The local paper for the Upper East Side VISUAL HAIKUS AT THE WHITNEY < P. 14
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER
22-28 2016
In Brief
MAP SHOWS EMPTY STOREFRONTS Tracking city’s evolving retail landscape BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
Once you walk the streets of Chelsea with Justin Levinson, you might never look at them the same way again. Levinson, a freelance developer, spent six months online — and on foot — mapping out the location and quantity of empty storefronts throughout Manhattan. He wound up underscoring the bleak retail landscape. “Oh, that’s new,” he said of Foragers eatery and market on Eighth Avenue and West 22nd Street. But as soon as he started pointing them out,
The retail landscape is the subject of a new map. Photo: MrTinDC via Fliickr
NEW YORK CITY’S QUINTESSENTIAL FEMINIST Gloria Steinem on her start in the city, magazine culture and bookstores BY ANGELA BARBUTI
There is no limit to the amount of subjects you can cover in an interview with Gloria Steinem. The breadth of her life and career is so rich the conversation could be limitless. For this interview, the focus was on her life in the city and how it shaped her work as a journalist and feminist.
Although New York did influence her, she also played a major role in affecting its politics. Her activism spread continues to spark change. An Ohio native, Steinem moved the city in 1960 as a budding journalist. She quickly became frustrated by the fluff pieces she was assigned and longed to write and report articles of substance. When Clay Felker founded New York Magazine in 1968, he brought her on as a writer. There, she was finally able to cover politics and be-
gin to make a name for herself as an emerging feminist leader. She was the only female on staff. In 1971, she went on to launch Ms. Magazine, which was the first publication to be owned and operated by women. They called themselves the Thank-God-it’sMonday Club as a testament to the atmosphere of support in that office. One of the women in that club, Suzanne Levine, will be interviewing her coworker-turned-lifelong-friend, Steinem, at the Milford Readers and Writers Festival this month. There, she will speak about her first book in 20 years, “My Life on the Road,” a New York Times bestseller.
the
vacant storefronts seemed to be everywhere. After attending the oneday New York City School of Data conference in 2012, Levinson learned that much city-related information is available online, if one only knows how to access it. Having long been interested in the more blighted parts of the city, Levinson created tools that helped him sort through Department of City Planning data. He learned to pinpoint vacant storefronts and the owners of the buildings that house them. Since his map and corresponding website Vacant New York have come to people’s attention, Levinson has heard from more than 100 people
with comments and corrections. “This one guy emailed me and he’s a chef,” Levinson said. “He said ‘I’ve worked my way up and I want to open my own place but I can’t find one … that I can afford with decent foot traffic.’ Which is insane because we have so much empty property.” Who’s to blame?? Levinson emphasized that there is no one party that is responsible. “I’m not trying to point fingers,” he said. Instead, he listed sky-high rent, gentrification, and said, “It’s very easy to construct this narrative of greedy landlords. It really is over-simplifying the issue. They’re operating within a
What was it like for you when you arrived here? Where did you first settle in the city?
brownstone. But I was so happy to have an apartment of my own. It was a first. I’d always had dormitory rooms or had been traveling. So no matter how small, it was heaven.
At first, I was living with friends, sleeping on the floors of friend’s apartments. [Laughs] And then, finally, I had my own apartment which was on West 81st Street in a brownstone. It was right across from the planetarium, however, at the time, the block west of us was supposed to be the most dangerous block in New York City. It was a somewhat different neighborhood at that time. If you look at that block, between Central Park and Columbus, there are big, tall buildings and then there’s a long, dark hole, and then there’s a little brownstone, and I had a room in that
at
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In your HBO documentary, you said that landlords at that time didn’t think that single women could afford rent. Yes, they thought you were going to get married and skip out or if you could afford the rent, perhaps you were doing something illegal to afford it. [Laughs] I don’t mean to overgeneralize, but you ran into some of those. It was a problem.
Tell us about your path to New CONTINUED ON PAGE 21
The city was thrust into the international spotlight Saturday night with an explosion on West 23rd Street. The man police said was responsible, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was arrested after being wounded in an armed struggle in New Jersey, law enforcement reported Monday. The battle played out in Linden, N.J., near the accused bomber’s last known address. But it was neighborhood of Chelsea that took center stage over the weekend. The area was closed off after a device exploded at about 8:30 p.m. in front of 131 West 23rd St., injuring 29 people, who were taken to a local hospital and released. There were road closures and a subsequent subway shutdown in the aftermath, but many New Yorkers continued on with weekend plans. The Chelsea bomb was thought to be just one in a series across two states. Later that night, another device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues; it appeared to be pressure cooker with wiring and a cellphone attached, a law enforcement official said. Earlier that day, a bomb went off in Seaside Park, N.J., near a charity race.
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
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PEDESTRIANS GIVEN MORE RIGHT OF WAY STREETWISE Legislation closes loophole, could aid in prosecutions
City striders will have a broader right of way while crossing the street, according to legislation passed last week by the City Council. The legislation, introduced last year by Public Advocate Letitia James, closes what was branded as a loophole in the city code that gave pedestrians within crosswalks the right of way only during the steady “walk” phase of a traffic signal. Pedestrians will now have the right to cross even when red “don’t walk” signs are flashing. Proponents of the change suggested that the revamped traffic code will bolster law enforcement in the prosecution of reckless drivers. James called the legislation “common sense” and more in tune with the way “all New Yorkers” behave. “Nearly every day, someone is injured or killed crossing our streets and it is past time we update our laws to adequately protect pedestrians,”
Legislation passed last week by the City Council gives pedestrians broader rights of way while they cross city streets. Photo: Willem van Bergen, via flickr
James said in statement following the City Council’s unanimous vote. “This common sense legislation will ensure that countdown clocks accurately portray the time pedestrians have to cross our streets and will ensure that any reckless driver is held accountable for injuring someone crossing legally. Millions of New Yorkers cross our streets everyday, and they should always feel safe doing so.” The legislation, Int. 997, addresses the portion of the city’s Traffic Rules that states that flashing “don’t walk” signs and their equivalent, such a countdown clock, indicate to pedestrians “that there is insufficient time to cross the roadway and no pedestrian shall enter or cross the roadway.” Those already in the roadway “shall proceed” to the closest safety island or sidewalk and motorists are to yield the right of way. James’ office said that pedestrians hit within a crosswalk when “don’t walk” signs or countdown clocks had begun to flash had little legal recourse, drivers had no legal liability and police and prosecutors few options to pursue following a crash. “To accomplish Vision Zero, we must do everything we can to protect pedestrians and affirm their right
of way,” the chairwoman of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, Ydanis Rodriguez, said in the statement. “I’m glad to join Public Advocate Letitia James in this effort. This bill will clear up any misunderstanding about the right of way of pedestrians crossing the street with the countdown signal. It will be a valuable tool for law enforcement and prosecutors to hold reckless drivers accountable.” Steve Vaccaro, an attorney, said the legislation was more than reasonable given the massive number of pedestrians on city streets. “The average New Yorker is shocked to learn that at present, it is unlawful to step off the curb into the crosswalk once the pedestrian “countdown” signal starts--even when there is 30 or more seconds left,” Vaccaro, of Vaccaro & White, said in the statement. “This critical piece of Vision Zero legislation brings the law into line with common practice, confirming that pedestrians have the right of way to cross the street--and motorists must yield to them--until the countdown ends. With this law, New York City takes a big step toward earning its reputation as a ‘walking city,’ and many traffic crashes will surely be avoided.”
