Our Town - April 4, 2019

The local paper for the Upper East Side

WEEK OF APRIL T. REX TO THE MAX ◄ P.12

4-10 2019

Also inside:

Former New York City Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern. Photo: swedennewyork, via flickr

UES PROJECTS ON THE BALLOT ▲ P.5

ELEGY FOR AN EMERALD EMPEROR LIVES Remembering Henry J. Stern, who championed New York City’s green spaces in inimitable fashion

BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Henry J. Stern, the eccentric, ebullient, irreverent, irascible, irrepressible, unforgettable public servant who dedicated much of his four decades in city government to advancing New York’s parks system, died at his Upper East Side home March 28 at the age of 83.

Stern, a Manhattan native, served as commissioner of the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation from 1983 to 1990 under Mayor Ed Koch and again from 1994 to 2002 under Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

“I will be the Commissioner for good times for people, plants and animals,” Stern told the New York Times in 1983 as he began his first stint leading the agency. “I will be a man for all species.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

Rebecka Hawkins-Beatty (standing), executive director of the New York Professional Nurses Union and an Upper East Side resident, was cautiously optimistic about the redevelopment plans. Photo: Michelle Naim

KEY DETAILS UNCLEAR IN CONGESTION PLAN ▲ P.6

NEIGHBORS QUESTION SIZE AND IMPACT OF HOSPITAL EXPANSION COMMUNITY Representatives of Lenox Hill Hospital discussed their redevelopment plans at a meeting with Community Board 8 members and local residents

BY MICHELLE NAIM

The Upper East Siders who turned out last Thursday for Community Board 8’s zoning and development

OurTownEastSide

O OURTOWNNY.COM @OurTownNYC

Crime Watch Voices NYC Now City Arts

I don’t think I could support something unless it had an affordable housing component to it.”

Community Board 8 member Tricia Shimamura

committee meeting spent the first part of the evening listening to presentations from the Manhattan District Attorney’s construction task force and the Waterfront Alliance. But when it was time to ask questions about those briefings, it quickly became apparent what people were most interested in.

“What about Lenox Hill Hospital?” said one woman. “That’s why we’re here!”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

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Restaurant Ratings Business Real Estate 15 Minutes

14 16 17 21

A DOG AND A MAN WHO MAKE THE WORLD BETTER ▲ P.16 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset.

Friday, April 5 – 7:07 pm.

For more information visit www.chabaduppereastrside.com.

We deliver! Get Our Town Eastsider sent directly to your mailbox for $ $49 per year. Go to OurTownNY.com or call 212-868-0190

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APRIL 4-10,2019

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MENTAL HEALTH HOUSING AT RISK ACTIVISM Protestors demand increased funding, say governor’s budget falls short

BY BRIAN DEMO

Voices rang out through the bustling midtown traffic last Thursday as protestors chanted and carried signs in front of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Manhattan office at 633 Third Avenue, between 40th and 41st Streets.

The demonstration, a weekly event, was organized by Bring It Home, a coalition of community-based mental health housing providers, mental health advocates, faith leaders, and individuals and families dealing with mental health issues.

Protestors gather weekly in front of Governor Cuomo’s midtown Manhattan office to demand more funding for mental health housing. Photo: Brian Demo Cuomo’s proposed 2019-2020 budget includes $10 million in additional funding for community-based mental health housing. Bring It Home says that’s not enough, and that 40,000 mental health housing units are at risk because of poor funding. “We’re doing a service to the government,” said Carla Rabinowitz, advocacy coordina-

tor at Community Access, which provides supportive housing and social services. “We’re helping people. We’re providing housing. We’re providing support. We can’t go $10,000 in the hole per apartment. We just don’t have the money. We’re non-profits.”

Helen Lee, who carried a sign showing a pair of scissors cutting a $100

bill, said that she spent nine months in a homeless shelter until mental health housing services helped her get an apartment. She’s lived there for about 16 years, she said. “Now, they say it’s too expensive,” said Lee. “They have to move me someplace.”

Another protestor, Roseanne Leone, born and raised in Brooklyn, said that

she was homeless, then placed into a “shared” living situation with about eight other people, where, worried about theft, she kept her belongings close. She later got a studio apartment through mental health housing services and feels more at ease. “My kids tell me I look younger,” she said. “I feel younger. I’m gainfully alive.”

register: bit.do/nySBS

APRIL 4-10,2019

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG WAKING TERROR

STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th precinct for the week ending Mar 24

According to police, at 6:35 a.m. on Sunday, Mar. 24, an unknown man gained entry into the apartment of a 28-year-old woman at First Ave. and East 65th St. through an unsecured front door. The woman awoke to the man licking and kissing her face. She screamed, and he ed the apartment, heading west on East 65th St.

Week to Date

CABBIE ROBBED, SUSPECT ARRESTED In the early morning hours of Wednesday, Mar. 27, a 31-year-old female livery cab driver picked up a man in Far Rockaway, Queens and drove him to First Ave. and East 93rd St. When they arrived, police said, the passenger paid $100 for his fare, opened the driver-side rear door and, as he was about to exit, reached over and grabbed the driver’s iPhone X from between her legs. The cabbie tried to stop him, but after a brief struggle the man forcibly pulled away with the phone and took off, heading north toward First Ave and East 94th St. Police soon arrived and the victim identiďŹ ed the suspect. Traivon A Cherry, 23, was arrested and charged with robbery. The cabbie’s iPhone, valued at $1,200, was recovered.

Year to Date

2019 2018

% Change 2019

2018

% Change

Murder

0

0

n/a

0

0

n/a

Rape

1

0

n/a

7

4

75.0

Robbery

3

4

-25.0

31

30

3.3

Felony Assault

2

1

100.0

25

30

-16.7

Burglary

2

3

-33.3

50

49

2.0

Grand Larceny

28

26

7.7

346

334

3.6

Grand Larceny Auto

0

0

n/a

3

7

-57.1

Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr

ASSAULT AND ROBBERY On Friday night, Mar. 22, a 49-yearold man was walking west on East 89th St. when he was approached by two men who knocked him to the ground and punched him repeatedly with closed ďŹ sts, police said. They took his iPhone, Apple Watch and a pair of headphones and ed north on Park Ave. The victim refused medical attention at the scene. The items stolen included an iPhone 7 valued at $250, an Apple Watch 2 worth $400 and headphones selling for $100, for total of $750.

EXPENSIVE GUM & CHEAP BEER At 10:40 a.m. on Tuesday, Mar. 26, ďŹ ve men entered the 7-Eleven store at 1453 Third Ave., took merchandise and attempted to leave without paying. One of the suspects punched a 48-yearold male employee who tried to stop them, police said. The employee later refused medical attention. The items stolen included two boxes of Trident gum valued at $45 and one can of beer worth $4.

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ENOUGH ALREADY WITH THE BAG ON THE BACK OF THE CHAIR! A 36-year-old woman had lunch with a friend inside Le Pain Quotidien at 861 Lexington Ave. on Friday afternoon, Mar.22. When she got up to leave she realized that the bag she had hung on the back of her chair was missing. The stolen items included a Tiffany ring valued at $8,150 and a Louis Vuitton bag priced at $1,500.

SUSPECTS MAY BE WELL-DRESSED Two men treated themselves to a shopping spree at a senior’s expense. At 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 13, the men removed a wallet from the purse that a 68-year-old woman had left sitting on the back of her barstool in the Loews Regency CafÊ at 540 Park Ave. The suspects removed two credit cards and $125 cash before taking off in a white SUV parked on East 61st St, police reported. The victim was later informed that a $4,000 charge had been made to her Bank of America Visa card at Barney’s.

“No judgment to ďŹ t in or be the same‌.

As soon as I came to Oakwood I felt welcome.

The seniors talk to the freshmen, and this sense of community creates an environment in which we are encouraged to push ourselves and try new things. I learned right away that Oakwood would give me the help and attention with my classes that other schools could not. Oakwood has challenged me and expanded my view of what is possible and I am becoming a more confident learner each day! .�

Liza E., Hopewell Junction, NY

On a picturesque coed campus, infused with nature, Oakwood Friends School, guided by Quaker principles, prepares students for lives of achievement, accomplishment, compassion and conscience.

Upper School Day & Boarding Programs (5 and 7-day) Middle School Day Program Middle and Upper Schools Open House Student-led campus tours and meetings with faculty and Head of School Sat & Sun April 27 and 28 at Noon Sat & Sun May 4 and 5 at Noon For more info or to join us, write or call:

OurTownNY.com

admissions@oakwoodfriends.org • (845) 462-4200 22 Spackenkill Road, Poughkeepsie, NY

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APRIL 4-10,2019

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Useful Contacts

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POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct

153 E. 67th St.

212-452-0600

BY PETER PEREIRA

FIRE 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

CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Keith Powers

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

1485 York 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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Come and meet the Camp Directors Council Member Keith Powers (second from right) ďŹ elded participatory budgeting votes from residents at Asser Levy Recreation Center. Photo: Council Member Keith Powers, via Twitter

UES PROJECTS ON THE BALLOT FUNDING Participatory budgeting is underway, giving residents input on how to allocate $1 million in funding

or at polling places throughout the districts. For a full list of inperson voting locations, visit council.nyc.gov/keith-powers/ pb/8 or council.nyc.gov/benkallos/pb/8.

The following projects are on this year’s ballots:

BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Calling all East Siders: participatory budget voting is ofďŹ cially open.

The City Council program, now in its eighth year, allows residents to vote on how to allocate $1 million in discretionary funding in their council district.

Residents of the Upper East Side districts of Council Members Ben Kallos and Keith Powers have the opportunity this year to vote for technology improvements in public schools and new tree plantings, among other proposals.

