Our Town - April 28, 2016

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The local paper for the Upper er East Side A 9/11 OPERA < P.13

WEEK OF APRIL-MAY

28-4 2016

ROUND-THE-CLOCK CONCERNS ABOUT CHAPIN CONSTRUCTION NEWS Neighbors fear more 24/7 work permits to come BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

The Chapin School at East 84th Street and East End Avenue was issued a 24/7 work permit by the Department of Buildings for an ongoing

construction project that has drawn the ire of the neighborhood. That permit ends April 28, but residents are concerned that it is a sign of more similar permits and after-hours work to come. Cynthia Kramer, who lives nearby, said that in order for an ambulance to get to her building during an emergency this past Sunday, her super had to

stand outside and direct traffic around the construction so the ambulance could pull up. “Our super went and … stopped traffic while the demolition crew was waiting for a truck to arrive,” Kramer said. “If our super hadn’t done that it would’ve been chaos.” Chapin is already permitted to work from 7 a.m. to midnight

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INVESTIGATING WHAT WENT WRONG ON ELECTION DAY NEWS Comptroller to focus on persistent Board of Election problems BY KAREN MATTHEWS

Even before the polls closed in New York’s primary, the city’s election board dismissed as groundless hundreds of complaints, many from people in Bernie Sanders’ hometown borough of Brooklyn who said they were unable to vote. It wasn’t until days later, after both the state attorney general and the city comptroller launched separate investigations, that New York City’s Board of Elections began to appear to take the accusations seriously, as reports of irregularities began to surface throughout the city, including in

Manhattan. It suspended its chief clerk in Brooklyn without pay amid questions into whether she followed proper procedures in what was supposed to be a routine housecleaning of voter registration lists. Between November and April, about 126,000 Brooklyn voters either were removed from voting lists or had their statuses changed to “inactive” -- ostensibly because they had moved, their mail was returned as undeliverable or they failed to vote in two federal elections and didn’t respond to letters. So far, the board has yet to fully explain what might have gone wrong with that process. To New Yorkers, news that people are unhappy with the Board of Election’s performance was hardly surprising. It has been a punching bag

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Newscheck Crime Watch Voices Out & About

Photo by Michael Vadon via flickr for years, castigated for errors such as polls opening late, broken voting machines and poll workers providing wrong information. A city probe three years ago found widespread abuses including poll workers who peeked at voters’ choices while they cast ballots and others who told voters to “vote down the line.” “The people of New York City have

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lost confidence that the Board of Elections can effectively administer elections, and we intend to find out why the BOE is so consistently disorganized, chaotic and inefficient,” City Comptroller Scott Stringer said in announcing his audit of Tuesday’s election.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 1

Our Take THE MAYOR, MONEY, AND ALBANY And here we thought Albany was just being ornery. A leaked report about apparent campaign-finance violations by people surrounding Mayor Bill de Blasio sheds new light on the running cat fight between the mayor and state legislators, particularly Republicans in the state senate. Until now, we’ve been inclined to believe the storyline out of City Hall, which is that partisan opposition to our progressive mayor, together with the usual Albany stonewalling of anything that’s good for New York City, explain de Blasio’s inability to win support for his agenda in the capital. But if the State Board of Elections report can be believed, de Blasio has been the architect of his own undoing in Albany. The details are complicated, but the allegation is that de Blasio’s team channeled money illegally through party committees to help Democrats running for the state senate. When those candidates lost anyway, the Republican incumbents,, not surprisingly, made it their business to make de Blasio’s life miserable. It’s hard at moments like this not to miss Michael Bloomberg, who had his faults but nevertheless had the money to keep himself out of such trouble. Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat and the Holiday candles. Passover, Thursday, April 28 - 7:31 Friday, April 29 - 7:32 pm from a pre-existing flame For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.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 28-MAY 4,2016

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Chapter 9

EVE AND OTHERS BY ESTHER COHEN

PREVIOUSLY: A man named Alyosha disappeared. He lived in a small five story building. A friend told a friend that he was gone. Maybe her whole building could help, Naomi thought. Not just Eve and Charles. Or Mrs. Israel. Maybe the whole building would work together in their desire to actually find Alyosha. Or whatever his name was. But how could she interest them? They could call themselves EVE and Others. Solving a crime might tie them together. Naomi went next door to ask Mrs. Israel what she thought, knocking only once before Mrs. Israel answered, dressed in navy blue, as though a government official or a lawyer were arriving momentarily. Something so odd about navy blue. “Why hello,” she said. And then she

asked, “Yes?” waiting for Naomi’s request. She did not say Come Right In, standing by the door officially. “I was just wondering,” said Naomi, “if you’d be interested in helping to solve a crime.” Mrs. Israel looked confused. “Do you have anything in writing?” she replied. “I like to see all requests in writing.” “Do you prefer them typed, or handwritten?” Naomi asked. “I’ve never had that question asked before,” she said, “though considering it now, I’d say hand written. Come back when there’s a document,” she said. It took her a whole day to write a sign, an invitation to the building. Following the preference, she wrote it out by hand. She’d make copies for under each door, and taped one by the elevator. LET’S ALL SOLVE A CRIME How many buildings actually get the chance to solve a crime? A man in our neighborhood has disappeared. All we know about him so far is that he’s 32, a jack of many trades. Like some of us, he knew how to juggle. For anyone who’s interested, we are hosting a potluck dinner (macaroni and cheese! Greek salad! Pepperidge Farm cookies! Cheap wine!) on Thursday night at 7 to discuss this possibility. Leave a note under Apartment 55 if you are

interested. Or leave us a message at 212 555-2323 . And tell us what you are bringing. There can’t ever be too much mac and cheese.) Charles and Eve, sitting on the couch as usual, agreed to listen to an oral recitation of the request. They were practicing Act I Scene One of The View from the Bridge. Eve was reading the play in class. Charles considered himself a rigorous critic of all things. “A fair enough note” he said. “Not outstanding. You could use some adjectives.” “Oh Charles,” Eve said, proud of his peculiar rigor. “O.K.” said Naomi. “What do I have to do to get the most number of people to attend?” “Delicious,” before pot luck would help,” he said. “And you need an illustration. We can’t do an accurate portrait. We’re not there yet,” he said. “When we’re through here, I’ll draw an evocative shadow portrait. Most people,” he said, “want a picture alongside their words.” For previous installments of this serialized novel, go to www.ourtownny. com

Illustration by John S. Winkleman

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK

ROAD RAGE LED TO STABBING, POLICE SAY Authorities say a roadside altercation between two drivers left one man with stab wounds. Police were called to East 61st Street in Manhattan around 11:20 p.m. Saturday. Witnesses told them a man got out of his car and tried to pull the driver out of another vehicle. Authorities say witnesses told them the men got into a fight, then the second man stabbed the first man several times. Both men fled the scene in their own cars. Police say the stabbed man crashed into a parked car at 76th Street and Madison Avenue. He was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

JEWELRY COLLECTED The bling was the thing for one thief recently. At 2:40 p.m. on April 16, an unknown person removed a bag of jewelry from the KTcollection shop at

Reported crimes from the 19th Precinct

Week to Date 2016 2015

% Change

2016

2015

% Change

Murder

1

0

n/a

2

1

100

Rape

0

0

n/a

0

1

-100

Robbery

2

2

0

23

35

-34.3

Felony Assault

0

4

-100

29

37

-21.6

Burglary

1

5

-80

58

38

52.6

Grand Larceny

31

33

-6.1

397

356

11.5

3

-66.7

13

10

30

Grand Larceny Auto 1 Tony Webster, via flickr

315 Columbus Ave. The total value of the jacked jewelry came to $11,540.

The price of the devices amounted to $1,490.

GALAXY QUEST

HISTORIC PURSE SNATCH

IPhones are not the only smart phones of value to robbers. At 8 p.m. on April 22, a shoplifter made off with two Samsung Galaxy phones from the AT&T store at 2195 Broadway.

Something unnatural happened to a museum visitor recently. At 12:20 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, a 57-yearold woman left her purse unattended on a first-floor bench in the American

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Museum of Natural History. When she next looked for her purse, she found it was missing along with a leather wallet inside containing credit cards.

MAJOR PLAY VALUE A local GameStop store was unable to stop two shoplifters. At 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, a pair of perpetrators got behind the counter of the game shop at 2322 Broadway and made off with 32 video games listed at $1,500.

DUCED OUT With robbers on the prowl, some motorcycle riders probably wish they could also be motorcycle hiders. At 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, a man parked his 2012 Ducati outside 8 West 76th St. When he returned the following morning at 10:30 a.m., he found that his Duc had been deducted. The value of the stolen vehicle was $10,000.

