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.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
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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
CONTINUED ON PAGE 19
3 8 10 12
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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STOP BIG TOBACCO’S KIDS MENU VIEWPOINT A high school student argues that the industry is trying to hook young people with flavored “starter kits� BY KYLA BROWNE
The tobacco industry has a kids menu. Death, disease and addiction now come in new imaginative electronic cigarette avors like sour candy worms, unicorn milk, and smurf cake. It is no surprise that these companies are tapping into the imaginations of youth and luring them into a candy-coated addiction. Flavors help improve the taste and reduce the harshness of these products, making them
more appealing and easier for youth, like me, to try the product and become hooked for life. My friends who use electronic cigarettes are struggling. It’s not easy for them to stop. Their body craves it and they need it just to get through the day. The growing use of electronic-cigarettes among my peers raises serious concerns about nicotine addiction, and increases the chances of them using regular cigarettes. Electronic-cigarette companies are using many of the same strategies that tobacco companies have used for years. The tobacco industry knows that flavors are most effective in reaching kids and
Kyla Browne speaks at a recent press conference about the importance of protecting youth from the dangers of avored tobacco products and candy-avored electronic cigarettes. Photo: Lisa Spitzner
the most dangerous flavor they have in their arsenal is menthol. No single avor contributes more to the death and disease caused by tobacco use than menthol. For decades the tobacco industry has been targeting people that look just like me. Eighty-ďŹ ve percent of African American smokers in NYC use menthol cigarettes. This is not a coincidence. For
German is for Everyone!
years, the tobacco industry has heavily targeted people in my community. They have used advertising images and messages that reect my culture to make smoking look normal. In my own family, I have seen ďŹ rsthand the death and destruction that tobacco causes through heart disease, cancer and more. Menthol tobacco products are also key in the tobacco
industry’s ruthless strategy to transform children into addicted tobacco users. The minty cool avor makes smoking easier and right now 57% of menthol users are youth. It’s time to stop Big Tobacco’s predatory attempts to hook kids with flavored “starter kits.â€? Addiction is never sweet or cool. Something I have learned in school is that his-
tory repeats itself and we can’t afford to wait in taking action on these issues. I hope that we will be able to put these things into perspective and work towards a healthier environment for our future generations. Kyla Browne is a student at The Urban Assembly School of Green Careers on the Upper West Side.
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MAY 16-22,2019
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG MUGGER ON A SCOOTER At 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, an 86-year-old woman was walking at the corner of First Ave. and East 64th St. when a man on a scooter drove up on the sidewalk and grabbed her
purse, causing her to fall, police said. The suspect then ed east toward York Ave. The victim complained of pain to her left arm and was taken to New York Cornell Hospital. The items reported stolen included $200 in cash, an ID card and a Citibank card.
MISSING MASERATI A 42-year-old man parked his car in front of 421 E. 81st St. on Tuesday night, Apr. 30. When he returned the next morning, his rare ride was missing. The victim told police that he had left his car locked, but there were no signs of broken glass at the location. A search of the neighborhood turned up nothing. The stolen vehicle was a 2017 Maserati Lavente, valued at $100,000.
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th precinct for the week ending May 5 Week to Date
Year to Date
2019 2018
% Change 2019
2018
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
0
1
-100.0
Rape
0
0
n/a
10
6
66.7
Robbery
1
3
-66.7
44
49
-10.2
Felony Assault
1
1
0.0
38
49
-22.4
APPLE JACKED
Burglary
5
2
150.0
73
67
9.0
On Friday evening, May 3, three men entered the Apple store at 940 Madison Ave., removed merchandise from a shelf and ed the location, police said. A search of the neighborhood and the 77th St. Lexington subway station proved fruitless. The stolen goods included Apple trackpads, mice and electronic pencils, with a total value of $2,340.
Grand Larceny
27
24
12.5
498
482
3.3
Grand Larceny Auto
2
0
n/a
6
10
-40.0
HE MADE OFF WITH MAKEUP At 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 5, a man in the Duane Reade at 1111 Third Ave. was observed on closed-circuit TV taking multiple cosmetic items off a shelf and concealing them in a bag before leaving the location Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr
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without paying, police said. The items stolen included thirty-two Maybelline cosmetics valued at $339, thirty-seven Essie cosmetics selling for $391, and thirty-four L’OrÊal cosmetics priced at $489, making a total stolen of $1,219.
INTRUDER CAUGHT ON CAMERA On Monday afternoon, Apr. 29, a 34-year-old woman living on East 85th St. was at work when she got
a phone call from her home security camera, alerting her that an unknown individual was in her apartment. The victim told police that she did not recognize the man and had not authorized anyone to enter her apartment. At the time of the police report, the woman said that no property appeared to have been taken. Police officers spoke with the victim’s neighbors, who said they had observed a man matching the suspect’s description on the roof of the building.
4
Useful Contacts
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POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct
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153 E. 67th St.
212-452-0600
159 E. 85th St. 157 E. 67th St.
311 311
1836 Third Ave.
311
221 E. 75th St.
311
211 E. 43rd St. #1205 244 E. 93rd St.
212-818-0580
State Sen. Jose M. Serrano State Senator Liz Krueger Assembly Member Dan Quart Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright
1916 Park Ave. #202 1850 Second Ave. 360 E. 57th St.
212-828-5829 212-490-9535 212-605-0937
1485 York Ave.
212-288-4607
COMMUNITY BOARD 8 LIBRARIES
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Yorkville 96th Street 67th Street Webster Library
222 E. 79th St. 112 E. 96th St. 328 E. 67th St. 1465 York Ave.
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E. 99th St. & Madison Ave. 550 First Ave. 4 Irving Place
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FIRE FDNY 22 Ladder Co 13 FDNY Engine 39/ Ladder 16 FDNY Engine 53/ Ladder 43 FDNY Engine 44
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BY PETER PEREIRA
MAY 16-22,2019
GLOBE-TROTTING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Fellow New Yorker Gloria Aponte, 76, hasn’t had quite as many years on the road, but she’s still managed to fit in nearly 100 international and domestic trips with the company. “I do a lot of back-to-backs, like I did Vietnam, added an extension to North Vietnam and combined it with Tokyo,” said Aponte. “That’s how it becomes this crazy number. I could be away for a month — It’s more efficient that way.” Clearly, neither woman is afraid of the road less traveled by — in fact, like many modern seniors, they prefer it. “I don’t want to go halfway around the world to a city mimicking New York,” Gloria said. “In Mongolia, you felt that you were back 100 years, like it was caught in a time warp. There were huge expanses with just a few yurts and no people. It felt like you were walking on the moon.”
Women Decision-Makers Tour companies specializ-
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com ing in guided trips for seniors say the demand has never been stronger. “The senior travel market is absolutely booming,” said Jeremy Palmer, Senior Vice President at Tauck Land Journeys, another tour company serving older travelers. “Seniors have this amazing window of 10 or 20 years where they can really do what they want to do — it’s such a wonderful match for traveling. There’s a tremendous amount of freedom because people are more active and living longer.” Palmer notes that women are often the driving force in making travel decisions. Martin Charlton, a trip leader and destination specialist with Canada-based Adventures Abroad, agrees. “It’s definitely more female, probably 60% to 40%,” he said. “I don’t think it’s always a case of women outliving men — often it’s a case of a husband being left at home because he didn’t have an interest in that destination.” More and more, women are following Cohen and Aponte’s example by setting out as solo travelers. Cohen says her pals
in the city think her ambitious itineraries are “totally nuts,” but she finds just the right kind of camaraderie on group tours for older travelers, “There’s always a single woman or two, and everyone is extremely friendly. On Road Scholar, the women are concerned about my welfare — unlike some younger seniors, who think you want to steal their husband!” she said. “On the islands of Scotland, it was so windy, women kept saying to their husbands ‘Hold on to Irma, she’s gonna blow away!’ As soon as you know each other’s names, it’s like one family traveling together.” Aponte agrees that joining a guided tour makes her feel comfortable stepping off the beaten path — a prospect that’s often daunting to the travelers she meets on shorter trips to destinations like Chicago, New Orleans, and San Diego. “I hear them say ‘I can’t wait to go home’ on a seven-day trip and I think, I go away for like six weeks!” she said. “They think I’m Wonder Woman, but what’s there
to be brave? The guides are there to take care of you, they almost take you into bed.” The secret to being a successful traveler is all about mindset, agrees Cohen. “I’m adaptable. I can make myself comfortable wherever I am,” she said. “If you want it to be like at home, stay home. You’re traveling, it’s gonna be different!”