This is the ďŹ rst year residents of Powers’ fourth council district will have the opportunity to vote in participatory budgeting. Last year’s winning projects in Kallos’ ďŹ fth district included a new kindergarten bathroom at P.S. 290 and tech upgrades for 10 local public schools.

Voting is underway now and open through April 7. Residents age 11 and older can vote online

District 4, Council Member Keith Powers • Tech upgrades at four local public libraries • Bathroom renovations at Wagner Middle School • Gym renovation and floor replacement at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School • A new display screen and sound system for the auditorium at P.S. 59 • New oor tile and other renovations for the library at P.S. 6 • Tech upgrades at P.S. 267, Repertory Company High School and the SPECTRUM School • New tree plantings and tree guards throughout District 4 • Floor repair at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza • New ďŹ tness equipment and ooring in the gym of the Asser Levy Recreation Center • Security cameras facing the Katharine Hepburn Garden entrance near 1st Avenue at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza • Pedestrian safety improvements along Third Avenue in

April 7, 2019, 12-3pm FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN Bishop Laughlin Memorial High School 357 Clermont Avenue

the East 60’s • Resurface one mile of District 4 roadway • Bus countdown clocks at stops throughout District 4

District 5, Council Member Ben Kallos • Security cameras at P.S. 527 • Auditorium renovation in the Julia Richman Education Complex • Laptops for 10 local public schools • New tree plantings and tree guards throughout District 5 • Restore the lighthouse of Roosevelt Island to allow for public access • $250,000 to fund capital improvements to parks throughout District 5 • Playground renovation at NYCHA Lexington Houses • Curb extensions to enhance pedestrian safety and visibility along the East 79th Street SBS corridor • Install additional NYPD camera boxes at high traffic intersections • Install NYPD security cameras at the entrances to seven parks across the district • Install NYPD security cameras at transit and traffic hubs in the district • Purchase an NYPD Mobile Command Post vehicle for the 23rd Precinct

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KEY DETAILS UNCLEAR IN CONGESTION PLAN TRAFFIC State approves new fees on vehicles entering Manhattan to fund MTA; toll prices and possible exemptions to be determined by Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority next year

BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Manhattan drivers will soon face a new toll as part of a congestion pricing plan included in the state budget deal reached early the morning of March 31.

But crucial pieces of the plan — including how much the toll will cost and who will be eligible for exemptions or relief — have yet to be determined.

Under the plan approved by Albany lawmakers, vehicles entering a congestion zone encompassing all of Manhattan south of 61st Street (with the exception of the West Side Highway and FDR Drive) will be subject to a new toll. The fee will be collected via an electronic system capable of

The state has adopted a congestion pricing plan to raise revenue for the MTA and increase vehicle travel times in Manhattan. Photo: Steven Strasser enforcing variable toll rates depending on the day and time.

Vehicles entering the congestion zone multiple times in a single day will only be charged once.

Supporters of congestion pricing have long touted the policy as a means of funding repairs to the subway system and easing traffic on Manhattan’s most crowded streets. Revenue

from the new congestion tolling program, which will go into effect no earlier than December 31, 2020, will be dedicated to capital improvements for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Along with additional MTA funding generated by new taxes on internet sales and residential property sales exceeding $1 million, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the transit

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authority will be able to leverage up to $25 billion in bonds as a result of new revenue streams included in the budget.

Exemptions from the toll Of the new MTA capital funds generated by the congestion fee, 80 percent is earmarked for the New York City Transit Authority, â&#x20AC;&#x153;with priority given to the subway system, new signaling, new subway cars, track and car repair, accessibility, buses and bus system improvements and further investments in expanding transit availability to areas in the outer boroughs that have limited mass transit options.â&#x20AC;? The Long Island Railroad and Metro-North commuter rail systems will each be allocated 10 percent of the remaining funds.

Emergency vehicles and some

vehicles transporting individuals with disabilities are speciďŹ cally exempted from the toll, and drivers who live within the congestion zone and have an annual income under $60,000 will be eligible to receive a credit reimbursing toll payments.

Responsibility for setting the toll price and granting any further exemptions is assigned to the MTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, which will also administer and maintain the tolling system. (A panel convened by the governor recommended last year a peakhour congestion fee of $11.52 for passenger vehicles.)

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toll amounts and possible credits, discounts and exemptions from a new six-member traffic mobility review board. Responsibility for appointing the traffic mobility review boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members is assigned to the MTA board (which is controlled by the governor). The mayor can recommend one member for appointment; additionally, one member must reside in the Metro-North region and one member must reside in the Long Island Railroad region.

The law requires this advisory board to submit pricing recommendations between Nov. 15, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2020.

The TBTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board will hold ultimate voting power on congestion toll prices and any possible relief.

Also unclear is which crossings will be eligible for toll offsets. An earlier congestion pricing proposal put forth by the governor would have eliminated â&#x20AC;&#x153;double-tollingâ&#x20AC;? on drivers entering the congestion zone after using the East River tunnels, the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels or the Henry Hudson Bridge at the northern tip of Manhattan.

The new plan does not specify any crossings where tolls would be offset from the price of the full congestion charge; it instead leaves the matter to be settled by the TBTA. Rockland and Orange County legislators had threatened to withdraw support from the plan if it did not include toll offsets for drivers using the George Washington and Tappan Zee Bridges.

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At the â&#x20AC;&#x153;What the History?! Deviant Female Diningâ&#x20AC;? talk. Photo courtesy of the New-York Historical Society

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;DEVIANT FEMALE DININGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; SOCIETY How Chinese restaurants historically provided New York women with spaces of freedom and self-expression

BY MIHIKA AGARWAL

Chinese restaurants, with their â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thank Youâ&#x20AC;? plastic bags and red and yellow storefronts, are so woven into the fabric of New York that we rarely stop and ponder the history of these spaces. How and when did they come about? Whom did they cater to? What did they mean for emerging conversations about gender, race and markets in the city?

On March 28, New-York Historical Society fellow Heather Lee offered a trip down memory lane in a talk about the social history of Chinese restaurants in New York and how they once provided a space of freedom and possibility for women.

This history dates back to the late 19th and early 20th century, a time when Chinese and white Americans kept separate, a time when the Chinese were powerless, not naturalized and could not vote. The trend became official in the spring of 1882 with the Chinese Exclusion Act, providing a 10year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So if you couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t directly affect politics, what alternatives do you have?â&#x20AC;? asked Lee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;How do you influence people indirectly? In order to make friends with policemen, judges and lawyers, in order to change the circumstances of their survival in New York City. This where Chinese restaurants came into the picture.â&#x20AC;?

The Chinese restaurants that sprang up on the Lower East Side in the 1890s initially

served as a site for political banquet dinners for men. The gorgeously illuminated lanterns and decor added to the sense of novelty, and soon the Chinese restaurant was exoticized as a must-have experience of cultural exchange. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Newspaper articles and photographers covered them,â&#x20AC;? said Lee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;These articles really drummed up interest in Chinese food. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how women ďŹ rst learned about them. [The articles] would talk about decor, the food, the customs. They would also be very didactic.

How to drink tea â&#x20AC;&#x201D; deďŹ nitely not with sugar, definitely not with milk. How to hold chopsticks. White people in the city at the time had never seen them.â&#x20AC;?

What started for women as a fantasy about silk fans and dainty teacups soon became a channel for rebellion and self-expression. Women were often barred from other restaurants, and Chinese restaurant owners capitalized on this opportunity and created ladiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; dining rooms. The atmosphere was free and easy. The staff were non-interfering â&#x20AC;&#x201D; their oblivion to American culture led to a â&#x20AC;&#x153;you-do-youâ&#x20AC;? attitude.

And so the women capitalized in return, using the freedom to experiment with accepted norms of social behavior. Could they kiss and snuggle with their suitors in public without raising eyebrows? They would soon ďŹ nd out.

Female luncheon parties were an opportunity for them to demonstrate to other women, not men, how worldly they were. Women would go in teams of two into a realm where they could rethink their sexuality. Some restaurants even had rules where men were not allowed to go up to women.

Women had to go up to men and invite them over. It provided

women with a break from male company, where they could evaluate their husbands and suitors.

The moderator of the talk, Dominique Jean Louis, a project historian at the New-York Historical Society asked, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why do you think this culture of working out these social relationships happened in Chinese restaurants and not French cafes or German schnitzel parlors or any other kind of immigrant establishment?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Other immigrant establishments would cater to their own immigrant populations,â&#x20AC;? said Lee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So Italians would be going to Italian restaurants in the same period in which Chinese are welcoming people who are not Chinese into the restaurant. And part of what that meant was, if an Italian woman was at an Italian restaurant, ďŹ rst of all why isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t she cooking at home? Secondly, she would be very carefully watched.

She would be responsible for how sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s representing Italian women so her morality would be much more carefully policed than would it be at a Chinese restaurant. Chinese men would be like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand American culture, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing, so go ahead and do your thing.â&#x20AC;?

There were multiple narratives in Leeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talk about the social history of Chinese restaurants: Chinese immigration patterns, racial discrimination in 19th-century New York, authenticity wars â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is chop suey a Chinese or an American invention? But what stood out to me was how these sites provided a leveling ground and a connection between 19th-century women and todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s millennial feminists. More than a century has passed and there is still no better outlet than a lo mein date with our girlfriends for us to eat and discuss our feelings.

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APRIL 4-10,2019

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

Voices

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

HENRY STERN AND THE FOUR-LEGGED LIBERAL EAST SIDE OBSERVER

BY ARLENE KAYATT

Remembering Henry — It’s hard to remember — or imagine — our town without Henry Stern. He was truly a New Yorker and a New York legend. Caring, compassionate, curmudgeonly. They didn’t/don’t come smarter or more savvy, no matter where you fit on the political spectrum. My memories of Henry go back to the early days of his career as a City Council member in the 1970s.

