Bard’s 39 plays are spun into a fast, funny and fictional 40th.
After their father’s death, three siblings reunite for a raucous family road trip.
THE NEW VICTORY THEATER - 209 W 42ND ST
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LAURA PELS THEATRE - 111 WEST 46TH ST
GRAND HOTEL, THE MUSICAL OPENS MAR 21
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EDWARD ALBEE’S A HOME AT THE ZOO 113 REVIEWS JUST OPENED
A new staging of the Broadway hit, about Berlin’s most glamorous crossroads at the end of the Weimar Era.
NEW YORK CITY CENTER / MAINSTAGE UPSTAIRS - 131 W 55TH ST
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A revision of Albee’s ‘The Zoo Story,’ from 1959. Starring Tony Award-winners Katie Finneran and Robert Sean Leonard.
CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD PREVIEWS START MAR 22
PERSHING SQUARE SIGNATURE CENTER - 480 W 42ND ST
A revival of the Tony winning play about a spirited deaf girl and a devoted teacher.
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STUDIO 54 - 254 W 54TH ST
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A darkly comic modern myth about twin sisters who sojourn from the Dirty South to the California desert to exact revenge.
The Olivier-Award winning revival of Federico García Lorca’s drama about a Spanish woman desperate to have a child. Starring Billie Piper.
SOHO REPERTORY THEATRE - 46 WALKER ST
THOMPSON ART CENTER AT PARK AVENUE ARMORY - 643 PARK AVENUE
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MARCH 1-7,2018
HARVEY DINNERSTEIN’S NEW YORK An UES retrospective of a realist painter who evokes the rhythms of city life BY DAVE ELDER
How well do you know the city? Though you might have the major landmarks memorized, NYC has so many odd and unique corners that no one can know them all, so if you see “Harvey Dinnerstein’s New York” at the Gerald Peters Gallery, you may recognize some familiar places. The show might also introduce you to some others that you hadn’t previously encountered, particularly if you haven’t spent much time in Park Slope, Brooklyn. In addition, even some of the familiar scenes might reveal a few interesting angles from Harvey’s perspective that you hadn’t noticed before. And what would make “Harvey Dinnerstein’s New York” worth a look? As a realist artist, Dinnerstein has spent most of his nine decades depicting the rhythms of NYC life, so if you appreciate that painterly quality of expression that can capture the essence of daily pedestrian moments and render them in a memorable way, you might very well find Harvey’s work engaging. Maybe you won’t personally know any of the cast of characters that enliven the collection, but you might very well feel as if you do know at least a few of them, and perhaps you may have bumped into one or two on the street, though Dinnerstein’s portrayals could make them deserving of much more than a passing glance. One aspect of “Harvey Dinnerstein’s New York” that will surely grace the gallery walls will be his images from the MTA. Subway scenes have lit his creative spark for decades, possibly beginning during the early 1940s, when he regularly rode the train from Brooklyn to attend the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan. In fact, Dinnerstein has a 2008 book entitled “Underground Together” that features a significant portion of his underground output, copies of which will undoubtedly adorn a special spot not far from the framed hangings.
Harvey started young with realism, forming a small “outsider” group with other like-minded rebels at Music and Art who opposed the modernist orthodoxy promoted by the faculty, their fellow students and the art world in general, which had strongly embraced abstract expressionism. These rebels would continue to pursue realism in whatever manner suited them, and in early 1961 they mounted a group show called “A Realist View” in Manhattan as a statement to the art world establishment. They attempted to awaken the general public to their efforts to continue and further expand the representative art traditions of an earlier era. Their show didn’t create the kind of ripples they had hoped, but the lack of response did not dampen their enthusiasm for realistic expression, and they each carried on the struggle to update realism and make it meaningful in the modern context. As Harvey nears the end of his ninth decade and the beginning of his tenth, realist art seems to have regained a certain amount of respect and appreciation, and the Gerald Peters retrospective will showcase some intriguing samples from Dinnerstein’s journey. On a side note, over his career Dinnerstein has portrayed other points of view in addition to NYC. In late 1955, he visited the Montgomery bus boycott that triggered the civil rights movement, accompanied by his wife, art historian Lois Dinnerstein, along with his close friend and fellow realist Burt Silverman. He traveled extensively over the next two decades, depicting major newsworthy events of the time, and even spending a year in Rome. Dinnerstein amassed an extensive array of likenesses, and perhaps a selection of those may adorn the walls of a nearby gallery at some point in the future. The exhibition at the Gerald Peters Gallery at 12 East 78th Street will run through March 16. You can find out more about the gallery from their website at www.gpgallery.com. The 2011 movie “The View from Here,” about Dinnerstein and his realist artist circle, has a website at theviewfromheredoc.com.
