Our Town - October 26, 2017 by Our Town

The local paper for the Upper East Side

WEEK OF OCTOBER - NOVEMBER WEAVING METAPHORS ◄ P.12

26-1 2017

State Senator Liz Krueger (ﬁrst row, center, speaking) and City Council Member Ben Kallos (standing behind her, second row center) at a press conference in March announcing new supportive housing for families on East 91st Street between First and Second Avenues. The two East Side elected officials hold different views about whether residents should give money to homeless panhandlers or offer help in other ways or both. Photo: Courtesy of state Senator Liz Krueger’s office

MV4NY’s Inaugural Environmental Stewardship Day was a family affair, engaging children of all ages. Photo: Carson Kessler

RESTORING RUPPERT PARK CITY SPACES How a group of Muslim volunteers helped efforts to eliminate rats and beautify the UES spot BY CARSON KESSLER

Just three years ago, Ruppert Park was better known as the Upper East Side’s “Rat Park,” an uninviting oneacre park on Second Avenue between 90th and 91st Streets, plagued by hundreds of rat colonies. Now 99 percent rat-free, Ruppert Park is on its way to becoming a

safe and welcoming neighborhood space at the hands of the Muslim Volunteers for New York (MV4NY) and former president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Nancy Ploeger. For two years, Ploeger worked tirelessly to eliminate the rat population and rehabilitate the promising park. Her determined attitude to beautify a neighborhood space soon attracted the Muslim Volunteers for New York, a community-based service organization designed to engage Muslim-Americans with the greater

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

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TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE? NEIGHBORHOOD That is the question on the East Side as winter nears. Is it nobler to give money to the homeless? Or help in other ways? A tweet from a neighborhood group last week thrust the debate into the open BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

A couple of times a month, a homeless person will show up on the doorstep of the Church of the Epiphany, and as the Reverend Jennifer Reddall tells the story, make a simple if blunt request: “Hey, I want cash!” They don’t get any money. But they don’t leave the Episcopal church at York Avenue and 74th Street emptyhanded either. “We never give out cash,” the rector will explain. But

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then she adds, “I will always buy you a meal.” Succor comes in many different forms: “If someone’s hungry, you just feed them,” Reddall says. So she’ll take them to a deli across the street for a sandwich, or to the Rainbow store on First Avenue for toiletries and underwear, and to “make them feel like human beings again.” There is no one response to that perennial New York question: When a panhandler solicits you for cash, do you give, or do you ﬁgure out another means to help? Belied by an Indian summer, the approach of winter will soon refocus attention on the plight of the homeless. Their ranks and visibility have mushroomed in recent years, and they’ve become, in effect, a part of our streetscape. The daily shelter census as of October 18 stood at 60,305 people, includ-

ing 23,123 children, according to data from the city’s Department of Homeless Services. When Mayor Bill de Blasio took office in 2014, pledging to combat the problem, the official city count was 50,689. That’s a steep 18 percent increase in the shelter population, and it has haunted his reelection campaign. Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican mayoral hopeful, cites it as proof of “administrative incompetence.” But absent de Blasio’s programs to find

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, October 27 – 5:40 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com

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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

HELPING OUR INVISBILE NEIGHBORS CHARITY With minimal effort, businesses can help alleviate hunger BY CRYSTAL WOLFE

About 150 billion pounds of food goes to waste in this country each year. According to the nonproﬁt Feeding America, one in seven people in the U.S. struggle with hunger on a daily basis — yet there is enough food being thrown away to feed everyone in the nation. The nonproﬁt I founded, Catering for the Homeless, connects catering companies with organizations and churches that distribute the good food they would otherwise throw away to the hungry and homeless in their communities and help alleviate some of the hunger crisis in our city. There are hundreds of catering companies in New York City who throw away high-quality food every day of the year, predominately in the Manhattan area. This is a call to action for churches, nonprofits, catering companies and restaurants in Manhattan to join this program, and get food to those who need it, whether to the over 60,000 people in city homeless shelters, or to the millions of poor people,

especially families, who aren’t homeless but have difficulties making ends meet and, as a result, also experience hunger. As an incentive for catering companies and restaurants, participation is a tax write-off. Donors and distributors of food are protected by Good Samaritan laws. Nonprofits and churches are also afforded similar protections under their 501c3 status. Governor Andrew Cuomo last month signed into law the Comprehensive State and Local Government Food Waste Prevention and Diversion Act, which directs the state’s Departments of Education and of Agriculture to put together guidelines that would allow and encourage schools and universities to donate excess edible food to organizations that help the hungry. The legislation, co-sponsored by state Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr., will greatly assist nonprofits like Catering for the Homeless to find additional support through educational and other institutions. In response to a homelessness crisis that is among the worst the country has ever seen, by some estimates worse than during the Great Depression, I wrote a comprehensive book on homelessness, “Our Invisible Neighbors,” that explores the problem’s

causes and possible solutions. In the course of my research, I found that it costs the government more to keep the homeless unhoused, costs borne by the legal system, including jails, hospital visits, hotel rooms and the like than it does to house them. In short, solving, or even reducing, homelessness will save taxpayers money. Another initiative, proposed by Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi and backed by numerous state legislators, Home Stability Support, would enable renters and homeowners in danger of losing their housing to stay in their homes through a state and federally funded rent assistance program. And cities, states and even countries have ended or greatly reduced homelessness predominantly by using the what’s called a housing ﬁrst method. Its foundational principle is, simply enough, providing a home to the homeless, then giving them the programs they need to get back on their feet: job training, therapy, AA, medications and other means and services. The premise is that people need stability in their lives to move forward. HSS is an even better method to end homelessness because it is preventative. Another problem and a component of homelessness, particularly in New

Photo: Alan Strakey, via ﬂickr York City, is gentriﬁcation. The Small Business Jobs Survival Act that has made the City Council rounds but has yet to develop widespread support would help restore economic equality to business owners, support art and cultural institutions, maintain the character of neighborhoods, and help save jobs in our city. Homelessness is a solvable problem. More information for “Our Invisible

Neighbors,” which explores many of these solutions in greater depth, can be found through the website for Catering for the Homeless. Contact cateringforthehomeless@gmail.com to get involved as a volunteer, or if you are a church, nonproﬁt, catering company, restaurant or educational facility willing to use this program to end the waste of food in our city, and help alleviate hunger.

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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th district for Week to Date

Year to Date

2017 2016

% Change

2017

2016

% Change

Murder

n/a

-100.0

Rape

n/a

266.7

Robbery

0.0

29.6

Felony Assault

-75.0

102

3.0

Burglary

25.0

174

158

10.1

Grand Larceny

41.7

1,091 1,117 -2.3

Grand Larceny Auto

n/a

-31.3

Photo by Tony Webster, via Flicker

LATEST SCOOP

DIVERGE DIVESTED

LINGERIE LONGING

JOGGER JACKER

BAG TEAM

The warm fall has also meant a continuation of ice cream pilfering. At 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 14, a man went into the Duane Reade location at 4 Amsterdam Avenue and ﬂed with 131 containers of ice cream as well as 150 packages of gum, presenting a total haul of $1,239.

Bike-stealing season has been extended by the warm fall weather. At 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 15, a 38-yearold man parked his bicycle at Broadway and West 67th Street. When he returned to the spot, his Specialized Diverge valued at $3,000 was nowhere to be found.

One hopes that the long arm of the law catches up with a shoplifter intent on long-sleeved clothing. At noon Tuesday, October 17, a man entered the Victoria’s Secret store at 2333 Broadway and made off with 20 bras plus a selection of long-sleeved clothing worth a total of $1,300.

This seems to be a week for male shoplifters stealing women’s clothing from area stores. At 2 p.m. on Wednesday, October 18, a man went into the Lululemon store at 2139 Broadway and took joggers valued at $1,200.

At 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 15, three women removed two Saint Laurent handbags valued at $3,900 from the Barneys location at 2151 Broadway without paying.

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Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct

153 E. 67th St.

212-452-0600

159 E. 85th St.

311

FIRE FDNY 22 Ladder Co 13 FDNY Engine 39/Ladder 16

157 E. 67th St.

311

FDNY Engine 53/Ladder 43

1836 Third Ave.

311

FDNY Engine 44

221 E. 75th St.

311

CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Daniel Garodnick

211 E. 43rd St. #1205

212-818-0580

Councilmember Ben Kallos

244 E. 93rd St.

212-860-1950

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

96th Street

112 E. 96th St.

212-289-0908

67th Street

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

NYU Langone

550 First Ave.

212-263-7300

CON EDISON

4 Irving Place

212-460-4600

POST OFFICES US Post Office

1283 First Ave.

212-517-8361

US Post Office

1617 Third Ave.

212-369-2747

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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

THE POLITICS OF HALLOWEEN HOLIDAYS Since Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s election, costumes have become both a form of provocation and protest. So how will dressing up play out on the one night when everyone is in disguise? BY ALIZAH SALARIO

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Every year, a frightening character comes to the legendary Village Halloween Parade and chats up Jeanne Fleming, the paradeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artistic director. Fleming, who loves the creativity of Halloween but not the gore, long dreaded her annual exchange with the strange man in the graphic blood-and-guts costume. Then she found out his identity: Calvin Trillin, the esteemed journalist and New Yorker contributor. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you spend a few hours being something other than who you are, you learn something about yourself,â&#x20AC;? says Fleming. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It enters into your consciousness, and you learn how people begin to treat you if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re something different than who you are everyday.â&#x20AC;? A 37-year veteran of the parade, Fleming is familiar with how costumes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and what they reveal about a person â&#x20AC;&#x201D; have a potent ability to both inspire and unsettle. Ongoing conversations about costumes and cultural appropriation make this exceedingly apparent; for instance, white people wearing sombreros and ponchos to â&#x20AC;&#x153;dress upâ&#x20AC;? as Mexicans tap into fraught issues around identity, power, representation and belonging. But costumes can communicate more than cultural identity â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just for Halloween. Though protesters have long used props and worn costumes to amplify

