The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF JUNE KEEPING IT REAL ◄ P.12
21-27 2018
COUNCIL CALLS FOR CRACKDOWN ON PARKING PERMITS
FIREWORKS ON THE EAST SIDE POLITICS As the Democratic Congressional primary nears, Maloney and Patel battle over their records and the future
STREETS
BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
Police push back on bills targeting misuse of city-issued placards BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
For most New Yorkers, parking in front of a fire hydrant, on a sidewalk or in a crosswalk, bus stop or bike lane is all but guaranteed to lead to a ticket or a towed car. But a select population routinely gets away with these violations by displaying cityissued parking permits in their front windshields. Some drivers who cheat the system don’t even have valid city permits. As documented on a near-daily basis by the Twitter account @placardabuse, which tracks instances of socalled “placard corruption” across the city, owners of illegally parked cars often get away with violations by displaying expired or fake permits, or by simply leaving a vest bearing the insignia of a city agency on the dashboard. Though a city-issued placard does grant certain special privileges, it is not a license to park with impunity. Placards allow holders to park in loading zones or metered spots for free, but other areas, such as crosswalks, remain off-limits. Some placards are only valid in specific locations for a limited period of time. But in practice, reform advocates say, enforcement is lacking and holders use permits (legitimately issued or otherwise) on a much wider basis,
Illegally parked vehicles owned by city employees are a common sight on many Chinatown streets near City Hall and NYPD headquarters. Photo: @ placardabuse, via Twitter.
Every day, in every corner of our city, we see someone using an illegal placard.” Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
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Citing her record and the landmark laws she’s enacted, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney sums up her case to the voters: “I’m not finished yet — and there’s much, much, much more that I can do to help people.” Calling for a new political order and generational change, challenger Suraj Patel boils down his pitch to the electorate like this: “I’m running for Congress because elections ought to be about the future.” Her resolve and his defiance, her quarter-century of deeds and his vow to break from the old ways, have defined the surprisingly heated Democratic primary race for the 12th Congressional District. The clash between two liberal, proimmigrant, anti-Trump Manhattan Democrats — she’s an uptowner, he’s a downtowner — has given voters an X-ray view of both candidates as they head for the polls on June 26. At stake is a prize that encompasses the Upper East Side, Sutton Place, Roosevelt Island, Midtown, Union Square, Flatiron, the East Village and parts of Brooklyn and Queens. The district, redrawn in 2010, has been Maloney’s political base since she was first elected to Congress in 1992. That political longevity has made her a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, well respected on both sides of the aisle, with the clout to author and pass 70-plus bills and obtain billions of dollars for the Second Avenue Subway and other monumental projects.
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U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney speaks to constituents April 13 at the Anna Silver School on the Lower East Side. Photo: Michael Garofalo
Suraj Patel mingles with voters at a town hall on May 24 in an East 88th Street church. Photo: Douglas Feiden But it’s also provided a cudgel for the 34-year-old, Indiana-raised Patel, an East Villager, to clobber the 72-yearold incumbent, an Upper East Sider, with his calls for “new blood,” a “new generation of leaders” and “better Democrats” who call the “status quo not good enough.” In their only televised debate of the primary campaign on NY1 on June 12, Patel posited that he “deserves a first term because I’m going to be talking about the future.” By contrast, he argued, “The congresswoman feels she’s entitled to a 14th term simply because she’s already served 13.” That set the tone for a contentious faceoff in which the heavily favored Maloney demanded of her rival, “What have you done to help people? Besides talk?” Patel shot back that he was doing “God’s work” as an attorney who has volunteered his services to help the dispossessed, and as a professor who
teaches business ethics at NYU. Maloney retorted by citing an Our Town exclusive questioning his rootedness in the district where he’s running; examining how he’s switched his voter registration between the city, Indianapolis and the Hamptons; and revealing tweets indicating he may have mulled a race to “knock out” a Republican incumbent in Suffolk County. Patel denied he was shopping for another district in which to run, saying that as an active Democrat who owns an East Hampton vacation home, he simply wanted to see conservative, pro-Trump Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin go down to defeat. Despite bitter differences, the candidates do have a couple of things in common: Fundraising prowess and unforgiving views of the tenant in the Oval Office. Maloney, a time-tested fundraiser, took in $1.65 million and had $793,000 in the bank as of June 6, according to federal election filings. The bigger surprise was that first-time political aspirant Patel chalked up $1.23 million, though he’s banked only $41,000. As for Donald Trump, he runs the “most anti-woman administration of my lifetime,” Maloney says, while Patel brands him “this monster of a president.” invreporter@strausnews.com
INSIDE: Issues Scorecard: Maloney vs. Patel PAGE 18 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, June 22 – 8:13 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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JUNE 21-27,2018
NEIGHBORS CRY FOUL OVER B’WAY BUS STOP SHUFFLE TRANSPORTATION M104 shelters, benches removed to make way for commercial loading zone
People are upset about this, particularly elderly people who need to sit.�
BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
The recent relocation of two Broadway bus stops has rankled some Upper West Side straphangers, who say that the changes have left them out in the rain. Two bus shelters near West 90th and West 88th Streets on Broadway were recently removed and consolidated into a single stop near 89th Street, where there is neither bench nor shelter for those waiting for the southbound M104. Shane McGrail recently walked to catch the bus at her longtime stop near the southwest corner of West 88th Street and was surprised to ďŹ nd that it had vanished and reappeared a block north. “That extra block is really a pain in the neck to have to walk for people who have trouble getting around,â€? McGrail said. The new stop between 88th and 89th Streets is marked only with a signpost. “They just designed it so
Carole Zabar
The new M104 bus stop on Broadway between 88th and 89th Streets does not have a shelter or seating area. Two adjacent stops with shelters and benches were recently removed. Photo: Michael Garofalo stupidly,� McGrail. “They don’t have a place to sit down and there’s no shelter either, so you’re just standing there in the rain.� Sharon Silberfarb said she caught the M104 at the 90th Street stop for 44 years. “Moving a bus stop is really very inconvenient for the elderly and the handicapped,� she said. “There
was no notice, it just disappeared.â€? Several other regular riders said they were unaware of the impending changes prior to the removal of the old shelters. “They should have notiďŹ ed us and put signs at the stop so we at least could have written in,â€? McGrail said. “People are upset about this, particularly elderly people who need to sit,â€?
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said Carole Zabar, who lives nearby on West 90th Street. The scheduled headway between M104 buses is more than ten minutes for much of the day, including scheduled wait times of up to 20 minutes in the evening hours — before accounting for delays and out-of-service buses. Seniors and people with disabilities who cannot climb subway stairs rely disproportionately on bus service in New York City, where overall bus ridership has declined signiďŹ cantly in recent years. Ridership on the M104 dropped 35 percent from 2011 to 2016 as the route was subjected to multiple rounds of service cuts, including the most recent bus frequency reduction in April 2018. “The old [87th Street] stop was good because it was right in front of Hot &
Crusty,� said Eleanor McCabe as she stood at the new M104 stop. “You could get a cup of coffee and sit down while you waited.� In April, the city’s Department of Transportation removed the M104 bus shelter and bench near the southwest corner of Broadway and West 90th Street and installed a new stop roughly a block south, between 88th and 89th Streets. The DOT did not respond to a questions regarding the reason for the removal of the other stop or whether the agency plans to install a shelter at the new stop. According to a DOT official, the change was made at the request of the local community board to make room for a new loading zone to accommodate deliveries to the Face Values & Beyond store near the former bus stop. Face Values & Beyond formerly used a loading zone on West 90th Street for deliveries, but representatives told Community Board 7 that the space was frequently blocked by illegally parked vehicles. “The Food Emporium was there for over 20 years and it was their loading dock, and they never seemed to have a problem with it,� Zabar said. “It seems to me that the needs of the community should trump the needs of a business.�
JUNE 21-27,2018
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th district for the week ending June 10 Week to Date
Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr
MOTORIST ARRESTED AFTER ASSAULTING BICYCLIST An arrest followed a scuffle between a bicyclist and a motorist on the afternoon of June 12. At 4:35 p.m., a 31-year-old male motorist believed that a 21-year-old man had hit his car with his bike. The bicyclist and the motorist got into a verbal dispute on East 70th Street, police said. The motorist, later identified as Julio Limones, then began punching the bicyclist in the face and threw him into a wall. The bicyclist
fought back, striking the motorist in the back of his head, cutting him. The bicyclist was taken to Cornell Hospital for treatment. Limones was arrested and charged with assault, police said.
