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WHAT’S THAT DOGGIE’S PEDIGREE? DNA tests sniff out pooches’ genetic makeup and ‘reveal parties’ celebrate findings BY MICKEY KRAMER
Sunday turned into Dog Day Afternoon, with a touch of “the Maury Povich Show,” outside the Oslo Coffee Roasters shop on East 75th Street where Mark and JeanMarie Fusco hosted a “DNA reveal” party for their 18-month old-adopted dog, Theo. The doggie bash drew about a dozen pooches and their guardians. On offer were Mark’s own hand-baked dog biscuits (in four different sizes!), a “Guess Theo’s Ancestry” contest and gift bags. Theo — short for Theodore Oreo Pepperspot — was a gracious host as well, playing with, and licking, any willing participant, canine or human. “He’s a popular boy and this was an opportunity to bring the local dog community together to celebrate four legs,” Mark said of his black and white, thick-furred pup. Andrew Diresta attended with Zoey, adopted last June from In Our Hands Rescue, a city-based nonprofit. Diresta was told Zoey was a black lab-mix and expected a dog that would weigh about 60 pounds, but little Zoey has topped out at barely half that. Partly for that reason, but “more out of curiosity,” Diresta has purchased Wisdom Panel, the same DNA test used by the Fusco family and will have the results within three weeks of sending in the cheek-swab sample. Diresta said that he, too, may have a “DNA reveal” party. “It’s a ‘thing’, now,” he laughed. Wisdom Panel advertises its DNA tests with the slogan, “Dogs can’t talk,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
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O OURTOWNNY.COM @OurTownNYC
2016
Our Take
OUT OF GAS
THE STORY OF OUR STREETS
INVESTIGATION A surge of gas shutoffs, particularly for rent-stabilized tenants BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
Ruby Mak has been spending more money on takeout than a doctorate student mid-dissertation, and her new rice cooker is working at least as hard. “A lot of it is just out of pocket, going out to eat a lot more,” said Mak. “When we cook at home it’s just a rice cooker. You can steam things with it, or make rice, basically.” Last September her building joined hundreds of others across the city with no natural gas, cut off by Con Edison after an inspection blitz by the city’s Dept. of Buildings that began last April, less than a month after a fatal gas explosion in the East Village that claimed two lives. According to statistics provided by the DOB, ConEd reported 343 shutoffs to the agency in 2015, a 400 percent increase over 2014’s 67 shutoffs. And the upward trend appears to be increasing even more: So far in 2016 there have been 157 shutoffs, according to the DOB. “Since the spring of last year we started noticing a lot of people coming in that had no gas, either cooking gas or heat and hot water,” said Donna Chiu, director of housing and community services for Asian Americans For Equality. Chiu called the increase “freak-
Newscheck Crime Watch Voices Out & About
53 Ludlow Street, where a dozen tenants, including Ruby Mak and her mom, have been without cooking gas since last September. Photo by Daniel Fitzsimmons ish,” and said AAFE is working with Mak’s building and almost a dozen others in Chinatown and the Lower East Side to restore services. And Chiu, like many housing advocates, has witnessed a pattern of exploitation by building owners who prolong service interruptions in an effort to pressure rent-stabilized tenants into leaving their apartments. The dozen or so residents in Mak’s building, at 53 Ludlow Street, brought a Housing Part action in court - or HP in housing parlance, the part of the law used to force a landlord to make repairs or mitigate a loss of services. Under a settlement, landlord Sky Management will provide a $100/month rent abatement retroactive to Sept. 21 of last year, when the outage occurred. The landlord must also provide hot plates for tenants. Joel Cullotta of Sky Management said the building’s gas infrastructure was simply outdated.
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City Arts Things to Do Business 15 Minutes
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“The piping for the cooking gas was just very old,” said Cullotta, who added that it made more sense for the building to convert to electric from natural cooking gas, which became part of the settlement in the Housing Part case. “It would need to be replaced, and it made more sense to convert to electric.” Cullotta also defended Sky’s handling of the shutoff, and said that they’re waiting on ConEd to install electric meters in the building’s basement. “We worked immediately to restore the gas and heat as soon as we could,” said Cullotta, noting that the Sept. 21 outage affected the heat and hot water gas system as well, which Sky was able to restore in three days. Cullotta would not comment on whether Sky was offering buyouts or making an effort to get existing rent stabilized tenants out of the
The worst and the best of New York were both on display Monday morning on 36th Street in midtown. Carol Dauplaise, the 77-year-old owner of a jewelry company, was crossing Madison Avenue at 36th Street during the morning rush when a livery-cab driver turned the corner and hit her. The driver of the car was arrested for failing to yield to a pedestrian, and cops say he had been cited for at least 10 other traffic violations since 2015. It was but the latest in a sad litany of traffic deaths and injuries that have lingered on, despite Mayor Bill de Blasio’s efforts. Dauplaise is the sixth person to have been hit by a motor vehicle in the city in the past three days alone. According to The New York Times, at least 20 pedestrians and three cyclists have been killed in traffic accidents so far this year, and more than 900 pedestrians have been injured. Amid the carnage, though, New Yorkers once again rallied. Immediately after Dauplaise was hit, bystanders, working together, managed to flip the car on its side, in hopes of rescuing Dauplaise. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Authorities say she was pronounced dead at Bellevue a short while later.
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MARCH 3-9,2016
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WHAT’S MAKING NEWS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD NYPD FAULTED ON SEARCHES In dozens of instances, city police officers lacked search warrants or even probable cause when entering residents’ homes, a review of hundreds of such incidents by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, The New York Times reports. The review, released this
week, concludes that the number of occurrences during which officers’ improperly entered private dwellings feeds public mistrust of police, The Times reported. “It’s a serious problem that could be avoided that has terribly serious effects on people who are invaded,” the newspaper quoted Richard D. Emery, the chairman of the review board and a civil rights
lawyer. “You can imagine how you would feel if somebody burst into your house — slammed in — with guns drawn, at 6 o’clock in the morning while you’re undressed and asleep.” The Times notes that the board’s report is critical of police department rules for neglecting to specify that warrants or probable cause is essential for officers to enter homes. The
Fourth Amendment specifically protects people and their homes from “unreasonable searches and seizures.” And while police can enter without a warrant, law enforcement must demonstrate that action was justified. City police have often failed to do so, according to a former Law Department executive quoted by the paper.“Quite often, they don’t have any confirmation at all, and they still barge in,” Joel Berger, who represents clients in legal actions against police, was quoted by The Times. “They’re big on claiming consent where, in reality, they pressured people into agreeing to let them in.”
MET SETTLES ADMISSION LAWSUIT
Photo: torbakhopper, via flickr
More than just the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s logo is changing. Signs that formerly a “recommended admission” price of $25 will read now read “suggested,” settling a lawsuit that alleged the Met had been pressuring patrons to pay the full $25. The Met’s new signs will now read “suggested admission.” Although the settlement is subject to court approval, the
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museum will implement the change to coincide with the opening of the Met Breuer, the former Whitney Museum on Madison Avenue, this month, Thomas P. Campbell, the Met’s director and CEO, said in a press release. The Met Breuer will also have a similar “pay-as-youwish” as that of the Museum and the Cloisters, the release said. But Michael Hiller, a lawyer who is representing plaintiffs in separate but similar action, said he would “aggressively oppose this settlement,” The Daily News reported. “We and our clients split (from the negotiations) back in July ... because we were unsatisfied with the direction in which negotiations were headed. The settlement reached today serves only to confirm to us that we made the right decision,” the Daily News quoted Hiller as saying in a statement.
