Our Town - March 16, 2017

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The local paper for the Upper East Side

WEEK OF MARCH

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WHAT THE GOP HEALTH CARE BILL COULD MEAN FOR NEW YORKERS POLICY Who stands to win and lose under the American Health Care Act? Gerald and Peggy Huteau in the bakery. Photo: Laura Hanrahan

FRENCH SWEETS FOR THE UPPER EAST SIDE FOOD The “hell to heaven” story behind Miss Madeleine, newest addition to the neighborhood BY LAURA HANRAHAN

Miss Madeleine, a bright little shop on East 82nd Street, is bringing authentic French pastries to the Upper East Side. Opened last week, the newest neighborhood addition to the neighborhood is the result of years of dreaming and planning by husband and wife Gerald and Peggy Huteau. Named after the small French madeleine cake — their specialty — Miss Madeleine will also serve a number of other traditional baked goods, all handmade by Peggy, including baguettes and what Gerald calls “the best croissant in all of Manhattan.” “You will find cakes, you will find macarons — all the French pastries you will find exactly as in Paris,” he said. “We’re going to have apple turnover, chocolate eclair, and French pies.”

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BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

As Republicans in Washington, D.C., work to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with their proposed alternative, the American Health Care Act, New York policymakers are working to understand how the bill will impact the state’s health insurance market if it becomes law. According to analysis from the New York Department of Health, over one million New Yorkers would face a “significant loss of health care” under the Republican plan. The department also found that the plan would shift $2.4 billion in costs to hospitals and state and local governments each year, beginning in 2020, and $4.2 billion over the next four years. Nationwide, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 24 million by 2026, but would cut federal deficits by $336 billion over the same period. “In the end, people who will still have insurance will fall into two groups under this plan: older Americans and lower-income people who will pay more for coverage or lose it altogether, and higher-income people who will pay less,” Governor Andrew

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Cuomo said in a press release announcing the Department of Health’s findings. Bill Hammond, director of health policy at the Empire Center, said that one of the largest groups that stands to lose coverage consists of low-income New Yorkers covered under the state’s Essential Plan. The Department of Health found that under the American Health Care Act the state would be forced to eliminate the Essential Plan, which provides subsidized insurance for low-income New Yorkers who do not qualify for Medicaid and is financed mostly with federal money. Funding for the $4 billion program would be cut under the Republican replacement bill. As of January 2016, about 380,000 New Yorkers were enrolled in the Essential Plan. The state’s online health care marketplace would likely remain in place under the American Health Care Act, but the tax credits available to individuals purchasing insurance through the state exchange would be restructured. The Republican plan grants individuals tax credits based on age rather than income, meaning that many New Yorkers would face significant changes in their out-of-pocket premium costs. The available tax credits increase with age, from $2,000 for those under 30 to $4,000 for those over 60. Analysis performed by the Kaiser Family Foundation provides an approximate picture of the

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers remarks at SEIU rally. Photo courtesy of the Governor’s Office, via flickr changes in subsidies Manhattan residents would face under the Republican proposal. For example, a 27-year-old earning $30,000 per year living in Manhattan would see her health care subsidy cut by about half, from $3,970 per year under the Affordable Care Act to $2,000 per year under House Republicans’ plan. Older Manhattanites would fare better than their younger neighbors under the Republican plan, according to the Kaiser analysis. The subsidies available to 60-year-olds earning $30,000 per year would remain virtually unchanged, while 60-year-olds earning more than $40,000 would see their subsidies increase — in some cases, drastically. A 60-year-old with an income of $75,000 receives no subsidy under the Affordable

Care Act, but would be the recipient of a new $4,000 tax credit courtesy of the House plan. “For people who are very lowincome and young, that’s going to be a lot less than the tax credits they have been getting,” Hammond said. “For people who are a little higher-income and a little older, they might actually come out ahead.”

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BHARARA FIRED AFTER REFUSING TO RESIGN LAW ENFORCEMENT Three months ago, then Presidentelect Trump had asked Manhattan U.S. attorney to stay on BY LARRY NEUMEISTER

Preet Bharara, the Manhattan federal prosecutor who says “absolute independenceâ€? was his touchstone for over seven years as he battled public corruption announced he was fired Saturday after he refused a day earlier to resign. Bharara, 48, revealed his firing on his personal Twitter account after it became widely known hours earlier that he did not intend to step down in response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ request that leftover appointees of former President Barack Obama quit. “I did not resign. Moments ago I was ďŹ red,â€? Bharara said in the tweet. In a statement later, he said: “Serving my country as U.S. Attorney here for the past seven years will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life,

no matter what else I do or how long I live. One hallmark of justice is absolute independence, and that was my touchstone every day that I served.â€? He said current Deputy U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim will serve as acting U.S. attorney. The Justice Department late Saturday conďŹ rmed Bharara was no longer U.S. attorney but declined to expound. Just over three months ago, thenPresident-elect Donald Trump asked Bharara to remain on the job and Bharara told reporters after the Trump Tower meeting that he had agreed to do so. Bharara was appointed by Obama in 2009. In frequent public appearances, Bharara has decried public corruption after successfully prosecuting over a dozen state lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike. Sessions’ decision to include Bharara’s name on the list of 46 resignations of holdovers from the Obama administration surprised Manhattan prosecutors. While it is customary for a new president to replace virtually all of the 93 U.S. attorneys, it often occurs at a

Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara speaking in September 2014. Photo: Buck Ennis, courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office slower pace. Sessions lost his position as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama in a similar sweep by then-Attorney General Janet Reno in 1993. Robert Morgenthau, a Democratic U.S. attorney in Manhattan, famously held out for nearly a year after Republican President Richard Nixon’s 1969 inauguration, saying he needed to see some important cases through. He ultimately left in January 1970, after the White House declared he was being replaced and announced a nominee. Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday that he was “troubled to learn� of the resignation demands, particularly of Bharara, since Trump called him in November and assured him that he wanted Bharara to remain in place. Bharara met Trump Nov. 30, saying

afterward he’d been asked to remain in the job. Bharara, once lauded on the cover of Time magazine as the man who is “busting Wall Street� after successfully prosecuting dozens of insider traders, has in recent years gone after over a dozen state officeholders — including New York’s two most powerful lawmakers. It also recently was revealed that his office is investigating the financial terms of settlements of sexual-harassment claims against Fox News by its employees. The request from Sessions came as Bharara’s office is prosecuting former associates of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in a bribery case. Also, prosecutors recently interviewed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as part of a probe into his fundraising. The mayor’s press secretary has said the mayor is

cooperating and that he and his staff had acted appropriately. The request for resignations came just days after Trump last weekend claimed Obama tapped his telephones during last year’s election. FBI Director James Comey privately asked the Justice Department to dispute the claim because he believed the allegations were false. Bharara worked for Comey when he was U.S. attorney in Manhattan under President George W. Bush. Annemarie McAvoy, a former Brooklyn federal prosecutor, said it was not surprising Trump might want Bharara gone since there’s a good chance any subpoena seeking information about Trump campaign links to Russians would go through his office. She said it was also possible Trump wanted “to take out as many people as they can in the prior administration given the leaks and problems that they’re having.â€? Earlier this month, the quick-witted Bharara initiated a new personal Twitter feed and sent an ominous message in which he linked an AP video of a Senate hearing focusing on whether federal prosecutors were ďŹ red for political reasons. “This Senate hearing on political interference (at)DOJ was 10 yrs ago today,â€? Bharara wrote. “Is that me in the background? Boy I’ve aged.â€? Sadie Gurman in Washington and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG LOEWS BLOW

on Tuesday, Feb. 28, a 59-year-old man left his wallet, an iPhone, and $642 in cash on a table accessible to others in the Equinox gym at 344 Amsterdam Ave. while he went for a shower. When he returned to the table, his belongings were missing.

Here’s a cautionary tale for moviegoers. At 10 p.m. on Friday, March 3, a 25-year-old woman sat down to watch a movie at the Loews Theater at 2310 Broadway, laying her purse down on the floor next to her. When she reached for her purse later, it was gone, along with her wallet and an iPhone valued at $800.

Avenue. When she next looked for her purse, it was gone, along with her wallet containing a full complement of cards, including a MasterCard and her Social Security card.

BACKPACK LACK At 3 p.m. on Saturday, February 11, a 62-year-old man laid down his backpack briefly while he was shopping inside the Pottery Barn at 1965

Broadway. He reached down for his backpack and discovered that someone had taken it, along with his North Face jacket and laptop inside valued at $1,400.

COURTING DISASTER An unknown thief showed no respect for a senior citizen recently. At 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28, a 96-year-old woman had placed her purse on her walker while she was visiting a food court at 59th Street and Columbus

TABLE TROUBLE One gymgoer failed to exercise much common sense recently. At 10:30 p.m.

STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th precinct Week to Date

Year to Date

2017 2016

% Change

2017

2016

% Change

Murder

0

0

n/a

0

0

n/a

Rape

0

0

n/a

2

0

n/a

Robbery

1

0

n/a

9

18

-50.0

Felony Assault

2

1

100.0

27

23

17.4

Burglary

5

2

150.0

33

41

-19.5

Grand Larceny

23

30

-23.3

222

235

-5.5

Grand Larceny Auto

2

1

100.0

6

5

20.0

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Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct

153 E. 67th St.

212-452-0600

FDNY 22 Ladder Co 13

159 E. 85th St.

311

FDNY Engine 39/Ladder 16

157 E. 67th St.

311

FDNY Engine 53/Ladder 43

1836 Third Ave.

311

FDNY Engine 44

221 E. 75th St.

311

FIRE

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.

212-744-5824

96th Street

112 E. 96th St.

212-289-0908

67th Street

328 E. 67th St.

212-734-1717

Webster Library

1465 York Ave.

212-288-5049

100 E. 77th St.

212-434-2000

HOSPITALS Lenox Hill NY-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell

525 E. 68th St.

212-746-5454

Mount Sinai

E. 99th St. & Madison Ave.

212-241-6500

NYU Langone

550 First Ave.

212-263-7300

CON EDISON

4 Irving Place

212-460-4600

POST OFFICES US Post Office

1283 First Ave.

212-517-8361

US Post Office

1617 Third Ave.

212-369-2747

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WEST SIDE REPUBLICANS TALK TRUMP, ISSUES POLITICS President’s supporters turn out in droves to discuss immigration, terrorism at GOP club BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Even after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, it is a bold statement to support him openly in areas of mostlyliberal Manhattan. But last Tuesday night, in a packed room at the YMCA on West 63rd Street, hats and T-shirts reading “Make America Great Again” were both plentiful and welcome. The Gertrude and Morrison Parker Westside Republican Club was hosting its monthly meeting, with two guests who railed against the previous administration’s approach to immigration and terrorism, and lamented the focus on political correctness. “What I want you to understand is that the American people for years have been lied to about immigration,” said Michael Cutler, a former officer with Immigration and Naturalization Services. “I’m registered as a Democrat [but] I can’t tell you the last time I voted for a Democrat. I consider myself a liberal — [the establishment Democratic party are] fascists,” he continued,

to enthusiastic applause. For most of his talk, Cutler criticized the laws surrounding immigration that he credited with allowing terrorist attacks to be carried out here. He also blamed such policies, and the politicians who made them, for “the engineered destruction of the middle class” by allowing immigrants to work blue-collar jobs. It was standing room only at the meeting, which consisted of a mostly older, mostly white crowd of 80 or 90 people. Marcia Drezon-Tepler, co-president, said club attendance has soared since the presidential election in November. “It’s really encouraging,” she said, noting that the club was open to people of all political interests and backgrounds. “I think [Cutler’s] views on immigration really closely follow the parallels of what Trump is trying to do. We’re hopeful that [Trump] will carry out what he promised in the campaign.” According to Drezon-Tepler, that includes the repeal and replacement of Obamacare and the building of a wall, “whether that’s a virtual wall or a real wall.” James Fitzsimmons, a terrorism consultant and former FBI agent, recounted stories of his time in Syria and Jordan. He cautioned against the

Retired FBI agent and terrorism consultant James Fitzimmons speaking March 7 at a packed meeting of the Westside Republican Club. Photo: Madeleine Thompson U.S. military putting faith in foreign agents by telling the story of an asset who gained the trust of the CIA and then detonated a suicide bomb after being allowed into an army base in Afghanistan. “There’s always a possibility that we can be fooled,” he said. Fitzsimmons went on to criticize the media for publishing “things that are untrue” about

Trump that then skew perception of him in other countries. “We’re self-destructing by publishing this stuff all over the world,” he said. When it was time for questions, audience members asked what they could do to help achieve stricter immigration policies. “Sanctuary cities are a good start,” Cutler said, arguing for more collaboration

between police and immigrant communities. He suggested that people band together to get answers from politicians, and that they record videos of those meetings or town halls. “You need to confront the politicians in a public place, but bring people with you,” he said. Though more like-minded neighbors have made themselves known since the elec-

tion, Drezon-Tepler is concerned that numerous protests and actions in opposition to Trump’s policies will hinder his progress. “The Democrats who lost the election [are] making a lot of noise, showing up with a lot of participants in demonstrations, but that’s not how we operate in the United States,” she said. “We’re a democracy. The people’s voice is from an election, not from mobs that appear on the street.” Citing the recent re-election of Congressman Jerry Nadler to the 10th Congressional District, Drezon-Tepler said getting more Republicans elected locally and at the state level was a priority. She is currently organizing for City Council hopeful Rebecca Harary, who is running for East Side Council Member Dan Garodnick’s seat. The club also hopes to have mayoral candidate Paul Massey speak at an upcoming meeting. Its next meeting, on April 4, will be a discussion of political analyst Doug Schoen’s book “The Nixon Effect: How Richard Nixon’s Presidency F u nda menta l ly Cha n ged American Politics” with chairman of the state Republican party Ed Cox. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@ strausnews.com

THE BLIZZARD THAT WASN’T BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Upper West Sider Matilda Surla, 7, took advantage of the snow day by snowboarding down hills in Central Park. Photo: Michael Garofalo

Despite dire predictions on Monday about a potentially recordbreaking snowstorm, New Yorkers woke up on Tuesday to find that the blizzard warning had been cancelled. In anticipation of anywhere from 10 to 20 inches of snow, public schools were closed and more than 2,500 flights were cancelled between LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports. Aboveground subway train service was suspended, Metro North trains stopped running at noon, and Amtrak and PATH trains ran on modified schedules. Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency starting Tuesday at midnight. In an update later on Tuesday morning, Cuomo said the storm had moved west and was mostly affecting New York City with sleet and wind. “When things are at their worst, New Yorkers are at their best,” he said. “This is the time to be a good neighbor.” Joe Pollina, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the New York Times that the storm “is tracking closer to the coast and warmer air is being brought in.” For the first time all year, the Department of Sanitation unleashed its entire fleet of 698 spreaders and 1,600 plows on the streets. So with some grumbling, much of the city’s daily grind proceeded as usual. Broadway shows remained open, as did many shops and stores, as well as all city agencies.

Dogs ran free in Central Park near West 72nd Street. Photo: Michael Garofalo

“Will you kick it with me?” Chase Benton, 18, abandoned clothes and reason to ask Hailey Kardon to prom in Central Park near Columbus Circle. The classmates at Providence High School in Jacksonville, Florida, were visiting New York on their senior class trip. Photo: Michael Garofalo


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LinkNYC kiosk on West 44 Street near Fifth Avenue last month. Photo: Epicgenius, via Wikimedia

LINKNYC BY THE NUMBERS BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

LinkNYC kiosks, installed to replace payphones on city sidewalks, allow users to make free telephone calls, use USB ports to charge devices, and access city resources like maps on the built-in tablet. (A short-lived internet

FRENCH SWEETS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The shop will also sell canelés, mini-pastries that were the signature creation of the store’s previous tenant, Canelé by Celine, where the couple worked for more than a year before taking over the lease. Celine Legros hired Peggy as a baker in 2015, and when Legros needed a new general manager, Peggy recommended her husband. “Celine started the business three years ago and she decided to stop because she wanted to focus only on catering business,” Gerald said. “She asked me if I would be interested in taking over the lease and at the same time it was a great opportunity because I was looking for a store and we said yes.” Gerald, born in Guadeloupe, and Peggy, who was born in France, met over a decade ago while working for the social se-

browser feature was disabled after complaints that users were loitering at the devices and watching pornography.) But the kiosks’ most popular function, by far, is the access they provide to free wireless internet service. The number of users accessing the

curity administration in Guadeloupe — he as a computer scientist and she as an administrator. “We both got the passion about the food industry and the food business,” Gerald said of their decision to change careers. “My wife is passionate about creating new recipes and creating something very amazing. We’ve got the same passion for that and both got the same passion for New York City.” The beginning of the Huteaus’ journey, however, was not such a seamless transition. After being denied a visa for their family three times by the U.S. Embassy, Gerald came to New York City by himself in 2014 to set up what he hoped would be their own bakery, leaving Peggy and their five children in Paris. The location a broker had procured in East Harlem, however, was less than ideal: it was too large, at nearly 2,000 square feet, and presented a string of mainte-

internet through LinkNYC kiosks has steadily increased since the network was publicly launched in February 2016, and thousands more kiosks are scheduled to be installed in the next few years. As LinkNYC enters its second year,

nance issues. “One day the boiler of the building exploded in my basement,” Gerald said. “It was like a swimming pool.” After investing $150,000 in rent and repairs, he was unable to maintain the business and was forced to close after just one week. Gerald took various managerial jobs with Insomnia Cookies, Just Salad and By Suzette to keep a steady income. Finally, after months of paperwork, and replacing passports that were lost in the mail, Peggy obtained a visa for herself and their youngest daughter in 2015 and joined Gerald. “It was a very dark period,” Gerald said. “When I got my family, my wife and daughter here, I was very happy.” Peggy soon began working for Celine and things started to look up. “I would tend to say that we came back from hell to heaven, because it was really difficult,”

here’s a look at some figures on the system so far. All data is current as of the week of February 27, 2017. • 631 LinkNYC kiosks currently active, of a planned 7,500 • 1,256,450 unique devices connected to the Wi-Fi network to date, approximately one for every seven New Yorkers • 115 million Wi-Fi sessions served to date • 870.86 terabytes of data transferred to date, the rough equivalent of streaming 33 years of high definition

video on Netflix • 150 feet wireless signal range of each kiosk • 600,000 Wi-Fi sessions served in year one by the city’s most popular kiosk, at 1313 Broadway in Herald Square • $0 spent by New York City taxpayers on the system, which is operated by a franchisee and generates revenue through advertising and sponsorships Sources: LinkNYC and NYC Open Data

Miss Madeleine bakery opened on East 82 Street earlier this month. Photo courtesy of the bakery Gerald said. “Sometimes you doubt and you wonder if you’re doing the right thing because it’s something you have to take serious because there’s kids.”