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APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct

153 E. 67th St.

212-452-0600

159 E. 85th St.

311

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

157 E. 67th St.

311

FDNY Engine 53/Ladder 43

1836 Third Ave.

311

FDNY Engine 44

221 E. 75th St.

311

CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Daniel Garodnick

211 E. 43rd St. #1205

212-818-0580

Councilmember Ben Kallos

244 E. 93rd St.

212-860-1950

STATE LEGISLATORS State Sen. Jose M. Serrano

1916 Park Ave. #202

212-828-5829

State Senator Liz Krueger

1850 Second Ave.

212-490-9535

Assembly Member Dan Quart

360 E. 57th St.

212-605-0937

Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright

1365 First Ave.

212-288-4607

COMMUNITY BOARD 8

505 Park Ave. #620

212-758-4340

LIBRARIES Yorkville

222 E. 79th St.

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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Danny O’Brien leads a drum circle, warming everyone up with hand clapping exercises. Photo: Melody Chan

SPIRITUAL SLEEPOVERS Overnight programs at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine introduce youth to faiths other than their own BY MELODY CHAN

Thirty-three candles float through the darkened main chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. They emerge from a lit stairwell onto the cathedral’s nave. About 30 teenagers and their adult chaperones each hold a candle close, cupping their hands around the flame. One by one, they break off from the group and wander into the dark cathedral. They walk slowly and silently until they find a spot to sit and meditate. They have been told that this is a solo activity, and to think about anything and do so in solitude. About 20 minutes later, a band – guitars, bass, drums – begins a mellow, bluesy introduction to a Hindu mantra ‘Shri Ram Jai Ram’. All of the participants move towards its source, a portable stage in front of the altar. The candles are placed in a box of sand, lighting the way for everyone else and its owner sits down around the band and joins the song. The rituals are part of Nightwatch Crossroads, an overnight program designed to bring teenagers closer to faith through contemplative activities. There are two different sections: Christian and Interspiritual. The programs are held on 12 Friday evenings throughout the year, with participants sleeping over in the cathedral’s basement. “What I hope that we’re accomplishing is to offer the youths a night to unplug and an opportunity to come into a place that is sacred, where every inch of it breathes holiness and respite and sanctuary,” Patti Welch, Nightwatch’s director and the chaplain of the Cathedral School. “We encour-

age them to be present here because their lives are so hectic and busy and stressful. I work at a middle school, I know exactly what they’re going through.” When she took over Nightwatch four years ago, Welch created Crossroads: Interspiritual and a secular program called Knightwatch: Medieval. The cathedral has been hosting Nightwatch: Christian since 1975. Welch created Interspiritual to show Christian youths that other religions are not so different from their own. Most of the participants come from church youth groups from outside of the city. The activities are designed to expose Christians to religions with which they might not be familiar. The youths are exposed to traditions, wisdom and poetry from Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and other faiths to emphasize that underlying values like compassion and a call to service course through all these beliefs systems. In Nightwatch, Welch’s goal is to give the youths a connection with the divine unlike what they might find in their organized religion. “I want to offer them a different way of experiencing the energy of the divine that gets away from the doctrines and the creeds and the dogma,” she says. “And that’s not saying that any of that is bad but this is an age where kids can get stuck. Our programs are really just about a heart connection and a place to let the world go.” Welch designed the activities with the goal of experiential learning in mind, she wanted to give the kids chance to practice faiths rather than just learn about them. Knightwatch: Medieval is a completely different experience. The overnight program is meant for kids aged 6-12 and is completely secular. The night is immersive: From the minute the children and their

parent guardians walk through the door, they are transported to “Strathclyde,” a kingdom populated by dragons and swordfighting friars. Everybody is in character (except, of course, security), and the kids are placed into houses and encouraged to come dressed in costume. Welch created the program to give people who may not otherwise have come to the cathedral a chance to witness the majesty and grandeur of one of the largest Gothic churches in the world. Having seen the success of other sleepover programs such as one at the Museum of Natural History, she decided on a themed overnight stay that fit with the feeling of the space. The program is run as an interactive play that takes place throughout the cathedral. The plot involves a princess who is about to be married but has lost her voice. The kids scour “Strathclyde” to find the antidote to get it back so she can say “I do.” The night ends when the participants are put to bed in cots, which are spread out in the cathedral’s nave. They will wake in the morning, the sun shining through the stained glass window above the altar, eat breakfast and be sent on their way. The program runs twice a year, once that is open to the public and another exclusively reserved for the Girl Scouts. Nightwatch Crossroads, designed for kids in middle school and high school, costs $85 per participant and Knightwatch Medieval costs $135. All children must be accompanied by adults as Welch and her staff merely conduct the programs and are not responsible for supervision. Interspiritual, which took place on a recent Friday, began with an orientation and group introduction for its 33 participants. A selection of music and chants from different religions followed. The group sat in a semicircle around a band that provides

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APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016 backup to the religious activities and prayers for the evening. Ambika Cooper, a Brooklyn-based singer, has been conducting the spiritual chants for Welch since she took over the program. Cooper does not identify herself with a religion; rather, chanting and prayers are her main practice. “To me all faiths are true, she says. “They’re what connect me to the divine and the most real part of humanity.” Cooper sang Buddhist and Hindu prayers, and prayed in front of the group with passion and reverence. The group sang along in a call and response. “It’s not about how well you sing,” Cooper told the participants. “This song is a prayer and the only way to experience it fully is to sing with all your heart.” Welsh’s husband, Lee Welch, a guitarist who also plays bass, directed the rest of the band: His two sons, Brendan and Evan, on acoustic guitar and Danny O’Brien on drums. O’Brien also conducted the drum circle. Standing in the middle of the group, he raised and lowered his body to indicate volume as kids and adults alike beat their drums in sync to various beats. As the drumming progressed and O’Brien’s smile grew, participants started playing other percussion instruments, such as a wooden block or maracas and invented their own beats, layering the original. The result is a euphony of rhythms and sounds that thunder and echo off the ceiling 124 feet above. Other religions also feature throughout the night. Welch explains the Jewish ritual of Shabbat and lights two candles in the center of the group as the band softly accompanied two audience members, who sang the traditional Jew-

ish blessing. Readings from the Koran and the Gospel of John follow at the Midnight Eucharist. Pamela Dear was inspired to attend the program herself when her first son came back from the experience incredibly moved, especially by the 20 minutes he spent meditating in the dark with a candle. Since then, she has brought her second son to Nightwatch and is now coming back with her daughter. “I love churches and this is an extraordinary place,” Dear said. “There are pieces that are unfamiliar to me but so much of it feels like it’s home. We come from a wooden church and this one’s so different.” Dear’s church has been bringing a group to Nightwatch for at least 20 years and on this night, drove three hours from Connecticut in four cars to participate. Other groups from Long Island and Pennsylvania also made the trip to New York for Nightwatch, which has become a tradition and a recurring experience for many. Welch recalls a man who attended the program last month who had already participated 24 times. She also confirms that the solo meditation with the candle is remarkable for many. “A lot of people tell us that it’s an incredibly powerful experience. That just tells me a lot about what youth are hungry for, and they may not even be able to verbalize it,” Welch said “It’s the silence, and I tell them when I orient them, ‘Remember that silence is God’s first language. If you go upstairs knowing that God is speaking to you in the silence, what’s happening? Be open to whatever.’”

When the solo meditation is finished, candles are placed in a boxes filled with sand to provide light for the Midnight Eucharist. Photo: Melody Chan

ELECTION DAY

CHAPIN

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Comptroller to focus on persistent Board of Election problems

Neighbors fear more 24/7 work permits to come

BY KAREN MATTHEWS

BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Even before the polls closed in New York’s primary, the city’s election board dismissed as groundless hundreds of complaints, many from people in Bernie Sanders’ hometown borough of Brooklyn who said they were unable to vote. It wasn’t until days later, after both the state attorney general and the city comptroller launched separate investigations, that New York City’s Board of Elections began to appear to take the accusations seriously, as reports of irregularities began to surface throughout the city, including in Manhattan. It suspended its chief clerk in Brooklyn without pay amid questions into whether she followed proper procedures in what was supposed to be a routine housecleaning of voter registration lists. Between November and April, about 126,000 Brooklyn voters either were removed from voting lists or had their statuses changed to “inactive” -- ostensibly because they had moved, their mail was returned as undeliverable or they failed to vote in two federal elections and didn’t respond to letters. So far, the board has yet to fully explain what might have gone wrong with that process. To New Yorkers, news that people are unhappy with the Board of Election’s performance was hardly surprising. It has been a punching bag for years, castigated for errors such as polls opening late, broken voting machines and poll workers providing wrong information. A city probe three years ago found widespread abuses including poll workers who peeked at voters’ choices while they cast ballots and others who told voters to “vote down the line.” “The people of New York City have lost confidence that the Board of Elections can effectively administer elections, and we intend to find out why the BOE is so consistently disorganized, chaotic and inefficient,” City Comptroller Scott Stringer said in announcing his audit of Tuesday’s election. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his office had received more than 1,000 Election Day complaints about voting problems. Initially, the city Board of Elections executive director, Michael

The Chapin School at East 84th Street and East End Avenue was issued a 24/7 work permit by the Department of Buildings for an ongoing construction project that has drawn the ire of the neighborhood. That permit ends April 28, but residents are concerned that it is a sign of more similar permits and after-hours work to come. Cynthia Kramer, who lives nearby, said that in order for an ambulance to get to her building during an emergency this past Sunday, her super had to stand outside and direct traffic around the construction so the ambulance could pull up. “Our super went and … stopped traffic while the demolition crew was waiting for a truck to arrive,” Kramer said. “If our super hadn’t done that it would’ve been chaos.” Chapin is already permitted to work from 7 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. DOB record indicate that 144 24/7 building permits have been issued in Manhattan so far this year, eight of them in the same zip code as Chapin. The school has hosted meetings with residents to update them

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HAD TO RUN TO CATCH A TAXI, SUBWAY OR BUS AND LOST YOUR BALANCE? Outreach Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS

BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Shamim Ahmad has been operating a halal cart at the corner of Houston Street and Broadway in SoHo for ďŹ ve years, and has been ticketed by police and health officials as many as several times a week. Nearly all of those citations were eventually dismissed — he says he has only ever paid one $50 ďŹ ne. The real loss is the day’s wages he must forfeit by having to go to the courthouse. “I get a lot of tickets for nothing,â€? he said. But at the other end of the spectrum are residents and community members who are bothered by the noise, smells and ashing lights that accompany street vendors. Several such locals attended a meeting of the First Precinct’s Community Council on March 31 to discuss and complain about the vendors’ presence. “They’re proliferating,â€? one person said, requesting that there be more diligent monitoring of the vendors in her area. “Everyone keeps telling us it’s someone else’s issue,â€? said another. In response, a police officer acknowledged that the subject had come up at Community Board 1 meetings and said there is a vendor unit of of-

ďŹ cers who are dedicated to the issue. At the community council meeting, residents voiced frustration with regulations governing vendors. One community member called the rules “laxâ€? and suggested that they allow just about anyone to set up a table or a cart and begin legally selling kebabs or jewelry, which is not the case. Vendors go through an application process to obtain a license from the Department of Consumer Affairs and a training process if they are approved. In an effort to reduce confusion about the rules, the SoHo Broadway Initiative, the neighborhood’s business improvement group, published a guidebook in January on sidewalk vending. Among other things, the guide stipulates that food carts must be set up at least 10 feet from a crosswalk or subway entrance, and at least 20 feet from the entrance to any building or store. But it does not specify from which edge of a cart or table to measure -- the back edge closer to the curb or the front edge closer to the main sidewalk traffic. This discrepancy is notable, since measuring from the back of the cart or table would give vendors more margin for error. Mark Dicus, the executive director of SoHo Broadway, who attended the March meeting, later said he hopes the guidebook will serve as

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Bake Shop t 1670 1st Ave. at 87th Street NYC Family owned and operated since 1902

Shamim Ahmad’s halal cart at the corner of Houston Street and Broadway. Photo: Madeleine Thompson

APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016 a resource whenever the legality of a vendor’s operation is in question or if there are particular trouble spots in his area. “Even if we check it in our map we go out and measure it, too, and that’s what we would want someone from the city to do,” Dicus said. “We try to work with the vendor first. … The fact of the matter is, Broadway is where vendors want to be.” Dicus emphasized that he is eager to collaborate with vendors, and expressed his appreciation for those who are willing to work with him. The stretch of Broadway between Houston and Broome Streets in particular is lined with popular shopping opportunities and tends to be consistently crowded with vendors selling all types of wares. Vendors themselves, though, feel they are too often typecast as lawbreakers and unfairly and too frequently ticketed despite their efforts to comply with regulations. “For those of us who are following the rules and regulations ... could we just have a respite against all the tickets?” asked a vendor at the meeting. Basma Eid, an organizer with the Street Vendor Project, had heard similar complaints from vendors in the organization, and was at the Community Council meeting in March to help advocate for their rights. “Currently the Street Vendor Project is campaigning for some pretty massive reforms when it comes to vending legislation,” Eid said. “A lot of the rules that exist for vendors haven’t been modified ... in 30 years, and we think a lot of them are pretty antiquated.” Ahmad, the halal cart operator, said he that he has had fewer encounters with police recently. Prior to that, though, he said he has been ticketed as many as six times in a week for allegedly being too close to the crosswalk and for not displaying his license prominently enough. “Sometimes when we put on the apron the license goes inside the apron,” he said, explaining why it might not be visible. “Just by accident.” He has also been cited for a broken water dispenser, a ticket he said was issued while he was attempting to fix the problem. He has also received citations for standing on a flattened cardboard box in his cart because the metal floor gets cold in the winter and not keeping his food at the correct temperatures. The most common offense for which he is cited, though, is being too close to a crosswalk. But Ahmad said he has “never in [his] life” seen police measure the distance other than visually. Multiple follow-up requests for comment to the precinct and to department spokespersons were not returned. But officers at March’s community council meeting said their squads carry around measuring tapes for that purpose, and suggested that they do measure as a matter of course. Eid, whose organization has around 2,000 vendor members, said updates and clarifications to the regulations are badly needed. “I think there’s a fear that vendors will line the streets, but it’s really impossible because of the 20-foot rule,” Eid said. “It might sound like we’re arguing over a matter of a couple feet, but a couple feet is a day’s work for a low-income worker who is relying on that wage.”

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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

A FACE-OFF ON BROADWAY OVER BOOKS

Our Perspective

Car Wash Worker Campaign Continues to Change Lives By Stuart Appelbaum, President Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW

E

Photo: Brytnie Jones

NEWS Sidewalk book sellers draw complaints as the neighborhood goes more upscale BY BRYTNIE JONES

A long-time Broadway book vendor is facing opposition from an Upper West Side that is going increasingly upscale. The sidewalk vendor, Kirk Davidson, has been selling books on Broadway between 72nd and 73rd streets for 31 years. But recently, with the arrival of national retailers like Bloomingdale’s in the neighborhood, Davidson has drawn the opposition of Realtors and nearby business owners, who complain that he, and a clutch of other vendors on the same block, no longer belong in the neighborhood. “The vendors are disturbing business and residents by clogging the sidewalks ... leaving rubbish and worse in their wake and turning the sidewalks into de facto warehouses for those long portions of the day when their wares are unattended in breach of the law”, said Jesse Krasnow, president of Sirius Realty and a resident of the neighborhood. Davidson started selling books here in 1986. After working for an airline, serving in the military and working at another job that failed, he began living in a shelter. Shortly after, he met a man who said he would show him how to make some money. In the first two days selling books, he said he made $55 in 30 minutes, which then turned into $100 in 20 minutes. It was then that he realized he could make a living off of being a street salesman. But doing so has meant a steady stream of fines and summonses for violations of vending rules. He guesses that he’s received between 185 and 200 summons in the past 31 years, but insists that he has

treated people in the area with respect and has been nothing short of polite. “As long as I am here, I’m going to go to court,” he said in an interview near one of his tables. “I understand how it works. As long as I am black on this side of town, I’m going to go to court.” Davidson is convinced there is a clear racial dimension to the complaints he’s received recently, given that he’s an AfricanAmerican man on a predominantly white side of town. “Some love it, some can not stand it”, he said. But others in the neighborhood dispute that. They say the issue is the clutter created by Davidson and his colleagues, as well as turf battles and other fights tied to the sellers. Gregg Wolpert, president of The Stahl Organization and a resident of the Upper West Side, said the booksellers are an easy distraction from people wanting to invest in the neighborhood. He says that the books have been on the streets in all types of weather for years, but are part of a bigger problem in the community. “Some lower volume of booksellers might be more tolerable if the city could rid the area of homeless people who hoard their possessions,” he said. According to the city’s Vendor Rules and Regulations, the book vendors are indeed in violation, such as leaning merchandise against buildings, taking up more than 8 feet by 3 feet of sidewalk space, leaving stands unattended overnight, having more than one table, and setting up within 20 feet of a legal entrance or exit. Davidson counters that there is nothing wrong with selling books, which he says have a spiritual healing ability. Being a street salesman is what he takes pride in and he says he has no plans to stop. “If I persist, I will succeed because nothing beats persistence. I will overcome all resistance”, said Davidson.

arlier this year, 50 workers at the large SLS car wash in Brooklyn, New York, overwhelmingly voted to join the RWDSU. They did it for the same reasons workers at 10 other New York City car washes since 2012 have done it: to win respect at work, to win better pay and benefits, and to prove that there is dignity in low-wage work. They’ve proven that car wash jobs can be a stepping stone to a better life and not just a sentence to a life of poverty. Car wash workers, like other low-wage workers across the country, have had enough of often illegally low pay, and having their voices – and their rights – ignored. They are calling attention to the difference unions can make in workers lives, and the fact that employers can afford to do right by their workers. Workers at nine New York City car washes have won contracts bringing them better pay, better benefits, better health and safety protections, and paid time off and control over scheduling that had Hillary Clinton talks with RWDSU members never before been at Hi-Tek car wash. a part of their jobs. The largely immigrant workforce has won the right to return to their home countries and have their jobs waiting for them when they return. They’ve shown that a union voice isn’t all about money. It’s about dignity and respect, and fighting for the things that are important for each group of workers. The day before the New York Democratic primary, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton came to Hi-Tek Car Wash in Queens to talk with workers. The workers at Hi-Tek started it all, as the first “carwasheros” east of Los Angeles to win a union election. Clinton’s campaign is focused upon fighting for marginalized people in our society – including low paid workers – and creating a better America with an economy that works for all of us. Car wash workers epitomize this part of her campaign, and Clinton was there to talk with this group of immigrant workers and hear first-hand the story of how they had changed their lives. We see it all around us, throughout our union. We see it in New York City’s car washes, and we see it across the river in New Jersey, where newly-organized workers at Laminated paper products won a short strike in April when the owner agreed to the RWDSU Local 262 members’ terms. Workers are showing that when they stand together and form a collective voice, they can build stronger lives for themselves and their families.