DINNER DISPUTE A row between two acquaintances turned violent and led to another arrest. At 8:15 p.m. on Monday, June 11, a 27-year-old woman was smoking a cigarette outside 20 East 60th St. when a 42-year-old
female acquaintance came up to her and pushed her in the face with an open palm, according to a police account. The victim told police that the acquaintance used to date one of the friends she was having dinner with. Lindita Nezaj was arrested the following day and charged with assault.
NEEDLE THREAT A shoplifter threatened a store employee with a needle. At 11:15 p.m. on Sunday, June 10, a 23-year-old male
Year to Date
2018 2017
% Change
2018
2017
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
1
0
n/a
Rape
0
0
n/a
7
6
16.7
Robbery
5
2
150.0
68
59
15.3
Felony Assault
3
5
-40.0
58
63
-7.9
Burglary
8
4
100.0
87
93
-6.5
Grand Larceny
32
29
10.3
629 608 3.5
Grand Larceny Auto
0
0
n/a
17
employee inside the CVS drugstore at 1223 Second Ave. said he observed a 30-year-old individual remove electric grooming items from a store display and place it in a bag. The suspected shoplifter then tried to leave the store, but the employee intervened and said, “You’re not leaving the store with that.” The shoplifter then took out a needle from a pocket and brandished it at the employee. The employee moved out of the way, and the shoplifter fled the store, heading westbound on East 62nd Street. The merchandise stolen was tagged at $194.
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30.8
CASH STASH STOLEN At 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 24, a 32-year-old woman living on East 88th Street placed approximately $40,000 in cash in a Ziploc bag and stashed it underneath a cushion on her couch. Then at 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6, she went to remove cash to pay a bill and discovered that the money was missing. She told police that both her babysitter and building staff had access to her apartment.
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CITY TO LAUNCH ‘FAIR FARES’ PROGRAM TRANSIT Budget allocates $106 million to fund discounted MetroCards for New Yorkers in poverty BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Beginning next January, lowincome New Yorkers will be eligible to purchase MetroCards at half-price through a transit subsidy included in the $89.2 billion city budget deal struck earlier this month by the City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio. The so-called Fair Fares program, long championed by transit advocacy groups, will fund discounted transit trips for about 800,000 low-income residents. The budget dedicates $106 million to fund the program, which will be open to those with annual incomes at or below the federal poverty level, which is roughly $25,0000 for a family of four. The city projects annual savings of over $700 for individuals who participate in the program. Eligibility is also extended to some 12,000 veter-
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (right) celebrated the inclusion of a transit subsidy for low-income New Yorkers in the city budget June 12 with Mayor Bill de Blasio at the Fulton Street subway station. Photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office ans enrolled in New York City colleges. “Fair Fares will open up this city to New Yorkers living in poverty and allow them to take advantage of professional and educational opportunities that would otherwise be closed to them,� Council Speaker Corey Johnson said in a statement on the budget agreement. “This is an investment in our friends and neighbors who struggle between paying the rent and commuting to work.�
The program’s inclusion in the city budget is a signiďŹ cant victory for Johnson, who just completed his ďŹ rst go-around of budget negotiations as leader of the Council. Johnson made Fair Fares a top priority during budget talks. The 51-member City Council overwhelmingly supported funding the measure but faced resistance from de Blasio, who said he supported the program in concept but believed that funding should
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come from the state through a new tax on millionaires. The mayor, who since his ďŹ rst term has lobbied Albany lawmakers to enact the tax to fund a variety of measures, including transit improvements and universal pre-K, vowed to continue ďŹ ghting for the tax at a June 12 press conference announcing city funding for Fair Fares. Johnson said the mayor supported the idea of Fair Fares throughout negotiations but had “very rightful concerns about not wanting this to be a subsidy to the MTA, given the broader MTA picture that we’re looking at.â€? The budget also includes $254 million in additional city contributions to the MTA to fund improvements to the subway system. But Fair Fares, de Blasio said, is “not a subsidy to the MTA.â€? “We have done enough subsidies to the MTA,â€? the mayor said. “The people of New York City pay and pay and pay for the MTA, it’s time for the state to come up with a real solution for the MTA and that’s what we are going to ďŹ ght for next.â€?
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PARKING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 often without repercussion. “People who use fake parking placards, or who use their legitimate placards to try to get away with parking where they are not supposed to, are in effect stealing city resources and unfairly taking advantage of the system at the expense of everyone else who follows the rules,” said Ydanis Rodriguez, chair of the City Council’s transportation committee, at a recent hearing on five bills aimed at reining in placard abuse. “Too often these individuals also pose a safety hazard, such as when they block fire hydrants and crosswalks, or interfere with pedestrian flow when they block sidewalks, not to mention the impact on congestion,” Rodriguez said. “And we all know that enforcement is too often lacking, with drivers who put items as simple, and as unofficial, as vests and hats on their dashboards sometimes being allowed to park wherever they want without fear of any consequences.” Roughly 114,000 city employees enjoy special parking privileges conferred by cityissued placards, which are not administered by a single entity, but rather issued separately by several agencies. One bill would task the Department of Transportation with developing a comprehensive plan for the issuance and distribution of permits, including an assessment of the number of permits necessary. The NYPD, which issues roughly 45,000 permits, pushed back against the bill at the June 12 hearing, arguing that the police department alone should determine how many placards its officers require. Police officials also voiced concerns with legislation introduced by Council Member Margaret Chin under which individuals found to have misused permits more than three times in a year would immediately have their privileges revoked. The bill would also prohibit those who have had a permit revoked from receiving one the future, and permanently bar anyone found to have used a fraudulent placard even once. “While the department embraces increased enforcement and accountability for those who abuse the parking permit system, the revocation of a permit is best left to the agencies’ internal disciplinary process,” said Oleg Chernyavsky, the
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BY THE NUMBERS 114,000 45,000 52,000 29,400
city employees enjoy special parking privileges
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NYPD’s director of legislative affairs. Chernyavsky said that the NYPD does not currently have the capability to provide regular reports to the Council with basic information on instances of placard misuse, as would be required under a bill sponsored by Rodriguez. In the last year, police have towed 89 vehicles for placard offenses. According to NYPD officials, vehicles found to have fraudulent placards are automatically towed. “Every day, in every corner of our city, we see someone using an illegal placard,” Rodriguez said, adding, “To see only 89 should alert us that we need to address this issue seriously.” “I don’t know that it’s necessarily a low number,” NYPD Deputy Chief Michael Pilecki responded. “All of our agents are encouraged to take enforcement against vehicles that are abusing their permits,” he said. The NYPD launched a special enforcement unit in 2017 to combat placard abuse, and has issued 52,000 summonses for placard violations in the last twelve months, as compared to 29,400 in the prior year. The @placardabuse Twitter account has contributed to increased attention on the issue by posting photos of permit misuse on a daily basis. Its tweets have even caught the eye of some Council members, and the account was referenced in the transportation committee’s report on the legislation. According to an individual who responded to a message to @placardabuse, the account is operated by a “loosely organized” online group that preserves its members’ anonymity. “Even among our core group we don’t even all know
each other’s identities,” the person, who declined to share any identifying information, wrote in an email. In spite of police testimony to the contrary, the @placardabuse representative believes “the NYPD has no intention of ending placard corruption practices.” “The fact is that there are existing laws that cover the violations and crimes involved with placard corruption, but they are not enforced,” the individual wrote. “What would be most significant and is missing from the proposed legislation is a change to make enforcement of violations with placards non-discretionary. Currently, the NYPD has a lot of room to hide behind the fact the law does not compel officers to write tickets, but leaves it to their discretion.” The problem of placard abuse is particularly acute in Lower Manhattan, where narrow streets around the civic center and police headquarters are often clogged with illegally parked vehicles. “My district is overrun by placard parking,” said Chin, who represents the area in the City Council. “Residents and workers, they see this abuse every day,” Chin said. “We’ve got to do something.” A 2014 study conducted by the Chinatown Partnership found over 700 vehicles parked with placards within the business improvement district, which borders the civic center. Wellington Chen, the group’s executive director, said Chinatown residents and business owners need relief from excessive placard parking and questioned the NYPD’s willingness to cut out abuse within its own ranks. “A rookie will never give a sergeant a ticket,” he said.