It was in those same years that Our Town began publishing. Henry was a Councilman-at-Large for Manhattan, elected on the Liberal (capital L) line. Henry regularly stopped by the Our Town office to exchange politi-

cal commentary, espouse causes, or just plain gossip with Ed (the publisher) and Kalev Pehme (the editor).

Kalev and Henry were generally allied, Ed not so much.

My favorite memory of Henry from those years was on a Sunday morning when the paper was being readied to go to press. No computers in those days, just paste boards, reporters dropping off copy and artwork, a few staffers, locals dropping off classified ads. Air filled with some smoking and lots of loud talk. And of course, the paper’s resident cats and dogs. Pre-Boomer for Henry in those years. Mid-morning, Henry walked down the ramp from East 82nd Street, through the door, and paced quietly through the office, looking at everyone but not responding to call-outs from staff or

anyone else. Just a quiet and intense walk-and-look through. After about 15 minutes, I asked who or what he was looking for. “Is there a Sadie Socol here?” he asked. He said wanted to meet her and introduce himself because she had recently registered as a Liberal. OOOkay. Now the word was out, the cover blown. The paper was doing a story about “howanyone-could-register-to-vote,” including one Sadie Socol, the paper’s beloved brindle-colored mixed breed dog, who had registered as a Liberal. There were a lot of red Our Town faces. Henry’s face darkened, realizing that there was one less Liberal voter residing in Manhattan. Through the years Henry was always a beacon and the embodiment of a New York public servant.

He will be missed.

Reader readback — Community Board 8’s communications committee co-chair David Rosenstein emailed about CB8’s website, which includes links to articles in other publications relevant to the board’s catchment area. He explains how the disappearance of local news coverage has hit the community boards particularly hard. Despite coverage by Our Town and other local media, he notes, residents still miss out on much information that’s relevant to the CB8 community. He also outlines the many issues and matters the CB8 website is bringing to the public under the leadership of CB8 chair Alida Camp. The list includes basically everything the board might have to deal with — development, zoning, transportation — with the exception of politics and crime. (Though the website does address pattern crimes or those that might inform the board’s work.)

Over the past few months the

board’s district manager Will Brightbill has been posting boardrelated headlines and internet links on the website. The communication committee does most of the daily news searches and Brightbill adds items he identifies.

The articles generally go up on the website Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to go to the general News Roundup page cb8m.com/ what’s-new/weekly-news-roundup/ where they can find CB8-centric articles. Included in the March 29th roundup were UES articles from the national/global section of the NY Times (How Do You Build a Giant Glass Box? Very Carefully), from the citywide real estate publication, The Real Deal (Naftali in Contract to Buy Large UES Development Site), and from hyperlocal Our Town (“Condo on Stilts” Paused). Always good to hear about good local news resources.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE BAKERIES GONE? PUBLIC EYE

BY JON FRIEDMAN

I used to love to go to Moishe’s, the bakery on Second Avenue and East 7th Street because I always felt welcome.

The aroma of freshly baked chocolate cakes and pastries greeted me the second I stepped through the door.

I used to love to go to Di Roberti’s bakery on First Avenue and East 11th Street. That array of dessert delicacies!

I used to love to go to Jon Vie, a bakery on Sixth Avenue and 12th Street in the heart of the West Village because the food was terrific and, yes, I felt cool just by loitering in that neighborhood.

Now, with the closing of Moishe’s a few weeks ago, they’re all gone, not to mention many of our other beloved eateries in the city. I know, I know.

The perils of living in a glamorous city have existed forever. You want to call home “the city that never sleeps,” you have to suck it up when the odd Mom and Pop shop goes under. But I don’t have to like it.

Black and white cookie from Moishe’s Bake Shop. Photo: stu_spivak, via flickr Of course, there are newer, trendier baked-goods places: Levain Bakery on the UWS with lines down the block for

its super-rich cookies, Breads Bakery and their babkas. To say nothing of downtown spots like Balthazar Bak-

ery and Dominique Ansel (of Cronut fame). So it’s not just about the sweets.

There is a far bigger story here than my having to schlep a few more blocks to buy a black and white cookie now.

Once again, we need to ponder what kind of city we want to live in and brag about to tourists and strangers.

Will New York go all the way and become a city that only the elite one percent can afford to live in? That wretched thought is utterly shameful. It means that we have turned our backs on the middle class and any class that doesn’t define itself by the size of someone’s investment account.

The image of New Yorkers that plays the best around the world is that of a gritty success story, who has worked his or her way up through the ranks to reach the top. George Steinbrenner, the late, fabled New York Yankees owner, was never able to grasp the reality of New Yorkers: as long as you give it your all, that’s good enough.

No, Steinbrenner incorrectly believed he had to apologize to the fans at the end of every baseball season when the Bronx Bombers had thoughtlessly

failed to win the World Series.

Maybe in George’s dollars and cents world, that was the rule. Which is why it was said in the 1950s pinstripe city culture that rooting for the Yankees was like rooting for US Steel. And what does that have to do with the closing of Moishe’s? Well, in a word, everything.

Moishe’s and its ilk closed because they could not afford the reality of a rich person’s New York, which is a sad reflection on what Paul Simon once dubbed “my little town.” Even the very rich should take pride in living in a town where a stroll through Central Park on a sunny afternoon in June should contain enough minor miracles to sustain you for the season.

The pure delight of seeing little kids or bigger kids playing a heated game of softball can transfix anyone. And what’s more fun than laying on the grass and catching some rays while you read The Times?

The only thing that could sweeten that picture is eating a big old chocolate chip cookie from a New York bakery.

As we have seen, that is getting harder and harder to do.

President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com

STRAUS MEDIA your neighborhood news source nyoffice@strausnews.com 212-868-0190

Vice President/CFO Otilia Bertolotti Vice President/CRO Vincent A. Gardino advertising@strausnews.com

Associate Publishers Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth Regional Sales Manager Tania Cade

Account Executives Fred Almonte, David Dallon Director of Partnership Development Barry Lewis

Editor-In-Chief, Alexis Gelber Deputy Editor David Noonan

Senior Reporter Doug Feiden Staff Reporter Michael Garofalo

Director of Digital Pete Pinto Director, Arts & Entertainment Alizah Salario

APRIL 4-10,2019

HOSPITAL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

NEIGHBORHOODâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BEST

A Hospital and Neighborhood Transformed She was referring to the hospitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s massive redevelopment plan, ďŹ rst reported exclusively in Our Town in January by Douglas Feiden, in a page 1 story that outlined how the institution was exploring the sale of a portion of its frontage on Park Ave. for high-end residences to help underwrite the costs of the plan.

The meeting was the publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst opportunity to hear about the project directly from Lenox Hill representatives. There was a palpable sense of tension in the room. Community members were concerned about the size and impact of the development, which would transform the entire city block between Park and Lexington Avenues and 76th and 77th Streets.

Plans call for razing or stripping to the shell the entire existing hospital campus in phases as taller, modern structures rise up on site to replace them. When completed, which is expected to take 8 to 10 years and could end up costing as much as $3 billion, the hospital complex will occupy 1.32 million square feet, compared to 780,000 square feet today. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just too big for our neighborhood,â&#x20AC;? said Park Avenue resident Christina Wood.

Another Park Avenue resident was worried about the height of the planned buildings, which include a 516-foot, 30-story hospital tower on Lexington and the 490-foot, 41-story residential tower on Park. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Once our neighborhood allows this to happen weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to lose light,â&#x20AC;? she said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to become a very depressing place to live.â&#x20AC;?

Tomas Rossant, the architect from Ennead Architects, hired to design the new hospital, acknowledged the large scale of the project, but said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s big because the changes that are coming to healthcare in the near future cannot fit in your beloved hospital. We have to make it bigger.â&#x20AC;?

Community Concerns Rossant was met with laughter when he showed a rendering of the Mother-Baby Hospital planned for the corner of Park and 77th Street and talked about keeping the project â&#x20AC;&#x153;in harmony with much of the aesthetics of Park Avenue.â&#x20AC;? As Rossant left the podium, one man in the audience shook his head and said â&#x20AC;&#x153;Terrible, terrible.â&#x20AC;?

The cost of apartments in the

9

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

To place an ad in this directory, Call Douglas at 212-868-0190 ext. 352.

EDUCATION

DINING

Dr. Jill Kalman, executive director of Lenox Hill Hospital (standing) and committee co-chairs Elizabeth Ashby (left) and Elaine Walsh heard from residents concerned about the massive project. Photo: Michelle Naim new residential building was a concern among neighbors and community board members alike, as was the lack of an affordable housing plan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think I could support something unless it had an affordable housing component to it,â&#x20AC;? said board member Tricia Shimamura.

The Lenox Hill representatives in attendance included executive director Dr. Jill Kalman, and Joshua Strugatz, vice president of Manhattan redevelopment, who described the project as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a multi-billiondollar endeavor to build the state-of-the-art hospital.â&#x20AC;?

Kalman mentioned the importance of upgrading patient rooms from double rooms to all singles. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Healthcare has changed. The intent is to bring the patient and their family and loved ones into the same space so that we can deliver patientcentric care ... relationshipcentric care.â&#x20AC;? She added that single rooms are also state-ofthe-art in terms of infection control. And she said the single rooms would allow for imaging and other types of special care without moving patients to another wing of the hospital.