For more information, visit

www.rwdsu.org

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APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

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Voices

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

An Our Town Cartoon

MY PARTY PLANNING ADVICE FOR ANNA OP-ED BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL

I never thought I’d feel superior to Anna Wintour, but that all changed with the new Andrew Rossi documentary, “The First Monday in May,” debuting this month at the Tribeca Film Festival, which chronicles the Vogue Editor-in-Chief’s hosting of last year’s Met Ball. Aside from a love of oversized sunglasses, our commonality began in 1995 -- the year we both added master party planner to our CVs; she taking on as her pet project the gala, which each year kicks off the opening of the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while I began producing my kids’ birthday celebrations. Yes, we are both considered handson facilitators and deem our respective events the Super Bowl of any social season, but our similarities end there. I think, quite frankly, that Anna needs to chill.

GOD IS IN THE DETAILS – TO A DEGREE Apparently Anna is a perfectionist. I like what I like the way I like it, but “perfect” can get silly. No one ever notices that the napkins are the exact Pantone shade of white as the rice inside the California Rolls. You obsess over the most minute elements, and still Gwyneth Paltrow, as in 2013, declares the night, “Unfun…”

FOOD TASTINGS NO MORE I reason these a waste of time and calories. Hire a top-notch caterer – Anna’s already collaborating with Glorious Foods – and trust that the pigs in a blanket will be divine.

EAT DRINK AND BE MERRY Anna seems to be a bit over-accommodating to the vegan crowd and others with special dietary requests. I have been to a number of events

Illustration by Peter Pereira

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given by vegetarians who serve the food of their conscience, leaving carnivores such as myself to eat the grass or starve. I make a habit to dine prior to these events as to not insult/argue with the host about how there’s nothing for me to consume. In turn, when I am throwing the affair, I am entitled to offer edibles that are a bit more meaty. Fair is fair, right?

THE SEATING CHART IS NOT YOUR FRIEND Anna likes to “mix people up.” This leads to comments like that of a disappointed Chloe Sevigny referring to her non A-list table assignment as “just like high school.” I’ve never done a seating chart – not even for my own wedding. Everyone grabs a table for themselves and whomever they want to sit with. I’ve never had a problem or complaint.

FLOWERS, DÉCOR, AND ENTERTAINMENT – OH MY It takes Anna about 12 months to plan her event, with a level of intensity up around Mach 5. My last party, my daughter Meg’s Sweet 16, was perhaps the most stress-free. I used my son Luke as location scout, as years before he went to a sixteenth birthday at least once a week. The restaurant’s caterer provided both the dinner and the cake, which people still rave about. One of Meg’s teachers had a DJ business on the side, and another teacher had a boyfriend who was a professional photographer. Done and done. Her future wedding should go so smoothly. It’s too late for Vogue’s fearless leader to take my advice concerning the 2016 gala themed “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” since it’s only weeks away on May 2nd. But for next year? Anna, baby, relax. It’s a party. Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novels FAT CHICK and BACK TO WORK SHE GOES.

Staff Reporters Gabrielle Alfiero, Madeleine Thompson Director of Digital Pete Pinto

Block Mayors Ann Morris, Upper West Side Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side

APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

A COLLECTION OF BENEFITS FOR SENIORS GRAYING NEW YORK

NEW STORE POLICY: PERMANENTLY & FOREVER OFFERING THESE DISCOUNTS NEW OWNERSHIP

BY MARCIA EPSTEIN

I hope everyone knows about New York’s Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) Program. This plan is for New York State’s seniors and administered by the Department of Health. Since I joined years ago, it has been cut back considerably, and then in 2013 some benefits were restored. It is still very worthwhile for those over 65 on limited incomes to check out because it can help supplement their outof-pocket Medicare Part D drug costs. EPIC provides secondary coverage for Medicare Part D. There are income limits that are different for singles and married couples, and for different income levels. Higher income members must pay their own Part D premiums but can lower their EPIC deductible. EPIC has two plans based on income. The Fee Plan is for members with income up to $20,000 if single or $26,000 if married, and the Deductible Plan is for people with incomes ranging from $20,001 to $75,000 if single or $26,001 to $100.000 if married. For more information e-mail eflrp@nylag.org or go to Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Program and sign up on your computer. EPIC verifies information with the Social Security Administration and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer hosted “Up With Aging� at the CUNY Graduate Center on March 20 and drew a crowd of more than 700 seniors to listen to information about brain health and aging. A senior expo followed and included information, services, activities and exhibits from many presenters regarding the brain and aging and participate in events including yoga, tai chi, zumba and drumming. A wonderfully informative booklet was available for the taking, and it’s well worth getting if you weren’t at the event. It’s called “Age-Smart Manhat-

Photo: Paul L Dineen, via ickr tan: Senior Resources for Better Livingâ€? and includes everything from beneďŹ ts for seniors, senior health and housing, long term care and much more. Call Gale Brewer’s office at 212-6698300 or e-mail info@manhattanbp.nyc.gov You might want to know about HIICAP, the Health Insurance Information, Counseling and Assistance Program of The New York State Office for the Aging. HIICAP provides free information, counseling, assistance and advocacy on Medicare, private health insurance and other health plans. HIICAP helps people with Medicare questions for those already on Medicare or soon to be eligible. You can Google HIICAP and ďŹ nd out more about the program. Geriatricians can be vital for seniors as they acquire more and more conditions related to old age and are usually going to several doctors, one for each condition. A geriatrician can coordinate the care, make sure the medications don’t work against each other, and in general be the gatekeeper for medical care for the elderly. Unfortunately, it isn’t a lucrative ďŹ eld for young doctors and isn’t as glamorous as ďŹ elds that

offer higher chances of a cure and more use of flashy new technology. Also, geriatrics is often dependent on Medicare and the headaches that go along with it. Geriatricians are attuned to age-related changes, help with realistic goals for treating and relieving the problems of aging, and tend to treat their patients more as individuals than as simply chances to use new machines and technologies. New York City is fortunate to have a world-famous geriatric center at Mount Sinai Hospital. The Martha Stewart Center for Living (MSCL) is a state-of-theart geriatric outpatient center located at Mount Sinai’s main campus on the Upper East Side. Also, in 2012, the Mount Sinai Department of Emergency Medicine opened New York City’s first Geriatric Emergency Department at Madison Avenue and 101st Street. Here’s hoping other cities follow this example. Happy spring at last to all. I think we’ve earned it. Off with the coats, scarves and mittens. On with the sandals bright new colors. Hope to see you at the Botanical Gardens Rose Festival in June.

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APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

Join FRIENDS and the Historic Districts Council for

Yorkville: A Celebration of Home

Out & About More Events. Add Your Own: Go to ourtownny.com

Via NYPL

What was it like to live in Yorkville when 86th Street was known as German Broadway, when the smell of hops from the Ruppert and Ehret’s breweries filled the air, and when a stop at Paprika Weiss on 82nd Street preceded daily exercise at Sokol Hall? Join us for a morning of discussion about the history of Yorkville life and architecture, followed by a tasting of cuisine from some of the neighborhood’s storied establishments.

Saturday, April 30th, 10:00 a.m. Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street NFNCFST t OPO NFNCFST Advance registration required at www.friends-ues.org/events This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Aairs in partnership with the City Council and Council Member Benjamin Kallos.

Join us for a FREE seminar on planning your funeral arrangements in advance.

“YOUR LIFE YOUR LEGACY� Hosted by:

FRANK E. CAMPBELL THE FUNERAL CHAPEL 1076 Madison Avenue (at 81st Street) New York, NY 10028

THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016 AT 6:30 PM RSVP TO LAURIE DIMAURO at 212-288-3500 Speaker:

STEPHEN DUER, CERTIFIED PRESENTER TOPICS • Creative cremation and traditional burial planning • Learn how to reduce stress for your loved ones • Learn about Transportation and Relocation Protection Plan

• Veteran’s Benefits - Learn the 10 Important Facts that every Veteran needs to know • Learn the advantages of prearranging

Refreshments Will Be Served. This firm is owned by a subsidiary of Service Corp. International 1929 Allen Pkwy, Houston, TX 77019, 713-522-5141

28 Fri 29

Thu

BOOK-MAKING FUN MCNY, 1220 Fifth Ave. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Free w/ museum admission Learn the art of book binding. Design and create a personalized book to hold your stories. Geared toward families with children ages 6-12, and includes a snack. 212-534-1672

ART DIALOGUES â–ź

in Spanish. Interpretation will be provided. 212-277-8384. www.as-coa. org/events/public-lunch-andpresentation-leading-argentineofficials

Frick Entrance Hall, 1 East 70th St. 6:30-8 p.m. Free after-hours museum admission Guided by a museum educator, participants will discuss objects in the gallery with a focus on a particular masterpiece. Advance YORKVILLE: A CELEBRATION OF reservations required. 212-288-0700 HOME www.frick.org/calendar 321 East 73rd St. CRISTIN HARBER, 10 a.m. $20; $15, members. AVA MILES AND KATE This symposium will feature LUNCH WITH LEADING PERRY â–˛ talks from speakers on Yorkville ARGENTINE OFFICIALS life and architecture. Barnes & Noble, 86th & 212-535-2526 Lexington, 150 East 86th St. AS/COA, 680 Park Avenue 7 p.m. Free 1- 2:30 p.m. Members $75,; The authors will share secrets to non-members, $100 self-publishing success. Authors AS/COA will host a public NEW YORK THERAPY will sign copies of their latest lunch and presentation with DOGS R.E.A.D. â–ş novels at their ďŹ rst ever signing Argentine Vice President at B&N. The event is a wristband Gabriela among other leading 67th Street Library, 328 East event with priority seating. public officials and members of 67th St. 212-369-2180 Congress. The presentation is 3 p.m.