Harvey Dinnerstein, “Bethesda,” 1998-2011. Pastel on board, 39 x 58 ¼ inches. © 2018 Harvey Dinnerstein, courtesy Gerald Peters Gallery, New York.
Harvey Dinnerstein, “Underground Drum Beat,” 2014, Oil on canvas, 46 x 60 inches. © 2018 Harvey Dinnerstein, courtesy Gerald Peters Gallery, New York.
MARCH 1-7,2018
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ish s W m er u- p rk Yo til 9 Yo s- un w -A Sat Ne Pay Fri & ys ys wa da Al en 7
Op
THE GHOSTS OF RIVERSIDE DRIVE
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HISTORY A new book peels back the layers of one Upper West Side block BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Perhaps you’ve strolled past the row of seven stately townhouses on Riverside Drive between 105th and 106th Streets without paying them much mind. They’re beautiful, yes— overlooking the Hudson to the New Jersey Palisades, the houses are relics of a bygone Upper West Side, from an era before the neighborhood we know grew up around them. But what of the people who lived in these grand dwellings? Disparate stories of the block’s artists, industrialists and criminals form the historical thread that runs through Dan Wakin’s new book, “The Man with the Sawed-Off Leg and Other Tales of a New York City Block” (Arcade). Wakin, a longtime reporter and editor with The New York Times, grew up on West 106th Street, around the corner from the buildings he refers to as the “Seven Beauties.” He started piecing together local history after moving back into his childhood apartment in 2000 as a husband and father, and delved into the dwellings’ colorful pasts for a 2007 Times story that served as the book’s foundation. “I had grown up around these buildings and walked by them so many times that they had become a routine part of my mental landscape,” he writes. “They were deeply familiar. Yet I knew nothing of the lives that were carried on within these walls. And some day one of those forgotten stories would be mine.” More recently, Wakin recalled reflecting on the transience of individuals and their stories as compared with the relative permanence of the buildings they temporarily inhabit. “It really made me desperate to know: who were the people inside these buildings and what were their lives like?” he said during a conversation with Straus News. “The Man with the Sawed-Off Leg,” his first book, draws on deep archival research to evoke the all-but-forgotten lives lived at 330 through 337 Riverside Drive. The title story centers on a daring 1934 armored car heist
The lives lived in a row of seven townhouses on Riverside Drive are the subject of Dan Wakin’s new book. Photo: Michael Garofalo executed by a ragtag group of ex-bootleggers and waterfront toughs with ties to the West Side docks and the Albany underworld. The audacious robbery, perpetrated in broad daylight in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, landed a record sum and went off without a hitch — save for the accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound to the knee suffered by one of the criminals during the maritime getaway. The unfortunate robber — Bernard McMahon, a.k.a “Bennie the Bum” — was spirited by his associates to 334 Riverside Drive, then a somewhat seedy boardinghouse. A local doctor was summoned to the townhouse and performed an amputation, but to no avail — Bennie the Bum succumbed to his injuries soon after. For good measure, the doctor hacked off McMahon’s other leg so that his corpse could be stuffed in a trunk for disposal. The sordid Depression-era tale stands in contrast to the stories of the prosperous early inhabitants of the gorgeous Beaux-Arts homes, which were built at the turn of the 20th century for the ascendant gentry who made their fortunes during the era’s industrial boom. The mansion at 330 Riverside Drive, now occupied by members of the Catholic prelature Opus Dei, was the home of baking powder mogul R.B. Davis and his heirs (the Davis name still adorns the iconic red-and-gold cylinders found in grocery aisles); next door lived the film star Marion Davies, the mistress of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, who bought the 331 Riverside for Davies and used his newspaper empire to boost her acting career; the Fabers of
pencil-manufacturing renown and the Shakespearean actress Julia Marlowe also lived on the block. Wakin chronicles cameos in later decades from the likes of Duke Ellington and Saul Bellow. Wakin didn’t approach the book from any particular ideological viewpoint with respect to historic preservation, but the fact that these historic townhouses still stand (the buildings enjoy landmark status) makes their history that much more tangible. “When the buildings remain, these lives, these ghosts, can always be recovered,” he said. “But when historic buildings are torn down, not only is the actual structure erased, but the possibility of recovering those memories becomes diminished.” “In any block, like that block of Riverside Drive, there’s bound to be some incredible history that’s faded away and is unknown but can be dug and can then be part of your life,” he added. Through the lens of the fascinating but disparate lives lived side-by-side on a single block, Wakin gets at something essential about New York City. “I think it’s the fact that people of such diversity — not just ethnic or racial or religious diversity, but economic and professional diversity — all live incredibly close together and all benefit from that proximity,” he said. “This block had actors, painters, inventors, hard-nosed businessmen, kept women, gangsters. How much more New York can you get than that?” Michael Garofalo: reporter@ strausnews.com
Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas Through May 28 The Met Fifth Avenue Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body (1300–Now) Opens March 21 The Met Breuer Madison Ave. at 75th St.
