The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF MARCH AMERICAN BEAUTY ◄P.12
15-21 2018
A CUT ABOVE TRENDING Grooming is booming on the Upper East Side BY SHOSHY CIMENT
Shuttered storefronts and the decline of the mom-and-pop shop might characterize an increasing share of the business landscape on the Upper East Side. But one trade is enjoying a renaissance. Elegant Barber Shop, a men’s styling salon based in New York, recently negotiated a long-term lease in Lenox Hill, its fourth location in the city. The salon joins dozens of other barbershops and grooming salons in that neighborhood. The store’s opening, on East 61st Street, mirrors a national trend: Barbershops, specifically those for men’s grooming, are on the rise. “The uptick began 10-15 years ago in response to men (mostly baby boomers), seeking the more traditional male domain of the barbershops and skill sets of barbers of their youth instead of the unisex salons and cosmetology trained practitioners that began during the 1970s,” said Maura Scali-Sheahan, CEO of the National Association of Barber Boards of America, which maintains professional standards in the barbering industry. Scali-Sheahan said that barbering is likely one of the fastest growing professions in the personal appearance industry in the United States, as evidenced in the increase of barber schools and licensees throughout the country over the past 15 years. “More barber schools result in more graduates, more licensees entering the workforce, and in many cases an increase in shop ownership,” explained Scali-Sheahan, who added that the growth in barbershops appears to be on par with
Héctor Masner puts the finishing touches on a haircut at York Barber Shop. An An old-school aesthetic prevails at the Lexington Avenue shop. Photo: Shoshy Ciment the growth of licensed barbers in the U.S. But what is it about going to a barbershop that resonates with a populace increasingly obsessed with convenience and instant gratification? “Experience is the core of where retail is heading,” said Faith Hope Consolo, a real estate broker with Douglas Elliman who often works at the nexus of fashion and retail and who negotiated Elegant Barber Shop’s latest lease. Barbershops are thriving because of the range of grooming services and treatments they offer for men and the experience that cannot be replaced by a machine. Many barbershops on the Upper East Side have capitalized on this idea. York Barber Shop, a traditional barbershop in Lenox Hill that maintains the decor and atmosphere from its initial establishment in
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Members of the youth group Coalition Z, founded by three Dalton School students, are helping coordinate student efforts to push for gun control. Photo: Bryson Wiese
YOUTH ACTIVISTS TAKE ON GUN CONTROL ADVOCACY Student network with Dalton roots plans action in wake of Parkland shooting BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
As New York City students prepare to participate in nationwide school walkouts in response to last month’s Parkland, Fla. school shooting, Coalition Z, a youth network founded by three high school students at the Dalton School, is seeking to leverage the energy of the moment into policy action on gun control.
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The nationwide school walkouts planned for March 14 will mark one month since a gunman killed 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and will last 17 minutes to honor each of the victims. New York City public schools will not penalize students who participate in the walkouts with parental permission, Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced last week. Following the walkouts, Coalition Z plans to host an “Evening of Action” at the 15th Street Quaker Meetinghouse to organize student efforts to lobby elected officials on gun control legislation, urge gun retailers to stop selling military-style rifles and take other
steps to perpetuate the youth-led gun reform movement. The event grew out of a desire to tie the ideals of the demonstration to activism aimed at promoting tangible policy changes, Coalition Z cofounder Bryson Wiese, a 17-year-old
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, March 16 – 6:46 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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MINT TO SELL PINK BREAST CANCER AWARENESS COIN FUNDRAISER Coins could raise up to $8.5 million for research through legislation sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
The U.S. Mint is set to release a series of commemorative coins, including the ďŹ rst ever struck in pink gold, to spread awareness of breast cancer and raise funding to support research on the disease. Rep. Carolyn Maloney co-sponsored the legislation that authorized the program. “It’s critical, because one in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime and it is the second-leading cause of cancer death among women,â€? Maloney told Straus News. “These coins will provide a new
way to raise needed funds for breast cancer research.â€? The three-coin set includes a fivedollar gold coin, a silver dollar and a clad half-dollar coin. The design on the coins was selected in an open competition and features two women expressing determination and a buttery symbolizing hope. The legal tender coins go on sale March 15 through the U.S. Mint. A surcharge on the sale of each coin will benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, one of the leading non-proďŹ t organizations dedicated to preventing and ďŹ nding a cure for the disease, with headquarters on Manhattan’s East Side. “I’m proud that the very best foundation for breast cancer research is in the district that I represent,â€? Maloney said. If every coin is sold, the program will raise up to $8.5 million in private
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (center, holding coin) co-sponsored legislation authorizing the sale of commemorative coins to raise money for breast cancer research. Photo: Patrick Lyn funds dedicated to breast cancer research. The ďŹ ve-dollar coin n will be struck in pink-hued gold, a first for the Mint that required a special composition produced specifically for the coin. Maloney called d the pink coin “a ďŹ tting ing tribute to Evelyn Lauder,â€? auder,â€? the founder of BCRF, F, who died in
2011 and was the creator and popularas a symbol of izer of the pink ribbon rib awareness. breast cancer a “Since its founding “Sin by Evelyn Lauder in 11993, BCRF funding has been essential to every major breakthrough in
breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship,â€? Maloney said, noting that breast cancer mortality rates have dropped by 38 percent of the last 25 years. “If we keep working and stay determined to get money for research we will ďŹ nd a cure, and this is part of that effort,â€? Maloney said.
The ďŹ rst pink-hued gold coin ever produced by the U.S. Mint goes on sale March 15, as part of a series of breast cancer awareness coins championed by Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Image: U.S. Mint
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG
HELICOPTER PILOT CALLED IN ‘MAYDAY’ BY JENNIFER PELTZ
The pilot who survived when his helicopter went down in East River, killing five passengers, said in an emergency radio transmission that he had engine failure. The pilot is heard saying “Mayday, mayday, mayday” during the crash on Sunday night. The pilot reported “an engine failure over the East River” and referenced a hotel, while the person at the other end of the transmission had trouble making out what the pilot was saying. The pilot freed himself and was rescued by a tugboat, but emergency divers had to remove the passengers on the charter helicopter being used for a photo shoot from tight safety harnesses while they were upside down, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. “It took a while for the divers to get these people out. They worked very quickly as fast as they could,’’ Nigro said. “It was a great tragedy that we had here.’’ The National Transportation Safety
Board dispatched investigators on Monday. Video taken by a bystander and posted on Twitter shows the red helicopter land hard in the water and then capsize, its rotors slapping at the water. Witnesses on the esplanade said the helicopter was flying noisily, then suddenly dropped and quickly submerged. But the pilot appeared on the surface, holding onto a flotation device as a tugboat and then police boats approached. A Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said the Eurocopter AS350 went down just after 7 p.m. The aircraft was owned by Liberty Helicopters, a company that offers both private charters and sightseeing tours popular with tourists. A phone message left with the company was not immediately returned. The skies over New York constantly buzz with helicopters carrying tourists, businesspeople, traffic reporters, medical teams and others. In 2009, a sightseeing helicopter of the same model and operated by the
Relax & Refresh Your Smile!