Now, with their whole family together again and settled into their new life in New York City, Gerald and Peggy are happy they continued to fight for their

dream. “We are very proud of that,” he said. “What you can see here, it’s the result of a long battle.”


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Voices

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

A LENTEN BETRAYAL BY BETTE DEWING

Faith groups don’t often get much media coverage unless they’ve done something wrong — more often it’s clergy committing great wrongs and faith group hierarchies trying to hide them. Ah, but a rather detailed reminder how media, including this paper, gave considerable coverage to the Catholic Archdiocese of New York’s merger and closing of dozens of Catholic churches, which affected parishioners found to be a very great wrong. And so did surrounding communities, which miss the loss of public gathering places and the support found there, not only, but especially 12-Step programs. (A timely sidetrack — after Saint Patrick’s Day, calls to Alcoholics Anonymous (212-647-1680) spike sharply, which recalls the late, and greatly missed, Archbishop John O’Connor’s oft stated concern with substance abuse, especially alco-

coverage because of the rosary said every 6 p.m. by a core group of parishioners, (Maybe many affected churches had gone public like this — indeed faith groups should be more generally visible to the public). Of course, great numbers of letters, petitions and legal briefs were sent to the Vatican by all affected churches, but only the exceptionally alive and well landmarked Our Lady of Peace took consistent actions. But on March 5, news broke of what one parishioner called a Lenten betrayal — the Archdiocese had leased the church to the local parish of the Coptic Orthodox Church. But Our Lady of Parishioners vowed to nonetheless continue their outdoor evening rosary service. The address is 239-241 East 62nd Street and, yes, that’s a hint. To be continued, no doubt, and here’s to a blessed Saint Patrick’s Day to all — to all, I said — and the kind of which Cardinal O’Connor would very much approve.

hol dependence. But Pope Francis reportedly feels giving money to homeless people on the streets is OK, saying, who doesn’t have a yearning for a little wine.) Also the shuttered churches were often accessible and I think especially of Saint Stephen of Hungary. Distance to the new churches are also a problem. And, of course, infinitely more is lost and while initially there were “respectful” protests outside St. Patrick’s, mostly there were only countless letters, petitions and legal briefs sent to the Vatican to stop or limit the closures and mergers. One Manhattan church said in a reverent way they were damn mad — oops ... doggone mad, rather — and not going to take it anymore because theirs was a very financially solvent church with a very healthy and “regular” membership. And thankfully, media, including this paper, gave Our Lady of Peace Church on East 62nd Street considerable

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FUTURE PERFECT GRAYING NEW YORK BY MARCIA EPSTEIN

My friends and I were talking about a wish list for medical care, even though we know that we likely won’t be around for the results. I’ve been very lucky not to have been hospitalized except for the birth of my children, many millennia ago. However, I’ve heard stories, and I’ve also seen firsthand when I visited John, that hospitals are no place to get any rest. Some of this is inevitable; being woken to have tests or temperature taken, for example. The worst part of the experience, though, can be sharing a room. Friends tell me of the torment of a roommate blaring the TV all day and night. That would be my personal nightmare. I think it would drive me to pull out all the tubes and wires and

run home. Another experience that can drive one wild while trying to rest is a constant stream of roommate’s visitors, including restless children running around and shouting. I mean really; aren’t people in the hospital because they are sick? Sick means that you want to rest peacefully, or as peacefully as possible in such an environment. So here’s our idea. In the future, hospitals should be built with smaller, single rooms. Personally, I wouldn’t care if it were the size of a shoebox, as long as I wasn’t tormented by a TV, a roommate’s snoring or moaning, or loud, intrusive family and friends. Food for thought for the future. I have had a recurring fantasy that someday (but unfortunately not soon enough), one will walk into some contraption, have a whole body exam in a matter of minutes, and get a diagnosis immediately. I do happen to have

Isabelle Huppert at the César awards ceremony in February. Photo: Georges Biard

iatrophobia. My Greek friends know what that is: fear of doctors. Fear of doctors, of tests, and of waiting for results. No one likes to wait for results, I realize that. But a phobia is different — it’s like waiting to be eaten by a tiger. I’m sure that in the far future all of this will happen, but I’ll be long gone. Imagine; immediate results. Does anyone else feel this way? I picture a kind of phone booth (remember those?). You step in, there’s a whirring sound, and it’s all done, results and all. Hey, I bet that will happen, maybe even before they discover life on another planet. It wasn’t so long ago that bloodletting was considered good medicine. Look how far we’ve come. Just not quite far enough for me. Women of a certain age; don’t you just love Isabelle Huppert? Not only is she beautiful and a fantastic actress, she’s 63! Yes, 63 and considered a sexy, desirable woman. Maybe being French has something to do with it, but still. Ask women who’ve tried Internet dating if 63 is considered a desirable age. Thank heavens I’m not in the dating game, and I’m

just a bit older than Ms. Huppert (!!!), but she proves that older women can still be sexy and not thought ridiculous or inappropriate for flaunting it. I’m not sure what, if any, work she’s had done on her face, but if she has, it doesn’t show in the truly awful way it does on some American actresses. No puffy lips, no cat eyes, no pulled and stretched looking skin. Just her own erotic self. Not everyone can be Isabelle Huppert, but we can learn a lesson from her. We’re still vital, desirable beings. We don’t have to curl up and say we’re past all that. Isabelle Huppert is a fantastic role model. And see “Elle” if you haven’t already. Whew, what a movie. Sit back, hold on to your seats and just watch her. She’s mesmerizing. One more short thought. I’m grateful for the benches that are now on the West Side avenues, but I wish we had more. With a bad back, I’ve sometimes had to resort to sitting at a bus stop, or even a stoop. One bench on every block would be ideal. I hope this will be part of the many senior initiatives planned for the next few years.

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MARCH 16-22,2017

ARTIFACTS FROM FOLEY SQUARE HISTORY The civic center in Lower Manhattan was once a “world of vice and misery,� as Charles Dickens put it BY RAZI SYED

In recent months, the stately civic buildings and courthouses near Foley Square have been the scene of regular protests against the administration of President Donald Trump and the Dakota Access Pipeline, among other issues. But before that, in the 19th century, the area would gain notoriety as the disease- and crime-filled slum of Five Points. Five Points was a mostly Irish and free black neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, which was one of the most impoverished parts of the city. “Charles Dickens said he hadn’t seen such bad slums in Christendom,� said attorney James Kaplan, who serves as president of the Lower Manhattan Historical Society. “This is the place: these narrow ways, diverging to the right and left, and reeking everywhere with dirt and filth,� Dickens wrote of Five Points in “American Notes,� a book which recounted his 1842 trip to America. “Here

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too are lanes and alleys, paved with mud knee-deep, underground chambers, where they dance and game; the walls bedecked with rough designs of ships, and forts, and ags, and American eagles out of number: ruined houses, open to the street, whence, through wide gaps in the walls, other ruins loom upon the eye, as though the world of vice and misery had nothing else to show: hideous tenements which take their name from robbery and murder: all that is loathsome, drooping, and decayed is here.â€? Five Points was built upon the remains of Collect Pond, which provided much of Manhattan’s water until the early 18th century. “It was this gorgeous, freshwater pond that we jokingly call ‘The Hamptons of 17th century New Amsterdam.’â€? said Seth Kamil, who runs Big Onion Walking Tours, which provides tours of the city’s historic districts and ethnic neighborhoods. “There were farms and summer cottages. “It was this 60-foot deep lake, and then it was drained and became Five Points,â€? Kamil said. By the late 1800s, the city acquired and razed many of Five Points’ worst buildings. Urban planning resulted in the construction of city, state and federal buildings over the early to

mid-1900s. “The cynical way of interpreting [the end of Five Points and building of Civic Center] is it put a physical barrier between the politically-charged immigrant neighborhoods of the Lower East Side from City Hall and the Financial District,� Kamil said. “A less cynical way of looking at it, is it was perfectly situated to serve both city government and the people of New York.� In 1926, the square was named to honor Thomas F. Foley, a Tammany Hall district leader from the Lower East Side. Foley owned a saloon in the area that is now Foley Square and was the mentor of New York Gov. Al Smith, Kamil said. Foley died in 1925 and the square was given its name the following year. The Foley Square of today, which is bordered by Worth, Centre and Lafayette streets, took its shape in 2000, after several smaller intersections were consolidated into one open area. In 1991, construction in the area by the federal government led to the discovery of the remains of 400 people at the African Burial Ground. “The federal government was building on Reade Street to make an office building,� said Jonathan Kuhn, director of arts and antiquities at the parks department. “They hit human remains, quite close to the surface.� After an archeological study, the area from the southern portion of Foley Square to the northern precinct of City Hall Park was designated the New York City African Burial Ground and Commons District.