GYNECOLOGIST CONFESSES TO SEX ASSAULTS, LOSES LICENSE An Upper West Side gynecologist, Dr. Robert
Hadden, confessed to sexually abusing two female patients in a trial last Tuesday and accepted a plea deal that would result in the loss of his medical license and no jail time, the New York Daily News reported. Hadden had medical practices on the Upper West Side and in Washington Heights. He was charged with attacks on six pregnant patients and admitted to two of them, a criminal sex act in the third degree and forcible touching. While he will lose his right to practice medicine in New York and has agreed not to obtain a new license out of state, the deal did not require community service or probation as part of his punishment. He will have to register as a level one sex offender, the lowest risk rating in New York State. In court, Hadden admitted to Justice Ronald Zweibel that he had performed oral sex on a patient who could not give consent on June 29, 2012 and forcibly touched another on May 7, 2012, both with “no valid medical purpose.” The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has agreed not to charge him with any additional conduct they discovered prior to the trial.
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MARCH 3-9,2016
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG
CITY MAN ACCUSED OF 17 BURGLARIES A New York City man is accused of burglarizing 17 homes on Long Island. Nassau County police say the suspect was initially arrested Feb. 20 and charged with three counts of burglary. He’s now been charged with another 14 counts after a search of his home. Police say they’ve recovered tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry, designer purses and sunglasses. Nassau County Police Chief Kevin Smith says there’s so much property that investigators are still going through it. Authorities say the break-ins began in November 2014 in Port Washington and surrounding areas. Mamuka Bokuchava was arraigned Saturday. Prosecutors say he is a waiter at an upscale Manhattan restaurant. His attorney, Tara Whelan, says he is his family’s sole provider. His wife and child attended his court appearance.
WE WILL STEAL NO WINE – BEFORE ITS TIME One burglar displayed a taste for some fine vintages. Sometime between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Feb. 22, an unknown perpetrator broke into the cellar door of a restaurant on First Avenue in the lower 70s, entering the wine cellar and stealing $9,000 worth of vintage wine. The next day, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., the grape grabber repeated the feat, making off with another $1,500 in wine.
HOLE-Y MOLY A local store’s safe remained safe after a botched burglary. At 10 a.m. on Feb. 25, the owner of a store on Lexington Avenue in the 70s entered his shop to discover three holes in the wall indicating that someone had tried to gain access to the premises overnight. The burglar’s presumed target was the business safe, but nothing had been taken, as the safe had apparently proved too tough to crack. Police are investigating.
robbery took place at 7 p.m. on Feb. 16. A man in his 50s followed a woman in her 70s into her building on East 76th Street between First and Second Avenues. He motioned to his pocket and said, I have a gun and will kill you if you do not give me all your money.” The victim handed over $280 in cash, at which point the robber fled. A suspect was arrested on robbery charges Feb. 18. The second robbery occurred between 7 and 7:15 p.m. on Feb. 20. A 30-year-old woman was approached from behind by a man in his forties in her building on East 87th Street between Second and Third Avenues. The man stole her iPhone 5 with case and $15 in cash. Police arrested a suspect on Feb. 21, and charged him with robbery.
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th Precinct for Feb. 15 to Feb. 21 Week to Date
Year to Date
2016 2015
% Change
2016
2015
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
0
1
-100.0
Rape
0
0
n/a
0
1
-100.0
Robbery
2
1
100.0
18
13
38.5
Felony Assault
0
2
-100.0
21
17
23.5
Burglary
2
4
-50.0
38
22
72.7
Grand Larceny
20
25
-20.0
169
176
-4.0
Grand Larceny Auto
0
0
n/a
3
4
-25.0
PREMISES PREDATORS COLLARED Police made arrests in two separate incidents where victims were followed and robbed in their buildings. The first
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Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct
153 E. 67th St.
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311
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HOSPITALS Lenox Hill NY-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell
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THE CHANGE COMING TO 86TH AND YORK ON THE CORNER A transformation prompted by the Second Avenue subway BY MAXINE DOVERE
In 1899 a four-story structure rose on the northeast corner of 86th Street and York Avenue. About a half century later, its lower level became home to The Mansion Dinner, a neighborhood icon for almost three quarters of a century. After 117 years, things are changing -- at least, all around the corner. The windows of the two buildings immediately east of the corner (511 and 513 E. 86th St.) have been boarded closed and a green painted wooden fence has been erected. The adjoining building (515 E. 86)) is already marked with orange paint and will soon follow. On York Avenue, storefronts in the two buildings north of the corner are empty; one is marked
“Demolition Site,” the other exhibits white painted windows. “The neighborhood is changing,” complained one Mansion patron. “‘They’re’ knocking down all the buildings.” Not quite all, though the four- or five-story buildings typical of late 1800’s Yorkville are, indeed, likely targets of developers. Interest in the neighborhood has only grown as the Second Avenue subway nears completion. New restaurants and specialty shops are appearing again on Second Avenue. New York City zoning regulations typically allow 16 story buildings on avenues and “double width” streets like 86th Street. A developer could apply for a Zoning Variance that would allow him to build a taller structure. At the Mansion Diner, there’s a feeling of camaraderie. Regulars are greeted by first name, shake hands with managers,
and leave saying, “See you tomorrow.” Many customers are older; some come more than once a day. Two or three generations may be seated at the same table. The Mansion is changing, too. A manager remembers “we were here for the cabs. Until about five years ago, three were always three or four tables of cabbies. Everything is a thousand times more expensive - food, staff, regulations. In today’s market, things change so rapidly.” John Philips is the third generation of his family to run the Mansion Diner. “Twenty years ago, Manhattan had 1,100 diners,” he notes. “More than half have closed. The business model of a diner is very flexible and should be recession proof. No matter what happens, people will go to a diner - providing prices are reasonable.” Technology, says Philips, is affecting the way the Mansion
operates. “It’s a changing business. Online ordering and delivery accounts for up to 50% of sales. We’ve created a production line - a phone order taker, an expediter, an order administrator, and a cashier - and 18 delivery people. It’s important to innovate, including opening another location on Second Avenue.” We asked John Philips about future planning for his corner. “The Mansion will always have a place at the corner of 86th and York. We have to try to preserve the character and The Mansion itself. I want to be able to maintain the tradition of my grandfather and my father.” Will there be changes on the northeast corner of 86th and York? “There have been approaches,” says Philips. “We’re not interested in selling, but, if the price is right....”
