Our Town - July 23, 2020 by Our Town

The local paper for the Upper East Side THE NEXT COVID CHALLENGE ◄ P.2

WEEK OF JULY

23-29 23-29 2020

BALLOT BONANZA

POLITICS

Four weeks after the primary election, votes are still being counted - as tensions rise BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM

Muhammad Sali’s halal cart at Fifth Ave. and 79th St. Photo: Emily Sun

RISKY BUSINESS FOR UES STREET FOOD VENDORS NEIGHBORHOOD

As the city reopens, a return to fewer customers and greater health concerns BY EMILY SUN

At 6 a.m., Hanashit, who declined to share his full name, sets up his breakfast stand at Park Avenue and 86th Street. He stocks it with powdered donuts, blueberry muffins, chocolate croissants and egg rolls. Then, he waits. As the sun rises, people stop for black coffee or a bagel. But most of the time, the street is empty. By 1 p.m., the 56-yearold is ready to leave.

Traditionally, with election night comes a deep exhale. For candidates and staffers, it’s the culmination of many months spent door knocking and phone banking, preparing for debates and town halls, and doing whatever it takes to get their message to the voters. No matter which way the vote goes, there’s relief in knowing the result. But that’s not the case for several of New

York’s primary contenders. Four weeks after the vote, candidates across the city are still holding their breath. The coronavirus pandemic upended the way candidates campaigned during this election cycle, and now, it’s upended the tabulation process. The city’s Board of Elections has been swamped by the unprecedented number of absentee ballots it received for the primary election, a result of the state prioritizing voteby-mail as a precaution during the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots were mailed in across the city, and in some

A missing postmark, over which voters had no control, should not disenfranchise those voters. We stand together in asking Governor Cuomo to update his executive order to permit the Board of Elections to accept all absentee ballots received without a postmark.” Statement from all four candidates in the 12th Congressional District

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

“Before the pandemic, I could make more than $500 every day,” Hanashit said. “Now? Less than $200.” Ninety percent of the over 20,000 street vendors in New York City closed their carts when the coronavirus shut down the city in March, estimates the Street Vendor Project (SVP), an organization that advocates for street vendor rights. By July, most have returned to work. They face fewer customers, high health risks and exclusion from the city’s relief and recovery efforts. Food vendors’ livelihoods depend on foot traffic. Since

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

@OurTownNYC

A CITY’S TRAVAILS, A CAT’S TALE Scaffolding and welcoming a new family member Harmony. p. 6

WITHOUT WAITER JOBS, WHAT HAPPENS TO CREATIVE NYC? How pandemic restaurant changes are affecting aspiring artists, performers and writers. p. 18

SENIOR CENTERS FIND SUCCESS IN REMOTE PROGRAMMING When the pandemic hit, Project FIND on the UWS created a robust roster of Zoom offerings. p. 8

Challenger Suraj Patel. Photo courtesy of Suraj Patel

Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Photo: U.S. House Office of Photography

OurTownEastSide

OURTOWNNY.COM

INSIDE

Voices City Arts

6 12

15 Minutes Real Estate

20 22

Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, July 24 – 8:01 pm. For more information visit www.chabbaduppereastside.com.

JULY 23-29, 2020

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THE NEXT COVID CHALLENGE PUBLIC HEALTH

As the city continues to reopen, the transmission rate is rising BY MICHAEL ORESKES

Left to right: Professor Mark Siddall and President Ellen Futter of the American Museum of Natural History with former President Jimmy Carter, at the 2015 AMNH exhibition from the Carter Center. Photo: American Museum of Natural History

New York has used up the margin of safety it built this spring to contain the coronavirus. That is a blunt way to describe the situation the city and state are in right now as the virus blazes across other parts of the country. New Yorkers know how it feels to be inside this wildfire. Locking down our lives brought the disease under control. By early May, the number of new cases each day in New York City, which peaked at 6,378 on April 6, had been driven well below the number of existing cases. The epidemic subsided, although the virus was never fully extinguished from the community. Which is the challenge now.

Whether there is a vaccine or not, whether there is a drug or not, we have known for a very long time how to do this.” Professor Mark Siddall, American Museum of Natural History Because by last week the rate at which each infected person transmits the virus to others, the Rt, climbed above 1 in both the city and the state for the first time since the first half of April, according to two widely followed monitoring groups. That means new cases will start increasing again, absent steps to contain it. This is particularly treacherous as New York City, with the green light from Governor Cuomo, proceeds on Monday to a modified version of the last phase of the four step re-

opening process the state created. Outdoor activities, like visiting the Bronx Zoo or Botanic Gardens, can resume, but indoor activities, like shopping in malls, are still restricted. This is based on the scientific guidance that being outside is far safer than being inside. What we still don’t have, however, is a solid way to be sure the choices are working. Corralling a pandemic demands two simple things. Real-time data on viral spread and the ability and will to then act swiftly to stop it. At the moment we still lack the first, in New York and nationally. Which means we don’t know how far behind we are on the second. The heart of this problem is the ever-spreading debacle around testing and contact tracing.

“A Data Flow Problem” Testing for coronavirus is not an end in itself. It is a tool to find the virus in its human

Get your child up to date on routine vaccinations now, not later. Vaccines are safe, essential, and they protect your child from illness and underlying health conditions. Call your child’s doctor today to make an appointment. If you need to ﬁnd a doctor, call 311. Your child may be eligible for free medical care, regardless of your immigration status.

Bill de Blasio Mayor Oxiris Barbot, MD Commissioner

JULY 23-29, 2020

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carriers and then stop it from spreading. “It’s a data problem,” explained Professor Mark Siddall of the American Museum of Natural History. “It is a data flow problem.” The needed data comes from the test results. At first, New York and the country had too few tests. We probably still don’t have enough tests. But more urgently, results from the tests we do have are taking so long that by the time they are received they are describing history. It is as if those radar systems set up in the arctic to spot Russian bombers sent their warnings back by mail. Or like what pilots say about flying in bad weather without adequate radar. You don’t know you are in trouble until you hit a cloud full of rocks. In 2015, Siddall curated an exhibition at the museum on the work of President Carter and his Carter Center to eradicate the parasite, guinea worm. “We did this against guinea worm, driving it down from 3.5 million cases to 20. No drug. No vaccine,” said Sid-

dall, an expert on parasites. “Nigeria did it in Lagos during the recent West African Ebola outbreak. We know exactly what to do and if we had given the Carter Center a billion dollars in January or February and the authority to do domestically what they have done internationally for decades we probably would have gotten it right. Like New Zealand, Taiwan, etc.”

New Numbers Siddall is describing the proven power of testing for a pathogen, whether a parasite or virus, and then tracing contacts to stop the spread. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on May 8 a new Test and Trace Corps in the city’s Health + Hospital corporation. The work got underway on June 1. Based on their own numbers, the city so far has been only partially successful in tracing and isolating cases. After releasing new numbers each week at first, the city has not updated the figures since July 4. An H+H spokesman said the Mayor

would release new figures this week. In any case, the Test and Trace numbers only start when the test results arrive. Since many test results are taking a week or more to arrive back from the labs, even a 100% successful tracing system would be of limited overall effectiveness at stopping the spread. The mayor said last week that only the Federal government has the power to fix the testing delays. “Whether there is a vaccine or not, whether there is a drug or not, we have known for a very long time how to do this,” Siddall said. “’We did this with smallpox in West Africa and in Bangladesh right on the heels of its war of independence against Pakistan in the 70s (a war that decimated infrastructure and the professional class). We did this with polio in the Western Hemisphere in 5 short years (85 to 90) and during Reagan/Bush no less.” The question now is whether we can do it here in New York.

STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th precinct for the week ending July 12 Week to Date

Year to Date

2020

2019 % Change

2020

0 0

n/a n/a

0 2

0 0

5 1

2 1

150.0 0.0

19 10

19 18

0.0 -44.4

Grand Larceny

3 18

10 33

-70.0 -45.5

12 77

25 124

-52.0 -37.9

Grand Larceny Auto

300.0

133.3

Murder Rape Robbery Felony Assault Burglary

2019

% Change

n/a n/a

GET HELP. GIVE HELP. Join a community of neighbors helping neighbors here in New York. With AARP Community Connections, you can find online mutual aid groups to stay connected, share ideas and help those in need. Just need to talk? Ask for a friendly phone call from a trained volunteer if you or a loved one is feeling anxious or overwhelmed. AARP and your community are here for you. Request a friendly phone call at 1-888-281-0145 or get connected at aarp.org/coronavirus

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A CITY’S TRAVAILS, A CAT’S TALE EAST SIDE OBSERVER

BY ARLENE KAYATT

Pandemania - No matter what you call the scourge (COVID, covid, CV, cv, pandemic), it’s here, we’ve got it. For how long? We’ll find out. Believe the pols, the scientists, the media, your neighbor, up to you. What we do know is that life’s going on in the big city - of NYC I speak - for better or worse.

Buildings keep tumbling down - The pandemic hasn’t

deterred JP Morgan and Rudin Management from moving forward with their plans to raze the office tower at 415 Madison Ave. to make way for JP Morgan & Co’s new headquarters. So look for the 24-story tower to come tumbling down. Rudin Management Co. has made the demolition proposal to the city and will be using development rights they’ve acquired from JP Morgan to erect the edifice that will include pedestrian access to a planned LIRR concourse under Grand Central Terminal, as reported by Bloomberg News. Hate to see it go - it had great office space, some with terraces, and a penthouse. At one time, when he was going to run for president, Rudy Giuliani’s campaign had office space in the building.

Scaffolding collapses, so does a vacant building - The East 30s haven’t fared too well recently. A portion of

the four-story building at 211 East 34th St. came crashing down onto the adjacent site of an excavation project at 34th St. and Third Ave. Unrelated, but later in the day, scaffolding collapsed on East 36th St. near Lexington Ave., as reported in the NY Post. In the first incident, traffic was backed up. No injuries or missing persons were reported. In the latter, one person was killed and three others were injured.

DYE HARD

JULY 23-29, 2020

Voices

VIEWPOINT

BY MONA FINSTON

Harmony Grits was rescued from under a warehouse. Photo: Monica Sinforosa, Crossed Paws Rescue

A good scaffolding story -

Except for inclement weather, scaffolding’s a blight, an eyesore, sometimes a danger. That being said, it was nice to be able to dine outside under the scaffolding covering Bread & Wine’s cafe at 92nd/93rd and Lexington. The scaffolding’s also protection for the produce and carts that stand outside the West Side Market several steps south. Back to big screens? - The marquee at the now-closed Orpheum movie house on 86th and Lexington makes me think that maybe, just maybe, they’ll be re-opening. What started out as the wraparound marquee with letters that would spell out whatever films were playing was replaced with notice to check your app for films and times. That didn’t go over well with Third Ave. bus riders hoping to see what was playing as the bus passed by. Now the marquee’s simply a curved, metal wraparound announcing “AMC” on one

side and “Orpheum” on the other. Maybe there’s a big screen in our future! Welcome Harmony - It’s been about a year that my cat, Mollie McGee, and I have been going it alone. Time for a newbie and back to Crossed Paws in NJ where I adopted Gracie Allen 10 years ago and who’s no longer with us. Immediately came word that there was an older cat, 9, female, who was in foster care after being rescued from under a warehouse where some nice folks were feeding her. Picture sent. Pretty girl, black and white. Name, Harmony. When I’m adopting a cat with a name, I like keeping it and add my own branding. So Elvis became Elvis Presley. Betty became Betty Boop. Gracie became Gracie Allen. But Harmony, that was a hard one. Until I called her Harmony Grits. That made me smile. With all due respect to kernel hominy, Harmony’s got true grit and a forever home.

My bathroom looked like the shower scene from Psycho or the aftermath of afternoon tea with Freddie Kruger. A deep red viscous goo dripped from the shower walls, oozed down the moldresistant shower curtain, pooled in the tub and on the floor, and stained the sink. There was a red partial hand print on the door. This was my first attempt at coloring my own hair. After over three months in lock down, white roots were reaching up from my scalp making it appear as if a candy cane had melted on my head. While my eyebrows still retained the beautiful strawberry hue of my natural hair, my huge mass of wiry copper curls needed “enhancement” about every five weeks or so to remain red. But the salon was closed until further notice. I didn’t want to try dying my own hair. It wasn’t really urgent since no one saw me except for Face Time and Zoom friends. As an interim measure I’d started touching up the roots with a gold colored eye shadow I found in my makeup drawer. However, the makeup was running low and the ever-widening bandana I wore to conceal my roots had been stretched to its limit. I couldn’t stand looking at myself anymore,

The author post-color. Photo courtesy of Mona Finston.

and decided to take a risk. I called Kyprianos, my colorist, and asked if he could possibly whip up my formula and send it to me. Instead, he suggested curbside service. We agreed on a day, and at the prescribed time, he arrived at my apartment building, parked his car right in front and proceeded to concoct my special recipe, which was to be brushed liberally on my roots plus a gloss that would be squirted from a bottle on my entire head after the dye had set. He provided all the equipment including bowls, bottles, brush, gloves, and texted me detailed instructions. I ran upstairs and began my first foray into self-coloring. I’d already prepared in advance a white, 13 gallon, extra-thick drawstring garbage bag as a smock with holes cut out for my head and my arms. With some trepidation, I snapped on the gloves and dipped the stiff brush carefully into the bowl of glop which Kyprianos had prepared. I raised it to my head, unsure where to begin. I’d heard that it was best to divide your hair into four quadrants in order to get full coverage. But since my hair is wild and would never sub-

mit to being corralled like that, I had to grab thick clumps and hold them straight-up in order to get to the roots. So many roots. When I was finished with the grabbing and brushing there was still plenty of dye mixture left. A good portion that was applied to my head was now dripping onto my garbage bag smock. After 40 minutes of anxiously waiting for the color to set, my plan was to stand just outside the tub and stick my head, backwards, under the shower head, to rinse. The problem I did not foresee was that the shower water would travel from my head down my back and all over the bathroom. Finally, I jumped in the tub, still wearing my smock, but it was too late. Red was everywhere. It looked like a battle had been waged and I was on the losing side. I finished rinsing the dye and emerged from the shower completely soaked. I stripped down and immediately applied the gloss, as instructed. When it came time to rinse again, I jumped again in the shower. After all evidence of the chaos was cleaned up and my hair was done, I must admit, it looked pretty good. I sent Kyprianos a photo of the finished product and even he approved and only pointed out a few spots I’d missed. Regardless, my hair looked far better than it had earlier in the day. I felt empowered by the experience. Maybe next I can take a stab at cutting my own hair. What could possibly go wrong? Mona Finston is a partner at MoJJo Collaborative Communications, a virtual PR ﬁrm in NYC. She is currently working on a book of essays about her mother and a screenplay about the fantasies of an older woman.

