Our Town - March 8, 2018 by Our Town

The local paper for the Upper East Side

WEEK OF MARCH NEW ART, NEW VOICES ◄P.12

8-14 2018

A KINDER, GENTLER, CLEANER DUMP EXCLUSIVE The garbage depot on the East River, one of the most reviled projects on the UES, may not be quite as dreadful as feared — but justrevealed sanitation truck routes will stress out plenty of neighbors BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

State Sen. Liz Krueger (left) moderated a panel discussion on potential solutions to the city’s transit woes at CUNY Graduate Center on March 1. Photo: Michael Garofalo

UNTANGLING NYC’S TRANSIT KNOT MTA Experts pitch solutions to city’s transportation crisis BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

The data supports what millions of New Yorkers experience every day: the decline of the city’s transportation system is real. The subway’s on-time performance dropped from 88.7 percent in 2010 to 66.8 percent in 2016. Traffic crawled through midtown Manhattan at an average speed of 4.7 miles per hour last year, 27 percent slower than average speeds just ﬁve years earlier. Bus ridership in Manhattan is down 16 percent since 2011. Transportation experts unpacked the situation at a March 1 forum at CUNY Graduate Center hosted by

state Senators Liz Krueger and Brad Hoylman. The panelists shared a consensus that arriving at solutions to the city’s transit problems will require leaders to negotiate a web of complex and interrelated challenges, from packed streets to slow trains to rising MTA costs, which are among the highest in the world. Though subway delays have dominated headlines, recent declines in ridership on the New York’s bus system have drawn attention the city’s surface transportation issues. Average weekday ridership on New York City Transit buses in 2017 was down 5.6 percent over the previous year, marking the fifth successive year in which bus ridership dropped. Average weekday NYCT bus ridership is down over 11 percent citywide since 2012.

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The mountains of trash that will be hauled to the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station when it opens in 2019 have been dramatically reduced, new data from the city’s Department of Sanitation shows. Municipal garbage trucks will still thunder across the Upper East Side as they travel to and from the MTS — but the size of the planned fleet will be sharply scaled back, according to DOS projections. In a January 25 letter sent to East Side elected officials, Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia summed up the bottom line: “This is not the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station of years ago,” she wrote. The missive, provided to Straus News by East Side City Council Member Ben Kallos, who has long battled to kill the project, is perhaps the only good news the MTS has generated since it was ﬁrst proposed in 2004. “Thanks to your work — and more importantly, the great recyclers in your community — the amount of refuse processed at the MTS will be lower than anticipated during the planning process,” Garcia wrote. Flash back to 2003, when then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg initiated the planning for a facility that would process all residential waste from Community Boards 5, 6, 8 and 11 — an area bounded by 14th Street on the south and 135th Street on the north, Eighth Avenue to the west and the East River to the east.

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Twilight falls on the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station on Sunday, March 4. Loathed by locals since it was proposed nearly 15 years ago, the MTS will now process far less trash than originally projected -- and the number of garbage trucks rumbling across the East Side will also plummet. Photo: Douglas Feiden At the time, those four districts produced more than 720 tons of refuse per day, and initial blueprints said an average of 72 garbage trucks, or as many as 130 in some cases, would traverse the East Side daily to get to the MTS, the “tipping destination.” Those plans, with only minimal tinkering, remained on the drawing boards for 15 years. Now, the numbers have come back down to earth.

Simply put, less trash means fewer trucks.” Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia

REWARDS FOR RECYCLING “Last year, the same [four] districts produced less than 540 tons per day,” Garcia wrote. That’s a signiﬁcant decline of 25 percent. “Simply put, less trash means fewer trucks,” she said in the letter.

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PRICEY TRASH CANS PILFERED THEFT Two $1,300 steel receptacles are taken from Amsterdam Avenue BY ASHAD HAJELA

Amsterdam Avenue is calm late on a late February Friday. Shortly before midnight, a box truck stand pulls up to the southeast corner of 67th Street and the avenue and two men climb down from the passenger side. While one swings open a door on the truck’s side, the other inspects a large metal trash receptacle on the corner. The second man then joins the ﬁrst, and, after a few moments, they tip the receptacle on its side, lift it and, after a struggle, place it end over end inside the truck. The theft was captured by a surveillance camera across 67th Street. About 90 seconds after it pulled up to the corner, the

truck, precious cargo within, again heads north. It presumably stopped on the corner of 68th Street, where a similar receptacle was also taken. A cleaner from the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District noticed the bins were missing the morning following the February 23 theft. “Those trash cans are heavy,” said the president of the Lincoln Square BID, Monica Blum. “We usually need a hand truck to move them.” The Lincoln Square BID is a not-for-proﬁt organization that looks to keep the surrounding neighborhood clean and pleasant. It owns the two trash cans that were stolen. The Victor Stanley litter cans each cost about $1,300, Blum said. “Well, I hope it’s not a pattern,” she said. “These are expensive cans.” The BID reported the theft to the police. “It was reported and we’re investigating it,” an officer at the 20th Precinct said. “It’s the ﬁrst time that I know

of,” he continued, referring to trash can thefts in the 20th precinct jurisdiction. People living and working in and around the area were unaware and slightly bewildered that the receptacles were stolen. “Why would anybody steal a trash can?” a Lincoln Center security guard asked in bemusement. This is not the ﬁrst time trash cans have been stolen on the Upper West Side. Last May, the New York Post reported that the city’s steel mesh trash cans were being stolen in the West 70s and 80s. A spokesman for the city’s Department of Sanitation said the DSNY loses about 100 trash cans a year. Police, though, said they were not informed. The missing BID wastebins have been replaced. But there are fears that more will be stolen. “We hope to catch the culprit,” Blum said.

Two steel litter cans installed by the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District were taken on the night of February 23, including one from this corner, at Amsterdam Avenue and 67th Street. 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. 25 Week to Date

Year to Date

2018 2017

% Change

2018

2017

% Change

Murder

n/a

Rape

n/a

0.0

Robbery

n/a

185.7

Felony Assault

0.0

-14.8

Burglary

-100.0

14.3

Grand Larceny

-4.5

245 199 23.1

Grand Larceny Auto

-100.0

Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr

PACKAGE THIEF SENT PACKING The boom in Internet shopping has led to a boom in package thefts, and police are determined to stop it. At 10:24 p.m. on Wednesday, February 28, a plainclothes officer observed a man in his 50s taking packages from the lobby of a building on East 90th Street. The officer moved in and determined that the man was indeed taking the packages without permission. The individual was arrested on a charge of burglary. All of the packages were all recovered.

ARMED AND DISTURBED

POWERED DOWN

Police arrested a troubled individual on a charge of weapons possession. At 6:35 p.m. on Thursday, March 1, police responded to an EMS call about a 24-year-old man in emotional distress, who refused to leave a location at 69th Street and Third Avenue. Police were forced to handcuff the man to remove him to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation. As they did, they discovered that he had both a pellet gun and a Taser in his pocket.

A career criminal was nabbed by police after a recent burglary. At 3:07 a.m. on Monday, February 26, a security guard inside Hunter College at 921 Lexington Avenue saw a man forcing his way into the premises through a window. He called police, and officers responded to the call, collaring a man in his mid-ﬁfties who had a record of over 50 prior arrests. The property stolen and recovered were a number of power tools of unspeciﬁed value.

50.0

BAGGED

CAMO CROOK

For some strange reason, handbags costing more than a month’s rent continue to lure shoplifters. At 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, February 18, a 25-year-old man entered the Barneys store at 660 Madison Avenue and attempted to leave the premises with two Goyard handbags totaling $6,225 without paying for the items. Security personnel stopped the man, but an accomplice got away. Police are continuing to investigate the incident.