Many community members expressed concern about the cost of care in the new Lenox Hill. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want to make sure that this is still a hospital that cares for everyone and not just the wealthy or the elite,â&#x20AC;? said Rebecka Hawkins-Beatty, executive director of the New York Professional Nurses Union, who lives at 79th Street and York Avenue. But Strugatz said â&#x20AC;&#x153;The plan, and the way the reimbursement works, in the future Lenox as we proposed it, there is no additional charge.

There is no out-of-pocket, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no added payment from insurance for a private room.

That is the standard.â&#x20AC;?

Speaking as an official of the union that represents the nurses and nurse practitioners who work at Lenox Hill Hospital

, Hawkins-Beatty said â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think we still have a lot of concerns about where itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going, but obviously our nurses are really excited about the possibility [of getting] a new facility thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actually modernized.â&#x20AC;? She addded that the nurses are nevertheless cautious, wondering, for example, if the residential part of the project might get bigger while the hospital gets smaller.

Strugatz clarified that the hospital would remain open during the time of reconstruction, and that it wants to maintain the number and quality of its employees during, and after, redevelopment â&#x20AC;&#x201D; another concern for many of the community members present.

Â&#x203A;Â&#x2019;Â&#x2014;Â?ČąÂ&#x2019;Â&#x2014;ČąÂ&#x2DC;Â&#x203A;Čą Â&#x2013;Â&#x17D;Â&#x2014;Â?Â&#x2019;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2014;ČąÂ?Â&#x2018;Â&#x2019;Â&#x153;ČąÂ&#x160;Â? Â?Â&#x2DC;Â&#x203A;ČąÂ&#x160;Čą Čą Â&#x17D;Â&#x153;Â&#x153;Â&#x17D;Â&#x203A;Â?ǡ Â&#x203A;Â&#x2019;Â&#x;Â&#x160;Â?Â&#x17D;Čą Â&#x160;Â&#x203A;Â?¢ȹ Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2013;Â&#x153;ČąČ&#x160;Čą Â&#x17D;Â&#x2022;Â&#x2022;¢ȹ Â&#x160;Â&#x2014;Â&#x152;Â&#x2019;Â&#x2014;Â?ČąČ&#x160;Čą Â&#x160;Â?Â&#x17D;Â&#x203A;Â&#x2019;Â&#x2014;Â? Ĺ&#x2122;Ĺ&#x2014;Ĺ&#x2013;Čą Â&#x17D;Â&#x153;Â?ČąĹ&#x203A;Ĺ&#x2122;Â&#x203A;Â?Čą Â?Â&#x203A;Â&#x17D;Â&#x17D;Â?ČąČ&#x160;ČąĹ&#x2DC;Ĺ&#x2014;Ĺ&#x2DC;ČŹĹ&#x2DC;Ĺ&#x153;Ĺ&#x203A;ČŹĹ&#x203A;Ĺ&#x203A;Ĺ&#x2013;Ĺ&#x2013;    ǯÂ?Â&#x17E;Â&#x203A;Â&#x201D;Â&#x17E;Â&#x160;ÂŁÂ&#x203A;Â&#x17D;Â&#x153;Â?Â&#x160;Â&#x17E;Â&#x203A;Â&#x160;Â&#x2014;Â?ÇŻÂ&#x152;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2013;Čą

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Subway Worries Strugatz also said that the hospital is working with the MTA to design improvements to the Lexington Avenue and 77th Street subway station, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our focus right now is on ADA accessibility, as well as improving many of the conditions that exist ... including the particularly narrow stairwells and the sidewalk pedestrian experience,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Board member Valerie Mason was met with applause and bravos from the crowd when she said â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the things you really need to look at is what is this project ... going to do to the density and overcrowded nature of our entire Upper East Side.â&#x20AC;? She said she was â&#x20AC;&#x153;extremely disappointed in that quote-unquote expansion of the subway entrance.â&#x20AC;? She told the Lenox Hill team, â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you come back we need to see you thinking beyond that tiny entrance right there. I mean that is really disturbing to me ... I try to be open minded but ... this is not going to work right now for me because thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just not enough accessibility here to public transportation. This is not going to do it.â&#x20AC;?

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APRIL 4-10,2019

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

MARBLE MUSIC presents

Discover the world around the corner.

Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com

EDITOR’S PICK

Thu 4 CABARET: ERIC COMSTOCK AND BARBARA FASANO The Neue Galerie 1048 Fifth Ave 7:00 p.m. $65 neuegalerie.org 212-628-6200 This celebrated, award-winning duo returns to Café Sabarsky with their freewheeling mashup of songs ranging from Kurt Weill and Cole Porter to Sting and Stephen Sondheim, from Broadway and Hollywood classics to rare gems you never knew you loved.

Featuring the students of Paul Jacobs Elena Baquerizo, Daniel Ficarri, Jeremiah Mead, Alan Montgomery, Alexander Pattavina, Raphael Vogl, Phoon Yu, Eddie Zheng

Thursday, April 4 | 7:30pm Free and Open to All Event listings brought to you by Marble Collegiate Church.

1 West 29th Street / New York, New York 10001 212 686 2770 / MarbleChurch.org Download the Marble Church App on iPhone or Android

Thu 4

Fri 5

Sat 6

▲ FILM - THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS

► IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SHOE!

REELABILITIES FILM FESTIVAL: CRAZY

96th St Library 112 East 96th St 2:00 p.m. Free In this 1944 movie, a writer from Holland goes on a journey to the Middle East and gets caught up in a web of spies and thieves. nypl.org (212) 289-0908

92Y 1395 Lexington Ave Noon $25 Watch acclaimed dancers, Darrah Carr, Julia Gleich, Johnnie Cruise Mercer, Mark Mindek and David Parker as they explore the dance forms that reflect the many different shoes we wear to dance.

92y.org 212-415-5500

Webster Library 1465 York Ave 2:00 p.m. Free In this film, a young man diagnosed with schizophrenia decides to go off his medication, fearing that side-effects will override the drugs’ benefits. A powerful human drama that challenges perceptions about treating mental illness. nypl.org 212-288-5049

APRIL 4-10,2019

11

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

Photograph of The Beatles as they arrive in New York City in 1964. Photos: United Press International (UPI Telephoto).

Group photographs of the Rolling Stones taken from a 1965 Billboard trade ad. From up to down: Mick Jagger; Charlie Watts and Keith Richards; Brian Jones and Bill Wyman. Photo: London Records, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sun 7

Mon 8

Tue 9

THE SANTA FE OPERA: THE THIRTEENTH CHILD BY POUL RUDERS AND BECKY AND DAVID STAROBIN

MAGNIFICO IN NEW YORK: CORRADO CAGLI, MIGRATING ARTISTS, AND THE MIRAGE OF ITALY

▲ UPTOWN SHOWDOWN: THE BEATLES VS. THE ROLLING STONES

The Guggenheim 1071 Fifth Ave 7:30 p.m $45 Explore this new opera by the composer of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Poul Ruders, and watch as he takes you behind the scenes of his latest work, “The Thirteenth Child”. The creators will discuss their artistic process and highlights will be performed. guggenheim.org 212-423-3500

Library for the Performing Arts 40 Lincoln Center Plaza 7:00 p.m. Free Art historian Raffaele Bedarida hosts a multimedia celebration of Italian artist and cultural organizer, Corrado Cagli. With live music and archival display, follow Cagli’s remarkable life, overcoming racial persecution and exile, becoming a U.S. military artist who immortalized the horrors of Buchenwald, and collaborating with George Balanchine’s carnivalesque New York City Ballet production “The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne.” nypl.org 917-275-6975

Symphony Space 2537 Broadway 7:30 p.m. $16 The popular comedy debate series invites two teams of funny folks from the worlds of stand-up and late-night television to tackle topics of great importance to pop culture, such as which pets are superior, cats or dogs, and is it better to be comfortable or fashionable?

The verbal sparring and allaround absurdity only stops when the audience chooses the winner. Hosted by Matthew Love. symphonyspace.org 212-864-5400

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

Works & Process at the Guggenheim Presents The Santa Fe Opera: The Thirteenth Child

SUNDAY, APRIL 7TH, 7:30PM Guggenheim Museum | 1071 Fifth Ave. | 212-423-3500 | guggenheim.org Composer Poul Ruders (The Handmaid’s Tale) goes behind the scenes of his latest work, a fairy tale inspired by the Brothers Grimm, set for its world premiere at The Santa Fe Opera ($45).

Trilogy of Nations: Japan, Korea, and China with Sam Mehta

Wed 10 WEDNESDAY ATELIER

MONDAY, APRIL 8TH, 7PM The Explorers Club | 46 E. 70th St. | 212-628-8383 | explorers.org Delve into the overlapping qualities and striking differences between three interlinked nations of East Asia. Author Sam Mehta, who has traveled extensively in the region, looks into shared histories, paths to prosperity, and varying approaches to contemporary challenges ($25).

Just Announced | FX’s Fosse/Verdon Screening and Conversation The Frick 1 East 70th St 5:30 p.m. Free with Museum Admission Sketch among the Old Masters in the tranquil, historic galleries of the Frick. Free online registration includes museum admission and after-hours access to selected galleries. frick.org 212-288-0700

THURSDAY, APRIL 18TH, 7PM 92nd Street Y | 1395 Lexington Ave. | 212-415-5500 | 92y.org Explore the romantic and creative partnership between Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon in a viewing of a new episode of the upcoming FX limited series. Afterwards, hear from show stars including Sam Rockwell, Michelle Williams, and Lin-Manuel Miranda ($40).