30

Sat

APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL AND WEILL CORNELL MEDICINE SEMINAR SERIES • SPRING 2016

Read to a therapy dog oneon-one. For ages 5-12, preregistration required for each 20 minute slot 212-734-1717

Sun

1

THE ALICE-INWONDERLAND FOLLIES 92nd Street Y, East 92nd Street and Lexinton Avenue 3 p.m. $35; $25 for children 12 Follow Alice’s adventures through Wonderland as she meets some of the most beloved characters in children’s literature. Presented in a vaudeville setting, this eclectic ballet draws on many different dance forms - from Irish Step Dancing to African Juba to classical ballet. 212-415-5500. www.92y. org/

COMICS, CARTOONS, AND TUNES MCNY, 1220 Fifth Ave. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Free w/ museum admission Explore the exhibiton Roz Chast: Cartoon Memoirs, and then join the drawing lab and sketch comics and cartoons of your own. 212-534-1672

Mon

2

COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING 19th Precinct, 153 East 67th St. 7 p.m. 212-452-0600

DOUGLAS KENNEDY AND MARC LEVY Albertine, 972 Fifth Ave. 7 p.m. Free Douglas Kennedy and Marc Levy discuss The Blue Hour and A Spin on the Horizon, and their passion for literature. 212-461-3670. www. albertine.com/

Tue

3

MOTHER’S DAY CHOCOLATE GIFT BASKETS 92nd Street Y, East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue 1 p.m. from $45 Create custom chocolate gift baskets for mothers day this year. 212-415-5500. www.92y. org/Event/Mother-s-DayChocolate-Gift-Basket

FIAF FIRST TUESDAYS FIAF, 22 East 60th St. 6-8:30 p.m. Free for FIAF members Enjoy wine and cheese over conversation en francis at Rendez-Vous, take a mini french class — visit the Haskell Library, and enjoy a French film. 212-355-6100

Wed

9tÞ

ò

Precision Medicine: Targeted Treatment and You! Olivier Elemento, PhD

4

M. Elizabeth Ross, MD, PhD

‘THE BRIDGE LADIES’ 1313 Madison Ave., at 93rd Street 6-7:30 p.m. Betsy Lerner will be in conversation with Julie Klam, author of You Had Me at Woof. 212-831-3554. cornerbookstorenyc.com/event/ betsy-lerner-launches-her-newbook-the-bridge-ladies/

MS NUTRITION DPD INFORMATION SESSION Silberman Building, 2180 Third Ave, at 119th Street 4-5:30 p.m. A presentation of career possibilities, academic program and admission requirements for the Hunter College graduate Nutrition program. 212-396-7722. www.hunter. cuny.edu/calendar/#/?i=1

Web

Time

www.weill.cornell.edu/seminars

6:30–8 pm

If you require a disability-related accommodation, or for weather-related cancellations please call

212-821-0888

and leave a message on the recording. All seminars are FREE and open to the public. Seating is available for 250 people on a first-come, first-served basis.

Place All seminars held at

Uris Auditorium Weill Cornell Medicine 1300 York Avenue (at 69th St.)

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APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

CATALOGUE OF NEUROSES AT CITY MUSEUM Roz Chast’s “Cartoon Memoirs” at the Museum of the City of New York BY VAL CASTRONOVO

She’s the reigning Queen of Worry. Without a doubt, Roz Chast, best known for her quirky cartoons in The New Yorker, knows what trouble is. Her award-winning graphic memoir, “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?,” is a harrowing tale of the trials and tribulations she witnessed, and endured, as her 90-something parents faced “The End.” The story poignantly plays out on a long wall in “Cartoon Memoirs,” a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York featuring more than 200 cartoons from the last four decades of this funny woman’s career. Chast, 61, was born and raised in Brooklyn, but not in the fashionable parts. She grew up in Kensington/

Parkview, or, as she called it at a preview of her show, “deepest Brooklyn, in the middle.” The only child of a public school teacher and an assistant principal, she was often on her own. Sketching helped her pass the time: “I was always drawing, always wanted to draw. It was an outlet.” She went to Midwood High School and graduated in 1977 from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she majored in painting. The following year, she submitted an eccentric cartoon to The New Yorker — and it was accepted. “I thought I’d be lucky to go to The Village Voice,” she said about her good fortune. “It’s still thrilling when they buy a cartoon and depressing when they don’t.” The piece, “Little Things,” is a collection of unrecognizable shapes with unrecognizable names — “chent”, “spak”, “kabe”, “tiv” and other non-

Roz Chast in her studio last year. Photo: Jeremy Clowe

“Subway Sofa” (2016) by Roz Chast. Photo: Val Castronovo sensical words. It caught the eye of famed editor William Shawn and launched her career. The show begins with a selection of her covers for the magazine. Her first, dated Aug. 4, 1986, tells the story of “plain vanilla” ice cream, featuring a single scoop at the top of the drawing, with myriad permutations radiating out from the original scoop. It’s a family tree of ice cream, with descending sodas, cones, sandwiches, sundaes, pops — you name it. A “scientist” in a white lab coat taps a pull-down screen with a long pointer and explains it all. More concretely, literally, there’s Chast’s Second Avenue subway cover, from March 2012. In her inimitable absurdist fashion, she maps the fraught project’s long and winding road to completion, from El Barrio to the Financial District by way of “Brighton Beach, the Yukon and Saturn.” In his introduction to “Theories of Everything,” a compilation of her favorite cartoons, the magazine’s editor, David Remnick, calls her “an innovator” and marvels that “Roz is always creating something different: fake greeting cards, a triptych of fake Sylvia Plath poems ... . [She] has never fallen into set patterns.” Her creativity, wry humor and sheer zaniness are in full force at the mu-

seum. A distinctly New York sensibility colors her view of the world. She explores universal themes (parenthood, phobias, illness, urban living, suburban living, the holidays, death), but through a New York lens — despite having left New York for Connecticut in 1990. As with Jerry Seinfeld, no topic is too mundane. There’s no subject that doesn’t have a funny side. And like Woody Allen, she specializes in neuroses. Anxiety is her beat. Organizers have highlighted her city cartoons. At the museum’s request, she created “Subway Sofa,” a blackand-white mural in the anteroom that she painted on the premises in early April. It imagines a cozy living room in a New York City subway car, with “X” train commuters huddled on a sofa en route to “The Unknown.” Look out for “The Greek Chorus of Apartment 7-H” (2004), a loony drawing of a middle-class mother, father and son seated on a sofa, watching TV, while an imagined Greek chorus intones: “While they are watching a reality show, polar ice caps are melting!”/“Also, many people are starving!!”/“What can be done about it? Who knows? Maybe nothing!!!” Start worrying — or laughing, or both. When Chast is not fretting about doctors, elevators, water bugs and

getting lost, she takes us to the “Planet of Lost Luggage” in Scottsboro, Alabama, where she went on assignment for now-defunct DoubleTake Magazine in 1998. But this is no imaginary place; it’s an actual warehouse for “stuff people left on planes,” with “a rack full of beige trench coats,” she explained to peels of laughter during the preview. The darkly funny Charles Addams is her cartoon hero, but she’s also drawn inspiration from Edward Gorey, Winsor McCay (“Little Nemo”) and Alison Bechdel, among many others. She said that she “loves the cartoon medium. You can combine words and pictures, interweave the two, and can do anything in the panels. It’s a one-person operation.”

IF YOU GO WHAT: “Roz Chast: Cartoon Memoirs” WHERE: Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. (at 103rd Street) WHEN: Through Oct. 9 www.mcny.org/

APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

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ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

While You Were Texting Exhibition and Panel Discussion

FRIDAY, APRIL 29TH, 1PM El Barrio Artspace PS109 | 213 E. 99th St. | 612-333-9012 | artspace.org Catch a weekend of screenings, workshops and a roundtable as a new exhibition looks at the way constant communication distracts us from being able to solve our most urgent problems. Earth Day and May Day will both be celebrated. (Free)

Louis Armstrong & Satchmo the Great! Celebrating International Jazz Day on Screen

SATURDAY, APRIL 30TH, 3PM

Composer Kenneth Fuchs, with baritone Jarrett Ott and David Krane.