It is highly unlikely that most stores would offer a job to a known shoplifter. At 4:15 p.m. on Saturday, January 27, a man in a camouﬂage jacket walked into the Lanvin store at 815 Madison Avenue, took a bag valued at $1,595 off a shelf, and concealed it in his coat. He also asked store personnel about possible job openings. He then left the store without paying for the bag, and police ask for the public’s help in locating the individual.

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Useful Contacts

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POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct

BY PETER PEREIRA 153 E. 67th St.

212-452-0600

159 E. 85th St.

311

FIRE FDNY 22 Ladder Co 13 FDNY Engine 39/Ladder 16

157 E. 67th St.

311

FDNY Engine 53/Ladder 43

1836 Third Ave.

311

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221 E. 75th St.

311

CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Daniel Garodnick

211 E. 43rd St. #1205

212-818-0580

Councilmember Ben Kallos

244 E. 93rd St.

212-860-1950

STATE LEGISLATORS State Sen. Jose M. Serrano

1916 Park Ave. #202

212-828-5829

State Senator Liz Krueger

1850 Second Ave.

212-490-9535

Assembly Member Dan Quart

360 E. 57th St.

212-605-0937

Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright

1365 First Ave.

212-288-4607

COMMUNITY BOARD 8

505 Park Ave. #620

212-758-4340

LIBRARIES Yorkville

222 E. 79th St.

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Webster Library

1465 York Ave.

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100 E. 77th St.

212-434-2000

HOSPITALS Lenox Hill NY-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell

525 E. 68th St.

212-746-5454

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E. 99th St. & Madison Ave.

212-241-6500

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550 First Ave.

212-263-7300

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FIRED UP AND READY TO KICK COMMUNITY Teens serve on NYC community boards — a first step in the path to power for some of the city’s leading politicians BY CAROL ANN RINZLER

CB6 chair Molly Hollister and high school student Ava Goldman before a transportation commiittee meeting on March 5. Photo courtesy of CB6

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Three years ago, Queens Assembly member Nily Rozic and Staten Island State Senator Andrew Lanza tweaked the New York State public service law to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to serve on the city’s 59 community boards. At the time, some questioned whether teenagers would be able to deal with the complicated issues facing the boards, but if there is any consolation to be derived from the horrendous Parkland, Florida school shooting, it is that unlike their Gen X parents and baby boomer grandparents, the eloquent post-millennial Gen Z is ﬁred up and ready to kick. By all accounts, the RozicLanza plan to bring teenag-

ers into the city’s civic and political process has been an unqualified success. The first 19 teens were appointed in 2015, six of them in Manhattan where Borough President Gale Brewer has made it her policy to work with literally hundreds of young interns. Serving on a Community Board, she says, “provides a comprehensive view of how the city works, invaluable for these young New Yorkers who are our future.” In fact, East Side Councilmembers Keith Powers, Ben Kallos and Carlina Rivera all began public careers at Community Boards, a step Powers heartily endorses. Kallos, who reads every CB membership application submitted to his office (“Yeah, I do care way too much about this”), was on Manhattan CB8 alongside a 16-yearold who managed to make his way onto the board before the new law and then went on to work for Governor Cuomo. As for Rivera, as someone who joined her community bard at a young age she knows “firsthand the challenge for young

people whose voices are, after all, often at the center of the most successful progressive movements.” CB6’s current chair, Molly Hollister agrees. Her board now has a high school student, Ava Goldman, whose ﬁrst priority is environmental issues. “Being a teen on a community board is extremely empowering,” Goldman says. “The opportunity to be a voice for your constituents, to hear their concerns and be a part of the planning and ultimate solution, is a position of importance that I encourage more young people to seek. I am able to contribute a different perspective that diversifies our decision making to reflect the diversity of the constituents we represent. What you put into your community, you get back tenfold.” If there is any drawback to teen service, it’s that, as CB7 chair Roberta Semer notes, the students often leave to go to college. True, says Rick Egger, former chair of CB6. “Our ﬁrst 16-year-old member, Sarah Shamoon, was active on the

Board for two years before she left to go to Harvard last summer. She was among the first to volunteer when Board members were needed at events like Night Out Against Crime and presented issues and worked on writing resolutions at her committees. Had she been with the Board longer, I could easily see her taking on a committee chair or vice chair position.” Some, though, do stick around. Forty-two years ago, a 16-year-old Bronx high school student slipped under the radar as one of Manhattan Borough President Percy Dutton’s two stealth appointments to Manhattan CB12. On Tuesday, January 11, 1977, the news made the front page of the New York Times, and once installed, the young man went to work to save the A train (“my lifeline”), and, among other things, create after-school programs. He’s still at it: “Obviously,” says NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, “the Board had a major impact on my life.”

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PRESERVING LIVES, FROM THE UPPER EAST SIDE HEALTH Lauren Finkelstein parlays her experience in the media world to match organ and other donors with those in need BY SHOSHY CIMENT

For Hodaya Amran, receiving a kidney at age 10 was the ticket to the rest of her life. After being diagnosed with a genetic disorder at a young age, finding a perfect match willing to donate a kidney began to seem like an unattainable goal for the Israeli girl from Elad. That is until Save 1 Person, an organization that highlights people who require serious medical help stepped into the picture. Save 1 Person put Hodaya’s family in touch with a potential donor from the UK and Hodaya’s life was saved. “If we did nothing else but this girl, it was worth it,” Lauren Finkelstein, the founder of Save 1 Person, said while blinking back tears. When Finkelstein founded Save 1 Person in 2002, her

When Heshy Fellig, rear, an Orthodox Jew from California, needed a living kidney donor about 10 years ago, Lauren Finkelstein, right, sent out an alert through her organization, Save 1 Person. Marisa Hester, a Christian from Alabama, responded. Following a successful transplant, Hester and Finkelstein attended Heshy’s daughter’s wedding in Brooklyn. Photo courtesy of Lauren Finkelstein

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state’s registered donors by thousands, according to Cuomo. “This new law is a balanced effort to help in this administration’s efforts to expand state’s donor registry and help more New Yorkers receive the gift of life,” Cuomo said in a statement. “With this action, we are taking one more step toward a stronger, healthier New York for all.” While the New York State Donate Life Registry focuses on organ donation after death, Save 1 Person is mostly concerned with ﬁnding live donors for kidney, liver and bone marrow transplants. Finkelstein believes that the problem is not apathy, but awareness. If more people heard about actual people in need, they would be more willing to donate. To that end, Finkelstein uses alerts, advertisements and short TV segments to call attention to those people in their most desperate hours. “We are a game changer in the media,” she said. “We disrupt the media of death and destruction and slander and we change it by using it to save and transform lives.”