MARCH 3-9,2016
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
DOGGIE’S PEDIGREE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Theo, center, an American Staffordshire terrier and cocker spaniel mix, at his DNA reveal party on Sunday with other canine and human celebrants.
but their DNA can.” The company says that its canine genetic tests, which cost under $100, can trace a dog’s breed ancestry back to three generations and reveal answers to a few questions, such as concern drug sensitivities and expected weight range, but not much more. While simple curiosity might be a main reason for DNA testing a dog, Meena Alagappan and Robert Friedlander had a more practical rationale to do the test on Margo, already about 10 years old when she was rescued two years ago from a hoarding situation in Tennessee. “She had been badly abused and we had no medical history, so we decided to do a DNA test to better understand what health issues she may be predisposed to, based on her breed,” Alagappan said. For the record, Margo, who weighs about 25 pounds, is a surprise mix of Bernese mountain dog, basset hound and cocker spaniel. Alagappan and Friedlander also tested then-12-year-old Jackson, which they assumed was a beagle-mix, but turned out to be a full breed. “Even though he was much smaller than most beagles, it does make sense given his medical issues and distinctive howl,” Alagappan said. Returning to the party, Sue King and Melissa Ryan brought their two rescued terrier-mixes, Harry and Rosie. When asked if she would consider doing a DNA test, King said, “if someone else paid for it.” The tension mounted as the guests waited for Theo’s “grandmother” — Mark’s mother, Mary Anne Fusco — to show up before the reveal. Some guessed during the pre-reveal contest that Theo might be border collie, husky, Dalmatian or Australian cattle dog, so when the moment of truth arrived, and Mark scrolled through the email on his phone and announced “American Staffordshire terrier and cocker spaniel” there were audible gasps and surprise from the crowd. JeanMarie was astounded that Theo was part cocker spaniel. It’s “kind of a shocker,” she said, “but with so many people always asking us what kind of dog he is, we can now give an official answer.” For his part, Mark was pleased with the afternoon’s conclusion. “From his appearance, he’s a mystery,” he said, “and now that veil has been lifted.”
A DNA test revealed that Theo is an American Staffordshire terrier and cocker spaniel mix. His genetic identity was celebrated at a DNA reveal party on Sunday.
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OUT OF GAS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
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building. He acknowledged installing 13 surveillance cameras in the building, but said “we’ve done that in most of our properties.” Despite the hardships, Chiu said the situation at 53 Ludlow Street is one of the brighter spots in their gas shutoff caseload. “At least at 53 Ludlow there’s been some progress,” she said concerning the HP settlement. That’s not always the case. Housing lawyers and tenant activists throughout Manhattan confirmed over and over again the same trend of building owners opportunistically prolonging gas shutoffs to pressure rent stabilized tenants into leaving their apartments. “I’ve got a couple tenants who haven’t had gas for months and months, and one of them in particular has a stack of receipts that’s pretty dramatic from having to go out and buy food in the neighborhood,” said Evan Hasbrook, a housing lawyer with the Legal Aid Society. “She can’t afford this.” In his experience, said Hasbrook, the fault lies with the building owner despite their protestations to the contrary. “In these cases the landlord has the legal responsibility to provide cooking gas and heating and the rest,” he said. “But you end up in housing court and the landlord says either that ConEd is dragging its feet … or that the tenant is not providing access to ConEd or the landlord. They try to pass the blame wherever they can and make an excuse, but legally it’s pretty clear this all falls on the landlord.” Chiu of AAFE agreed that the blame game is a favorite pastime between ConEd and building owners. In housing court, she said, a landlord’s lawyer often claims, “’Oh it’s Con Edison, we’ve tried everything,’ so that is a story we hear all the time.” Betsy Eichel, a tenant organizer with Housing Conservation Coordinators, said in addition to landlords prolonging the process, there’s a lack of qualified plumbers to perform and certify necessary repairs from all the shutoffs. “I definitely noticed an uptick in gas outages after the East Village explosion,” said Eichel. “However, the quickness to turn the gas off also leads to the long outages; there’s not enough licensed plumbers to keep up with the number of buildings without gas, so a backlog is inevitable.” Eichel said landlords are supposed to provide hot plates, but in her experience they either don’t or won’t without prodding from tenants. “We usually try to negotiate a rent abatement,” she said. “Some tenants will keep their receipts and try to get some compensation in Small Claims Court, but that isn’t as efficient as a rent abatement.” She also agreed with colleagues at other organizations that prolonged shutoffs can be used as a “tool” to harass rent stabilized tenants. “I don’t think any of the landlords in buildings where I work shut off gas on purpose, but they didn’t rush to turn it back on,” said Eichel. “In addition, the one thing that all the buildings I work in without gas had in common was that the outage happened amid construction; their landlords were renovating vacant units which would be rented at market rate.” Sam Himmelstein, a housing lawyer with the tenant-only firm of Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben, Donoghue & Joseph, said Eichel’s assessment is accurate.
In less than a week of reporting this story, this newspaper was approached by no fewer than four advocacy organizations, one elected official’s office, and a number of housing lawyers who were eager to talk about the issue of skyrocketing gas shutoffs and how the city’s less scrupulous landlords are exploiting the situation. “Whether you call it deliberate harassment or benign neglect, the landlord says they’ll turn the gas on when the work is completed,” said Himmelstein, of the cases he sees. Himmelstein said his firm typically negotiates from the landlord a voluntary rent abatement of 10 to 25 percent the monthly rent, but in order for the landlord to do anything, in his experience, they must be taken to court. “The thing I have to emphasize is that unless you bring them to court they’re going to drag their feet,” he said. Brandon Kielbasa, director of organizing and policy at the Cooper Square Committee, is seeing the same thing Himmelstein is. “We’ve seen a huge uptick,” he said. “Many of the buildings are those that have recently had major gut renovation construction occur in them. Many of the buildings are owned by aggressive, bad acting landlords.” Kielbasa said cooking gas disruptions are a “huge disturbance” for tenants that are left without the means to prepare meals at home, and emphasized that tenants who organize tend to get gas restored much sooner than those that don’t. “So, we usually urge all tenants facing cooking gas issues to quickly initiate a HP action in housing court to get gas restored,” said Kielbasa. “From our experience a housing court case is essential to open the lines of communication with a bad acting landlord and to also start putting pressure on the landlord to restore the gas in a timely way.” And few would argue with the DOB’s overabundance of caution concerning gas leaks, and the disasters that rarely, but tragically, accompany them. The East Village explosion that occurred on March 26 of last year claimed two lives, and followed a March 2014 gas explosion in East Harlem that claimed eight lives. But in less than a week of reporting this story, this newspaper was approached by no fewer than four advocacy organizations, one elected official’s office, and a number of housing lawyers who were eager to talk about the issue of skyrocketing gas shutoffs and how the city’s less scrupulous landlords are exploiting the situation. All told, in three days we were informed of over 20 buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn comprising hundreds of units – many of which are rent stabilized and occupied by tenants on fixed incomes - that are enduring gas shutoff conditions. The DOB’s own statistics illustrate the drastic increase: 67 shutoffs in 2014, 343 in 2015, and 157 in January and February of this year. The agency is inspecting five times as many buildings for faulty or illegal gas hookups than before the East Village explosion last March.