Anti-Trump protesters wore eye-catching costumes in response to Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit to the Intrepid in May. Photo: Michael Garofalo their message, contemporary demonstrators have taken the costume-as-commentary approach to a new level since Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inauguration in January. In May, when Trump made his ďŹ rst trip to New York after his inauguration for an event at the Intrepid, protesters dressing as the commander in chief, characters from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Star Wars,â&#x20AC;? and myriad other creative incarnations ďŹ lled the streets. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no surprise, then, that current costumes play off of political tensions. Party City, a supply and costume store, is shilling an â&#x20AC;&#x153;Adult Wallâ&#x20AC;? costume, featuring bricks and the words â&#x20AC;&#x153;the wallâ&#x20AC;? plastered on the front. As the ďŹ rst Halloween under the Trump administration approaches, it has yet to be seen how clashing costumes may play out on the streets. For their part, colleges across the nation are upping the ante on cultural sensitivity during this spirited holiday. Columbia Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a Culture, Not a Costumeâ&#x20AC;? campaign features posters of minority students holding pictures of people dressed up as racial or ethnic stereotypes, such as an Asian woman holding a photo

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of a white woman dressed as a Geisha. The posters are emblazoned with the words, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is not who I am, and this is not okay.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when you think my culture looks better on you than it does on me,â&#x20AC;? says Naika Cadet, costume and marketing manager at Abracadabra, one of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest Halloween emporiums. Cadet says the store refuses to sell costumes that explicitly express bigotry or anti-Semitism, such as a KKK costume or Nazi paraphernalia. Yet Cadet notes that many creative New Yorkers arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t coming in for a ready-made costume, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re coming in for a speciďŹ c look â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where things can get tricky. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our whole job here is to educate in a polite way, and gear [customers] to something thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye-catching and beautiful, and to get them what that they want,â&#x20AC;? she says. The theme for this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Village Halloween Parade is â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cabinet of Curiosities,â&#x20AC;? a nod to P.T. Barnumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curious menagerie. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Halloween, of course, revels in hybrids, mash-ups and the frisson of crossed identities,â&#x20AC;? reads a description of the theme on the paradeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website. Does Fleming worry that this particular theme will open parade-goers up to offense? Fleming has never turned anyone away for an offensive costume. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just not how she thinks, she says. Says Fleming, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Part of the experiment in allowing for this freedom to occur is to ďŹ nd out what happens when you decide to come as something, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s say, offensive to me or you, but maybe not to them. You get to ďŹ nd out in a very direct way. People recoil, or they embrace. But you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t legislate that.â&#x20AC;?

OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

HOMELESS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 homes for the homeless and the at-risk, City Hall counters, the census would be nearing 70,000. Meanwhile, the annual February tally of people living on sidewalks or doorsteps and in subways and parks shot up to 3,880, an increase of 40 percent from 2016, partially because a mild winter made it easier to camp outdoors. Another factor: A large inventory of empty storefronts, resulting from small business closings, provides new sleeping berths. All of this is playing out on the Upper East Side, where socialservice groups and community-based nonproﬁts, churches and synagogues, block associations and community boards, and civic, faith and elected leaders — not to mention a perplexed citizenry — are grappling with the homeless issue. And mulling a basic question: To give or not to give? Those ruminations, like so much else today, burst into public view with a tweet. The scene was the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, at 337 East 74th Street, on the evening of October 16th, where the East 72nd Street Neighborhood Association was holding a public meeting, and City Council Member Ben Kallos was discussing the homeless problem. That night, says Tina Larsson, the group’s secretary-treasurer, she tweeted a message that emerged from his presentation, and shortly after, Kallos, who represents the Upper East Side and Midtown East, retweeted it. “Don’t give money to the homeless in our neighborhood,” she wrote. “Donate to the faith-based institutions that help them instead.” The sharp surge in the homeless presence locally has been disturbing to residents, Larsson says. She notes a small square at 75th Street on the west side of First Avenue near the Saratoga apartment building as one problem spot. And she cited a local nuisance known as the “Spitting Lady of 77th Street,” a longtime ﬁxture on Third Avenue who cursed, screamed and spat upon people, often children. The woman became the focus of a Facebook page, and an online petition to de Blasio demanding her removal that garnered 1,500 signatures. She hasn’t been spotted since May. Handouts to people like that encourage their behavior, increase the volume of solicita-

A homeless woman -- or in street parlance, a “shopping-bag lady” -- with her worldly belongings on Second Avenue just south of East 75th Street last weekend. Photo: Douglas Feiden tions and fuel dependency, the argument goes. “If you keep giving them money, they’ll keep staying here,” Larsson said. Kallos say his constituents are deeply compassionate. “And when they see someone on the street, many people give from the bottom of their hearts,” he says. “The problem is for everyone else in the neighborhood who don’t want to see panhandlers, those who give are literally paying them to be there.” He regularly addresses groups of as many as 100 residents in their buildings, asking for a show of hands of those who give cash to street beggars. Typically, some 10 percent of attendees raise their hands, and Kallos will implore, “Please stop doing that. You are paying them to stay there.” Offering money can also discourage the needy from accepting tax-supported city services that could get them off the streets, he argues. The alternative? “If you want to help someone on the street, call 311,” Kallos urges, saying a call can open the door to city shelter, three square meals a day, substance abuse programs, job training, even money to help pay the rent. Of course, these are deeply personal decisions. Emotionally wrenching, too. And they can make you turn to your faith for guidance. In fact, it was on Yom Kippur three years ago, during a period of fasting and reflection, that Kallos, who prays at Congregation Or Zarua on 82nd Street, discussed with Rabbi Scott Bolton ideas for ameliorating the growing homeless problem. Out of that brainstorming came ETHOS, the Eastside Taskforce for Homeless Outreach and Services, which was launched in February 2016. The group — made up of elected officials, churches, synagogues and nonproﬁts — provides support for meals, food pantries,

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com street outreach, substance abuse, and legal, medical, housing and shelter services. State Senator Liz Krueger, the founding director of the Food Bank for New York City, was one of the officials who helped launch ETHOS. But her take differs from Kallos’ on the wisdom of handing over cash. She actually does so frequently near her home in the East 70s. “There are true people in need living on the streets or in search of basic needs like shelter and food,” says Krueger, who represents the Upper East Side and Midtown East. “If you’re approached by a woman with a child who says, ‘I really need food and medicine for my child,’ well, that person needs help right now.” There is no one right answer, she says. “But there is a wrong answer, and that is simply to turn away and say, ‘This isn’t my problem.’” The bottom line: “Sometimes, I say, ‘No,’ if someone is asking very aggressively, sometimes I hand over money, and sometimes I go and buy them food ... But nobody who is hanging out on street corners begging for money doesn’t actually need it because it’s not much of a life.” At issue is simply the best way to help: “Outreach workers say they want to get people off the streets so they can begin to be reached by city services,” says Ann Shalof, executive director of the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter, which runs a residence on East 81st Street that provides counseling, substance abuse treatment and job support. “By giving money to people on the street, you’re facilitating their staying on the streets,” Shalof adds. Of course, there are as many opinions as there are New Yorkers. “The last thing I want to do is encourage dependency,” said waitress and East Side resident Sandra Snyder, explaining why she walked away from a beggar near the corner of Second Avenue and 79th Street last week. Her boyfriend had a different take. Mike Hayes, a bartender, ponied up one dollar, put it in the cup of a man who said he was a Vietnam veteran, got a gentle, “God bless you” in return, and a warm smile to boot. “It breaks your heart,” he said. “It’s just too hard to walk away.” Now, it’s your turn. Tell us how you deal with requests for cash from the homeless in your neighborhood. Do you give money? Or food? Donate to support groups? Call 311? Walk away to discourage dependency? Write Douglas Feiden, at invreporter@strausnews.com, and we’ll print some of your letters.

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CHELSEA 215 7TH Avenue @ 23rd St 212-646-5454 212-645-5454

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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

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Write to us: To share your thoughts and comments go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a letter to the editor.

A SICKNESS BY BETTE DEWING

We are hearing lots about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual sins, well this column is a lot, but not only about that. While Woody Allen may not be the right one to say it, it should be considered that “Harvey Weinstein is a very sad sick man.” No doubt sad, “sad” due to the enormous “outing,” but surely decades of repeated sexual assaults against women do indicate a sickness. This is deﬁnitely not a defense or excuse, and the greatest tragedy is that victims are afraid to report such violations. Thankfully, this highly publicized scandal by a major ﬁlm mogul lowers that fear.