Looking for Authentic Experiences Today, more seniors than ever are embracing the unfamiliar. In fact, many travel professionals note that older travelers are the least likely to be deterred by newsworthy events abroad. “Seniors tend to be the hardiest travelers — if there’s a terrorist event, or Mother Nature strikes, they’re the likeliest to stick to their plans and the quickest to come back,” said Palmer of Tauck. “They’re very determined to travel and it takes an awful lot to put them off.” They also note that seniors today are looking for more authentic experiences than the bus tours and shopping trips of decades past.
“People really want to meet local people and know what’s going on in a destination,” said JoAnne Bell, Senior Vice President at Road Scholar. “There’s less interest in seeing a thousand churches. We visit local restaurants, do home-hosted meals, sometimes we visit schools. We want to bring the fabric of that country to life with our participants.” Some of Cohen’s favorite memories are the conversations she’s had with locals. While lunching with a Russian family in Yekaterinburg, one of the stops on the train tour, she noticed they all sported American sneakers. She found out that the teenage daughter was an exchange student at a high school in Virginia who had developed an ingenious way to find the just right fit for each. “They all send her an outline of their foot with their name on it so she can take it to the store,” Irma said. “They’re all living together in this dacha the size of my living room but everyone had American sneakers. These are things you don’t find out unless
you’re out there somewhere!” Aponte says the joy of travel lasts long after she unpacks her bags. Walking down a familiar city block after a recent trip to the “stans” of Central Asia, a small sign caught her eye. “I was walking on Ninth Avenue by Port Authority, like I must’ve done hundreds of times, and I saw a small restaurant serving Uzbek food right in my own neighborhood,” she said. “Traveling has made me more aware of things. I would’ve never noticed that, and now I plan to visit.” It won’t be long before she hits the road again; for her next trip, Aponte is headed to South Africa. Meanwhile, Cohen is looking forward to following the footsteps of her favorite classical composers through the concert halls of Europe. Her biggest problem these days is finding places she’s never been before, but that hasn’t stopped her from looking. “My granddaughter works at NASA,” she said. “So I asked her if she could get me a trip to the moon!”
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SUMMER IN THE CITY CAMPING Thanks to these cool day camps, city kids don’t have to leave town to have fun BY MICHELLE NAIM
Summer can be a difficult time for parents as they search for something for their kids to do besides play Fortnite for 11 hours straight. But New York City has lots of choices, including actual outdoor activities that don’t involve any electronics at all. Here are a few to consider.
(on request and for an extra fee) early drop-off or late pickup. Sign-ups are done on a week-by-week basis. “The excitement really is contagious — they’re outside and having a blast all day, learning new skills, making friends, and exploring different sports,” said camp director Ahmed Cohen.
Ages 4-16 are welcome. Dates: June 3- August 23 Cost: $500 per week. riversideparknyc.org
Riverside Park Conservancy
Central Park Zoo
Put on your hats and sneakers because Riverside Park is bringing a sports camp to your Upper West Side neighborhood. The camp offers single sport options — soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis, and flag-football — and multisport options that combine two sports per day. The camp also offers scholarship opportunities so that everyone can participate. Perks include an on-site medical trainer and
Educational and fun, what better place to spend summer than alongside the (caged) animals at the Central Park Zoo. The toddler camp, KinderZoo (entering Pre-K4K), Week of Wildlife (entering 1st and 2nd grades), Zoo explorers (3rd-5th grades), Junior Keepers (entering 6th8th grades, and Conservation in Action (entering 9th-12th grades) make this the perfect way to get your child to fall in
The Central Park Zoo has day camp programs designed for kids from Pre-K to 12th grade. Photo: Courtesy Wildlife Conservation Society
love with the (caged) wildlife in New York City. Participants get their own camp T-shirt and small, healthy snacks every day. Spots have been filling up fast, but you can get on the wait-list if you hurry! It’s also never too early to think about next summer.
Dates: Each age division has its own dates Cost: Starts at $175 per week centralparkzoo.com
Chelsea Piers For the past 23 summers, Chelsea Piers has been holding its very own sports camp, and every year they add on more options for campers to enjoy. Kids can dabble in a diff erent sport every week with the camp’s flexible enrollment option, or stick to one and become a star. This year, they have 16 different sports to choose from, including gymnastics, ice skating, and even ninja/parkour, to name a few. Many of the camps have “short week options” so you can sign up for as little as two days a week. The camp coaches work at Chelsea Piers yearround, so they are leaders with an abundance of knowledge.
Age: 3-17 Dates: June 17- August 30 Cost: Starts at $385 a week before May 17 www.chelseapiers.com It’s a summer of sports in Riverside Park, where kids from 4 to 16 can improve their skills in basketball, soccer, baseball and more. Photo: Courtesy Riverside Park Conservancy.
iD Tech Camps at NYU: A Silicon Valley family started this camp in 1999 and it now has 150 different locations around the U.S. It’s a great place for kids to kickstart their tech skills. Based in the NYU neighborhood, the camp offerings include coding, game development, robotics, and design. “Our mission is to create life-changing tech experiences that embolden students to shape the future,” says the company’s website. The camp also provides scholarships to children from underserved schools and communities.
brarians have put together for each age group. There’s also a “Read for the Stars Game,” a game board that children can get from their NYPL librarian to track how many minutes (or hours!) they’ve read this summer. Library branches have a Summer Reading kickoff and closing celebration to celebrate the kids’ reading achievements. They’re also holding an essay contest about “How a book you’ve read has expanded your universe.” The winner gets a free trip to a New York Yankees game.
www.nypl.org Ages: 7-17 Dates: June 24- August 9 Price: Starts at $779 per week. There are a couple spots left, but they’re filling fast! www.idtech.com
NYPL Summer Reading: Best part about this program? It’s free and can be done in the comfort of your home if the summer heat is just too much. Start checking off books from the NYPL reading list that li-
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THE NYPD’S COMPSTAT AT 25 CRIME The groundbreaking crime analysis tool, which changed the way policing works in the city, continues to play a central role in keeping New Yorkers safe BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
From nearly the moment CompStat was introduced in 1994, the New York City Police Department’s cutting-edge crime tracking and performance management system became an instrument of unparalleled influence in law enforcement. CompStat’s implementation here coincided with an unprecedented drop in crime that saw rates fall by half by the end of the decade — a downward trend that continues with the historic low reported crime totals of today. As the NYPD evolved from the broken windows strategy of the 1990s to the modern neighborhood policing mod-
el, CompStat remained as an ever-present tool for judging police effectiveness. CompStat (shorthand for “Compare Statistics”) was hailed as one of the key policing innovations of the era and adopted by departments around the country and world, with varying levels of success. But with its success came critiques that the system’s emphasis on numbers had helped produce unreliable crime data and unfair enforcement tactics. So what is CompStat, and how has it shaped policing in New York City over the last quarter century? At its core, CompStat is a management tool used by the NYPD to identify problems and measure the efficacy of its crime fighting strategies. Central to the approach is the computerized real-time collection and mapping of crime and enforcement data across the city. But contrary to a common misconception, CompStat is more than statistical
analysis software. Regular CompStat meetings at police headquarters bring together precinct commanders, bureau chiefs and other top executives to evaluate crime reduction strategies and results.