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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APRIL 4-10,2019

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

T. REX TO THE MAX

IF YOU GO WHAT: T. Rex: The Ultimate Predator WHERE: American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at 79th St. WHEN: Through August 9, 2020 amnh.org to mention fearsome looking open jaws, the model captures the immensity and power of the animal. Again, the most notable feature on the model is the plume of feathers sitting atop the crown of the animal’s head, making T. rex look more like a rock star than a Jurassic Park movie monster. Tail plumes also adorn the tip of the animal’s caudal vertebrae.

An unorthodox T. rex, for sure, but one definitely worth taking in more than once. You’ll have a hard time not looking at it.

If you thought you knew Manhattan’s biggest and baddest resident, think again.

Here are 10 surprising facts about the city’s favorite dinosaur and its exciting new exhibit

BY TEDDY SON

The American Museum of Natural History has opened a new exhibit starring its most famous resident — Tyrannosaurus rex. As it celebrates its 150th anniversary, the museum has pulled out all the stops to give visitors a look at the T. rex unlike anything the public has seen before.

“We know more about T. rex than we do about any other dinosaur,” said paleontologist Mark Norell, curator of the new exhibit, called T. Rex, the Ultimate Predator. “T. rex is very closely associated with this museum ever since Barnum Brown collected the first one, and the first one ever mounted was mounted here.”

The museum’s original T. rex exhibit has been adored by museumgoers for generations, and has been a centerpiece of the museum’s fossil collection since it first went on display in the early 20th century.

That said, both the museum and T. rex have come a long way since then, and the new exhibit showcases some mindboggling new discoveries that have been made about the king of the dinosaurs. Here are five of them.

T. Rex Had Feathers, and So Did Its Family Now that scientists have deduced that birds are direct descendants from dinosaurs, the

A Cast of the Museum’s Resident T. Rex Fossil Skeleton The exhibit includes a new cast of the T. rex skeleton that has been wowing museum visitors for generations. The aggressive pose is also new.

Photo: Teddy Son link between the two is becoming clearer by the day. Even so, it’s still difficult to imagine the mighty T. rex covered in fluffy feathers. However, the evidence strongly suggests that it was.

“We’ve never found T. rex feathers, but we’ve found feathers on very close relatives to T. rex,” said Norell. Indeed, some tyrannosaurs from China, called Yutyrannus and Dilong, have been proven to sport feathers, so it is no stretch of the imagination to assume that T. rex would have shared such characteristics.

T. Rex’s Family was Bigger Than Previously Thought The tyrannosaur family includes around two dozen species, and those are just the animals we know about. These animals all differed in size and shape, but all shared enough characteristics with T. rex to include them in the prestigious family tree of the king. Norell said that the differences in these animals were most likely niche specializations, with some predators being gracile (slender build) and smaller, while others were bigger and

bulkier, not unlike the differences between big cats today.

Norell also said that they can all be linked with a number of specialized features, including the shape of their front teeth.

“The front teeth are D-shaped in cross section,” he explained.

T. Rex’s Arms Were a Joke ... or Were They?

Sadly for the king, T. rex has also been the butt of many jokes regarding its puny arms.

The fossils at the museum and the new exhibit all highlight the tiny arms of the dinosaur, no bigger than a human’s. However, it turns out that some of its smaller cousins had arms relatively bigger, compared to their body size. According to the new exhibit, it’s likely that these arms had a bigger role, to assist with hunting, when tyrannosaurs had smaller, weaker skulls. Once they developed massive skulls like T. rex, however, the arms had little to no purpose because the jaws would do most of the work.

Then again, T. rex’s arms still had enough muscle to bench press around 200 kilograms,

although that would still have been useless considering the sheer size of the animal itself.

Baby T. Rex’s Were Adorable Little Fluffernuts Despite their immense size, T. rex did not start out big at all. In fact, T. rex hatchlings were no bigger than modern day chickens, and were covered with feathers to aid in insulation.

A model infant T. rex greets visitors as they first enter the exhibit, and they can see that it is just a ball of fluff with sharp teeth and claws. One may have a hard time associating the hatchling with an adult T. rex, but hey, everyone has to start somewhere, right?

T. Rex Was Not the BiggestEver Predatory Dinosaur Many people still believe that T. rex was the biggest meat-eating dinosaur to ever walk the earth. While there is no doubt that it is the most famous one, there were a number of carnivorous dinosaurs that outsized T. rex. Two massive monsters called Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, closely

related dinosaurs from South America and North Africa, respectively, were both longer than T. rex. Another dinosaur, called Spinosaurus, holds the title as the longest meat-eating dinosaur known to mankind, reaching over 50 feet in length.

An unorthodox dinosaur, Spinosaurus was most likely a fisheating animal, with crocodilelike elongated jaws and huge claws perfect for spearing and holding slippery fish. T. rex may have been shorter than these animals, but its mass was enough to rival, or even dwarf, all three of them.

The exhibit itself offers visual and hands-on experiences that fully do justice to its star. Here are five of its state-of-the-art features:

The Most Scientifically Accurate T. Rex Statue Ever Made The exhibit’s centerpiece is a hulking T. rex statue unlike any other reconstruction presented in any museum anywhere. With a big belly and immense hind leg muscles, not

The museum’s T. rex fossil has stood proudly in the museum’s fossil halls for over a hundred years. The new exhibit takes it one step further by creating an exact copy of the fossil bones just for the new hall, and repositioning it in a more dynamic pose. Now in a more crouching position with its massive skull closer to the ground, the skeleton offers a new look at how T. rex would have moved in real life. A shadow projector also allows visitors to see how the famed fossil got its wear and tear, as well as a realistic look of how the animal hunted.

Virtual Reality: Build Your Own T. Rex This particular hands-on experience has instantly become a crowd favorite. Allowing visitors to ‘build’ their own T. rex skeleton, the booth has been attracting visitors nonstop, with the line stretching all the way to the T. rex statue.

Survival Challenges Various ‘survival challenges’ booths offer three scenarios that a visitor can choose from and then and see the conse-

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APRIL 4-10,2019

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BEYOND BROADWAY - EAST SIDE The #1 online community for NYC theater:

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In the Vineyard’s new dark comedy, Sofia is hired as an empathy coach at a debt collection agency, and she has her work cut out for her.

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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS MAR 20 - 26, 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.

Maison Kayser

1294 3 Avenue

A

Ralph’s Coffee

888 Madison Avenue

Not Yet Graded (39) Food contact surface improperly constructed or located. Unacceptable material used. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Pret A Manger

1320 York Avenue

Not Yet Graded (30) Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.

McDonald’s

1286 1 Avenue

A

Marymount College Nugents Cafe

221 East 71 Street

A

Caffe Dei Fiori Ristorante

973 Lexington Avenue A

Sfoglia Restaurant

1402 Lexington Avenue

A

Naruto Ramen

1596 3 Avenue

A

Marinara Pizza

1376 Lexington Avenue

Grade Pending (28) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided

Corado Bread & Pastry

1361 Lexington Avenue

A

East Garden

1685 1 Avenue

A

Sabor A Mexico

1744 1 Avenue

A

Gina La Fornarina

26 East 91 Street

A

The District

1679 3 Avenue

A

Dtut

1744 2 Avenue

A

Adar Lounge

1637 Park Avenue

A

Bosie Bakery

2132 2 Avenue

A

White Castle

351 East 103 Street

A

A.M. Deli Juice Bar Food

308 East 116 Street

A

Papa John’s Pizza SE Harlem

2119 1 Avenue

Grade Pending (17) Evidence of rats or live rats 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.

Teranga Tac

1280 5 Avenue

Not Yet Graded (44) Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment.

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APRIL 4-10,2019

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DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE US TO LOOK INTO? EMAIL US AT NEWS@STRAUSNEWS.COM

TALKING FAITH AND CELEBRITY RELIGION The author of “Stars of David” sits for an interview as her book becomes a musical

BY EMILY MASON

When Abigail Pogrebin first had the idea to interview Jewish celebrities about their spiritual lives for a book, her husband said what most people might have said: “Why would they talk to you about that?”

Nevertheless, Pogrebin began reaching out, and by the time she had finished she had interviewed over 50 Jewish Alisters, ranging from Natalie Portman to Steven Spielberg to Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

For “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk about Being Jewish,” published in 2007, Pogrebin asked what their Jewish heritage has meant to them and what role it played in their careers and lives. Now her collection of interviews is being transformed into a one-nightonly musical, set for April 8 at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on West 83rd Street. The show features a group of interviews from the book, each represented by a song to be sung by Jewish cantors, to add an extra touch of meaning.

With her book taking on a new life, Pogrebin reflected on its creation, and how the public perception of the Jewish identity has changed over the years.

What inspired the book?

It was probably my back door way of wrestling with my own Jewish identity, which wasn’t as formed then as it is now. I had just had my first child and was reckoning with what it means to raise a Jewish family, and what it means to be a Jew in America as an adult. I would look at public figures who were Jewish and I knew that somewhere, even if it’s not the first thing they talk about, it had to have affected them in how they were raised, in their values, what they had chosen to be or become and I wanted to understand how such a private thing fits into a public life.

How did you get in touch with your celebrity subjects?

I started basically asking the celebrities I could get to. There were five at the start who I had some kind of personal connection with and it was a good enough five that it convinced others to trust me and to sit down for an interview. It ended

“Stars of David” author Abigail Pogrebin interviewed over 50 Jewish A-listers. Photo courtesy of Abigail Pogrebin up being a remarkably candid snapshot of Jewish identity from some of our highest achievers, admittedly a very particular subset of Jews in America. But telling, in terms of how the majority have been raised with Jewish identity and ritual, and the majority have let it go for the most part.

What do you mean by let it go?