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Inaction is not an option. Complete the 2020 Census to shape the next ten years for your community. The power to change your community is in your hands. We can help inform funding every year for the next ten years for public services like healthcare, childcare programs, public transportation, schools, and job assistance. And our responses determine how many seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. But time is running out, so complete the census today online, by phone, or by mail.

Complete the census today at:

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Instructor Rachel Eisenman offers a Strength and Motion class. Photos courtesy of Project FIND

SENIOR CENTERS FIND SUCCESS IN REMOTE PROGRAMMING SENIOR LIVING

When the pandemic hit, Project FIND on the UWS created a robust roster of Zoom offerings BY CECE KING

Al Kirchen, 88, was in his bathroom when he almost slipped. “It was automatic, my body went into a way that I prevented the fall,” he said. Kirchen credits his miraculous save to the Strength and Motion class he has been taking at the Project FIND senior center. In June, the class went online. “If I didn’t have those classes, I’m sure I would’ve went down,” Kirchen said. Project FIND is a West Side organization founded in 1967 to meet the needs of low income, elderly New Yorkers. In its early days, Project FIND would distribute information in the Port Authority bus station. Now it runs four senior centers that serve over 3,000 members. “It’s the best thing going on the Upper West Side,” Kirchen said. “It’s got so many classes and activities.” A major purpose of senior

centers is to provide social spaces. Project FIND didn’t want to lose this vital aspect of its work after shutting down in-person activities due to COVID-19. “During the pandemic seniors and older adults are more vulnerable to isolation,” said Director of Community Services Porsha Hall. When the pandemic hit, Project FIND created a robust roster of online programming on Zoom that the Department for the Aging funds. The organization helped participants who needed help learn to use the new technology. Now, participants can jam to classics in Woodstock Radio or discuss current events in Lets Talk World News.

Social Engagement The online programming seeks to alleviate some of the most pressing problems seniors face while living alone. “We’ve been offering a variety of programs to support people’s mental health issues, try to deter them from depression, but also prevent them from becoming physically unfit,” said Hall. “We’ve been able to hold onto a lot of people,” Hall said.

She believes virtual classes fill a necessary gap in social engagement. “People were really missing socializing and seeing people. You can watch television or have calls with your friends, but it’s a different thing to go and actually see someone on a screen smile,” she said. The social experience isn’t just for longtime members of Project FIND. Kirchen noted his exercise class was about one third students whom he had not met in person. Kirchen has been attending classes for the past five years and has enjoyed the online format. “I think it’s the greatest to have a Zoom class you really enjoy right in your apartment,” he said. Even though he belongs to a local gym, Kirchen prefers Rachel Eisenman’s Strength and Motion class at Project FIND. “Rachel addresses the issues of balance, which is so necessary for seniors as they age,” he said. Exercising in an apartment may seem difficult, but Kirchen has found the transition easy. “It doesn’t take that much space, you could just have a chair and a computer on a table in front

JULY 23-29, 2020

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Eastview

is a nonproﬁt independent living residence for those 55+

Students in last week’s Strength and Motion class.

of you and that’s all you really need,” he said. Other teachers with class formats that are more difficult to conduct online have creatively adapted their curriculums. At the center, Kirchen would cook alongside others in Food for Thought. He said the online version focuses instead on how to strengthen the immune system against COVID-19 through nutrition.

“Virtuous Circle of Mutual Support” One challenge that Project FIND’s Executive Director David Gillchrist said the organization has faced is reaching seniors without internet access. “We started to make

hundreds of phone calls to our center members,” Gillchrist said, and what he found was that many people didn’t have access to the internet. Gillchrist is currently advocating for the government to provide technology to seniors. Although going remote poses new problems, it may provide solutions to old ones. Project FIND had been puzzling over how to reach the homebound elderly before the pandemic, but they may have found the answer in online programming. “Suddenly, this has created the means to actually do that,” Gillchrist said about the ability for online classes to include the homebound population. The organization

is planning to implement remote classes permanently, even after the pandemic ends. Gillchrist is optimistic. He believes seniors seeing friendly faces on the screen may be an impetus for participants to independently reach out to each other. “It’s creating that virtuous circle of mutual support,” he said. Project FIND has posted a monthly schedule of programming with the Zoom link right in the document on its website. The organization is ready to welcome New Yorkers 60 and older to join their online community as new members. Classes are listed here: http://www.projectﬁnd.org/senior_centers

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Governor Andrew M. Cuomo at a briefing with Dr. Howard Zucker (right), NY State Health Commissioner. Photo: Don Pollard / Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

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Certain nursing homes in New York can allow visitors with restrictions - starting July 15 as the state eases a ban aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19 among vulnerable elderly residents. Only nursing homes and long-term care facilities without any new coronavirus cases among residents and staffers in the last 28 days can allow limited visits, state Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said last Friday. The department said the state’s policy follows federal guidance and is limited to nursing homes without staffing shortages that have tested all residents. Health department spokeswoman Jill Montag said about 150 of the more than 600 nursing homes in the state could qualify to open up to visitors. Roughly 500 nursing homes had reported COVID-19 cases among staffers in June, according to recently released data from the state, which doesn’t release data about the number of cases at individual nursing homes. Residents can have visits

from up to two individuals at a time, and visitors must undergo temperature checks, wear face masks and keep 6 feet away from residents during the visit. At least one of the visitors must be 18 years of age, according to Zucker. No more than 10% of residents can have visitors at any one time, and the state’s rules limit visitation to outdoor areas, weather permitting. Otherwise, visitation can be allowed inside a “well-ventilated space” with up to 10 socially distanced individuals wearing face coverings.

“Some Comfort to Everyone” The state banned visitors at nursing homes March 13 over fear of spreading the virus that took hold in a Washington nursing home in late February. The state reports at least 6,400 residents with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 have died in nursing homes, and it’s unclear how many have died in hospitals. “I know how painful it has been for residents of these facilities to endure such a long period of time without seeing family and loved ones, and my hope is that this adjustment to the visitation policy will provide some comfort to everyone,’’ Zucker said. Nursing homes that allow visitors are required to send visitation plans to the state. Long-term care ombudsmen, who advocate for resi-

dents, can once again visit nursing homes and long-term care facilities starting July 15 as well. Ombudsmen must present the nursing home with a verified negative test result from within the past week, according to the state health department. The state’s ease on visitor restrictions comes as the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, daily fatalities and daily positive test results have plunged since a peak in mid-April. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office said hospitals admitted 87 COVID-19 patients for the first time Thursday, up from 73 the previous Thursday. Since midJune, about 1% of individuals newly tested for COVID-19 in New York have tested positive. Cuomo, a Democrat, also said the state is sending Florida enough of remdesivir - an experimental medicine administered through an IV that has shown promise against coronaviruses - to treat 280 patients through Saturday. The governor said the shipment will arrive Saturday and will help Florida as it awaits a federal shipment to arrive. “When New York was climbing the COVID mountain with no end in sight and resources were scarce, we were incredibly moved by the generosity of states around the country that stepped up to provide supplies and medical personnel in our time of need,’’ Cuomo said.