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th district for the week ending Mar. 4 Week to Date
same company as the one in Sunday’s wreck collided with a small, private plane over the Hudson River, killing nine people, including a group of Italian tourists. A crash in October 2011 in the East River killed a British woman visiting the city for her 40th birthday. Two other passengers died weeks later as a result of their injuries. A helicopter on a sightseeing tour of Manhattan crashed into the Hudson River in July 2007, shaking up the eight people aboard but injuring no one. In June 2005, two helicopters crashed into the East River in the same week. One injured eight people including some banking executives. The other hit the water shortly after takeoff on a sightseeing flight, injuring six tourists and the pilot. Nigro and Police Commissioner James O’Neill said the rescue operation Sunday took place in a 4 mph current in water about 50 feet (15 meters) deep, under challenging conditions. The cause of the crash has not been determined.
Year to Date
2018 2017
% Change
2018
2017
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
0
0
n/a
Rape
0
0
n/a
2
2
0.0
Robbery
1
2
-50.0
21
9
133.3
Felony Assault
1
1
0.0
24
28
-14.3
Burglary
6
5
20.0
38
33
15.2
Grand Larceny
20
31
-35.5
262 230 13.9
Grand Larceny Auto
1
2
-50.0
7
6
16.7
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BY JULIE HART
You: a netsuke with eyes of amber, a language I long to master. We’re ambling down the length of Broadway pausing in Chinatown to listen: an erhu whining, haunting. On the dumpling trail again: I’m overcome.
CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Daniel Garodnick
211 E. 43rd St. #1205
212-818-0580
Councilmember Ben Kallos
244 E. 93rd St.
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These days I’m so easily overcome often trapped like a wasp in amber with every taste bud firing. Dumpling of my dreams, I don’t want to master my response to you, I am an erhu: one string vibrating on Broadway. Yellow taxis stream down Broadway, a waterfall, I feel it, I’m overcome, my nerves twanging like an erhu, we’re crossing a river of amber and dopamine. I’ve become a master sinking my teeth into another dumpling
LIBRARIES Yorkville
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Webster Library
1465 York Ave.
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HOSPITALS NY-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell
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E. 99th St. & Madison Ave.
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NYU Langone
550 First Ave.
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CON EDISON
4 Irving Place
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not just any dumpling, but a soup dumpling, the kind you nibble and then slurp on Broadway: a difficult skill, or you burn your tongue, master it and you will be often flayed, overcome with sensation, overwhelmed, amber salty liquid speaking like an erhu,
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dawn, an obscure sorrow to fix in amber, to feel forever this ambedo on Broadway, you and I on this trail of the dumpling.
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Originally from Minnesota, Julie Hart has lived in London, Zurich and Tokyo and now in Brooklyn Heights. Her work can be found in PANK Magazine, The Rumpus, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Poets Anthology and at juliehartwrites.com. She is a founder with Mirielle Clifford and Emily Blair of the poetry collective Sweet Action.
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hinted at, a haunting fragility, master of the melancholic trance that the erhu can pull you into, senses overcome by a swirl of cream in coffee, a dumpling releasing its steam, the flow of traffic on Broadway, the flickering of ginkgo leaves, an amber
have
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telling you this life is good, an erhu singing its one-note song about a dumpling, uniting your senses into synesthesia, amber light suffusing your being on Broadway, numbers becoming colors, becoming overcome now you know what the haiku master
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The Rev. Dr. Cathy Gilliard, Valerie Orellana, Dr. JoAnn Difede, Nina McLemore, Captain James Graney, Viola Goodman, Our Town Editor-in-Chief Alexis Gelber, Our Town VP Vince Gardino, Roma Torre, Iggy Terranova, Our Town Publisher Jeanne Straus, Lieutenant John McGinty, Borough President Brewer, Warren Scharf, Chris Lenahan, Leslie Granger, Jim Clynes, Rabbi Raphael Benchimol, Dr. Tony Fisher. Photo: Steven Strasser
CONGRATULATING THE OTTY WINNERS AWARDS Community members and elected officials join in thanking Upper East Siders who make a difference Our Town hosted a successful 2018 OTTY (Our Town Thanks You) Awards celebration on Tuesday, March 6th. The newspaper has been hosting the OTTYs annually for over 20 years to shine a light on Upper East Siders working to make the neighborhood — and the city as a whole — a better place. Fourteen awardees were recognized this year, from powerhouse fashion designer Nina McLemore to the Sanitation
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Department’s Iggy Terranova, the Community Affairs Officer who helped keep trash off the street during Second Avenue Subway construction. NYC Commissioner of Media and Entertainment Julie Menin, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Council Member Keith Powers were in attendance alongside colleagues, friends and family of this year’s honorees to congratulate them. The ceremony was emceed by NY1’s Roma Torre, who presented the final award of the evening to Captain James Graney and Lieutenant John McGinty of the FDNY. Their acceptance remarks? A reminder for everyone to change the batteries in their fire alarms.
Thank you to this year’s honorees: Manhattan Sephardic Congregation’s Rabbi Raphael Benchimol, Community Board 8’s James Clynes, Dr. JoAnn Difede of NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, Hunter College High School’s Dr. Tony Fisher, Park Avenue United Methodist Church’s Rev. Dr. Cathy S. Gilliard, Viola Goodman of Viola’s Smart Shop, the FDNY’s Captain James Graney and Lieutenant John McGinty, Bideawee’s Leslie Granger, Corner Bookstore’s Chris Lenahan, Nina McLemore, Mount Sinai’s Valerie Orellana, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House’s Warren Scharf, and NYC Department of Sanitation Officer Ignazio Terranova.
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N U F E R R E E H S M T R M A U T S S
Elegant Barber Shop recently negotiated a long-term lease for a space at 201 East 61st Street in Lenox Hill, its fourth location in the city. Photo: Shoshy Ciment
BARBER SHOP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 1928, is proof that an exceptional grooming experience cannot be ordered online. “It’s very simple,� explained Enrique Peralt, the owner of York Barber Shop. “The business is divided into two types of business: money-makers and quality-makers.� To Peralt, who has been in the barbering business for 60 years, quality service should be a barbershop’s chief priority — and enticement. “I don’t want a client for one day,� Peralt said in his Lexington Avenue shop while a Natalie and Nat King Cole duet played in the background. “I want a client to come in and out. I want them repeated and when they come back, we’ll talk, and eventually we’ll have a good friendship relationship, which is important to me.� Elegant Barber Shop, though a relatively newer business, also relies on this old-school commitment to quality service. “We want to collect many good quality customers that come in, enjoy, and stay with us for a long time,� Elegant’s owner, Maksim Khon, said. But Elegant departs slightly from old-school barbering by offering modern cuts and a
trendy atmosphere to attract customers. Clients are also offered beer or liquor on the house and are given the option for a free wash with their cut. “Old-school barbering is different,� Khon said. “It’s a completely different vibe.� Khon, a third-generation barber, works seven days a week
cutting hair and managing his business. His main goal, he said, is to make sure his customers experience an affordable haircut while having a pleasant experience. “For us, barbering is not about making money,â€? he reected. “It’s a lifestyle.â€?