Museum of the City of New York | 1220 Fifth Ave. | 212-534-1672 | mcny.org

FROM 9/11 TO OPERA

Celebrate International Jazz Day with a 60th anniversary screening of Edward R. Murrow’s globespanning documentary, commercially unavailable since its 1956 release. ($16)

A musical adaptation of a Don DeLillo novel debuts on the UWS

92nd Street Y | 1395 Lexington Ave. | 212-415-5500 | 92y.org

BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO

Following the events of Sept. 11, composer Kenneth Fuchs, a 20-year resident of Manhattan who was living in Oklahoma at the time, sought a way to respond to the tragedy through his work. Years later, on an airplane, he started reading Don DeLillo’s 2007 novel “Falling Man,” about a survivor of the attacks, and knew instantly that he wanted to adapt parts of the book. Fuchs, a professor of composition at the University of Connecticut, discusses how DeLillo’s book inspired him to compose his work for orchestra and a baritone singer, which he recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, with a libretto adapted from DeLillo’s novel by poet J.D. McClatchy. He also talks about how he and his collaborators adapted his earlier work and created a 20-minute stage production for one singer and eight instrumentalists, which premieres at Symphony Space on Friday, April 29. This interview was edited for length and clarity. THE INSPIRATION I heard about [Don DeLillo’s novel “Falling Man”] and because I was interested in 9/11 it piqued my interest. I bought it at the [San Francisco International] airport and I started reading it on the plane. The moment I opened that book and I started reading the prologue,

the novel is set up with a prologue, and then the body of the novel and then an epilogue, and when I read the first five pages of the prologue I knew that I had found the inspiration for what I wanted to do. THE CHARACTER The novel concerns a protagonist who stumbles out of the falling rubble of the World Trade Center—he’s a survivor—and he witnesses chaos and the terror and the horror and the unspeakable things that happened to so many people, and the prose is so riveting. I thought this person, this protagonist is really like an everyman for all of us, bringing us to the core of the tragedy, and so I decided that it would be for a solo voice and a symphony orchestra. FROM SCORE TO STAGE [Musical director and conductor] David [Krane] very brilliantly took the entire orchestral score for 75 players and just brilliantly adapted it for eight players. It was his idea to contact the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. He said, of course given his experience working on Broadway, you know, this would be so very effective with videography, video projections to accompany the solo baritone and the ensemble. So I wrote to the museum and they were very intrigued. They invited David and me down to the museum and gave us the grand tour. We told them what we wanted to do and they contributed a number of 9/11 photographs from their collection

and we engaged a wonderful projection designer, Justin West. I just saw the 20-minute video for the first time. I just fell apart. I just burst into tears at the end of it. It is so moving. THE IMAGES David Krane, who suggested all of this to begin with, suggested that we’re really trying to create an integrated work of art in which the images fuse with the text and the music, and we’re inside this man’s mind. So what he’s seeing and by extension what we’re seeing behind him projected on the video screen, is what he’s seeing and how he’s imagining it. It’s not just slide by slide of one realistic photo after another of debris falling or orange balls of flame coming out of the buildings. That is all there, but sometimes it’s in slow motion, sometimes it’s speeded up, sometimes it’s fragmented and it dissolves into another image. It’s really about creating an emotional and visual texture, kind of the world of this man’s mind.

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IF YOU GO “Falling Man” Friday, April 29 Symphony Space 2537 Broadway at 95th Street 8 p.m. Tickets $30 To purchase tickets, call 212864-5400 or email boxoffice@ symphonyspace.org

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A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE FAMILY OP-ED BY ARLINE L. BRONZAFT, PH.D.

The following is in response to a recent “Graying New York� column about family dynamics between parents and their grown children We hear many stories today of poor relationships between adult children and their parents and are told, as a result, the grandchildren of these older parents spend little time with their grandparents. By contrast, the television program “Blue Bloods illustrates a family where four generations of family members eat dinner together at least once a week. I regularly watch “Blue Bloods� and have seen that the older and younger members interact in other ways as well. As a psychologist, I also value data and from my observations of family members and friends, I have found that many follow the “Blue Bloods� pattern. Additionally, in my book “Top of the Class� (Ablex, 1996), when I queried older high academic achievers, all members of Phi Beta Kappa, about their lives after excelling at college, I learned of their good relationships with their children and their grandchildren. Some quotes: “My relationship with my children and grandchildren is very close�

“We took our children and grandchildren to Italy this past summer.� “I have brought up two daughters and helped with advice and love with four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.� Apparently, the skills necessary to succeed in school can be applied to your personal and social lives as well. These academic achievers also did well professionally. Now to the relationships I have forged with my two daughters, their husbands and their children. Let me start by saying that my children were reared in a home with two working parents who were also able to spend a great deal of time with their children. I was fortunate that as a college professor, I did not teach five days a week and had the same vacations as my children, thus, giving me much time to be with them. My daughters and their families live in New York City and I interact with them regularly, including dinners and theater-going together. I have attended the graduations from public school, high school and college of my two older grandchildren, attended my granddaughter’s high school basketball games, and go to school assembly meetings when my youngest grandchild performs.

I have certainly done my share of baby sitting and my daughters have sought my advice re their child rearing practices. The advice comes from me as their mother although I believe having taught Child Psychology may contribute to the value of this advice. From the time my oldest grandchild was four years old, my husband and I took vacations with him and his parents. When his brother was born, he was the fourth on these vacations. My younger daughter has two children and her family was added onto our joint vacations. My husband has died but the vacations with children and grandchildren have continued. Last year on a trip back from London, my youngest grandchild, then nine, asked when we planned to return to London. Despite these shared activities, we still do things independently of each other. I no longer teach psychology at Lehman College but my research and writings on the adverse impacts of noise on health keep me busy. I have had a very successful career but still believe my greatest joy has come from a wonderful marriage to a man who joined me in raising two terrific children who are still very much part of my life.

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Food & Drink

RETAIL TAPS AN UNDERGROUND SOURCE TurnStyle, 30,000 square feet of commerce, opens at the Columbus Avenue subway station BY MELODY CHAN

Dining’s gone underground. So has shopping for cosmetics, hats and sunglasses. On a renovated passageway connecting the two subway lines at the 59th StreetColumbus Circle subway station, dozens of businesses, including several sit-down restaurants and, of course, coffee outlets, are vying for commuters’ attention, and their dollars. TurnStyle, as the 30,000-square-foot commercial corridor was christened, opened last week. “Most of the times you think of subways as kind of icky and grimy and this is fresh and cool and it’s a community spot. That’s what I’m just digging about it,” said Lisa DeSpain, a composer and musician, after grabbing coffee at one of the bakeries. “It makes me feel less grumpy. I can de-stress from a commute.” TurnStyle, the brainchild of Susan Fine, who heads the development company OasesRe, cost about $14.5 million, all of which was privately raised by an investment team led by Fine and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment, a TurnStyle spokesman said. The venture is short on chains; most of TurnStyle’s retailers are independent, city-based small businesses with some cachet. In other words, it’s no longer your great-grandparents’ IND stop, circa 1932, the year the Eighth Avenue subway line opened. “High-end works because it’s different,” said the spokesman, David Simpson. “It’s New York City, people have a certain expectation that when things are changed, they’re changed for the better.” Simpson said that for all its distinction, TurnStyle is a utilitarian outpost, however singular, and will attract a distinctly different clientele than that shopping above ground. “Time Warner Center is a shopping center, people who don’t work during the day will come there for high-end shopping. That’s not the demographic that TurnStyle will cater to. It will be for people going to and from work or people who live in the area and operate as a spot for them to grab a gift for someone or an organic juice,” he said. Fine, then the MTA’s director of real estate, managed Grand Central’s renovation in the 1990s. She and her company will

In Brief

FOUR SEASONS TO MOVE TO NEARBY SPACE The New York Post reported that the Four Seasons’ managing partners Alex von Bidder and Julian Niccolini have tapped Paul Goldberger, an architecture critic, to help them in their search for an architect for the restaurant’s new space at 280 Park Ave., which they expect will open in 2017. Four architects are currently in the running, the Post reported. The restaurant’s dining room three blocks away at 99 E. 52nd Street will close on July 16 and the restaurant’s furniture will be sold at auction. Major Food Group, which operates several Manhattan eateries including Santina on Washington Street and three Parm locations, will take over the current Four Seasons space, Eater reported.

A FORMER CHEF AT PER SE NOW HEADS DELIVERY ONLY’S KITCHEN Joseph Nierstedt, who also worked at Colonie in Brooklyn The Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa County, California, and Mugaritz in Spain, is overseeing a Pearl Street kitchen turning out a 50-item menu that includes short rib shawarma, lobster mash, mahi mahi tacos and $14 chicken tenders. According to Eater, Delivery Only’s mission is to “master the art of the dining-in experience.” The company’s owner, restaurateur Tim Powell, is looking to deliver food that’s unmatched in the city’s crowded delivery market, with dishes cooked to order and made from scratch, Eater said. The news site reports that Powell is looking to add another half-dozen locations in the city.