MARCH 3-9,2016
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ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER STREET LEVEL Walking sets this place apart. It’s why you don’t leave. BY BILL GUNLOCKE
Let me start this in Hemingway’s Paris. “I would walk along the quais when I had finished work or when I was trying to think something out. It was easier to think if I was walking and doing something or seeing people doing something that they understood.” A Moveable Feast I’ve had a pat answer when people ask why I moved here 20 years ago. I’d say I moved here for the Jewish bookstores and the Irish bars. I thought that was a cool answer. And a true one. But I’d revise that answer now. I’d tell a deeper truth about why I’ve been here. I’ve been here for the walking. Outsiders might think we’re here for the shopping. While I’m no shopper, I might have thought that, too. We have so many stores. Other places don’t. When I visit my youngest daughter in ski-area Wyoming and we pull in her driveway late in the day after picking up her three young daughters from school and their varied activities, there’s almost always a package or two on the big-stone steps in front of the door. I thought, Oh, sure, if they want shoes or sweaters or Halloween costumes, they have to order them from someplace else. It’s not New York, I thought. Then I started noticing just how many packages show up in the lobby of my apartment building here all afternoon. Mounds of them, from the same places my Wyoming daughter was getting her daily shipments from. So maybe shopping in the bountiful stores was not why people lived here. No more than books or pints of Guinness were really why I lived here. I think our daily walking routine is the one thing that we can’t get anywhere else. The tiny old woman in my building would shuffle through the lobby with baby steps early every still-dark morning. The all-night doorman would push and hold the big glass door open for her. He’d be alert for her return 15 minutes later. He’d jump up to get the door for her. Her hands were full, even if she’d have been strong enough maybe to manage getting through the big doors by herself. She had a cup of coffee in one hand and a Daily News in the other hand. If she were your mother, you’d tell her you’d get her a coffee maker and you’d have her paper delivered. But she’d likely not hear of it. She liked to get out. You could tell. She was still grateful for the opportunity to walk across the street and get what she needed. “For (Jane Austen and the readers of Pride and Prejudice), as for Mr. Darcy, (Elizabeth Bennett’s) solitary walks express the independence that literally takes the heroine out of the social sphere of the houses and their inhabitants, into a larger, lonelier world where she is free to think: walking
One of those images that make walking the streets here romantic. articulates both physical and mental freedom.” Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking Here, your car can’t make a statement about who you are. Here, your clothes and the way you walk say who you are. Almost no one here is exceptionally heavy. I’m surprised therefore, given the vanity and the health-consciousness of New Yorkers, who want to look and feel good when they’re walking down the street, how many cookies and chocolate things are for sale here. Just like I’m surprised when I go out for breakfast on Sunday morning, how many people still get bacon with their eggs. They eat like Larry the Cable Guy. You wouldn’t think. All the walking must allow them to pig out. If you walk for exercise, they say you should walk like you’re late for an appointment. If Michael Bloomberg got us all to stop smoking in bars and restaurants--in all bars and all restaurants, in an instant--how come no one can stop cars from barreling through red lights here? They don’t squeeze through, or inch through, either, they barrel through. Sans souci. You’d think that would be one thing city government could do. Make cars stop at red lights. Walkers notice. It’s awful, isn’t it? Speaking of lights, here’s another thing walkers notice: Walking north and south is a pain. Walking at a normal pace, you hit a red light at every corner. You break into a trot sometimes, after a few blocks of the stopping and waiting, just to break the pattern, holding your pocket where your phone is. If you’re an exercise walker you know you have to cross the street and etch-asketch your way along to keep moving. An hour walk is the best thing. You don’t need a gym. You don’t need a gym bag. Or a padlock. Or a membership card. You just go. An hour later you return. A different person. “Walking . . . is how the body measures itself against the earth.” Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking
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Voices
Write to us: To share your thoughts and comments go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a letter to the editor.
Letters
THE SECRETS OF 100-YEAR-OLDS
BOYCOTTING TRADER JOE’S To the Editor: I will never shop in Trader Joe’s again. I went to the store on 72nd St. & Broadway and encountered a policy that is rude to elderly customers. I discovered that they are fine with making people wait in line even longer, causing gaps in the line while people get off the line and expect people to hold their place while they peruse shelves, causing elderly people, who have enough problems just waiting on line, to wait even longer while they indulge their own needs at the expense of others. I just had the rudest response to my objection to it by the Captain of the store and one of her employees, who actually told me to go to the end of the line if I had a problem with waiting on the two boys in front of me who were constantly taunting me
SENIOR LIVING BY MARCIA EPSTEIN
with nasty comments and bullying me as I simply asked them to move along and stop holding up the line even more. As it was the movement of the lines was painfully slow. I am outraged that I was told this is in fact their policy... that people can just wait while others take their time online to further halt the movement. With the amount of elderly
people who live on the west side and in fact are all over the country, this is disrespectful and certainly does not live up to their supposed dedication to service. It feeds the selfish “me” attitude of too many people and is undignified. I encourage all seniors to boycott this store. Carole Weinstein W. 97th Street
AGAINST THE SUPERSCRAPERS To the Editor: Your story extolling the wonders and marvels of the new generation of ugly mistakes which are polluting our iconic skyline -- and the quality of our urban existence -- displays remarkable ignorance of the devolution which monster towers represent. Two of the 15 paragraphs comprising your front page story are devoted to cursory mention of the harms which these uber-phallic projections are introducing -- and they are relegated to the very rear of the story, which concludes which the typical mealymouth mush dished out by the mayoral stooge Carl Weisbrod in his rubber-stamp role as Chair of the City Planning Commission. Why not do the community a real service on this crucial issue and devote an entire
page to a d-e-b-a-t-e on the pros and cons raised by mankind’s latest attempts to erect the Tower of Babble ?
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Howard Charles Yourow, S.J.D. Coalition For A HumanScale City
Associate Publishers Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth Regional Sales Manager Tania Cade
I’ve known three or four people who lived to 100 and beyond, including my partner’s father, who died at 102. What they all had in common was what I’d characterize as “emotional health.” They were good natured, resilient, positive, optimistic and forward looking. My partner’s father, an Irish immigrant, ate bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning of every day of his life (as I saw, and as I was told). He didn’t smoke, though, and he liked walking around his Long Island town long before walking was “in.” In fact, he was thought somewhat eccentric for doing so. When I met him, he was 100 and the most easy-going person I’d ever encountered. The second person I knew who lived to 100 was the mother of an old friend. Her husband had been killed in the Holocaust and she and my friend, who was a child at the time, went to England and started a new life. My friend’s mother was also an upbeat, optimistic person who had a smile and a welcome for everyone. These characteristics, along with a sense of humor and a gift for contentment, plus meaningful social connections, help one to live a long and relatively happy life. Of course, there’s no guarantee. Genetics and accidents play a role; bad luck can come to anyone. Illness lurks around
every corner. But from what I’ve seen myself and heard from others, these are personality traits that the oldest Americans seem to share. I’ve been getting notices on various websites that “Your Browser is Out of Date. Please Update Your Browser.” Well, I’ve got news. I’m out of date, and please don’t keep telling me to update my browser. It just makes me mad. I like my browser just fine. My old desktop does what I need it to
do, and that’s all I want. Okay, maybe it’s a bit slow, but I can use my e-mail, Google illnesses and stalk old acquaintances on Facebook. What more could I want? I’m appalled by the stories I hear from friends and acquaintances about the medical situation for elders. In my women’s group, two people asked for recommendations for internists who would take Medicare. They were told by many offices that no new Medicare patients were being seen. They are convinced that their age is the reason, the idea being that old people need more medical help and will overload the doctor’s schedule with low paying Medicare reimbursement.
President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com Account Executive Editor In Chief, Kyle Pope editor.ot@strausnews.com Fred Almonte Director of Partnership Development Deputy Editor, Richard Khavkine Barry Lewis editor.dt@strausnews.com
Staff Reporters Gabrielle Alfiero, Daniel Fitzsimmons Director of Digital Pete Pinto
How sad. How awful. I’m lucky to have found a wonderful doctor who does take my Medicare, but not too long ago I was searching for a specialist and it took quite a while to find someone who did take regular Medicare. Again, how very sad. Of course doctors need to make a living, but is it all about the buck? Where is the feeling for helping people, the moral sense that medicine is not all about what insurance a person has? I suppose I’m being naïve, but when I heard my friends’ stories, I admit I was shocked. They’d spent hours on the phone trying to find a new doctor (both of theirs had retired) and were still searching as of the time I offered the name of my compassionate Internist. I recently read an article in The New York Times about what married gay couples call each other. Do they like to call each other husband, wife, wusband, hersband or husfriends? I have another conundrum. I’ve been with my male partner for 16 years, and I still don’t know how to refer to him. Significant Other is too long. Good friend hardly describes him. Paramour implies an illicit relationship. I usually say “partner,” but somehow I get in that he’s male or mention his name. I have absolutely nothing against gay relationships, but I am not gay and prefer people to know that I’m in a male/ female relationship. Call me old-fashioned, but I am what I am. We’re all allowed to identify ourselves as anything we wish to these days, and I am an old, heterosexual female who chose not to marry again after having done so a few times, producing two children and four grandchildren. I do wish that English had a good word for my type of relationship, but it doesn’t seem to. All suggestions are welcome.