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need of medical miracles with donors and lifesavers across the world. For the past 16 years, Finkelstein has sent out thousands of alerts to various media outlets to get the word out to people who might be able to help. “It is, to me, a labor of love,” Finkelstein said. “I feel like it’s my mission. I love it. There is nothing more meaningful than when you actually make a match.” Finkelstein is well aware of the dire state of organ donation in New York. For the last two quarters of 2016, New York State ranked last in the nation in an “Eligible Designated Donor Rate” cited by the nonproﬁt Donate Life America. Ironically, according to data on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, New York currently has the second largest number of people waiting for organs. But New Yorkers are ﬁghting the statistics. After legislation signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo went into effect on February 14 — National Organ Donor Day — 16- and 17-year-olds can now enroll in the New York State Donate Life Registry. The could potentially increase the

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goal was to feature people in need of medical help in the public sphere through media alerts and short TV promos each week. Prior to starting the nonproﬁt, Finkelstein had been working as a television producer for years but had been becoming progressively disenfranchised with the industry. “I used to see the stupidest things being promoted on TV,” she said. “I used to think, ‘wouldn’t it be great if we could highlight one person to save a life?’” But everything changed for Finkelstein in August of 2001 when she narrowly escaped a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, Israel. “I was maybe a half a block away from it — and I’m telling you in that moment, my brain changed. Everything went into slow motion,” she says. Shortly after the attack, Finkelstein met with Rabbi Simon Jacobson of the Meaningful Life Center, a spiritual health center in Brooklyn, to figure out a way to use her media skills for the better. It was then that Save 1 Person was born. Since then, Save 1 Person has kept up with its intended mission of connecting people in

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Voices

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COOKIES TO GO EAST SIDE OBSERVER BY ARLENE KAYATT

Black and white, but no cookie — Another-fare-thee well to an UES institution, this time the venerable Glaser’s Bakery, serving bread and cake and doughy and yeasty favorites for over a century. Names like Glaser no longer have the generational wherewithal of, let’s say, a Lemle, a Litwin or a Friedland when it comes to the UES. The latter two are real estate families and the buildings they own will live on and on and on and see

other generations carry on the family business even if it misses a generation or two. Not so with retailers like the Glasers. After 116 years, the third generation of the Glaser family is tossing in the towel and saying sayonora to its little shop on First Ave between 87th and 88th Streets come July 1. Quite honestly, I don’t know why they’re leaving — could be the economy, online shopping, evolving eating habits, packaged cakes, breads, cookies. Could be any one or all or none of the above. Don’t know. What I do know is that another piece of the world we’ve known will be no more — and that diminishes and saddens. I have no doubt that in the foreseeable future the smells and memories of Glaser’s will be supplanted by a gym, or a boxing or SoulCycle venue, an ATM. Maybe a high-rise lobby when the buildings on the block are assembled and torn down. Rest assured, a new occupant of the Glaser’s space won’t offer up a retail business like a bakery, or a

shoe repair shop (most sneakers will never see a cobbler’s tool or need a shoeshine. A stiletto may be another story. But not enough to pay the rent.) Or a dry cleaner? Doubtful. They’ve largely been taken over by valet services in lobbies of highrises, by corporate entities and pickup services. The new retail seems to be barber shops and dry bars and fast-food franchises. Plus the wave of the future is likely to be personal service retailers. One on one. Quick. No chit chat. No “how’s the family? How’s business?” Nobody wants to talk to a retailer about that. That’s old world. Today is about getting in, getting out. The here, the now. Not about yesterday, today, tomorrow, the day after. Or “How ya doing?” Just moving right along.

No wedding or other plans — The Manhattan GOP Harlem Republican Club in West Harlem was celebrating Black History Month and gearing up for the upcoming elections

with remarks by Lynne Patton, HUD regional director, and speeches by several candidates seeking election in upcoming primaries and/or elections. If the turnout at the recent rainy Sunday is any indicator, Manhattan GOPers are raring to go. Patton, who was the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention, came out strong against the press for describing her as a wedding planner when she was never a wedding planner. Too bad Patton didn’t take the opportunity to address some HUD issues that affect blacks and the general population. She did bulletpoint what she considers Trump’s achievements in the ﬁrst year of his presidency. Most of her speech emphasized her undeserved bad press in being mischaracterized as a wedding planner. But she’s not running for anything. Those who are running for office were lawyer and businessman Joseph Holland, a candidate for governor, and Jineea Butler, who will be opposing Congressman Adriano

Espaillat, who took the Rangel seat in 2016. Holland and Butler made a pitch for voter turnout. Republicans haven’t had a presence in elective office on the UES or in other parts of Manhattan in years. Manhattan Republicans are geared up to change that. Time will tell.

A classy bar and a popover — Right midblock on 57th Street between Park and Lexington is BLT Steak, known for fine dining and a nice end-of-day spot for a drink. No happy hour prices — but the greatest treat, literally, is the popover that’s served with drinks. It’s a huge creation filled with oozy gruyère cheese, served warm. And then there’s the duck liver mousse covered with port wine aspic. Both to die for. You won’t want to leave even if it’s for a BLT steak. When you do leave, the bartender will hand you a recipe gift card with instructions for making the popover. Nice, but I’ll be back for the pastry chef’s version.

‘LIVING BIBLICALLY’ IN MANHATTAN BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL

Can one live biblically on the Upper East Side? At ﬁrst blush, the answer is no. How could anyone love thy neighbor when he or she is shoving you out of the way on the Q or 6 trains, trying to cut the line at Fairway or knocking the back of their chair against yours at, well, pick any Second Avenue restaurant. Then I watched the new CBS sitcom “Living Biblically” and began to wonder. The show is adapted from a book, “The Year of Living Biblically” by A.J. Jacobs. The sitcom is about “Chip” (Jay R. Ferguson), a Manhattanite who wants to be a better man and vows to follow the Good Book to the letter. A challenge? Oh yeah. Even his priest, (Chip is a lapsed Catholic in the show), thinks this is ridiculous. Just as anti-gun activists argue that the Second Amendment was written when people walked around with muskets to protect themselves, their land and their freedom, not to mention that if they wanted dinner they had to

shoot it, “Father Gene” (Ian Gomez) explains that times have changed since the Holy Scriptures were penned. When Chip confesses he no longer wants to keep the confidences of a cheating co-worker, the pastor advises that he not choose “stoning” — the Bible’s go-to punishment for those who have extramarital affairs — because nowadays assaulting an officemate with rocks will most likely result in jail time. So Chip persists, working within modern day parameters. We follow his transformation to a what-would-Jesus-do practitioner at home with his pregnant wife, at work with his quirky colleagues and at the bar where he hangs with his own personal “God Squad,” Father Gene and his pal, Rabbi Gil (David Krumholtz). Indeed, the obvious “a priest and a rabbi walk into a bar” joke has its fifteen seconds of fame. By the end of the first episode, Chip has gotten a raise, because his boss likes the new energy his life decision has brought to the company, and his adulterous friend is grateful that Chip renounced his behavior because it led

to him and his wife going into marriage counseling. That’s where the show lost me. Not only were the results of Chip’s efforts immediate, but they were appreciated. Hard to come by in NYC. Without making a pronouncement, or perhaps without even realizing it, a lot of us try to live biblically. We hold the door at the post office, and suppress the feeling to shout, “You’re welcome” to the person for whom we’ve just played doorman without so much as an acknowledgment. We don’t engage, but get off the bus or change seats when another rider — clearly looking for a ﬁght — chooses as their sparring partner our toddler who is not sitting quietly enough to suit them. Then there’s the blowhard at the supermarket who we let go ahead of us because no one should be that stressed by buying bread, and the sooner he’s gone, the more pleasant the wait will be for everyone else. No miracles here. No souls saved. No bids for sainthood. Just trying to get through the day doing what seems like the right thing. But unlike Chip, most

Jay R. Ferguson as Chip, Ian Gomez as Father Gene in “Living Biblically.” Photo: Michael Yarish/CBS of the time there is unfortunately no gratitude or immediate gratiﬁcation. In fact, sometimes you get criticized. The woman coming out of the post office behind me, who’d witnessed the ill-mannered person, chastised me with, “That’s what you get.” When I apologized for being late to another mother because my child and I had gotten off the bus a couple of stops early to avoid an abusive passenger, she turned competitive and shared the choice words she would have shot back. And at the grocery store, some-

one behind me wanted to know “what was wrong” with me for indulging the loudmouth complainer. When trying to maneuver New York City, you can be damned if you do and damned if you don’t. To paraphrase Father Gene: If you want to be a kinder, loving human being, be one. The world needs more of those. At least Manhattan does. Amen. Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novels “Back to Work She Goes” and “Fat Chick,” for which a movie is in the works.