About 40 shops and eateries comprise TurnStyle, a retail corridor recently opened at the Columbus Circle-59th Street subway station. Photo: Melody Chan have operational control is responsible for maintaining the space and its appearance. Simpson said the venture directly created about 250 jobs. Nearly all of the retail space has been leased, he said. The lease runs for 20 years, plus a 10year extension at the tenant’s option. In the first year, the MTA will receive 10 percent of TurnStyle’s net operating income and in the second year 10 percent of gross revenue. In year three, the agency will receive an annual base rent of $720,000 that will increase 3 percent annually, as well as 20 percent of gross revenue exceeding a so-called “breakpoint” that starts at $2.77 million and climbs to $3.37 million by the start of the option period. TurnStyle is drawing aspiring entrepreneurs and small companies, themselves hopeful of attracting some of those who add up to the station’s 23 million annual subway fares — or, since it’s outside the turnstiles, even those who don’t ride the trains. Jeff Zhang, who owns Spectre & Co., a menswear company, opened his first store at TurnStyle. His space, like many of the other stores, is separated from the pathway by glass windows and a door, giving his shop and some of the other boutiques a stand-alone feel. “We’re really excited about the foot traffic and being in Mid-

town West,” Zhang said. “People come in during lunch breaks, while coming to work or getting off work and they’re curious. And there’s a good number of tourists too.” In the middle of the football-field-long corridor, among a line of booths, Greyston Bakery stocks its first retail location with two of its bestselling products: chocolate fudge brownies and brown sugar blondies. “There’s a constant stream of traffic, it’s clean, it’s open,” said Greyston’s Mindy Srebnik. “I mean, what’s better for a subway station?” On a recent afternoon, the space is crowded and animated. Lines form at Ellary’s Greens, MeltKraft and other food vendors as people who work above ground venture below for lunch. Alan Markinson, former house manager at the Helen Hayes Theater, doesn’t like subways but since he lives two blocks from the market, nevertheless came down to visit. Sitting in one of the few seats at fast-food sushi place Yong Kang Street, he considers the redesign and comes away impressed. “It’s bright, it’s airy, it’s better than I thought it would be,” he says. “For New York it’s kind of unusual and I like the fact that it’s rather compact. You can actually get around and see the business everyone’s doing.”

RECETTE, THE COZY WEST 12TH STREET RESTAURANT OWNED AND RUN BY YOUNG CHEF JESSE SCHENKER, HAS SERVED ITS LAST CHARCUTERIE PLATE Recette, which opened six years ago, closed Saturday. But on the restaurant’s website, Schenker assured its devotees that the small eatery would “live on” at The Gander, Schenker’s restaurant in the Flatiron and flourish in planned “other ventures.” Recette was given two stars by The New York Times shortly after opening. The reviewer, Sam Sifton, said the restaurant’s cooking was “smart and imaginative,” “elegant and full of flavor.” The Times reported that Schenker’s decided to close Recette because of rising rent and its small size. “Recette was not a failure,” Schenker was quoted as saying by The Times. “It was a steppingstone to where I am today.”

Scallops with caviar beurre blanc at Recette. Photo: Krista, via flickr

APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com Photo by Jason Howie via ickr

GETTING STARTED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA OP-ED BY CARLOTA ZIMMERMAN

numerous platforms, with a shallow, vague, scatter-shot presence, or you can identify your goals, audience and platform-specific voice, and commit to the hard work of branding, creating the opportunities your talent requires. * Get started by getting started. People say, “Well, once I’ve ďŹ gured out my brand, I’m going to dive in.â€? That never works. You didn’t learn how to ride a bike by watching other people: you got on the bike, maybe had some training wheels, and started pedaling. You learn by doing: why would creating a useable, professional social media footprint be any different? Create a Content Folder for your goals-related ideas, so that when you’re doubting yourself more furiously than usual, you’ll have interesting material waiting to be shared. Start today. Spoiler alert: in this life, it’s not so much that things get easier, as you get tougher. Today, on any one particular platform, update your profile photo with a professional version. Start liking and following the pages of your competition and colleagues for inspiration, and ideas. Today give yourself permission to speak to the world, and to presume that you will not be rejected. I think that for many of us, the idea of being online, and sharing our fragile dreams with the world is, frankly, terrifying. But look around: our bruised, battered world is desperate for good ideas, for passion, for your weird, wonderful creativity. What are you waiting for? Carlota Zimmerman speaks nationally at events, leads public workshops, works privately with clients, and can be reached through her website, www.carlotaworldwide.com.

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Social media is storytelling. We are all, at any given time, sharing an online narrative; some stories galvanize us, and our goals, some stories electrify our network, while other stories further isolate us, binding us ever tighter to our exhausting, and exhaustive fears. A good story inspires the audience, helping them make an emotional identiďŹ cation, which, over time, leads to connection. A disorganized presence leaves the viewer indifferent. Of course, an intelligent, viable social media presence takes time, trial and effort, as well as personal responsibility: why are you online? What story are you telling? Whom are you telling it to, and why? What’s your audience’s take-away? Why should they care? As the Cheshire Cat famously said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.â€? There, of course, being nowhere. If you’re online, hoping to promote your business, or yourself, here’s some basic points to consider: * How you present is how you will be perceived. If a stranger were to see your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram profile, what would their immediate take-away be? Would that stranger understand that you, for example, are a published author trying to get published‌ or would he be underwhelmed by all the cat photos? I share plenty of cat photos, don’t worry, but I also give potential and current clients a solid understanding of my personality, passion and goals as a coach. * Identify the ways your presence actively furthers your goals. Look at your social media presence with a gimlet eye:

if you didn’t know you, would you understand the story you’re telling online? Would you understand all your special skills, and differentiating qualities? Would you hire you? If not, why assume anyone else would? Does your proďŹ le speak to the professional you know yourself to be? You can shrug and say, “Well my friends all know what I’m doing, and anyway, they wouldn’t help me.â€? How much any of us truly know of what our friends and family are doing is open for debate. Meanwhile, it’s your responsibility to give people a reason to help you. Ideally, you want a smiling, well-groomed profile photo, a cover photo that speaks to your overarching interest, and a succinct proďŹ le that captures the reader’s interest. Helping your ideal audience at the end of the day is really about helping yourself. And your wallet. * “Please like me!â€? Likes are great, numbers are lovely‌but online engagement is king. What’s the point, for example, of having 10K Twitter followers if, when you tweet, no one responds? I have less than 1,000 followers on Twitter, and yet I’ve landed clients across the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Russia. Many clients will tell me that until they can be sure of having 25K followers, there’s “no pointâ€? in getting online. So, essentially: until you’re a success, you’re not going to do the hard work of becoming a success? Tell me how that works out for you. I’ll be over here, coaching clients in Nepal, and giving workshops in Chicago, and public speaking throughout the country, all through clients and connections I met online. * Choose one platform, and commit. Any social media platform you don’t put the time into, will ultimately be useless. You can sell yourself short on

Huge Selection of

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APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS APR 8TH - 20TH, 2016

Cafe Jax

318 E 84Th St

Grade Pending (24) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Charley Mom Kitchen

1580 York Avenue

A

Burgerfi

240 East 82 Street

A

Shake Shack

152 East 86 Street

A

Petite Shell

1269 Lexington Ave

A

Milano’s Pizzeria

2255 2 Avenue

A

Mojito’s

227 East 116 Street

Grade Pending (3)

Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins

1880 3 Avenue

A

Pro Thai

1575 Lexington Ave

A

Dong’s Great Wok Garden Ii 1631 Lexington Ave

A

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 http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/services/restaurant-grades.page Mcdonald’s

1286 1 Avenue

A

Jean Claude French Bistro

1343 2 Avenue

Grade Pending (27) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Murphy’s Law

417 East 70 Street

Grade Pending (18) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Caffe Bacio

1223 3 Avenue

A

Salud Y Esperanza

2135 2Nd Ave

A

5 Napkin

1325 2Nd Ave

Grade Pending (21) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas. Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed.

Proposito De Vida

180 E 104Th St

A

Genesis Bar & Restaurant

1708 2 Avenue

Grade Pending (2)

Barking Dog Luncheonette

1678 3 Avenue

A

Trattoria Pesce Pasta

1562 3 Avenue

A

Gina Mexicana

1288 Madison Ave

A

Cavatappo Grill

1712 First Avenue

A

International Wings Factory

1762 First Avenue

A

Lex Restaurant

1370 Lexington Avenue

A

Andaman Thai Bistro

1843 1 Avenue

A

Orsay

1057 Lexington Avenue

A

Ko Sushi

1329 2 Avenue

Grade Pending (17) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Caravaggio

23 East 74 Street

A

Tal Bagel

333 East 86 Street

A

Metropolitan Museum Employee Cafeteria

1000 5 Avenue

A

Fresh & Co

1260 Lexington Ave

A

3 Guys Resturant

1232 Madison Avenue

Blockheads Burritos

1563 2 Avenue

A

Ottomanelli N.Y. Grill

The Mansion

1634 York Avenue

A

1424 Lexington Avenue

Il Vino City Wine Bar

1728 2 Avenue

Metropolitan Museum Balcony Lounge

1000 5 Avenue

A

9 East 90Th Street

A

Sandro’s

306 East 81 Street

A

Tarallucci E Vino At Cooper Hewitt Starbucks

1642 3 Avenue

A

Luke’s Lobster

242 East 81 Street

A

A

166 East 82 Street

A

Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins

1760 2 Avenue

Toloache Starbucks

1261 Lexington Avenue

A

Green Cafe

1324 Lexington Avenue

Bailey’s Corner Pub

1607 York Avenue

A

Au Jus

1762 1St Ave

E.A.T. Cafe

1064 Madison Avenue A

Dunkin’ Donuts

355 East 86 Street

A

Chicky’s

355 East 86Th St

A

Grade Pending (20) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or nonfood areas.