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October 5 7 October 2
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You can also meet our Admissions team at an informal drop in session from 5:30 -7:00pm in 641 Lexington Ave (13th Floor) on one of the following dates: September 21st; October 19th, November 9th and 16th For more information and to book a place at one of our events, contact: info@wetherby-pembridge.org or call 212-328-9529
SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th precinct Week to Date
Tony Webster, via ďŹ&#x201A;ickr
A6 AWOL At 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 3, a motorist parked his 2016 Audi A6 at in a West 92nd Street garage. When he returned on September 11 at 10:20 a.m., his car was no longer there and had been taken by someone else. License plate surveillance captured his car heading across the Brooklyn Bridge
on Sept. 8. The driver also lost a silver iPod he had left inside the car. The Audi is valued at about $68,000.
she returned that night. There were no signs of forced entry and no damage to the front door. The items stolen included earrings, bracelets, two necklaces and a ring.
NY LIVING 101 On Saturday, September 3, a resident of 2720 Broadway left her apartment door open when she went to work. Items valued at $1,100 were missing from her jewelry box when
NOT HIS PROPERTY An employee of a local business was arrested after writing unauthorized checks. At 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 7, a
Year to Date
2016 2015
% Change
2016
2015
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
2
1
100.0
Rape
0
0
n/a
3
7
-57.1
Robbery
2
3
-33.3
60
69
-13.0
Felony Assault
4
1
300.0
78
89
-12.4
Burglary
1
1
0.0
137
110
24.5
Grand Larceny
30
32
-6.3
968
926
4.5
Grand Larceny Auto
0
0
n/a
60
54
11.1
man working for Dynasty Property Management, Inc. on West 104th Street was going over past check statements when he noticed that two unauthorized checks had been written. He found that the last page of six checks had been removed from the businessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s checkbook, two of which had been cashed. One of the checks cashed, for $500, was made out to an employee, Davon Casseus, and the other, in the amount of $4,400, had been made out to the West Harlem Group Assistance Corp. Casseus was arrested on grand larceny charges the following day.
MAILBOX MAELSTROM At 5 p.m. on Aug. 1, a West 95th Street resident mailed a check for $500 using a downtown mailbox; she told police she could not remember the exact location. The check never made it to its destination. The woman went online and discovered that the check had been altered to the amount of $1,600. It was unknown where the check had been stolen or intercepted.
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct
153 E. 67th St.
212-452-0600
159 E. 85th St.
311
FDNY Engine 39/Ladder 16
157 E. 67th St.
311
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1836 Third Ave.
311
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221 E. 75th St.
311
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CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Daniel Garodnick
211 E. 43rd St. #1205
212-818-0580
Councilmember Ben Kallos
244 E. 93rd St.
212-860-1950
FIVE YEARS LATER, OCCUPY WALL STREET RESONATES The movement echoes on both the left and the right BY DEEPTI HAJELA AND MICHAEL BALSAMO
STATE LEGISLATORS State Sen. Jose M. Serrano
1916 Park Ave. #202
212-828-5829
State Senator Liz Krueger
1850 Second Ave.
212-490-9535
Assembly Member Dan Quart
360 E. 57th St.
212-605-0937
Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright
1365 First Ave.
212-288-4607
COMMUNITY BOARD 8
505 Park Ave. #620
212-758-4340
LIBRARIES Yorkville
222 E. 79th St.
212-744-5824
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112 E. 96th St.
212-289-0908
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328 E. 67th St.
212-734-1717
Webster Library
1465 York Ave.
212-288-5049
100 E. 77th St.
212-434-2000
HOSPITALS Lenox Hill NY-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell
525 E. 68th St.
212-746-5454
Mount Sinai
E. 99th St. & Madison Ave.
212-241-6500
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550 First Ave.
212-263-7300
CON EDISON
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For a time, Occupy Wall Street was everywhere with its grassroots encampments — first in New York City, then globally — and the refrain, “We are the 99 percent!” And then it was gone. Its most famous camp in lower Manhattan was cleared out in an overnight police raid two months after it started, and other Occupy locations fizzled soon thereafter. But five years later, demonstrators gathered once again in New York City’s Zuccotti Park recently to commemorate the movement and what they said has been its lasting impact. About two dozen attended the gathering, many holding signs to demand political and banking reform. Others chanted, blew whistles and carried photo cutouts of political figures, including former Attorney General Eric Holder. As the group recounted its time occupying the park, tour groups stopped to catch a glimpse of the action. Occupy Wall Street takes some of the credit for introducing income inequality into the broader political discourse, for inspiring the fight for a $15 minimum wage and, most recently, for creating a receptive audience for the Democratic presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Everyone knows we were right,” said Caleb Maupin, who was working in the insurance industry when he first joined the movement five years ago. “We had a major campaign for president with Bernie Sanders. The campaign was like a giant Occupy Wall Street rally, talking about the 99 percent and the one percent because millions of people know we were right.” Maupin, who said he would rush to Zuccotti Park every night after work, was arrested twice during the group’s twomonth encampment. He said it helped shape the country’s political discourse. And some political observers even draw a line between the movement and the rise
Zuccotti Park on Nov. 11, 2011 during the Occupy Wall Street movement. Photo: Debra M. Gaines, via Wikimedia Commons of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who tapped into the vein of suspicion against the power of elites — the 1 percent — that Occupy made ubiquitous. “We had sort of a deep-down effect on activists all around the world,” said Kalle Lasn of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based “Adbusters” magazine, among those who put out the call for a protest of Wall Street to take place Sept. 17, 2011. “We politicized a whole generation of young people who didn’t quite know what to do with their activism and their feelings of anger.” While critics of Occupy took issue with it at the time for its lack of specific demands, a clear organizational structure or strategies for next steps, it has come to resonate politically, said Heather Gautney, a sociology professor at Fordham University. She pointed to Sanders’ campaign, saying Occupy’s injection of income inequality into the discourse paved the way for the senator’s calls to get money out of politics, rein in Wall
Street banks and provide free public college education. Nicholas Kiersey, a political science professor at Ohio University, said Trump’s political presence is part of Occupy’s impact, as well. “If Bernie Sanders represented a left-wing popular suspicion that had felt all of a sudden very legitimate in expressing its grievances, Trump, I think, represents the mirror of that from the right,” he said. “They both, in a sense, have ridden the momentum of popular dissatisfaction.” Other social movements have followed Occupy, such as the Fight for $15, a minimum-wage campaign that started with fast-food workers in New York City in 2012 and has spread, with victories in states, including New York and California. The environmental movement was also inspired by the idea that a small handful of elites were using their power to accumulate wealth at the expense of the many, said Guido Girgenti, an organizer with the group 350.org. Occupy, Girgenti said, helped
jumpstart “a new kind of climate movement” that questions the power of the fossil fuel industry. “How do we overcome that power, how do we take back our government so we can actually have solutions that work for the people, that work for the planet?” Girgenti said. Harrison Schultz, 33, of Brooklyn, said Occupy also helped educate people about the need for government and banking reform. “I learned way more about how the banking system works, how our government is supposed to work and how to take control of the banks and the government,” he said. Occupy supporter Lasn remains convinced of the movement’s importance. “I see Occupy Wall Street as being another one of those great historical moments, when something surprising happened and a whole generation got politicized,” he said. “After a generation gets politicized, then who knows what the hell they’re going to do after that?”
SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
TAKING TO THE STREET Hundreds rally and ride in support of traffic safety
BY VICTORIA EDWARDS
Hundreds of bicyclists gathered at Grand Army Plaza on Sept. 15 to rally and ride for those who had been injured and killed in traffic accidents. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a response to the inaction of Vision Zero,â&#x20AC;? said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, referring to the safe streets initiative instituted by Mayor Bill de Blasio shortly after he took office in 2014. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The mayor came out of the gate strong, but he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t invest in safe street redesign. The streets are dangerous, but the mayor has not marshaled funding to ďŹ x them,â&#x20AC;? he said. White said that Transportation Alternatives had organized the rally along with several other groups to push for the funding, street redesign and enforcement he said was needed to protect bicyclists and pedestrians under Vision
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Bicyclists gathered at Grand Army Plaza on Sept. 15 ahead of a rally and ride down Fifth Avenue in support of traffic safety. Photo: Victoria Edwards Zero, which targets the elimination of traffic deaths by 2024. According to city data, 15 cyclists were killed through July this year while 14 were killed all of 2015, and 2,410 have been injured through July compared to 4,434 hurt in 2015. Transportation Alternatives and other bicycle advocacy organizations were not alone in supporting the cause. City Council members Helen Rosenthal, Carlos Menchaca, James Van Bramer and Antonio Reynoso attended the event and voiced their support.