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Voices
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VICTIM PREVENTION BY BETTE DEWING
While this column is about the traffic tragedy on prime time and the front pages, thousands in the Tri-State area and outer boroughs suffered for days from natural disasters that left them without power — without heat — Imagine. And another northeaster is forecast. And this incredible hardship needs to get out there on prime time and the front page. And the governor, the mayor, and yes, the president should have been on these natural disaster scenes and asked other states for additional help? Sure, blame the power companies, but consider how
dangerous and difficult power restoration can be. Even more, stress the need for residents to help one another — and in general — and in general. Now about the prime-timed frontpage story about the 4-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy senselessly and brutally killed by an out-of-control driver and yes, indirectly, by a government which takes traffic violations too lightly. Thankfully, more attention is now being paid, but for how long? And this longtime safetraffic activist believes not only young victims should get prime time-front-page coverage in order to spark renewed action and outrage
against killer driving. Consider how these dearly loved children’s and countless other lives might have been saved if every traffic victim received significant coverage and outrage? In truth, adults are the most frequent traffic crime victims, especially adult males, which again recalls how Srymanean Manickam, the 51-year-old beloved Upper East Side deli manager known to all who knew him as Mano, was killed by a taxi which turned into his crosswalk. April 22 will mark the first anniversary of his death. All this was written before reading Ginia Bellafante’s March 11 column in The Times in which she considers how charges are slow to be filed or never filed against drivers involved in fatal accidents. So many stipulations and requirements that need
to get out there and overcome. Bellafante’s piece should be required reading by government officials and all concerned with overcoming these unnatural and tragic, often criminal, disasters. Indeed Vision Zero would likely not exist if it hadn’t been for the so wrongful traffic crime deaths of children whose grieving parents demanded all-out attention be paid. Mothers Again Drunk Driving made such a magnificent difference. Also needed are Adult Sons and Daughters Against Drivers who Killed their Parents. Ah, this is in no way diminishing the awful, wrongful and cruel deaths of these two little children — just that so much else needs to be done ... needs to be done. And, of course, an all-out crackdown on failure to yield, the number one cause
of pedestrian injury and death and injury — and don’t forget injuries so often enduring, painful and costly. Again, April 22 marks the first anniversary of Mano’s death. but the memorial plaque in his honor is still seeking a home on or near the store he so caringly managed for many years. Patricia Banks, a grateful neighbor and friend keeps trying. But I urge you to Google “Mano, killed by Taxi” to learn why he was so greatly beloved and a caring neighbor to all. Traffic crimes against all age victims need significant media coverage and outage. And, yes, of course, pedestrians must obey the rules of the road — and so must bicyclists. It can be done if enough of us try. dewingbetter@aol.com better@aol.com
RETURN TO MY PEACE CORPS HOME BY STEPHAN RUSSO
In 1973, when I was 22 and fresh out of college, I was unsure of my next act and decided to join the Peace Corps. I had met a Peace Corps recruiter on campus, and while all of us college graduates were figuring out how to live out our idealism and evolving world-view in the Vietnam War era, I decided to leave friends and family behind. Ten days after graduation, I was on a plane to Bogota, Colombia to work in a youth and recreation program. My suburban Long Island parents had little context for this decision. On the way to the airport, my father turned to my mother and said, “Let’s pretend he’s going into the army for two years.” I didn’t believe that I was going off to change the world. I had a cursory interest in Latin America, a foundation of high school Spanish, but a deep curiosity about immersing myself in another culture. Like most 22-year-olds, I was somewhat brash, with a jaundiced view of the United States role in the world. In my mind, the JFK idealism of the Peace Corps had evolved into a Nixonian form of imperialism, in which the United States was to
blame for fomenting the economic disparity in countries like Colombia. When I left the Peace Corps in 1975, I wrote a scathing letter to my supervisor advocating that the Peace Corps pull out of Colombia since it played no viable role in Colombia’s development. What I failed to recognize at the time was that the experience was life-changing. I returned to the States fluent in a second language and with a deep appreciation of South American history and culture. The decades I later spent as a community worker at Goddard Riverside Community Center took shape in the rural hills of Colombia, where I used my athletic skills to teach physical education and become an accepted co-worker in a local school. While I recognized the inherent contradictions of my presence in the country, I ended up being the perfect ambassador — exactly what the Peace Corps wanted. On my post-retirement bucket list has been my desire to return to my Peace Corps home in the town of Velez, in the beautiful central range of the Colombian Andes five hours outside of Bogota. For the past four decades, I have carried wonderful memories of the “colegio cooperativo” (coopera-
tive high school) where I taught and the people who took me in as their resident “gringo,” along with the Colombian music, food and more simple way of life. I had that incredible opportunity last month. The return to Colombia after a 43 hiatus was spurred by a wedding in Bogota that my daughter was attending. Her close high school friend, who has family in Colombia, was getting married at a beautiful venue an hour outside of the capital. We decided to make it a family trip and I would finally have the chance to return to the place that had such an influence on me. I approached the trip with some trepidation, not knowing how I would be received or if anyone I knew was still in Velez. The month before we left, my wife went online to research Velez, and sure enough, the town had its own website, “Visite Velez.” I contacted the name mentioned on the site and sent a long email with the names I plucked from old letters I had written home and saved to this day — the local priest, the family who owned the farmhouse and my co-worker Serafin Rodriguez, the physical education teacher in the elementary school who became my closest friend. The week
before we left for Colombia, I received a call (WhatsApp is a wonderful thing) from Serafin, who couldn’t believe that I was really planning to visit. The return to Velez capped a remarkable ten days in Colombia. Seeing Serafin again brought a wave of emotion. He and his wife, Luz Marina (a student during my time there), opened their home and hearts to us. There were tears of joy when we went to the home of Don Juan Quiroga Reyes, now well into his 80s, who had headed the school and was the one who had requested a Peace Corps volunteer. His daughter Lulu reminisced about how we won the departmental female basketball championship and claims Velez never won another after I left. We visited Cecilia Meneses who still lived in the same house at the bottom of the hill. Daily she would come up to the house, milk the cow and leave me with a fresh liter of milk for my morning breakfast. “Hola Don Esteban!’’ she shouted when she saw me. Colombia certainly has changed in the four ensuing decades. As Serafin pointed out, the “campesinos” (peasant farmers) now ride motorcycles instead of horses and donkeys, and the world is much smaller with ubiq-
Russo with Cecilia Meneses. Photo: Susan Souder uitous Wi-Fi. Still, much was how I remembered Velez — the side-entrance church, slanted plaza, and roadside picnic places. The “pechuga a la parilla” (grilled chicken breast), “arroz de coco” (coconut rice), “arepa con queso” (cheese corn bread) and fresh fruit juices were as delicious as ever. “Colombia mi querida” (my dear Colombia)! How lucky to have had the good fortune to rekindle old friendships.