As for the “sickness” ... Weinstein has reportedly gone abroad for treatment. An Internet search shows that “Sexaholics Anonymous” groups exist the world over. This sickness or addiction, however, is more complicated than “not taking that ﬁrst drink,” one of the credos of Alcoholics Anonymous, upon whose basic principles S.A. is founded. Indeed this search shows numerous related treatment groups which get little or no publicity. Nor, most unfortunately does Alcoholics Anonymous for which there’s less stigma attached and a far greater need. And isn’t it something faith groups should address? And not only the Roman Catholic Church for obvious reasons. While it’s true only an inﬁnitely small minority of priests commit such damaging sins, all must be

outed of course, and far more said from the pulpit about the sickness involved and in society at large. While this may only somewhat relate, how grateful I was for my column being quoted in Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church pastor David Read’s 1980 sermon as follows: “If half the attention were given to getting along with family, friends, neighbors and colleagues as getting along in business and in bed receives, these relationships would be far healthier and so would our neighborhoods, cities and country.” Read added, “Bette wages a valiant war against the dehumanizing forces in our society – all that takes the holy out of humanity.” And that gave me strength to keep trying. Again, this is not to excuse or minimize the incalculable harm caused by sexual sins, but to learn how to

Voices

prevent them and also consider them as possible addictions. One number for Sexaholics Anonymous in NYC is 212-459 4044. And the number for Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization that receives too little credit, is 212- 647-1680. Suffering continues even more in Puerto Rico where despite the shipment of generators, some 80 percent of the state is still without power. Imagine. Imagine. Ah, and let’s’ also not forget how 11 elder patients died from excessive heat in a Florida nursing home because their caretakers didn’t move them into the nearby air-conditioned hospital. Thankfully, The Times twice frontpaged the story, but nursing home conditions need to “get out there” in general, and regularly. Indeed, the Florida facility reportedly had other problems that had not been

corrected. Why not? And not only because the population is aging must infinitely more attention be paid to elder care – every aspect of elder care. And remembering if ever a group were afraid or reluctant to speak out about abuses or neglect, let alone indifference ... It can be done if enough of us try. But, gee, I’d much rather be writing about baseball, one game whose basic rules I understand from once playing softball. And let’s not feel too bad the Yankees didn’t make the Series, remembering how Houston’s hurricane-caused suffering continues. They could use some good news like an Astro win. New York can until next year. dewingbetter@aol.com

THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE NY SPORTS FAN BY JON FRIEDMAN

Did you feel it, too? I sensed a deﬁnite vibe in the air on Sunday morning, as I walked around Manhattan. People seemed shell-shocked. Downright sorrowful. Somehow even more disconnected than usual from one another. Then I suddenly remembered why: The Yankees’ magical, Cinderella-like season was officially over. The good guys had lost game 7 the night before to the Houston Astros, 4-0, in a contest that really wasn’t even that close. The Yanks got three measly hits. After scoring one run in each of the previous three playoff games played in Houston during this series, this time they outdid themselves in futility and got shut out. And in what has become practically obligatory by now, Greg Bird got thrown out at home plate. On the bright side, Aaron Judge almost saved the day with yet another remarkable run-saving catch in right ﬁeld. It will surely make MLB.com’s 2017 highlight reel. Judging (see what I did there — the guy is so great, he has become a verb) by the long faces, it may appear that Yankee Nation is headed for a long, cold, lonely winter. Take solace, Bronx Bomber fans. Of all the 187 words I just typed above, three should stand out for you. Yes, I called the Yankees the good guys, no small feat for this franchise.

Of all the 2017 New York Yankees’ accomplishments, in a year of magnificent overachieving, one outcome stands out. The Yankees presented a remarkably likable team. The Yankees? Likable? This is the same perennially dominant franchise of which it was said during the 1950s that rooting for the Yankees was like rooting for U.S. Steel, because it seemed so bland, grayﬂannel corporate. Then in the 1970s, the Reggie Jackson-Billy Martin-George Steinbrenner axis was so unruly and quarrelsome that it was known ignominiously as the Bronx Zoo. In the very late 20th-century dynasty, you had the Derek Jeter-Mariano Rivera-Andy Pettitte-Jorge Posada group. Yes, it was likable as all get-out — but after a while, the whole “Core Four” deiﬁcation deal got a bit wearying. By the time they all hung up their spikes, even the most ardent fans were ready to turn the page. And don’t even get me started about “A-Roid.” Alex Rodriguez’s retirement during the 2016 season enabled the Yankees to unveil a kid named Aaron Judge. Then, when the team’s owners, the Steinbrenner family, opened the new Yankee Stadium in 2009, pundits wrote that the antiseptic place had all of the charm of a suburban mall — but yes, with a baseball stadium thrown in. (Naturally, when the

Yankees captured the 2009 World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies, almost all was forgiven. At that moment.) Now we have a new breed of what the wags are calling The Baby Bombers: the massive right fielder Aaron (“All rise ... ”) Judge, catcher Gary Sanchez (who, once he masters the art of catching every pitch thrown to him, can punch his ticket — as sportswriters like to say for some reason — to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown), the stoic first baseman Bird, rock-steady stopper Luis Severino and et, baby, al. We can’t forget about the coolest one of them all, a man of mystical powers and lineage simply known far and wide as Didi. He was born in the Netherlands (!) and raised in Curacao (!!). His father and brother also go by the name of Didi and he speaks four languages fluently, which is three (or four) more than I can claim. Didi’s finest accomplishment has been to play shortstop so well and charismatically that he has made the 2014 departure of Derek Jeter that much less painful. So, have a nice, short, warm, happy winter, Yankees Nation. It seems that, given the influx of very youthful and extremely talented players on the roster, we have a lot to look forward to. Oh, and the last detail: 2018 Opening Day will be on March 29, in Toronto. Can’t wait.

Sorrowful vibe: Sunday front page of the New York Post. President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com

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All six of the founding members of Muslim Volunteers for New York outside Ruppert Park. Photo courtesy of MV4NY

RUPPERT PARK CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 community in a variety of efforts to give back to the city, including improving the environment. This past Saturday marked the inauguration of MV4NY as the parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s official stewards, granted by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. As a part of the MV4NYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inaugural Environmental Stewardship Day, around 60 volunteers, ages two to 65, spent their Saturday morning amidst fragrant mulch and bulbs, weeding, planting and painting. Founded by six Muslim mothers in an attempt to pay homage to the charity element of Islam, MV4NY wants to teach

Council Member Ben Kallos attended the event this past Saturday. Photo courtesy of MV4NYÂ

children the significance of community at an early age. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want to teach our kids that giving money is not the only form of charity,â&#x20AC;? Sahar Hussain, a founding member of MV4NY, said about the large number of children at the event. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you physically work and help others that desperately need your help, you begin to realize these blessings are not just your own. You need to share them.â&#x20AC;? Another founding member, Saima Saad, hopes that the Ruppert Park clean-up builds a larger community among both friends and strangers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is essentially children working to clean their own parks,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is all about coming together and collaborating with one another to protect the environment.â&#x20AC;? MV4NY invited several dignitaries to further engage the community. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Council Member Ben Kallos and Borough Commissioner for NYC Parks William Castro were all in attendance this past Saturday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This park really just needs attention,â&#x20AC;? said Ploeger, who previously championed the clean-up of Ruppert Park. While Ruppert Park will be filled with daisies and tulips come springtime, Ploeger worries these beautification efforts might be short-lived due to larger issues such as erosion and irrigation.

The park is divided into four quadrants by shoddy walkways on uneven ground that wind around a well-used playground, an empty lot, a splash pad for children in the summer, and yet another empty space. The occasional broken irrigation tube pokes out of the dehydrated shrubbery like an ancient artifact. In an earlier attempt to rehabilitate the park, Ploeger recalls spending her mornings running up and down the park steps from an inconveniently placed watering hose to the shrubs near the parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s entrance. The greenery in the park is almost completely dependent on the summer splash pad run-off and the grace of Mother Nature. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My vision is that the park will be greener and more leveled,â&#x20AC;? one of MV4NYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s founders, Sanober Khan, said about the need for a more efficient infrastructure. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For all of that, we need a lot of funding, so my hope is that we will be able to get the funding and level the area.â&#x20AC;? MV4NY hopes to engage the city in fixing larger erosion and irrigation issues, as well as welcoming all beautification efforts to teach the children in the community the importance of giving back. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Parks Department has some financial problems, but someone has to step up,â&#x20AC;? Ploeger said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Muslim Volunteers for New York are truly doing a great job.â&#x20AC;?

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Sat 28 THE HISTORY OF THE SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY TOUR Meet outside of the subway entrance at the southwest corner of 96th Street & Second Avenue 2 p.m. $20 friends-ues.org/events nycharities.org/Events 212-535-2526

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The Second Avenue subway was a long time coming, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no surprise the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest line already has a storied history. Ever wonder about the three dozen life-size portraits that seem to be waiting for a train? Have you been stopped in your tracks by â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blueprint for a Landscape,â&#x20AC;? the porcelain tile installation that now decks the walls of the 96th Street station? Then join Dana Schulz, senior editor at the real estate and architecture blog 6sqft, for a tour of the new Second Avenue subway. She will cover its nearly 100-year history, the architecture and engineering behind the project, and the future of the subway in New York City. Schultz will also explore the public tiled art collection at four stations featuring artwork by Chuck Close, Sarah Sze, Vik Muniz and Jean Shin. Please note that a MetroCard will be required.