Block Mayors Ann Morris, Upper West Side Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side
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Chapter 1
HAVE THE
Kitchen of Your Dreams
EVE AND OTHERS Welcome to our ďŹ rst serialized novel. This week, Manhattan writer Esther Cohen kicks off the first weekly installment in what will be a novel set in the neighborhood. Intrigued by what you read here? Join us next week for Chapter 2. Beautiful Eve, belle with high silver boots and an actual jumpsuit made out of parachute silk (she’d never tell me where she bought it, silver, too). Beautiful Eve moved in to live with me when my longtime roommate went to France. Because, she said, the words ‘I am going to France’ were reason enough. She had a cousin with an extra bed and in the late 70s, that was reason enough to Just Go. Beautiful Eve wanted to be an actress, authentic Uta Hagen disciple, to emote, and often, she read scenes with her friend Robert, over and over again. View from the Bridge. She was the seductive niece and Robert the infatuated uncle. One day Beautiful Eve decided she wanted to get married. God knows why. No one we knew was married then. We never even used the word. The day she decided was Pablo Casals last concert in Central Park, and Eve went. That night there was rain. Light then heavy, and the man next to her had an umbrella. Of course she did not. He opened it over her head, and then he moved in.
Turns out he was agoraphobic, and the Casals concert was an experiment in Going Out. An occasion, for them both, for him to move into our apartment that very night. Like beautiful Eve, Timothy, too, had a gorgeous voice, deep and Brandoish, and so they immediately became engaged. They went to 47th Street and bought a diamond ring. And then, there were plans for a wedding. There we were, free from various conventions, looking at pictures of well-tiered wedding cakes. And those couples in the pictures, they looked like they were in a black and white TV movie from 1955. Smiling with all their teeth. Beautiful Eve and big red
hair, like a wild swimming cap. As for her beau, her fiancĂŠ, her intended, her germophobic agoraphobic love, he wore plastic gloves for every occasion, even to turn on the sink, Timothy was a man who was hard to see, as if he always stood out of the frame. In the way that some people can be, he was eternally elusive. All his opinions were maybes. Nothing like Eve’s father, a lawyer who seemed to diagram his own sentences. Timothy didn’t sing, but he often hummed. If you asked what he was humming, he wouldn’t tell you. And then, if you asked what the reason was, he wouldn’t tell you that, either. Here’s what happened to Eve and Tim: they did not get married. Even though we spent a week choosing appetizers (canapĂŠs!), writing down the bottles of Dom Perignon they would buy, still they separated. Not the way we all did in those days, Loudly and With Reasons. They kind of faded. One day Timothy said he was going to visit his Aunt May in Brooklyn and Eve, when he walked out the door, said Good Riddance. That’s all she said. What’s funny is he never came back. Esther Cohen has written ďŹ ve books and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsday and elsewhere. She posts a poem a day at www.esthercohen.com,
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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.
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Wednesdays March 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 12 noon – 2 pm
Location Main Lobby, Gracie Square Hospital 420 East 76th Street between First and York Avenues
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CB8 PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING Brick Presbyterian Church, 62 East 92nd St. 6:30 p.m. Join the committee and share ideas that will be presented to the city’s Parks Department in its mission to finalize recommendations for the Queensboro Oval. 212-758-4340. cb8m.com/ events/parks-and-recreationcommittee-5
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CAREER LAB — WORKING WITH WORDS The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave. 4:30-6:30 p.m. Free, reservations encouraged For ages 15-18 thinking about life after high school. Explore careers in the arts and hear
from museum professionals and experts. 212-535-7710. metmuseum. wufoo.com/forms/teenprograms-ages-1518/
Sat 5
Temple Shaaray Tefila, 250 East 79 St. (Entrance on Second Avenue) 6 p.m. Agenda includes 19th Precinct BREAK FREE OF police report on neighborhood LIMITING BELIEFS Safety. Councilman Ben Kallos is a scheduled guest speaker. 67th Street Library, 328 East 67th St. 2-3:30 p.m. Free Professional coach Barbara Phillips helps participants get clarity about what is holding them back from what they ELIZABETH TAYLOR: desire in life and learn simple strategies to move beyond A PRIVATE LIFE FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION limitations. 212-734-1717. www.nypl.org/ events/programs/2016/03/05/ 92nd Street Y, Lexington break-free-limiting-beliefsAvenue at 92nd St. barbara-phillips Noon. From $25 Writer and professor Ellis WORKSHOP AND Cashmore traces our modern, LECTURE ON MINIhyperactive celebrity culture SAMPLERS back to a single instant: the publicizing of Taylor’s Mount Vernon Hotel Museum scandalous affair with Richard & Garden, 421 East 61st St. Burton by photographer Marcelo 2 p.m. $10. Reservations Geppetti in 1962. required. 212-415-5500. www.92y. Christine Griffiths, a doctoral org/Event/Elizabeth-Taylor candidate at Bard Graduate
Fri 4
Center and scholar in the field of textiles and needlework, will give a lecture on samplers. A walk through the current exhibit, A Wealth of Knowledge: Samplers and Women’s Education, follows. www.MVHM.org
Sun 6 OPEN STUDIO FOR FAMILIES ▲ Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue 1-4 p.m. Free with museum admission Join our drop-in art making program and discover more about themes and materials. Perfect for families with children 5 and up. 212-423-3618. www.guggenheim.org/ new-york/calendar-andevents/2016/03/06/openstudio-for-families-5/5378
STORYBOOKS AND ART Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd St. 1:30-2 p.m. Free with museum admission Listen to a story from our children’s book favorites and participate in an activity. 212-423-3200. thejewishmuseum.org/ calendar/events/2016/03/06/ storybooks-and-art-winterspring-2016
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Going to the Airport?
Mon 7 “WHEN WOMEN WIN: EMILY’S LIST AND THE RISE OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN POLITICS� Roosevelt House, 47-49 East 65th St. 6-8 p.m. Free Ellen Malcolm, founder and chairman of Emily’s List, on women and politics, will discuss her book, “When Women Win: Emily’s List and the Rise of Women in American Politics� 212-396-7919. www. roosevelthouse.hunter.cuny.edu/ events/ellen-malcolm/
19TH PRECINCT COMMUNITY COUNCIL
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153 East 67th St. 7 p.m. The community council meets A CIVIL ARGUMENT â–˛ the ďŹ rst Monday of the month at the precinct station house. Zebu Grill, 305 East 92nd St. 212-452-0615. 7 p.m. from $10 Rabbi Andy Bachman, the Bronfman Center director of Jewish content and ritual, leads a discussion on race and identity, one in a series of conversations about topical issues and Jewish NATIONAL ACADEMY values in today’s world.