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MARCH 8-14,2018

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A CALL AGAINST ARMS PROTEST The headmaster of Saint David’s School on the UES wrote an open letter in the New York Times after the Florida school shooting — and 155 heads of school across New York State signed on BY SHOSHY CIMENT

In the wake of one of the deadliest school shootings on American soil, educators are ﬁghting for change. “We are Heads of schools serving children from nursery through high school,” read a full-page open letter to American lawmakers in the New York Times on February 25. “We are Republicans, Democrats and Independents.” The letter, signed by 155 heads of school from all across New York State, urged for a move towards limiting access to certain weapons and ammunition to curb gun-related violence. “Something is out of balance in our society and our culture,” stated David O’Halloran, the headmaster of Saint David’s School on the Upper East Side and the author of the letter in the Times. “And I think we, as educational leaders, needed to stand up and make that heard.” The recent shooting in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that claimed the lives of 17 victims has prompted an unprecedented call to arms, or rather, a call against them. Students and educators across the country have been leading a movement calling on lawmakers to improve what they see as lax gun control laws to prevent future shootings like the one in Parkland. And New York educators are at the frontlines. Signatories include figures such as Binyamin Krauss of SAR Academy, Tony Oroszlany of the Loyola School, Bodie Brizendine of the Spence School, and Joseph J. Ciancaglini of the Convent of the Sacred Heart. “These private and independent schools represent students from every background,” said the Rev. Daniel K. Lahart, SJ, President of Regis High School and a signatory. “We share a common interest in the protection of our students and the hope for a safer world for them and for those who follow

Student protest in Washington, DC after the school shooting in Parkland, FL. Photo: Lorie Shaull, via ﬂickr them.” Tara Christie Kinsey, head of school at The Hewitt School on the Upper East Side and signatory echoed this feeling. “The reason why there have never been so many school leaders who have ‘spoken with one voice on behalf of a single issue,’ is because there is nothing more important than the safety of our children,” she said. “This issue is a true uniﬁer.” Kinsey added, “We hope that our president and lawmakers will answer the call to address easy access to the highly lethal, semi-automatic assault weapons and high-powered ammunition that place our nation’s schools and children in jeopardy.” Political differences aside, getting 155 heads of school to agree on something was nothing short of remarkable, noted O’Halloran. “I think they were galvanized around the idea of ‘never again,’ that clarion cry from the survivors of the Parkland Massacre,” O’Halloran remarked. O’Halloran penned a similar letter after the shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. At the time, O’Halloran said, the letter did not garner a response as large as the one from the most recent letter. But this time around, things have changed. Almost immediately after publishing, O’Halloran began getting emails from other NYC public school principals and Heads of school who wanted to be included as signatories on the letter, which is now estimated to contain over 450 signatures. And it didn’t stop there. Heads of school from other states — New Jersey, Florida, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts — to name a few,

reached out to O’Halloran with requests to draft similar letters for their respective states based off of O’Halloran’s original in the Times. For many of the signatories, the issue at hand is apolitical. “We don’t see this in a political or partisan light,” said Kevin Pendergast, head of the Kildonan School in Amenia, New York. “We see this as almost a national health crisis.” Students of Kildonan are planning to head to Albany on April 20 to petition lawmakers to push for change on the federal level. “It’s more to go to Albany to petition lawmakers there to advocate for a better national policy,” said Pendergast, who acknowledged that NY State has relatively more stringent gun laws than most other states. Many NYC schools are planning on allowing their students to participate in a 17-minute walkout on March 14 to honor the victims of the shooting and to protest gun violence. At Regis High School, students who chose to walk out will gather on the city streets outside the school for a moment of silence followed by student-led prayers. “Our students will, in many different ways, continue to fight for what they think is right,” said Fr. Lahart, who mentioned that the students involved in speech and debate, Regis’ most popular student organization, are already used to using their voices to speak for what they believe in. O’Halloran, like many other signatories, plans to support his students who choose to participate in the national demonstration. “When our children speak,” he said, “we need to listen.”

YOUR FATHER KEEPS WANDERING AWAY FROM HOME. BUT IT’S YOU WHO FEELS LOST.

THE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIAS FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAM. Caring for a family member who has trouble with thinking and memory can be extremely challenging. So challenging, in fact, that caregivers may feel overwhelmed, struggling to maintain their own health and well-being. NYU Langone’s Family Support Program provides convenient, personalized, and ongoing support to people caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or other thinking and memory disorders. The program is provided free of charge to individuals living within the ﬁve boroughs. You will receive access to counseling; connections to doctors and support groups; and compassionate guidance by being paired with a caregiver who has had a similar experience. Join a community dedicated to providing the support and guidance you need, for as long as you need it.

For more information or to enroll, call us at 646.754.2277 or visit nyulangone.org/memorydisordersupport. The Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Family Support Program is supported by a grant from the New York State Department of Health.

MARCH 8-14,2018

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Sat 10 19TH CENTURY TEA TASTING Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, 421 East 65th St. 1:30 p.m. $20/$15 children Hear about the history of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most popular beverage during this afternoon tea event. Sample varieties of historic tea and treats, all served on precious 19th century tea service and ceramics, while you go back in time and learn about proper tea etiquette of the 19th century.

Thu 8

Fri 9

Sat 10

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METFRIDAYS: AN EVENING WITH YINKA SHONIBARE

ACTRESS YASMINE AL MASSRI READS â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;PEARLS ON A BRANCHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

The Beekman Theatre 1271 Second Ave. 7:30 p.m. $20 London comes to the Upper East Side with the National Theaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s live production of Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great tragedy, starring AcademyAward nominee Benedict Cumberbatch. 212-249-0807 citycinemas.com

The Met, 1000 Fifth Ave. 6:30 p.m. Free, ďŹ rst come, ďŹ rst served British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare Mbe discusses a career committed to exploring contemporary African identity with Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition â&#x20AC;&#x153;Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body.â&#x20AC;? 800-662-3397 metmuseum.org

Albertine 972 Fifth Ave. 11 a.m. Free Award-winning actress Yasmine Al Massri (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Quanticoâ&#x20AC;?) brings to life traditional Syrian and Lebanese folktales, passed down through generations of women, and collected by Najla Khoury in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pearls on a Branch: Oral Talesâ&#x20AC;? as part of the Tilt Kids Festival. 212-461-3670 albertine.com

MARCH 8-14,2018

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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

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Sun 11 Mon 12 Tue 13 WIKIPEDIA EDIT-A-THON

▲ NEW YORK CITY WELLNESS SUMMIT

EXHIBITION: MUSE MUSE

The Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Ave. 2 p.m. Free with RSVP Hear from artists Joan Semmel and Arlene Shechet, whose work is now on view at The Jewish Museum, and learn how to become a Wikipedia editor at the ﬁrst edit-a-thon. Co-presented with Art+Feminism, a campaign dedicated to improving coverage of women, feminism and the arts on Wikipedia. Bring your laptop and power cord. 212-423-3200 thejewishmuseum.org

Caspary Auditorium, Rockefeller University 1230 York Ave. 6 p.m. Free From beauty bloggers and wellness professionals to those looking to learn more about peace of mind, green beauty, clean eating, of-the-moment ﬁtness trends, this evening of education and inspiration will help participants incorporate wellness in their own lives. rockefeller.edu

Bohemian National Hall 321 East 73rd St. 7 p.m. Free Put together by an international group of curators, this show emphasizes the relationship between curator and artist, and the transformation of identity and self against the background of post 1918 political and social change. Opening night is March 9; on view through April 6. 646-422-3399 new-york.czechcentres.cz

Wed 14 ◄ LAURIE GWEN SHAPIRO’S ‘THE STOWAWAY’ New York Society Library 53 East 79th St. 6:30 p.m. $15; advance registration required Hear author and ﬁlmmaker Laurie Gwen Shapiro read from “The Stowaway,” a true story of a scrappy teenager from the Lower East Side who stowed away on a 1920s expedition to Antarctica. The book takes readers from the soda shops of the LES to dance halls of sultry Francophone Tahiti, all the way to Antarctica’s blinding white and deadly freeze. 212-288-6900 nysoclib.org/events

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.