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Imagine, Create, Explore MetFridays Every Friday night experience art making, creative conversation, and performances that connect you to art in unexpected ways. For Teens Ages 11–18 Free gallery conversations, sketching, and studio workshops encourage teens to explore, create, and connect with art. Daily Highlights Tours Take a guided tour and discover works of art representing different cultures and time periods.
All events are free with Museum admission unless otherwise noted.
metmuseum.org
#TheMet
#MetBreuer
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Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas is made possible in part by DAVID YURMAN. Additional support is provided by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, Alice Cary Brown and W.L. Lyons Brown, the Estate of Brooke Astor, the Lacovara Family Endowment Fund, William R. Rhodes, and The Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky Foundation. The exhibition is co-organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Getty Research Institute. | Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body (1300–Now) is supported in part by the Jane and Robert Carroll Fund and The Modern Circle.
Above: Octopus Frontlet, A.D 300–600. Moche; Peru, La Mina. Museo de la Nación, Ministerio de Cultura del Perú, Lima. Willem Danielsz van Tetrode, Hercules (detail), ca. 1545–60. The Quentin Foundation, London. Photo: Maggie Nimkin, New York. Photo of artist: Filip Wolak.
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MARCH 1-7,2018
Business CO-WORKING GETS ARTSY WORKPLACES Nurturing the creative impulse at The Artist Co-op BY LEIDA SNOW
An unlikely newcomer to the explosion of co-working spaces caters specifically to the performing arts. The Artist Co-op (TAC) is a place where actors, writers, producers, directors, choreographers and dancers can come to sweat on their projects, hang out and network. A wide and welcoming entrance greets a visitor to the 2,000-squarefoot space in Hell’s Kitchen. There’s an undulating sofa and a huge table surrounded by chairs. Comfortable seats line the sides of the room, members balancing laptops on their knees. A young woman sits at a desk answering the phone and check-
ing people in. You might expect a cacophony of chaos, but instead there’s an air of quiet concentration and professionalism. An A-frame highlights what’s on tap at TAC for that day — what’s scheduled in the rehearsal rooms, at the conference table, or at a coworking happening. A member would check in, setup a work station, maybe write new pages for a project. Websites could be updated, scripts memorized. Meetings with collaborators might follow, or rehearsals in one of the other two rooms. There might be a play reading, done “cold,” by actors who receive their scripts just before performing. Author submissions are encouraged and readings are free and open to the public. Or there might be a panel taking on tough issues that affect theater and film professionals. For example, did you know that there’s an organization called Intimacy Directors Inter-
A co-working space at The Artist Co-op on West 52nd Street. Photo: Rachel Berger national? One recent panelist noted that just as there’s a position with the title “fight director,” there’s also the relatively new post of “intimacy choreographer,” someone who ensures that scenes involving nudity or simulated sex are monitored, just as there is for those where violence is involved. Educating actors about their rights is part of what TAC is all about, according to frustrated actress turned founder and TAC executive director Rachel Berger. TAC’s mission, she
said, is to build an intentional community that will embrace activism. A high-energy 29-year-old with chocolate-colored, flowing hair and an irresistible smile, Berger said she spoke to anyone and everyone about her vision. The expansion of startups and freelancers has led to an abundance of co-working spaces in the city — from collectives like Fueled, Bond and LMHQ, to organizations like Regus and WeWork: places that supply everything from free Wi-Fi to fee-
based conference rooms. Berger said TAC attracts a different community, and that key to its success are the two rehearsal spaces, which are kept spare to remain affordable. Members enjoy free WiFi, mailboxes, lockers, printer and fax; educational programming and community events; and a library with scripts and props. The organization, launched last May, now has 80 members, Berger said. Getting there took two years, advice from New York’s Small Business Development Center, apprenticeship at the Center For Social Innovation, and an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. There was also invaluable support from a Connecticut businessman, Ron Black. “Several years ago, I started to have the time, interest and resources to help emerging performing artists,” Black said. But not for investments, as Black is “not looking for any monetary gain.” As he explained it: “Some guys buy expensive cars or second homes on the beach.” Black said he is “driven to help and support projects and people that need it.”