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STARING INTO THE CHASM OF WOMEN’S LIBERATION
KARPOFF AFFILIATES 4FOJPS .PWF .BOBHFS t 3FBM &TUBUF #SPLFS
#METOO At The Tank on 36th Street, Rebecca Patek’s performance piece raises provocative issues about how artists treat each other
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BY MARC B BOUCAI
With the celebration of National Women’s Month, New York’s stages this month are teeming with work by and about women, both large- and small-scale. These performances, riding the coattails of the #MeToo controversy of the past six months, are not occurring in a bubble but in solidarity with real world events, such as a highly politicized NYC women’s march and events city-wide for women to tell their stories about sexual harassment and assault. Uptown, theater is responding, as exempliďŹ ed by Bartlett Sher’s new production of Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady,â€? cast with actors of the same age, and directed to portray Eliza Dolittle as an emancipated proto-feminist. A mile away from Lincoln Center, a different kind of feminist performance practice is onstage at small theaters like The Tank, recently installed in a new space on West 36th Street. The Tank’s most recent presentation was Rebecca Patek’s “Chasm,â€? directed by the organization’s new artistic director, Meghan Finn. The piece asks: What does it mean for women to be good to each other as artists and people in our current #MeToo era? “Chasmâ€? is Patek’s ďŹ rst major piece since she performed her duet INETER(A)NAL F/EAR at the American Realness Festival at Aborns Art Center in 2014. This piece was a shockingly satirical work about Patek’s experience as a rape victim. During one showing, performance artist and provocateur Ann-Liv Young (aka Sherry) interrupted the show, got on stage and berated Patek publicity for making “bad workâ€? and trivializing rape. The New York Times called Patek’s work glorified “prostitution,â€? hurting the careers of both artists. After that experience, Patek stopped her creative work and is currently applying to medi-
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Rebecca Patek in “Chasm.� Photo: Skye Morse-Hodgson cal school. “Chasm� is Patek’s attempt to take back her own narrative and to not let her public shaming stop her from creating. “When your whole life you’ve made art, [and] it’s who you are, no one should take that ability away from you,� Patek stated. “Chasm� is her chance to use performance art to tell her side of the story. When asked about her initial interest in the project, director Finn said Patek’s story is important because “it happened, the community made a decision and they decided to side with Ann-Liv,� dismissing Patek. Chasm is an opportunity for the artist to take control of her own story. And take control of it she does. In “Chasm’s� most theatrically audacious sequence, Patek re-stages a public Q&A that Ann-Liv Young had in connection to a show at the Brooklyn performance space JACK, related to her piece “Ann-Liv Young in Jail,� in which the artist was “paying time� for behavior like interrupting Patek’s show. In “Chasm,� Patek turns this Q&A on its head, often breaking the fourth wall, taking off her wig and speaking from her point of view. This sequence demonstrates how concepts of truth and authenticity connected to narratives of sexual assault and harassment are always being
put into question, something that happened long before the #MeToo movement gained momentum. In fact, “Chasmâ€? was ďŹ rst workshopped in summer 2017, just months before the Harvey Weinstein controversy erupted. What makes “Chasmâ€? so salient is the way it shows how the battleground instigated by the #MeToo movement is not just one pitting men against women, but also women against each other. What began as a performance intervention critiquing art about rape and sexual assault turned into a public debate about what kind of art women should be allowed to make. The Patek/Young controversy makes clear how even within the small world of woman-centered performance art, there is still a great deal of contention about telling stories of female victimization in a complex and empowering way. “Chasmâ€? offers no easy answers. Rather, it provides a starting point for important conversations about what it means to be a radical female artist in the #MeToo era. It also shows us that it is through critical art work, not online hashtag activism, that we are able to see the real complexities, nuances, complications and contradictions of a new movement towards gender equity.
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FORM function and $100 REBATE
Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com
EDITOR’S PICK
Sat 17 FAMILY DAY: SPRING INTO NOWRUZ ► Asia Society New York, 725 Park Ave. Noon, Free 212-288-6400. asiasoceity.org Nowruz, the Persian New Year, marks the beginning of spring. Discover the spirit of Nowruz with traditional music, dance and crafts crafts from Central Asia and Iran. Co-presented by Pardis for Children, Inc.
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Thu 15 Fri 16
Sat 17
“REAL LACE REVISITED:’ JAMES MACGUIRE WITH CHARLES SCRIBNER III ►
‘YEOMAN OF THE GUARD’ OPENS
Shakespeare and Co. 939 Lexington Ave. 6:30 p.m. Free Two tales of Irish history, one great conversation. “Real Lace Revisited: Inside the Hidden World of America’s Irish Aristocracy” is a look back at Stephen Birmingham’s much-loved “Real Lace,” an entertaining portrait of life among the Irish rich and a tale of America’s social history. 212-772 3400 shakeandco.com
TOUR THE ARMORY▲ Park Avenue Armory 643 Park Ave. 7 p.m. $15/$10 seniors Go behind the scenes of this landmark building, including the extraordinary interiors by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, Candace Wheeler, Herter Brothers and others. The 75-minute walking tour explores the first floor period rooms, the drill hall and visits some of the second floor areas not normally accessible to the public. 212-616-3930 armoryonpark.org
St. Jean’s Theater 150 East 76th St. 7:30 p.m. $35-$75 New York’s Blue Hill Troupe presents the darkest of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ever-popular operas, “Yeoman of the Guard,” set in the Tower of London during Shakespearean times. All proceeds will be donated to GallopNY, a local charity using horsemanship to help those with disabilities. Through March 31. 212-988-2012 bht.org
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Huge Selection of Bibles Fiction/Non-Fiction Children’s Books Greeting Cards .VTJD t (JGUT Original Art Events and More! )PVST . 5I BN QN t 'SJ BN QN 4BU BN QN t 4VO QN QN
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JOHN KRTIL FUNERAL HOME; YORKVILLE FUNERAL SERVICE, INC. Photo: Michel Ravassard, UNESCO, via WikiMedia Commons
Sun 18 Mon 19 Tue 20 ‘AN AMERICAN SOLDIER’ The Guggenheim 1071 Fifth Ave. 7:30 p.m. $45 The Works & Process series presents excerpts from this new two-act opera based on the true story of Danny Chen, the son of Chinese immigrants living in New York who enlists in the Army and deploys to Afghanistan. When his own base becomes enemy territory as military hazing turns deadly, powerful questions about what it means to be an American arise. 212-423-3575 worksandprocess.org
POETS IN CONVERSATION: PETER COLE AND LAURA KASISCHKE Unterberg Poetry Center 92nd Street Y 1395 Lexington Ave. 8 p.m. $15 Two award-winning poets come together for a night of discussion and reection. Peter Cole’s new collection of poems and translations, “Hymns and Qualms,â€? and Laura Kasischke’s new book of poetry, “Where Now,â€? mark the occasion; introductions by Rosanna Warren and Lauren Clark. 212.415.5500 92Y,org