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The Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Ave. 6:30 p.m. $15 When Modigliani arrived in Paris in 1906, the city was still roiling with anti-Semitism following the Dreyfus Affair. Senior curator Mason Klein puts Modiglianiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work in context and looks at the ways the artist, as an Italian Sephardic Jew, responded to the social realities at the time. 212-423-3200 thejewishmuseum.org/ exhibitions

ASPHALT SCREAMS Asphalt Green 555 East 90th St. 4 p.m. Free, donations welcome Enjoy an afternoon of tricks, treats and active Halloween games. Asphalt Screams is open to the public and will feature sports-related activities, including a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Spooktacular Soccer Shootout.â&#x20AC;? The ďŹ rst 500 kids at each campus will receive a goody bag, so RSVP, ASAP! asphaltgreen.org

Sat 28 OCTOBERFEST AT P.S. 158 â&#x2013;˛ Noon, Free P.S 158, 77th St. Between York Avenue and John Jay Park Kids of all ages can enjoy games, rides, and arts and crafts at this neighborhood autumnal festival. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s even a haunted house and a pumpkin patch. Come out to play, or just enjoy the seasonal refreshments. ps158.org

OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

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Peace of mind begins by planning today! The Sanctuary at MOUNT LEBANON CEMETERY

Sun 29 Mon 30 Tue 31 ‘AMP:’ AN ELECTRIFYING HORROR SHOW New York Society Library 53 East 79th St. 3 p.m. $25 Inspired by the writings of Mary Shelley, Luigi Galvani’s discovery of “animal electricity,” the birth of modern feminism, the history of electro-shock therapy, and the monsters society creates, this new one-woman play, written and performed by Jody Christopherson, is sure to electrify. 212-288-6900 nysoclib.org/events

JAZZ IT UP ▲ 92nd Street Y 1395 Lexington Ave. Noon, $25 Take a long lunch with pianist Chris Coogan and singer/ musicologist Carla Innerfeld as they trace a broad history of jazz, from Louis Armstrong and Dixieland through the big band era, boogie woogie, bebop and beyond. Get ready to tap your foot to standards like “Hello Dolly” and “Bye Bye Blackbird.” 212-415-5500 92yorg/events

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Tramway Plaza, Second Ave. between East 59th and East 60th Streets 3 p.m. Free Over 80 local boo-tiques, restaurants and stores will open their doors to trick-ortreaters, thanks to the East Midtown Partnership. Kids and their parents can check-in and grab a free trick-or-treat bag at Tramway Plaza, then stick around for face painting, a spooky photo booth and a social media costume contest. 212-813-0030 eastmidtown.org/events

Wed 1 AN EVENING WITH SLAVS AND TATARS The Guggenheim 1071 Fifth Ave. 6:30 p.m. $15 Artist collective Slavs and Tatars presents the New York premiere of “i Utter Other,” a lecture-performance that weaves together scholarship, satire and comedy to examine the legacy of Orientalism in the Russian and Soviet context. 212-423-3500 guggenheim.org/event

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WEAVING METAPHORS A revealing portrait of Louise Bourgeois at MoMA BY MARY GREGORY

Along the edge of a leaf, in a towering etching filled with curvilinear, botanical imagery, Louise Bourgeois penciled a message. “I give you humour, not pity.” There are plenty of other snippets of text, long and short, straightforward or enigmatic in the Museum of Modern Art’s inspiring, encompassing and exhilarating onewoman exhibition, “Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait,” since it focuses, in part on her writing, prints and books. But somehow, this tiny scrawl seems to encapsulate what the work of this complex, beloved artist delivers. The etching, “Ode to Eugénie Grandet,” references the Balzac novel about a woman triumphant despite the constraints of gender and society. It’s a poignant opener followed by a tour de force. Turning away from the print, one faces “Spider,” from 1997, an enormous cage topped by a gargantuan, spindly-legged arachnoid bronze. The circular cage below the spider is one of a series of 62 “cells”

IF YOU GO WHAT: “Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait” WHERE: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd St. WHEN: Through January 28 www.moma.org Bourgeois created between 1991 and 2010. Filling the museum’s secondfloor atrium, the installation is imposing, constricting and frightening at ﬁrst glance. On closer inspection, there’s a chair, sections of tapestry, and, hanging from chains, perfume bottles, crystals, a locket with photos, keys and bones tucked inside. It’s a vast and complicated metaphor — as complex and knotty as the artist who created it. Time after time, across many media, Louise Bourgeois laid her soul bare through her art. In unﬂinching works and words she communicated her deepest emotions, darkest fears and most daring thoughts, and by doing so, became champion to generations of artists and feminists. In the exhibition we encounter a complex iconography

The ﬁnal gallery of “Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait” at the Museum of Modern Art is both dazzling and uplifting. Photo: Adel Gorgy that draws heavily on Bourgeois’ inner world and personal history. Body parts — literal, abstracted, or genderblending — strange creatures, sheets (here, musical sheets) stained blood red, symbols of fertility and fear are all expressed in Bourgeois’ work, along with touches of humor, but never pity, especially self-pity. Louise Bourgeois was born in France in 1911 and worked until her death in 2010. She had a long life during a fecund period that spanned world wars and cold wars, and inventions from talking movies to internet tweets. The daugh-

A selection of works from the series “Lullaby,” rife with connotations and associations. Photo: Adel Gorgy

ter of a well-off family of tapestry weavers and restorers, Bourgeois studied math and philosophy at the Sorbonne before enrolling in art school. The first apartment she rented in Paris was upstairs from André Breton’s Surrealist stronghold, Galerie Gradiva. In 1938, she met and married an American art historian, Robert Goldwater, and moved to New York. “She loved New York, and she loved the skyscrapers, so many of her images are of buildings and skyscrapers,” said exhibition organizer Deborah Wye, chief curator emerita of prints at MoMA, and a longtime friend of the artist. “She always saw things in personalized terms, so if she saw a skyscraper, she thought of it as a figure. Or two skyscrapers that were near each other were in a relationship.” A painted bronze of tall building with rows of windows topping skinny legs is “Portrait of Jean-Louis,” her son. Wye, together with curatorial assistant Sewon Kang, grouped works by thematic chapters, reflecting what Wye called Bourgeois’ “vocabulary of imagery.” They include Architecture Embodied, Abstracted Emotions, Fabric of Memory, Alone and Together, Forces of Nature, and Lasting Impressions and offer the chance to see how ideas were revisited, revised and embellished throughout the course of Bourgeois’ life. The third floor presentation begins with works on paper filled with spidery figures. The spider was a potent symbol; Bourgeois often stated that it represented her mother, who was a weaver, as well as her protector. The

wall text quotes the artist, “My best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat and useful as a spider.” Other recurring imagery includes spirals, reproductive organs, cages, seeds, pods and plants. In the exhibition, they take form in sculptures, drawings, books, prints, etchings, paintings and a delightful group of fiber works made when Bourgeois was in her 80s. Possibly only after her challenging sexual imagery cast in bronze had been accepted and hailed, did she feel comfortable with materials deemed feminine and quaint by an art establishment that devalued the work of many women fiber artists. Whatever the impetus for the works, a humanfaced cat printed on a tatted handkerchief (“Self Portrait”) and a series of minimalist sewn, quilted and printed compositions are eye-openers. The exhibition ends with a crowning glory. “In the last room there’s a very moving series. It’s almost completely abstract, and she did that probably when she was 96, and she died when she was 98. It starts with the printed elements, and then she just really goes wild with gouache and with watercolor and pencil.... It’s just a sort of primordial, cellular world,” said Wye, adding, “I do think in that last room there’s a great spirituality going on.” At the center of the gallery is a circle of gold, “Arch of Hysteria,” a life-sized figural sculpture — writhing and agonized, but soaring, transcendent and dazzling.

OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

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Sign Up for An Open House Tour Joseph Reginella monument, which commemorates “the biggest land mammal tragedy in the nation,” in Battery Park. Photo: Mihika Agarwal

at alexanderrobertson.org/admissions or call 212-663-2844 to make an appointment for your visit.

A CIRCUS UNLIKE ANY OTHER PUBLIC ART History of fateful day in 1929 gets an alternative account BY MIHIKA AGARWAL

Not many recall that somber autumn morning, 88 years ago, when a trio of African elephants, bound for the circus, trampled tens of innocent pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge: The tragedy would be dwarfed by the Great Crash of October 29, 1929, which occurred the same day. The elephants, among them their star, Jumbo, were, on that doubly fateful day, being led across the bridge, a tradition inaugurated some 45 years before by P.T. Barnum as a way to demonstrate the span’s sturdiness. But that morning, someone or something disquieted Jumbo, and the parade of pachyderms panicked. Some of the massacred were crushed under the elephants’ pillar-like limbs; others impaled by colossal tusks; and several done to death by jumping 300 feet into the depths of the East River. Ruffles the Clown, a popular circus figure, was among the casualties, as were several newspaper writers. The stampede, which would come to be known as “the biggest land mammal tragedy in the nation,” was recently com-

memorated by a 6-foot-tall monument that documents, unvarnished, that darkest of dark days on the bridge. Except that all of it — the account of a Brooklyn bridge elephant stampede, the backstory, even the monument — is a hoax, a tall tale, a ﬁctional spin on history, crafted by Joseph Reginella, a 46-year old artist from Staten Island. “I’m just creeping into these people’s brains,” said Reginella, who similarly and successfully tricked and treated the public last year with his account of a giant octopus that had attacked the Cornelius G. Kolff, a Staten Island ferry, on November 22, 1963, another infamous day in U.S. history. “Even if you know it’s fake, it’s a piece of entertainment,” Reginella said in Battery Park on a bright, recent Sunday morning, untiringly amused by the range of reactions of passers-by at the monument. “Look at that guy, he’s shaking his head, he can’t believe it,” he added, beaming. But he doesn’t want the public to read too much into his creations, and certainly not as commentary on fake news. “My intention is to take to you to a fantasyland for a little while,” he said. “The more I think about it now, it’s really just for fun.” Somewhat contrary to his Cornelius G. Kolff ruse, Jumbo the elephant and his friends were, if not heroes, then more

sympathetic creatures, much like King Kong. “I hated to see these beautiful creatures in the cage, so I wanted them to break free in my story,” said Reginella, an admitted animal lover. In addition to the monument — a clay sculpture, oxidized to form a bronzish green hue, that Reginella wheels to Battery Park and to Brooklyn Bridge Park — Reginella created a website with accompanying video and voiceover of the “tragedy” as well as a site-bysite narrated tour of the day’s events by iconic New York rocker David Johansen. The script for “Jumbo’s Journey,” which takes participants along the route taken by the elephants in their march towards freedom — from Brooklyn Bridge Park to Clinton Castle — was written by Ricky Roxburgh, the head writer of the Disney Channel show “Tangled: The Series.” A 7-minute black and white documentary created by 21year old filmmaker Melanie Juliano, is the ruse’s final component. Voiced-over by the actors of “Tangled,” the short film is heavy on dramatic visuals and footage. All told, the project took Reginella three months to complete. Which is pretty quick, given that he rewrote history. As for Jumbo, he was last seen running through the Holland Tunnel, on his way to freedom.