FINANCIAL ADVICE FOR YOUNG MANHATTAN WOMEN PLANNING Keep to a budget, invest early and often and prepare for life’s milestones BY SUZANNE M. AKIAN, CFP
Young women have unique financial needs. Their timelines and sets of milestones can often differ from those of young men. And women still earn an average of 20 to 25 percent less than men for the same job. That’s why it is crucial for women just starting out in their careers to pay special attention to their finances. First and foremost, young women should understand that personal finance is a priority. Like all the other commitments a young woman makes as she builds a life for herself, a woman should dedicate time and energy to understanding, safeguarding, and growing her personal wealth. Female executives stress the importance of financial education and being comfortable with financial terms and processes. There are myriad apps and
“Fearless Girl” statue near Wall Street. Photo: Anthony Quintano, via flickr
websites that can help to create a good foundation by teaching the terminology of finance. Financial literacy helps individuals use money more efficiently and make informed decisions. Once basic concepts are familiar, a next step is to gain an understanding of strategies for building wealth. For young women just starting out in their careers, one particularly important element is budgeting. A first income can be intoxicating, and there is a great temptation to spend, especially if few responsibilities exist. But add the realities of rent and transportation, food, utilities, and paying off student loans — and suddenly the need to budget becomes a necessity. Once again, technology to the rescue: free budgeting apps and websites which calculate spending and help to map out a plan for expenses. As early as possible, a woman should get into the habit of investing a comfortable amount every month. She should start with a small amount, perhaps $25 — small enough that she doesn’t feel it missing. Choose an amount that can be raised in small increments, rather than one that is too large and must eventually be reduced.
First steps in investing might include “maxing out” an employer 401(K), and starting a Roth IRA. Investing small amounts at first and making the investments easy to understand is key. Investments that involve compound interest should be considered. Preparing for life’s milestones is another critical element of financial planning. Working towards a home, putting a child through college and retirement might all be within the scope of milestones to plan for. All of these considerations are especially critical for young women living in Manhattan, as New York State and New York City residents are amongst the highest taxed in the country. This makes investing early a priority, particularly in tax-deferred accounts like a 401(K) that much more impactful on long-term financial success. If a New York City resident invests a dollar in a 401(K) instead of taking the funds and investing post-tax dollars, they are investing much more over the long run. There also is the very high cost of living adjustment associated with living in Manhattan. For women living here long term, investing early in tax-efficient instruments is imperative.
Young women may face the potential financial impact of having children. At what point in a career might she decide to exit the workforce to have a baby? More and more women are deferring motherhood to their thirties and even forties. What are the implications on earnings? On contributions to retirement plans or social security earnings? Fewer years in the workforce means less compound growth. For young families with children, one consideration might be a NY 529 college savings plan, which allows for a deduction of a portion of the investment in New York tax. In the process of beginning to invest, trusted advice is essential, whether it comes from a professional, a parent, or even a knowledgeable friend. Understanding concepts and strategizing with a team can help create the best financial roadmap for the future. Suzanne M. Akian, CFP is a Financial Advisor with the Global Wealth Management Division of Morgan Stanley in New York. She can be reached at 212-6136773 or at fa.morganstanleyindividual.com/ akianzalanskas/.