CURATOR TALK: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: ACCUMULATIONS The Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Ave. 2 p.m. Free with admission, RSVP requested Curator Rebecca Shaykin illuminates the process of organizing the “Scenes from the Collection� exhibition. 100 stereoscopic images of what was then called the Holy Land, including sites such as the Dead Sea and Western Wall, reveal why these images were popular at the turn of the 20th century. 212-423-3200 thejm.net
Wed 21 ‘THE RING’ AS ECO-PARABLE Liederkranz Foundation 6 East 87th St. 7:30 p.m. $10/students free. Perhaps even Vikings were conservationists. Professor Thomas S. Grey of Stanford University’s music department will discuss the ecological dimensions of Richard Wagner’s “Ring Cycle,� the four Germanlanguage epic music dramas based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied. 212-749-4561 wagnersocietyny.org
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MARCH 15-21,2018
AMERICAN BEAUTY At The Met Fifth Avenue, Thomas Cole’s sublime landscapes are given a global context BY VAL CASTRONOVO
Viewers may be surprised to learn that Thomas Cole (1801-48), who famously launched the Hudson River School of landscape painting, was not born in the United States. His roots can be traced back to northwestern England, to Bolton-le-Moors, where he witnessed the gritty realities of the Industrial Revolution before his family crossed the Atlantic in 1818 in search of a better life on these shores. They were economic migrants, in the show’s parlance. Cole’s father had lost his job. The 200th anniversary of that fateful crossing has prompted The Met to undertake a long-overdue “rethink” of Cole’s oeuvre, the museum’s cocurator Elizabeth Kornhauser said in an interview, and to view this very American artist’s works in a broader, global context. The result is an inspiring display of some three dozen paintings by Cole, presented alongside major works by his European influencers — contemporaries like J.M.W. Turner and John Constable, past masters like Claude Lorrain. Cole’s legacy, as seen in the Hudson River School paintings of protégés Frederic Edwin Church and Asher Brown Durand, is examined in the final gallery. More than 30 lenders have contributed to the show, including The National Gallery in London, Tate Britain and the Yale Center for British Art. Tim Barringer at Yale co-curates. “The whole idea of him being Britishborn and traveling extensively had been pretty much eliminated from the standard biographies and presentations of Cole,” Kornhauser said. “We felt it was really important that that be redressed.” Critically, she said, Cole “sees the American wilderness through the lens of a kid who has grown up seeing smokestacks spewing smoke in his own town. He was able to see the promise and the sublime aspects of the American landscape in the way that native-born American artists did not
Thomas Cole (American [born England], Lancashire 1801–1848 Catskill, New York). “View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm — The Oxbow,” 1836. Oil on canvas, 51 1/2 x 76 in. (130.8 x 193 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1908 (08.228). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art see it.” Think of him as eco-friendly — a proto-environmentalist, intent on sounding the alarm against environmental degradation and development. After roughly a decade in the U.S., where he achieved quick success as an artist and produced expansive wilderness scenes like “View of the RoundTop in the Catskill Mountains” (1827), “Scene from ‘The Last Mohicans’” (1827) and “The Garden of Eden” (1828) — all on splendid display in the first gallery — Cole felt there were no more worlds to conquer and embarked on a three-year journey back across the Atlantic, first to London (1829-31) and then to Italy (1831-32), to study and meet with the greats. In England, he met Turner, befriended Constable and worshipped Lorrain’s “Seaport with the Embarkation of Saint Ursula” (1641) at The National Gallery. “He perfected his skills at the Academy in Florence and then fully embraced plein air oil paint-
ing by studying Turner and Constable and others,” Kornhauser said. “He becomes a much better painter than he was before. Had he not taken this journey and returned and painted masterpieces and then taught the next leaders, there might not have been a strong national school of landscape art in America.” “The Course of Empire” (1834-36), a five-part series of landscapes detailing the rise and fall of an imaginary ancient civilization, and “The Oxbow” (1836), a wide-angle view from the top of Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts after a thunderstorm, are the show’s star attractions. Everything we’ve seen lead there. They each bear a similar warning, which the curator frames as: “Honor God’s sublime creation, nature. Preserve some aspects of it. Do not alter every square inch of the American landscape out of greed. That was his message.” In the panoramic “Oxbow,” pure wil-
derness is juxtaposed with cultivated lands and, ominously, in the distance, a deforested mountain and menacing storm clouds à la Turner (derived from his “Snow Storm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps,” on view in the galleries). In an investigative coup (watch the video), The Met’s conservators uncovered under-drawings for the third painting in “The Course of Empire” series — “The Consummation of Empire” — beneath “The Oxbow.” Both were same-sized and painted in tandem at the artist’s studio in the Catskills. Whereas Cole preached against expansionist policies like Manifest Destiny, many of his followers embraced them. He may have taught them everything they knew about art, but he couldn’t foist his eco-views on them. The disconnect is telegraphed in the last gallery, where Cole’s untrammeled memory piece, “View on
the Catskill — Early Autumn” (183637), contrasts with the show’s coda, Durand’s “Progress (The Advance of Civilization)” (1853), an homage to forward thinking with a road and distant bridge, train and factory town. Pro tip: Take the organizers’ advice and continue the journey to the second floor of the American Wing (Galleries 759, 760 and 761), where The Met’s core collection of Hudson River School art is housed and contemporary painter Stephen Hannock’s riff of “The Oxbow,” created in 2000, rules in Gallery 761. Don’t miss the adjacent book display, with prints by Hannock and song lyrics by Sting from “The Last Ship.” It resonates with the Coleian themes of industrial change and journey — so much so that Sting, in complementary programming, is scheduled to perform at The Met on April 24 (members only), April 25 and April 26.
MARCH 15-21,2018
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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS FEB 28 - MAR 6, 2018 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. Hotel Carlyle Employee Cafeteria
35 East 76 Street
A
Corrado Bread And Pastry
960 Lexington Avenue A
Little Vincent’s Pizza
1399 2nd Ave
A
Pyramid Coffee Company
535 East 70 Street
A
Om Indian Restaurant
1593 2 Avenue
Grade Pending (19) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
Burger King
226 E 86th St
Grade Pending (32) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
Mochaburger + Subs Express
1603 2nd Ave
A
Kings Carriage House
251 East 82 Street
A
Giovanni 25
25 East 83 Street
A
Trinity Pub
229 East 84 Street
A
Eli’s Table
1411 3 Avenue
A
Gael Pub
1465 3 Avenue
Grade Pending (17) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Agora Turkish Restaurant
1565 Second Avenue
A
Yuka Restaurant
1557 2nd Ave
Grade Pending (25) 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.