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Explore foreign languages Discuss current events Discover Tai Chi and yoga Express yourself through visual arts Learn hula and belly dancing Develop personas in theater class Enjoy ĚĂŝůǇ ŶƵƚƌŝƟŽƵƐ farm-to-table lunches Visit us at 619 Lexington Avenue @ 54th St. (Lower Level of Saint Peter’s Church) For more information or to join, call 212-308-1959 or go to www.lenoxhill.org/saintpeters

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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

Celebrate Halloween in East Midtown! We’re inviting children 12 and under & their families to trick-or-treat at East Midtown businesses from 3:00–7:00 PM on Tuesday, October 31th! Interested in joining us as a trick-or-treater? Pick up your trick-or-treat bags, get your face painted, snap a spooky photo & enter to win our costume contest at Tramway Plaza, 2nd Ave & East 59th, and then head out to collect treats at all of our participating businesses!

A huge thank you to our participating businesses! * 58th Street Library * a la mode * Allen Edmonds * Amali * American Cut * Avis Budget Group * The Bar Room * The Benjamin * * Best Western Plus Hospitality House * Blooms Tavern * Carvi Hotel NY * Child Mind Institute * Cohens Fashion Optical * * Currency Exchange International * Dentistry for Children and Orthodontics * East Midtown Partnership * Edible Arrangements * * Eileen Fisher * Ethan Allen * Extraordinary * Eyes On The World * Farinella Bakery * Fifty NYC, an Affinia Hotel * * Fitzpatrick Manhattan Hotel * Garden Grille * Gardens NYC * Grace’s Marketplace * Greek Eats * Harman * Hastens * Hastens * * The Health Nuts * Insomnia Cookies * InVite Health * Jacques Torres Chocolate * Jean Rouseau * The Jeffrey Craft Beer & Bites * * Jersey Mikes Subs * Jonathan Adler * Just Bulbs * Koleksiyon Mobilya * Kurant * La Cava * Le Cirque * Learning Express Toys * * Lerebours Antiques * Levy Choir School of All Saints Church * Madonna & Co * Manhattan Espresso Cafe * * Mount Vernon Hotel Museum * Nare Sushi * New York and Company * Ninth Street Espresso * NY Luncheonette * Padoca Bakery * * Palace Restaurant * Paname * Pescatore Restaurant * Pick A Bagel * Pig n Whistle on 3rd * Rigby & Peller * Rimowa * * Rouge Makeup Salons * Saks Off 5th Avenue * Salon Amici * Salon Ishi * Samuel and Sons * Satori Laser * Sherwin Williams * * Skintology Cosmedical Aesthetics * Sprinkles * SUNY Global Center * TD Bank * TD Bank * TD Bank * TD Bank * TD Bank * * TD Bank * TD Bank * Terence Cardinal Cooke - Cathedral Library * Tracy Anderson Method * Treadwell Park * * Untamed Sandwiches * Upper East Dental Innovations * Waterworks * Whiskey & Wine off 69 *

www.eastmidtown.org/halloween

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East Midtown Partnership

2017 ANNUAL REPORT to the Community

East Midtown Partnership 875 Third Ave., Mezzanine New York, NY 10022 212-813-0030 www.EastMidtown.org

Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report 2017

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT & CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dear Friends: The past year has been an important one for both East Midtown Manhattan and the East Midtown Partnership, as major decisions were made that will shape the future of our community and our Business Improvement District.

Debra Fechter

Chair of the Board of Directors

The East Midtown Rezoning will have a major impact on our district as it rolls out over the next two decades. The rezoning will allow for taller, more modern buildings better able to attract the 21st Century businesses needed to sustain the area as an international commercial center. The regulations also provide for mass transit and public realm improvements that are vital to our quality of life. Similarly, the Board of Directors and staff of the East Midtown Partnership spent much of the past year planning for our future.

Rob Byrnes President

More than a decade ago, the Board developed a ten-year ﬁnancial plan, establishing a $2.2 million annual assessment on the district’s 28 million square feet of commercial space (which, at approximately 8 cents per square foot per year, gave East Midtown one of the lowest Business Improvement District assessment rates in the city.) That plan allowed for the organization to accrue savings in the ﬁrst few years, while spending down its reserves toward the end of the ten-year cycle.

Last year it became apparent that anticipated cost of living increases, coupled with some major unanticipated expenses (including the statemandated Minimum Wage increase and new security and sanitation expenses related to the district’s proximity to Trump Tower) required us to look at our financial needs. After more than a year of study and deliberation, the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors recommended an increase in the annual assessment to $3.5 million, an amount sufficient to meet the needs of this community while continuing to keep the per square foot expense to our ratepayers much lower than almost every comparable BID. That recommendation was approved unanimously by the Board in April, 2017 and is now pending before City Council. We will continue to operate frugally and spend carefully, but the new plan will provide adequate funding to deliver the essential services and high caliber of programming reflective of East Midtown Manhattan. With more than 800 storefronts, thousands of upper-floor commercial tenants, and an increasing number of residents, we want to ensure we’re able to meet the demands of our growing, thriving community well into the future.

2017 Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report

WE ARE CONNECTED Each week the East Midtown Partnership distributes information on district sales and promotions, community events, street closures, and more. When special circumstances arise – be it the United Nations General Assembly, Restaurant Week, or holiday programs – thousands of people turn to our bulletins, website, and social media posts for accurate, up to date information. Contact us at 212-813-0030 or info@ eastmidtown.org to ﬁnd out how you can be connected!

Join us for the

East Midtown Partnership’s 16th Annual Meeting

Thursday, December 7, 2017 8:00 AM Le Cirque 151 East 58th Street

Call 212-813-0030 or visit our website for more information.

Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report 2017

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING ‘Trick-or-Treat with East Midtown’ Doubles Attendance, Wins International Recognition After you’ve drawn more than 1,000 children and parents to East Midtown to trick-or-treat at 60 local businesses, what do you do for an encore? Go bigger and better, of course! On Halloween, 2016, our second annual “Trick-or-Treat with East Midtown” event brought more than 2,000 people into our neighborhood. We checked the trick-or-treaters in at Tramway Plaza on Second Avenue where they collected our branded Halloween bags and visited a themed photo booth and facepainters, enhancing the experience and capturing memories of the day. Then those little ghosts and goblins, accompanied by their parents, visited our business community, where more than 80 businesses handed out treats. The feedback included comments such as:

“We live in East Midtown, and are so excited that you guys are doing this! We love this neighborhood and are happy to see some community events for our kids!” “I’ve learned about businesses that I didn’t even know existed that are right around the corner from me!” “My kids have been so excited all weekend to come and trick-or-treat in East Midtown. Thank you guys for doing this again!” And, ironically:

“We’ve been looking for a good dentist! Thanks for making the introduction!” In raw numbers, the event drew over 14,500,000 media impressions and 36,531 unique East Midtown Partnership website and social media views. We had an impact. In fact, we had such an impact that the event won a Merit Award from the International Downtown Association at its September, 2017 annual conference in Winnipeg, Canada. Great recognition for free family fun that also highlights our excellent East Midtown business community. This year we’ll be Trick-or-Treating on Tuesday, October 31. Plan to join us!

Our Website: An Updated, Crisper Design Drawing hundreds – sometimes thousands – of weekly visitors, our website is a valuable resource for the community, as well as for people from throughout the world. We feel an obligation to give our visitors the best experience possible.

t " NPEFSO JOUVJUJWF CVTJOFTT directory and map;

During the past year, we launched an improved website with a cleaner, more user-friendly look. Incorporated into the new www. EastMidtown.org through the redesign were:

t "O FBTZ QSPDFTT GPS CVTJOFTTFT to update their listings

t 4JNQMJmFE PSHBOJ[BUJPO BOE navigation; t 0QUJNJ[BUJPO GPS NPCJMF EFWJDFT and tablets;

t 'FBUVSFT IJHIMJHIUJOH TQFDJBM business promotions and Passport perks; t &OIBODFE FWFOU BOE OFXT listings; and

The feedback we’ve received since unveiling the new design has been uniformly positive, and makes it much easier to promote area businesses and events. This is especially true for the growing number of people who access www.EastMidtown.org from mobile devices.