JULY 23-29, 2020

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GIVING LIFE BACK TO A SHUTTERED STREET ART

For the Bringing Back Bowery project, local artists paint murals to support the business community BY YUSUF HUSAIN

The stretch of Bowery between Houston and Third Avenue is usually an eclectic mix of busy bars, coffee shops and art galleries, with crowded sidewalks to boot. But since the start of the pandemic and more recently the looting following the George Floyd protests, the streets have been stark, and the colorful windows have been replaced by plywood boards and rusty nails. Until now. In early June, artist Sono Kuwayama saw an opportunity to freshen up the neighborhood and started the Bringing Back Bowery project by writing letters to some of the local businesses asking if she could paint the plywood covering their storefronts. “The basic reaction has been pretty positive,” Kuwayama said. “I feel like everyone’s been having some kind of dialogue about it [including] the store owners.” Because a lot of the boarded-up storefronts were covered in crude graffiti, some store owners were even relieved that Kuwayama wanted to paint their boards. “I’ve just been waiting for artists to come and paint these doors,” one store owner said to Kuwayama. “I’m so excited you walked in here.”

Archiving the Project Kuwayama hasn’t been the only artist painting murals on the plywood boards. Early in the project, Kuwayama invited other local artists to paint their own murals on some of the storefronts. With over 30 murals and counting, the project has turned into an outdoor art gallery, though Kuwayama emphasized that the murals haven’t been curated

What you’re doing, it’s worth a thousand words ... These are artists and they work in their style, and it is what it is. It’s a gift from us and it’s free to the [owners].” Sono Kuwayama, founder of Bring Back Bowery in any way. And while there is some input from the store owners, Kuwayama doesn’t require a certain subject matter or censor the artists. In fact, when asked by one store owner to include certain words to reflect what she felt was going on in the moment, Kuwayama refused. “What you’re doing, it’s worth a thousand words and you don’t have to write anything on this,” Kuwayama said. “These are artists and they work in their style, and it is what it is. It’s a gift from us and it’s free to the [owners].” Though the store owners have been delighted to have the art displayed over their doors and windows, the boards will sooner or later have to come down. Kuwayama said that the art gallery City Lore is going to archive and document the project, as it’s become a part of Bowery’s history. But past being just an art installation, the project has another, more significant purpose. “I feel like this is going to be the only tangible artifacts left from this time period,” Kuwayama said. “There’s photographs, there’s writing, memories, there’s all of that but this is actually one really tangible thing that is here. It’s just a historical document of what people are going through because of the hundred plus days of the pandemic, and being in isolation, and artists, either having no access to their city or just in their studio so I think it’s been a very reflective time.” Follow the Bringing Back Bowery project on Instagram at @bringing_back_bowery.

Photos: @bringing_back_bowery, via Instagram

JULY 23-29, 2020

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All across the city, from tiny clubs to massive arenas, the summer is a time for concerts. Or at least it usually is. As the COVID-19 pandemic has turned life on its head, live music has been hit harshly. With close gatherings in enclosed spaces being among the riskiest activities for virus transmission, live music has been put on pause until further notice, leaving artists and venue employees alike looking for new ways to connect with fans and stay afloat. One method has been through the emerging world of online concerts. Internationally successful Korean pop stars like BTS, who had to cancel their May shows at MetLife Stadium, and NCT 127, who called off their June concert at Madison Square Garden, opted for paid online concerts. KCON, the yearly K-pop music festival that had to cancel its dates for this year, including a June visit to MSG, held a weeklong online event, featuring seven days of concerts and 33 performing artists. Owing to the calmer coronavirus situation in South Korea, these concerts were able to approximate the lavish arena shows they’re taking the place of, with lighting effects, video screens, and costume changes, in a studio, streaming to fans across the world. Such live streamed events from Korean artists have found massive success. BTS’ Bang Bang Con concert garnered a reported 756,000 viewers, NCT 127’s Beyond the Origin had 104,000, and KCON’s KCON:TACT boasted an attendance of 4.81 million over its weeklong span. While this phenomenon of online live stream concerts was born out of the pandemic, one can easily see them continuing in

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SummerStage in Central Park, now presented as SummerStage Anywhere online series. Photo: Noralanning at English Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

some form into the future, allowing live concerts to be seen beyond a local audience.

At-Home Acoustic Performances Given the harsh realities of the pandemic in the United States, American artists haven’t been able to put on such elaborate productions. Many, like All Time Low, a rock band who were set to headline the Sad Summer Festival, a touring emo and alternative rock festival that planned on hitting the Rooftop at Pier 17 this month, have taken on a more casual style. All Time Low, alongside countless other musicians, have taken to social media platforms like Instagram live for at-home acoustic performances. Televised concerts for charitable causes, often global and local efforts to fight COVID-19 and help those affected, have also taken off. In May, the Rise Up New York telethon featured musicians Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Mariah Carey, and Sting alongside famous New Yorkers from Spike Lee and Barbra Streisand to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo to raise money for the New York-based anti-poverty nonprofit Robin Hood. SummerStage, the largely free summer concert series put on by the City Parks Foundation, has transitioned to a variety of online content. The SummerStage Anywhere series features not only musical performances, but conversa-

tions on culture, DJ sessions, and even meditation workshops, all in efforts to create a sense of community, remotely. Of course, the indefinite closure of venues has affected more people than the artists who perform at them. Venues across the city are a source of work for many, from crew to security to bartenders, who have been put out of work as a result of the pandemic. While there is no solid date for when live music may return, the Metropolitan Opera and Broadway theaters expect not to reopen until late December or early January at the earliest, indicating that venue employees may face months more of unemployment. On the small scale, venues have started crowdfunding campaigns on GoFundMe to benefit their employees. Some, like the GoFundMe for the employees of Lower Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge, have not yet been able to reach their fundraising goal even months after their creation. With concerts likely to be among the last aspects of life to reopen as the pandemic eventually fades, artists and venues alike have turned to the internet as a lifeline. While times are tough financially for many, those with money to spare might be wise to contribute to the fundraiser for a preferred neighborhood venue, so that when live music can resume, there are still places to see it.

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key races in Manhattan, only a small fraction of them have been counted, which has heightened tensions between campaigns. Most notably, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s fate as the representative of the 12th Congressional District hangs in the balance as she maintains a tight lead over challenger Suraj Patel. After the in-person ballots were counted on Election Day, Maloney led Patel by only 648 voters. About 65,000 more absentee ballots came in from the district, but according to the candidates, more than 12,000 of those ballots have been deemed invalid by the Board of Elections, due to either missing postmarks or ballots received past the deadline. Last week, all four candidates, including Peter Harrison and Lauren Ashcraft who received a much smaller portion of the in-person vote, put out a joint statement calling on the BOE to accept all ballots missing a postmark. “The Board has already agreed to count ballots received without a postmark before the 24th — now we are asking that they agree to count all ballots received without a postmark,” the statement read. “Put bluntly: A missing postmark, over which voters had no control, should not disenfranchise those voters. We stand together in asking Governor Cuomo to update his executive order to permit the Board of Elections to accept all absentee ballots received without a postmark.”

