The local paper for the Upper East Side SENDAK ON STAGE ◄ CITY ARTS, P. 12
WEEK OF JULY
18-24 2019
INSIDE
GENERATION Z ON THE CB COMMUNITY Teenagers as young as 16 are eligible to serve on New York’s community boards
WHY THE LIGHTS WENT OUT
BY EMA SCHUMER
They are too young to vote. Age, however, will not keep them sidelined from government. They are the 16- and 17-year-olds who choose to serve on community boards throughout Manhattan. Four years after legislation reduced the minimum age to serve on the boards in New York to 16, nine youths under 18 currently serve on Manhattan’s 12 community boards, along with several who turned 18 after starting their service. Community Board 8 on the Upper East Side boasts three teens, including Jack Zimmerman, 16, who lives on East 80th Street. Zimmerman joined CB8 in April. He said his principal at Eleanor Roosevelt High School suggested he apply because of his “passion for transportation and more green spaces.” Zimmerman is interested in mitigating congestion in the city by promoting bike lanes. “I personally have a little scooter that I like to take around. There aren’t many bike lanes for me to use, so safety can be an issue,” he said. Bike lanes have become a hot-
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Con Ed blames blackout on relay system failure, P. 6
DEAN & DELUCA CLOSES ON MADISON AVE. The UES shutdown reflects larger financial troubles, P. 5
Jeffrey Epstein’s $77 milliion East Side mansion. Photo: Ema Schumer
BEHIND THE OAK DOORS LAW ENFORCEMENT A raid on Jeffrey Epstein’s UES mansion and details from his sextrafficking indictment stunned the nation. But the revelations were not a shock to some NYC journalists who followed the saga for years BY STUART MARQUES
When FBI agents pried open the heavy oak doors of Jeffrey Epstein’s $77 million Upper East Side mansion, they had an idea of what they would find inside. But they were astounded at the volume: They discovered a “vast trove” of “hundreds, if not thousands, of
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sexually suggestive pictures of naked underage girls” locked in a safe. Prosecutors say the entries were carefully catalogued and labeled: “Young [Name] + [Name],” “Misc nudes 1,” and “Girl pics nude.” “Agents seized evidence, including nude photographs of what appear to be underage girls,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in unveiling a sex trafficking indictment alleging that Epstein, 66, “sexually abused dozens of minor girls at his homes” in Manhattan and Palm Beach, FL. Prosecutors say he recruited minor girls for sex acts and got them to recruit others. Epstein, who once
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taught math at the elite Dalton School on the Upper East Side, paid the women several hundred dollars per encounter, which often began as a massage. “The conduct, as alleged, went on for years and involved dozens of young girls, some as young as 14,” Berman told reporters, adding that Epstein faces up to 45 years in jail, if convicted. “The alleged behavior shocks the conscience.” It was certainly not a shock to several New York-based journalists who have followed the Epstein saga for years and have had to deal with Ep-
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TOURISTS ON THE TOWN Summer draws record numbers of visitors, P. 13 Jewish women and girls light u the world by lighting the Shabb candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, July 19 – 8:05 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastrside.co
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