To each person, it absolutely was essential to who they were, but it wasn’t essential to what they did, or whether they prioritized observance. And that’s reflective of many Jews in this country who have not opted for an observant life. A theme among many of these interviews [was] that part of the recipe for success was American identity more than a religious one, and that in some sense a Jewish identity would be constraining or narrowing in some way. It was also obviously prejudice. Most of the people in my book were raised in a time where there wasn’t this general open embrace.

There was an ideal, the American ideal, which was not necessarily religious.

What is the box these people are afraid of being put into?

I think [it] depends on whether or not you’ve experienced anti-Semitism. A number of people in my book did, so there was a sense of knowing that there were tripwires to avoid in terms of perception, in terms of stereotypes. But the bigger takeaway for me was a sense that peoples’ Jewishness had informed their moxie, their sense of “nothing is going to get in my way.” We’ve had roadblocks before, we’ve had doubters before in our of cultural heritage, and we’ve defied the naysayers over and over again.

Is the Jewish community tight-knit? Did that help you access high-profile people?

I’m not sure I could report

this book today. There are so many more tiers of handlers and gatekeepers that I think it would have been harder to get to these people. When people were asked if they would talk about their Jewish past, especially when they saw that Mike Wallace had already said yes, that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had said yes, there was a sense that, “Oh that’s a club I want to be in, or I’m proud to be in.”

There was also a sense when I sat down with them that even though they were famous, they were family. Honestly, Steven Spielberg did feel like one of my cousins, and Beverly Sills felt like one of my aunts. I would also try to bring some rugelach when I showed up. And it’s not just about your knish and my knish, my matzah ball soup and your matzah ball soup. There’s an ineffable vocabulary and emotional current that was instantaneous and hard to describe, and it led to an intimacy in these conversations that I hadn’t expected.

There seems to be a theme of the American and Jewish identity wrestling with each other. How would you describe that conflict?

I would answer that question differently now because of what’s happening with Israel.

I think we’re in a place where Jewish identity feel trickier and more fraught. Not that people are divided about whether to call themselves Jewish and American, but I’ve never seen Israel’s existence be so openly questioned. And being in the position to defend a place that’s been so dear to me, and have that be linked in some way in a sense of anti-Semitism, feels like a new moment.

How did you feel when the musical was being created?

The idea that we were approaching composers now to translate these stories was sensitive and ambivalent for me, because I felt a great responsibility in holding these stories.

I had asked them to be in this book, I didn’t ask them to be in a musical. So the fact that composers like Sheldon Harnick and Duncan Sheik were chosen was a huge part of what got me over that hesitation. The idea that these stories were going to be cared for by such musical giants was a powerful kind of coda for this book. I never anticipated that it would have a theatrical life.

This interview has been edited for space and clarity.

APRIL 4-10,2019

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T.REX CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

“Princess Zhaojun” Photo: Courtesy China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater.

PRINCESS ZHAOJUN: A TIMELESS TALE DANCE A breathtaking production tells the story of an iconic Chinese heroine from 36 B.C., a story about peace and the power of the individual that is still relevant today

BY MARY GREGORY

The wedding dance alone was worth the trip. A row of richlycostumed, superbly choreographed women dancing as they wore candle-topped hats was dazzling. Their fluttering skirts seemed borne on air, while in reality, it’s the mastery of the China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater that carried “Princess Zhaojun” to artistic heights. The March 21-24 performances at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater were the debut of a new dance drama based on the life story of Wang Zhaojun, an iconic heroine of Chinese culture.

Known as one of the “Four Beauties of ancient China,” Zhaojun is one of history’s larger than life women, famed for her beauty first, but also for her acumen, bravery and selflessness. She’s a kind of Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc and Eleanor Roosevelt rolled into one, dressed in imperial silk.

Zhaojun’s story has been told by the Peking Opera, in more than 700 poems, in literature as far back as the second century and, more recently, on television and in movies. While Chinese audiences may not have needed help

to follow a tale possibly as familiar to them as Romeo and Juliet, for others, monitors explained the story.

The opening act presented a smoky graveyard scene. It was clear something was amiss.

From there, we traveled to a fabulous court filled with elegantly dressed women folding clothes, meant to suggest Zhaojun’s tedium. The story goes that Han Emperor Yuan selected her as one of his 3,000 concubines in 36 B.C. An accomplished musician (her pipa, or Chinese lute, was frequently on display) as well as an artist, Zhaojun wanted more from life. When emissaries of the Xiongnu peoples from the wild outer reaches of the empire started rumblings of dissent, the emperor offered a marriage to make peace. Zhaojun volunteered. Seeing her role as peacemaker and protector of her people, she left the comfort of the court, traveled to the distant edge of civilization, and married Huhanye Chanyu, king of the Xiongnu, who won her heart with gestures of kindness and protection.

The story offers chances for an enormous range of dancing, music, staging and costumes.

In a particularly moving sequence, Zhaojun was seen being presented, like a precious doll, swathed in diaphanous orange robes that were delicately unwrapped. Battles were fought by warriors who tumbled and leapt with athletic vigor and grace. Whole troupes of ladies in waiting floated weightlessly on skittering feet,

their upper bodies still, as they glided. Veils of color and smoke filled gorgeously painted backdrops as music that combined the plaintive voice of violins with thumping drums, chants and exotic sounds filled the air.

With over 50 magnificently costumed dancers depicting the splendor of the imperial court, as well as warriors in the wilderness, weddings, death scenes, and a spectacular ghost-dance in which Huhanye Chanyu returns from the dead to express his love for Zhaojun in her dreams, the visuals are breathtaking. The production gave the sense of stepping into a living classical Chinese painting, as it recounted a moving story without words.

The troupe, part of the Chine Arts and Entertainment Group, is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China.

Both the dance itself and the creativity of the production were outstanding. Zhaojun’s character filled the stage with energy and grace; her solos were extraordinary.

It would be hard to imagine anyone leaving “Princess Zhaojun” without a lasting memory of the production and the woman it portrays. Though its timeliness couldn’t be more perfect, arriving during women’s history month, this heroine’s story, told with elegance and artistry, with its emphasis on peace, cooperation, the power of the individual, selflessness, shared responsibility and love, is a tale for our and every age.

quences. For example, if you are a T. rex hunting an armored dinosaur, would you a) try to bite its armored back, b) try to disable it by going for its unprotected legs, or c) move on and look for an easier meal? Such challenges allow visitors to look at how survival in T. rex’s time would have been much easier said than done, and that even the king of the dinosaurs could never take anything for granted.

A Look at T. Rex’s Many Cousins T. rex is the star of the show, it’s not alone in the exhibit. Statues of its cousins join it in the exhibition hall. Proceratosaurus, the earliest known tyrannosaur, kicks off the display, with Dilong and Xiongguanlong, two Chinese tyrannosaurs alongside. There are also a number of fossil displays of closer T. rex relatives, such as Alioramus and Tarbosaurus, two more Asian cousins of the king, and Nanotyrannus, which scientists still debate whether it was a separate species or just a juvenile T. rex. “Ít’s not just facts, we talk

Who knew a predatory dinosaur could be so cute? This model of a feather-covered baby T. rex looks downright cuddly. Photo: Teddy Son a lot about how we figured it out,” said Norell, “I really want people to know that science is a process. It’s driven by creativity, so you ask questions and try to figure it out.”

In that spirit, the new exhibit offers visitors both an educa-

The local paper for the Upper East Side

tional experience and one of pure enjoyment. They can see and feel the new face of T. rex, learn troves of new information the animal, and spend fun, quality time with the most famous dinosaur species known to man.

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APRIL 4-10,2019

A DOG AND A MAN WHO MAKE THE WORLD BETTER PETS Baker Shiner, a golden doodle, and Frank Shiner, the human Baker picked out for himself, are a couple of do-gooders

BY MEREDITH KURZ

At a certain posh locale, I’ve spotted movie stars, TV chefs, media gurus and a former president. In New York City, such celebrities are treated like Louis Vuitton purses; enjoyed from afar, maybe side-eyed, never gushed over. But when Baker Shiner, a golden doodle, trotted into this same arena, he caused a sensation. People inched in, asking and receiving permission to pet, and the circle swelled. A family of tourists shyly asked Frank Shiner, Baker’s owner, for a picture with the dog. “Sure!” Frank said. Their expressions during the photo-shoot seemed to say, out of all their city experiences this was their highlight.

There’s science happening when you go to the dogs. “Petting animals releases an automatic relaxation response,” a UCLA-Health website about therapy dogs explains. Pets promote serotonin and the ‘happy’ hormones, lower anxiety, help Alzheimer’s patients with memory recall, help people on the Autism spectrum respond, lower blood pressure and improve heart health.

Challenges and Triumphs While Baker’s accomplishments as a therapy dog are part breeding and part luck, Frank Shiner deserves all the credit for the duo’s success as volunteers. Everything Frank does he does with zeal.

He had a growing and successful career in television and theater when he met his wife Suzanne in an acting class in 1982. They’ve been together ever since. “Suzanne is my spark plug,” Frank said. “We work as a team.”

As their family started to grow, they looked at options to smooth over the roller-coaster income of two performers. Frank tried his hand at sales. “At first I was miserable in the corporate world,” he said. But Frank’s a spiritual kind of guy. He lifted this problem up, saying, “My wish is, if this is what You want of me, take away the desire for the other.” After that, with his contagious tenacity, Frank excelled in sales to the point where he started his own business in the healthcare sector.

A catastrophe hit the Shiner’s when Suzanne was diagnosed with “triple negative breast cancer to all receptors,” which blocks off three typical treatment points. Suzanne also carried the BRCA 1 gene, a tumor suppressor, which, when shortened, leaves you vulnerable. “It was a punch in the gut,” Frank admitted. Suzanne had thirteen surgeries, many radical.