MARCH 1-7,2018
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
A Premier Day Camp for Boys and Girls LOCATED IN NEARBY ROCKLAND COUNTY, JUST 30 MINUTES FROM THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE
Crusty, one of RC Buckerzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s starter ponies, who helps teach the youngest kids how to get started. Photo: Michelle Rudland/About You Photography (AUPhoto.net)
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BUCKING, A TREND In North Dakota, kids learn rodeo skills BY ASHTON GERARD
LANSFORD, N.D. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rodeo has always been a big part of Midwestern culture, and RC Buckerz is bringing it back to the kids. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our goal is to help young children get a start in the rough stock side of rodeo,â&#x20AC;? RC Buckerzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s founder Michelle Rudland said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have size-appropriate, experienced animals we are very careful about putting children on.â&#x20AC;? Based in Lansford, Rudland is giving kids the opportunity to get their start in rodeo through her bucking pony company. Not only is it about learning new skills, RC Buckerz also teaches kids responsibility and respect for animals and others. Rudland said so far the kids have been nothing but great. The great thing about â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rough Stock,â&#x20AC;? according to Rudland, is participants donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need their own animals. She said as long as kids and adults have the equipment and the right attitude, they can do it. Rudland started the program out of her own personal love of rodeo. Her father used to ride back in the day and she grew to love it through her parents. Now, with RC Buckerz, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trying to pass that love of rodeo on to her own children and
other kids in the area. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I noticed a decrease in rough stock riders in the state,â&#x20AC;? Rudland said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Riders arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t getting experience young enough to learn the basics. Kids at 16 or 17 years old will get bucked and hurt by the bigger animals.â&#x20AC;? Rudland is giving children the opportunity to learn the basics and hone their rodeo skills on smaller, experienced animals. With this approach, she said, kids will gain conďŹ dence and experience to be able to go on into rodeo as adults with a lower chance of serious injury. RC Buckerz has ponies and one mule they do all the trimming, seeding and check-ups for on their own. RC, like all of rodeo, is family-oriented for Rudland. She has the help of her children and together they take care of the animals and run their events. RC Buckerz will go to standard rodeos when invited, like the N.D. Rodeo Association, and will bring along their ponies. They work with the children and take care to put the kids on the right ponies. They made their debut last April with the Abrahamson Rodeo Company in Minot. Ponies, according to Rudland, only get better with time. They have a variety of ponies from high-buckers to starters. Their goal is to get kids educated, not hurt. As far as success, RC Buckerz had two kids, Coy Hepper,
a fifth-grader, and Tyler Villarreal, a seventh-grader, who were to compete in the Junior National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Coy is a great kid. That young man is going places,â&#x20AC;? Rudland said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We worked really hard with Tyler this year. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s his ďŹ rst year on ponies. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re pretty proud of both young men.â&#x20AC;? The ultimate goal, aside from getting kids to Vegas, is getting the ponies themselves to Vegas. Rudland prides herself on the care she puts into the animals, and to be nationally recognized for their ponies would be a dream. Last spring, RC Buckerz held a bucking camp that was really successful, according to Rudland. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hoping to host more this spring before the season starts. This ďŹ rst year for RC Buckerz has been nothing short of a success for Rudland. Not only for the kids, but the communities they go to. Rudland said the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rodeo is â&#x20AC;&#x153;some of the greatest cowboy action ever.â&#x20AC;? Rudland encourages everyone to experience junior rodeo, even if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know anyone competing, because you are sure to be entertained. To follow the RC Buckerz journey or talk with Michelle Rudland, visit their Facebook page at RC Buckerz. Ashton Gerard is a reporter with the Minot (South Dakota) Daily News
MARCH 1-7,2018
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We invite the community to join us for
NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH Come and Sample Healthy Treats Each week we will cover a different topic and provide prizes and healthy food samples to participants.