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SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE
National Academy Museum & School, 5 East 89th St. 6-8 p.m. Free with registration Join to learn about our Studio Art Intensive program and various courses offered. Food and beverages will be offered along with open sketch class and portfolio reviews.
Wed 9 HOW TO TALK TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT SEX IN THE DIGITAL AGE French Institute, Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. 7 p.m. General $25; FIAF members, $20 A panel discussion about how to answer questions about puberty, sex, and sexuality in the “digital age� with parents with children ranging from elementary to teenagers. tiltkidsfestival.org/events/ parents-sex-talk
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HOW TO FIGHT HOMELESSNESS Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave., at 103rd Street 6:30 p.m. $16; students/ seniors, $12; museum members, free. A conversation with leading advocates in homeless services working on the issue’s forefront to empower those in need. 212-534-1672. www. mcny.org/event/ďŹ ghtinghomelessness
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SCREAMING BEAUTY AT NEUE GALERIE A new show highlights Edvard Munch’s classic tribute to angst and his later Expressionist works BY VAL CASTRONOVO
It’s been three years since the Museum of Modern Art played host to Edvard Munch’s pastel iteration of “The Scream”(1895), which memorably faced off with Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” on a far wall. Now Neue Galerie has staged an encore presentation of one of the world’s most famous works of art, this time tucked into a small room — a “chapel-like environment” in the words of the gallery’s communications director, Rebecca Lewis — where viewers can pay their respects. Hard to believe, but the Norwegian artist’s iconic work is just one of many spectacular draws at “Munch and Expressionism,” a gorgeous, intimate show that examines Munch’s influence on German and Austrian Expressionists — and their influence on him. Call it a dialogue that informed his development as a modern artist at the beginning of the 20th century and their development, with the focus on a coterie that included Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Gabrielle Münter and Emile Nolde from Germany, and Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and Richard Gerstl from Austria. In the foreword to the exhibit’s catalog, Neue Galerie’s director, Renée Price, acknowledges Munch’s debt to Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Gauguin, but emphasizes his
special “affinity” with the German Expressionists, who supported his mantra, “I do not believe in the art which is not the compulsive result of humanity’s urge to open its heart.” As the museum’s president, Ronald Lauder, writes, Munch’s works are “like a punch to the stomach. His images relate to primal emotions shared by all human beings: loneliness, anxiety, jealousy. But they are rendered in such a way that we also feel the beauty of existence ... ” There is plenty of beauty here. Thirty-five paintings, several making their American debut, and 50 works on paper are arranged thematically along walls painted with bright custom-designed colors, some “extracted from the works themselves,” Lewis said on our private tour. But while Munch (1863-1944) is best known for paintings and prints created in the 1890s — e.g., the introspective, emotive “Angst,” “Melancholy” and “Scream” motifs — the organizers have cast a spotlight on later, lesser-known works, with highlights from the artist’s “vitalist” phase (c. 1901-1916) of particular interest. A 20th century European theme emphasizing the lifeforce, vitalism “points in the direction of something radiant, life-affirming and robust,” scholar Øystein Ustvedt writes in the catalog. “It can be seen in the turn of the century’s art, philosophy and science, as well as in the budding nudist culture and emergence of new lifestyle ideals dominated by
Edvard Munch (1863-1944), “The Scream,” 1895. Pastel on board in the original frame 79 x 59 cm (31 1/8 x 23 1/4 in.) Private Collection. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Egon Schiele (1890-1918), “Self-Portrait with Raised Bare Shoulder,” 1912. Oil on wood. 42.2 x 33.9 cm (16 5/8 x 13 3/8 in.) Leopold Museum, Vienna. outdoor recreational activities, physical fitness and a healthy diet.” Call it “getting back to nature,” the show’s curator Jill Lloyd said, alluding to the Nietzschean notion of nature as a source of renewal. She pointed to Munch’s “Bathing Men” (1907), on exhibit for the first time in the U.S., and his “Sunbathing” (1914-15), two colorful paintings of nude bathers showcased on the same wall in the second gallery. “Munch
wants his work to be modern. He wants to show a Munch that no one has seen before,” she explained. “He’s interested in the theme of male vitality. Bathing is a celebration of naturalness.” More vitality and virility are on parade on the adjacent wall, where Munch’s full-length portrait “Christian Gierløff” (1909) debuts and stands testament to the new, modern approach. The assertive, plein air image of Munch’s worldly friend, an economist, contrasts with his
earlier, more subdued portraits. “The persons portrayed [in the early 1900s] are bursting with self-confidence and energy,” Ustvedt writes. “Family members and bohemians no longer dominate the genre as they did in the 1890s. Rather we see scientists, industrialists and representatives of a progressive, cultural elite.” The brightly colored portrait of Gierløff is bathed in strong, summer sunlight, with the
figure looking directly at the viewer. He is self-assured and angst-free — an extrovert! — with an agreeable demeanor. Turn around and see Munch’s parallel approach to landscape. His snow paintings, “White Night” (1900-01) and “Winter. Elgersburg” (1906), are paired with Emil Nolde’s “Sea B” (1930) and Gabriele Münter’s “The Blue Gable” (1911), respectively, to illustrate crosspollination. The light-toned snowscapes show the artist “moving further away from reality,” Lloyd said, referring to Munch’s broad brushstrokes and expressive style. There is “patterning, banding and a reduction of the landscape to its essentials,” she said, with the emphasis on “the idea of mood and emotion.” But back to the holy place: “The Scream,” in its original frame, is flanked by half a dozen resonant works—including Erich Heckel’s dramatic woodcut “Man on a Plain” (1917), a response to the trauma of World War I that echoes a “Scream” lithograph, and three haunting self-portraits by Egon Schiele. Schiele and Munch both “captured the spirit of anxiety,” Lewis said in conclusion, noting the stylistic similarities between a Munch self-portrait at the show’s entrance — “like an x-ray” — and Schiele’s bony, angular figures. Visitors can worship in the chapel and the rest of the rooms through June 13.
MARCH 3-9,2016
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M AR B LE C OLLE GI ATE C HURCH
Richard Elliott Principal Organist of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City. George K. Wells as Juliet, Nicholas Martin-Smith as the Prince and Christopher Moore as Romeo in Hudson Warehouse’s “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).” Credit: Susane Lee
ROMEO AND JULIET AND WRESTLING TO DO Theater company offers a humorous survey of Shakespeare’s plays BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO
“Can we do the vomit?” Susane Lee asked George K. Wells during a recent rehearsal of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).” In the production from Hudson Warehouse, an Upper West Side theater company that stages classical theater productions in Riverside Park, Shakespeare’s 37 plays comically unfold with three actors, 60 roles and 45 costume changes, without intermission. Wells plays Ophelia, and in one scene goofily mimes retching into the audience. “I call it a tour de force,” said Lee. “It’s not just acting. It’s so physical. They’re fighting; they’re wrestling; they’re running up and down the auditorium.” The company first staged the comedy outdoors in 2013 as part of its 10-year anniversary season, and then brought the production to Goddard Riverside Community Center when it became the organization’s resident theater company. Written
by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, the play debuted in 1987 and followed with a nine-year run in London. An often slapstick retelling of all Shakespeare’s theatrical works, the show is a change of pace for the classically-trained actors. Wells, who performed as Romeo in a previous production of the tragedy, now plays Juliet, along with all the other female roles in the production, sometimes donning dramatic wigs and period dresses. “It’s mayhem,” said Nicholas Martin-Smith, the founder and producing artistic director of the company and one of the three actors in the production. During rehearsal, Lee and costumer Emily Rose Parman worked through the actors’ costume changes. They discovered that Christopher Moore needed assistance changing out of a long white beard and into a brown cloak as he transitioned from Polonius to his son Laertes in a matter of seconds. “Pieces have to be suggestive, rather than elaborate,” said Parman, given the time constraints. Lee updated the script, taking liberties and adding fights where none existed, with the help of the company’s fight director. A golf club duel breaks
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IF YOU GO “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” March 3-20 Produced by Hudson Warehouse Goddard Riverside’s Bernie Wohl Center 647 Columbus Ave. at 91st Street Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets $15, or $10 for students and seniors For more information, visit www.goddard.org/ communityarts or call 212799-9400 out in “Macbeth” and a wrestling match, complete with clotheslines and headlocks, goes down between the Capulets and the Montagues. Some of Shakespeare’s original language remains, but the production is accessible, Lee said, and allows the actors to improvise. “We love Shakespeare,” Lee said. “We make it understandable and accessible and say it in a vernacular that everyone can understand. It’s not highfalutin.”