No More Silos The objective is to leverage the vast quantities of information gathered under the CompStat umbrella to effectively target police resources and ensure smooth information flow within the massive bureaucracy of the NYPD. “The NYPD is a behemoth organization, and we have these specialized units that have different levers they can pull to address different crimes,” said Deputy Inspector Timothy Malin, the commanding officer of the 20th Precinct on the Upper West Side. “CompStat is the mechanism that ensures everybody with a stake in the game, who has the potential
In the 25 years since CompStat’s introduction, the program’s principles have permeated the NYPD’s organizational structure. Photo: Adrian Owen, via Flickr
Here you are Planning Ahead
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
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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.
UES DEMOLITION DERBY EAST SIDE OBSERVER BY ARLENE KAYATT
Tall story — There goes another Upper East Side block. The southeast corner of East 83rd Street and Third Avenue is losing the six 3- and 4-story buildings that line the avenue to the demolition crews that have become a part of the UES landscape in the East 70s and 80s since the completion and opening of the Second Avenue subway two years ago. While it may have taken over a hundred years (yes, construction of the UES section of the Second Avenue subway got underway sometime in the 1920s), for the subway to open, real estate developers will have their luxury condominiums
up and running in a New York minute. Demolition plans for the 83rd Street site have been filed, the Real Deal and Patch report. The buildings coming to First Avenue (between 79th-80th, northeast, and between 85th86th, southwest) were scheduled for discussion at the Community Board 8 meeting on May 14th, where representatives of Extell Development were expected to attend. If the past is any prologue, the neighborhood can look forward to the commercial class that’s replacing small businesses — from the Equinoxes to the TD Banks to the Morton Williams’s et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And maybe a barber shop (they’ve made a comeback) and a gourmet
coffee shop/patisserie. Definitely not a Glaser’s kind of bakery. That’s so yesteryear. Reader readback — In a recent column I noted that Duane Reade on East 87th Street and Third Avenue was adding sales tax to the price of newspapers. A reader posted on my Facebook page asking,”Why WOULDN’T a newspaper get taxed? Books, magazines ... they all get taxed. Why would a newspaper be different?” They further inferred, in a separate post, about the pettiness of caring about paying maybe “17 cents” in tax. To which I say: First, newsprint is tax exempt in New York. Second, so vendors should not be charging tax. Third, some might say that ‘17 cents is 17 cents,’ but if you buy more than one newspaper on a daily basis — like the NY Times for $3, the Wall Street Journal for $3, the Daily News at $1.50, the New
MOTHERS AND MARTYRS BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL
When it comes to NYC mothers, people like to talk about Tiger Moms, Helicopters, and now thanks to the college admissions scandal, Snowplows. Perhaps it’s time to address the mothers who don’t have an official catchphrase, but can be described with two words: martyrdom and self-neglect. I just read “The Overdue Life Of Amy Byler,” by Kelly Harms, and it reminded me of my early days of competitive parenthood when I believed that the only way I could hold my own on the UES was by overlooking myself and thinking of my son and daughter 24/7. “Amy” is a single mother from Pennsylvania whose estranged husband resurfaces after four years and wants to reconnect with his children by taking them for the entire summer. Baffled as to what to do with her newfound freedom, Amy happens upon a conference for professional
librarians in Manhattan, with the added bonus of free room and board thanks to her former college roommate Talia, a glossy magazine editor in chief. In exchange for her hospitality, Talia turns Amy’s temporary vacay from her life into a magazine article, giving her friend a hair/makeup/ wardrobe makeover that also includes a diet and exercise regimen. She coins the hashtag Momspringa, (a variation on Rumspringa, when Amish youth live in the city free of their church’s rules), and online teasers citing Amy’s transformation begin to trend. The upshot: Amy confesses that after having time for friends and herself, getting positive attention from men, as well as new, better fitting bras, “Parts of me that were asleep for far too long are starting to wake up.” Amy never wants to go back to her old life. That’s not to say she doesn’t want to go back to caring for her family in Pennsylvania; she just
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doesn’t want to return to living a self-forgetting life. Not only was I one of those “them first, me last” mothers, but I was sanctimonious about it, thinking that the ones who remained “divalicious” were selfish because, after all, if you took time for yourself, you took time away from your kids. I was the mom at the park in the
York Post at $1, the Washington Post for $3 — that comes to $11.50 a day. Tax is over 8 percent, so it’s a considerable multiple of “17 cents” to pay for tax-exempt newsprint five days a week. And that doesn’t include weekend editions, which cost considerably more. While reading online is always an option, some people like reading both print and digital versions, and shouldn’t be punished because there’s newsprint’s in their DNA. Oh, I followed up with Duane Reade to find out why they sometimes taxed newspapers and sometimes didn’t. Response was that there were several registers for payment at Duane Reade and one of them was a Walgreen’s register which was programmed to include tax for newspapers. Cheaper to stick to the DR registers. Looks familiar — Several restaurants, when their leases run out or
overalls looking like a farmer about to harvest the season’s crop, shaking my head at the glamorous mom, wondering, “Who comes to m the t playground in luxury resortworthy shorts and a top? Is that w woman actually wearing Aaron w Basha jewelry by the sandbox?” B As my children got older and their sschedules got heavier, my wardrobe actually devolved from jeans ro to sweatpants, which were more comfortable for running all over the co place. (I spent over a decade out of pl breath — another sign of my dedicabr tion.) What difference did it make? I ti wasn’t going to a ball, only drop off w and pick up, the supermarket, the an basketball game — one of many afba ter-school activities. Oh, and a basete ball cap completed my ensemble. ba Unlike Amy, I did not need a threemonth respite to see the error of my self-disregarding ways. When my son was in seventh grade, my husband and I were invited to a black tie event. It had been a long while since I’d gone anywhere fancy, so I made a hair appointment for a much-needed trim and blowout. Right from there I headed to school for pick up.
the rent’s just too damn high, find themselves relocating. So Effy’s, a Mediterranean restaurant which was located on Third Avenue in the 90s, moved several years ago (the old location is still empty) to 100th Street and Lexington Avenue. They now have another restaurant on the northeast side of Second Avenue and East 72nd Street. Then there’s Pig Heaven, a forever neighborhood favorite which was on Second Avenue in the 80s and has now relocated to Third Avenue in the 80s. And Subway Inn, with its iconic sign, which was opposite Bloomingdale’s on East 60th Street, west of Lexington Avenue, now stands proudly — sign and all — at the entrance to the Ed Koch Bridge on East 60th Street. Good to have old places in new spaces. And Koch must be kvelling with all the attention “his” congestion pricing neighborhood is getting these days. Keeps him out there.