Frank and Baker Shiner spread joy wherever they go. Photo: Meredith Kurz In between hospital stays and chemo the Shiners seized family moments.

One night they went to an open mic.

Suzanne prodded Frank to go on stage. He refused. He wasn’t ready, hadn’t sung professionally for a long time. Suzanne slipped her wig back a bit and pointed to her bald head. “Do it for me,” she asked.

“Yeah, she played the cancer card,” Frank laughs.

After his first song, the audience begged for another, then another.

This evolved into playing gigs with the band. Frank’s business now allowed him time to return to performing, on his terms.

Meanwhile Suzanne made great strides toward wellness. In gratitude for Suzanne’s gradual return to health

and prosperity, the Shiner family decided to “dedicate the rest of our lives to doing for others.”

Baker Picks a Family One day, Frank’s daughter Lindsay said, “Let’s go look at golden doodles.

We’ll just look.”

“No, No, No,” Frank replied. But daughters have a way with dads.

As the puppies had a rumpus with the family, one came over and sat in Frank’s lap.

Game, set, perfect match.

On his first day as a Shiner, Baker learned to sit and roll over. He was 11 weeks old. There’s a video for disbelievers. In a lifetime of dogs, I’ve only owned one who rolled over. You were then rewarded by a ‘squirt’ straight in

the air. We went through a lot of welcome mats.

Frank brought Baker to work, where the dog became the most popular employee. When one of Frank’s coworkers suggested that he have Baker registered as a therapy dog, Frank signed up for the six week “Good Citizens” course at PETCO. Baker aced it. The ASPCA certification followed, which has since been replaced by the American Kennel Club Therapy Dog Program. Baker scored a cool 100 percent.

Frank and Baker volunteer at several health care facilities. Most recently, Baker worked at Gilda’s Club, the “free comprehensive cancer program”, where the duo assisted in the bereavement group for children. After watching a child pet and hug Baker, a

counselor came over to Frank and whispered, “It’s been weeks since he would participate in anything, and look at him, he’s smiling ear to ear!”

Frank Shiner is not only volunteering his and Baker’s time, all the profits from his own record label go to charity. A winner of two L.A. Music Critic Awards, Frank recently performed with Vanessa Williams at a fundraiser for the San Miguel Academy a tuitionfree middle school for boys from underserved families.

If you’re interested in training your dog as a certified therapy dog, head over to the AKC site, www.akc.org for more details. Petco’s Pet Therapy program can be found here: PetcoPetTherapy. And Baker has a Facebook page, BakerShiner.

APRIL 4-10,2019

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Real Estate Sales

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ELEGY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Health & Wellness Seminar Series QŸ¿Â&#x2122;ÂŹÂ&#x201C; ùïðø

The Parks Department added 1,600 acres under his stewardship, a total surpassed only by the master builder Robert Moses. Sternâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legacy includes the addition of 100,000 street trees to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban forest as well as the Greenstreets program, which continues to enliven grey, unused areas of the concrete jungle with verdant plantings.

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Time 6:30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;8:00 pm Place All seminars held at Uris Auditorium Meyer Research and Education Building Weill Cornell Medicine 1300 York Avenue (at 69th St.)

All seminars are FREE and open to the public.

Seating is available for 250 people on a firstcome, first-served basis.

American Sign Language interpretive services will be provided at all seminars.

If you require a disability-related accommodation please call 212-821-0888 and leave a message.

Sternâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s civic achievements are inseparable from the characteristic ďŹ&#x201A;ourishes with which he carried out his work.

A genius for publicity, he attracted constant press coverage of Parks initiatives with winning quips and a list of gimmicks and stunts too long for this article. He presided with comic reverence over a funeral to commemorate the death of a 151-year-old weeping beech tree, donned Neptune and astronaut outfits (among other costumes), and was trailed at public appearances by his Golden Retriever Boomer and a staffer equipped with a handheld counter during a bid to secure the world record for â&#x20AC;&#x153;most petted dog.â&#x20AC;?

His detractors may have rolled their eyes at these antics, but they brought attention and funding to Parks, helping to build the system we know today. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very serious side to Henry and a very signiďŹ cant physical legacy that I think tends to be minimized because he was such an interesting character and did such interesting things,â&#x20AC;? Adrian Benepe, who worked under Stern at Parks for 14 years and succeeded him as commissioner, told Straus News. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There was a method to all Henryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s zaniness.â&#x20AC;?

Stern coveted each tree and every inch of parkland he oversaw. He fought zealously to expand the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s network of green space at every opportunity, often getting his way through sheer stubborn willfulness. He recognized the ecological value in undeveloped tracts of parkland, many of which he designated â&#x20AC;&#x153;forever wild.â&#x20AC;? And amid budget cuts he marshalled the power of private philanthropy to help fund and maintain parks and historic houses throughout the city, building upon the successful example of the 1980s renaissance brought about in part by the Central Park Conservancy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was a city kid through and through, but he loved nature in the kind of way only a true city

STERNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NOMS DE PARC Henry J. Stern, who called himself StarQuest, handed out nicknames like candy, including these.

Former Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe: A-Train Straus News Senior Reporter Doug Feiden: Define Former Mets star Mike Piazza: MVP Boomer, Sternâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pet Golden Retriever: Wonder Dog Former Mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani: N/A (both refused to be nicknamed) kid can,â&#x20AC;? Benepe said. Stern often spent his weekends driving around the city, exploring and inspecting every corner of the Emerald Empire, as he called the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vast public parklands.

Stern was also prone to controversy. The city settled a lawsuit for $20 million that alleged racial discrimination in the departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hiring under Sternâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leadership, a charge he always denied, and he was known to make impolitic racial remarks.

Manhattan Born and Raised Henry Jordan Stern was raised in Inwood in an immigrant household and displayed academic brilliance from an early age, graduating from the Bronx High School of Science at 15. He went on to attend City College and graduated from Harvard Law School at age 22 in 1957. He entered New York City politics in the early 1960s and was a ďŹ xture in civic life for the next half century.

Stern won election to the City Council as an at-large representative of Manhattan in 1973.

During the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ scal crisis of the 1970s, Stern, in partnership with his friend and Council colleague Robert F. Wagner, Jr. began selling neckties bearing the city seal out of the trunk of his car. Proceeds from the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stern & Wagnerâ&#x20AC;? line supplemented the public coffers.

A Penchant for Park Names As Parks commissioner, Stern conferred nicknames, or â&#x20AC;&#x153;noms de parc,â&#x20AC;? upon thousands of employees, reporters, celebrities and anyone else willing to play along. Stern drew his own moniker, StarQuest, from the German translation of his surname. Parks staffers â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the Starlings, in Stern-speak â&#x20AC;&#x201D; dutifully catalogued each new

entry in an official volume.

Janos Marton was an 18-yearold Parks intern during the summer of 2001 when an assignment brought him to a nondescript South Bronx basketball court known as the Field of Dreams. In his report, Marton proposed renaming the park after Big Pun, the then recently-deceased Bronx rapper depicted in a nearby mural.

Marton found himself unexpectedly summoned to the commissionerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office at the Arsenal in Central Park. The new name was a no-go due to objectionable lyrical content in Punâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s songs, Stern told him, â&#x20AC;&#x153;But I appreciate your gumption and your efforts, and so I have bequeathed you the parks name Big Pun.â&#x20AC;?

Like so many who crossed StarQuestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s path, Marton stayed in touch with Stern and came to call him a mentor. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In a city of 8 million, he was among the most unique people you could ever come across,â&#x20AC;? Marton, who now works on criminal justice reform at the American Civil Liberties Union, said.

Sternâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fondness for appellations extended to the very parks he administered. The sliver of mid-block green space on the Upper West Side originally known, forgettably, as the 71st Street Plot became, thanks to Sternâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Latin embellishment, Septuagesimo Uno. When the Department of Transportation wanted to remove some trees in an unnamed East Side playground to make way for a widened entrance to the 59th Street Bridge, Stern renamed it 24 Sycamores Park â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a defensive measure against anyone who would commit premeditated arborcide (another Sternism, popularized during his successful crusade to enact harsh penalties for unauthorized tree killing). You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get rid of any trees, his thinking went, if theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re counted in the name of the park.

A Pool for Henry Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fitting that recent public efforts to rename a Parks facility in Sternâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s honor have centered on an Upper East Side pool he frequented, given his devotion as commissioner to restoring Moses-era public pools, which he prized as free and democratic spaces.

In 2016, Community Board 8 unanimously called on the city to rename the swimming pool in John Jay Park after Stern during his lifetime, an effort Benepe helped lead. The city never acted on the request. But with StarQuest now departed, it seems likely that before long New Yorkers will be able to enjoy a swim in the Henry J. Stern Pool.

APRIL 4-10,2019

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

A PLAYWRIGHT’S POWERFUL LATE START THEATER Written when he was 67, Ira Fuchs’ VILNA is a disturbing take on the killing pits of the Holocaust

BY MICHELLE NAIM

Ira Fuchs always knew he would be a playwright, but he didn’t produce his first play until the age of 67. How’s that for it’s never too late? The playwright worked as a computer technology entrepreneur for over 47 years, even writing several books for Microsoft, but was an English major in college. “It was the best thing I ever did,” said Fuchs. “It teaches you how to think.”

His play VILNA, which hit one of the oldest Off-Broadway theaters at the Theater at St. Clements, is about the heroic tale of two boys who saved the lives of many. His two main characters, Sean Hudock, who plays Motke Zeidel, and Seamus Mulcahy, who plays Yudi Farber, were in the middle of practicing the scene when they formally meet at a summer camp at the age of eleven. Sean Hudock’s character, Motke, throws a ball at Yudi’s feet and this begins their life-long friendship.