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Voices
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DRIVEN TO DESPAIR BY BETTE DEWING
A week before Abdul Saleh, a 30year veteran yellow cab driver, became this year’s sixth cabby suicide victim, Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church’s minister, the Rev. Beverly Bartlett, said she always tries to take yellow cabs. She said she is sympathetic to the taxi drivers’ increasingly desperate conditions since the Uber and Lyft rideshare invasion left them battling for an ever-decreasing share of fares. And shouldn’t we all, unless it’s an emer-
gency? And remember, the big yellows take wheelchairs. Above all we need to recognize these tragic stories of desperation and discuss. And we also need to act in other ways — by, say, contacting our elected officials, and asking them to seek a remedy. Too little considered are cabbies’ grueling hours and ever more stressful traffic conditions. There are about 13,000 yellow cabs on the road, a fraction of the roughly 100,000 for-hire vehicles cruising city roads. And it’s mostly about
convenience — being able to dial a ride. How ironic convenience can do harm. Saleh, 59, had been unable to meet his lease payments. He was single with a family in Yemen with apparently no one to really share his despair. He hung himself on Friday, June 14 in his Brooklyn apartment, on Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. And remember we must the other suicide victims — in May, Kenny Chow, 56, who despite having a caring family, was increasingly desperate. He left his cab near Gracie Mansion. His body was found in the East River 11 days later. In March, Nicanor Ochisor, 65, hanged himself in his garage in
Maspeth, Queens. In February, livery driver Doug Schifter shot himself to death outside City Hall. “I don’t know how else to make a difference,” a Facebook farewell read, “other than a public display of a very private affair.” But these are most public affairs which must get out and stay out there. The more media coverage the better. And wouldn’t it be good to resurrect the Taxi Dave weekly radio program. This most informative taxi and traffic-related WOR hour program folded for lack of sponsors, even though many elected officials had been grateful guests. Above all, the program offered useful information and support for cab drivers. And this traffic safety activist col-
umnist suggests that yellow and green cab drivers might do a bit more to attract riders — become known for safe driving, never speeding, always yielding to pedestrians when turning into a crosswalk. And this white-knuckle rider urges drivers to never start up until the passenger seatbelt is in place. And smile a whole lot. Smiles actually soothe the brain. Ah, there is so much we all must do to stop this epidemic of cabby despair and change the rules and regulations and whatever else is to blame. Above all, cabbies must know we care and they must share their despair — share their despair. It can be done if enough of us try. dewingbetter@aol.com
MAKING ACCURACY GREAT AGAIN BY JON FRIEDMAN
New York Times reporters Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman in front of a photo of Jack Newfield at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College on June 14. Photo: Jon Friedman
Jack Newfield would have been proud. On the evening of June 14, the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College hosted a program entitled “Reporting on Trump’s Washington: Investigative Reporting in the Jack Newfield Tradition,” featuring 2018 Pulitzer Prize recipients Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt, both of The New York Times. The setting was appropriate: as Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab wittily pointed out, the Roosevelt House was the Trump Tower of President Franklin Roosevelt’s time. Haberman and Schmidt are two of the most distinguished reporters following President Donald Trump, who has an uncanny ability to keep his name in the news on a daily basis. While Trump rails about what he likes to call “fake news,” these reporters are well known for their accuracy, depth and fairness. Haberman and Schmidt are also conspicuous presences on cable news broadcasts. In fact, after he left the Roosevelt House, the tireless Schmidt appeared on two segments of Brian Williams’ MSNBC show beginning at 11:00 p.m. On the subject of “The Fourth Estate,” the Showtime documentary series about The New York
Times, the reporters said the film gave the public a good opportunity to observe the process of delivering the news. Haberman said: “Most people don’t understand what we do.” Newfield’s legacy hovered over the proceedings. A distinguished proponent of “advocacy journalism,” he chronicled New York City politics and culture for The Village Voice as well as many publications. Newfield, who died in 2004, was also a Hunter College graduate. The audience, consisting of well-informed, mostly senior citizens, hung on every word during the 90-minute program. Truth be told, Schmidt, who is so analytical and thoughtful that it would not be inaccurate to call his delivery “scholarly,” had the buzz of a double Pulitzer winner this year. But at this gathering, Haberman, modern journalism’s “It” Trumpwhisperer, personified the intellectual version of the kavorka — that sort of ineffable quality, made famous on an episode of Seinfeld, which speaks of someone who has a charisma that is impossible to resist. Beyond her terrifying work habits and natural ability, Haberman has flourished because she has an uncanny understanding of what makes Trump tick, much like “Fire and Fury” bestselling author Michael Wolff (though Haberman might not appreciate the
comparison). Haberman learned her craft in the rough and tumble New York City tabloid newspaper atmosphere that helped spawn Trump in the 1980s and 1990s. “She gets Trump in a way that we don’t,” Schmidt said admiringly. Haberman noted that Trump’s ability to dazzle a large number of voters, early on, stemmed from a force outside of politics: his glamorous turn on the television show “The Apprentice.” “I’d go to Iowa and they’d talk about ‘The Apprentice’ like it was a documentary,” Haberman said. Haberman also indicated that Trump, who has dismayed many Americans and foreign leaders by embracing dictators in North Korea and elsewhere, may be even bolder in his official proclamations. Speaking of Trump’s feelings about his command of the office, Haberman said: “He believes he has figured it out.” Haberman and Schmidt were careful not to issue any predictions about the fate of Trump’s presidency while Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III investigates Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other issues. Schmidt stressed that the Trump press corps does its best to explain the day’s events. “The hardest part for us is the financial side,” Schmidt said. Schmidt also pointed out that work-
ing in the age of Twitter, where the media are being judged in “real time,” presents a major challenge. It was nice to see the mutual respect, even affection, shared by Haberman and Schmidt. At one point, Haberman asked him, “How do you decide what you write?” Schmidt shot back: “I call you.” With just a few well-chosen words, Haberman and Schmidt captured the essence of the underbelly of Trump’s inner circle. On the subject of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has recently made headlines for acting as much like Trump’s attack dog as his spokesman, Schmidt pointed out that Giuliani is “having a lot of fun,” to which Haberman nodded and added, “True.” It’s fascinating to try to guess what Jack Newfield, who prided himself on keeping politicians honest, would make of the Trump presidency. But one conclusion is likely: He’d have tremendous respect for Haberman, Schmidt and any other journalist who works hard and smart and tries to get at the truth every day. Jon Friedman, who teaches journalism courses at Hunter College and Stony Brook University, wrote MarketWatch’s Jon Friedman’s Media Web column from 1999 to 2013.