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GOP HEALTH CARE BILL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The main demographic that stands to benefit from the American Health Care Act, Hammond said, consists of people purchasing insurance through state marketplaces who do not qualify for an income-based tax credit under the current system but would qualify for a new age-based credit under the Republican proposal. Individuals earning above 400 percent of the federal poverty level — about $48,000 per year — are currently ineligible for tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, but the Republican plan offers full subsidies to those earning up to $75,000. “It’s not a huge group,â€? Hammond said, noting that it would largely be made up of small-business owners and self-employed individuals. “Most people who are making that kind of money have a job with beneďŹ ts, so they’re not affected.â€? Some aspects of the New York’s current health care system stand at odds with the Republican proposal.

Under the American Health Care Act, federal tax credits cannot be used to purchase insurance policies that cover abortion, but in New York state most health care plans are required to cover abortions. The discrepancy could make it difficult for New Yorkers to claim federal tax credits, absent some adjustment from the state. As a workaround, insurance companies could begin offering separate policies that cover abortion that individuals could purchase without using tax credits. The age-based tax credits of the American Health Care Act are based on the fact that, in most states, older people pay higher insurance premiums than the young. Under the Affordable Care Act insurers are barred from charging their oldest customers more than three times what their youngest customers pay in premiums. The Republican replacement bill raises that ratio to ďŹ ve-to-one. Since older people will pay higher premiums, the thinking goes, they should get a more substantial tax credit. But New York is one of two states that mandates that insurers not charge different premiums based on age. Com-

For people who are very low-income and young, [it’s] going to be a lot less than the tax credits they have been getting. For people who are a little higher-income and a little older, they might actually come out ahead.� Bill Hammond, Empire Center panies are required to charge the same premium for the same coverage for all customers, regardless of age. “Those tax credits don’t make any sense in New York,� Hammond said. “If everybody’s paying the same premium, why would you offer a higher tax credit for the old customer than the young customer?� State policy runs afoul of the logic underlying the new bill, and would likely require adjustment if the Republican plan becomes law.


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MARCH 16-22,2017

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Thu 16 ► PREGNANT NEW YORKER Yummy Mummy Store, 1201 Lexington Ave. 6:30-9 p.m.$20 advance/$25 door. Get all your questions answered about breastfeeding, discover why French women do pelvic floor rehab, get tips on cleaning your home without harsh chemicals, and much more. 212-879-8669. thepregnantnewyorker.com

MUSIC BEFORE 1800 The Kosciuszko Foundation, 15 East 65th St. 7:30-9:30 p.m. $30 “Crème de la crème” earlymusic performers present Jean-Philippe Rameau’s “Pièces de clavecin en Concerts,” w/ obbligato keyboard, violin, viola da gamba. 212-734-2130. thekf.org

Fri 17 NORTHERN LIGHTS The Church of The Holy Trinity, 316 East 88th St.

8-10 p.m. $25/$30 door A cappella program from New Amsterdam Singers features lesser-known masterpieces from Norway, Iceland, Hungary and the Czech Republic,. 212-289-4100. nasingers.org

▼ ST. PADDY’S DAY Dorrian’s Red Hand, 1616 Second Ave. 10 p.m.-4 a.m. No cover. Dorrian’s is holding their legendary St. Patricks Day celebration, with special menu including corned beef and cabbage, reubens and more; drink specials. 212-772-6660. dorriansnyc.com

Sat

18 JEWELRY DESIGN Asia Society, 725 Park Ave. 12-3:30 p.m. Jewelry designer Melissa Lew showcases her latest pendant and notecard collections and discusses the importance of Chinese symbolism in her designs.

212-288-6400. asiasociety.org

RACHMANINOFF CONCERT 67th Street Library, 328 East 67th St. 2-5 p.m. $15 The Pushkin Society in America presents the works of Rachmaninoff. The cover charge includes open bar, appetizers and chocolate tasting. 917-515-8656. americanpushkinsociety.com

Sun 19 MUSIC ON MADISON Saint Andrew Music Society, 921 Madison Ave. 3-4:30 p.m. “Ensemble 1816” a new chamber group specializing on vocal and instrumental works of the late Classical and early Romantic periods. 212-288-8920. mapc.com


MARCH 16-22,2017

Everything you like about Our Town is now available to be delivered to your mailbox every week in the Eastsider From the very local news of your neighborhood to information about upcoming events and activities, the new home delivered edition of the Eastsiderwill keep you in-the-know.

▲ KIDS FESTIVAL Florence Gould Hall at FIAF, 55 East 59th St. 2 p.m. $25 adults/$20 kids. TILT Kids Festival presents “La Cordonnerie: Snow White or the Fall of the Berlin Wall.” In French with English supertitles. Target audience ages 8 up. 212-355-6100. fiaf.org

Mon 20 ► ANCIENT GREECE Onassis Cultural Center, 645 Fifth Ave. 1 p.m. Free (guided tour) “World of Emotions: Ancient Greece, 700 BC–200 AD” exhibition, brings to life emotions of ancient Greeks, and an inquiry of contemporary feelings. 212-486-4448. onassis.org

MUCKRACKING CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave. 4 p.m. Free After the popularity of muckraking lost steam, who could have predicted a British aristocrat, Jessica Mitford, would revive the quintessentially American form? 212-817-7000. gc.cuny.edu

Tue

21 ► THE ARGONAUTS Hunter College, 695 Park Ave. 7:30 p.m. Free. RSVP. Maggie Nelson reads from her ”The Argonauts,” “a genre-bending memoir that offers fierce, fresh reflections on motherhood, desire, identity and feminism.”

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212-77212-7724007. 07. hunter. cuny.edu y.edu

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WELLNESS ELLNESS SUMMIT MMIT The he Rockefeller University, versity, 1230 York Ave.. 6-9 -9 p.m. Free. RSVP. Massive assive wellness event with “amazing” speakers, fun (and azing” speakers swag) and a chance to learn everything about staying well. Registration closes at 800 people. 212-327-8000. rockefeller. edu

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Cooper Hewitt, 2 East 91st St. 6:30-8 p.m. $15 Ramifications of “megastructure”: examining scale, site, buildability and purpose in residential and commercial development in contemporary architecture. 212-849-8400. cooperhewitt.org

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WHOLE WORLDS IN EVERYDAY OBJECTS MUSEUMS Masterworks of Native American art at The Met Fifth Avenue BY MARY GREGORY

Mask, unrecorded Tlingit artist, ca. 1850, Alaska. Photo: Adel Gorgy

IF YOU GO

Moccasins, unrecorded Muscogee (Creek) artist, ca. 1830, Georgia or Alabama. Photo: Adel Gorgy

WHAT: “Native American Masterpieces from the Charles and Valerie Diker Collection” WHERE: The Met Fifth Avenue, Gallery 359, The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing WHEN: Through March 31 www.metmuseum.org/