China Taste
1570 2nd Ave
Grade Pending (21) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Noglu New York
1266 Madison Ave
A
Sapito’s
172 E 106th St
A
White Castle
351 East 103 Street
A
La Preciosa China Restaurant
163 East 116 Street
A
Taqueria Guadalupe
1743 Lexington Avenue
A
Yummy City
1557 Lexington Ave
B
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A BLÉRIOT BREAKFAST NEIGHBORHOODS How artist Georgi Dimov transformed his Yorkville gallery into a French-themed café BY ZAC HOWARD
Nestled between a hair salon and a laundromat on a docile stretch of 83rd Street between Second and Third Avenues lies a quaint, elegant new coffee shop called Café Blériot XI. Prior to last summer, it was the Ditra Fine Art Gallery, run by local artist Georgi Dimov. Inspired by the opening of the Second Avenue Subway, which includes an entrance on 83rd Street a stone’s throw from the café, Dimov and his family decided a coffee shop would be a better use of the space. Dimov is an artist and art collector, and remains focused on his trade. His wife, Zhivka Dimova, and their college-aged son, Theo, work behind the counter at Café Blériot XI, making drinks and serving food. The name is a tribute to French aviator Louis Blériot, best known for being the first to fly an airplane across the English Channel. According to Dimov, legend has it that Blériot failed on his first two attempts, but accomplished it on the third, after eating a good breakfast. “That’s kind of the message of the café,” said Theo Dimov, who assisted his father with the renovation. “Come start your day right. Have a croissant, have a coffee and, you know, do your thing.” Dimov painted a striking portrait of Blériot’s face on the shop’s street-side window. The Blériot XI is the name of plane that finally made the successful flight. If Dimov’s skill isn’t apparent from the view outside, one can hardly miss it upon entering. A regal chandelier hangs from the gilded ceiling, illuminating the hand-painted, golden fleurs-de-lis spanning the walls, which display restored paintings and original pencil drawings. There is a wooden, L-shaped bench, with two marble top round tables and three chairs for those who wish to linger. It’s the type of setting one could imagine spotting Henry James and Edith Wharton enjoying a Manhattan rendez-
The new interior. Photo: Zac Howard vous over a cup of coffee more than a century ago. In reality though, it’s a coffee shop quiet enough to read a novel by James or Wharton, which may in fact be a more enchanting fantasy. Dimov said he hoped to create an “18th century feeling” inside the shop. Dimov and his wife are from Bulgaria. He studied art in Germany in the early 1990s, before moving to New York City in 1998 with $500 in his pocket and no fluency in English. After years of going through the immigration and citizenship protocols, Dimova and their children joined him. He trained under the notable Bulgarian painter Anton Russev, who also lives in New York. Dimov has a range of specializations, including still life, watercolor and oil paintings and restorations. His website, dimovart. com, includes a selection of his work and accomplishments. The family has bounced around in the years since, with stops in New Jersey and Florida, eventually returning to Manhattan. Dimov found the space on 83rd Street in 2013, which served as his gallery until last year. Neighborhood resident and fellow Bulgarian Dora Valkanova said she comes in about every other day, often bringing some of the other moms from PS 158 after they take their children to school. She said one of the reasons they frequent the shop is because of Dimova’s hospitality. “She’s really nice, like genuinely nice,” Valkanova said. “Not just a fake smile and, ‘Oh, I’ll be nice to you because I work here.’” Valkanova comes in most Saturdays with her 9-year-old daughter, who
practices her Bulgarian with Dimova. “We make a lot of new friends,” Dimova said with a laugh. “And the coffee is really strong,” Valkanova said. “That’s how I get people to come. They can walk for a good coffee.” The café brews New Jerseybased Coperaco coffee and serves pastries from the Brooklyn-based Colson Patisserie. They offer several specials including 10 percent off for students and hospital staff, BOGO pastries after 5 p.m. and 20 percent off for senior citizens Monday through Wednesday. They also provide complimentary Wi-Fi. In addition to coffee and pastries, the shop sells sandwiches, wraps, soups and salads, as well as treats like macaroons, cookies and hot chocolate. This past Sunday afternoon, Yorkville locals Stephanie Sumulong and Yedi Peguro stumbled upon Café Blériot XI while on their way to another coffee shop and decided to give it a try. They, too, admired Dimova’s reputable service. “She was super polite,” Sumulong said. She and Peguro consider themselves casual coffee connoisseurs. “When you go to Starbucks, you feel like you’re just a number,” Peguro said. Peguro also appreciated Dimova’s thorough drink preparation. “It was very methodical, thoughtful,” she said. “I can tell she has a passion for it.” Both women said they intend to return to Café Blériot XI in the future. “It’s definitely more intimate here,” Sumulong said.
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ACTIVISM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 junior at Dalton, said. “A common concern that came up was that walking out of school for 17 minutes carries dramatic optics from a political perspective, but at the end of the day it can feel a little bit like ‘thoughts and prayers,’� Wiese said. “Many of our members wanted to connect the walkouts to action that was more direct and more concrete.� “Our goal is to turn the passion of the walkouts into concrete policy demands and into infrastructure that can actually effect political and corporate action,� he added. Coalition Z was formed by Wiese and two of his Dalton classmates in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, which prompted student walkouts in a number of city schools. The group has since organized students around various progressive issues and causes, including voting rights and health care, and now has over a dozen chapters in four states.
“After the Trump walkouts there was this moment of everyone coming together and agreeing that we needed change, and not waiting for adults to tell us what to do or to be given a list of instructions,â€? Coalition Z co-founder Zoe Davidson, 17, said. “Kids really just got out there and started to try to ďŹ x the problems that they saw. That started with Trump, in my opinion, but it has continued on and been amplified by the student leadership in Parkland.â€? The Coalition Z organizers said that students at the event will hear speeches from gun control activists, plan for the nationwide March for Our Lives demonstrations on March 24, and register eligible high schoolers to vote. “There’s this conundrum that young people face because we cannot participate in our democracy through voting,â€? Coalition Z co-founder Alex Lehman, 16, said. “We have to sort of work to ďŹ nd other channels or pathways for impact. So we’re thinking about how we can take this energy and turn it into something productive.â€?
Mobilizing MSD Alumni, a nationwide network of former Marjory Stoneman Douglas students formed in the wake of the shooting, will also have a presence at the event. Jessica Stillman, a 1999 graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas who is now a teacher at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, is a regional coordinator for the alumni group and reached out to Coalition Z to coordinate their efforts. Mobilizing MSD Alumni is currently raising money to send Parkland students to the March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C. on March 24. Stillman said she plans to participate in the march in New York. “Something I’m planning on doing at the event is having this big banner that says ‘New York City Schools Unite’ and having all of the kids sign it will their names and schools,� Stillman said. “The vision I have is all of these students marching behind this banner and showing this strength and support to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students and to the cause.�
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NOT HIS GRANDFATHER’S BRATWURST FOOD Schaller & Weber’s spinoff sausage stand goes (partly) vegan BY MICKEY KRAMER
The Sweet Sicilian, a sweet Italian “sausage” served up with caramalized onions and peppers and a balsamic drizzle is among the recent vegan additions at Schaller’s Stube Sausage Bar. Photo: Katie Foster
A sausage stand with old-school, carnivorous connections selling links made with peas, fava beans and rice? It might seem a stretch, but it’s exactly what you can get at Schaller’s Stube Sausage Bar in Yorkville. Just over a month ago, representatives from Beyond Meat, a Los Angeles company, got in touch with Jeremy Schaller, the third-generation owner of Schaller & Weber’s butcher shop, and offered him the opportunity to be the first to sell one of its “Beyond Sausage” creations in the
city. He took a chance, and then a bite. “It was overwhelmingly better than I expected, I was amazed by the texture, which was very meat-like, and the spice blend, which tasted like a real sausage,” said Schaller, 39, recalling that first taste. Two short weeks later, the Second Avenue stand had new menus and was selling three varieties of vegan “sausage”: the Beyond Classic, a “bratwurst” with sauerkraut and mustard; the Sweet Sicilian, a sweet tuber with onions, peppers and balsamic reduction; and the Banh Meat, a spicy link with carrot-daikon slaw, cucumbers, cilantro, jalapenos and Sriracha aioli. All are served on a pretzel bun. “I’ve got a great team working for me and they really pulled it off,” Schaller said about the fast incor-
poration of the new products. The stand’s manager, Opes Sehindemi, said they are selling very well. “It’s something that tastes just as good as the pork sausage,” she said. Schaller said there have been days that Beyond Sausage has outsold his other offerings. “It’s been about 35 percent of all sausage sales at the Stube. And the best part is that the clientele is all new customers,” he said. “If and when the initial buzz dies down, we think it’ll be between 10-20 percent of the business, which is outstanding.” On a recent Monday evening, Matt Schutzman, 26, usually a meat eater, waited for his Banh Meat link. “My girlfriend’s vegan, so I’m a parttime vegan. This is my third time and I’m a big fan. For me, to get a very similar taste while impacting
the environment much less, is very important.” Brandon McGregor, 45, who lives in the neighborhood, said the vegan offerings were “wonderful.” “I’ve ordered five or six times in two weeks.... The preparation — the sauerkraut, really good mustard and the pretzel bun make it so very satisfying.” Later this year, Schaller and his business partner, Jesse Denes, plan to open Stube Sausage Bars on the Lower East Side and in Austin, Texas. “Both locations have a high demand for vegan options,” Schaller said. “There’s always going to be an increased demand for vegan products and this has made a huge impression on our business and will remain a staple on the menu going forward.”