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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.

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

MARCH 8-14,2018

NEW ART, NEW VOICES Nearly 200 galleries from 31 countries will exhibit at The Armory Show BY MARY GREGORY

It’s big and sprawling, yet manageably compact. It’s international, yet local. It’s rigorously intellectual, yet fun. It’s established, yet evolving, carefully crafted, yet riotously unpredictable. It’s refined, inclusive, challenging, passionate, individual, unique and wildly creative. It’s for billionaires and museum directors, dog walkers and school kids. The Armory Show is a lot like the city that hosts it. “The Armory Show is, and has always been, New York’s Art Fair,” said the newly appointed executive director, Nicole Berry. “Founded in 1994 in New York City, 24 years later it is the most widely attended art fair in New York.... Having the unique benefit of being so ingrained with the city of New York means we’re really able to engage the creative landscape here — from artist studio visits to large-scale commissions at the fair, to an extensive program of talks with the world’s foremost artists and thinkers.... The Armory Show has taken bold steps to innovate in accordance with the contemporary landscape, and our landscape is New York, the world’s cultural capital.” Berry, who came to the fair in 2016 and took over in 2017, tinkered with the formula to make it a more meaningful platform for art and a richer experience for viewers. She’s added a curatorial leadership summit, bringing the global museum and gallery community together to discuss, debate and decide the rules of an ever-changing art world. “The inaugural summit, chaired by Naomi Beckwith, will address questions of cultural appropriation, censorship and representation,” Berry said. It’s an issue that’s forced some museums to remove works from display or even destroy them, while others stood their ground, and it’s sure to be contested again soon. Close to 200 galleries from 31 coun-

IF YOU GO WHAT: The Armory Show WHERE: Piers 92 and 94, 12th Avenue at 55th Street WHEN: March 8-11 www.thearmoryshow.com

Jose Carlos Martinat, “Morning in America. Distractor #4,” 2017, Motors, LED’s, arduines and LED screen. Courtesy of Revolver Galería (Lima)

Nicole Berry, executive director of The Armory Show. Photo: Teddy Wolff, courtesy of The Armory Show. tries will bring artworks to Piers 92 and 94 that represent different styles, eras, cultures, techniques, media and visions. There will be sculpture, painting, photography and more, including, from Gagosian Gallery, a never before exhibited installation by the father of video art, Nam June Paik. Within the fair, galleries and works have been selected and grouped by themes. “Galleries” is the core, and, to keep things fresh, there will be 66 that are new to The Armory Show. “Insights” brings international galleries showing art made before 2000. Yayoi Kusama, whose “Inﬁnity Mirror Rooms” led to round-the-block lines at David Zwirner recently, will be represented by two-dimensional works at Omer Tiroche Gallery. “Presents” groups younger galleries and younger artists, while “Focus,” curated by the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Gabriel Ritter, is showing artists from 28 international galleries addressing ideas of how technology

transforms the body, either visually, conceptually or physically. The Armory Show’s “Platform” brings large-scale works, many commissioned for the show. Several will be installed outside for all to see. New York artist Tara Donovan is creating a site-specific piece made of tens of thousands of clear plastic tubes. Donovan’s work utilizes everyday materials to create undulating clouds, rippling tides or delicate pictures out of things like straight pins, Styrofoam cups, or here, plastic tubing. Her work awakens us to potential beauty all around. The anonymous French street artist JR posts super-sized black-and-white photographs ﬁlled with political undertones on city walls. Here, in “So Close,” he’s plastering the outside of the buildings with huge historic images of Ellis Island immigrants, merging in faces of Syrian refugees. “I am thrilled that this year, JR, known for his politically provocative works that engage industrial spaces, will present a newly commissioned work that embodies both an excitement and a seriousness,” Berry said. “The work is both relevant to the current cultural and political climate, and an example of an artist directly engag-

Mariah Robertson, “062,” 2017, C-print. Courtesy of Van Doren Waxter (New York) ing our location in the heart of Manhattan. The fact that people will see it, driving along the West Side Highway and wonder what is going on, in addition to people who are entering the fair, that to me is a powerful point of dialogue.”

More than 65,000 visitors are expected this year. If you’re a museum director, movie star or mega-rich, this is where you shop. For everyone else, The Armory Show is where to go to see a world of art in a weekend.

MARCH 8-14,2018

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MARCH 8-14,2018

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS FEB 20 - 27, 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. Candle Cafe

1307 3rd Ave

Vivi Bubble Cafe

1324 2nd Ave

Not Yet Graded (66) 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.

World Cup Cafe

956 Lexington Ave

CLOSED (73) Food from unapproved or unknown source or home canned. Reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) ﬁsh not frozen before processing; or ROP foods prepared on premises transported to another site. Toilet facility not provided for employees or for patrons when required. No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Beyoglu

200 East 81 Street

Sushi Ren

1584 2nd Ave

Grade Pending (45) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. 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/ sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

By The Way Bakery

1236 Lexington Ave

Casa Pizza

1427 3rd Ave

Luna Rossa

347 East 85 Street

The Supply House

1647 2 Avenue

Eastend Bar & Grill

1664 1 Avenue

Grade Pending (3)

The Writing Room

1703 2nd Ave

Corado Bread & Pastry

1361 Lexington Ave

Lolitas Kitchen & Burger House

1364 Lexington Ave

Wine Bar & Ristorante

1742 2 Avenue

Vinus And Marc

1825 2nd Ave

Grade Pending (17) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Citithai

1764 1st Ave

Five Luck

1834 2nd Ave

Gina Mexicana

1288 Madison Ave

Grade Pending (23) Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or nonfood areas. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Spice Hut Indian Restaurant

2172 2nd Ave

El Nuevo Carribeno

1675 Lexington Ave

The Jaguar Restaurant

1735 Lexington Ave

The Lexington Social

1634 Lexington Ave

La Avenida

2247 1st Ave

TRANSIT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONGESTION’S IMPACT ON BUSES Among the primary sources of poor bus service in Manhattan is increased congestion, as the rise of e-commerce has led to more delivery trucks on city streets and the use of Uber and similar for-hire vehicle services has grown faster than any other mode of transportation in recent years. According to one estimate, congestion costs the region $20 billion a year, an annual cost of $1,892 per Manhattan commuter. Any comprehensive effort to speed up Manhattan buses will need to address traffic. Congestion pricing, a policy explored in past years that would impose a fee on vehicles entering core Manhattan, is a topic of renewed discussion this year in Albany after Fix NYC, a task force convened by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to study the issue, released its report in January. Along with increased enforcement of traffic laws and improvements to public transportation, the Fix NYC plan calls for an electronically-assessed $11.52 fee on passenger vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street as well as a new congestion surcharge on taxi and for-hire vehicle trips. Cuomo endorsed some aspects of the plan in budget amendments, including authorizing the city to use cameras to enforce block-thebox violations, but has not signaled broader support for the plan’s more substantial elements, including congestion fees. “What we got in the budget in Albany, while it’s some pieces of a congestion pricing plan, it’s certainly not the plan,” Hoylman said. “So we’re going to have to continue to push to get a full-throated plan before the legislature. I’m very pleased that the governor has taken it on, but I also believe that we need to look at other revenue-raisers” including the millionaire’s tax advocated by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