Attorney Jeff Heller, a bicyclist, has a picture perfect reason to push for greater enforcement of Vision Zero: He has an X-ray photograph of his broken leg taped to the front of his bicycle. A driver crashed into him in broad daylight two years ago while he was stopped at a red light. The driver, he said, got off scot-free. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Because she apparently was not drunk and did not ďŹ&#x201A;ee the scene, the police did not give her even a ticket. So thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no mark on her record although she was inches from killing
me,â&#x20AC;? he said. Heller said he hopes that rides like the Thursday evening rally will convince lawmakers and police to pass and enforce laws to better protect bikers and pedestrians. It was hard to ignore the hundreds of riders who rode south from 59th street and took over Fifth Avenue to ride down to Washington Square Park. The riders took over the lanes; some with lights threaded through their tires, one man pedaling along on a tall green unicycle. Police escorts on motorcycles trailed the group and bystanders snapped pictures and took videos. M ic hele Mc la ren rode through the mass in a rickshaw. She was hit over two years ago by a taxi while she walking through a crosswalk on her way to work. She still hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fully recovered, she said. But the show of solidarity meant a lot to her, she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m blown away, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never been to anything like this as far as a bike ride before. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very touching to me to see so many people come together,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of times you see things happen and it gets glossed over. Especially because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an epidemic here.â&#x20AC;? The bikers met up at about 8 p.m. at Washington Square
Park at the rideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conclusion. White, of Transportation Alternatives, urged participants to keep by safety issues in mind as they go to the polls in November and during other elections. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The mayor is shortchanging
Vision Zero. Your action today makes it likely that we can get funding to address vision zero. This may be termed as first meeting of all powerful bike lobby,â&#x20AC;? he added, before the riders separated by borough to ride home.
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
RESIDENTS PRESS CITY ON BRIDGE REDESIGN A makeover of the 81st Street structure, leading to the East River walkway, has been mired in controversy BY OLIVIA KELLEY
Residents expressed frustration about the proposed char-
acter of an already contentious East 81st Street pedestrian bridge revamp long in the planning, saying there had been insufficient consultations with community members. About 100 people attended a forum hosted by Community
Board 8 on Sept. 14 to listen to city officials address ongoing complaints about the bridge, which connects 81st Street to the Esplanade. The bridge has been in the renovation process for the past 9-10 months and is likely to undergo several de-
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A rendering of the 81st Street pedestrian bridge, as seen from the John Finley Walk. Courtesy: NYC Department of Design and Construction sign changes. Work on the project has been stopped for weeks. Although the co-chairman of CB8’s transportation committee, Chuck Warren, said residents were given the opportunity to express their concerns at monthly meetings, several said their concerns had nevertheless not been heard, much less addressed. “I’m more confused than anyone else, because I’ve been to every meeting,” said Barbara Rudder, a member of the CB8’s Queensboro Bridge Area Committee. Warren suggested that the three main concerns were the impact of lighting along the bridge, the placement of 20 glass windows into mesh fencing along the bridge fac-
ing Roosevelt Island, and the elimination of an ADA accessible ramp at 81st Street. While some residents felt that the issues of lighting and the ramp had been addressed, others were adamant in their opposition to the glass windows, saying that they requested glass panels all along the bridge. “The people have spoken and we want glass and not wire mesh,” the board’s Parks and Recreation Committee cochair, Peggy Price, said, suggesting an earlier resolution had included all-glass in the bridge’s design. Price demanded that city agencies responsible for the redesign be more responsive to residents’ apprehensions about
the project. “We should all rally behind having the best Esplanade we can have,” Price said, referring to residents’ desire for glass. “We deserve it and it’s been a mess for too long.” A representative from the city’s Park and Recreation Department, Steve Simon, said there is an option of replacing mesh with glass panels once it’s determined how the windows fare in poor weather. Price was not satisfied. “We don’t want to have some arbitrary future date that probably never happens,” she said, “we deserve this, this is our money and we should have the right to say what happens with our money.” In addition to concerns about the wire mesh, several residents expressed issues with the ADA accessible ramp project, now planned for 82nd and 83rd Streets. Simon said the Parks Department would review original plans for the 81st Street ramp, but it was also necessary to provide access points at 82nd and 83rd Street. “We need to provide full accessibility at every street that is possible,” he said.
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
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BIKE ISSUES RIDING INTO VIEW At Kallos town hall, theme emerges BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
Bikes were the hot topic at the town hall held by Council Member Ben Kallos last Thursday. Bike lanes, bike shares and the enforcement of biking laws seemed to weigh heavily on the minds of the 70 or so attendees at the event. It was not the first time an audience largely comprised of senior citizens has turned out in full force at a community meeting to raise concerns about bikes. Department of Transportation Commissioner Luis Sanchez was present to address the issue, which he acknowledged but largely passed off to the city’s police department. “NYPD is responsible for enforcing the laws,” Sanchez said. “[DOT] doesn’t have the power to actually write tickets, but what we do is we go to the restaurant because the restaurant is supposed to have a roster of their cyclists. … If they don’t then we can issue a violation to the restaurant.” Sanchez and Kallos encouraged residents to go to their respective NYPD precinct community councils with specific questions or requests for more thorough enforcement.
Kallos also announced that he was expanding the amount of bike training required for restaurant delivery people. “Starting this year, on the Upper East Side, every single restaurant that does bicycle deliveries will get DOT outreach,” Kallos said. “They will offer them free safety equipment.” Representatives from Citi Bike and Transportation Alternatives had set up tables outside the auditorium hosting the town hall to be available for questions as well. Other problem areas identified by the residents in attendance ranged from noisy manhole covers to a lack of trees to the abundance of mice and rats in St. Catherine’s Park. The area of concern for residents that came in second to bikes was the Second Avenue subway project, which was scheduled to be addressed by representatives from MTA Capital Construction. But that appearance was cancelled halfway through the meeting to the audible disappointment of many. Towards the beginning of the meeting, Sanchez gave a brief description of a restoration plan the DOT was developing with the MTA to enhance the Second Avenue street experience. That plan “will include new sidewalks, protected bike lanes, planters, trees, and certainly benches,” he said. “Hopefully all that work will at least transfer into something positive.” Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com
Citizens sign in for a town hall meeting last week.
Preview our weekly Talmud class by Rabbi Scott N. Bolton, Or Zarua’s spiritual leader and resident expert on generosity and giving. Come LEARN with us! Rabbi Bolton’s weekly Talmud classes this fall begin with “Living Generously: Tzedakah in the Talmud.” Study the distinctions among charity, kindness, and righteousness. Texts provided in original and in English translation. Beginners welcome. Wednesday, September 21, 7:30 pm. Join us for the High Holy Days! Call 212.452.2310 for info and tickets or visit orzarua.org MUDDY PAWS RESCUE & NORTH SHORE ANIMAL LEAGUE AMERICA
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Dear Parents: You are cordially invited to attend one of our OPEN HOUSES at York Preparatory School Tuesday, September 27th Tuesday, October 18th Tuesday, October 25th Tuesday, November 1st Thursday, November 10th Tuesday, November 15th Tuesday, November 29th Tuesday, December 6th Tuesday, January 10th Tuesday, January 24th Tuesday, April 18th Tuesday, May 9th
9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am 9:10am-10:30am
RSVP to the Admissions Office at: Elizabeth Norton 212-362-0400 ext. 103 - enorton@yorkprep.org Tracy Warner 212-362-0400 ext. 106 - twarner@yorkprep.org York Prep is a coeducation college preparatory school for grades 6-12
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
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Voices
Write to us: To share your thoughts and comments, go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a letter to the editor.