Michelle Rudland, who founded RC Buckerz bucking pony company in North Dakota, is giving children the opportunity to learn the basics and hone their rodeo skills on smaller animals. Photo: About You Photography (AUPhoto.net)
* Premier overnight camp, Co-Ed, ages 6-17, in beautiful Poconos * Dedicated to a diverse community, committed to creativity, top-notch facilities, and powerful, individualized programming * Circus, Sports, Magic, Performing Arts, Dance, Extreme Sports, Music, Digital Arts, RPG, LARP, Fine Arts, Climbing Wall, Aquatics, Horseback * 2018 Sessions: Jun 24-Jul 8, Jul 8-Jul 29, Jul 29- Aug 12, Aug 12-Aug 26
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
“NE
OBLIVISCARIS”
Wednesdays March 7, 14, 21 and 28. 12 noon - 2pm
Location Main Lobby, Gracie Square Hospital 420 East 76th Street between First and York Avenues
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YOU COULD WIN DINNER FOR 4 ($500 VALUE)
2 TICKETS TO SEE
Bar & Restaurant at Lincoln Center
OR
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Go to StrausNews.com/survey/neighborhood
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GOING ASTRAY WITH ANDRÉ ACIMAN The author of “Call Me by Your Name” talks about the Oscars, his Upper West Side favorites and all the lives that could have been BY ALIZAH SALARIO
In the beginning, the writer André Aciman wasn’t taking the story of two young men who fall in love on the Tuscan Riviera one summer very seriously. Aciman, struggling with a novel, did what he often does when feeling blocked: he rode the subway, took out his pen and started writing. That’s when Elio, a 17-year-old student, and Oliver, a research assistant who comes to work for Elio’s professor father, found their way onto the page. For Aciman, subway writing didn’t count, so there was a freedom that came with chiseling away at Elio and Oliver’s courtship and romance. One thing led to another, and what started as off-the-record subway writing became the acclaimed novel “Call Me by Your Name.” It’s more than a little ironic that the novel, now an Oscar-nominated film, began as a detour. Director Luca Guadagnino’s film starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet brings Aciman’s coming-of-age narrative and piercing study of desire to life. When we caught up with Aciman at a café near his Upper West Side apartment, he reminded us that “Call Me by Your Name” is also a story of the power of what’s left off the page.
First thing first. “Call Me by You Name” is nominated for four Oscars, so congratulations. What was your reaction when you first heard about it? About the Oscars? Because I’m very superstitious, I won’t allow myself to think that it’s going to happen. But then if I deny that I do that, then I’m still guilty. So there’s a part of me that is ecstatic, and then another one that is totally repressed and won’t even admit that it’s happened.
Whenever a book is turned into a film, people always want to know what it got wrong. But you’ve spoken very highly of the film and the director, so I’m curious if you learned anything about your own novel by watching the movie. The film does things that are amazing. I thought the father scene, though it’s lifted almost verbatim from the book, I thought it was so beautifully done that I forgot what the words were. I knew the words, but it was powerful. And then the final scene
was exceptional. It was something that was not in the book. I think you’ve read that I’ve said to the director, “The ending of your movie is better than the ending of my book, because it just arrests you.”
That must have been very validating to see your novel inspire a piece of art that you admire. What validates it even more, almost palpably, is when I walked into the theater the second time — the first time was in Berlin, and I don’t know the audience in Berlin — at Alice Tully Hall and it was the premier here in New York City. I walked in, and I was sitting among the audience, and I kept thinking to myself, my god, everybody in this room — and it’s filled to capacity, a thousand people or more — they’re all here because of something that I cooked up right across the street here and I said, are they really here for this? Could it be? For me, the most amazing moment was when somebody on the stage said you know, the author is in the audience, could he please stand up? And I’m going no, I’m not going to stand up. But my son was with me, he says you’ve got to stand up, otherwise they think you’re not here. I said OK, that’s a good reason to stand up. So I stood up and everybody sort of turned — it was an acclamation, before the movie even started. For me it was a highly New York experience. Basically the best of New York was there.
Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer star in “Call Me by Your Name,” the Oscar-nominated film based on André Aciman’s 2007 novel of the same name. Photo courtesy Sony Pictures one of the few things I can say with a straight face. Because I think that when you read a book, one reads for many reasons, but I only look at one thing. I look at the style of the writer, and I want to speak about the humanity that is dying to speak itself though the style. Which means that I hate any kind of -ism that is attached to any form of literature. Bad literature, I don’t care, you can do with it what you want. But if you’re going to
I read that you really like Straus Park.
Why is that? The real reason is that I like it. I like the statue, and the spot. But if I try to use the word excavate.... I tried to see Straus Park as a place where I could be at the center and imagine that I am in those places of the world that I have been close to: London, Paris, Rome, Italy, particularly the beaches. It’s all fantasy and projection, but being in Straus park allowed me, as a writer, to write about Straus Park as if it’s a construct of a displaced person trying to find his own home. Through time, and through space. But is this what really happens? I don’t know. When I go to Straus Park, I like to either have a pizza or read a bit.
Oooh. Where do you get pizza? That’s a good question. Now you’re talking. I go to Sal & Carmine’s, on 100th and Broadway. Among the best pizza in New York I think.