STEPS TO IMPROVE BUS SERVICE Polly Trottenberg, who heads the city’s Department of Transportation and sits on the MTA board, was pleased to see the governor support camera enforcement of block-the-box violations in Manhattan and said she would like the city to

have the authority to use camera enforcement citywide, including for bus lane enforcement. Currently, Trottenberg said, the city is authorized to use camera enforcement for bus lane violations on just 16 routes, a small portion of the city’s dedicated bus lanes. With or without a congestion pricing plan from Albany, the de Blasio administration has begun taking steps of its own to ease traffic in Manhattan and speed up buses, starting with increased NYPD enforcement of block-the-box and a ban on curbside loading during peak hours in key corridors. But generating a real change in driving habits will likely require camera enforcement, Trottenberg said at the CUNY forum.”It’s not realistic to think you’re going to have NYPD at every bus lane and every intersection and every double-parked vehicle.” New York City Transit is scheduled to present an action plan for ﬁxing the bus system in April. Nick Sifuentes, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, advocated for swift and widespread implementation of bus improvement measures including transit signal priority, which reduces the amount of time buses spend stopped at red lights, all-door boarding to reduce buses’ dwell time at stops, improved dispatching to reduce bunching, and additional bus lanes with stricter enforcement. Council Member Keith Powers, whose East Side district includes Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, hopes the impending shutdown of the L train to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy on the line’s East River tunnel will be used as a trial opportunity for bus improvements. “We’re looking at the L train shutdown as a test for ways to expand bus service and move buses quicker throughout central business corridors that could be theoretically expanded to other parts of the city, including the Upper East Side,” Powers said in a telephone interview with Straus News. The MTA has cut service on a number of Manhattan bus routes in recent years, citing declining ridership as justification and rankling some riders and elected officials. “I don’t understand how they expect Manhattanites to deal with congestion pricing if they’re taking away transit

service,” Helen Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West Side in the City Council, told Straus News. “The only way it works is if you have sufﬁcient public transportation.”

RISING COSTS AN OBSTACLE The Fix NYC plan could generate over $800 million in new annual revenue for the MTA, providing money for improvements to subway and bus service, but some are wary of allocating new funding to the agency unless it demonstrates an ability to rein in costs. “The danger is that without cost reform at the MTA, this revenue will just be consumed by rising operating costs,” said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Since 2005, Gelinas said, the MTA’s day-to-day spending has doubled, increasing at more than three times the rate of inﬂation. Rising health care costs are a major factor in driving up the MTA’s expenses, according to Gelinas. “Unless we start to tackle the cost of health care, this shows up in our capital projects,” she said. “We just don’t see it.” Trottenberg agreed that rising construction costs have made it difficult for the MTA to address riders’ needs. “We need to get the capital side of the costs situation under control, because if it’s going to cost $100 million to put to elevators at Union Street” — the location of a Brooklyn subway station slated for work — “then the sum of money we will need to make the system as accessible as we can, which would mean adding elevators at hundreds more stations is going to be prohibitive, even with congestion pricing, the millionaire’s tax and everything else you can think of,” she said. Alex Matthiessen, the founder and director of the congestion pricing advocacy group Move NY, emphasized that the revenue generated by congestion pricing is sorely needed. “We agree that there has to be concurrent reform of how the MTA spends its money if you are going to provide additional funding,” Matthiessen said. “But make no mistake: that aside, the MTA is desperate for funding and if we don’t get new funding we’re going to have an even worse subway crisis.”

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THE MANY RECKONINGS OF WAR BOOKS

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BY ALIZAH SALARIO

You’ve been writing about female veterans and war for quite some time. Where did the inspiration for the particulars of “Wolf Season” come from? [For] the first book I wrote about Iraq, “The Lonely Soldier” [an expose into sexual assault in the military], I’d interviewed more than 40 women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the military. And one of them did actually live in the woods with wolves, and a child that she had con-

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You’ve probably crossed paths with Helen Benedict, author and journalism professor at Columbia University, somewhere on the Upper West Side. One of her favorite haunts is Book Culture on 112th Street, and she can often be found observing the peacocks in the park next to Saint John the Divine or jogging in Riverside Park. Some of her framed books covers (she’s written seven novels, five books of nonfiction and a play) hang on the Hungarian Pastry Shop’s Author’s Wall, which pays homage to books written at or inspired by the cafe. In her work, Benedict depicts worlds far from the Upper West Side: Iraq, Afghanistan and small town veteran communities. In both her fiction and journalism, she has explored and investigated sexual assault in the military, the dynamics between soldiers and civilians, and the disproportionate toll that war often takes on women and children. Her latest novel, “Wolf Season,” chronicles the lives of three mothers and their children whose worlds intertwine after a hurricane devastates their small town in upstate New York. On March 22, Benedict will join journalist and fiction writer Priya Malhotra in conversation at the Kalahari Building on 116th Street to discuss “Wolf Season.” Benedict gave us a glimpse into her story of survival, trauma and the importance of family.

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Author Helen Benedict. Photo: Emma O’Connor ceived in Iraq had been born with a disability ... this woman isn’t Rin and Juney is in no way her child. I never met either of them, it was just a telephone interview. But this image of this veteran deep in the woods sort of protecting herself with wolves really sat in me for a long time, you know. That was really the trigger for this whole book. And then I lived through a hurricane in my house upstate, around where the novel is set.

You render the wolves in such vivid detail. How did you do your research on them? I found that there’s a wolf preserve way in northwest New York, a place called Wolf Mountain that is open to the public. So I went and spent a long time there just watching the wolves close up ... I discovered after the fact that veterans and wolves are kind of a thing.

Really? So how does that ﬁgure into the book? What Rin sees in the wolves is not unlike a lot of other veterans: she’s attracted to their wildness, and ﬁerceness and independence, and their warrior-like qualities that she admires, having been a soldier herself, but also feels protected by them, and comforted by their pack mentality, which is like family. So they offer all these things, as well as being really beautiful.

The three mothers in the book each have their own ways of coping with trauma and pain. Beth, for instance, drinks to cope with her husband’s deployment, and his domestic abuse. What was it like to write that relationship? It was a challenge. I mean, I have through my career inter-

viewed survivors of domestic and sexual assault hundreds of times. I also trained as a rape crisis counselor a long time ago so that I could be a more sensitive and understanding interviewer. All of that told me a lot about what goes on in such relationships, and there’s a particular side to it with veterans because PTSD and flashbacks often do manifest themselves in violence in the home, and it’s a huge, huge problem among veterans.

You’ve been writing about sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military long before the #MeToo movement. Do you think the military is having its moment of reckoning now as well? There are people in the military who are trying to make it happen, but they’ve been trying to make it happen for a long time. I mean, every time there’s been one of these major scandals, going back to the ‘80s and ‘90s with Aberdeen and the Tailhook scandal, and then again when my work [“The Lonely Soldier”] came out, and that inspired the ﬁlm “The Invisible War” that got nominated for the Oscar [for best documentary feature] in 2012. When there’s a great big expose on sexual assault in the military, which my book was, each time there are lawsuits, and there are women speaking out, there are journalists investigating, and there’s a ﬂurry of attention, then it disappears ... It all comes down to one problem, which is that the military refuses to take the investigations and prosecution of sex crimes out of the chain of command and put them into non-military hands, which is what Canada and the U.K. do ... Senator Gillibrand [D-NY] did in fact put forth a bill a couple years ago to make this very thing happen, and it was defeated ... But she’s talked about trying again.