Lunar New Year Brings Thousands to Madison Avenue In January, 2017, we welcomed the Year of the Rooster with our second annual event, “Madison Street to Madison Avenue: A Lunar New Year Celebration.” Once again we worked with our friends at the Confucius Institute for Business at SUNY, the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District, and the Chinatown Partnership, and this year we also welcomed the Grand Central Partnership to the team. The unprecedented collaboration brought the rich culture of Chinatown to Midtown East and the Upper East Side. Thousands of people – New Yorkers and Asian visitors alike – watched as teams of lion dancers made their way north up Madison Avenue from East 42nd Street to East 86th Street, delighting retailers and pedestrians along

the route. We also staged a series of cultural activities inside the Harman store, at 527 Madison Avenue (at East 54th Street), as well as in outdoor heated tents. Again, the media noticed our innovative programming. The Lunar New Year celebration earned 55 press hits with more than 109 million total media impressions, and was promoted in four pre-event local television segments and 51 print/online pieces.

2017 Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report

OTHER PROGRAMMING

Our Marketing and Business Development Committee worked throughout the year to enhance existing programming and develop new events to bring visitors to the district and highlight local businesses. Among other highlights were:

The Passport Card Launched in April, 2013, the East Midtown Passport card offers special beneďŹ ts to customers at more than 100 area businesses. More than 20,000 consumers now carry our Passport card in their purse or wallet. From Just Salad to Le Cirque, from Harman to Extraordinary, the East Midtown Passport provides savings at a wide range of businesses with a wide range of price points.

Social Media

Holiday DĂŠcor Once again, our unique red, yellow, blue and green lighted spheres help create a festive atmosphere in East Midtown during the dark winter months. This past holiday season, we added street-pole banners with a similar design theme, which tied together the festive look throughout East Midtown.

Every day, we update thousands of followers with important information on East Midtown business promotions, community events, and transit and trafďŹ c through Facebook and Twitter. The Partnership also shares district images on Flickr and Instagram, and brings the professional community together on LinkedIn. With over 6,000 social media contacts, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re one of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most connected Business Improvement Districts.

Sounds of the Season

Weekly e-Bulletins (and more)

In December, we hosted several days of joyful holiday music from community-based performers including:

Each week more people subscribe to our popular e-Bulletins. Over the past 12 months, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve sent out more than 70 bulletins, which promote local businesses, highlight beneďŹ cial community and governmental programming, report major public events and street closures, and, of course, update readers on our activities.

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Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report 2017

BEAUTIFYING OUR COMMUNITY

Open public space is at a premium in East Midtown Manhattan, but we’re committed to ﬁnding new ways to enhance and expand streetscape beautiﬁcation.

Tree Beds & Planters Brighten the Streetscape For the past nine years, we’ve installed three colorful seasonal plantings in over 100 district tree beds, many of which were previously neglected. The visual impact is stunning in sections of the district where our planting is especially concentrated, including East 57th Street and the perimeter of Tramway Plaza.

The East Midtown Partnership is also responsible for planting and maintaining 7 large planters placed at the corner of Third Avenue and East 60th Street by the New York City Department of Transportation. Those planters were installed as a pedestrian safety measure, but our greenery has made them an attractive addition to the streetscape.

Tramway Plaza Gets a Makeover Tramway Plaza, on Second Avenue between East 59th Street and East 60th Street, is only four-tenths of an acre in size, and the planting beds make up less than half of that. But it’s the only accessible public space in the district, and an oasis for people who want to escape the city’s bustle for a while. That’s why the East Midtown Partnership is committed to keeping Tramway Plaza clean, safe, and welcoming. Our Clean Patrol sweeps the plaza several times each day, and East Midtown security ofﬁcers and staff members educate the public to discourage bird feeding. Knowing that the Parks Department has

limited resources, we’ve also taken charge of pest control measures, which are vital to creating an enjoyable park experience. And thanks to a City Council grant through Council member Dan Garodnick, in summer, 2017 we were able to rehabilitate the planting beds. Old plants were removed, and our team – made up of NYC Parks employees, a crew from The Doe Fund, Partnership administrative staff and security ofﬁcers – completely replanted the beds with colorful ﬂowers and greenery. More than a few passersby stopped to watch us at work and tell us what a great improvement it was for the community.

Support For the Park Avenue Malls The center malls on Park Avenue are one of the city’s treasures, featuring beautiful seasonal ﬂowers, public sculpture exhibitions, and the traditional holiday tree lighting. The East Midtown Partnership is a

financial sponsor of programming developed by The Fund for Park Avenue, a privately funded notfor-profit organization. Fund for Park Avenue administrators also sit on our Board of Directors and help guide our community beautification efforts.

2017 Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report

THE CLEAN PATROL

Keeping Midtown Clean & Green

Keeping our streets and sidewalks clean has long been the East Midtown Partnershipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primary commitment. In fact, our sanitation program was the ďŹ rst service we rolled out in Spring, 2002. Since then, our contractor â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Doe Fund, Inc. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; has removed almost 20 million pounds of trash from our streets. But we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just sweep up litter. The East Midtown Clean Patrol also clears snow and ice during the winter, sweeps puddles away from overwhelmed catch basins when it rains, paints street furniture, removes grafďŹ ti and illegal posters, power-washes sidewalks, and polishes our receptacles. We were the ďŹ rst Business Improvement District in the City to launch a public recycling program, allowing pedestrians to properly dispose of their newspapers and paper items. Our pilot program rolled out in late 2012, and by October, 2013, we had installed 120 custom-designed, greencapped recycling units on district sidewalks, ensuring that no one is more than a block away from the opportunity to recycle. The success of this program can be measured by the volume of paper weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re now recycling: more than 327 thousand pounds over the past 12 months! Our relationship with The Doe Fund is rewarding on many levels. The Doe Fundâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s East Midtown Clean Patrol keeps the streets and sidewalks of our community wellmaintainedâ&#x20AC;Ś with enthusiasm and a smile. Second â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and every bit as important to us â&#x20AC;&#x201C;the program is well-known and well-honored for

Total Pounds of Trash Removed Total Pounds/Recyclable Paper /VNCFS PG 5SBTI #BHT $PMMFDUFE /P PG 3FDZDMBCMF #BHT $PMMFDUFE Incidents of GrafďŹ ti Removed

FISCAL YEAR 2017 (July 1, 2016 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; June 30, 2017)

CUMULATIVE (2002 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2017)

1,121,767 327, 433 110,283 32,329 428

19,582,027 1,311,844 1,553,171 132,789 4,245 program and into full-time private sector employment since we began the sanitation program in 2002.

its success in breaking negative cycles and instilling in its trainees a strong work ethic. We estimate

more than 800 Clean Patrol â&#x20AC;&#x153;alumniâ&#x20AC;? have graduated from The Doe Fundâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workforce training

Street and sidewalk sanitation will always be a top priority for the East Midtown Partnership, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll continue to keep our busy, heavily-trafďŹ cked streetscape clean and attractive. If you see an unsanitary condition â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whether a one-time incident or a chronic problem â&#x20AC;&#x201C; contact us immediately at 212-813-0030 and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll address it.

Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report 2017

PUBLIC SAFETY

Assisting the Community and Keeping Midtown Safe

Our public safety patrol is small, but dedicated and knowledgeable. The seven men and women in our patrol force – six of whom have been with us for more than a decade – are on the streets six days per week, offering directions to pedestrians, watching for safety hazards, monitoring street vendor conditions, and responding to merchant concerns. On an average day, the East Midtown Partnership security team assists more than 44 individuals. In addition, our security team makes frequent visits to businesses, updating them on East Midtown Partnership programming, information from the NYPD, and other matters. This year they also began making regular visits to homeless individuals and panhandlers in the area, offering them access to services. As our eyes and ears on the street, they’re invaluable to our organization.

Through their professionalism and knowledge of the district, East Midtown security ofﬁcers have earned the respect of the three local NYPD precincts – the 17th, 19th, and Midtown North – as well as the people who live and work in the area. If you need our assistance, please call us at 212813-0030.

HOMELESS OUTREACH Since November, 2002, the East Midtown Partnership has contracted with the Bowery Residents’ Committee for the provision of Homeless Outreach Services in our community. The terms of that contract are unique in specifying that BRC can – and should – work with homeless individuals not just within the district boundaries, but in adjacent areas. Our goal is to provide a path to rehabilitation and recovery for the vulnerable men and

FISCAL YEAR 2017

CUMULATIVE (7/1/2016 – 6/30/2017) (2002 – 2017) Directions Given

12,552

320,626

Incidents Reported

1,371

Street Conditions Reported

987

Peddler Conditions

647

Working to help the most vulnerable New Yorkers

women on our streets. Over the past 14 years, BRC Homeless Outreach workers have had almost 55,000 oneon-one interactions, and placed more than 700 people in recovery programs… people who might otherwise still be living on city streets. In recent years, the number of interactions our outreach workers have had with homeless individuals has continued to

grow, although the number of placements has declined. That is largely because we’ve reached the most reachable, while the most reluctant to accept services remain on the streets. Neverthless, we continue to make progress. Convincing someone to come in from the streets can be a complex process entailing weeks or months – or even years – of interaction to build trust and understanding, and the East Midtown Partnership remains committed to working

with the BRC to reach the homeless individuals living in and passing through this community in an effort to meet their needs and integrate them back into productive livelihoods. The BRC is in East Midtown 40 hours each week, at all times of the day and night. If you are aware of a homelessness situation, please contact the BRC 24 Help Line at 212-533-5151.

