Our Town - May 16, 2019

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The local paper for the Upper East Side A 20TH CENTURY GIANT ◄ P.12

WEEK OF MAY

16-22 2019

INSIDE

COMPSTAT AT 25 The NYPD’s groundbreaking crime analysis tool changed the way policing works in the city. P. 9

Irma Cohen, 90, shows off a jacket covered in the patches she’s collected while crisscrossing the globe. Photo: Megan Conn

GLOBE-TROTTING GOLDEN GIRLS SENIOR LIVING Senior world travelers — especially women — are reshaping the tourism business

VISIONS OF OTHER WORLDS

BY MEGAN CONN

Siberia was not what 90-year-old Irma Cohen had expected. “It was quite settled,” she recalled. “It wasn’t a cold, barren wasteland.” During her journey of more than 5,500 miles from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the Upper East Side resident even spotted a familiar-looking sign. “I can read Cyrillic letters, and I thought ‘that says I-K-E-A’” she said. “The next sign was in English, and it said IKEA! In Siberia! I was hysterical.” For Cohen, who’s spent her golden years touring destinations like Japan, Italy, Crete and Israel, the little similarities between places are often just as exciting as the differences. Cohen has plenty of notes to compare — she’s spent three decades traveling on group tours with companies like Road Scholar, which she relied on to organize her Siberia trip and a whopping 49 others.

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Ydanis Rodriguez, chair of the City Council’s transportation committee, speaks at a rally for street safety legislation on the steps of City Hall on May 8. Photo: John McCarten/NYC Council

COUNCIL TO MOVE ON VISION ZERO CHECKLIST BILL SAFETY Legislation would require DOT to consider installing protected bike lanes, pedestrian islands on all major projects BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Amid an uptick in fatalities on New York City roadways, the City

Crime Watch Voices NYC Now City Arts

NYPD statistics show that 67 people have been killed in traffic collisions so far this year, a nearly 20 percent increase over the same period in 2018.

Council is poised to pass legislation that would place new requirements on safety features the Department of Transportation must consider as it redesigns streets. Council Speaker Corey Johnson announced last week that he will hold a vote later this month on Intro. 322, which would mandate that the DOT publish a checklist

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Restaurant Ratings 14 Business 16 Real Estate 17 15 Minutes 21

The extraordinary power of the human imagination is on display in “Masters of the Fantastic.” P. 18

SUMMER IN THE CITY Thanks to these cool day camps, city kids don’t have to leave town to have fun, P. 6 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, May 17 – 7:50 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastrside.com.

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