Other moms, teachers and even the principal did a double take. One person actually remarked, “I had no idea what your hair looked like let alone that it was so beautiful.” Someone else cut right to the chase and asked why, given how pretty I was, did I purposely make myself look so frumpy. After seeing myself in the salon’s mirror, I had wondered that myself. What had I gained by ignoring myself? Would the homework really have not gotten done or dinner not gotten made or would the kids have ever missed an after school sport or doctor visit, if I had taken a few minutes to pick out a more fashionable outfit, put on makeup, and style my hair? That day was a game-changer for me and, yes, I do wish I would have had the revelation sooner. Like Amy, my #momspringa moment elevated my self-esteem and made me more pleasant, which turned me from a good mother into a better one to be around. Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the NYC mom-empowerment novel, “Back to Work She Goes.”
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MAY 16-22,2019
WOMEN WARRIORS AT THE INTREPID MILITARY Female fighter pilots — and other U.S. Air Force personnel — talk about their roles and challenges BY LEIDA SNOW
We may have heard about women warriors, but it’s still a jolt to meet the nation’s ďŹ rst female ďŹ ghter pilot, Brigadier General Jeannie Leavitt. With her upswept hair and bangs, and her warm smile, Leavitt is disarming. But her takecontrol voice assures that you would comfortably put your life in her hands. The central character in the film “Captain Marvelâ€? is loosely based on her. Leavitt said she sees the ďŹ lm as “an opportunity to inspire.â€? I met Leavitt at AFCON, the first media outreach by the U.S. Air Force (AF) not held at the Pentagon. The all-day event was held on the former aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, now a floating museum berthed on the Hudson River. Leavitt said she finished ďŹ rst in her training class but was refused ďŹ ghter pilot status because of her gender. When the policy changed in 1993 she was ready. Now, she said: “The AF wants diversity. We don’t have it. There are still too few women and minorities.â€? Among other things, Leavitt explained, it’s taken time for the AF to make accommodations to the female form. Uniforms had to be redesigned, as did vests and helmets. Adjustments had to be made for female-related medical issues and for pregnancies. The AF wants women to know that they can have families and still have rewarding careers. Lieutenant Colonel Kristin Hubbard is Commander, 310th Fighter Squadron. She is married and has two children. What does it take to be a ďŹ ghter pilot? An aptitude for ying, of course, plus some technical degree you might have and
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The author (right) with Lieutenant Colonal Kristin Hubbard. Photo: Lou Sepersky
the ability to ace the qualiďŹ cation test. Beyond all that, Hubbard pointed to grit and determination, a willingness to fail and a recognition of the importance of teamwork. Hubbard has a “call signâ€? on her name tag. She’s known as Kristin “Motherâ€? Hubbard. Captain Kristin Wolfe’s call sign is “Beo,â€? and Captain Laney Schol’s is “Rogue.â€? The women laughed trying to explain about the call signs. “They’re given when you do something dumb in training,â€? the ďŹ ghter pilot known as Rogue said. Maybe. But they’re worn with pride. Most important, according to “Motherâ€? Hubbard, “the airplane doesn’t know the gender of the pilot.â€?
Nationwide Concerns The timing of the U.S. Air Force visit to New York wasn’t ideal. It was held on the same day that news reports shouted a 50 percent increase in assaults on women in uniform. Asked about the Pentagon report, Leavitt said the AF is working to ensure “a culture of dignity and respect.� Leavitt said she agreed with the policy that leaves reports of sexual abuse within the chain of command. Critics of that policy, including some in Congress, are pushing for legislation that would create an independent prosecutor within the AF. Brigadier General Edward Thomas acknowledged that the military has a problem. However, he pointed to the #MeToo
movement as revealing a nationwide concern that exists from Hollywood to our universities. At every stage of AFCOM, we were presented with dedicated personnel. The AF made a point of showing how the service cares for its own. Captain Joseph Siler’s story was particularly poignant. Siler “handledâ€? the constant stress of intelligence work for several years. Then, after volunteering, he “handledâ€? his deployment to Afghanistan as the Distributed Ground Operations Liaison to a reconnaissance squadron. It was after he came home that the nightmares began. He conďŹ ded in stark terms about the dark place he went to and how close he’d come to suicide. Years ago, AF personnel like Siler would have been a medical-out, discharged from the service for medical reasons. Now the AF has “resilience, recovery and redemptionâ€? plans for men and women like Siler, so they can return to work. Captain Siler currently serves as Chief of Intelligence Training, 492nd Special Operations Support Squadron. One of the AFCON panels featured computer-based printing called additive manufacturing (AM). Replacement parts that would cost thousands of dollars can be produced at vastly lower cost. AM uses high-grade powdered metals and creates solid objects from the dust particles. There is little waste, and excess powder can be reused. Bradley Rothenberg is founder of a startup in downtown Manhattan that engineers software for AM. He joined a General Electric executive and a Dayton University researcher, to discuss the possibilities. They said that Holland is building a bridge with AM technology. While the AF is proud of supporting forces on the ground, its mission is larger than that. The day of interactions with Air Force personnel more than proved the point.
NEIGHBORHOOD’S BEST To place an ad in this directory, Call Douglas at 212-868-0190 ext. 352.
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MAY 16-22,2019
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NORTHERN MANHATTAN STUDY OF METABOLISM AND MIND
NOMEM The purpose of NOMEM is to learn more about how blood sugar and other factors relate to the brain and mental abilities of persons living in Northern Manhattan. We are seeking your help to conduct this study. You are eligible to participate if you: x Live in Manhattan or the Bronx x Are between 60 and 69 years of age x Are able to do an MRI and a PET scan of the brain Participation will include these activities: 1. Questionnaires 2. Blood tests 3. A brain MRI 4. A brain PET scan with contrast We will compensate your time for participating in these 4 activities with $350. We will also give you the results of important blood tests.
PLEASE CONTACT US @ 212-305-4126, 646-737-4370, LS960@CUMC.COLUMBIA.EDU
Calendar NYCNOW
Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com
EDITOR’S PICK
May 16 - Sep 22 NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC & WARNER BROS. PRESENT BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY II The New York Philharmonic 10 Lincoln Center Plaza 8:00 p.m. $60 nyphil.org 212-875-5656 Classical music gets a fun twist with the Wascally Wabbit and friends. Enjoy classic Looney Tunes projected on the big screen, with their original scores performed live by the Philharmonic. Created by George Daugherty & David Ka Lik Wong. Family-friendly. Open to everyone ages 4 and up.