Frustrating Process Some candidates, like Congressman Jerry Nadler, have been spared the long, drawnout counting process. Earlier this month, the Associated Press declared Nadler the victor over challengers Lindsey Boylan and Jonathan Herzog in the Democratic primary for the 10th Congressional District. The AP’s analysis of the absentee ballots showed that Nadler’s lead was too great to surpass. Martin Rather, who has been running Cameron Koffman’s challenge against incumbent Assembly Member Dan Quart in the 73rd District, said the process has been frustrating, and particularly

Assembly Member Dan Quart with his son Sam. Photo courtesy of Dan Quart

Cameron Koffman, candidate for 73rd Assembly District. Photo: Sean Jackson

tough not to be able to give supporters an update. “We really have had a lot of people that want to reach out after the election, but the unfortunate thing is you can’t really update them,” said Rather. “But it’s been a great time to reflect and kind of not be attached to an outcome you can say, ‘OK, here are some things we did well and here are some things we didn’t think we did well.’” In the 73rd District, 20,000 people requested absentee ballots, and a little over 13,000 of those ballots were returned, according to Rather. Of those ballots, 2,500 have been declared preliminarily invalid. But so far, only a portion of the affidavit ballots, which are voters fill out on when their names are not found in the voting rolls at a polling site, have been counted so far.

Koffman later deleted the tweet. Jeff Coltin, a writer from City & State, reported that Koffman’s post resulted in election workers confiscating electronics from poll watchers, as cell phones are not allowed to be used during the count. Harry Manin, who has been in charge of the Quart campaign’s absentee ballot process, described a much different atmosphere. “During my time there, everyone’s been warm and constructive,” said Manin, adding that it was not unusual for campaign representatives to ask questions. “BOE staff are working diligently and under the toughest of circumstances.”

Tense Argument Rather has been on hand for the tabulation process at the BOE’s warehouse facility on West 33rd Street in Manhattan, and said arguments between the two campaigns over whether a ballot is valid or invalid can get heated. Last week, Koffman posted a short video of a Quart representative and a BOE official in a tense argument on Twitter. “Shameful. My opponent yelled at a BOE employee to try and get a ballot invalidated. We should be trying to expand democracy, not restrict it. The ballot was ultimately ruled valid! Tensions high today,” Koffman wrote. In the video, the BOE official can be heard saying, “You don’t get to bully people, tone it down.” The Quart representative responded, saying he was simply making a record of what was going on, and said the official was out of line. Another worker then separated the two.

Implications for November The long wait for results has made many anxious about whether the process will be as sluggish in the fall. Michael Ryan, the executive director of the city’s BOE, told the New York Times last week that the board had not hired additional staff to count the absentee ballots, and it was unclear whether the board plans to do so in the fall. “While I appreciate the public’s desire to know the results, at the end of the process we must ensure the integrity of the elections and the accuracy of the results,” Ryan told the Times. Rather said he was concerned about the nationwide implications for a slow return of results in November, and hopes New York learns for this experience. “I hope that this process and what we’re going through now will lead to reform so that by the time we get to November, the BOE will be in better position,” said Rather. “But right now I would just think given the pace, that looks unlikely. And I think that’s unfortunate for anybody who cares about democracy.”

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FOOD VENDORS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 returning to his breakfast cart at Madison and 86th, Mohamed Zidan, 39, makes only a quarter of his revenue before the pandemic. It is barely enough to pay the rent for his cart and food vending permit, cleaning supplies, and his bills, Zidan said. Muhammad Sali, 38, has worked at a Halal cart on Fifth Ave. and 79th for four years. In past summers, the cart earned up to $1,300 a day from Museum Mile tourists, and $600 in the winter. Now, the cart makes $300; his $80 daily salary is half of what it used to be. “No people, no business, no work,” he said. Before the pandemic, Sali’s employer ran two carts with three employees. Presently, they alternate shifts in one cart, each working two or three days a week. It costs about $400 to run the cart every day, between Sali’s salary, the pay for the driver who transports the cart, and food supplies. His employer, whom Sali knows only as Fred, loses over $100 every week. He keeps the cart open with savings from past summers to support Sali and the other employees, and because he does not want to lose his permit or the vending spot. Khaled, who declined to share his full name, serves chicken on rice and lamb gyros at his Second Ave. and 86th cart, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. In the past two years, he worked until 3 a.m. and received a daily salary of $160, plus tips. Now, his salary is $120 and the cart makes $300 a day, less than half its pre-pandemic revenue. His usual customers have not fully returned. The money is enough for Khaled’s employer to cover the cost of the cart, but not generate any profit. “[The $120 salary] is not enough for me to achieve my dreams,” Khaled said, “but this year I know I’m not going to make much money. I’m just trying to work.”

Health Risks Street food vendors also have limited options for protecting themselves from the coronavirus. They and their customers interact with little social distance and most vendors only take cash, another way germs spread. Every vendor wears a mask and gloves; Sali finishes a box of them every two days. His 4-

Mohamed Zidan’s breakfast cart at Madison and 86th St. Photo: Emily Sun

year-old and 1-year-old rush to him when he returns home, but he has to clean himself and wash his clothes in a separate room before he sees them. Khaled posted signs on his cart urging patrons to keep six feet away if possible. After every customer, Zidan sprays disinfectant on his gloved hands and the metal surfaces of his stand. “I don’t want to bring the virus to my kids,” he said; his three children are 8, 4 and 1. Vendors face another risk: displacement. Carina KaufmanGutierrez, Deputy Director of the SVP, says some lost spots due to the city’s Open Restaurant Program. Since June, the city issued over 7,000 permits for outdoor seating. But the policy did not ensure that vendors’ spaces will be protected. The Open Restaurant Program highlights the discrepancy between how the city treats restaurants and vendors. There has been a limit on vending permits since 1979. With only 5,000 available and a decades-long waiting list, the cap created an underground market where $200 permits sell for upwards of $15,000. “It is unfair to street vendors who have fought tooth and nail for the ability to operate their businesses,” Kaufman-Gutierrez said. Sali wants a permit to open his own cart, but the wait time makes that unlikely. Khaled’s employer spends $25,000 every two years for a permit, a cost now even harder to bear.

Unemployment Insurance Even so, vendors prefer the current situation over the months when they had to close

their businesses. Some, like Zidan and Sali, received unemployment insurance. Others could not. “A significant portion of vendors do not have immigration status, so that immediately excludes them from any type of governmental support,” Kaufman-Gutierrez said. Sali has gotten a $2,400 stimulus check and $650 in weekly unemployment insurance, which ends this month. “I have a monthly salary of $960,” he said. “I’m not sure how I can keep paying my $1,800 rent and support my family.” Few vendors have been able to apply for small business loans or grants, such as the Paycheck Protection Program. Some have no records of their business transactions due to their cashbased operations, while others lack access to technology. The SVP is supporting vendors through a crowdsourced Street Vendor COVID-19 Emergency Fund and meal distributions with State Senator Jessica Ramos. They are also advocating for small business grants that prioritize street vendors, as well as Intro 1116, legislation that would lift the cap on vending permits. It is before the City Council, with a majority support of 30 council members calling for a vote. Now that they are back, vendors sell bean burritos, falafel sandwiches and cheesy fries, hoping they will have interactions with more customers. “Maybe next month there will be more people, but it’s going to take a long time, at least until next summer, before things go back to normal,” Hanashit said.