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JUNE 21-27,2018
MAKING PATIENTS COMFORTABLE AGING Mount Sinai’s palliative care unit is about managing symptoms, lessening pain and offering emotional support BY MICHELE WILLENS
You could hardly call it a trend, but palliative care is a rapidly growing field in the medical world today. While many confuse it with hospice, it is not the same thing. Just spend a few hours at the Wiener Family Palliative Care Unit, on the sixth oor of the Klingenstein Pavilion at Mount Sinai, and you will not feel despair, but rather gratitude and hope. Considered by many the national model, the unit is not about the end of life, most associated with hospice. On any given day, you will encounter (and want to hug) some 30 dedicated staffers, including nurses, social workers, counselors, volunteers, the occasional spiritual adviser, always a doctor or two. They will be tending to the patients and their families in the 14 private rooms, or in one of the welcoming larger spaces. The average stay for patients is ďŹ ve days, and those are ďŹ lled with receiving resources available to lessen pain, regroup, regain some control, and make a plan for yes, the future. “Palliative is about symptom management,â€? explains Amy Newman, Nurse Manager of the inpatient unit, “and for offering emotional support to his or her loved ones. Basically, we are discussing what needs to be done in whatever time is remaining.â€? Even if you are not currently in one of the private rooms, you may still be an active part of the unit. Rae Ann McLaughlin, for example, underwent ten chemo and some 35 radiation treatments at Mount Sinai. When she was done, the palliative care folks took over. “I didn’t even know what palliative was,â€? she says now. “Like many others, I thought it meant end of life, but in fact it is about comfort care. They monitored all facets of my treatment, including getting me off painkillers. They offer a holistic means of getting you centered.â€?
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290 Third Avenue, Suite 26C | NYC 10010 R. Sean Morrison, MD, at the Wiener Family Palliative Care Unit at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Photo: Mount Sinai Health System. Another thing the unit does is take care of those taking care of the patients. McLaughlin’s sister, one of her main caregivers, was frequently called to see how she was doing. (McLaughlin is now two years cancer-free.) The same was true for Holly Russell when her husband, Jack Rosenthal, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He had been treated at another hospital, but they were told that Mount Sinai’s palliative care was a must. Though he chose to stay at home, the doctors from the unit were available at all times of day (and night) to offer help, either in person or over the phone. “They were largely about just calming us down,â€? says Russell. Though Rosenthal lost his battle with the disease, he remained mostly pain-free until the end. “It was all about palliative,â€? says his wife. “They even called me for weeks after he died.â€? At his memorial, she speciďŹ cally mentioned Dr. Sean Morrison, Chairman of the Brookdale Department of Geriatric and Palliative Care, and one of the creators of the Mount Sinai unit. When he ďŹ rst proposed a
grant on palliative care, more than a decade ago, it was a relatively new concept. “Today,â€? Morrison says, “almost every teaching hospital has beds for something like it. It is one of the few specialties that really targets health care values.â€? Morrison and his colleagues conducted a study with Trinity College in London that was published this month in “JAMA Internal Medicineâ€? showing that when palliative care is provided alongside “curative treatments,â€? patients feel better, their quality of life improves, and costs go down. And those who are making the patients, and their families, better, often feel better themselves. Evan Zazula is a chaplain on the Mount Sinai team and visits patients at least three times a week. â€?I believe I offer a companionate presence, and a safe place for spiritual support,â€? he says. “We witness them not as patients but as whole people. For me, it’s been a blessing.â€? Adds Morrison: “For many of us, palliative care has helped prevent burnout, and reminds us of why we ďŹ rst wanted to become doctors.â€?
She depends on you. You can depend on us. Caring for an older relative or friend is not easy. You can get support and guidance that includes in-home or overnight care, supplies and a lot more. Call 311 and ask for “caregiving support.�
Bill de Blasio Mayor Department for the Aging
Donna Corrado, PhD Commissioner
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JUNE 21-27,2018
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Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com
EDITOR’S PICK
Thu 21 MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK
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Carl Schurz Park at the top of the East 86th St. staircase and various locations 4 p.m. Free makemusicday.org Make Music New York, a free, city-wide concert series celebrating the ďŹ rst day of summer, hits streets and parks throughout the neighborhood. Performances will be as diverse as the city itself, from French chansons to klezmer and Caribbean-avored hip-hop to blues-rock theremin. Don’t miss the musicians stationed in Carl Schurz Park and elsewhere.
OurTownNY.com
Thu 21 Fri 22 JEWISH MUSEUM COMEDY NIGHT
â–˛ FAMILY CAMPING IN CENTRAL PARK
The Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Ave. 8 p.m. $15 advance; $18 day of Josh Gondelman, comedian and writer for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,� hosts an all-star lineup of comedians and a musical performance by singer-songwriter Laura Stevenson. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Scenes from the Collection: Television and Beyond.� 212-423-3200 thejewishmuseum.org
Central Park, meeting location sent to those selected 7 p.m. Free Create lasting memories and connect with the natural world right in your own backyard. Unplug from the diversions of everyday life and celebrate the tradition of camping. Led by The Urban Park Rangers, who will provide tents. Space is limited and families are chosen by lottery. Enter at nyc.gov/parks/ rangers/register. 212-360-1444 nycparks.gov
Sat 23 TOUR: THE ARCHITECTURE OF ROSARIO CANDELA Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. 2 p.m. $40 Buildings designed by architect Rosario Candela in the 1920s are now some of the most sought-after addresses in Manhattan. On this walking tour, visit the sites of Candela’s grand architectural feats with Donald Albrecht, curator of the museum’s “Elegance in the Sky: The Architecture of Rosario Candela� exhibition. 212-534-1672 mcny.org
JUNE 21-27,2018
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ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
Sun 24 Mon 25 Tue 26 VIRTUAL REALITY FAMILY TOUR AND WORKSHOP The Guggenheim 1071 Fifth Ave. 10:30 a.m. $30/family Discover the ways in which artists use technology to create innovative new works at this futuristic family day. Explore immersive art and sound installations in the exhibition “One Hand Clapping” and take part in a virtual- and augmented-reality workshop designed by the interactive studio planeta. 212-423-3500 guggenheim.org
▼ AUTHOR’S TALK: SHOBHA RAO Shakespeare and Co. 939 Lexington Ave. 6:30 p.m. Free Join a conversation with “Girls Burn Brighter” author Shobha Rao. Her debut novel tells the story of two teenage Indian girls whose friendship helps them overcome the men who try to destroy them. 212-772-3400 shakeandco.com
AMBER TAMBLYN IN CONVERSATION WITH JODI KANTOR 92nd Street Y 1395 Lexington Ave. 7:30 p.m. $35 Come hear two trailblazing voices of the #MeToo movement share their experience and insight. Actor, director and founding member of Time’s Up Amber Tamblyn, and New York Times investigative reporter Jodi Kantor, who, with Megan Twohey, broke the Harvey Weinstein story, will discuss this watershed moment of reckoning in our society and around the world. 212-415-5500 92Y.org
Wed 27 THE FUTURE OF TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS Albertine 972 Fifth Ave. 7 p.m. Free Albertine books, in partnership with the magazine Foreign Affairs, hosts a discussion on the future of the transatlantic relations with Foreign Affairs executive editor Daniel Kurtz-Phelan and author Romuald Sciora. Kurtz-Phelan will also discuss his new book, “The China Mission.” 212-650-0070 albertine.com
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
Unexpected Pairings: Gin & Oysters
TUESDAY, JUNE 26TH, 7PM Museum of the City of New York | 1220 Fifth Ave. | 212-534-1672 | mcny.org The museum’s outdoor terrace is the setting for this evening of jazz, tastings, and discussion of two staples of the New York diet, dating back to the Dutch days ($25).
The Future of Transatlantic Relations
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27TH, 7PM Albertine | 972 Fifth Ave. | 212-650-0070 | albertine.com As alliances crumble, get a glimpse of what the future may hold for Western democracies in a conversation with Foreign Affairs Executive Editor Daniel Kurtz-Phelan (The China Mission) and author Romuald Sciora (free).
Just Announced | The People vs. Noah
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH, 10:30AM Temple Emanu-El | 1 E. 65th St. | 888-718-4253 | emanuelnyc.org Noah goes on trial for not speaking up when God presented his plans to wash away humanity. The courtroom will feature defense counsel Joe Lieberman and prosecutor Alan Dershowitz, presided over by the Honorable U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams; the audience will play jury ($45).
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
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STREET FESTIVALS
Sat 23 TURTLE BAY STREET FESTIVAL Lexington Ave. from 42nd to 54th Streets 10 a.m. Free Enjoy a vast range of food, merchandise and the latest trends in crafts and jewelry at this annual summer street festival.