Thu 16 FILM - SYLVIA SCARLETT (1935) ► 96th St Library 112 East 96th St 2:00 p.m. Free The story of a free-spirited young woman, played by Katherine Hepburn, who wants to run away with her con artist father to France, but needs to pretend to be a boy to do it. nypl.org 212-289-0908
Fri 17 GUTS AND MARROW 92Y 1395 Lexington Ave Noon $15 Choreographer Anna Sperber presents new work and is joined by dance makers Jessica Cook, Angie Pittman and Molly Poerstel, working in experimental forms, who situate mystery, animality and aggression within the feminine, and who wrestle with somatic experience and the fleshy reality of embodiment. 92y.org 212-415-5500
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
MAY 16-22,2019
Sat 18
Sun 19
Tue 21
▲ HOMECOMING: A HIP-HOP CARDIO EXPERIENCE
LOOPHOLE OF RETREAT FILM PROGRAM
TALK: 1990S PRAGUE THROUGH AMERICAN EYES
The Joan Weill Center for Dance 405 West 55th St 7:30 p.m. $25 Matthew Johnson Harris, of Ailey Extension, hosts an epic, 90-minute HOMECOMING: A Hip-Hop Cardio Experience workshop in celebration of Beyoncé’s latest album. Students of all dance and fitness levels will get their heart rate up and tone the body by switching from dynamic to slow controlled movements, all infused with hip-hop swag. aileyextension.com 212-405-9000
The Guggenheim 1071 Fifth Ave 3:00 p.m. Free with Museum Admission This film program features the premieres of a new iteration of Simone Leigh’s video work Untitled (M*A*S*H) (2018–19) and two shorts directed by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich. guggenheim.org 212-423-3500
Bohemian National Hall 321 East 73rd St 7:00 p.m. Free The neuroscientist and entrepreneur Andre Fenton, the speechwriter and strategic communications adviser for IBM Rob Lewis, and Maura Griffin, co-founder of The Globe Bookstore & Coffeehouse and a former Prague Post reporter, will share their experience of living in Prague in the years that followed the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Moderated by Vera Dvorak. The talk is followed by Q&A and a light reception. bohemianbenevolent.org 646-422-3300
Mon 20 TBA Library for the Performing Arts 40 Lincoln Center Plaza 6:00 p.m. Free A concert of new music by Broadway composers and lyricists, sung by Broadway vocalists. Produced and directed by John Znidarsic. nypl.org 917-275-6975
Wed 22 ◄ SUNRISE YOGA WALK Central Park 8:00 a.m. $39 This yoga-inspired workout combines a series of power walks through Central Park’s most serene locations, with restorative yoga poses and stretches at each stop. You’ll walk away feeling refreshed, energized, and ready to take on the day that lies ahead. centralpark.com 212-310-6600
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A 20TH CENTURY GIANT Lincoln Kirstein, cultural arbiter and co-founder of the New York City Ballet, is the subject of a sprawling show at MoMA, an institution he helped build BY VAL CASTRONOVO
Like Abraham Lincoln, after whom he was named, Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996) was a tall, imposing figure, “a giant sequoia,” as dance critic Arlene Croce wrote in his obituary. Photographer Walker Evans, a friend, captured the force of his personality and intellect when he commented, “He invaded you; you either had to
throw him out or listen to him ... [he had] a really penetrating intelligence about an articulation of all esthetic matters and their contemporary applications.” Indeed, Kirstein considered all the arts his domain, with dance, painting, sculpture, drawing, writing/editing, poetry and film his pets. He leveraged his wealthy pedigree (his father was a partner in Filene’s Department Store), his Harvard education (class of 1930) and his elite social and professional circle (he was part of an influential network of queer artists, writers and dancers) to support and
Paul Cadmus (American, 1904–1999). Set design for the ballet “Filling Station.” 1937. Cut-and-pasted paper, gouache, and pencil on paper. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1941. © 2018 Estate of Paul Cadmus
promote a dizzying array of cultural ventures in the last century. His multi-disciplinary approach resonates especially today, now that MoMA is expanding and re-thinking the organization of its galleries, which will include a
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performance space. Says senior curator Jodi Hauptman: “Sometimes the best way to look forward is to look back, and to dig into moments of our history when we were doing interesting work around the connections between the visual and the performing arts. Lincoln Kirstein offers a kind of lens through which we could look at this earlier period at the Museum and understand his ambition for dance to play a key role.” The exhibit, “Lincoln Kirstein’s Modern,” which runs through June 15, includes some 300 works from MoMA’s collection and focuses on Kirstein’s creative output and aspirations in the 1930s and 1940s. He may be best known for collaborating with Russian-born choreographer George Balanchine to establish the School of American Ballet in 1934 and the New York City Ballet in 1948. But he was also an ardent champion of literature, the fine arts, photography and cinema, from a young age.
A Man and a Museum Upon graduation from Harvard, where he co-founded a literary journal and a contemporary arts society, Kirstein turned his considerable energies to the development of the collection at the newly opened MoMA. He served on the Museum’s junior advisory committee and other subcommittees, indefatigably pitching ideas
for exhibits, writing catalog text, donating and acquiring new works for the collection and jump-starting the “Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art” (1933-1963) and “Dance Index” (1942-1948). He also established the now-gone Dance Archives and Dance and Theatre Design department, all the while tending to performance ventures such as Ballet Caravan, a touring group he formed in 1936 to promote the work of American choreographers and set designers. Colorful drawings of costumes and sets for such quintessentially American works as “Filling Station” (1937), “Pocahontas” (c. 1936) and “Billy the Kid” (1938) are on view, with snippets of dances projected on big screens. Associate curator Samantha Friedman notes the importance of American painter Paul Cadmus’s designs for “Filling Station”: “In those designs you see realized Lincoln’s desire to create a uniquely American ballet based on American themes. You have the setting of the gas station as a place where people of all types and social classes come together, but then you get the eroticized male body in a kind of transparent jumpsuit that Mac, the gas station attendant, is wearing. They’re beautiful drawings that embody a lot of what Lincoln was after.”
Devotion to American Themes Kirstein’s intense commitment to creative pursuits outside the performing arts, however — like photography and painting — is one of this show’s many revelations. In 1931, he persuaded Walker Evans to join him and a poet friend on a road trip through New England and New York to photograph Victorian houses for a (never-realized) book. Kirstein donated the images to MoMA, where they became grist for the Museum’s first presentation of the work of a single photographer in 1933, “Walker Evans: Photographs of Nineteenth-Century Houses.” As the catalog’s meticu-
Walker Evans (American, 1903– 1975). “Lincoln Kirstein.” c. 1931. Gelatin silver print. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist. © 2018 Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
lous time line records, Kirstein wrote in his diary: “At least a part of my life consists in filling up the ledger of the indigenous past ...” Kirstein’s devotion to American themes extended to his taste in painting, drawing and sculpture. He promoted realist and magic realist works, favoring figuration and painterly precision over abstraction. Hauptman elaborates: “In his version of the modern, it’s an art scaled to the human. And one of the reasons may be because he is really interested in dance and what the body can do.” When he was named consultant on Latin American Art for MoMA in 1942, he traveled to South America to purchase works for the collection. Argentine artist Antonio Berni’s “New Chicago Athletic Club” (1937) epitomizes Kirstein’s preference for hyper-real art with social relevance. Says Hauptman: “The painting gets to a question that the exhibition raises around what it means to be ‘American,’ and proposes links across the hemisphere, a panAmericanism. The painting shows a team of multi-ethnic kids joining together to play their favorite sport. It is a ragtag group — some are dressed better than others, some have their soccer boots and others are barefoot — so Berni shows us connections across social class as well.” Kirstein’s idea of the “modern,” which prizes representation, social content and continuity with tradition, allows another way to think about modern art.
MAY 16-22,2019
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Sea Dog Theater presents this timely world premiere inspired by real-life immigration conflicts in this country.
An autobiographical story of perseverance and hope from a woman who found her marriage, family, and values tested by the unthinkable.
The Public’s new drama offers a portrait of the Athenian philosopher, a complicated man who changed how the world thought.
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In Roundabout’s world premiere, Obie Award winner April Matthis stars as the first female baseball player to go pro in the Negro Leagues.
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Sean O’Casey’s 1924 drama offers a devastating portrait of wasted potential in a Dublin torn apart by the chaos of the Irish Civil War.
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Sean O’Casey’s 1926 drama centers on a young woman fighting to keep her family afloat, as Ireland stands on the brink of revolution.
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Ars Nova presents a return engagement of this taboo-smashing comedy that ravages American tropes about race, sex, and power politics.
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This bare bones, fast-paced, and largely comic staging of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of dual identity is performed by only two actors.
Get ready for a journey to the red planet in this sexy new comedy with a psychedelic twist.
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THE BARROW GROUP THEATRE - 312 W 36TH ST KEY:
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MAY 16-22,2019
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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS MAY 1 - 7, 2018 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml. Session 73
1359 1 Avenue
A
Ralph’s Coffee
888 Madison Ave
A
Little Vincent’s Pizza
1399 2nd Ave
Grade Pending (20) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.