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ZURBARÁN’S ‘JACOB AND HIS TWELVE SONS’ STORIES AND MYSTERIES A gathering of works by the Spanish Baroque master at The Frick BY MARY GREGORY

“Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come. Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father.” So begins the blessing of Jacob, the Israelites’ patriarch (Genesis 49:1-2). The prophetic nature of the father’s blessings on his sons played out across history as the formation of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. It plays out in art in an exhibition ﬁlled with poetry and grace through a series of paintings by the Spanish Baroque master, Francisco de Zurbarán, on view at The Frick Collection. Zurbarán (1598-1664) is known for large and epic or small and intimate

paintings that combine sharp contrasts of dark and light with stark beauty. With crisp whites of infinite tonality, startling precision in the depiction of objects and textures, and realistic, recognizably human subjects, the painter both captured and refined visual vocabularies of artists like Caravaggio and Dürer. Along with his contemporary, Diego Velázquez, Zurbarán formed and defined Spain’s Golden Age of painting. The Frick’s exhibition brings together 13 larger-than-life portraits, “Jacob and His Twelve Sons,” that tell profound stories and hold tantalizing mysteries. It’s believed that the works were intended to be sold in Spain’s colonies in Latin America. The artist had placed similar works in both Buenos Aires and Lima. Although painted in the 1640s, though, their whereabouts prior to about 1720 is unclear. “I love the old romantic theory that they were en route to Latin America,

Francisco de Zurbarán’s “Jacob” the progenitor of the series, ca. 1640–45, oil on canvas, Auckland Castle, County Durham, © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo: Adel Gorgy

where we think they were destined, and they were interrupted by pirates and brought to England,” said Susan Galassi, the Frick’s senior curator, who organized the exhibition along with Mark A. Roglán and Amanda Dotseth of Dallas’s Meadows Museum. “That was an early 20th century theory, and I wish we could hold onto it, but there was just not enough evidence for that.” Does that mean there’s not enough evidence to disprove it, either? “There are no shipping records,” Galassi said. “They would have existed. I think we can probably dispense with that nice theory and take a different view, which is what people generally believe today, that they stayed in Spain.” But they weren’t in Zurbarán’s inventory when he died. So, where were they? Zurbarán was renowned. His works were costly. “Had they been on public display, there would have been some comment on them, somewhere.

Joseph’s richly decorated coat of many colors looks more the product of European imagination than history. Auckland Castle, County Durham, © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo: Adel Gorgy

So, we don’t know. Maybe they were in a warehouse off view somewhere.... It’s really hard to speculate, but I think it’s probably likely, for reasons unknown, that they didn’t leave Spain until they arrived as a part of a consignment with other Spanish paintings under the direction of Chapman in the 1720s,” Galassi suggested, adding “Zurbarán did work in series throughout his life. This is different in two ways. The subject is different. It’s from the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and there was not much call for that in Spain. And secondly, it has remained intact.” Possibly, its humble start, hidden away, protected it. The Spanish Inquisition was active during the 1600s. “Maybe,” said Galassi, “it was protected by being off view.” Twelve of paintings were bought in 1756 by the Bishop of Durham, Richard Trevor, and were held by the Church of England at its bishopric palace, Auckland Castle, for over 250 years. Trevor, an ardent supporter of religious tolerance, supported both Jewish and Catholic rights in England. Those 12 works are on loan from The Auckland Project, a philanthropic initiative by the financier Jonathan Ruffer, who acquired both the paintings and the castle to preserve them for England. The thirteenth, a painting of Benjamin, from the collection of Grimsthorpe Castle, is reunited in the exhibition for the first time. The suite of paintings, each distinct, each with unique features and symbols, each richly rendered with lushly defined garments, evocative background landscapes, and careful depictions of expression, comprise a remarkable feat of storytelling. From Joseph’s rich coat of many colors, to Asher, who carries a gorgeously painted basket of breads (testament to Zurbarán’s love of still life), to somber Jacob, the father, given the name Israel by God (Genesis 32:28), hunched with age and leaning on a staff, they are filled with power and resonance. This is what Galassi hopes viewers will discover. “The beautiful way in which the poetry of the blessings is manifested in the paintings.... I think the part that moves me most is the beautiful words that Jacob utters, ‘Gather ye together, ye sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel your father.’ And to me the whole ensemble is an embodiment of those words. It’s a gathering. Zurbarán created a gathering. He embodied the words, in creating this whole series to come together in one room. I think there’s even an auditory component. He’s saying ‘listen.’ In each one of them you read the beautiful biblical text and you hear it, and then you look and you see how he embodied the words.”

Jacob prophesied, “Dan shall be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path.” Zurbarán included the snake in his painting. Auckland Castle, County Durham, UK, courtesy Auckland Castle Trust/Zurbarán Trust © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo: Adel Gorgy

Jacob’s blessings for his son Asher promised an abundance of food and delicacies. Zurbarán depicted him with a gloriously painted basket of bread. Auckland Castle, County Durham, © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo: Adel Gorgy

MARCH 8-14,2018

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Accordingly, based on the most recent DOS analysis, the number of sanitation trucks processed at the facility will bottom out at 37 on Fridays in March â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and peak at 63 on Tuesdays in May. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On most days, the MTS will receive, on average, between 40 and 50 trucks,â&#x20AC;? the commissioner wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In addition, approximately eight trucks will dump litter-basket waste overnight.â&#x20AC;? Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a drop of more than 35 percent from earlier projections for the $232.7 million project. Zero trucks would have been better, Kallos said. Still, the impact of the facility wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be as horrible as expected. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For as long as I can remember, residents have been afraid of hundreds and hundreds of trucks driving through every narrow street in the neighborhood,â&#x20AC;? he added. New Yorkers can take a bow: The falloff in truck traffic â&#x20AC;&#x201D; toxic at worst, intrusive at best â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and accompanying declines in diesel fumes, air pollution, vehicular bottlenecks and safety risks to children at play, would never have happened if hundreds of thousands of East Siders hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

if air quality is being degraded. â&#x20AC;˘ Commercial waste. DOS has mulled charging private haulers for using the MTS in off hours starting in 2020. Carol Tweedy, former executive director of Asphalt Green and chair of the MTS Community Advisory Group, says itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;encouragingâ&#x20AC;? a conďŹ rmed plan in writing now commits the city to caps on municipal trucks. The problem? â&#x20AC;&#x153;What we havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen in writing is anything about commercial trucks,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;˘ Truck routes. Long kept under wraps, the ďŹ rst DOS maps to surface show how sanitation trucks would go up First Avenue and down Second Avenue to get to and from the MTS. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d also cross on 86th Street and 90th Street and traverse York Avenue between 86th and 91st Streets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Children play right in those areas, and kids going to and from schools cross at those intersections,â&#x20AC;? said Kelly NimmoGuenther, founder of Pledge 2 Protect, the lead community group fighting the MTS. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Truck-turning points are always the most dangerous, so the route is still a huge outstanding concern ... Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t put the lives of our kids at risk.â&#x20AC;?