A small but extraordinary collection of Native American masterpieces is in its final days at the Met Fifth Avenue. Consider a visit to this show as a concise course in Native American art history. From the second century to the 20th, from the Plains to the Southwest to the Northwest Coast, “Native American Masterpieces from the Charles and Valerie Diker Collection” highlights some of the best works ever made in each age and place. It’s like a greatest hits compilation, and not a single piece disappoints. The exhibition caps a national tour of “Indigenous Beauty,” a show that included a wider selection from the Diker collection, organized by the American Federation of Arts. New Yorkers Charles and Valerie Diker over the course of more than 40 years developed a collection of Native American art widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive and remarkable in existence. Their focus is on aesthetic appeal, and each of the 49 pieces in the show is exquisite and worthy to stand alongside any other at The Met. An Okvik female figure roughly the size of an open flip-phone, carved from a walrus tusk near the Bering Strait in about the second century, expresses the human form in a stylized way, as did works from many ancient cultures. A large water jar created by an ancient Puebloan potter from the area around New Mexico,

is stunning in its simplicity and complexity. With clay, water, heat and vision, the artist created a vessel with a swelling, fluid shape that narrows to an elegant, petite neck. It’s painted all over with curves, angles, lines and hints of human hands (perhaps a reference to the hands that built it), in stark black and white. To modern eyes, it’s incredibly strong and appealing. Among the works on display are weapons for hunting and objects of war, such as decorated clubs and daggers, but more of them recorded history, adorned the self while proclaiming status, enabled nourishment, healing and the care of children, and, above all, beautified a world suffused with spiritual mystery. Louisa Keyser, also known as Dat So La Lee (ca. 18291925), of the Washoe people in northwestern Nevada, was the Picasso of Native American basketry. Her weaving, utilizing traditional materials and imagery, was exceptionally fine, and she achieved fame in her lifetime. There’s a lovely case featuring her basket bowl, decorated with bear claw designs, and behind it a large photograph of her with the object. Her baskets were so meticulously woven that they were capable of holding water. Another delightful combination is a pair of beaded moccasins next to two pouches. Through their designs, they tell stories of world views and values. Through their materials, they tell a story of societal upheaval. A shoulder bag, made by an Ojibwa woman in about 1780 utilizes died porcupine quills pressed flat by the fingernail to weave its geometric patterns, as does a

beautiful fire bag, also Ojibwa from about 40 years later. A Muscogee artist from Georgia or Alabama, just 10 years after that, was using glass beads, imported from Europe and traded with settlers, to decorate a pair of hide moccasins. Some of the most stunning works are from the Northwest Coast areas of the U.S. and Canada, where ceremonial objects were understood to express great mysteries and hold great power. A Tlingit mask beautifully illustrates the ambiguous or non-existent boundary between mankind and the natural world. A human face, painted blue, sports a nose that doubles as a beak, when seen from the side. A rattle, also Tlingit, made from abalone, would be used in a healing dance, helping and hoping to realign the individual spirit with a greater spirit. Embracing and revering forms of nature in their coastal villages, Pacific Northwest societies embellished everything from spoons to harpoons and hats with depictions of the creatures around them. A profound expression of animistic belief is the showstopper of the exhibition. In this dance mask, human fingertips circumscribe a tableau of natural forms. A Yup’ik artist from Alaska, about 100 years ago, carved his whole world in a few square inches. Earth, air and water are captured by a hand that holds a face composed of a portrait of a seal, the body of a fish, and a portion of a bird, all enclosed within a circle of bent willow branch. Food, life, the world around and a sense of awe all come through in this work that evokes an undeniable sense of magic.


MARCH 16-22,2017

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10 BOOKS FOR WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH READING Great writing by female authors from and about New York City BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

There’s never a bad time to appreciate the words of women writers, but women’s history month is an especially good time to do so. We’ve picked 10 books featuring or about New York City by New York City women, spanning a plethora of genres. Julie Scelfo, author of “The Women Who Made New York,â€? stressed the importance of a diversity of voices in understanding the history of any city or time period. “The more perspective you have, the richer dialogue you will have, and the closer you get as a community in reaching the truth,â€? she said. “For too long, the dominant perspective is one that has omitted women, and especially women of color.â€? Curl up with one of these and a good cup of tea, because apparently winter is back. Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking In 2003, DIdion’s husband suffered a fatal heart attack in the couple’s Upper East Side apartment just days after their daughter went into a coma. “The Year of Magical Thinkingâ€? chronicles Didion’s struggle to tread water during a period of intense grief. Jacqueline Woodson, Another Brooklyn Woodson’s ďŹ rst novel for adults is a short but powerful story about female friendship, memory and growing up. Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities Though it was published in 1961, Jacobs’ groundbreaking critique of traditional urban planning still holds many ideas and observations that ring true today. She was born in Pennsylvania but spent much of her life living in and protecting Greenwich Village. Faith Ringgold, Tar Beach “Tar Beachâ€? is based on a quilt series by artist, political activist and writer Ringgold that is currently featured in the Guggenheim Museum. The book’s main character lives in Harlem, and its story simply but lyrically weaves in African-American folk lore aimed at younger readers. Julie Scelfo, The Women Who Made New York Beautifully illustrated by Hallie Heald, Scelfo proďŹ les some of the female artists, intellectuals and activists without whom our present city would be unrecognizable. It is published by Seal Press, which only prints female authors. Grace Paley, The Collected Stories Paley, a writer, poet and political activist, was New York’s ďŹ rst state writer. “Collected Storiesâ€? features short ďŹ ction with rich characters and sharp observations about gender roles. Tanwi Nandini Islam, Bright Lines Featured by First Lady Chirlane McCray’s Gracie Mansion book club, Islam’s debut novel is a queer coming-of-age story set in Brooklyn. Toni Morrison, Jazz “Jazzâ€? takes place mostly in Harlem in the 1920s, but explores earlier times and other places. Musical and lively, just like its namesake, the novel tells a crucial story about black life. Rebecca Solnit, Nonstop Metropolis This compilation of maps tells the tale of how New York City came to look the way it does. Combined with informative essays, the book peels back the layers for a deep study of history. Ina Yalof, Food and the City An investigative journalist, Yalof turns her magnifying glass to the city’s vibrant food scene. She digs up the backstories of everyone from professional chefs to line cooks, and in doing so tells a quintessentially New York story.

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE ON THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR PROPOSED EMERGENCY VENTILATION PLANT The Metropolitan Transportation Authority/New York City Transit (MTA NYCT) has completed a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), pursuant to New York State under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) Article 8 of the New York State Environmental Conservation Law (ECL), and will be holding a public hearing on the proposed Emergency Ventilation Plant (EVP) for the Lexington Avenue Subway Line between 33rd Street/Park Avenue South and Grand Central Terminal/42nd Street Station. DESCRIPTION OF ALTERNATIVES The action considers 13 alternative sites which were initially identified in the Draft Scoping Document. The alternatives considered include EVPs proposed to be located between East 36th to East 39th Streets on the side streets east and west of Park Avenue, and northbound on Park Avenue. From these 13 alternatives, two Candidate Alternatives, 11 and 12, were identified for further evaluation. After the Final Scoping Document and Alternatives Analysis/Feasibility Evaluation were issued, MTA NYCT identified two options related to Alternatives 11 and 12 that it judged offered the potential to reduce the EVP facility presence on Park Avenue by placing elements of the EVP on side streets. These are referred to as Alternatives 11A and 12A. J 9A2?;.A6C2 6@ 9<0.A21 .9<;4 $.?8 C2;B2 ;<?A5/<B;1 /2AD22; .@A A5 .;1 .@A A5 'A?22A@ .;1 J 9A2?;.A6C2 =?2@2;A@ .; H K @5.=21 0<;364B?.A6<; D6A5 <;2 H924K /2AD22; .@A A5 .;1 .@A A5 'A?22A <; ;<?A5/<B;1 $.?8 C2;B2 .;1 A52 <A52? H924K <; .@A A5 'A?22A 2.@A 3?<: $.?8 C2;B2 J 9A2?;.A6C2 6@ 9<0.A21 .9<;4 $.?8 C2;B2 ;<?A5/<B;1 /2AD22; .@A A5 .;1 .@A A5 'A?22A@ .;1 J 9A2?;.A6C2 =?2@2;A@ .; H K @5.=21 0<;364B?.A6<; D6A5 <;2 H924K <; $.?8 C2;B2 ;<?A5/<B;1 /2AD22; .@A A5 .;1 .@A A5 'A?22A .;1 A52 <A52? H924K <; .@A A5 'A?22A .@A 3?<: $.?8 C2;B2 New York City Transit (NYCT) analysis indicates that Alternatives 11A and 12A engender more significant adverse engineering and environmental effects/impacts than Alternatives 11 & 12. After a comparison between Alternatives 11 and 12, Alternative 12 indicates a greater potential to minimize adverse impacts than Alternative 11. This difference results from the presence of an Oil-o-Static line and associated manhole utility located northbound on Park Avenue. Specifically, Alternative 11 would require relocation of the Oilo-Static line and associated manhole utility whereas, Alternative 12 would minimize potential effects to this utility. Thus, NYCT tentatively considers Alternative 12 to be the preferred EVP alternative, pending MTA NYCT review and analysis of the public and agency comments on the DEIS. DATE, TIME AND PLACE OF THE HEARING Wednesday, April 5, 2017 Hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. Registration is from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Metropolitan Transportation Authority 2 Broadway, 20th Floor – William J. Ronan Board Room, New York, NY 10004 DIRECTIONS By Subway: 4 5 A< <D96;4 ?22; R W A< +56A25.99 'A 1 A< '<BA5 2??F <? J to Broad Street By Bus: ! 9<0.9 ! ' ' !