Le Reveil Coffee Shop
1322 2nd Ave
Grade Pending (26) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.
The New Amity Restaurant 1134 Madison Avenue A Demarchelier Restaurant
50 East 86 Street
A
Caffe Grazie
26 East 84 Street
A
Taco Today
1659 1st Ave
Grade Pending (25) 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. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
The Outer Reach, by Vincent Di Fate. Courtesy of The Society of Illustrators
VISIONS OF OTHER WORLDS EXHIBITIONS The extraordinary power of the human imagination is on display in “Masters of the Fantastic,” an exhibit organized by The Society of Illustrators
Gotham Pizza
1667 1 Avenue
A
Emack & Bolios
1564 1 Avenue
A
Bagel Bobs on York
1641 York Ave
A
BY VIRGE RANDALL
H & H Midtown Bagels East 1551 2 Avenue
A
Shake Shack
152 East 86 Street
A
The Supply House
1647 2 Avenue
A
The Wright / Cafe at the Guggenheim
1071 5 Avenue
A
Dig Inn
1297 Lexington Ave
A
Thais New York
1750 2nd Ave
Grade Pending (25) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/ sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Healthy Living 106 (Herbalife)
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Just in time for the final season of “Game of Thrones,” The Society of Illustrators, that vest-pocket charmer on East 63rd Street, a mere Prada purse’s throw from Bloomingdale’s, is hosting “Masters of the Fantastic,” a comprehensive show about sci-fi and fantasy. Open until June 8, this exhibit of some 100 pieces of art and ephemera is an eye-opening spin through the human (and inhuman) imagination. And that’s exactly the point of the show, according to its curator, Vincent Di Fate, a collector and artist of 50 years’
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tenure. (His detailed imaginings of technology earned a commission from the government to conceptualize body armor for the military, and he also illustrated the first fantasy story by George R.R. Martin in Analog magazine.)
Things That Don’t Exist The uniting principle of the show is on display at the exhibit entrance. On one side is a huge poster of Interstellar by John C. Berkey, artist of the Star Wars Trilogy posters. Facing it is an oil painting by narrative artist Donato Giancola, of his most treasured work, “The Hobbit Expulsion” of Lord of the Rings. From space technology to magic, plus aliens, monsters, and robots, what unites them all, Di Fate said, is “things that don’t exist except in the mind or eye of the illustrator.” A lot of people don’t get the difference between sci-fi and
The Hobbit: Expulsion, by Donato Giancola. Courtesy of The Society of Illustrators
fantasy, he added, “TV Guide still lists Dracula as sci-fi!” The show is organized into five categories: Strange Places and Fabulous Lands; Fantastic Creatures; Perilous Journeys; Humanoids; and Powers of Mind. The art was created for book and magazine covers, stories and movie posters. Some pieces are concept works for magazines and movies.
The Evolution of a Genre The treatments are as varied as the subjects themselves. In Powers of Mind, you’ll see two different witches: an impressionistic painting of a gloating Wicked Witch of the West, and Peter de Seve’s playful New Yorker cover of a black kitten in a pet store window catching the eye of a witch astride a broom. Nearby is a Victorian vision of possession in “Mephisto,” a detailed turn-of-the-century pen and ink work by Joseph Clement Coll, and “The People: No Different Flesh” a 1969 oil painting by Hector Guarrido of a spaceship contacting a child. “We were looking for a good historical balance,” said Di Fate, “to show how the genre developed and where it is now.” He points to the show’s biggest “gets:” a delicate watercolor by 19th century artist George Cruikshank and a pen and ink work by Winsor McCay of the early 20th century.
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Despair, by Donato Giancola. Courtesy of The Society of Illustrators
The power of the human imagination, the artists’ extraordinarily detailed visions, is clearest in Strange Places and Lands, and Perilous Journeys, which are both dominated by space technology. Di Fate’s “Starfire” is a fully realized rocket ship in the process of landing. Berkey’s “Major Operation” depicts an orbiting space station surrounded by smaller vehicles. It takes a moment to notice the Red Cross on it’s top — it’s a space hospital, and the vehicles around it are ambulances.
A Spectrum of Emotions People of a less technical bent will enjoy Fantastic Creatures, which features dragons and aliens spiced with a helping of cheesecake. “Onslaught of the Druid
Girls” is a classic pulp magazine cover — a busty, topless blonde astride a flying griffin, waving like Marilyn Monroe arriving at a USO show. In “Morning Envoy,” by Boris Vallejo, another busty blonde with ridiculously skimpy armor rides another beast, while nearby, a brunette in distress is the contribution of Julie Bell, Vallejo’s wife. (This show makes clear that women work in this genre as well). At the other end of the emotional spectrum, Giancola’s work in Humanoids features the unexpectedly moving “Despair,” in which a woman consoles a dejected robot with her embrace. Its slumped posture, cold, shiny finish and gleaming brass joints contrast with the warm glow of the woman’s skin and hair. It is remarkably poignant, almost a high-tech
Pieta. Although two years in the making, the final version of the show was put together in about two months due to a last minute opening in the Society’s exhibition calendar. Di Fate calls the timing with the “Game of Thrones” final season “a lucky coincidence,’ since the series is the latest and largest expansion of interest in the fantasy genre. Illustrators are busier than ever, he pointed out. “The opportunities for artists are changing, and this show reveals that as well,” Di Fate said, “Look magazine and the Saturday Evening Post aren’t around, but there are movies, and video games. CGI wouldn’t be possible without illustrators to imagine the settings and the characters.”
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Business
Ask a Broker
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OUR FRIEND WANTS TO BE OUR BROKER BY ANDREW KRAMER
One of our friends, who also lives in our building, is a broker and would very much like to list our place when we put it on the market. We like her, but she works for a small firm and we question if she’s the right choice. We’ve interviewed a few other brokers and there’s one who made a great impression on us. We’re concerned if we go with him it will not fare well with our friend. What’s the best way to handle this? Politics don’t only exist at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When it comes to real estate, it can hit home regardless of your address. Everyone knows a broker or two, and you don’t want to spoil a friendship based on who you hire. For example, if things aren’t going well with your sale, it’s hard to yell or fire a friend. However you don’t want to put an end to a friendship by going with someone else. If this is causing you sleepless nights, the best advice I can offer is hire both agents (a.k.a. a ‘co-exclusive’) and let them share in listing your home. This will be a winwin for everyone. You’ll keep your friendship on good footing while getting the best exposure for your property. Both brokers will also share the commission that comes their way and half of something is certainly better than the alternative! Once it’s sold you can all go out to dinner to celebrate.
Photo: Steven Strasser
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BUYERS AND SELLERS REAL ESTATE Though they represent opposite sides in a negotiation, they want the same thing — but for very different reasons BY FREDERICK W. PETERS
Buyers feel excited. Sellers feel nostalgic. Buyers look ahead. Sellers look back. These differences help to explain the profoundly different psychologies with which buyers and sellers approach both a marketplace and a negotiation. Buyers and sellers not only represent opposite sides in the negotiation equation, but also experience the tugs of the give and take in very different ways. Agents spend their professional lives in the middle of this equation, trying to get the two sides to balance out so the problem can be solved. In order to succeed with this delicate task, agents must first manage the profoundly different motivations which animate their principals.