SILICON VALLEY EAST TECHNOLOGY Google’s Chelsea expansion plans are enhancing NYC’s role as a tech hub BY KAREN MATTHEWS
As New York City waits to hear whether it’s been chosen as the site for Amazon’s second headquarters, recent moves by another tech giant, Google, to expand its footprint in the city are helping to legitimize New York’s claim to be Silicon Valley East. Google is reportedly close to a reaching a $2.4 billion deal to add a landmark Meatpacking District building to its already substantial New York campus. The building, a block-long former Nabisco factory named after its ground-floor upscale food mall, Chelsea Market, sits across the street from Google’s current New York City headquarters, a massive, art deco, former shipping terminal that also occupies an entire city block. Google already leases space in Chelsea Market, which also contains offices for Major League Baseball and the local cable news channel NY1, among other tenants. If the sale goes through, it would be among the priciest real estate transactions for a single building in city
history. It would also give Google a remarkable Manhattan campus to supplement its still-growing main headquarters in Mountain View, California. Representatives for Google did not respond to requests for comment about the company’s New York expansion plans. Google already occupies another former Nabisco cookie factory just west of Chelsea Market. And, across the street from that factory, it has also announced plans to lease another 320,000 square feet of space at Pier 57, an office and retail complex built on a pier over the Hudson River. A New York Post real estate writer this week dubbed Google’s slice of Manhattan “Alphabet City,” a reference to the name of both Google’s parent company and a neighborhood on Manhattan’s east side. The pending Chelsea Market deal was first reported by the real estate publication The Real Deal. The Google expansion comes as other tech companies, including Amazon, Facebook and Spotify, are also growing in the city. In addition to considering New York among the 20 finalists for its new eastern U.S. headquarters, Amazon recently signed a deal to bring 2,000 employees to a building, formerly occupied by The Associated Press, on Manhattan’s far west side.
Photo: Andy Rusch, via flickr New York has been pitching itself as an alternative to Silicon Valley for years. And while tech may never rival financial services and Wall Street as the most important private-sector employer and economic driver in New York, it has established a legitimate footprint that goes beyond a few bigname companies. A report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found that New York City had 7,600 tech firms in 2016, an increase of 23 percent since 2010. The report found that the average salary for tech employees in the city was $147,300. Julie Samuels, executive director of Tech:NYC, a trade association of New York tech companies, said the pres-
ence of large companies like Google and Amazon has created “a robust ecosystem” where young engineers and others move to New York to work for the large companies and then leave after a few years to found startups. Tasso Argyros, the founder of threeyear-old startup ActionIQ, agreed. “One of the best things that happened for New York was when Google opened up their office here,” he said. Argyros said people in Silicon Valley told him he was “a little bit crazy” when he moved to New York in 2013. But his data-focused marketing company seeks to attract big companies as clients and it’s helpful to be in the New York area with its high concentration of Fortune 500 companies.
“It’s much easier to be close to your customers,” he said. Samuels and Argyros said another advantage to New York is that tech isn’t the only game in town. Samuels said she was pleased to learn that she and her husband are the only parents in her 3-year-old son’s preschool class who work in tech. “That would never happen in San Francisco,” she said. When she lived in the city by the Bay, “everyone I knew was in tech.” Argyros said there’s “a little bit of groupthink in Silicon Valley. There’s a lot of people who have similar jobs, they read similar things. But New York is really too big to be dominated by one industry.”
MARCH 15-21,2018
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MARCH 15-21,2018
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UWS TAKES AIM AT SUPERTALL TOWERS DEVELOPMENT Community Board 7 signals support for reforms intended to rein in building heights BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Amid neighborhood concerns that two looming high-rise development projects in the West 60s could signal the imminent creep of Midtown skyscrapers into the Upper West Side, Community Board 7 took steps last week to address the spread of so-called supertall towers. The community board voted at its March 6 meeting in favor of a resolution calling on the city to close perceived loopholes with respect to building heights in the city’s zoning code. The resolution cites several tactics for increasing building heights that developers have utilized with increasing frequency in recent years as technological advances have
Community Board 7 voted in support of a resolution addressing building heights at its March meeting. A planned 775-foot condo tower on West 66th Street would be the tallest building on the Upper West Side. Image: Snøhetta
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
Panel Discussion: Planning the Metropolis in Latin America, 1830–1930
MONDAY, MARCH 19TH, 6PM Americas Society | 680 Park Ave. | 212-628-3200 | as-coa.org On the eve of the opening of a new exhibition, a panel of scholars and curators examines a century’s worth of growth and transformation in Latin American urban centers ($10).
The Quest for the Lost Tomb of Chan Bahlum
MONDAY, MARCH 19TH, 6PM The Explorers Club | 46 E. 70th St. | 212-628-8383 | explorers.org Be there as archaeologist Jim Turner reveals for the first time publicly the likely location of the entrance to the tomb of ancient Palenque king Chan Bahlum, based on Turner’s explorations of Robinson Crusoe Island off the coast of Chile ($25).
Just Announced | Skirball Talks—Eckhart Tolle: Awakening Consciousness in Higher Education
MONDAY, APRIL 2ND, 6:30PM NYU Skirball Center | 566 LaGuardia Pl. | 212-998-4941 | nyuskirball.org Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now) joins Reka Prasad, Assistant Director of MindfulNYU, for a night of conversation and spiritual teaching (free, reservation required).