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
7 Days of Genius: Mind, Brain, and Molecules
MONDAY, MARCH 7TH, 7:30PM 92nd Street Y | 1395 Lexington Ave. | 212-415-5500 | 92y.org Learn more about the intellectual synthesis pioneered by Sigmund Freud, brain anatomist Santiago Ramon y Cajal, and the two physiologists who first identified the molecules that serve as chemical transmitters. ($38)
3-11 and 9-11 Survivor Stories
TUESDAY, MARCH 8TH, 6:30PM Asia Society and Museum | 725 Park Ave. | 212-288-6400 | asiasociety.org Half a decade after the tsunami and Fukushima meltdown of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, survivors, first responders and families of victims from “3-11” come together with their 9/11 counterparts for a look at the power of human connection and healing. ($30)
Just Announced | The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters
TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH, 6:30PM The Cooper Union | 41 Cooper Sq. | 212-353-4100 | storefrontnews.org Rules underlie all of life, with a startling similarity across scales. Biologist Sean B. Carroll talks about the secret logic of nature with Times science columnist Carl Zimmer. (Free)
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
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THE DENTAL HEALTH OF YOUR PET PETS BY MELISSA TREUMAN
A number of years ago, after a night of excruciating mouth pain, I found myself stretched out in a dentist’s chair, feeling a mix of both sedation (thankfully) and shock as the dentist studied my x-rays and began rattling off a laundry list of procedures I’d ultimately require. Not one to beat around the bush, I immediately inquired about costs, and after he begrudgingly began providing prices, I started crunching the numbers. The tally came to almost $20,000. Even in my sedated state, I was close to tears. Dental health is something that many of us don’t think about until we are on the cusp of a crisis. For our pets, it can be even easier to overlook because our dogs and cats rarely alert us to problems until they have reached a critical point. If our pets aren’t acting like something is wrong, we generally don’t assume that anything is. But the old adage that “if something isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” is a terrible philosophy when it comes to the dental health of our four-legged loved ones. The longer problems go undetected and untreated, the more difficult and costly they ultimately become. Just like people, dogs and cats require regular maintenance of their teeth and gums. Brushing your pet’s teeth daily, or at least three to four times a week helps to reduce plaque,
which is a source of bacteria and can cause gum disease. Approximately 80% of dogs and cats have dental disease by the age of three. This leads to periodontal disease if left untreated. The long term consequences of periodontal disease include bone erosion, tooth loss, abscess and pain. Bacteria in the tartar and plaque can also affect your pet’s general health, causing serious damage to the heart and other internal organs. Signs of dental disease include halitosis (bad breath), swelling of the face, excessive drooling, loss of appetite, visibly loose teeth and inflamed gums. Bear in mind that while your pet may exhibit some of these symptoms, they also may not. Furthermore, by the time they do display these symptoms, they may require a significant amount of work. We can’t possibly pre-empt every condition that may await our two and four-legged loved ones but we CAN take precautions, and, preventative measures can go a long way. Bringing your pet in for an annual dental checkup can keep plaque and bacteria at bay, and help to stave off costly procedures and serious illnesses down the road. Trust me when I say, it’s better to be safe than sorry…. Melissa Treuman is Director of Brand Communications, Bideawee. During the month of March, The Animal Hospitals at Bideawee are offering $50 off any dental procedure. To make an appointment, call 866-2628133.
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Visit the Animal Hospitals at Bideawee in March to receive $50 off a dental cleaning for your pet. Savings for you. Dental health for them. That’s something to smile about. Bideawee understands pets, and the people who love them, so trust your pet’s care to the Animal Hospitals at Bideawee. Open to all pet owners, call 866.262.8133 and make an appointment today.
animal people for people who love animals ® Manhattan · Westhampton · 866.262.8133 · bideawee.org
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Business
In Brief DEVELOPER BEHIND EAST SIDE SUPERCRAPER FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION The developer behind a 950-foot tall condo tower in Sutton Place has filed for bankruptcy protection in order to stop a foreclosure auction. Crain’s reports that Joseph Beninati, who operates the real estate firm Bauhouse Group, along with another executive, put a limited liability company that they control and that owns the development site on East 58th Street into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move halted the Feb. 29 auction of the site by the property’s lender, Gamma Real Estate, which holds more than $180 million of debt tied to the parcel. Last week, Beninati failed to win a restraining order in State Supreme Court that would have prevented Gamma from foreclosing on the property. Beninati’s lawyers in that case, Stephen Meister and Kevin Fritz, were asking for a delay to give Beninati more time to try to arrange a sale of the site or refinance it and pay off Gamma, Crain’s said. After losing that case, Beninati said that he stood to lose millions of dollars he invested in the development and two years of his time.
WTC TRANSIT HUB OPENS The soaring transportation hub opening next week at the World Trade Center was designed to evoke a bird in flight, but it is hatching under a cloud. There will be no ribbon-cutting ceremony when the train station’s grand hall, called the Oculus, opens to the public. The main issue is sore feelings over the cost. The hub, which includes a commuter rail station, retail shops and connections to several subway lines, cost $3.9 billion. That’s roughly the same as the price of building the adjoining, 104-story One World Trade Center. But Spanish-born architect Santiago Calatrava says the train station will be an important public space like Grand Central Terminal. The station is replacing a commuter station connecting Manhattan to New Jersey that was destroyed almost 15 years ago in the 9/11 attacks.
GOLDMAN SACHS TRUMP BACKER PLACED ON LEAVE A financial adviser said to be the only Goldman Sachs employee to contribute to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been placed on administrative leave, according to The New York Times. The employee, Luke Thorburn, made two donations, totaling $534.58, to Mr. Trump’s campaign in September, according to Federal Election Commission records cited by the Times. He also trademarked the phrase “Make Christianity Great Again,” according to public records. The Times confirmed that Mr. Thorburn is associated with a website that sells hats that resemble Mr. Trump’s red and blue “Make America Great Again” caps, replacing the word “America” with “Christianity.” Though Thorburn sought to distance himself from the website, the Times reports that the bank became concerned about apparent inconsistencies in Mr. Thorburn’s story, and placed him on leave.