Buyers feel excited. It’s a truism of real estate markets that in a rising market, buyers adjust quickly, while in a declining market, sellers adjust slowly. Why? Part of it is as simple as the laws of supply and demand. In a rising market, demand tends to exceed supply; under these circumstances auction fever sets in. Most people instinctively value something more if someone else want it too. But other factors also impact buyer behavior. A home purchase signals an investment in the future, a commitment to looking ahead. Most buyers experience this as energizing and exciting. In that frame of mind, caught up by the scarcity of supply, the possible interest of other bidders, and their own excitement as they visualize themselves in the property during the months and years ahead, buyers may well stretch to secure the home. Sellers feel nostalgic. Unless the property under consideration has served only as an investment, chances are the seller or his/her family have lived there. This cre-
ates an entirely different dynamic for the seller than that experienced by a buyer. The seller is likely to imbue the property with excessive value precisely BECAUSE it belongs to him. He will detail to his broker the things which make it better than other similar properties available for sale and feel offended if the agent disagrees. His view of the property, often unrealistically, revolves around his memories of the role the home has played in family life and the events which he has experienced there over the years. Just as the buyer’s excitement centers around the future, the seller’s attachment tends to revolve around the past. Sellers’ reluctance to reduce prices in a descending market reflects the words of the famous tune from “Cabaret,” — “If You Could See Her Through My Eyes.” If you understood how much this place means to me, you would never devalue it this way! Understanding these two perspectives and their ramifications marks one of the areas where
agents become indispensable to facilitating a transaction. In an up market, we try to apply some brakes to buyer enthusiasm to make sure they think through all sides a decision before impulsively leaping ahead. At the same time, we remind sellers that the mauve bedroom which Mom loved so much may not translate for a stranger entering the property and looking to imagine their own life in it. And in a down market, we remind the buyers that a home purchase is like a marriage: you don’t go into it with a two year window and you have to envision the life your family will enjoy there. At the same time we remind sellers that lowering the price to reflect changed market conditions doesn’t devalue them or their history in the home. When both parties can be brought to the present moment, blending the past experiences of one side with the future hopes of the other, that is the locus of consummated transactions. Frederick W. Peters is Chief Executive Officer of Warburg Realty Partnership.
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COMPSTAT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 to affect violence, is doing what they need to be doing and communicating with each other.� John Eterno, a professor at Molloy College and former NYPD captain who has studied CompStat extensively, said the system’s role as a conduit for information is one of its main positive features. “It helps defeat what we call the silo effect, where each of the bureaus in the department were operating separately and distinctly,� Eterno said. “CompStat meetings helped bring together all of the various bureaus and even other agencies which were totally working in the blind from one another before CompStat began.�
Priorities and Best Practices Among CompStat’s calling cards is an aggressive focus on reducing seven major index crimes — murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto. Commanding officers are held strictly accountable for re-
sults within their precincts at famously intense CompStat meetings, where they must answer to their superiors. “You’re speaking in front of a room in front of all your peers and you’re being questioned directly by the highest-ranking people in the shop,� Malin said. “It’s upper management talking to middle management in front of a room loaded with peers assessing the quality of investigations and noting deficiencies and telling you to improve.� Though the experience can at times be unpleasant for commanders with unsatisfactory results or responses, CompStat meetings engender a clear sense throughout the department of priorities and best practices. “The reason we’re all in the room is so everyone knows what the top brass expects, and then you take that back to your command and apply it to your own issues,� Malin said.
A Crime Prevention Tool Though some of its innovations may now seem like common sense, when it was introduced 25 years ago CompStat represented a paradigm shift
CompStat is definitely much smarter now than it’s ever been.� 20th Precinct Commander Timothy Malin within the context of a broader effort to reorient policing toward crime prevention. “The idea of calling the precinct commander and saying, ‘This is your precinct, these are the crimes that are happening, what are you doing about it?’ — it sounds obvious today, but it really hadn’t been done for at least 30 years and perhaps even longer,� said Peter Moskos, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, whose current research is focused on the New York City crime drop of the 1990s. Before CompStat, crime reports were compiled on a quarterly basis and statistics were already months out-ofdate by the time they reached commanders’ desks. In contrast, he information gathered under CompStat could
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be put to use immediately. Crucially, CompStat was not itself intrinsically linked to any particular policing philosophy or tactic, and gave commanders latitude to address problems and shoulder responsibility for the results. “CompStat did not provide solutions,� Moskos said. “It just said, ‘You’re smart people. You’re executives here. Figure it out.’ And those that did rose in the ranks and survived and those that didn’t got pushed back.�
Negative Pressures But according to some observers, CompStat’s relentless focus on producing ever lower crime figures has also produced unintended side-effects. “There’s so much pressure on commanders to show up at CompStat meetings and say crime is going down,� Eterno said. “The unsaid message is that otherwise your career is going to be stunted.� Eterno’s research with Professor Eli Silverman of John Jay College has focused on crime data manipulation within the NYPD — “juking the stats,� in police parlance — which he says became
commonplace as the directive to post consistent crime drops became a political imperative. “When CompStat started in 1994, a lot of the pressures were absolutely necessary because the department needed a culture shift,â€? Eterno said. “There was a lack of accountability and a true need to really clamp down on things. But as time went on, the pressure of CompStat continued to get ratcheted up. It never eased.â€? “We’re ďŹ nding that the pressures are too much and that the officers are gaming the system to make themselves look better,â€? Eterno continued, noting that the phenomenon is present not just in New York but in other CompStat departments throughout the U. S. and the world. “What’s happening is that the words on the reports are being changed to downgrade what actually is occurring so that it’s not classified as an index crime,â€? Eterno said. “Instead of taking a report as a burglary, in many precincts they’re taking them as criminal trespass and larceny. In this way, the crime is broken down into its constituent
parts and it’s no longer an index crime.â€? CompStat also contributed to the rise of stop-and-frisk in the 2000s. “If crime was up in your precinct they would ask ‘What are you doing about it?’ And for a good ďŹ ve to ten years the answer was ‘stops are up,’â€? Moskos said. The very fact that stops were being counted led to their being utilized as an indicator of productivity — a case of the tail wagging the dog that led to excessive use of the tactic and blowback from the public that culminated in a class action civil rights lawsuit and the appointment of an independent monitor in 2013 to oversee reform efforts.
A Case Study Approach In recent years, Malin said, CompStat has moved away from its former focus on arrest and stop totals and toward a more case-driven approach. “It’s different now,� he said. “They really focus on the quality of investigations, as opposed to the amount of enforcement being done.� CompStat meetings now roughly resemble the case-
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study learning method used in top business schools. NYPD executives identify important individual cases to highlight — usually (but not always) related to violent crime — then call on precinct commanders to review their actions and thought process to ensure all relevant actors are sharing information and working together toward solutions. “CompStat is definitely much smarter now than it’s ever been,� Malin said. The program’s longevity is a testament to its adaptability in the face of evolving departmental philosophies and strategies. “It all comes down to good leadership,� Moskos said. “If you have good leadership it works, and if you don’t it kind of goes haywire. Other cities have tried to do this and CompStat alone isn’t enough, just to say that we’re going to have a weekly meeting and keep track of crime statistics. If you don’t have leadership, it all fails.�
VISION ZERO CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 of 10 street safety elements included in each major street design project undertaken by the agency. Features the DOT would be required to consider include ADA-accessibility, protected bike lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian islands, wide sidewalks and traffic signals with exclusive intervals for pedestrian crossing. The legislation stops short of requiring the city to install any measures, but would require DOT to put forth an explanation whenever a design element is not included on a given street. “The bill is fairly modest in what it directs the city to do, but the thinking is that it’s an opportunity for the public to get insight into the street design decisions that are made and what priorities go into them in a much easier way than through the typical community board
process,� said Marco Conner, interim director of the safe streets advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. “We’re very hopeful that public scrutiny will pressure the city to prioritize what it should.� 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.