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JUNE 21-27,2018
KEEPING IT REAL The Met Breuer’s “Like Life” looks at sculpture, the human body, art and meaning BY MARY GREGORY
When co-curators Luke Syson, The Met’s chairman of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, and Sheena Wagstaff, the museum’s chairwoman of Modern and Contemporary Art, decided to take on the history of Western polychrome (or painted) sculpture, they also chose to take on the Western canon and the definition of art itself. It’s a bold decision that’s resulted in the astonishing, thought-provoking exhibition, “Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body (1300–Now).” They cast their nets across 700 years of artistic practice, from 14th-century European to global contemporary, to see what artists and artisans have done and used to create the verisimilitude of life and humanity. Unlikely associations emerged among the 120 works filling two floors of the Met Breuer. “These sculptures are placed in conversation with one another, speaking to the age-old conundrum of what realism can be and the different tactics that artists used to blur the distinction between the original and the copy, between art and life,” said Wagstaff. She described “the use of color to mimic skin ... casts taken from real bodies, dressing sculpted figures in clothing, the articulation of movable limbs, the construction of automated mannequins and ‘womankins’ and even the incorporation of human blood, hair, teeth and bones.” The curators selected objects of high art, like a delicate small wooden “Pandora” carved by El Greco in about 1600, or the hyper-realistic life-sized “Housepainter II” by Duane Hanson that opens the show; religious works like a “Reliquary Bust of Saint Juliana,” fashioned to look like the saint whose relics it contains; and even popular attractions, like “Sleeping Beauty” from Madame Tussauds, whose mechanized chest rises and falls to suggest breathing. “By thinking about those works we were suddenly thinking about what the canon should look like, what really constitutes a Met object in a Met show, and the boundaries between works of art that have always been embraced
IF YOU GO WHAT: “Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body (1300–Now)” WHERE: The Met Breuer, Madison Avenue at 75th Street WHEN: Through July 22 www.metmuseum.org
as masterpieces by museums,” Syson said, “and those which had been too popular, too accessible, too easy, in some ways at least ostensibly, to be taken seriously.” Some works are so strange they have to communicate with the viewer directly, since within the history of art they are totally without precedent or kin, like the “’Auto-Icon’ of Jeremy Bentham.” The English philosopher is presented fully dressed with a frilly shirt and a straw hat to keep out the sun. Beneath it all, embedded within the wax, is Bentham’s own complete skeleton. “Shrine of the Virgin,” a gilded figure from about 1300 that opens on hinges to reveal a figure of Jesus inside the sculpture of Mary, shares a case with contemporary artist Damien Hirst’s “Virgin Exposed,” a vividly colored cutaway view of a pregnant woman, eerie, though recalling a scientific anatomical model. Jeff Koons’s porcelain “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” is placed next to a frilly, gilded Meissen work, “The Judgment of Paris.” Such juxtapositions awaken new thoughts about contemporary artists and how far back they might be reaching for inspiration, whether consciously or not. “What I found fascinating as these objects arrived here in The Met Breuer, was they started talking to each other in ways that we anticipated but also in ways that were really unexpected,” said Syson. “That kind of messiness, glorious messiness, of life and death ... and desire, and race, and gender, and sexuality, and religion are all things that now are playing potently in a rich and, to me at least, not yet digested stew that is in our show. It’s a show that is designed to begin a conversation.” Syson said he’s excited by the chance to bring work from his department, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, to contemporary art audiences.
Isa Genzken’s “Schauspieler (Actors),” from 2013, incorporates mannequins, clothes, shoes, fabric and paper. Photo: Adel Gorgy “One of the things that Met Breuer allows is that kind of breaking down of barriers. Although we’re very, very careful to situate each piece as the product of a time and place, the timelessness of them comes to the fore in a really remarkable way.... I’m thrilled that those juxtapositions are, I hope, allowing people to reconsider the art of the past and also to reconsider which parts, which aspects of sculptural history really matter beyond the ones we’re more used to.” Wagstaff said, “What the Met has is unique, certainly in the city and well beyond. We have not just the collections, but also the expertise, the ability to be able to converse with research, and really get into deep conversations ... to think about work from our respective areas and come to a common interest, come to a common language.” What does she hope viewers might take away from “Like Life?” “I think it teaches us that every one of these sculptures is made by an artist who has a very particular relationship to the world which they are trying to express, and I hope that visitors take away some of that shared humanity with them.”
Contemporary artist Yinka Shonibare created “Girl Ballerina” in response to Degas’s beloved “The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer,” which is nearby at The Met Breuer. Photo: Adel Gorgy
Mary Sibande’s “Rubber Soul, Monument of Aspiration” from The Met Breuer’s “Like Life.” Sibande’s work refers to the history of apartheid, said curator Sheena Wagstaff, but also to “the history of artists from that region ascending and taking over the plinth.” Photo: Adel Gorgy
JUNE 21-27,2018
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JUNE 21-27,2018
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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS JUN 6 - 12, 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. A
A PARTY GIRL’S LEARNING CURVE
EJ Luncheonette
1271 Third Avenue
Bella Blu
967 Lexington Avenue A
BOOKS
Eli Zabar
922 Madison Ave
A
Hotel Carlyle
35 East 76 Street
Grade Pending (37) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
In Amber Brock’s historical novel set in the 1950s, a Manhattan socialite tries to change her corner of the world
Sushi Gama
1403 2nd Ave
A
Fresh & Co
1260 Lexington Ave
A
Lexington Candy Shop
1226 Lexington Ave
Grade Pending (9) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or nonfood areas.
Al Vaporetto
168 E 81st St
A
Bocado Cafe
1297 Lexington Ave
A
Otto’s Tacos
1568 3rd Ave
Not Yet Graded (21) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. 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.
Au Jus
1762 1st Ave
Not Yet Graded (38) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas. 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.
Tarallucci E Vino
9 East 90th Street
A
Island Bites
2107 1st Ave
Not Yet Graded (30) Insufficient or no refrigerated or hot holding equipment to keep potentially hazardous foods at required temperatures.
Brisas Del Mar Seafood Market
1785-1787 Lexington Avenue
Grade Pending (10) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
One Up Bistro
1404 Madison Ave
A
Juicy Grill
1646 Madison Ave
A
Cross Culture Kitchen
62 E 116th St
A
Proposito De Vida
180 E 104th St
A
Tapout Fitness
1915 3rd Ave
A
Can a New York socialite who lives to flirt and party grow a conscience? If you’re shaking your head “no” because you’re gauging your answer on the Real Housewives, I offer a better point of reference. “Kitty Tessler,” the heroine in Amber Brock’s latest historical novel “Lady Be Good” (Crown Publishing, June 26) is the daughter of a hotel magnate who lives in a glamorous world of penthouses and nightclubs, which have her dancing ‘til dawn from New York to Miami to Havana. Her story unfolds during the holiday season of 1953 and ends in the beginning of 1954. These three life-changing months, can be attributed to this Manhattan party girl’s introduction to a down-to-earth Jewish trumpet player named Max. Because of him, Kitty learns of a New York that can’t be known from towering suites, only by boots (in her case high heels) on the ground. From Washington Square to Harlem, Chinatown to Arthur Avenue, via subway, bus and taxi, as opposed to her father’s car and driver, “She walked the streets and watched. She met people and really listened to them. She would feel lost one moment and found the next.” As her view of the city expands, Kitty begins to see what Max has always known: injustices small and large, certain groups prohibited from entering certain establishments, a loaded word tossed off carelessly to a particular type of person. “She took bits of her experiences with her and they began to reshape the map of her home in her mind. She was newly arrived in a different world.” Even though the story is set sixty-five years in the past, there is something oddly contemporary about people who have access to the world yet keep their orbit very small.