LANDMARKS COMMISSION FINALLY CLEARING LONG BACKLOG NEWS List of preserved buildings could include Bergdorf store The commission that decides which city buildings are worth preserving took a step to protect 30 properties that have languished on a list of possible landmarks for years. The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s vote to recommend the 30 properties for landmark status was part of an effort to clear a backlog that had built
up over decades. “As the city’s expert body on historic preservation, the commission has spent months analyzing testimony and conducting further research on these items,” commission chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan said in a statement. “Our actions today represent an important step in addressing this backlog.” One property that will now be considered for landmark designation is the luxury Bergdorf Goodman store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Others include the Pepsi sign on the Queens wa-
terfront, several churches and a YMCA in Harlem. Most of the properties had been on the commission’s calendar for 20 years or more. They were among 95 sites that were up for consideration. he Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation said one of the properties now headed for landmark status, an 1816 house at 57 Sullivan St. in downtown Manhattan, had been on the calendar for almost 50 years. “This charming historic house was the first and only structure ever built on this site and has re-
markably survived subway construction, street widenings, the building of the Holland Tunnel, tremendous development pressure and any number of other urban transformations, which consumed so many of its neighbors,” society president Andrew Berman said. “This survivor will now hopefully live for another two centuries or more.” The commission has promised a vote on the recommendations by the end of 2016 after a round of hearings.
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WHY DAY CAMP? CAMP BY MARLA COLEMAN
It’s tough to be a kid these days. It’s tough to be a parent. In a society where the nature of the family, the work place, and the community have changed dramatically, we can no longer assume that the natural process of growing up will provide children the experiences and the resources they need to become successful, contributing adults. In sharp contrast to the traditions of growing up in the 50s and 60s, today we live in the ďŹ rst moment when humans receive more of their information second-hand than ďŹ rst! We are in a climate where it is harder to know what we need to survive, so drawing on experiences that give children healthy alternatives and opportunities to instill capabilities, the hallmarks of thriving, is the greatest gift you can give a young child. Does it really matter if my
child doesn’t go to day camp, especially since she will go to overnight camp in a few years? She is only four years old — why does she need day camp? Camp provides one of the very few links with a world larger than the consumer culture we inhabit — and day camp is one important choice in a quiver of options. The camp experience helps children and youth develop an appreciation of their place and their responsibility in a much larger universe. A preschooler — or even an older child who might be reluctant to go to overnight camp — can join a community that is created especially for her to practice growing up. Why wait until age ten when the beneďŹ ts of feeling connected and being able to contribute and navigate at an earlier age can be reaped? Under the supervision of inspiring guides and passionate coaches, children can feel successful and make new friends while having the time of their lives; they can experience be-
longing and contribution; they can have a sense of consistency and predictability in times of turbulence and change. Day camp can begin as early as age three, and is geared to children who get to experience camp and still return home each evening! They have the best of both worlds — the camp community which is built exclusively for kids and their own home which provides the security they need at a tender age. One day camp parent said, “While my children and I are constantly bombarded by the news which is focused on what is wrong with the world, camp is a living example of what is right.â€? Day camp is a terriďŹ c ďŹ rst experience. Reminiscent of less complicated days, when people connected with nature, thrived on inter-generational relationships, and made new discoveries, everything is designed and scaled to ensure that children feel included, cared about, and capable. Beginning camp at an
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early age provides important advantages. Camp is the best demonstration of moral and spiritual order — democracy is the core purpose. Children learn life skills and behaviors that become habits of the heart. While many then move on to overnight camp, others will be con-
tent to continue the day camp experience: after all, there is a camp for everyone — and that might well be day camp! Marla Coleman is the parent liaison at Camp Echo in Burlingham, New York. The immediate past president of the American Camp Association, she is a co-owner of Coleman
Family Camps, which includes Camp Echo and Coleman Country Day Camp. To learn more about camp and child development, please visit the American Camp Association’s family-dedicated Web site: www. CampParents.org, or call the toll-free number 1-800-428CAMP (2267).
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
To read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes” go to ourtownny.com/15 minutes
Monmartre in the Time Warner Center.
A BOUTIQUE SENSIBILITY Owner of iconic fashion outpost Montmartre recounts origins, looks forward BY ANGELA BARBUTI
Avi Toledo, the founder and owner of the fashion boutique Montmartre. Photo: Michael Creagh
When Avi Toledo decided to open his first boutique in 1980, he chose Columbus Avenue as its address. At the time, the area was not the destination it is today, but the budding entrepreneur saw its potential. “Columbus Avenue was filled with a lot of restaurants and cafes and reminded me of Paris,” he explained. “I saw that they needed boutiques and I was the first or second to open on Columbus.” The brand quickly expanded and at one point had up to five stores around Manhattan. Now, Toledo is focusing his efforts on operating just one store in another ideal location, the Time Warner Center. The retailer opened with the now iconic building in 2006, so is celebrating its 10th anniversary as one of The Shops in Columbus Circle this year.
How did you get started in the fashion industry? I was working in boutiques as a salesperson and had a lot of connections in the industry with manufacturers. At the time, retail was the only place to shop, not like now. I enjoyed the industry and was good at sales, and that inspired me to open my own store.
You worked as a driver while you opened your first boutique. I drove in Manhattan and to the airports. When you pick up people at the airport, sometimes you pick up people who are famous. I did it part-time at night because I just opened a boutique on Columbus Avenue. It was a small boutique and I was trying to develop it, so I did extra work as a car service. I picked up Miss Universe from Venezuela and Miss USA. At the time, they were staying at an apartment especially for the pageant contestants. And I took them
to that building that, later on in my life, I moved to, ironically.
How did you pick Columbus Avenue as the location for your first store? I thought it would be up-andcoming. Now it’s only boutiques and some restaurants. But there was a time in the 80s and 90s where there were only boutiques and not too many restaurants. People would shop at my store after they had dinner because I stayed open until after 11 in those days.
How have you seen the Upper West Side change? Well, it’s developed now. There are new buildings, Lincoln Center was transformed. A lot of fancy chains and boutiques came in because the rent went up. When I started, the rent wasn’t that high. It’s a whole new ballgame right now. That’s why I always aim to stay new and fresh and bring in exciting, new and hip designers, and also those who give back to the community and to charities.
What are the positives and negatives to owning a business in the Time Warner Center? The positive is that it’s a hightraffic area and tourists come in and love it and it’s unique to an average store in the street. It’s a unique mall; there are not a lot of stores. It’s more of a boutique mall. Plus, with all the great restaurants, Whole Foods and Jazz at Lincoln Center, they can make a whole day and night of it. We are also open seven days a week,
Monday to Saturday, 10 to 9 and Sunday, 11 to 7. I don’t see any negatives right now; it’s a perfect location and we’ve been here for over 12 years.
What is the atmosphere like in your store? Very customer-service friendly and we have fashions for women sizes 0 to 12, so we get mothers and daughters and it’s welcoming for everyone. It’s just a nice place to shop and nice people work here. The clothing is fun and playful. We keep changing the clothing every week. We sell a lot of dresses. We are also have amazing jewelry, hats, handbags, belts, scarves, whatever you would need to complete your whole look in one place. We also get many celebrities and their stylists who love shopping here for their events and special appearances. We offer in-house stylists who get to know our customers, and know what they like and contact them when new styles come in. We have a great lounge area, to give a place to sit and relax or for the men in our customers’ lives to sit back after a great day of shopping. We also have a great online store and keep up-to-date with social media www.montmartreny.com
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“I WISH SOMEONE WOULD HELP THAT HOMELESS MAN.”
BE THE SOMEONE. Sam New York Cares Volunteer
Every day, we think to ourselves that someone should really help make this city a better place. Visit newyorkcares.org to learn about the countless ways you can volunteer and make a difference in your community.
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