JULY 23-29, 2020

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JULY 23-29, 2020

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

RE-OPENED FOR BUSINESS Published as a Public Service of Straus News 5 Napkin Burger Come visit us! We look forward to seeing our neighbors again 1325 2nd Avenue 212-249-0777

Motorino Upper West Side Now open with outside seating 510 Columbus Ave. 917.675.7581 moroeinony.com

8th Hill Out side seating available 359 Columbus Ave 212.439.5161 8thhillnyc.com

Nello Special and Regular Menu 696 Madison Avenue 212-980-9099 info@nello.com

Altesi Ristorante Open 7 days Take Out / Delivery Outdoor seating 26 East 64th Street 212-759-8900 madison@altesinyc.com

Parm Upper West Side take out & delivery 235 Columbus Ave. 70th & 71st 212.776.4921 parmnyc.com

Anassa Taverna (temporary) Outside Seating 200 East 60th Street 212-371-5200 info@anassataverna.com

Perfect Picnic The original outdoor picnic experience! Grab and go orders 405 Central Park West 212.228.2884 perfectpicnicnyc.com

Beyond Sushi 100% Kosher & Vegan - Now delivering to all of Lower Manhattan 1429 3rd Avenue 212-564-0869 Carmines Upper West Side 11 am - 9pm order online for carry out and delivery. Virgill’s BBQ sold here! 2450 Broadway 212.362.2200 carminesnyc.com Felice 83 Outdoor Dining - Take Out and Delivery 1593 1st Avenue 212-249-4080 felice83@felicenyc.com Gracie’s on 2nd Diner Outside Seating, Regular Menu 300 East 86th Street 212-879-9425 gracieson2nddiner.com Lexington Candy Shop Outside Seating - Complying w/ covid-19 regulations- Delivery available 1226 LexingtonAve 212-288-0057 lexingtoncandy@aol.com Lukes Bar & Grill Free Home Delivery 1394 3rd Avenue 212-249-7070 Mama’s Too slices to go. Please order online for pick orders 2750 Broadway 212.510.7256 mamastoo.com Match 65 Brasserie 9:30 am - 11 pm Outdoor seating - Take Out 29 East 65th Street 212-737-4400

Petaluma 1pm - 9pm 10% off ALL Delivery Orders - Outdoor Seating 1356 1st Avenue 212-772-8800 info@petalumarestaurant.com Rosa Mexicano Pation open for dinner 1st come, 1st served 61 Columbus Ave. 22nd Street 212.977.7700 Salumeria Rosi Outdoor seating. takeout/delivery counter, grocery, cocktails to go 283 Amsterdam Ave 212.877.4800 salumeriarosinyc.com The Meatball Shop Outdoor seating beginning 6/24 - Take Out and Delivery 1462 2nd Avenue 212-257-6121 The Ribbon 5.00 off delivery/10.00 off deliveris min. 60.00 Front bar open for drinks to go 20 West 72nd Street 212-787-5656 theribbonnyc.com Thep - Tai Restaurant Please place take out orders online for 15% off! Outdoor seating 1439 Second Avenue 212-899-9995 info@thepnewyork.com Treadwell Park - Upper East Side Pation Seating, 1st come, 1st served - Happy Hour til 7pm/ to go order discounts 1125 1st Avemie 212-832-1551

Rachel Berry, who has lived in New York City since 2004, sits in her New York living room decorated with her artwork, Monday, July 6, 2020. Before the pandemic, Berry worked as a bartender and waited tables, jobs that gave her enough time to work on her creative pursuits. Photos: Bebeto Matthews / AP

WITHOUT WAITER JOBS, WHAT HAPPENS TO CREATIVE NYC? ECONOMY

How pandemic restaurant changes are affecting aspiring artists, performers and writers BY DEEPTI HAJELA, ASSOCIATED PRESS

It’s been the story for many a starry-eyed creative type looking for a big break in the Big Apple - wait tables to pay the bills while auditioning, performing, singing, painting, dancing, writing, whatever it takes to make the dreams of success come true. But there’s been a plot twist, thanks to the coronavirus putting food servers out of work in recent months as restaurants were forced to

shut down their dine-in services. And much uncertainty remains over what restaurant dining will look like even as New York City reopens. Questions of whether there will be enough business for establishments to stay open and even have waiter jobs to fill are causing concern about what that’s going to mean for the city’s creative class if the jobs that helped them be able to live here and add to the city’s artistic culture are no longer readily available. “It really is a part of the artist’s life in New York, so I don’t know what that’s going to look like if it’s just suddenly not an option anymore,’’ said Travis McClung, 28, who has spent close to nine years waiting tables while doing theater, singing and more recently, try-

ing to build his career in video editing and post-production. The virus has been devastating for the city’s restaurant workers. According to the state Department of Labor, restaurants and other eateries employed just over 273,000 people in February, before the city shut down in mid-March due to the pandemic. In April, during the peak of virus cases, that number had fallen to under 78,000. As the city reopened in May, it rose slightly to close to 100,000, still vastly below where it had been. And while outdoor dining has been allowed in recent weeks, with around 6,600 restaurants in the five boroughs applying for permits to feed people on sidewalks and streets, the return of indoor

JULY 23-29, 2020

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST June 11, 2020

June 17, 2020

LEARNING TO LIVE AFTER COVID-19 HEALTH

Rehabilitation is crucial for those recovering from coronavirus BY CAROL ANN RINZLER

Rachel Berry in her kitchen decorated with her graphic designs and plants.

dining has been put off indefinitely over fears that confined quarters would make virus cases spike.

Safety Net For McClung, who came to New York City in 2009 from a Dallas, Texas, suburb to study theater in college and started waiting tables here, a restaurant job has been a safety net, of sorts. Pre-pandemic, New York City’s vibrant restaurant scene was busy enough that he always felt he had a fallback. “It was a sense of security, it let me stay in New York City, pay the rent here,’’ he said. That’s what led to his last pre-virus waiter job, a position at a casual dining place on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. “I had a big gig editing and it canceled and I panicked and then my friend posted he was leaving that job,’’ McClung said. “I messaged him for a referral and then I got hired the next day.’’ Rachel Berry, who moved to New York City in 2004, tried her hand at a bunch of different jobs like dog walking and nannying before moving

As a city we can’t afford to lose our creative edge. It’s been one of the key drivers of the city’s economic growth over the past decades.” Eli Dvorkin, Center for an Urban Organization

to bartending and some waiting tables in 2016. The Laurel, Maryland, native even spent some time at a 9-to-5 gig in her early 20s, but found the structure too rigid to give her enough time to work on her creative pursuits, which have included photography, painting, performing and most recently, interior design work. “There’s just something about the food service industry,’’ the 36-year-old said. “It affords me a life that I can get by in New York.’’ She worries now about what will still be available in restaurants, as social distancing restrictions will require lower capacities in food and drink establishments for the foreseeable future, and whether she would have to work even more in other fields like retail to make what she has been able to in food service. “Am I going to have the same opportunities afforded to me financially, or, you know, am I going to be stuck in this, I need two to three jobs to get by,’’ Berry asked.