2017 Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report

FINANCES FISCAL YEAR

FISCAL YEAR

(JULY 1, 2017 – JUNE 30, 2018)

(JULY 1,2016 - JUNE 30,2017)

Personnel

$530,000

$480,000

General Expenses

$170,000

$150,000

Insurance

$40,000

$25,000

Professional Fees

$30,000

$20,000

Subtotal

$770,000

$675,000

Sanitation

$925,000

$775,000

Security

$460,000

$400,000

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$120,000

$105,000

$1,505,000

$1,280,000

#VTJOFTT 1SPNPUJPO Marketing

$225,000

$205,000

#FBVUJmDBUJPO

$240,000

$195,000

Streetscape Improvements

$110,000

$60,000

Subtotal

$575,000

$460,000

Expenses

$2,850,000

$2,415,000

Revenues

$3,500,000

$2,200,000

3FWFOVF 0WFS &YQFOTF

$650,000*

($215,000)*

2018

2017

Administration

Operations

Subtotal

Programming

* In keeping with Best Fiscal Practices for Not-for-Proﬁt Organizations, the East Midtown Partnership maintains a reserve fund, held in insured investments.

Budget information and Audited Financial Statements are available on our website, and can also be obtained by contacting the East Midtown Partnership ofﬁce, 875 Third Avenue, Mezzanine, New York, NY 10022. Phone: 212-813-0030 or e-mail info@eastmidtown.org.

Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report 2017

Thanks to all the businesses, property owners, community organizations, cultural institutions, and others who have participated in our programming over the past 15 months, including: 480 Park Avenue Corporation

Boston Properties

Elaine’s Fine Art

illesteva

55th Street Pediatric Dentists

Breitling

Elijah Peters Optique

59E59 Theaters

Carlyle Convertibles

Ethan Allen

Illume Lampshades & Lamp Repair

A La Mode Shoppe

Carvi Hotel

Extraordinary

All Saints Church

Cassina

Eyes on the World

Allen Edmonds

Cathedral High School

Farinella Bakery

Allure Day Spa & Hair Design

CBRE

Fifty NYC Hotel

Amali

Child Mind Institute

Fig & Olive

American Apparel

Chinatown Partnership

Filles et Garcons

American Cut

Circle Realty Group

The Fitz

Anka Grill

Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation

Fitzpatrick Manhattan Hotel

Apple Bank for Savings AT&T Mobileistic Dr. Anna Avaliani Cosmetic & Laser Surgery

Cohen’s Fashion Optical Community Board 5 Manhattan Community Board 6 Manhattan

Avis Budget Group

Community Board 8 Manhattan

Baked by Melissa

Confucius Institute for Business

The Bar Room

Consult Podiatry

Barchi Bespoke Tailor & Shirt Maker

Corporate Suites

Bareburger Beekman Financial Planning LLC

Cucci Chiropractic Currency Exchange International Daum-Haviland

French Institute Alliance Francaise Fresh & Co. Friends of Art & Design The Fund for Park Avenue

In/Where New York Inform Fitness Studios Insomnia Cookies InVite Health Instituto Cervantes IWC Schauffhausen Jack Resnick & Sons Jacques Torres Chocolates Jay Suites Grand Central Jean Rousseau The Jeffrey Craft Beer & Bites Jonathan Adler

Garden Grille Bar & Restaurant

Jersey Mike’s SubsJoseph Battisti Salon

Gardens NYC

Just Bulbs

George N Antiques

Just Salad

Glaze Teriyaki Grill

Koleksiyon Mobilya

Gloria Cabrera Salon

Kurant Wine Bar

Dr. Cynthia Gomez, DDS

La Cava Wine Bar

Grace’s Marketplace

Dentistry for Children & Orthodontics

La Villetta

Grand Central Partnership

Lapicida

Digby Management Co. LLC

Greek Eats

Le Cirque

Dos Toros Taqueria

H. Lowy Cleaners & Tailors

Dunhill

Harman

Le Pain Quotidien – Grand Central West

Big Apple Art Gallery & Custom Framing

Duxiana

Hastens 58th Street

Learning Express Toys

Dylan’s Candy Bar

Hastens Madison Avenue

Lerebours Antiques

Bikram Yoga Grand Central Bloom’s Tavern

East Sixties Neighborhood Association

Health King

Levy School Choir of All Saints Church

E. Braun

High School of Art & Design

The Benjamin Hotel Benson Law Firm LLC Best Western Plus Hospitality House Bianca Jewelers

Bloomberg Bloomingdale’s/Macy’s

The Health Nuts

Edible Arrangements

Law Ofﬁce of Harold A. Bollaci, PC

Hill Cleaners

Eileen Fisher

Hilton Garden Inn

Bon Vivant New York

Elaine Lane Antiques

HJMT Public Relations Inc.

Lexington Hardware Lighthouse Vocal Ensemble Lillian Nassau Links of London

2017 Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report

Lips

Smiles Park Avenue Dental

Living Proof Nutrition Strength Pilates

Soﬁa Pizza Shoppe Sprinkles

Lladro

State Bank of India

MacArthur Management

Sterling Optical

Madison Avenue Business Improvement District

Sumi Properties Group

Madonna & Co.

Sunﬂower Salon

Madison Dental Group

SUNY Global Center

Manhattan Art & Antiques Center

Sutton Area Community

Manhattan Borough President’s Ofﬁce

Sutton Place Chropractic

Manhattan Boutique Real Estate

Talbots

Manhattan Espresso Café

T-Mobile

NextStop NY Real Estate

Pick A Bagel

TD Bank

Ninth Street Espresso

The Pierre Hotel

Tracy Anderson Method

Oak & Barrel

Pig ‘N’ Whistle on 3rd

Treadwell Park

Off the Wall Frozen Yogurt

Piquadro

Tufenkian Artisan Carpets

Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP

Popular Community Bank

Turtle Bay Association

Orogold Cosmetics

Potbelly

Turtle Bay Music School

Our Town

Regus

The Unforgettables Chorus

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden

OurHarvest

Rigby & Peller

Uni K Wax Midtown

Muscle Maker Grill

P. S. 59

Rimowa

Untamed Sandwiches

Nare Sushi

Padoca Bakery

Roger Dubois

Upper East Side Dental Innovations

The National Bar & Dining Rooms

Palace Restaurant

Rosen & Deutch DDS PC

NYC Comptroller’s Ofﬁce

The Paley Center for Media

The Ross Art Group

NYC Council

Paname French Restaurant

Rouge Makeup Salons

NYC Department of Parks & Recreation

The Paramount Group

Rudin Management

Park Avenue Dental Medicine PC

Saks Off Fifth

NYC Department of Small Business Services

The Partnership for Parks

Salon Amici

Dr. Deena Pegler, DMD

Salon Ishi

Peoples Foreign Exchange Corp.

Samuel and Sons

Perrine

San Carlos Hotel

Pescatore

Satori Laser

New York Public Library, Terence Cardinal Cooke Cathedral Branch

Philip Colleck Ltd.

Sherwin Williams

The New York Resident

Physical Advantage

Sirio

Newmark Holdings

Piada Italian Food & Wine Bar

Skintology Skin & Laser Center

Mark De Alwis Salon Maurice Badler Fine Jewelry Metamorphosis Day Spa Midtown Restaurant Miriam Silverberg Associates Mon Petit Café

New York Police Department, 17th Precinct New York Public Library, 58th Street Branch

Upper Story by Charlie Palmer Vanderbilt YMCA Verve Medical Cosmetics Vivienne Westwood Vornado Realty Trust The Walking Company Waterman Properties LLC Waterworks The Wellness Center of New York Whiskey & Wine Off 69 YMassage at Living Proof Zales

Our Town - East Midtown Partnership Annual Report 2017

BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 2017 Debra Fechter, Chair Digby Management Co., LLC

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Andrew M. Freedman, 0MTIBO 'SPNF 8PMPTLZ --1

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Represented by Lesly Almanzar & Jessica Mates

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Represented by Grace Phillipp

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Michael E. Keaveney, Waterman Properties LLC

Martin McGrath, Alternate

Represented by Will Sanchez & Matthew Bondy

Mark Baydala, Alternate

Robert Steinman, Secretary Rudin Management Company, Inc.

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George Kurth, Alternate

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Dorothy Cristani, Resident )PO 7JLLJ #BSCFSP $IBJS $PNNVOJUZ #PBSE

Carlo Mantica, Le Cirque

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Represented by E J Kalarfski & Michael Greeley

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,BUIMFFO #BSEPMG State University of New York

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#BSCBSB .D-BVHIMJO The Fund for Park Avenue

Joseph DeGregorio, Alternate

Jo-Ann Polise, Alternate

Johanna Kendrick-Holmes, Alternate

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Brad Leader, Alternate

. #BSSZ 4DIOFJEFS East 60s Neighborhood Assn.