Fuchs, adorned in a playwright’s scarf, said he began to officially take his creative career to the next level in 2016 when he enrolled in a six-week course in Hollins University’s drama program in Virginia and took twelve credits over the course of a six-week summer semester.

The Off-Broadway play, which shows for five weeks, is a rollercoaster of events. Fuchs says he got an assignment in a course called “First Drafts” to write a play about an article in the newspapers. That’s how VILNA was born.

The article was about the discovery and corroboration of the Ponar killing pits outside of Nazi-occupied Vilna (now Vilnius in Lithuania), where Jews were first moved into a ghetto and then to the Ponar forest.

Fuchs says 70,000 people were shot and then dumped into the pits in the forest.

“It picked me.” Fuchs said of the subject. “I didn’t pick it.

You think you have free-will

The cast onstage at the end of a performance. Photo: Michelle Naim sometimes and it’s not always the case. I could not walk away from that.” He said the city of Vilna captivated him: “There has never been any place in the history of the diaspora, before, or after, where you had that demographic density of Jews.”

And when the Nazis forced the Jews into a ghetto, he said the people did not lose their humanity and dignity. “[There was] a symphony orchestra, two theaters, cabaret, schools, sporting events.” The bloodshed, emotional tumult, shooting and cold-blooded murders on the stage perfectly captured the horrific acts of the Nazis.

There is a particularly disturbing scene when a Nazi officer brutally forces another Nazi, of lower rank than himself, to kiss his behind. In another gutwrenching scene, three characters stand in the center of the stage and look deeply into the eyes of audience members.

Each of them talks over the other, describing the killings they have witnessed in the forest.

Fuchs was right when he said he wanted the play to feel like “an emotional sucker-punch.”

Fuchs does not have any relatives who were survivors of the mass genocide of Jews, disabled peoples, gypsies and others, but he said he has met many survivors of the atrocity.

Never having been to Poland, the death camps, or even Vilna, now home to approximately 2,000 Jews, he believes the best

proxy to Holocaust education is the theater: “The immediacy, the in-your-face. The drama.

That’s why I write plays.” He says he’s not crazy about the idea of going there: “There’s virtually nothing there except for a cosmopolitan place and it’s like ‘why do I want to go there.’ My Vilna is in my head.”

Already abstracted and removed from the Holocaust for three generations, and pointing out that most young people have never met a survivor of the camps with a tattoo, Fuchs said, “I’m not a religious Jew, I’m not even observant, but it was the behavior of these people and way they maintained their humanity and their dignity, over the most continuous and arduous persecution and murder — and how they transcended that — is what makes me feel like a Jew.” Fuchs says he hopes this will be his last time producing a play on his own. He would like to write a comedy, but hopes that the play will get picked up. “I need to write something light and bright,” he said. “This is not that.”

Currently, the play is filling about 70-80 seats per show and there is one Sunday showing which is sold out. The last performance is Sunday, April 14th. Tickets can be purchased through a link on the play’s website: vilna-the-play.org or at the box office.

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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

l l A r o F P A e r o m s n mea d n a g n i k a t kids P A g n i s s pa exams.

MAYORAL ACCOUNTABILITY MEANS EQUITY, EXCELLENCE & EMPOWERMENT.

Public schools under MAYORAL ACCOUNTABILITY give more kids a head start because parents have someone to hold accountable for results.

Learn more at nyc.gov/mayoralaccountability

APRIL 4-10,2019

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

To read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes” go to ourtownny.com/15 minutes

LISTENING TO THE CREATORS Ed Yim of the American Composers Orchestra wants to change the way people think about classical music

BY MARK NIMAR

Many people regard classical music as elitist and stuffy: when the genre is even mentioned, images of German white men conducting boring dirges are brought to mind. The American Composers Orchestra, however, is out to change the way people think. Founded over 40 years ago, ACO is a nonprofit dedicated to programming contemporary American orchestral music written by composers as diverse and varied as the United States. Ed Yim, the company’s president, is a veteran of the classical music world: in addition to his two years at ACO, he has worked in artistic planning for the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York City Opera and served as the director of the Conductor/Instrumentalists division at IMG. Straus News spoke with Yim, a Hell’s Kitchen resident, about the company’s upcoming concert at Carnegie Hall on April 11. The orchestra will be presenting the New York premiere of “Where We Lost Our Shadows,” a multidisciplinary work that portrays the story of the European refugee crisis through film, orchestra and Qawwali, a traditional Pakistani genre of music.

We had a lively conversation about ACO’s work with children in the Detroit public schools, the organization’s role

in politics, and what to expect if you’re a first-time concertgoer.

What are ACO’s guiding principles?

Our guiding principles are to listen to the composers, to listen to the creator. It’s to figure out where they are going and follow them, not to make them fit into some cookie-cutter notion of what a classical composer is. More and more composers, especially younger composers, are wanting to give voice to some of the things that are bothering them in society today. It’s their way of contributing to the intellectual dialogue of our country and of our city. Issues around social justice, around equity, around diversity. I’m definitely noticing a trend of classical composers wanting to be a part of a larger dialogue and a larger community.

We live in America in 2020 now. America doesn’t look the way it did in 1977 when ACO was born. There are so many gifted composers who happen to be women and who happen to be from underrepresented populations who have not been typically part of the concert music establishment. And to give those artists and those creative voices a platform and to amplify their voices is definitely a big part of what ACO is now.

On April 11, ACO will be presenting “Where We Lost Our Shadows” by Du Yun, and filmmaker Khaled Jarrar. How did this project come about?

Du Yung and Khaled [Jarrar’s] piece embodies so many of the things that ACO wants

Filmmaker Khaled Jarrar and composer Du Yun, whose “Where We Lost our Shadows” will premiere at Carnegie Hall on April 11. Photo: Zhen QIN

to embody. She’s an immigrant composer from Shanghai who’s made the U.S. her home both for her work and for her life. She’s collaborating with a visual artist, so there’s a multimedia aspect to it, which I think is part of the evolution of orchestral music, and the piece takes as a starting point a major issue of our time, which is migration and refugees and the situation internationally.

Now, they are not specifically commenting per se on the Syrian refugee crisis, but they are using it as a starting point to talk about the timeless story of migration and that people leave their homes because they want to seek opportunity. And I think that’s an issue that obviously is so important right now.

It fits everything that we want ACO to be about.

One could say that ACO’s public commitment to diversity and inclusion is a political statement. What do you feel ACO’s role should be in the realm of politics?

It depends on the composer.

We follow the composer’s will and their vision. I think what we’re seeing is a lot of composers living in an environment where we all feel a little befuddled, and frustrated and powerless to affect what’s going on in our world. The purpose of ACO is not to be political. But if that’s what our composers that we support are wanting to delve into, then we listen to their voices and we follow them.

Out of everything you have done so far at ACO, what are you most proud of?

There are so many moments.

We were in Detroit [recently], reading works with the wonderful Detroit Symphony for emerging black American composers. And we spent a day going into Detroit public schools, which are mostly black, and extremely diverse. So we play [a piece] without telling the kids what they were hearing, and we said, “who do you think wrote that?” And some kids said, “Probably some white German guy.” Because their vision of a classical composer is like Beethoven, or Mozart or someone, right? And we were like, “No actually, the person who wrote that piece is here in this room and we want you

Ed Yim, president of the American Composers Orchestra. Photo: Catherine Leonard

to meet her.” And they were like, “Wait, her?” And nd then Dr. Marian Stephens stepped tepped forward, and they were e like, “This composer is not only ly a woman but she looks like me. She’s a black woman.” And d there was an “Aha” momentt with the kids who were like, “Oh, this world that at I thought was like elititist and didn’t have ve anything to do with th me actually includes es people like me.” That at was an amazing mo-ment for all of us.

Some audience members may never have been to a classical music concert before, and may be skeptical about spending their time and money at one of your concerts.

How do you reach out to these sorts of audience memberss in non-traditional ways? ys?

I would say coming g to one of our orchestral concerts can be challenging,, it can be often fun and it’s about discovery. So you don’t n’t have to come knowing something mething already. We really make ke an effort to include in the format rmat of our concerts a lot of ways to approach the work, to discuss the work, to have a chat at with the composer. Meet the e composer after the concert for or a drink.

That’s the type of experience we like to put out there. here. I think it’s a very friendly experience. xperience.

You can talk to our ur composers. You can ask them hem questions. You can ask them what h h their inspiration was. You can shake their hand. You can’t do that with Beethoven. If people get a charge out of being in touch with these really, gifted, talented, visionary artists, then as much as we can do to bring those artists in contact with the public, I think the more invested the public will be.

Other artistic mediums, such as film or television, have the power to challenge and move an audience. What makes the medium of music unique in serving these purposes?

I think all art serves a purpose. It just depends on what any given person reacts to

most viscerally. For some people, it’s film. For some people, it’s theater. For some people, it’s dance. For me, I’ve dedicated my life to orchestral music, because I think the sight and sound of 75 musicians working in synchronicity to create this acoustic sound is kind of phenomenal. Not everyone gets off on that. And I get that. That’s ok. [But] that’s a sound that I love, and that I know a lot of people love, and that I think it has the potential to be loved by even more people. It will speak to a certain kind of person, and those are the people that we’re trying to reach.

Orchestras are by definition a community. The sight of a large group of people doing something with a singular purpose is really what orchestra is about. And I think it’s thrilling when it’s in action.

This interview has been edited for space and clarity.

Know somebody who deserves their 15 Minutes of fame? Go to ourtownny. com and click on submit a press release or announcement.

CROSSWORD

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