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
reduced the costs of supertall construction and the city’s booming luxury housing market has incentivized developers to build higher. One such tactic addressed in the resolution is the practice of building higher-than-standard ceilings on each floor to raise a tower’s overall height. The resolution also mentions mechanical spaces and voids, which appear perhaps most famously in 432 Park Avenue, the Midtown condo development that features empty two-story gaps at regular intervals up the nearly 1,400-foot-tall tower. Because mechanical voids do not count toward a building’s floor area, which helps determine allowable height, critics say the spaces can be strategically used by developers solely for the purpose of raising the height and value of buildings’ upper f loors. Community Board 7’s resolution urges the City Planning Commission to begin the process of addressing these and other issues in the city’ zoning resolution. “While it could be argued that increasing the available housing stock with new apartment construction generally provides a benefit, these artificial mechanisms used to increase building height, employed solely to may [sic] make the residences in the building more attractive to potential highend buyers, do not add to the housing stock,” the resolution states. “People do not reside in voids or oversized mechanical spaces. 20-foot floor-to-ceiling heights do not translate to higher occupancy; rather they just waste energy derived from non-renewable resources.” The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio signaled it would move to reform the use of voids at a January 2018 town hall
“We need to have input on what’s happening in our communities.” Community Board 7 Chair Roberta Semer
meeting hosted by the mayor on the Upper East Side. “We agree that the notion that there are empty spaces for the sole purpose of making the building taller for the views at the top is not what was intended, and so we are already working under the mayor’s direction with the Department of Buildings to see how we can make sure that the intent of the rules is followed,” said Marisa Lago, chair of the City Planning Commission. Several Manhattan community boards, which hold an advisory role in land use and zoning issues, have made recommendations regarding tall buildings in recent years. Community Board 8 last year voted in support of a height cap of 210 feet on new buildings on York, First, Second and Third Avenues. And in 2015, Community Board 5 called for a moratorium on new Midtown buildings exceeding 600 feet in height, particularly those that would cast shadows on Central Park. Roberta Semer, the chair of Community Board 7, said that last week’s resolution would be brought to the Manhattan Borough Board, where overdevelopment has been a topic of continuing discussion. “We need to have input on what’s happening in our communities,” Semer said. The community board’s
move takes place against the backdrop of two luxury condo towers currently under development at 200 Amsterdam Avenue and 50 West 66th Street that critics have argued do not align with the scale or context of the surrounding neighborhood. Slated to rise 668 and 775 feet, respectively, each tower would eclipse the height of any existing building on the Upper West Side. Both projects have been the target of criticism from elected officials and local land use groups, and 200 Amsterdam is the subject of a pending zoning appeal arguing that the site’s building permit should be revoked. The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals will hold a public hearing on the 200 Amsterdam appeal on March 27. In advance of the hearing, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Council Member Helen Rosenthal will hold a meeting at Lincoln Square Synagogue March 19 at 4 p.m. to discuss the legal and zoning issues relevant to the case. In addition to the resolution, Community Board 7 voted to send a letter to the Board of Standards and Appeals regarding the 200 Amsterdam appeal that refers to the proposed tower as “inappropriate” and “grossly out of context with the surrounding neighborhood,” and calls on the board to “spare the community this grotesque and ill-advised building.” Olive Freud, the president of the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, which has led efforts to block the 200 Amsterdam Development, said at the community board meeting that she is “grateful” for the resolution. “You really hit all the points,” she said.
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INSPIRED BY THE PAST The CEO of The Workmen’s Circle fights for workers’ rights and acknowledges those who came before her BY ANGELA BARBUTI
“One of our family rules was we never crossed a picket line,” Ann Toback said about growing up in New York as a third-generation trade union activist. The labor movement is literally in her genes, as her grandparents actually met at a union hall. Part of her family’s ideology, she recognizes, can be traced back to heritage. “And for me, so much of my lifelong activist calling was connected to my Jewish identity,” the Turtle Bay So when she y resident explained. p found out that The Workmen’s Circle, a social justice organization rooted in the Jewish tradition, was looking for an executive director, she thought it was a good fit. And although women have held significant roles at the nonprofit, Toback, 50, is the first woman to have been appointed to the executive director post, which she’s held since 2008. She was to be honored on March 15 with the Clara Lemlich Award from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial for her dedication to workers’ rights.
Toback calls Lemlich, who galvanized shirtwaist workers to strike in 1909, her hero. “She’s somebody who literally inspires me and has inspired me for decades,” she said. “So to receive an award in her name is so very meaningful to me and it’s so very meaningful today.”
You graduated from BU Law and was hired as in-house counsel for the Writers Guild of America East. Immediately after law school, I spent two years in a small boutique practice. And then I moved back to New York City and was with the Writers Guild of America East and was an in-house counsel with them. I quickly found a calling in union leadership, so by the time I left the Writers Guild, after nine years, y , I was the assistant executive director. I loved the work I did for this amazing 21st century labor union, started in the 20th century. As I was leaving, we were becoming very interconnected with the new world of new media and how to organize. And they’ve continued that in very impressive impr pressive ways. ways wa ys.
Tell us about your role in the Writers Guild strike. It started in November of 2007 and ended in February of 2008. I was the person who really directed the on-theground, day-to-day activities for the Writers Guild staff in New York.
How did your job at The Workmen’s Circle come about? I saw The Workmen’s Circle, this legendary organization so connected to the roots of the labor movement, was looking for an executive director, and thought, “This is the place for me.” It was just a very meaningful connection that I made and that they made with me. And together, we reshaped The Workmen’s Circle into a 21st century social justice organization. While I was in the labor movement, I really became aware of an opening in the progressive wo world, which was teaching activism and an engaging people collectively. And for f me, so much of my lifelong activist calling was connected to my Jewish identity. And I felt like id there was a real rea opportunity to start engaging people peop around our activist traditions and become a real partner b to the labor movement. mov
How can you des describe the organization’s mission? It’s a social justice jus organization that powers progressive Jewish identity progre through Jewish cultural engagement, Yiddish language langua learning, multigenerational educa education and social justice activism. reconnecting to acti tivi vism sm. It’s really r the roots of the the h Jewish people in the United States…. States… The 20th century roots, where we w were a backbone to the labor Hundreds of labo bo or movement. m v mo thousands European Jews thou o sa ands off Eastern Ea were the United States we ere pouring into i and reenvisioning reenvisioni their lives and place in the world and reframing the cultural landscape he here.
In what way did religion play a part in your upbringing upbringing? I had a traditional tradi Jewish upbringing in that my m family belonged to conservative synagogue and I a conservat Hebrew school. But actuwent to a He Jewish identity has been ally, my Jew more connected to tradimuch mor values. tional val
Explain yyour family’s ties to the labor mo movement. My great g grandfather, Dawho came to the United vid, w States from Russia, now the
Ann Toback, executive director dire of The Workmen’s Circle, Ci at a recent demonstration. de Photo: P Donna F. Aceto
Ann Toback with Rita Margulies, daughter of Clara Lemlich. Lemlich organized what came to be known as the Uprising of the 20,000 in 1909, which had its genesis in Cooper Union. Photo: Women’s Circle Ukraine, was a tailor and involved in the growing garment workers union in the early 1900s. My grandfather, Morris Toback, who was also born in Russia, was a member of the Pocketbook Framers Guild. He was an activist with the union and a shop steward in many of his shops. My grandmother, Elsie Toback, was part of a Millinery Workers Local. Her union hall burned down and they were given space by my grandfather’s union in their hall. That is how they met and married. My father was a member for over four decades in the Newspaper Guild of CWA, now the NewsGuild of New York, at times serving a leadership role in his Local. My sister, Eileen Toback, was the executive director of the New York Professional Nurses’ Union.
men earned. Lemlich immediately started protesting these conditions and also demanding equality.
What was her role in the Uprising of the 20,000? In 1909, Lemlich and other women gathered together in Cooper Union. There were hours of speeches. Ultimately, she took the stage and called for a strike. And it appears she was the catalyst for over 20,000 women going on strike. It’s called the Uprising of the 20,000. These women walked off their jobs in shirtwaist factories. One of the major oppositions to them was the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory, which of course, would have a very serious outcome, with a terrible fire in 1911 and 146 people would die from it.
Tell us about Clara Lemlich, whose award you are winning. She was an immigrant who came to the United States in 1905 from the Ukraine. She was 19 when she came to New York and immediately went to work in a shirtwaist factory. Immigrant workers came and they were horribly exploited. They could work upwards of seven days a week in unsafe conditions.... Women typically earned three to four dollars a week compared to the fifteen, even $25 that
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54
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