Difﬁcult for Artists And that’s of course assuming people don’t leave, or hesitate to come to New York City now in the first place, said Jen Lyon, owner of MeanRed Productions, a company that puts on arts and music events. That’s a concern to her, as someone who looks to work with up-and-comers, in a city where it was already expensive and difficult for artists to

sustain themselves. As someone who spent years bartending, she has an appreciation for food service jobs and what they offer creative types. They’re “the best jobs to have when you needed to focus on your art, especially in New York,’’ she said. But now, if those jobs largely disappear, “What happens in my world is suddenly I don’t have young artists to work with because they can’t afford New York,’’ she said. “You don’t have people creating art in New York anymore.’’ The pandemic “has scattered a lot of the potential artists,’’ she said. “We’re going to lose a decade of possible talent until people figure out how to stay.’’ Losing its creatives is also a “huge threat” to the city’s fabric overall, said Eli Dvorkin, editorial and policy director at the Center for an Urban Organization, which advocates for policies that make New York City more equitable. “That’s a huge problem for New York which has been so dependent on its role as a cultural capital of the world,” he said. “As a city we can’t afford to lose our creative edge. It’s been one of the key drivers of the city’s economic growth over the past decades,” Dvorkin added. “It’s one of the reasons why I think New York maintains its status as a beacon for creative, innovative people from all over the world.” Hajela has covered New York for The Associated Press for more than 20 years. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dhajela.

When it comes to medical jargon, these past three months have certainly expanded the list, starting with the microbe SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) and COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the illness it causes. Here are two entries more for the lexicon: PICS and PICS-F. The first stands for post intensive care syndrome; the second for the effects of PICs on a patient’s family. As every medical professional knows, spending time in an intensive care unit (ICU) can leave a patient with both physical and emotional problems. Add a ventilator and the problems multiply. E if th ti t i

Steven Flanagan, medical director of the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU Langone Health. Photo courtesy of NYU Langone Health

lem after a relatively long time lying motionless in bed is likely to be weakened muscles. That means patients will have to repeat the childhood experience of learning how to walk without toppling over while having a hard time catching their breath because time on a ventilator can leave a person gasping if he tries to walk quickly. Manhattan Democratic district leader Louise Dankberg

fects on memory and thinking. To which Joshua Morganstein, MD, chair of the American Psychiatric Association Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters, adds appropriate stress and anxiety which, he says, will likely resolve over time. Back at the walking and breathing stage, reclaiming one’s “normal” requires exercise, physiotherapy, occupational therapy symptom

March 21, 2020

June 3, 2020

THE VITAMIN D QUESTION SCIENCE

New studies report a correlation between COVID19 death rates and D deﬁciency BY MICHAEL ORESKES

Why has New York City been slammed so hard by COVID-19? There are almost as many theories as lights gone dark on Broadway. But one obvious factor does not seem to draw the same blame as our crowds, our subways, our leadership or our location at the crossroads of the world. Which is odd, since New York doctors all know about it. Vitamin D deficiency is, well, epidemic among New Yorkers. And in just the past few days three separate studies, from the US, the UK and Indonesia, have reported a strong correlation between death rates from COVID-19 and vitamin D deficiency. “Our analysis shows that it might be as high as cutting the mortality rate in half,” Professor Vadim Backman of

vent a patient from contracting the virus, but it may reduce complications and prevent death in those who are infected.” The strong correlation does not prove causation, of course, and the researchers recommended further studies. But health professionals say there is no reason to wait to reduce the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, which has been well known for years. “Vitamin D is typically much lower in New Yorkers,” said Dr. Eric Ascher, who has offices in Chelsea and on East 76th Street, around the corner from Lenox Hill Hospital Northwell Health, where he is affiliated. “Buildings are so high, everybody’s working indoors.” Vitamin D deficiency is so prevalent here that Ascher says, “I’m more shocked when a patient has a normal vitamin D level.” Ascher says he regularly prescribes vitamin D supplements and urges patients to consume dairy products and get more sun.

Public Health Actions A vitamin deficiency may seem trivial against the dra

Hopes for an end to the lockdown have rested heavily on a scientific or medical breakthrough. A vaccine or effective treatment will be welcome. But increasingly experts are pointing to the importance of basic public health actions. They say these can both reduce the spread of the coronavirus, through testing, tracing and sanitary measures, and the severity of COVID-19, by reducing conditions that make patients more vulnerable. “We are only as healthy as our most challenged residents,” said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, New York City’s Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene. “It is inevitable that we are going to have a second wave and so we need to not only prepare for that but really look toward seeing this as an opportunity to re-imagine what it means to live in a world where we support people’s total health.” This involves everything from improving overcrowded housing to alleviating concentrations of chronic disease in communities of color, she said. S l h i di i

March 5, 2020

March 13, 2020

THE PASSION OF ST. BERNARD’S Forty Years at the Blackboard

EDUCATION

Parents, alumni and donors at a private Manhattan boys’ school are in an uproar over the planned departure of the beloved longtime headmaster BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

It was a fleeting moment the “Old Boys” will never forget. At least 200 all-male alumni of St. Bernard’s School on the Upper East Side descended on East 98th Street on Jan. 16 for a joyous event known as the Old Boys Dinner. From all over the country and all over the world, they come to Carnegie Hill on the third Thursday of every January to exult in a tradition dating to 1916 – and featuring a healthy dose of wine, liquor and camaraderie. But before the bonding, networking and singing of the “Old Boys’ Song” got underway that evening, the former classmates – as young as 21, as old as 90 – would hear from Stuart H. Johnson III, the headmaster they all seemed to revere. His very first words brought a gasp and nervous laughter, followed by a loud ovation: “It’s a great opportunity to be able to preside at your own funeral,” Johnson said, according to separate accounts from three Old Boys in attendance. “Graceful gallows humor,” is how one witness described the episode in the school’s first-floor auditorium. “Funereal words spoken in funereal times,” another said. “A cri de coeur, a cry from the heart, to everybody in that room,” a third offered. All three requested anonymity. If the Old Boys’ English usage seems particularly eloquent, it’s because St. Bernard’s has taught them very well indeed. And it may sound corny, but as they belted out h i “Si f fi

A sea change is coming to St. Bernard’s, an elite, private school that currently enrolls 365 boys, from kindergarten through ninth grade, who stand out in their navy blue blazers, Oxford shirts and khaki trousers. Founded in 1904, the school boasts an enviable record of placing its graduates in top private day and boarding schools. Since 1985, with Johnson at the helm, the school’s character, prestige, and pedagogical excellence has been enhanced, while its diversity has been boosted – students hail from 52 countries, Armenia to Vietnam, and speak 24

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

Check out our website to read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes”.

‘UPPER WEST PRIDE’ COMEDY

Stand-up comedian Willie Zabar on humor during COVID, connecting with audiences on Zoom and his love of the UWS BY MARK NIMAR

Comedian Willie Zabar is no stranger to the New York comedy scene. After performing stand-up comedy at the Brooklyn Comedy Festival, NYC Sketchfest, the 5th Borough Comedy Festival, and the PIT Loft, Zabar has established himself as a daring, young comedian to watch. Zabar is also a lifelong New Yorker with deep roots on the Upper West Side — his family owns the specialty food store Zabar’s on 80th and Broadway, which has been serving the neighborhood since 1934. Zabar is thus a true son of the Upper West Side, and his success in comedy has made him a local favorite. We talked to him about how he’s still making people laugh during COVID-19, his love of Riverside Park, and his favorite thing to eat at Zabar’s.