“It Shouldn’t Be a Heavy Lift� As drafted, the checklist bill would only apply to redesign projects on major arterial streets — which would likely include most avenues and two-way crosstown streets in Manhattan but not most one-way crosstown streets. Transportation Alternatives is advocating for lawmakers to expand the legislation’s scope by forcing DOT to apply the checklist any time it repaves a given length of any street.
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legislation and that the bill’s increased reporting requirements “would add costs and delay to the delivery of Vision Zero projects and other mobility projects by consuming project staff time at their completion.� “If that’s the case, then it shouldn’t be a heavy lift for them,� Conner said. “All we ask for is public insight into their process, which shouldn’t be too much to ask for.� The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio has now taken
a slightly more conciliatory approach in the face of what is likely to be a veto-proof legislative majority (43 of the Council’s 51 members have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill). In an interview last week on WNYC, de Blasio said he and the Council have “a lot of agreement on the basics,â€? but his administration has “concerns about some of the speciďŹ cs of the bill.â€? The mayor declined to discuss the speciďŹ c elements of the bill that he objects to.
Frank E. Campbell – The Funeral Chapel Hosts Annual Bus Trip to Calverton National Cemetery As the seasons change and Memorial Day approaches, we ďŹ nd ourselves thinking about the men and women who are serving our country around the world. We also remember those who gave of themselves when our freedom was threatened, many of whom made the ultimate sacriďŹ ce on behalf of our nation. We here at Frank E. Campbell, “The Funeral Chapelâ€? are sponsoring a trip to Calverton National Cemetery for those individuals who do not get an opportunity to visit their loved one who served our country.
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“We also want to see stronger language around the explanation that the DOT is required to make so that they can’t just make a generic explanation every time that says a given solution is not feasible and leaves it at that,� Conner said. The DOT submitted testimony to the Council last year in opposition to the bill. Margaret Forgione, the agency’s chief operations officer, said that the DOT’s existing design process already accomplishes the goals of the
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This FREE trip will take place on Wednesday, May 29, 2019. The bus will leave from 81st Street and Madison Avenue at 8:30 am and will return approximately 4:30 pm. A continental breakfast will be served at Frank E. Campbell between 7:30 am – 8:15 am. A box lunch will be provided on the bus at Calverton National Cemetery. If you are interested in joining us, please call 212-288-3500 by May 24, 2019, to reserve your place. Please have your section and grave information available when you call.
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
A STAR (PRODUCER) IS BORN She always thought “Hadestown” was destined for greatness, and she was right BY JOSHUA NASSER
April Lavalle is an actor, writer, comedian, and Tony nominated coproducer of “Hadestown.” The production garnered a total of 14 Tony nominations, the most of any show, including the big one — Best Musical. It’s the hottest show in town, in every sense, and it represents Lavalle’s first foray into producing. The Long Island native, who studied theater at Wagner College, spoke with Straus News about what it’s like to be part of a smash Broadway hit, and her plans for a future in theater.
Let’s start with an easy question — When did you start doing theater? I started as a kid, community theater on Long Island. Probably because I wanted attention. My mom was putting together a community production of Annie and asked me to audition for it. I booked it.
destown” is the very first thing I produced, and it’s going shockingly well.
This is the first thing you produced? Seriously? Yeah, and definitely getting into this was just basically because I knew others.
This is wild to me. What brought you into the project? I think I had a different path to producing than most young producers. I didn’t know what producers did until very recently. That being said, I have always really, really loved the show, and I knew I wanted to be part of it in any small way. So I guess that’s a cool way to come to producing, by finding the show you want to produce first, and then producing it. This is the only thing I have worked on and am working on, producingwise. I feel like I’m being very precious with choosing the things I want to do. But it’d be great to produce something else that I’m passionate about first, and then start producing.
Who did you play? I was ensemble orphan.
I was also in Annie! Can I guess who you were?
Sure. Mister Bundles?
No Daddy Warbucks?
No Rooster?
No I give up. Who were you?
I was ensemble also. All thee older kids got the cool roles. Yeah, that’s how it goes.
Kid roles aside, I know you were a co-producer for “Hadestown.” wn.” Do you mostly act? Is producing ing new for you? It is, I’m an actor, but I realize ealize I’m a multi-hyphenate. So I consider myself an actor and a writer, but producing is very new forr me. “Ha-
April Lavalle considers herselff a “multiriter, hyphenate.” She’s an actor, writer, ay cocomedian and, now, a Broadway minee. producer and Tony Award nominee. Photo: Sandy Honig
Did you know people involved in “Hadestown?” I’ve been listening to it since it came out at New York Theater Workshop. But I heard the album before that. The show started as a concept album with Anaïs Mitchell, who wrote the music, and the lead singer of Bon Iver was also singing on it. This was nine or 10 years ago. Then it went to a bunch of other theaters until it finally came to Broadway. So I knew about it, and thought the writer was the coolest person ever. The way I got into producing was different, because most producers are very rich and I am not. I came into it through one of the lead producers of the show, Hunter Arnold. He set up an initiative called Uplift,
for young theater producers, because he noticed that most theater producers are old white guys. He wanted younger people to get in on the game, but you normally need a lot of money to produce things. So it’s kind of him offering his mentorship and his help. He helps you learn the ropes of producing, but he also lowers the cap of producing so it’s a doable number for poors to do, like myself. That’s such a great idea. Yeah, and he started this initiative with “Once on an Island,” when it was on Broadway and he thought ‘Oh, this will be my life’s work and what I do.’ Are there other producers from the Uplift program on “Hadestown?” My producorial unit and one other person are through the program. Everyone else is a co-producer through their own thing. What’s it like to be nominated for a Tony your first time producing? It’s great, and it’s surprising and surreal in one aspect, but not surprising because I love the show and because I believed in the show so much. I always thought it was de s t i ne d for des greatness. Some-
Lavalle, here doing standup, has been a fan of “Hadestown” since it was a concept album, years ago. Photo: Courtesy April Lavalle
thing very new to me is people congratulating me on my Tony nomination, but me being like, ‘Oh, no no no, I have so little to do with it.’ Because as a co-producer it’s all preproduction ... I’m not really working on it so much, you know, but I’m lucky as a co-producer. Sometimes we’re asked about our opinions on p ads and that’s cool, but I did my work in December and nothing else. And it feels very funny that people congratulate me when I’m like ‘I didn’t do anything.’ You did do something though. I did, but it feels so out of my hands right now, because now I just get to be the show’s cheerleader, which I feel like I would’ve been even if I weren’t a co-producer. A nice little perk you get. Yeah, it’s cool! What do you think you want to do next? Well, another big reason I wanted to do this, besides liking and believing in the show, was because we talk about the things we like and don’t like that are coming to Broadway, and I think by becoming a co-pro-
ducer [I am] taking these small baby steps into this side of the industry. Another reason is because it’s directed and written by a woman, and there are only three shows on Broadway that are directed by women. So I would love to be the type of person who can make theater happen that I think other people want to see. I think you’re only seeing theater through the eyes of most old white male producers, so to have another perspective would be great. And if I could help people who don’t really have their foot in the door, I would love to help elevate their work. [I’m interested in] things that are riskier in general. Not to shade these kind of shows, cause they are super necessary, when you have adaptations of movies and TV shows, it’s fun. But it feels cooler and riskier to take a show that seems like a bold choice because these shows really take off. And I think the diversity conversation should not only be onstage but backstage. If I can wedge my way in there I’d love to do that.
Very well said. Thanks so much for doing this, April. Thank you for having me! This was fun!
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Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9X9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3X3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.
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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan
by Myles Mellor
49
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