I know those who live on the Upper East Side who think life begins on 57th Street and ends on 96th; ones who live in the Village and insist that there’s no life above 23rd Street; and Upper West Siders who bristle at the idea of crossing to the other side of the park. They all act as though this is a good thing, as if stepping outside the boundaries of their area is a sign of disloyalty. I, on the other hand, always prided myself on the fact that unlike my acquaintances, I took advantage of what all Manhattan’s neighborhoods had to offer. The first thing one learns though, is that not all sections of NYC are created equal, and even within a tony area such as the Upper East Side, not every block mirrors the manicured Park Avenue. Although everyone might know that intellectually, as Kitty discovers, seeing it up close helps the fact sink in emotionally. She knew she couldn’t change the whole world, so Kitty focused on her corner of it, making it clear, after witnessing discrimination against Max and a fellow musician of Cu-
ban decent, that that behavior would never be tolerated in one of her family’s hotels. This scenario is apropos of a recent news event, when a now-apologetic midtown lawyer, Aaron Schlossberg, yelled racist comments at Spanishspeaking restaurant workers at Fresh Kitchen on Madison Avenue. After the video of the incident went viral, fellow attorneys at a Queens court kept their distance, politicians asked that his law license be reviewed, and Schlossberg’s office space evicted him. What happened here is easy to get behind because it’s so public. But how about when the inappropriate comments are made in private by a colleague, friend or family member, you know, people we’re more apt to make excuses for when they behave badly? Taking umbrage with intimates is a lot harder than objecting to the rants of a stranger on YouTube, but voicing offense with them is actually how to arrive, as Kitty did, in a different world. Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novel “Back to Work She Goes,” about a SAHM trying to re-enter the workforce.
JUNE 21-27,2018
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
Brothers Fred and Nic Santilli ran Nicola’s on First Avenue with a personalized touch. Photo: Leida Snow
YOUR FATHER KEEPS WANDERING AWAY FROM HOME. BUT IT’S YOU WHO FEELS LOST.
LOSING A NEIGHBORHOOD FAVORITE SHOPS Nicola’s, run by two brothers since 1976 in the Sutton Place area, has closed BY LEIDA SNOW
There was no indication that Nicola’s, the tiny food shop on First Avenue with the business card boast of “Serving Specialty Foods With Attitude Since 1976,” would be closing. Word spread from longtime customer to longtime customer. “I can’t talk about it,” said one, her eyes filling with tears. It wasn’t only that you could find otherwise hard-to-locate olive oils and pastas from Sicily, Tuscany and Abruzzo at Nicola’s. It was how the owners, brothers Nicola and Fred Santilli, would remember the cheeses you liked and also be quick to offer a new one to try. The 280-square-foot space, just north of 55th Street, had coffees, olive oil, chocolate-covered orange slices, deli meats, Balthazar croissants and storecooked delights for dinner. Nic, who stands 5-feet, 5-inches tall and sports super-close cropped hair and a white goatee, started the business “because I love food and eating.” An interesting turn from his work as a banker. Nic and his parents immigrated to Montreal from Abruzzo, in southern Italy, when he was 3. After his brother was born, the family moved to New York when Nic was 13. He became a citizen at 18 and served in Vietnam.
The world was different 42 years ago, he explained: “I learned on the job. Even the distributors were family owned. They wanted my orders, so they answered every question. They were my training.” Nic was lucky with his landlord, too. “In those days,” he said, “you’d meet personally with Stanley Stahl. He’d chat with you about your family and what you wanted to do, and then he’d figure out your rent accordingly.” His ownership experience is in contrast to the landlord tales New Yorkers hear these days, with storefront after storefront displaying vacancy signs. Nicola’s closing was different. The brothers have simply aged out, they said. Nic is 71; Fred, 66. Fred (5-feet, 9-inches, with a full head of wavy gray hair and glasses) is quick with a quip. Asked how his wife feels about the closure, he smiled slyly, and spoke with his usual candor: “She’s glad I’m retiring, but she doesn’t want me around the house all the time.” The brothers started easing up a few years ago, going from four employees to just the two of them. But the daily grind has finally caught up. Nic lives in Manhattan, but Fred, who joined his brother three years after the shop opened after selling his dry cleaning business, has been getting up at 6:30 a.m., six days a week, to make the commute from Oceanside, in Nassau County. And standing all day started to be a challenge.
The two are without pretense. Nic shared that being in business with his brother wasn’t always easy, even if the two would, by necessity, find compromise, even agreement. “It’s like any two people in a small space,” he said. “You work things out.” Nic said he’s looking forward to spending part of every year in the family home in Abruzzo. Fred said he’ll be doing woodworking, a longtime hobby. And both have grandchildren to dote on. Without hesitation, Nic said what they’ll miss most are “the customers. We have three generations shopping here.” One distraught woman asked: “You mean I won’t see you anymore? I can’t believe it.” My husband and I can’t believe Nicola’s closed either. There are other places, like the competition a few blocks south or Whole Foods, and someone may yet buy the Nicola name. But we won’t have the kind of personal, friendly, neighborly warmth we’ve experienced there for some three decades. And the loss of Nicola’s will mean one less family owned shop, the kind that, for years, made New York different from all the places with the same chain stores. High rents have pushed hundreds of small business owners out. That wasn’t Nicola’s story. But the neighborhood is still the loser. One man put it concisely: “I’m happy for them,” he said. “They’ve worked hard their whole lives. But for us, it’s sad.”
THE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIAS FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAM. Caring for a family member who has trouble with thinking and memory can be extremely challenging. So challenging, in fact, that caregivers may feel overwhelmed, struggling to maintain their own health and well-being. NYU Langone’s Family Support Program provides convenient, personalized, and ongoing support to people caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or other thinking and memory disorders. The program is provided free of charge to individuals living within the five boroughs. You will receive access to counseling; connections to doctors and support groups; and compassionate guidance by being paired with a caregiver who has had a similar experience. Join a community dedicated to providing the support and guidance you need, for as long as you need it.
For more information or to enroll, call us at 646.754.2277 or visit nyulangone.org/memorydisordersupport. The Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Family Support Program is supported by a grant from the New York State Department of Health.
15
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JUNE 21-27,2018
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
Business
NYC Pride parade, 2017. Photo: Jordan Dea, via flickr
PRIDE AND PARTNERSHIPS Businesses join forces with LGBTQ organizations for Pride Month BY NATASHA ROY
New York City businesses are proud to participate in Pride Month this year. NYC Pride has over 100 corporate, promotional and community sponsors. Several businesses are offering specials whose proceeds go toward an LGBTQ-friendly organization. The London-based restaurant wagamama, which has two Manhattan locations (East Village and NoMad/ Flatiron), is partnering with the Trevor Project, an organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth. The chain created a special juice blend called “proud” with Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy, and its NYC restaurants will only offer the drink during Pride Month. “We knew that Gus was a fan of wagamama so we reached out to see if he’d be interested in partnering,” said Faye O’Brien, the company’s U.S. marketing director. “He was excited
to collaborate to raise money for the organization of his choice, The Trevor Project, tied to Pride. We are thrilled to be working with him to raise money for such an important cause.” NYU Langone Health, New York University’s medical center, is coming in as a sponsor of NYC Pride for the first time this year, but it has previously participated in Pride, Chief Patient Experience Officer Joan Kelly said. Kelly also said the community’s response to NYU Langone’s support of NYC Pride has been positive. “It’s been tremendous,” Kelly said. “We hadn’t expected it at the level that it is, but the community is so embracing anyway — particularly when they feel heard and supported. They’re helping us as we’ve grown and opened our Transgender Center of Excellence and whatnot. It’s hand in hand to say, ‘Oh, what are your needs? How are we making sure that we’re in the community where you are to support what you need?’” Like NYU Langone, the fast-casual food joint Just Salad is sponsoring NYC Pride this year. It’s Just Salad’s third
year in a row supporting the organization through its Big Gay Garden Salad, which features colorful vegetables laid out to resemble the rainbow Pride flag. Just Salad will donate $1 for each Big Gay Garden Salad sold to NYC Pride and is also offering Pride-themed T-shirts for sale. “It started with consumer research where we found a lot of our customers were LGBT and also have a lot of LGBT teammates from our stores to our corporate office, and they are just a very big part of our organization, so we thought this would be a great way to show our support for them,” said Stephen Swartz, Just Salad’s marketing director. Swartz and 50 Just Salad employees are expected to march in the city’s Pride parade as well. In a press release, NYC Pride Managing Director Chris Frederick said that the organization is thrilled to partner with the restaurant again and that Just Salad’s contributions help make NYC Pride events possible.