! , , <? , By Ferry: Staten Island Ferry to Whitehall Terminal Use TripPlanner+ at www.mta.info for specific directions, including express bus routes. FOR MORE INFORMATION, TO PRE-REGISTER TO SPEAK, OR TO SUBMIT COMMENTS (5<@2 D6@56;4 A< /2 52.?1 :B@A ?246@A2? 6; .1C.;02 26A52? /F A292=5<;2 /F 0.996;4 <? A52 MTA website, or in person at the hearing. Verbal presentations will be limited to three (3) minutes. You may present verbal testimony or submit written statements in lieu of, or to supplement oral testimony concerning the proposed project. Email comments will be accepted online. Comments may also be submitted via postal mail to: MTA Government & Community Relations, Attn: DEIS Proposed Emergency Ventilation Plant Public Hearing, 2 Broadway, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10004. All written comments must be submitted between March 15, 2017 and April 28, 2017 by 5 p.m. Comments received after these dates and time will not be considered. REPOSITORY LOCATIONS FOR THE DEIS The Draft Environmental Impact Statement is available on the MTA website at: http://web.mta.info/ mta/planning/EmergVent-Lex/ and the hard copies of the DEIS document are available for public viewing at the following locations: Epiphany Library 228 E 23rd St New York, NY 10010 Grand Central Branch Library 135 E 46th St "2D -<?8 "-

Manhattan Community Board 6 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 308 "2D -<?8 "-

Mid-Manhattan Library 455 5th Ave New York, NY 10016 Kip’s Bay Library 446 3rd Ave New York, NY 10016 Manhattan Community Board 5 450 Seventh Avenue, Suite 2109, New York, NY 10123

ACCESSIBILITY AND INTERPRETER SERVICES This hearing has been scheduled at a location that is accessible to people with mobility impairments. Sign language and/or foreign language interpreters will be available upon advance request by calling ;< 9.A2? A5.; !.?05

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mta.info


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MARCH 16-22,2017

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NASTY WOMEN AT THE MET ART In the Greek wing of the Met. Photo: Madeleine Thompson

A tour that focuses on the powerful female subjects and artists in the museum BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Lear took his group to a painting by Jacques-Louis David of groundbreaking chemist Anoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his wife, credited with helping with his research. Photo: Madeleine Thompson

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS MAR 1 - 8, 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. Subway

1427 York Ave

A

Lexington Bar And Books 1020 Lexington Avenue

A

Hotel Carlyle

35 East 76 Street

A

Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins

1225 1 Avenue

A

Eli’s Essentials

1291 Lexington Ave

A

Tenzan 89

1714 2Nd Ave

Closed By Health Depertment (18) Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

There’s a saying in the art world: if you’re a woman who wants to make it into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, take off your clothes. Only five percent of the artists in the museum are women — though art featuring women in various states of undress is plentiful — but Andrew Lear, a professor of classics at NYU, is out to disprove that complaint. Lear’s company leads LGBT- and sexfocused explorations of the Met, and he launched a new one last week to celebrate the “nasty women” subjects and artists that do exist in the museum. “I kept thinking there wasn’t really enough material,” said Lear, who had mulled over creating a tour of powerful women at the Met for some time. “Then, obviously, I got a little annoyed by political events these days, so I thought ‘I’m going to look again.’ And, in fact, I don’t know what was stopping me before. There’s tons.” On Saturday, roughly 10 attendees trailed Lear for slightly more than two hours on his second run of the new tour. It started in the Egyptian wing of the Met, where a whole room is dedicated to statues of Hetshepsut, the first female pharaoh. She reigned for 20 years in the mid-1400s B.C., according to Lear, and was the first pharaoh to build a temple in the Valley of Kings. Back across the lobby of the museum, Lear discussed the Greeks’ more problematic representations of women. “You have to wonder if they noticed how much they were restricting women while worshipping female goddesses,” he said. Some Greek women had important roles as priestesses, but many are shown on vases performing household tasks like

Lear with Cassatt painting. Photo: Madeleine Thompson weaving wool. Roman women, however, had considerably more power. Julia Mamaea, for example, served as regent for her son Alexander Severus in the third century, and then continued to go on military campaigns with him when he became emperor. As the tour progressed, some more recognizable names appeared. Lear stopped in front of Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting of a cow skull, Leonora Carrington’s “Self Portrait” and Alice Neel’s “Portrait of Dick Bagley.” He also told the story of how Gertrude Stein donated the painting Pablo Picasso made of her to the Met in the — successful — hope of achieving immortality. “Gertrude Stein” uses dark colors and simple lines to represent the writer in a brown robe, staring thoughtfully out of the side of the frame. Kayla Gomez, 27, and her roommate thought now was the perfect time to be celebrating powerful women in art. “It’s something you don’t really learn about, especially in school,” Gomez said. “I went to art school and a lot of it’s focused on male artists.” She said it was “exciting” to see women recognized both for and in art. A lot of the women featured on the tour, Lear said in a separate interview, were early feminists, but he didn’t limit himself to artists and subjects. Louisine Havemeyer, whose

husband was an industrialist in the late 1800s, became very involved in the suffragist movement after his death and donated a large part of the couple’s art collection to the Met. Louisine was one of the first to notice painter Mary Cassatt, and helped found the National Women’s Party in 1916. “I always think we spent too much time complaining and not enough time celebrating,” Lear said, calling the modern perspective on the past “flattened.” “We tend to think all cultures in the past are bad because they didn’t have our standards, and women were completely powerless. So I think that we miss, when looking at the past, all the ways in which women exercised power.” The tour ended in front of a painting by John Singer Sargent of Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes, which was originally supposed to depict Edith Minturn Stokes and her dog. The Great Dane, Lear said, was sick that day, so Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes asked if he could be in the painting instead. Edith, posing jauntily in the middle of the frame with a hat propped against her hip, looks happy and carefree. Isaac, with half his face covered in shadow, nearly blends into the background in his beige suit. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@ strausnews.com


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The hungry congregated at the colorful Stuf’d truck, waiting for orders of the rig’s renown French toasts at the NYC Food Truck Fest at Grand Bazaar NYC on the Upper West Side on Sunday, March 12. Photo: Emily Ziemski

ALIMENTATION STATION FOOD City’s best truck grub makes a stop to benefit local public schools BY EMILY ZIEMSKI

To a New Yorker, a long line is the sign of something worth waiting for. This proved true Sunday afternoon, when below-freezing temperatures and long waits couldn’t deter the masses waiting to get a taste of some of the best food trucks in New York. The NYC Food Truck Fest, hosted by Grand Bazaar NYC and The New York Food Truck Association, showcased a dozen colorful trucks on the school playground at West 77th Street and Columbus Avenue. The playground is usually devoted on Sundays to the white tents, haphazard collections of antiques, ornamental rugs and vibrant costume jewelry of Grand Bazaar NYC, an Upper West Side staple that moved all of its artisan flea market finds inside the school building, so the moveable feast could take over the playground. Some passer-by ambled in on a whim. Other people came with a plan. Steve Ko a selfproclaimed foodie who works in marketing, arrived when the gates opened, at 10 a.m., and made a beeline for his favorite. “Obviously there was no line in the morning for Luke’s Lobster, so I just jumped over there because they were the

first ones open,” said Ko, who was bouncing anxiously on his toes while waiting for his order from the Gorilla Cheese NYC truck: a sandwich with gooey mozzarella and fresh tomato. “This is my fourth truck I think, and I’m excited for warm cheese.” Many at the fest spent more time waiting for food — up to an hour in line — that actually eating. A few tables were scattered across the playground, but the hungry simply plopped down on the playground, treats in hand. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of a basketball court, Jennifer Jacobs and Hailey Meyers said they had waited 25 minutes to be able to dig into fries doused with Sriracha, along with fragrant, sweet honey chili pork from Sweet Chilli. They allowed that was a reasonable wait. “It’s nice to sit, because we waited close to an hour for some French toast,” said Jacobs, pausing from licking her fingers. That was for a taste of Stuf’d, a truck that served only French toast. “Oh, that was a S’mores,” Meyers said, pointing to an empty carton that had a thick, caramel-colored, maple dulce de leche glaze oozing over the sides. “It was definitely worth the wait.” The biggest line of the day was hands-down for Luke’s Lobster, with, at one time, an hour-plus wait for lobster rolls and other seafood delights. “We’ve only been waiting 20 minutes,” said Andrew Bik-

man. “But I really only came here for Luke’s.” Amid the blustery weather, many people decided the hotter the food, the better. “Yeah, I don’t think I could eat anything that’s not hot right now,” said Michaela Bentivolio, a friend of Bikman’s. They had plans to stop at the two trucks sandwiching Luke’s — The Mac Truck, for some classic macand-cheese, and Empanada Sonata, for some spicy empanadas al pastor. Nestled in a corner of the playground, cooks within the Yankee Doodle Dandy truck, an eye-catching blue rig speckled with red and white stars, fried up crisp chicken tenders boasted about on the top of the truck’s awning. Other highlights included perfectly greasy cheesesteaks from Carl’s Steaks, Souvlaki GR’s Greek fries — doused heavily in feta cheese — and Big D’s Grub Truck’s kimchiladen bulgogi — a spicy Korean dish with thinly sliced beef. Big D’s can normally be found serving the Hell’s Kitchen community on Wednesday afternoons. While entry to the event was free, all profits were donated to local public schools, including P.S. 87, P.S. 334, P.S. 452 and The Computer School, some of which are at or in the vicinity of 77th and Columbus. Grand Bazaar NYC, which has been hosted inside the building since 1982, was set up originally as a weekly yard sale to raise funds for Upper West Side schools.