My experience of reading the book was that Elio knew my heart, and what I mean by that is his self-doubt, the sense of being fractured, the way he anticipates loss before it happens, all felt very personal. What was it like to write something that resonates with so many people?
Is there anywhere you find foods from your childhood in Egypt? There’s a place, I think it’s called Jerusalem [Restaurant], which I have not been to in probably 25 years because it’s so full of garlic, but the smell instantly takes me back to Egypt, and I love that. The irony is that when I was in Egypt, and I’d pass by a falafel vendor — they’re all over the place — I would just feel myself nostalgic for New York, on Broadway, where there’s Jerusalem falafel. Here I am, in Egypt, the capital of falafel for me, where I grew up with it, and I’m thinking of New York.
I’ve always written about how we react to other people who intimidated us. I’ve always written about people who make me feel ashamed of wanting to touch them. And I’ve also written about the fear of offending someone. I mean, these are things that I’ve lived through, and I know them.... All hope I’ve done, for those people who never took the time to understand what they were going through, was to give them a kind of map, or a kind of grid, where they can chart the course of how they themselves went from A to B to C.
Has teaching at CUNY informed your perspective as a New Yorker, and as a writer? I’m a very good teacher. This is
be studying Thucydides, which is my favorite book, you can’t just talk about the point of view of the Jew, the point of view of the gay person, the point of view of the women, the point of view of the subaltern, the oppressed, what is it, postcolonialism? All that stuff, I hate it, because it’s a way of not really delving into what the actual book is struggling to say.
Novelist André Aciman. Photo: Sigrid Estrada
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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan
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MARCH 1-7,2018
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NOTICE OF SALE OF COOPERATIVE APARTMENT SECURITY PUBLIC AUCTION PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: By Virtue of a Default under Loan Security Agreement, and other Security Documents, Karen Loiacano, Auctioneer, License #DCA1435601 or Jessica L Prince-Clateman, Auctioneer, License #1097640 or Vincent DeAngelis Auctioneer, License #1127571 will sell at public auction, with reserve, on March 14, 2018, in the Rotunda of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007, commencing at 1:00pm for the following account: Yasemin Aktas, as borrower, 110 shares of capital stock of 408 East 73 Street Housing Corporation and all right, title and interest in the Proprietary Lease to 408 East 73rd Street, Unit #5C, New York, NY 10021 Sale held to enforce rights of US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through Certificates Series, who reserves the right to bid. Ten percent (10%) Bank/Certified check required at sale, balance due at closing within thirty (30) days. The Cooperative Apartment will be sold “AS IS” and possession is to be obtained by the purchaser. Pursuant to Section 201 of the Lien Law you must answer within 10 days from receipt of this notice in which redemption of the above captioned premises can occur. There is presently an outstanding debt owed to US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through Certificates Series (lender) as of the date of this notice in the amount of $40,767.43. This figure is for the outstanding balance due under UCC1, which was secured by Financing Statement in favor of CitiMortgage, Inc. recorded on October 16, 2006 under CRFN 2006000576994 and assigned to US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02Remic Pass -Through Certificates Series 2007-02 via a UCC3 recorded on August 4, 2016
under CRFN 2016000268504. Please note this is not a payoff amount as additional interest/ fees/penalties may be incurred. You must contact the undersigned to obtain a final payoff quote or if you dispute any information presented herein. The estimated value of the above captioned premises is $388,000.00. Pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code Article 9-623, the above captioned premises may be redeemed at any time prior to the foreclosure sale. You may contact the undersigned and either pay the principal balance due along with all accrued interest, late charges, attorney fees and out of pocket expenses incurred by US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through Certificates Series. and the undersigned, or pay the outstanding loan arrears along with all accrued interest, late charges, attorney fees and out of pocket expenses incurred by US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through Certificates Series, and the undersigned, with respect to the foreclosure proceedings. Failure to cure the default prior to the sale will result in the termination of the proprietary lease. If you have received a discharge from the Bankruptcy Court, you are not personally liable for the payment of the loan and this notice is for compliance and information purposes only. However, US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through Certificates Series, still has the right under the loan security agreement and other collateral documents to foreclosure on the shares of stock and rights under the proprietary lease allocated to the cooperative apartment. Dated: January 29, 2018 Frenkel, Lambert, Weiss, Weisman & Gordon, LLP Attorneys for US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02Remic Pass -Through Certificates Series 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 631-969-3100 File #01-084751-F00 #94113
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