How did you get into comedy? I always really loved watching comedy. And during high school, I was working at a youth hostel [The Hostel International on 103rd Street and Amsterdam], and one of the other volunteers, a guy named Joe, he was a comic and he would give away free tickets to his show to the hostelers to get people in the seats. And I’d go to the shows, and those are the first comedy shows I ever went to. One day kind of off-hand, I said, “that’s so cool you do comedy, I’ve always wanted to try that.” And he says, “well, what’s stopping you?” Willie Zabar in action.

And I didn’t have a good excuse. So within a couple weeks, I did what was basically a high school talent show, and I did stand-up for the first time. And I’ve been doing it ever since.

What’s the hardest thing about being a comedian? It’s one of those skills that gets very rusty very quickly. It’s not something that you can just rehearse on your own. You can memorize stuff on your own, but you can’t really do stand-up comedy without a room full of people. Right now people have been trying to do comedy over Zoom, [and] we can broadcast easily, but getting those [audience] reactions in the moment is very difficult. Like, I would say, impossible. So, while I’ve been doing a good amount of livestreaming, especially as a character act, I would say it’s damn near impossible to be working on or developing a stand-up act without being in a room with an audience.

What other challenges have you faced making comedy during the coronavirus? It’s had an interesting effect on how I work. On the one hand, I can’t

Willie Zabar. Photos: Mindy Tucker

do live comedy. On the other hand, I’ve become motivated to work on a bunch of projects that I’ve been neglecting. So I would say one thing that’s difficult is…that hardest part of producing content for the internet is getting people to look at it. Because unless you have or until you have a large following on social media, it almost feels like you’re performing for your family at a dinner party.

What have reactions been like to what you’ve posted online? Mixed (laughs). The feedback has reflected the quality of the work. I struggle with perfectionism. And there’s a lot of projects that I’ve either not released or not undertaken because I had reservations about “oh, is this up-to-snuff?” But the reality of the situation is that the more stuff you make, the better you’ll get at it. The most popular, beloved, prolific people out there make a mix of great stuff and stuff that’s not so great. I’ve made things where I get a text from someone saying, “Hey, I like that.” I’ve also made things where someone called and be like, “hey, are you okay?”

You grew up on the Upper West Side. What do you love about it? I grew up on the Upper West Side. I still live on the Upper West Side.

It is home. Riverside Park is the best park, and I will not debate you on that. The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, the City Diner. It’s hard to come up with reasons, because it’s home. It’s like [asking], “why do I love my parents?” There is no place like home. It’s my neighborhood. There’s like individual places that I love, like West Side Kids. There’s this guy named Cary who sells hats and clothing on 80th and Broadway. Shoutout to Cary — he always has great jokes for me. I do not take him up on those offers, but he is a character. I feel very happy to call it my home—I have a lot of Upper West pride.

What was it like growing up around Zabar’s? Growing up in and around Zabar’s was great. One: awesome food, all the time. Never didn’t have great food, was super lucky and grateful to have had and continue to have it. Getting access to the workings of a business was super influential in how I see the world. Just like knowing, and then by age 16, working with all these amazing people. There are other families within Zabar’s; there are multiple generations and spouses that work there. It feels like I have an extended family that I can visit by just going to 80th Street, which I love. I have to be constantly learning new things about food. I remember being in middle school, and I think I didn’t know what chorizo was, and some kid was like, “You’re a Zabar,

you should know that!” So [there are] many things that I feel like I need to learn and get good at as not to bring shame to my family. As a small business, especially in difficult times like now, it’s so nice to have loyal customers, and people who are willing to shop local, and help support family-run businesses. It’s something that we’re very grateful for. It’s really appreciated. We could not exist without the support of the people in this neighborhood.

What’s your favorite thing to eat there? Oooh, that’s a great question.You can’t go wrong with the Nova Scotia salmon. But if I only had access to one Zabar’s product, it would be the coffee.

What’s the number one piece of advice you’d give to someone just starting out in comedy? Do it as much as possible. Find your balance of writing and performing and do them as much as possible. Because you can’t get better if you’re not performing. The more frequently you are onstage, the less badly you will feel any given time you bomb. And you will bomb; you’ll bomb. Bombing is part of it. This interview has been condensed and edited.

Know somebody who deserves their 15 Minutes of fame? Go to our website and click on submit a press release or announcement.

JULY 23-29, 2020

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Y L K P I X P R N O Z A R W N

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B W I D I M A M Z H S V W B I

Q G Z W A L N U T H F B Y V A

G Y U B E E C H E T P A A P F

15 words are listed below. They may go across, up and down or diagonally in the puzzle. Circle each one as you ﬁnd it.

C G M C R D Q S S N K Z V F I

Almond Ashes Beech Birch Coconut Magnolia Oaks Olive Pecan Pistachio Sequoia Spruce Sycamore Walnut Willow

ANSWERS P

A N

44 39

A G

34 32

A W A R

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Y L K P I X P R N O Z A R W N

X L X V Z S E B L I I O X E O

G O Z H M J C Q J E P A S C L

B W I D I M A M Z H S V W B I

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6 7

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3 4 2 7 8 9 6 1 5

5 9 6 1 3 2 8 4 7

24 Oyster’s place 25 Work on Broadway 26 It’s more than a mere battle 27 This or that 28 Support for a tire swing 31 “I’m with you!” 33 Snitcher 34 Put faith in 36 Where Borneo is 37 Poky part 38 Like most N.B.A. players 39 Bench-pressing limb 40 Sweet ﬂower 41 Prospector’s tool 42 Mixed doubles team

C O C O N U T O B H B X W Z A

T K O Y X G E Y H A E L O Y M

WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor

P L A Z Q S V G C N V X S S H

Down 1 Studied visually 2 Close to home 3 Statistical information 4 On the ferry 5 Acme 6 Got really angry 7 Boston or Chicago 8 Equal 9 Five-sixths of a dozen 10 Magician’s stock item 16 Sculler’s gear 18 A ___ technicality 21 Gospel 22 Period of success on Broadway 23 Uniﬁed

B T F O D K X Y T P I U K C X

39 Natural desire 43 Slew 44 McCoy adjective 45 Pile up debt 46 Type of wind 47 Word repeated before “moons ago” 48 Auction action 49 “___ in the Family”

J M W V V S S M G D L J R T S

Level: Medium

Y Z P I S T A C H I O I W K D

C O C O N U T O B H B X W Z A

6 5

Across 1 This, for example, with “the” 4 Satisﬁed a craving 7 Shower alternative 11 Support for a bill 12 Assortment of chocolates 13 It’s measured in square units 14 Do dinner 15 Adversary 17 An hour of prime-time TV, often 19 It’s a boy 20 Inﬁelder’s mistake 22 Take the money and run 25 Gave high honours 28 Do some piano maintenance 29 Nursing home aid, perhaps 30 Sagelike 32 Test 33 High-pressure weather system 34 Tabloid 35 Undergo a chemical transformation

4 2

9 3

7 8

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.

N O D

18 20

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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

by Myles Mellor

M A N

CROSSWORD

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