LATE SUMMER IN THE CITY EAST SIDE ENCOUNTERS BY ARLENE KAYATT
Panhandler chutzpah — A shabbily dressed man ambled into an Upper East Side bagel shop. Most seats were taken and the lines indicated this was going to be a busy day in bagel heaven. The man walked over to a table where a young boy was seated and arranging the small square table for himself, his mom and dad. The man arrived at the table just as mom was putting wrapped sandwiches onto the table. Son quickly stood to take the hot drinks from dad and placed them on the table. The man walked up to mom and asked if she could get him a sandwich. Disconcerted, she looked at the sandwich in her hand and reached out to give it to him. “What’s in it?,” he wanted to know, sounding annoyed. “Uh, uh ...,” she started to respond, when the man said, “Don’t do me any favors, I like to pick my own
BY BETTE DEWING
As you well know, health or its absence dominated the news recently due to Hillary Clinton’s sudden departure from the 9/11 memorial service – and then the tape of her almost falling as she got into her car. We wish her a thorough recovery from what was reported to be a mild case of pneumonia. But also we know that much more attention should be paid to the fact that 70 is not the new 50. Adjustments must be paid too. This column is also about strokes, the most debilitating affliction now suffered by former Prime Israeli Minister Shimon Peres. It’s also about retirement benefits to the community. But first about 70 not being the new 50 and those needed adjustments. Like how candidates or anyone else
STRAUS MEDIA your neighborhood news source
that, when Scott Stringer was Manhattan borough president, something was getting done about it. Don’t believe it ever happened. Hope some
Jack Russell’s Pub’s gives the dog a bad name — I know Jack Russells terriers and its namesake pub doesn’t do it proud. The breed is known to be fierce but charming as fox hunting dogs are. I’m no fan of fox hunting but Manhattan Jack Russells don’t fox hunt. There are a few of them about town. I like them. They’re nice. So I had kind thoughts when friends wanted to meet for Happy Hour at Jack Russell’s Pub on Second Ave in the 80s, a standard avenue sports bar with a traditional pub menu, glowering televisions and thumping music. Don’t know that happy hour’s all that happy, though. At least mine wasn’t. It’s from 4 to 8 p.m. I got there at about 6:45, ordered wine, and handed the server $10 expecting there would be change since Happy Hour was underway. When I wanted to order an appetizer, the server asked for my credit card. I said that I would give her the difference from the $10 in cash. She shook her head no. The wine’s $9. “But it’s happy hour,” I shot back. No response. Does that mean that a glass of wine at the bar or with dinner is $18 when there’s no happy hour? At Jack Russell’s
We’re so accustomed to hearing that working forever is good for us. But working too much and the stress engendered is too little considered. And that relates to what’s most on my mind – the reportedly severe stroke former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres suffered Sept. 13. This 93-year-old winner of the Peace Prize and countless other awards had been still very actively concerned in government affairs when felled by this devastating stroke. Caring so much can take a toll too. Prayers and wishes for his recovery abound, but infinitely more attention must be paid to the prevention, treatment and cure of this most debilitating disease. Like Alzheimer’s, stroke attacks mostly old people. The late, greatly missed and renowned gerontologist Dr. Robert Butler said illnesses for older people need as much attention as younger people’s disorders. He would agree that what needs to get out there is the intense suffering and the often total helplessness which severe strokes inflict. A fate worse
than death kind of condition, and should I be so afflicted, my family is instructed to take me to a state where assisted suicide is legal. And what needs to get and stay out there in the public consciousness is the condition of Peres, which we passionately hope improves, but also the care that this most revered leader receives is superior to that received by most stroke victims. And heaven help them if they don’t have supportive family and friends. So this awful affliction must be continually seen and discussed – and with the population aging and many elders living longer. For all our health care facilities, there are too few gerontologists to evaluate the whole elder person’s condition. In terms of retirement, there is time to join those health battles surely, but also for civic group involvement, like police precinct community councils. They meet monthly to hear about crime- and safety-related problems. And there are other civic groups like community boards and this week, the monthly
sandwich,” as he moved along to prey at another table. Have it your way, sir. And try some other New York neighborhoods. Maybe SoHo, NoHo, the West Side, the Lower East Side. Maybe they’ll hand over the cash or accompany you to the counter so you can pick out your own sandwich and pay for it. And don’t forget a nice latte. Maybe panhandling will make the competitive cut as Manhattan real estate rises. Sorry, no number — One of the biggest nuisances in New York neighborhoods is the lack of building numbers on many commercial and residential buildings. It’s really a pain when you’re going somewhere and can’t find an address. Guess landlords want to make it difficult to sue them if there’s no address to easily identify the location of their building or business. There ought to be a law or some requirement making it mandatory for buildings and businesses to identify the address of the location in a certain size lettering. I seem to remember
BEING 70 IS NOT THE NEW 50 And let’s raise awareness about impact of strokes
public official takes up the cause.
not feeling well must bound around like the proverbial billygoats to show they are not too old. Over 65, only one alcoholic drink a day, says a Mt. Sinai Medical Center bulletin. And how much less stressful if wannabees sometimes took the environmental friendly medium-speed passenger train. Let’s set an example and remind younger generations that, in general, windows are for seeing the world around you. Get the picture? But we’ve become so work-, speedand device-obsessed that retirement and also slowing up, literally and otherwise, have become almost shameful. But semi-retirement is often ideal and sharing what has been learned is so important. And I’m thinking today as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton retires and reportedly will take a private sector position. Too much reinventing the wheel occurs when such experience goes unshared.
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Pub with its grub food and house wine? If I wanted to spend $18 for a glass of wine, I’d have stopped by Le Bernadin and had me a French Chablis or Riesling and not whined about being ripped off at happy hour at a pub named for a pup that deserves better. Gas not — I love the Elinor Bunim film center in Lincoln Center. Only MoMA shows the type of films I usually prefer. When an Upper East Side reader went to Elinor Bunim to see “Little Men,” he smelled exhaust fumes from the moment he walked in. His wife didn’t. Smelled to him like the odors at Port Authority. Squirming through the film, the noxious smell seemed to abate and he soldiered to the end. When leaving, he told the usher. Apparently, there’s a road under the facility and the building’s engineers may have opened a vent in the area. Problem solved. I hope the reader’s thumbs down for “Little Men” had to do with the smell and not the film which I heard is an engrossing coming-of-age tale. The film had played at MoMA weeks earlier. If he had seen the film at MoMA, the smells more likely would have been coming from the food carts selling franks on East 52nd outside MoMA. Everything’s local.