Just Salad is offering the Big Gay Garden Salad for Pride Month, and $1 from each salad sold will go toward supporting NYC Pride. Photo courtesy of Just Salad.
“These needed funds are crucial in allowing us to continue to inspire, educate, commemorate and celebrate our diverse community,” Frederick said. Swartz said that he was initially worried about a backlash, but Just Salad’s
investors, customers and employees have only had positive remarks about the company’s support for NYC Pride. “We’re already signing up for next year’s March when it’s gonna be World Pride in New York,” Swartz said.
JUNE 21-27,2018
17
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
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18
JUNE 21-27,2018
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
ISSUES SCORECARD: MALONEY VS. PATEL The Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District is June 26. Where incumbent U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and challenger Suraj Patel stand on 10 issues ranging from immigration and health care to favorite restaurants in the district Rep. Carolyn Maloney
BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
HEALTH CARE MALONEY: Wants to end inflated prices, anticompetitive practices in the prescription-drug market. Seeks to curtail sub-par health coverage, better known as “junk insurance,” strengthen Medicare and Medicaid. In March, launched a Breast Cancer Awareness Commemorative Coin program. Steered passage of James Zadroga 9/11 Compensation Act to care for first responders. Boosted cancer-screening coverage, early detection of breast cancer, National Institutes of Health funding. Early Obamacare backer.
IMMIGRATION MALONEY: Says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is out of control, must be reformed or dismantled. Decries the forcible separation of children from asylum-seeking parents as “inhumane, cruel, un-American.” Cosponsor of the Reuniting Families Act to increase number of visas available to immediate family members of U.S. citizens. Early cosponsor of comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform bill to provide pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, reform visa programs, curtail separation of families.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
INFRASTRUCTURE PATEL: Calls for passage of Medicare for All Act, Bernie Sanders-backed bill to expand Medicare into a universal health insurance program. Calls for replacing the for-profit health insurance industry with a public system covering emergency surgery, prescription drugs, dental, mental health, all with no copays. Advocates for New York Health Act to institutionalize single-payer healthcare at state level, covering all medically necessary services, also with no out-of-pocket expenses.
PATEL: Encapsulates his position in a twoword campaign slogan, “Immigrants: Welcome.” Would sponsor bill completely defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, argues ICE “commits human rights atrocities every day.” Promises activist approach, like his work for the ACLU at Kennedy Airport in January 2017 as a volunteer attorney after the White House unveiled its “Muslim ban.” As a first-generation American, has pledged to fight mass deportations, expand avenues to legal immigration like the H-1B visa program, known as the “high-tech visa.”
MALONEY: Reaped $10 billion in federal funding for city capital projects: $1.3 billion for the Second Avenue Subway to 96th Street, $2.6 billion for East Side Access, $191 million for East River ferries, $355 million for post-Sandy, East Side coastal protection. Now wants billions more to run the SAS up to 125th Street, which would be one of her major challenges in the next Congress.
PATEL: Says a windfall in cash isn’t enough. Subways, buses, roads may suffer from underinvestment, but also decades of overspending. Says long-serving politicians too often waste resources on “ribbon cuttings ... rather than investing long term.” Would create a national infrastructure bank to tap private-sector investment in transit projects. Put federal representatives on MTA board, ease budget pressures, dysfunction, by having federal officials mediate city-state transit disputes.
Says racial disparities stem from enforcing current laws. Minorities and non-minorities use marijuana in roughly the same proportions. But the jails are overwhelmingly filled with people of color.
PATEL: Legalize it. End the “failed and unjust war on drugs.” And do it retroactively — expunge previous criminal convictions of nonviolent marijuana possession offenders.
MALONEY: “Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” is the title of her 2008 book. Sponsor of the 2004 Debbie Smith Act to fund testing of old rape kits, now fighting to preserve Planned Parenthood, pass the Equal Rights Amendment, create a women’s history museum on the National Mall, safeguard reproductive freedoms, target sex traffickers and pass the Ending Secrecy About Workplace Sexual Harassment Act.
WAR AND DIPLOMACY
VACCINATIONS
MALONEY: Backed the
MALONEY: Branded an
2002 resolution authorizing military force against Iraq. “She regrets that vote and has said so for many years,” her campaign says. Opposed the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran. She felt it wasn’t strong enough, but voted 10 times to preserve it once it became law.
PATEL: “Diplomacy first,” he urges. Denounces “hawkish, misguided foreign policy decisions,” supported the Iran deal, calls the Iraq war the “greatest foreign policy blunder in modern history.”
CAMPAIGN FINANCE MALONEY: In the 1980s, authored the first campaign finance reform bill in the City Council. Now co-sponsoring the Government By-thePeople Act to curb big bucks in politics and tap public matching funds to empower small donors.
PATEL: Arguing big money has corrupted politics, he’s calling for two constitutional amendments: The first would end partisan gerrymandering, voter suppression and control of money over politics; the second would overturn the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United.
MARIJUANA MALONEY: Make it legal.
Suraj Patel
BEST RESTAURANT IN THE DISTRICT MALONEY: It’s uptown — Paolo’s, a high-end Italian eatery at 1295 Madison Avenue in Carnegie Hill.
PATEL: It’s downtown — Somtum Der, Thai nightspot at 85 Avenue A in the East Village.
MICHAEL ROCK CONTRIBUTED REPORTING TO THIS GRAPHIC
“anti-vaxxer” by her rival, she dismisses the charge. She supports vaccines, says they save lives, her kids are vaccinated, she’s voted to fund distribution, her campaign says. Still, she backed a 2013 bill to study if exposure to vaccines is linked to autism spectrum disorders, and in a 2012 congressional hearing, spoke of “verbal evidence” from parents who said their healthy children “came down with autism” after being vaccinated.
PATEL: Close the gender wage gap. Introduce transparency to salaries, require more disclosure and reporting of pay, curb requirements for job applicants to reveal salary history, require employers to provide salary ranges in ads and announcements. Attack chronic inequity legislatively: Offer tax breaks and subsidies to workplaces that provide flexible scheduling, paid family leave and access to childcare for employees, all to help reverse wage disparities.
PATEL: ESent 50,000plus mailers to voters attacking her for a “war on vaccines.” He claimed she’s long “taken the side of anti-vaxxers” in backing “unnecessary, unwarranted and wasteful studies” in 2007, 2013 and 2015 — “part of the ongoing assault on science.”
RULE OF LAW, IMPEACHMENT OF A PRESIDENT MALONEY: Would she vote to impeach Donald Trump? Says she’d have to see the anticipated Robert Mueller report first. But if Democrats recapture the House, her seat on the Government Oversight Committee would put her in position to hold the Trump administration, and Trump himself, accountable, her campaign said.
PATEL: Would he vote to impeach based on current information? “Not yet,” he said. But if Trump pardons himself, that is “automatic grounds for impeachment.” So is proof of collusion or axing Mueller. He called for throwing Paul Manafort in jail for alleged witness tampering. One week later, the ex-Trump campaign manager’s bail was revoked.
JUNE 21-27,2018
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The window display at Shakespeare and Co. on Lexington Avenue. Photo: Courtesy of Shakespeare and Co.