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radically altered their garbage-disposal habits. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The good news is that the neighborhoods I represent are doing their fair share to reduce the amount of garbage they send to the landfill,â&#x20AC;? Kallos said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every single resident is doing their part to save our environment, save our planet and help make the MTS obsolete.â&#x20AC;? The community deserves plaudits for curtailing trash output, and DOS gets credit for making recycling â&#x20AC;&#x153;easier than ever,â&#x20AC;? said Alida Camp, the chair of Community Board 8. But the trend towards zero waste also raises serious questions about the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long-term utility and future disposition, she added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At our February meeting, CB8 approved a resolution calling on the mayor to conduct a feasibility study into viable options for repurposing the MTS into a space the city can enjoy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as opposed to its use as a transfer station,â&#x20AC;? Camp said. Other huge issues remain: â&#x20AC;˘ Health impacts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Residents with asthma or other respiratory ailments must be protected from pollutants that harm their health,â&#x20AC;? said Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright. She said ongoing airmonitoring should be made public to see

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HOPE, FROM THE RUBBLE OF 9/11 “Come From Away” is set in the week after that clear September morning BY ANGELA BARBUTI

On September 11, 2001, David Hein and Irene Sankoff were living at International House, a Manhattanville haven that was housing 700 grad school students and interns from 110 different countries. The Canadian couple saw their international neighbors unifying in the face of tragedy. “There was also this feeling in New York at the time that you could reach out to anyone on the street, regardless of race or religion or where you came from,” Hein explained. Ten years later, the husband-andwife team would be reminded of these kindnesses as they wrote their Broadway musical, “Come From Away.” Traveling to Gander, Newfoundland, they learned the moving stories of the 9,000 townspeople who took in the 7,000 passengers from 38 planes that were diverted there on September 11 when American airspace in the aftermath of the terror strikes. The town was commemorating the 10th anniversary of that impromptu gathering. On that clear September morning a decade before, Gander residents had opened up their homes, schools and legion halls, and cooked the “plane people” three meals a day and gave them the unwavering moral support during a time such uncertainty. Celebrating its one year anniversary on Broadway on March 12, the show, which Hein and Sankoff thought

would be performed by Canadian high schoolers, recently opened in Toronto, is going on tour this fall, and will also be adapted into a ﬁlm.

You went to Newfoundland in 2011. Tell us about that experience and how you chose the people you would feature in the show. Sankoff: Well, we sort of picked the people who had stories that were a little bit interesting, that you wouldn’t necessarily think about. Like Bonnie Harris going into the holes of the airplane to make sure the animals on the planes were being taken care of. Beverley Bass was the only female pilot grounded there at the time. And Nick and Diane, in what they call an autumn romance, meeting each other and falling in love and deciding to spend the rest of their lives together. Their stories were so unusual. And just the townsfolk, those were harder to pick, but we chose people who started one way at the beginning of the show and then, at the end of the show, had had a journey. Hein: We did try to interview every single person we possibly could. And what we really tried to do was tell every story that we heard because all of the stories were fantastic and they made us cry and they made us laugh. And we just wanted to share them with as many people as possible. So a lot of the challenge of the show was trying to ﬁt...We joke about their being 7,000 people who landed at the time and about 9,000 people in town, so we talked about try to ﬁt 16,000 stories into the show.

I know it’s hard to do, but can you sum up what the residences of Gander did for the plane people? Hein: So 38 planes with 7,000 passengers basically arrived on their doorstep. And you have to remember this was immediately following 9/11. There was a lot of concern and these people without being asked and without even stopping to question it... Sankoff: Well I mean they did. They were careful. They did make sure that they screened everyone who came off the planes. Hein: They brought them off the planes, which they didn’t need to do. They brought them out of the airport into their legion halls and church halls. They shut down schools for the whole week. They brought them into their homes, let them wash their clothes, have a shower. Cooked them food and then let them stay over. And the entire time, they were making food for 7,000 people and constantly entertaining them, making sure they were comfortable, counseling them, making sure that they got news. They basically gave them everything they could possibly think of. Sankoff: Some of the really speciﬁc things that resonated with me were somebody who had a little baby, somebody else saying, “My baby is gonna be born in another ﬁve months, but we have the nursery ready, so you may as well use it.” And there was someone else who was looking lonely and one of the locals said, “Can we do anything for you?” And the person was like, “I could use a cup a coffee and I just really miss my dog.” So the local went and

Irene Sankoff and David Hein wrote the musical “Come from Away,” based on true accounts of the days following 9/11. Photo courtesy of “Come from Away.” found the person a cup of coffee and brought her own her own pet dog over. Hein: There was a kid there who they found out was having a birthday and they decided that they couldn’t just give one kid a birthday party, so they basically held a party for every single child that had come off a plane.

Explain the bond between Hannah and Dennis O’Rourke, whose son was a firefighter in New York, and Beulah Cooper, a townsperson who is also the mother of a fireman. Sankoff: Hannah and Dennis were stranded in Gander and they stayed at the legion where Beulah was volunteering. And as soon as Beulah found out that Hannah was the mother of a firefighter, she went right to her and said, “My son’s also a firefighter. Is there anything I can do? Do you want to come back to my house? Do you want to talk?” Hannah did not want to leave the legion; she wanted to stay there in case there was any news. But she did leave to go to church every day and Beulah walked with her to church and cried with her every single day, on top of having people stay at her home and volunteering at the legion. They have an extremely special bond and they still talk to one another. Hein: One of the wonderful things about the show is that it actually provides a reason for a reunion between the two of them all the time. We just saw them together up in Toronto. And it’s so amazing to see these two strangers who are clearly cut from the same cloth, so welcoming of strangers. We’ve been welcomed into each of their kitchens and fed nonstop. Sankoff: And they’re so funny. They both have sharp senses of humor and you don’t expect it. It’s amazing. Hein: They’ve become lifelong friends. We were just talking to Mayor Elliott and he said, “At the beginning of this, there were 7,000 strangers, by the middle of the week, there were 7,000 friends, and by the end of week, they lost 7,000 family members.”

from away family and joining them together.... It’s such a joy to see Jenn and Beverley spending time together. They have become best friends over the process and they clearly are in awe of each other. Jenn clearly thinks that Captain Bass is incredible for the glass ceilings that she shattered and her entire career. And at the same time, you see Beverley looking at Jenn on stage representing her and just clearly loving her with all of her heart. It’s an amazing thing, and they come from such different backgrounds, but it reinforces the message of the show that we have so much more in common than we think we have. And that stories like this can unite us.

Now for passengers Nick and Diane, who fell in love and got married. Hein: Nick and Diane are the second biggest fans of the show. They come as much as they can. Beverley’s been to almost 100 shows and Nick and Diane are fast approaching her. They are wonderful. The incredible experience with them has been, for so long, they felt a certain level of guilt that the tragedy had brought them together. Their love had come in the shadow of this horrible event. And what’s wonderful about the show is it allows them to celebrate their love and to see it being celebrating. They come time and again and hold hands. They’re so still in love; it’s so charming and wonderful.

Justin Trudeau and Ivanka Trump came to see the show together. Were you there that night? Sankoff: Yeah, we were. Hein: Three days after opening. We thought opening on Broadway would be the pinnacle, but three days later, the prime minister of Canada calls… His message clearly was that this wasn’t just a Canadian story, this was a story about international cooperation and that’s something I think we can all get behind right now. www.comefromaway.com

Jenn Colella and the captain she portrays, Beverley Bass, have also become extremely close.

The cast of “Come from Away.” Photo Matthew Murphy

Hein: It’s one of the huge joys of how expanded our family has become. We have this theater family and we have this Newfoundland and come

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CROSSWORD

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Across 1 Male companion 5 Mandela’s org. 8 Church recess 12 Breathing organ 13 “What nonsense!” 14 Visit 15 “Tosca” tune 16 See ya! 17 Beach crawler 18 Former Yugoslavia 20 Response to a captain’s order (2 words) 22 Say...what’s up, ____? 23 Music genre 24 Study of plants 27 ____ Josey Wales 31 Piece of corn 32 Before to Byron 33 Type of refrigerant (2 words) 37 Bring forward as evidence 40 Articulate 41 Evergreen 42 Sychronized light 45 Loyalty 49 Rich, crumbly soil

C R Z L H D E E N D I U Q S Z

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WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor

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

SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

by Myles Mellor

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MARCH 8-14,2018

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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 200702- 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 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through Certificates Series 2007-02 via a UCC-3 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 200702- Remic Pass -Through Certificates Series 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 631-969-3100 File #01-084751-F00 #94113

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