meeting of the very active, decades-old East 79th St. Neighborhood Association occurs Thursday, Sept. 22 at 6 pm at the Upper East Side Rehabilitation and Nursing Center at 211 East 79th Street, just east of 3rd Avenue. Hey, and I may just go to remind them that it’s the 10th anniversary of my “body of work” being honored by local elected officials at that 2006 September meeting. The framed plaque from Rep. Carolyn Maloney called me “perhaps New York’s foremost champion of pedestrian safety.” I guess those elected officials need reminding that I’m still not consulted on their traffic safety plans. Another award-giver, Senator Liz Krueger, also needs to be informed that, unfortunately, it’s not just “a few bad apple bicyclists” who break the laws of the road as her bicycling-related commentary recently stated. It can be done if enough of us try. Smiling sure helps. Bette Dewing can be reached at dewingbetter@aol.com
Staff Reporter Madeleine Thompson newsreporter@strausnews.com Director of Digital Pete Pinto
Block Mayors Ann Morris, Upper West Side Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side
SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
FUND CRITICAL SENIOR SERVICES
THE
BY BETH FINKEL
Late last month, Mayor de Blasio signed into law two bills that take important strides toward supporting both paid caregivers and unpaid family caregivers in an aging New York City. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great news, and it canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come soon enough. Across the state, nearly 2.6 million unpaid family caregivers help make it possible for older adults and loved ones to live independently at home â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and at a much lower cost to taxpayers than if they had to move to institutional care settings. It is estimated that the care provided by these unpaid family caregivers is valued at over $31.3 billion annually.
over expect to provide care to a loved one within ďŹ ve years. As the senior population expands â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and particularly as we prepare to manage the needs of this growing and aging group â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we will need to make sure to offer caregivers the types of supports that will enable them to continue to care for their loved ones. Family caregivers deserve this support. Every day, this silent army of Americans performs a great labor of love by helping their parents, grandparents, spouses, siblings and children remain at home. They help their loved ones with medications and medical care, meals, bathing and dressing, chores and much more. And
The two new laws help do that: they require the Department for the Aging (DFTA) to identify the needs of unpaid caregivers and develop a comprehensive plan to address those needs, and to establish a new Division of Paid Care within the Office of Labor Standards. With these laws, the city is building on its track record of supporting caregivers. Last year, at the urging of AARPNY, the City Council took the important step of making caregivers a protected class to prevent discrimination in the workplace. But we still have a lot of work to do in New York City. The next step is to adequately fund services that enable New
An expert on public art and sculpture, Brooke Kamin Rapaport reflects on how urban life inspires art, and how urban art inspires us all.
Come LEARN with us! Director and Senior Curator of Mad. Sq. Art, Madison Square Park Conservancy, Ms. Rapaport works with extraordinary artists who directly impact our urban aesthetic. Her remarks will consider the significant role of the viewer in public art and how contemplation is not only for the High Holy Days. Sunday, September 25, 7:00 pm. Join us for the High Holy Days! Call 212.452.2310 for info and tickets or visit orzarua.org
Huge Selection of Bibles Fiction/Non-Fiction Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Books Greeting Cards .VTJD t (JGUT Original Art Events and More! )PVST . 5I BN QN t 'SJ BN QN 4BU BN QN t 4VO QN QN
:PSL "WF #UXO SE UI 4U t www.logosbookstorenyc.com
ISABELLA HOUSE Independent Living for Older Adults
Join us at our Open House and experience it for yourself. Saturday, October 1st, 11AM-3PM 525 Audubon Avenue at 191st Street New York, NY 10040 Our amenities include:
By 2030, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seniors will represent 16 percent of New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total population. Photo: Steven Pisano, via ďŹ&#x201A;ickr
Unfortunately, as our population continues to rapidly age, we face a looming caregiver shortage in New York City. By 2030, New York Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current pool of 1.1 million seniors is expected to balloon to 1.35 million, representing 16 percent of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total population. Between now and 2040, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 65+ population is expected to grow by an astonishing 40 percent. An AARP-NY survey conducted in 2014 found that 52 percent of those age 50 and
they do all this while often putting their own needs last, ignoring their physical, emotional and mental health care needs and while juggling other responsibilities and full- or part-time jobs. New Yorkers want increased attention paid to this often unnoticed group; an AARP-commissioned survey found eight of every 10 city voters 50 and older felt strongly that elected officials should make support for family caregivers a priority.
Yorkers to age independently at home â&#x20AC;&#x201D; where they want to be â&#x20AC;&#x201D; helping support both our seniors and their caregivers. These services continue to be underfunded, despite the fact that it makes ďŹ scal sense to keep aging New Yorkers out of institutional settings. On multiple levels, funding senior services is the right thing to do. Beth Finkel is the state director of AARP New York
â&#x20AC;˘ Spacious studios starting at $2,400 per month and one-bedroom apartments starting at $2,800 per month â&#x20AC;˘ Complimentary Lunch and Dinner served buffet style â&#x20AC;˘ Cable TV â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with HD channels â&#x20AC;˘ All utilities are included â&#x20AC;˘ 24-hour Security â&#x20AC;˘ Weekly linen service â&#x20AC;˘ Visitor Parking â&#x20AC;˘ Pastoral services â&#x20AC;˘ A wealth of programs and activities â&#x20AC;˘ Conveniently located near medical, physical therapy, occupational therapy and psychiatric services â&#x20AC;˘ On-site beauty salon, library, gift shop, laundry, check-cashing facilities and visitor parking â&#x20AC;˘ Moderately priced lodging for overnight guests
Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve thought of everything to enrich and enhance your life. 525 Audubon Ave. at 191st Street, New York, NY
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AT THE CHURCH OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA 980 PARK AVENUE between 83rd and 84th K. SCOTT WARREN ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
®
Heavenly Music in the Neighborhood
Out & About More Events. Add Your Own: Go to ourtownny.com
Thu
22 Fri 23
FILM — ‘IN PERSON’
BRIAN MCKNIGHT▼
96th Street Library, 112th East 96th St. 2 p.m. Free A showing of “In Person,” a 1930’s film about a movie star so insecure she walks around in disguise. 212-289-0908. www.nypl. org
Barnes and Noble, 150 East 86th St. 7 p.m. Free; Priority seating with CD, DVD, or Blue-Ray purchase The Grammy Award winner perform and follow with a signing to promote his new CD, “An Evening With (Brian McKnight). 212-369-2180. stores. barnesandnoble.com
CROSSING THE LINE FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT PARTY
2016-2017
SEASON
S A V E !