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood

MONDAY, MARCH 20TH, 6:30PM Mid-Manhattan Library | 455 Fifth Ave. | 212-340-0863 | nypl.org Hear from journalist Peter Moskowitz as he discusses the forces behind gentrification in New Orleans, Detroit, San Francisco, and New York. (Free)

Iconic Branding: Insights from Design Maven Kashiwa Sato

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22ND, 6:30PM Japan Society | 333 E. 47th St. | 212-832-1155 | japansociety.org Settle in for a discussion of design with Japanese creative director and Uniqlo logo designer Kashiwa Sato. ($13)

Just Announced | Let’s Walk: Simon Critchley and Angelos Chaniotis

THURSDAY, MARCH 23RD, 6PM Onassis Cultural Center | 645 Fifth Ave | 212-486-4448 | onassisusa.org The latest series of “Let’s Walk” conversations has been announced; philosopher Simon Critchley kicks things off with classics professor Angelos Chaniotis, curator of the new Onassis exhibition A World of Emotions: Ancient Greece, 700 BC – 200 AD. (Free)

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

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


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PREPARING FOR AUTOMATION IN NYC TOMORROWLAND Experts say education and adaptability are key in training tomorrow’s workforce BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

The ongoing battle between the New York City’s taxi industry and ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft is often cast as emblematic of the modern business climate, in which entrenched interests are besieged by disruptive new technologies. But that soon may seem thoroughly old fashioned, if, as many experts predict, driverless vehicles push both cab and Uber drivers off the roads and out of their jobs. Automation often conjures images of robots, whether on an assembly line building cars or on the streets driving them, but the concept encompasses a much broader range of technologies, from software that could perform the work of paralegals, accountants, and Wall Street traders, to Amazon’s prototype retail store, opened recently in Seattle and operating entirely without cashiers. The impact of burgeoning automated technologies on the city’s economy was the topic of discussion at a symposium held last week by the Center for an Urban Future that featured experts on technology, education, economics and business. The disappearance of blue-collar manufacturing jobs is commonly associated with automation, but panelists said that in the years to come the impact will be felt increasingly by the middle class. “The employment effects of automation are going to be felt far beyond the Rust Belt and in a much broader swath of industries, including several that are mainstays of New York City’s economy,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future. “As we think about automation, I

would encourage us not to wait for this “Jetsons”-like future when all the jobs are gone,” Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes said. A robot or computer program might not take your job, but one may take over certain responsibilities — a recent McKinsey & Company report found that half of all activities that workers are paid to do could be automated by adapting existing technologies. In a labor economy in which future growth sectors are so difficult to predict, New York City is banking on the need for an adaptable workforce that can learn to work in fields that may not even exist yet. “What these evolutions require are folks who have the skills to learn, to pick up new skills,” said Lauren Andersen, executive director of the city’s Tech Talent Pipeline program. An initiative announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2015 calls for every student in the city’s public school system to receive computer science education in elementary school, middle school and high school by 2025. “The

MARCH 16-22,2017

Business

A self-driving Audi A7 on display outside the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in September attracted passers-by, who gazed at the tangle of electrical wires in its trunk. Photo: Micah Danney goal is not to produce a lot of software engineers,” Andersen said. “The goal is to give students from every socioeconomic background the opportunity to get foundational problem solving skills, foundational communication skills, foundational analytical and computational skills” that will allow them to adapt in the face of uncertainty.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s computer science education initiative aims to prepare students to work in an increasingly automated economy. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

Nell Abernathy, vice president of research and policy at the Roosevelt Institute, applauded the city’s emphasis on pre-kindergarten programs. “I would say early childhood education is probably the most important step we could take,” she said. “It’s like the high school movement of our day. If you want flexibility and adaptability and critical thinking, you’d better start young.” Pathways in Technology Early College High School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, is at the forefront of efforts to overhaul the education system to meet the challenges of the changing economy, according to Stanley S. Litow, an executive at IBM, which worked with the city to create the school. Student at P-TECH study a hybrid curriculum of high school and college material and receive an associate degree upon completion of the sixyear program, a model that has been adopted by dozens of other schools across the country. The school places an emphasis on the skills required for careers in information technology, and all students receive mentorship and work in paid professional internships. “Think of it as a 21st century version of an apprenticeship model,” Litow said.

According to Hughes, automation’s impact on the economy will necessitate not only a recalibration of education systems, but also a rethinking of a social safety net that was designed to suit an economy that no longer exists. Hughes co-chairs the nonprofit Economic Security Project, which advocates for universal basic income — a program that would hand out cash to every citizen. Proponents say that basic income would mitigate the impact of jobs lost to automation and help promote innovation. “From our perspective, we believe that the best thing that we’ve got going for America, and generally people in the world, is human creativity and entrepreneurship, and the best way to unlock that or unleash that is to lower the levels of stress around health and how your kids are going to afford a backpack or school fees, and enable people to invest in themselves and their own futures,” Hughes said. He added, “A lot of times we think of basic income as a response to automation, but in my view we need it to fundamentally rebalance the economy and to give everybody a fair shot today.” Michael Garofalo can be reached at reporter@strausnews.com


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ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER’S UPPER WEST SIDE LITERARY HISTORY The novelist, a longtime resident of The Belnord, frequented the neighborhood’s cafeterias and coffee shops, fed pigeons and had flirtations BY RAANAN GEBERER

When Americans think of authors who wrote in Yiddish, the traditional language of Eastern European Jews, the late Isaac Bashevis Singer is among the first to come to mind. Singer, who came to America from Warsaw in the mid-1930s, was incredibly prolific, writing about 20 novels and 12 story collections and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978. His best-known works deal with his childhood and early adulthood in Poland, or with the history of pre-World War II Polish Jewry. In particular, he was celebrated for his stories about the imps and demons that were part of the folk beliefs of small-town Eastern European Jews when he was growing up. But starting around 1970, more and more of his published works dealt with his experiences in America. And for Singer, America largely meant the Upper West Side. During his first few years in the new country, Singer lived in picturesque Sea Gate near Coney Island, another area that for which maintained an attachment for his entire life. After his marriage to Alma Wassermann in 1940, he lived on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn for about a year. The couple then moved to Central Park West, just north of 100th Street. In 1962, shortly after Singer was mugged at gunpoint in his lobby, they moved to West 72nd Street. Three years later, they moved to The Belnord, the massive apartment building on Broadway and West 86th Street. According to some accounts, one of the reasons he liked The Belnord was that it has an inner courtyard, just like apartment buildings in his familiar Warsaw. At least until he received the Nobel, his name was still listed in the phone book. Singer had several regular haunts on the West Side. One of them was Steinberg’s on Broadway near 82nd Street. One writer, who met Singer in the early ‘60s, remembered him going to Steinberg’s, pointing out the middle-aged Jewish intellectuals who hung out there and telling him who was having an affair with whose wife or husband. Another, according to The New York Times, was the Famous Dairy Restaurant, on 72nd Street. Steinberg’s and the Famous were both Jewish restaurants, known for their chopped liver, cheese blintzes, potato pancakes, herring and borscht. The Times article recalled that he always asked his favorite waiter the same question, “What’s for lunch?” and the waiter always had the same answer, “The soup is mushroom and barley and the liver is on whole-wheat bread.”