NEW CHAPTER FOR CITYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INDIE BOOKSTORES BUSINESS A renaissance for hardbounds and paperbacks? BY SUSHMITA ROY
munity on the West Side. People are passionate about their neighborhood and care about what happens here,â&#x20AC;? said Peter Glassman, Books of Wonderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s owner. Inside, mothers are reading out to their young ones, surrounded by other children and families. It is here they experience their first bonding moments. A bookstore can be a lot of things â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a place to start over, a place to pause, or even a place to find your significant other, much like Christopher Doeblin did. Doeblin, who owns the Book Culture outlets at on West 112th Street and at 450 Columbus Avenue, and his business partner at the time, Cliff Simms, both met their signiďŹ cant others at the bookstore. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My wife (who worked at the store then) is the kind of person whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d listen to people and sometimes I had to send patrons in to tell her to keep off the phone because all these people would call to talk,â&#x20AC;? Doeblin said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d come to talk to people at the bookstore because they are lonely.â&#x20AC;? For Doeblin, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about the touch and feel of books, and, importantly, the personalized service, including staff recommendation tags, that separate his bookstore from an online platform. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like deciding between Starbucks and a unique cafĂŠ,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d want to go to a cafĂŠ for its ambience, interiors and variety, which is why people come to bookstores and not just shop from Amazon.â&#x20AC;?
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The scent is a mishmash of newly printed paper and freshly heated croissants. There is also the sound of footsteps, on occasion accompanied by the click-clack of walking sticks, finding their way to the back of the store, to where books by their beloved favorite writers are neatly arranged. At still other times, you can make out the rhythm of tapping ďŹ ngers on keypads, arrayed as they are near the windows overlooking bustling Lexington Avenue. This is the vibe at the Shakespeare Bookstore and CafĂŠ. Despite digitization and the proliferation of online booksellers, independent bookstores are on the rise around the city and part of the reason, it seems, is that fecund atmosphere. Dane Neller, CEO of Shakespeare and Co., suggests that his bookstore is as much a community center and a place to buy books. Having a cafĂŠ and a bookstore in one place allows him promote the space as a hangout spot. Besides, he says, a book-reading affair is more â&#x20AC;&#x153;intimateâ&#x20AC;? than any digital experience. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The book in its original form, that is the physical paperback, has survived digitization,â&#x20AC;? Neller said recently. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Small neighborhood bookstores are coming up as a reaction to more defined neighborhood borders.â&#x20AC;?
When Neller took over the then-teetering Shakespeare & Co. brand a few years ago, few expected a retail renaissance for books â&#x20AC;&#x201D; except maybe Neller, a former CEO with Dean & DeLuca. With what he calls the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Espresso Book Machine,â&#x20AC;? he advanced the idea that absence of a title in the store did not mean it couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be had. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One day hopefully sooner or later, a consumer can walk into a bookstore and never be disappointed for not ďŹ nding the book they want on the shelves,â&#x20AC;? he said. The machine prints a book store-quality paperback in under 15 minutes and is unique to Shakespeare Bookstore and CafĂŠ. A similar mechanism will be in place at Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new location on the Upper West Side, which will open on Broadway near 70th Street in early fall. Another branch will also open in Greenwich Village. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I picked the West Side because I thought there was a loyalty to the Shakespeare brand,â&#x20AC;? said Neller. Indeed, after the closing of the original Shakespeare & Co in 1996, the Upper West Side has experienced a tremendous growth in independent bookstores, much of it in the last ďŹ ve years. But growth isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t confined to New York City. According to the American Booksellers Association, there has been a 27 percent growth in independent bookstores in the last decade or so. Among those that opened in the city is Books of Wonder, the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bookstore, which opened its second city location, at 217 West 84th Street, last year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Its very much a strong com-
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
EXCAVATING THE PAST In her new memoir, Linda I. Meyers touches on family tragedy, comedy and some celebrity cameos BY ALIZAH SALARIO
Linda I. Meyers, a psychologist and author of “The Tell: A Memoir,” did not have an easy start. The only child of a troubled mother and a ladies-man father who dabbled in the Jewish mob, Meyers was often a pawn in her parent’s tumultuous marriage. She spent much of her youth with her grandmother, an Eastern European immigrant who settled in Brownsville, Brooklyn. At a young age, Meyers left an unhappy childhood for a miserable marriage. Then, when Meyers was 28 and the mother of three young boys, her mother took her own life. Meyers was devastated, conflicted — and determined not to end up the same way.
“The Tell” is a personal and family history about using tragedy as a catalyst to turn life around. It’s also deliriously funny. Meyers’ interconnected essays are written with crackling prose; in the most memorable chapters, her personal history intersects with that of New York City. She tags along with her grandmother, who runs a concession stand in the Catskills, and falls madly in love with a young Ralph Lauren (nee Lifshitz). She schelps her three red-headed sons around town on auditions to earn extra money as a single mother until one catches a big break when he’s cast as a young Alvy Singer in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall.” Meyers, who now lives on the Upper West Side, spoke about grieving a loved one’s suicide, finding humor in tragedy and becoming a writer in her 70s.
Psychologist and author Linda I. Meyers. Photo: Dylan Patrick
What prompted you to write a memoir? Well, I wanted to write it mainly for my grandchildren so they could have it and read it at some point in their lives. I would’ve loved to have had a recording or a book written by my parents or grandparents. I’d love to know the backstory of my life. So I wanted to provide that for them.
You capture an old Jewish Brooklyn that doesn’t really exist anymore. I love so many of your descriptions of the old neighborhood: “The butcher shop had sawdust on the floor, a finger on the scale, and Esther, the chicken plucker, in the corner.” I was a little girl and I stayed with my grandmother. I lived that experience of old Jewish Brooklyn. I was little, but I remember ... I’ve not been back to that part of Brooklyn, so I’m not sure what it’s like these days but the sense of community back then was very powerful.
You wrote about your mother with a lot of empathy and understanding, but it obviously wasn’t easy growing up with her. The book started with the chapter about her suicide. It was a difficult chapter to write, but what was striking to me was that after I’d written it, there was humor in it. It’s what we call operating room humor, it was black humor, but somehow I still managed to find the humor, which sort of shocked me. I mean, woo! It was difficult growing up with her, it really was, and now I look back and I really feel very bad for her. She had such a hard
time of it. I’ve written about this because I’m also a psychologist and a psychoanalyst, and I think it’s one of the hardest deaths to grieve because the victim is also the perpetrator. So when you feel this remorse, and this sadness for the loss, you also feel this anger for the murder.
You write that your mother’s suicide was the catalyst for leaving your husband. Can you elaborate on how your mother’s death prompted you to change your life? Her death, even though she threatened [suicide] and made attempts, it was still shocking. It was incredibly shocking, and it pushed me out of my lethargy. I was unhappy, I was very unhappy, but I hadn’t really taken any steps to make a change. And what she did was so devastating that I was terrified that if I didn’t change my life I might end up in the grave next to her, I was that depressed.
It takes a lot of courage to do what you did with three kids. I don’t think of myself as brave. I think of myself as desperate in a way. I had to get out of that marriage, I had to get my education. I felt that my children were the carrot on the stick that kept me moving forward because I wanted to provide a life for them that I didn’t have. I wanted them to be able to go to the college of their choice when they were 18 years old, and to really have those experiences, so I had to figure out how I was going to make the money to do it.
And you did it. I did it! Go figure.
Tell me more about being a reluctant stage parent. It was a glamorous experience, and I didn’t want to get caught up in it to the degree that my children’s childhood would be sacrificed. And it even got more difficult when Jonathan was so successful with the film [“Annie Hall”] because there were a lot of calls for him for auditions. At that point, he had really had it. He didn’t want to do anymore, and I needed to respect that. I wanted to respect that, and so I stuck to the promise I made to myself when we started the business — that I would always put their wants and desires first. So we quit.
What did you discover about yourself in the process of writing? It gave me a cohesive and coherent narrative. I was able to see myself in a sort of arc, and that was kind of cool. That was neat, to step back and see that. I’m also finding it very exciting to discover that I’m a writer. I’ve published academic papers, but this is my first foray into creative nonfiction.
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Eastsider COLOR THE EAST SIDE by Jake Rose
Mary Arnold Toys Mary Arnold Toys has been serving Upper East Side kids and families for 86 years with a broad assortment of children’s toys, games and the finest in children’s books. Scan or take a picture of your work and send it to molly.colgan@strausnews.com. We’ll publish some of them. To purchase a coloring book of Upper East Side venues, go to colorourtown.com/ues
WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor
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