WEDNESDAY, SEP. 28—7 PM CHORAL ELEMENTS: EARTH, AIR, FIRE & WATER Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, string quartet and harp
THURSDAY, OCT. 13—7 PM PHILIPPINE MADRIGAL SINGERS
FRIDAY, OCT. 28—7 PM JESUITS IN THE AMERICAS: ZIPOLI AND HIS WORLD Choir and Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola Celebrating St. Ignatius Loyola’s 150th anniversary as a Jesuit parish
C L I P
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
Tickets start at just $25
Visit www.smssconcerts.org for full season details
BUY TICKETS TODAY! www.smssconcerts.org ȏ 212.288.2520
FIAF Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. 7:30 p.m. $15; FIAF members, $10 The festival’s kickoff is a screening of “Life and Times: Episode 8,” followed by an opening night party with the artists. PB&J sandwiches, drinks, and more will be served. 800-982-2787. www. crossingthelinefestival.org
COLLEGE NIGHT AT THE FRICK The Frick Collection, 1 East 70th St. 6-9 p.m. Free for college students Students are invited to the Frisk for live music, gallery talks, sketching and more. 212-288-0700. www.frick.org
Sat
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CHOREOGRAPHIES OF POWER BY PUBLIC MOVEMENT Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. Free with admission A 30-minute procession through the Guggenheim with the group Public Movement. Performers will enact ceremonies, physical encounters, short speeches and moments of violence to shed light on current political trajectories. 212-423-3575. www. guggenheim.org
JAMES LEE BYERS: BE QUIET, PERFORMANCE The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave. Noon-4 p.m. Free As part of the exhibit, “Take Me, I’m Yours,” Be Quiet will be performed in the exhibition gallery. 866-205-1322. www. thejewishmuseum.org
SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
25
Sun
NAMSEONG ANMUGA JEON!: KOREAN MALE CHOREOGRAPHERS Buttenwieser Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave. 3 p.m. $15 Suk Soon Jung and his allmale Korean dance company, and Young Hoon Oh/Dance Traveler perform duets with influences from shadow boxing, gymnastics, ballet and contemporary dance. 212-415-5500, www.92y.org
THE FUNKEYMONKEYS FAMILY CONCERT The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave. 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. $16 The band performs hits from their albums as well as some twists on holiday hits for Rosh Hashanah. 866-205-1322. www. thejewishmuseum.org
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Mon
GEOFFREY ZAKARIAN N
Kauffman uffman Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington ngton Ave. 7:30 p.m. $45 Zakarian talks food and career highlights with Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka. 212-415-5500. www.92y. org
STEPPENWOLF: THE FUNDAMENTALS Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. 7:30 p.m. $40 Julian Shepherd moderates a discussion between playwright Erika Sheffer and director Yasen Peyankov. Cast members will also lso be performing excerpts. 212-423-3575, 423-3575, www. guggenheim.org org
Tue
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AN EVENING WITH ROZ CHAST Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. 6:30 p.m. $30-$40 New Yorker cartoonist and author Roz Chast discusses her 2014 dis visual memoir, “Can’t we Talk About Abo Something More Pleasa Pleasant?,” which chronicles chronicle her relationship with her parents as they become increasingly more dependent. 212-534-1672. www.mcny.org
PEARL HARBOR: FROM INFAMY TO GREATNESS Barnes and Noble, 150 East 86th St. 7:30 p.m. Free Craig Nelson will be presenting his account of the attack on Pearl Harbor on the eve of the 75th anniversary. 212-369-2180. stores. barnesandnoble.com
28
Wed
CROSSOVER JAZZ CON CONCERT Hunter College, Co 68th and Lexington West Crossover 1 p.m. Free The Hunter Jazz Ensemble Ense and Jazz combos will be perform. 212-772-5020, www.hunter. www.hunt cuny.edu
FORCED ENTERTAINMENT: ENTERTAINME TOMORROW’S PARTIES TOMORROW’ FIAF Florenc Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. St p.m. $20 7:30 p.m invite you to Two performers pe their party as they share crash th with the t audience their wildest predictions and deepest fears pred aabout the future. 800-982-2787, www. crossingthelinefestival.org
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
VISUAL HAIKUS AT THE WHITNEY The new Carmen Herrera retrospective features 50 works by the 101-year-old abstract painter BY VAL CASTRONOVO
This is a story about the ultimate outsider who becomes the ultimate insider. Carmen Herrera (1915- ) arrived in New York from Havana in 1939 — a woman, a Cuban and an abstract, minimalist painter at a time when the city’s art community was lauding abstract expressionism. She painted for seven decades in relative obscurity, while her male contemporaries (Robert Rauschenberg, Barnett Newman, Stuart Davis, Frank Stella et al.) garnered all the attention. “It was only in the 21st century that she received widespread recognition. She was discriminated against as a woman and an immigrant,” Dana Miller, the show’s curator, said at last week’s preview. “She was too much for any gallery or museum. In 2004, she began being included in [non-Latin American] galleries and started being collected. Collectors were ahead of the museums.” The Whitney included. Despite its long history with abstraction, the museum didn’t purchase a Herrera, “Blanco y Verde” (1959), until 2014, part of “an aggressive rethinking of American art history,” chief curator Scott Rothkopf said at the preview. The green-and-white picture debuted last year at the new downtown Whitney’s inaugural exhibit, “America is Hard to See” — and is now the centerpiece, along with eight other paintings from the green-and-white series, of a four-room show. “Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight” is only the sixth museum presentation of the 101-yearold artist’s work. “It’s like being in a chapel,” the Whitney’s director, Adam Weinberg, said about the central gallery, a showcase for the seminal Blanco y Verde paintings (1959-1971), each featuring spikey green triangles on crisp white backgrounds. The exhibit focuses on Herrera’s early career, from 1948 to 1978, when she forged her trademark no-frills
style. As she said about her emphasis on form and color to the exclusion of everything else: “I had to forget about trimmings and go to the core of things.” Miller said that Herrera thinks of her works as visual haikus. “Less is more is Carmen’s mantra,” she said, quickly adding that she does “more with less.” The curator was dispatched by the museum a few years ago to add an early Herrera to its collection. Why early? To show that Herrera was innovating at the same time that her male counterparts were — but not getting the credit. Her quest led to the present solo show, the first in the city in almost 20 years (Herrera’s black-and-white geometrics were the subject of a rare museum display at El Museo del Barrio in 1998). The current exhibit is organized chronologically, beginning with the painter’s 1948 move to Paris with her husband, Jesse Loewenthal, a teacher at Stuyvesant High School. It was in postwar Paris where she thrillingly came in contact with Russian Suprematism, Josef Albers and Bauhaus, Miller said, and experimented with different types of abstraction. The works in the first room are abstract and busy, some looking like several paintings in one — and one, “A City” (1948), showing vestiges of representation in the form of a church steeple. Herrera would slowly strip away the non-essential until she reached her hard-edge style, a pure distillation of color and shapes, with straight lines. Two of her eye-popping black-andwhite striped paintings from 1952, when she was still in Paris, are featured in the second gallery and telegraph her later devotion to line and a two-color palette. “Line is important, she loses her contours,” Miller said of her steady stylistic evolution. These rigorous geometric pictures have painted frames, too. Frames and edges became compositional elements. “The edge of the canvas is another way of making a line,” the curator noted. As she writes in the catalog about the artist, who briefly trained as an architect in Havana: “Herrera was thinking about the ‘objectness’ of her painting and using panel divisions and the
Carmen Herrera, “Blanco y Verde,” 1966-1967. Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 70 in. (101.6 x 177.8 cm). Private Collection © Carmen Herrera
Carmen Herrera, “Amarillo ‘Dos,’” 1971. Acrylic on wood, 40 x 70 x 3 1/4 in. (101.6 x 177.8 x 8.3 cm). Maria Graciela and Luis Alfonso Oberto Collection © Carmen Herrera edges of her canvases simultaneously with artists who have previously been heralded for such developments.” Her works have a sculptural quality and, like sculptures, need to be seen in person. You have to walk around them to fully experience them. “Blanco y Verde” from 1967, considered one of her finest efforts, features the tip of a slender green triangle wrapping around the left edge of the painting, while the other three edges are painted green — making for a “green halo effect” against the museum’s pristine white wall. “Herrera was considering the total environment of her work — not just the canvas but the impact of
it on the wall where it would hang,” Miller writes. Her colors were taken directly from the tube or can, and she used masking tape and draftsmen’s tools to achieve precision. The last gallery is a showcase for four rare, wooden sculptures (“estructuras”) from the late 1960s-early 1970s, proof that Herrera “thinks about things in the round,” Miller said, pointing out correspondences
between the 3D-works and the paintings in an adjacent room (e.g., “Amarillo ‘Dos’,” 1971, and “Blanco y Verde,” 1966-1967, respectively). For this centenarian, art was a vocation, like the ministry. Miller was succinct: “She was never in it for the money or the fame. She just did it without that.” And she’s still doing it, nearly every day.