Singer, a vegetarian and an early animalrights advocate, would invariably order the meatless version of the chopped liver sandwich — “a concoction,” The Times reported, “of carrots, peas, string beans and onion,” and the soup. Singer also frequented a more conventional New York coffee shop, the American Restaurant on Broadway and 85th, where he and wife would have pea soup, a boiled potato and rice pudding. Aside from restaurants, Singer, would regularly feed pigeons in the median on Broadway. During his walks, he was very accessible — my wife, Rhea, met him in the American sometime in the ‘70s or early ‘80s, and he told her in a heavy Yiddish accent, “I wish I had time to talk to you. I love my readers!” Singer’s American characters are aging members of the Yiddish-speaking intelligentsia: writers, actors, professors, occasionally a businessman or a doctor. In most cases, they are survivors of Hitler’s camps (and sometimes Stalin’s as well), or else came to the U.S. shortly before the Holocaust, as did Singer. His best-known novel set on the Upper West Side is “Shadows on the Hudson,” serialized in the Yiddish Forward in the 1950s, then published in English in 1997. The novel begins with a dinner given by Boris Makaver, a wealthy real-estate investor and an observant Jew. It doesn’t take long for one of Singer’s main themes, infidelity, to rear its head (Singer himself was known for having many mistresses). The main character, Hertz Grein, a former math prodigy who is now a stockbroker, is involved with several women at the same time. Another of Singer’s favorite themes is the occult, and in this book it is represented by Dr. Henrietta Clark, a dentist who dabbles in the paranormal and holds séances at her home. Probably his best-known short story that takes place on the Upper West Side was “The Cafeteria,” which was published in “The New Yorker” in 1969 but takes place in the 1950s. The story revolves around Esther, a woman in her 30s who suffered through both German concentration camps and Russian prison camps and who now hangs out at a cafeteria on Broadway. One day, she tells the narrator that she has seen Hitler, surrounded by a group of Nazis in white robes, in the same cafeteria. A year or so later, on his way to the subway, he glimpses Esther, looking happier than he’s ever known her, in the company of a much-older acquaintance whom the narrator believes had died long ago. When narrator returns to the cafeteria, he is told that Esther committed suicide. Most of Singer’s West Side haunts are now gone. If you wish to honor him, take a walk down Broadway, feed the pigeons and eat some traditional Jewish food. Singer wouldn’t want you to eat pastrami, corned beef or other meat dishes — but fruit compote, cheese blintzes and mushroom-barley soup would do very nicely.

Isaac Bashevis Singer in 1988. The writer, a Nobel laureate, was a longtime Upper West Sider. Photo courtesy of MDC


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Nothing beats newspapers as the most reliable source of local news in print and online Recent studies show:

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Newspapers led online consumption for local news” Coda Ventures Survey August 18, 2016

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STRAUSMEDIA your neighborhood news source 212-868-0190 | nypress.com


MARCH 16-22,2017

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NYC Council Member Dan Garodnick narrated “Peter and the Wolf” at a benefit performance by Metropolitan Opera Orchestra musicians for the climate change advocacy group Our Children’s Trust at Rudolph Steiner School. Photo: Walter Karling

PLAYING FOR THE FUTURE BENEFIT Musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra help raise funds for a climate lawsuit BY KEVIN BREUNINGER

Musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra played a familiar tune for an unusual reason in an unfamiliar setting on the Upper East Side over the weekend. A crowd of about 100 gathered at the Rudolf Steiner School on East 79th Street to hear the pickup orchestra play Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” at a benefit concert for a nonprofit helping a group of youths suing the federal government over climate change. The small concert hall on the second floor of the school held seating for about 80, meaning some parents had to hold their children on their laps for the performance. The audience was enthusiastic about the rousing version of Prokofiev’s musical tale — no small feat, considering that the MET players had performed two operas the previous day, “La Traviata” and “Romeo et Juliette,” and didn’t reach final curtain until after 11:30 p.m.

“We have a very difficult schedule, and to come early on a Sunday to play, you have to be pretty motivated to do it,” violinist Elena Barere said. Some MET musicians, such as clarinet player Jessica Phillips, liked the idea of bringing their music out of Lincoln Center and into the neighborhood. “We’re looking to get out in the community and do broader outreach within New York City,” Phillips said. “We’re not political activists, but we also believe in children and their future.” “We’ve done ‘Peter and the Wolf’ performances quite a few times,” said Mary Hammann, a MET violist who came up with the idea for the concert. “But in terms of an overt political act, if you can call it that, it would be the first time that I know of.” In the wake of the presidential election, Hammann wanted to do something to combat climate change. “After November’s election, I thought, how can I use my skills, what I do for a living, what I love, to help?” Hammann said. “To me, global warming doesn’t seem like a political thing. It seems like, at the very least, quality of life.” Hammann reached out to the environmental advocacy group Our Children’s Trust and her neighbor Robyn Watts, a parent at Rudolf Steiner, to organize the concert.

Watts said that ticket sales, along with baked goods and plants sold by fifth-grade students outside the auditorium, raised $1,757 in donations for the lawsuit. In addition, Alex Loznak, 20, a Columbia University student and a plaintiff in the court case, said an anonymous audience member donated $5,500. Before the performance, Loznak updated the audience on the case. The federal lawsuit was originally filed during the Obama administration by 21 plaintiffs from ages 9 to 20 through Our Children’s Trust. The Oregon-based group claimed that the federal government’s role in causing climate change violates Americans’ constitutional rights to life, liberty and property, broadly covered under the Ninth Amendment. He said the suit asks the court to order the government to reduce carbon emissions by about 3 percent per year, or roughly 80 percent by 2050. “All of these constitutional rights apply to young people, they apply to children, they apply to future generations,” Loznak said. “I don’t want to be too dramatic, but it’s the survival of our country and the survival of the constitution itself.” Loznak, along with 10 of the other plaintiffs, is an Oregon native. He said

Alex Loznak, 20, a Columbia University student and plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against the federal government over climate change inaction, details the suit and its merits prior to the benefit concert. Photo: Kevin Breuninger he got involved with Our Children’s Trust when his community spoke out against a proposal for a pipeline set to go through his hometown. “The lawsuit challenges the aggregate actions of the federal government,” Loznak said, “but it also specifically challenges this pipeline.” A judge rejected an Obama administration motion to dismiss the case in November, clearing the way for trial. Last week, the Trump administration filed another motion to overturn the lawsuit.

A number of people from Our Children’s Trust said Trump’s anti-environmental rhetoric heightened their concerns. “I think one of the most concerning things about this rhetoric is the message it sends around the world – that we might potentially pull out of any agreement that we’ve reached on the international level,” said Coreal RidayWhite, 38, an attorney for the organization. “This kind of rhetoric around denialism, it is a concerning development.”


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Eastsider 1

MARCH 16-22,2017

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

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MARCH 16-22,2017

CLASSIFIEDS HELP WANTED

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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

PUBLIC NOTICES

Telephone: 212-868-0190 Fax: 212-868-0198 Email: classified2@strausnews.com

POLICY NOTICE: We make every eort to avoid mistakes in your classiďŹ ed ads. Check your ad the ďŹ rst week it runs. The publication will only accept responsibility for the ďŹ rst incorrect insertion. The publication assumes no ďŹ nancial responsibility for errors or omissions. We reserve the right to edit, reject, or re-classify any ad. Contact your sales rep directly for any copy changes. All classiďŹ ed ads are pre-paid.

NEED TO RUN A LEGAL NOTICE? Quick | Easy | Economical

Call Barry Lewis Today: 212-868-0190

Directory of Business & Services To advertise in this directory Call #BSSZ (212)-868-0190 ext.4 CBSSZ MFXJT@strausnews.com

Antique, Flea & Farmers Market SINCE 1979

East 67th Street Market (between First & York Avenues)

MASSAGE

Open EVERY Saturday 6am-5pm Rain or Shine Indoor & Outdoor FREE Admission Questions? Bob 718.897.5992 Proceeds BeneďŹ t PS 183

OFFICE SPACE

MERCHANDISE FOR SALE

Antiques Wanted TOP PRICES PAID t 1SFDJPVT $PTUVNF +FXFMSZ (PME t 4JMWFS 1BJOUJOHT t .PEFSO t &UD Entire Estates Purchased

212.751.0009 ways to re-use

your

old

newspaper #

AVAILABLE IN MANHATTAN

300 to 20,000 square feet

Elliot Forest, Licensed RE. Broker

212 -447-5400 abfebf@aol.com

REAL ESTATE - RENT

SOHO LT MFG State of New York Mortgage Agency

LOAN TODAY. HOME TOMORROW.

Mortgages with down payment assistance for ďŹ rst-time homebuyers

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Crumple newspaper to use as packaging material the next time you need to ship something fragile.

Call (800) 382-4663 or visit sonyma.org

462 Broadway MFG No Retail/Food +/- 9,000 SF Ground Floor - $90 psf +/- 16,000 SF Cellar - $75 psf Divisible Call David @ Meringoff Properties 212-645-7575


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MARCH 16-22,2017

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

COME HOME TO GLENWOOD MANHATTAN’S FINEST LUXURY RENTALS

3 3 3

3

3 3

3 3 3 UPPER EAST SIDE 1 BEDROOMS FROM $2,995 2 BEDROOMS FROM $4,395 3 BEDROOMS FROM $5,995

MIDTOWN & UPPER WEST SIDE 1 BEDROOMS FROM $3,295 2 BEDROOMS FROM $5,395 3 BEDROOMS FROM $6,495

TRIBECA & FINANCIAL DISTRICT 1 BEDROOMS FROM $3,795 2 BEDROOMS FROM $5,895 3 BEDROOMS FROM $8,195

UPTOWN LEASING OFFICE 212-535-0500 DOWNTOWN LEASING OFFICE 212-430-5900 ! " " All the units include features for persons with disabilities required by the FHA.

Equal Housing Opportunity

GLENWOOD BUILDER OWNER MANAGER

GLENWOODNYC.COM


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