A

H & H Midtown Bagels East 1551 2 Avenue

A

Tiramisu Restaurant

1410 3 Avenue

A

Timmy’s By The River

1737 York Avenue

A

East End Kitchen

539 East 81 Street

Grade Pending (9) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Mughlai Indian Cuisine

1724 2Nd Ave

A

Cafe D’alsace

1695 2 Avenue

A

APRIL 28-MAY 4,2016

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SHELTER HOMELES RACE S RS

First, obvious: let’s start wit condition h the city’s hom s inside thi disgrace. eless shelte rs are as A ser one mo ies of terrible (includinre horrible tha crimes, month g the killing n the last of ear lier this daugh a woman has higters in Statenand her two hlighted Island), living con the the ma ditions for shameful cities inrgins of one ofpeople at Blasio, the world. Ma the richest wh yor o has bee Bill de his app from theroach to homn halting in has final beginning elessness proble ly begun to of his term, from thim, but years ofaddress the others, s administra neglect, tion and will take But years to correct. recent none of that exc office grandstanding uses the appareof Gov. Andrew by the Cuomo, he can’tntly sees no iss who In the try to belittl ue on which attempt governor’s late the mayor. officials at a hit job, est sta compla then pro ined te Post, abomptly to the to the city, homele ut a gang New York alleged ss shelter, purape at a city VOL. 77 had tim event before blicizing the , ISSUE pol e 04 As it turto investigate ice even ned out, it. never hap the officials pened, infuriaincident media hitwho called it ting city a ” “po aim the mayor ed at em litical . More cha barrassin counter-c rges and g THfolElow the me harges Dicken antimeA , of cou ed. In Tditrse men, wosian livingR OionF, the con in New men D kidsIM s for Yor andEN Here’s k goe s on. in shelters CITY ARTS, leadershi hoping tha t som P.2any eday our as intere p in Alb 0 as it is in sted in helpinwill become back fro agains scoring pol g them t sit itical poi 17 fee m FDR Drour ive byting mayor. nts t 16 to out of and raise

IN CEN KIDS AGTARIAL PARK, WEIGHI NST DOCNAl NG LiDnTtRo UMnP WEEK OF JA NUARY-FEBR UARY 28-3 MOVING FO R A GUIDE TO CAMP

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accuse capita d of overleve l. very James Beninati anraging invest lions aftCabrera, we d his partn or re BY DAN Antar er the firm sued for mier, The Ba IEL FIT es ZSIMM condo uhouse Gr assets was stripp ’s collapse, lONS and ou ed of mo in p’s 90 the lat project on A rep the late-a st of its 0-foo Sutto n Place t the Ba resentative ughts. velopmeest lux ur y res for uhouse fundin nt to suffer idential is a req Group Beninati an ue de g, fro did st for d - tim as inv ingly comm not return estors m a lack of e. wary ent by are inc of fin at the Sto press rea ler an top a surpl end of the cing projec s- Deal ne also spok outlookus in inven market du ts a notic wspaper las e to the Re tor e will ma on whether y and a tep to ap ar tmeable decre t month ab al ase out affluent terialize id lig en News buyer hted ma t sa les, whin high-end down of s the roa the 80 rke ich hig squa re avera d. -st ge nu t data tha hmb April, foot propo or y, 260,0 t apart ments er of days said the an 00 squat d sent the sa l broke las spent in new for-sa neigh and sleepy comparative t perce on the marke developme le VOL. 42 bo nt munit rhood int Sutton Pla ly and the between t increased nts , ISSUE o the y 47 en 09 tions, Board 6 vo a panic. Co ce “E very d of last yea end of 20 man ice 14 on d r. d Council e’s a its ob Kallos Stoler lit jec the bu came out str member Be - $2,50 told TRD. “W tle worri ed ilding 0 ’s heigh ongly again n lende [per square ith anything ,” plicat ions. rs are t and soc st at foo t] ver or But it Stoler ial imtold thi y cautious.” more, opposit wa sn’t jus s ne wspape house ion workingt commun CONTINU r that ED ON Mi aelprincipal Jo against Baity PAGE 5 seph u20ch Sto ne r16 at the ler, a mana Beninati. Jewish invest ging pa son Re wome me n and the wo backg alty Capital, nt firm Ma rtgirl rld by rou lighting s light up candle tares Inv nd also plasaid Beninatidis every the Sha yed bbat Friday 18 min a role. ’s Benin estment Pa eve utes bef < NEW An ati co Friday ore sun ning -foundertners, the fi schoo S, Ma set. l rm P.4 For mo rch 11 – 5:4 boast classmate thad with a pre 1 pm. re info ed $6 rm www.c billion t at one po p habadu ation visit int in ass pperea ets, wa stside.co s m.

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

ENRICHING EDUCATION Change for Kids’ board member Louise Phillips Forbes on assisting New York City’s public schools

BY ANGELA BARBUTI

“We can’t change the educational system. We can’t change the world. But we can change one school, one child and one community at a time,” Louise Phillips Forbes said. A real estate power broker with Halstead Property and mother of two, Phillips Forbes dedicates her time to serving Change for Kids, an organization working to transform New York City public schools in need. The organization, headquartered on East 23rd Street, serves eight elementary schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx with financial support and educational programming. “We have a very rigorous application process. The first thing we do is find the great principals at very highneed public schools in the city. We work with that principal, the teachers and parents to understand their specific, pressing needs,” Phillips Forbes explained. Besides providing money and resources to fund projects such as new computer labs, Change for Kids provides enriching programming like a Museum Arts Residency, parent workshops, literacy tutoring and musical instruction. They also host a wide range of events at their partner

schools from career days and school beautification days to science nights and family game nights. Their Pre-K Reading Buddies program, where volunteers read to students, helped lift literacy scores at Brooklyn Landmark Elementary from 11 to 57 percent.

I read an interview in the Wall Street Journal where you explained that you learned about Change for Kids after going on a date with its founder. Yes, that’s a true story. That’s how I found Change for Kids. While that was not the intent, the founder, Ted Madara, and his sister and two other friends were on Spring Street on a Saturday afternoon having drinks in a little bar and struck up a conversation with these three ladies. One was principal and the others were kindergarten teachers in a public school. Ted bought them a round of drinks. When he paid for the drinks, it was $13-something and they compared it to the $12.79 each child was allocated for all of their supplies for the entire year from the Department of Education. And what many people may or may not know, Parent Associations supplement the curriculums for the school. Whether it’s the music program that doesn’t exist, additional supplies … So when you’re in very high-need public schools in areas where 80 percent of students qualify for a federal lunch program, you’re not getting a big flush from the Parent Association.

So the organization started with a change bucket on a trading desk? It was born from the idea of literally

Change for Kids board member Louise Phillips Forbes. Photo: Abigail Holstein

Louise Phillips Forbes, a board member of Change for Kids, at Brooklyn Landmark Elementary School in 2014. Photo: Courtney Lamb putting change in a bucket on a trading desk. So when you would order lunch at the trading desk, it would be $8 and you would put the $2 of change in this bucket. And at the end of the year, they would call the principal and say, “What do you guys need this year?” Ted ended up visiting the school in April, towards the end of the year. He walked into the art class and there were literally cut-up grocery bags with Q-tips with egg cartons with watered-down tempered paint. And the kids were drawing and didn’t know what they didn’t have. They only knew the joy that they had. A lot of those resources came from these teachers who were so invested. Everybody can think about their childhood and teachers who impacted their lives by giving you the attention. And they’re everywhere in our New York City public school system.

taken on at a school in need. One of our schools. P.S. 81, had this shameful construction caution tape across this huge classroom in their building that was the computer lab. It was under construction for literally 10 years. But it wasn’t really under construction because they didn’t have the budget for it. There were floppy disk computers that even the teachers couldn’t teach with because we haven’t seen them since the ‘80s. That was a source of shame for the principal, so we basically we went back to our board and reached out to our hedge funds and said, ‘When you’re getting new computers, please let us know. And if anyone is moving their office, we’re looking for desks and chairs.’ It cost us not one penny and the school got something that they were so proud of.

What kind of fundraisers have you been involved in?

Your husband was the chairman of their board. Are your children invested in the program too?

Oh my goodness, what haven’t I been involved with? We have some amazing partners. I’ve done Bowl for Kids, Run for Kids, Spin for Kids, Shop for Kids. Casino Night for Kids. We do some corporate building opportunities where they can have a beautification day on a Saturday. We can have 40 of our volunteers and they have 40 of their employees and they can go in and paint and clean a playground. And often, our kids from that school will want to join. So there is that opportunity to take pride in your backyard.

Oh absolutely. My children have made hundreds and hundreds of beaded bracelets and sold them on the beach in Montauk and the Hamptons for Change for Kids. They do lemonade stands and donate some portion of the proceeds to Change for Kids. My son had his first modeling job at Ralph Lauren earlier this year and made $600 and he told me that he wanted to put $500 in his savings account for college and give $100 to Change for Kids. That is beautiful; I was so excited. And I didn’t even suggest it.

Explain one project Change for Kids has

Tell us about executive director Colin

Smith, who left Wall Street to work for CFK. He is a force to be reckoned with. When I first met Colin, he was in his 20s and recently graduated from UVA. He was the president of our Junior Council and in 2008 after several years of working at Change for Kids, he felt that his Wall Street life was not as fulfilling. He literally left Wall Street and served on the board solely and then offered to be the executive director for no pay for some time because he believes so wholeheartedly in what we’re doing.

Explain some events that Change for Kids hosts at schools. There’s a pre-K buddies program where you can go and read to the kids. I go to Career Day in as many schools as I can to talk about what I do. We have Chess programs. We have Poetry Night, Family Fitness Night, Wellness Night, College and Career Explorations. We have Science labs on the weekends. We have students from high schools who take one Saturday every month and do science projects with the kids. To learn more, visit www.changeforkids.org

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