WHAT: “Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight” WHERE: At the Whitney Museum of American Art; 90 Gansevoort St. WHEN: Through Jan. 2, 2017 whitney.org
SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
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AN OUR TOWN CARTOON
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org
BY PETER PEREIRA
NEW YORK CITY
Game Changers: NASA Astronaut Dan Barry on the Future of Space Exploration
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH, 6:30PM Cooper Hewitt | 2 E. 91st St. | 212-489-8404 | cooperhewitt.org Blast off at this discussion on the sensations of ďŹ&#x201A;ying in space, how the design choices of spacecraft surroundings affects astronaut emotions, and whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next for space exploration. ($15)
Architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Odd Couple: Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28TH, 6:30PM Mid-Manhattan Library | 455 Fifth Ave. | 212-340-0863 | nypl.org Build up your knowledge of renowned architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson at a talk exploring the historical threads connecting the two architectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work and the era their designs so enlivened. (Free)
Just Announced | NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5TH, 6PM Intrepid Sea, Air & Space | Pier 86 | 212-245-0072 | intrepidmuseum.org Ever wondered what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like to experience an Earth rise or a space walk? Hear from NASA astronaut Mike Massimino as he speaks about his 571 hours in space and his new book, Spaceman: An Astronautâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe. (Free)
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS SEP 12 - 16, 2016
Via Quadronno
25 East 73 Street
A
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 http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/services/restaurant-grades.page
Beanocchios Cafe
1431 York Avenue
Grade Pending (27) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. 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. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Mile 17
1446 1St Ave
Grade Pending (30) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewageassociated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
Mo Gelato
956 Lexington Ave
Not Yet Graded (67) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
JG Melon Restaurant
1291 3 Avenue
C
Pj Bernstein Deli & Restaurant
1215 Third Avenue
C
E.J Luncheonette
1271 Third Avenue
A
Little Vincent’s Pizza
1399 2Nd Ave
Grade Pending (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food prepared from ingredients at ambient temperature not cooled to 41º F or below within 4 hours. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Brasserie Cognac East
963 Lexington Ave
A
Hotel Carlyle
35 East 76 Street
B
Bagels & Co
500 E 76Th St
A
Eli Zabar
922 Madison Ave
A
Mariella Pizza
965 Lexington Avenue A
Eats
1055 Lexington Avenue
A
Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins
1225 1 Avenue
A Cafe Americano
964 Lexington Ave
A
Cafe Boulud/Bar Pleiades
20 East 76 Street
A
Bagel Bobs On York
1641 York Ave
A
Per Lei
1347 2 Avenue
Grade Pending (19) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/ refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
Irving Farm Coffee Roasters
1424 3Rd Ave
A
Le Pain Quotidien
1131 Madison Avenue
A
Subway
1205 Lexington Ave
Grade Pending (24) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed.
Grunauer
1578 1St Ave
A
Mumtaz
1582 York Avenue
A
Eli’s Essentials
1291 Lexington Ave
A
Sushi Ren
1584 2Nd Ave
A
The Gilroy
1561 2Nd Ave
A
Casa Pizza
1427 3Rd Ave
A
Lake Toba
1643 2Nd Ave
A
Subway
1256 Lexington Avenue
A
Lexington Candy Shop
1226 Lexington Avenue
A
Barnes & Noble Cafe
150 East 86 Street
A
Just Salad
1471 Third Ave
A
Burger King
226 East 86 Street
A
Tasti D-Lite
1276 Lexington Avenue
A
City Swiggers
320 East 86 Street
A
Demarchelier Restaurant
50 East 86 Street
A
Trend Diner
1382 2 Avenue
Grade Pending (20) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas.
Casimir & Co
1022 Lexington Ave
A
Juice Press @ Equinox
1429 2Nd Ave
A
Hanabi
1450 2Nd Ave
A
Szechuan Gourmet
1395 2Nd Ave
A
Mel’s Burger
1450 2Nd Ave
Grade Pending (21) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Corrado Bread And Pastry
960 Lexington Avenue A
Alex Cafe & Deli
1018 Lexington Avenue
Grade Pending (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. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Tang’s Garden
1328 3Rd Ave
A
Fratellis
1317 1 Avenue
A
Latin Bites
419 E 70Th St
A
SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
Central Park
WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HAPPENING IN THE PARK FALLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S UPON US Along with it being the start of sweater weather, autumn is a perfect time to explore Central Park. Grab your camera and photograph the park just as the trees are starting to turn. For ideas, check out our piece on the Best Spots to Take Photos in Central Park at blog.centralpark.com.
THE RESTORATION OF THE DENE The Dene (a term meaning valley) is a long stretch on the east side of the park, located between 72nd Street and 66th Street, off Fifth Avenue. Its landscape exemplifies both the design features and the intended effect of
COMING UP THIS WEEK GLOBAL CITIZENS FESTIVAL 2016 The festival is back for its fifth year, and Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Demi Lovato headline on the Great Lawn. This is a ticketed event. 4-10 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 24 More information is at www.centralpark.com
ROLEX CENTRAL PARK HORSE SHOW 2016 Photo: Jennmcphee, via Wikimedia Commons
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This is the third edition of the Rolex Central Park Horse Show
WHERE IN CENTRAL PARK? Do you know where in Central Park this photo was taken? To submit your answer, visit: centralpark.com/ where-in-central-park. The answers and names of the people who answer correctly will appear in the paper and online in two weeks.
ANSWER TO THE PREVIOUS QUIZ Located at what is called the Runnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gate, at 90th Street and Fifth Avenue, the Friedel Memorial Drinking Fountain, with the basin in the form of a dog, was designed by sculptor Mark Rabinowitz. It is made from black marble and black granite. It was dedicated in 1992. The inscription around the rim of the fountain reads: â&#x20AC;&#x153;JEANETTE AND PETER KRIENDLER / IN HONOR OF FRIEDEL â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 1992.â&#x20AC;? This was considered to be the first official canine drinking fountain in Central Park. Congratulations to Joe Ornstein, Bill Ferrarini, David Hill and Gregory Holman for answering correctly.
Frederick Law Olmstedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pastoral vision. Over the past year it has undergone a full restoration. Experience views of Balto and the Dene from the summerhouse, a rustic wood shelter that sits on top of an imposing ro ck outcrop. To learn more, visit blog. centralpark.com.
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and this edition features U.S. Open competition for show jumping, dressage, hunter and Arabian disciplines. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a fun and educational family day. These are ticketed events. Wollman Rink, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Sept. 21-25 For more information visit www. centralpark.com/
Event listings and Where in Central Park? brought to you by CentralPark.com.
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
NAME OF THE ROSE AMENDED Upper East Side Mexican restaurant settles dispute with chain BY ALEXANDRA ZUCCARO
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In front of Selena Rosa on Second Avenue, owner Sammy Musovic and manager Armando Martado raised a Mexican flag on Sept. 16. The act, on Mexican independence day, was doubly significant: It also celebrated the restaurant’s settlement against the Rosa Mexicano’s chain of eateries, which in a cease-and-desist letter had alleged that the restaurant’s name – at the time Selena Rosa Mexicana – constituted trademark infringement and unfair competition. After much deliberation, Musovic agreed to omit “Mexicana” from their name, and simply be called “Selena Rosa” moving forward. “We do have the Selena Rosa trademark, so fortunate for us we were allowed to keep that,” he said. “We are raising the flag as a celebration. We feel that we won this.” Loyal customers also attended the festivities. Elliot Hurdy has been going to Selena Rosa since it opened near 89th Street 15 years ago, and was glad that a settlement had been reached. Because the establishment has so many regulars, Hurdy didn’t believe that the name change would affect business. “People come to a restaurant not for the name, but for the food. And the food is great,” he said. Hurdy speculated that Rosa Mexicano took legal action not because of the similar names, but because they were threatened by the competition. Besides Rosa Mexicano’s flagship establishment, on First Avenue near 58th Street, the chain has four other restaurants in New York, as well as locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Atlanta, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., Dubai and elsewhere.
STOREFRONTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 system with a bunch of rules, a bunch of incentives.” Based on Levinson’s map, Madison Avenue is among the areas with the fewest empty storefronts. Matthew Bauer, president of the Madison Avenue BID, is not surprised to hear this. “In the first half of 2016, 18 new business opened up on Madison Avenue between 57th and 86th Street,” Bauer said. “When you look at the amount that have opened and you see the types of stores and the type of investment that’s taking place here, you see that there’s tremendous interest.” At the other end of the spectrum on this map: the TriBeCa/SoHo area, which is not doing as well. On Broadway between west Houston and Canal Streets, 16 storefronts are marked as empty. Mark Dicus, executive director of the SoHo Broadway Initiative, described the situation as a “fundamental shift in brick-and-mortar retail.” However, he is optimistic and mentioned several stores that were doing well in SoHo, like Stance, a luxury sock and underwear retailer, and athletic-wear stores like
Sammy Musovic (left), the owner of Selena Rosa on Second Avenue, raises a Mexican flag to commemorate that country’s independence day as well as a settlement of a dispute about the restaurant’s name. Photo: Alexandra Zuccaro “Obviously it’s the best food in New York City, because they [Rosa Mexicano] wouldn’t want to go through all this trouble for one little restaurant,” Hurdy said. “So the reason is they thought maybe they could put them out. And not only did they not put them out, but he’s [Musovic] getting busier and busier.” Rosa Mexicano’s corporate office could not be reached for comment. Musovic, however, suggested that the settlement ended civilly. He is pleased that Selena Rosa now has their own identity, and wished Rosa Mexicano continued success. He even proposed that its owners stop by the restaurant for margaritas. “I think we should have a drink together with the owner of Rosa Mexicano,” he said. “He should join me here for some margaritas so we can both move on and continue doing what we do best.”
Lululemon and Under Armour. Nike is also planning to open a new outlet at 529 Broadway within the year. “I think you’re seeing a change in the market,” Dicus said. “People are still trying to see what works here.” Levinson is well aware that his map may have missing pieces or errors. A project like Vacant New York is by nature a “moving target,” as he described it, because stores open and close constantly. Plus, the data itself is hard to track down for stores being rented out by owner, with just a sign and phone number in the window, as opposed to being listed on a large broker’s website. Still more storefronts are empty but don’t have a “for lease” sign on display. Levinson didn’t include those because it’s unclear what their status is. It’s not his full-time job, but Levinson plans to continue updating Vacant New York and responding to comments. “I like seeing the way the city moves,” he said. “I grew up next to the city, so I didn’t have this starry-eyed ‘oh my God, it’s New York City.’ I like to always know we’re doing what we can to make it as livable as possible.” Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com
SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
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SEPTEMBER 22-28,2016
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
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OurTown EastSide
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VOL. 2, ISSUE 10
10-16
Our To wn ha The pa s much 2016, per celebrat to be thank an OTTY d this we es its 45th ful for. ek Award anniv made ersary winnershonors its a un lat The OT ique differe , noting pe est group in ople wh of nce on You -- TY award the o ha s ha munit ve always -- short for OuUpper East ve Sid be y strong. service, an en a reflect r Town Th e. d this anks year’s ion of deep Our ho list is parti combusiness norees inc cularly owners lude co heroe mm an s. Cardi We’re also d medical anunity activi na tak fall’s wi l Timothy ing a mome d public saf sts, Franc ldly succes Dolan, who nt to recog ety is. nize sheph sful vis Kyle Po In his interv erd it iew wi to the city ed last pressi pe, Dolan by th Our ref ng Town Pope warning issues sti lects on thaCI Editor ll TYit, ARon movin s he receiv facing the t vis TS, g to Ne city,2 an>d on the w York ed from his P.1 Read nine his profile, seven years friends be the OT TY an fore ag Thom awards d the profi o. pso les of the oth We are n, in the spe by repor the wi proud to bri cial sectio ter Madelei er nners n ne part of ng it to you inside. our com , and pro ud to cal munit y. l
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
STEINEM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 York Magazine. First, I was freelancing for many different magazines. For Glamour, Show Magazine, which no longer exists, but was a big arts magazine, Esquire, the Herald Tribune Magazine, The New York Times. A variety of places. And then, Clay Felker, who was the editor of the New York Magazine that was part of the Herald Tribune, decided, after the Herald Tribune closed, to start what was really the first city magazine. So with a lot of other writers, Jimmy Breslin, Tom Wolfe, Dick Schaap, and many others, we tap danced to raise money. [Laughs] That’s what we used to call it. And that took quite a long time, but ultimately, Clay was able to start New York Maga-
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zine.
The column you wrote there was a political one. What are some stories you covered that were memorable? First, we all helped to name the department and shape the magazine. And because I had been unable to get political assignments, I gave myself a political column [Laughs] called “The City Politic.” There, I could do a wide variety of things. I went to Queens to the hospital where Vietnam vets were being brought back direct from the battlefield on a plane. I wrote about Kwashiorkor, which is a protein deficiency disease that was thought only to be in Africa, but it was in the Bronx. Many different things.
What was the atmosphere like at the Ms. Magazine office? It was a combination of an office, a movement headquarters and a dormitory all in one. [Laughs] The ThankGod-it’s-Monday Club was especially
Gloria Steinem in her apartment. Photo: Annie Leibovitz true for women with kids. And people could bring their children to the office; we had a room with toys. We had the Sisterhood Pile where we all brought the clothes that we were not using to see if other people could use them. It was quite a casual office. And it was in a space that had been a textile manufacturing floor, so the spaces were very atypical. Of course, we couldn’t afford to remodel them, so we just left them the way they were.
There’s a chapter in your book called, “Why I Don’t Drive.” Tell us about a conversation with a cab driver that resonated with you. I’ll tell you a conversation with a cab driver that happened right after I finished the book. [Laughs] And I regretted that I couldn’t put it in. I got into a taxi near my house and we were going towards the West 40s and I saw a big sign advertising one of the television serials about the phenomenon of vampires. I‘ve forgotten what the name of the series was. So while we were stopped at the red light, I said to the taxi driver, “You know, I think I understand many things, but I do not understand the appeal of vampires and why fiction with this theme got started.” It turned out that he, the taxi driver, was from Transylvania. [Laughs] He told me that some distance from the villages where his family lived, there was a very well-to-do family that for hundreds of years had lived in a castle on elevated ground. They treated people very badly, so they were greatly hated. And legend grew up about their
being vampires. So I said to the driver, “What are the odds that I would get into a taxi in New York City and have a driver from Transylvania?” [Laughs]
In another part of the book, you said that if you could pick a place to hang out, it would be a bookstore. What have been your favorite bookstores in Manhattan? I’m sure some of them have closed. Yes, I’m sorry to say that Books and Company and a couple of others that were closer to me, have closed. But I do believe that the small, personal bookstores have staying power. It seems to be mostly the chains that are closing. I think the idea of having a personal connection to books you might not otherwise know about and being able to have a cup of coffee and stop, means that the individual, personal bookstores will survive. There are many around the country.
I saw the video of you being interviewed by Emma Watson. Who are some young women you feel are emerging leaders in the movement? Oh there’s so many. I mean Emma Watson because she was known because of her acting career, has created a very substantial and wise book club that introduces women around the world. There’s also Everyday Sexism. Laura Bates, a young English woman, started just recording her own experiences in the street and then, other women began to do it too. And it’s very helpful because an individual experience of harassment on the street seems minor, but when it’s collective and constant, it isn’t minor. And out of
that has come books and also women in countries around the world talking about harassment in the streets.
Who are some men you credit with supporting your career and causes over the years? There are so many. Frank Thomas made the Ford Foundation a place of social justice for movements in this country and around the world. And it still is. Darren Walker, who is now the president of the Ford Foundation, is a great advocate and activist. Clay Felker, as an editor, was supportive and always interested in new ideas.
With your busy schedule, why is it important for you to participate in the Readers and Writers Festival? Like most things in life, we follow the bonds of friendship and Suzanne and Bob Levine are among my oldest and best friends. So that’s how I knew about it and probably why I was invited. And it sounded like a very positive event because it’s a two-way street. It’s not just authors talking at people, there’s also listening. www.gloriasteinem.com www.milfordreadersandwriters. com
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