NYC Dept. of Small Business Services

David Gillespie, Alternate

Represented by Stephen Lee & Emily Edwards

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Represented by Kathy Thompson

Represented by Michael Stinson

Carol Scali & Brendan Shanley, Alternates

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The East Midtown Partnership thanks the following vendors for their services over the past year:

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Edward Post, Park Avenue Mall Sanitation

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City 1 Maintenance, Street Furniture Maintenance

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Sunshine Sachs, Public Relations

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Method Group, Information Technology

The Doe Fund, Sanitation Services

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U. S. Security Associates, Security Patrol Services

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ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 3PC #ZSOFT 1SFTJEFOU 4BSBI - )PSOVOH %JSFDUPS PG .BSLFUJOH #VTJOFTT %FWFMPQNFOU #PC *PWJOP %JSFDUPS PG 0QFSBUJPOT

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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

CITY TO CRACK DOWN ON ELECTRIC BICYCLES VISION ZERO Businesses employing e-bike users will be subject to fines under new policy

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST The local paper for the Upper East Side

March 29

April 20

FIGHTING FOR POCKET PARKS They are hidden between blocks and tucked inside skyscrapers. You might walk through them, or past them, without ever knowing. But not all New Yorkers have forgotten that they are entitled to access the city’s more than 500 privately owned public spaces, or POPS. Last summer, the New York Times noticed that a marble bench in the atrium of Trump Tower, which is a POPS, had gone missing and their reporting resulted in its quiet return.

BY RICHARD KHAVKINE AND MICHAEL GAROFALO

Electric bikes on city streets could be going the way of the Model T if city officials have their way. Police efforts to enforce the city’s e-bike ban have, to this point, focused on targeting riders, the vast majority of whom are delivery people. But under a new policy announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio last week, police will begin issuing summonses to businesses that employ e-bikes users, in addition to ticketing riders themselves. Riders operating an e-bike, which are legal to buy and own but illegal to use on city streets, are subject to civil summonses, seizures of their bikes and fines of up to $500. Starting next year, businesses that use e-bikes or allow employees to use them will receive a civil summons and a $100 fine for a first offense and a $200 fine for each subsequent offense. “My hope is this will cause business owners to stop using e-bikes. It’s as simple as that. As they see more and more fines, more and more confiscations it will convince the business owners to get out of the e-bike business altogether,” de Blasio said. The bikes, which can reach speeds of about 25 mph with much less effort than conventional bicycles, have been a boon to businesses, permitting them to deliver to a greater distance. It also allows delivery persons, whose income is chiefly derived from tips, to make faster, and more frequent, deliveries. But because of their speed and their increasing numbers, de Blasio said, e-bikes have become a scourge to pedestrians. “What people have seen is absolutely unacceptable — electronic bicycles going the wrong way down streets, weaving in and out of traffic, ignoring traffic signals, sometimes going up on sidewalks,” he said. While riders of regular bikes sometimes behave in similar behavior, de Blasio said, e-bikes pose

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans last week to ﬁne business that employ deliver workers who ride motorized bicycles such as these. a “real danger” because of the faster speeds at which they can travel. Caroline Samponaro, deputy director of the bicycle and pedestrian safety advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, criticized the initiative, saying in a statement that the crackdown on e-bikes “is about listening to the loudest complainers, not listening to the data.” “According to NYPD data, drivers speeding and failing to yield are the ones causing death and serious injuries on New York City streets,” Samponaro said. “Rather than attacking the livelihoods of hard-working, predominantly immigrant delivery cyclists, the Mayor should follow the lead of California and work with the New York State Legislature to pass common sense ebike legislation that establishes a framework for safe, pedalpowered, low-speed models.” Police have seized more than 900 of the e-bikes so far this year, compared to the 341 conﬁscated to this point last year, de Blasio said. Officers have also given out about 1,800 summonses to e-bike riders to date this year. Council Member Ben Kallos told Straus News that enforcement has been particularly strict in his East Side City Council district. According to Kallos, 10 percent of all e-bike confiscations citywide over the last two years took place on the Upper East Side, which he said “has gotten more e-bike enforcement than almost anywhere else in the city.” But Kallos said that summonses issued to delivery riders who have had their e-bikes

seized often go unpaid because a new e-bike can be outfitted for under $200 — significantly less than the $500 fine. “With the cost for the penalty being so low, offenders are just buying a new bike rather than paying a fine,” he said. Kallos is hopeful that including business owners in enforcement efforts will do more to help reduce the number of e-bikes on city streets. “If the business person gets the fine they will be less likely to still use e-bikes,” he said. “The restaurant owners know whether their delivery people are using e-bikes, and they should bear responsibility for that.” NYPD Chief of Patrol Terry Monahan said police precincts will be trained and equipped to identify owners using business names or addresses — which delivery people are required to display. Advocates for delivery workers have said that the crackdown would unfairly burden older delivery workers. The mayor said that such workers have other options available to them, such as pedal-assist bikes, which are not fully motorized, travel at slower speeds than e-bikes and are legal under certain circumstances. “Regular bicycles and the pedal-assist bicycle cannot go as fast as a fully motorized e-bike,” de Blasio said. “That’s where we draw the line, period. If someone couldn’t make those deliveries anymore, my hope would be that they can find some other type of work with that restaurant or that business, but I have to put public safety first, that’s the bottom line.”

The local paper for the Upper East Side

April 6

April 14

‘CITIZEN JANE’ DOCUMENTARY PROFILES URBAN ACTIVIST PLANNING A timely new film spotlights the groundbreaking author of ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’ BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

Jane Jacobs, with her signature oval glasses, began a lifelong dedication to fighting urban renewal when plans emerged to continue Fifth Avenue through Washington Square Park. Critics labeled her a “housewife” who couldn’t possibly be more than a ﬂy in the ointment of the project, but Jacobs had been writing and reporting about cities and architecture long before the park was threatened. Her story and the lessons of her groundbreaking book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” are the focus

on April 21 at select theaters. Matt Tyrnauer, the film’s director, and producer Robert Hammond, who is also the executive director of Friends of the High Line, got the idea for the documentary several years ago when they realized there had never been a film about Jacobs before. “We thought we’d be introducing this film about a very brilliant woman who was sort of a seer, a visionary in a lot of ways, and politically active, in an atmosphere when we had the first woman president,” Tyrnauer said at a screening last Thursday. “Much to our surprise, it went the other way. There’s some resonances in the film that maybe were unintended but it’s interesting to see how the public has received them.” Hammond described the film as “a playbook for resistance,” and hopes that viewers will be able to learn from Jacobs how best to fight their battles. “What’s interesting now is people getting out in the street — it’s not just

The local paper for the Upper East Side

April 17

October 10

NO NEWS ON SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY SUBWAYS Four months after the subway line opened, newsstands at the new stations remain vacant BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

It was a New Year’s Eve party a century in the making. One hundred years after the Second Avenue subway was first proposed, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and other dignitaries rang in 2017 at an invitation-only soiree in the new station beneath 72nd Street, enjoying hors d’oeuvres and drinks as the Q train took its inaugural trip on the new line. Memorably, a pristine

zanine was repurposed into a bar, with bottles of beer from New York breweries lining the shelves in place of candy and magazines. The newsstands in the Second Avenue stations haven’t been put to use since. Nearly four months after the turnstiles started spinning in New York’s newest subway stations, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has yet to contract a vendor to operate four newsstands on the Second Avenue line. Black kiosks branded with the MTA’s Second Avenue subway logo sit shuttered and empty on station platforms as riders wait for trains to arrive. Anyone in need of a cold

FI R S T I N YOU R N E I G H BO R H O O D

(212) 868-0190

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS OCT 6 - 13, 2017 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml. Tasti D-Lite

1221 3 Avenue

Grade Pending (41) 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. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Dunkin Donuts

1433 2nd Ave

Mcdonald’s

1286 1 Avenue

Laduree Paris

864 Madison Ave

Grade Pending (22) Food from unapproved or unknown source or home canned. Reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) fish not frozen before processing; or ROP foods prepared on premises transported to another site. 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/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.

Tiramisu Restaurant

1410 3 Avenue

La Pulperia

1626 2nd Ave

Grade Pending (22) 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. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Yura & Company On Madison

1292 Madison Avenue Grade Pending (35) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. 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. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

Grunauer

1578 1st Ave

Dulce Vida Latin Bistro

1219 Lexington Ave

Not Yet Graded (18) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours.

Mughlai Indian Cuisine

1724 2nd Ave

Grade Pending (25) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Bluestone Lane

2 E 90th St

Not Yet Graded (30) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. 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.

Thai Peppercorn

1750 1st Ave

Not Yet Graded (29) Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Healthy Living 106 (Herbal Life)

167 East 106 Street

Tre Otto

1410 Madison Ave

Grade Pending (25) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. 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. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Caribbean Fiesta

1544 Madison Ave

Grade Pending (43) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food Protection Certiﬁcate not held by supervisor of food operations. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.

Dreamers Pizza

1850 3rd Ave

OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

Thalia Sebelen, one of the women interviewed about France’s proposed legislation, outside the Fashion Institute of Technology. Photo: Liz Hardaway

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

At the Fashion Institute of Technology. Photo: Liz Hardaway

AFTER #METOO: WHAT’S NEXT? GENDER We asked women and men in Chelsea what they thought about a French proposal to make catcalling punishable by law BY LIZ HARDAWAY

#MeToo. #BalanceTonPork. Whether in English, French or whatever language one decides to tweet in, these phrases all speak to the oncesilenced stories of sexual harassment. Starting early last week, women flooded social media platforms, voicing harrowing details of past sexual harassment or abuse, or just implying their experience by writing the loaded phrase that is now a viral hashtag: Me too. Kindled by the numerous sexual harassment and abuse allegations about Harvey Weinstein, women across the nation responded to actress Alyssa Milano’s invitation to share their stories under the MeToo hashtag. This even prompted a similar hashtag in France, #BalanceTonPork, or “expose your pig,” started after journalist Sandra Muller tweeted a lewd comment “she allegedly received from a powerful French executive,” as The Cut reported. But what if these lewd comments became a punishable offense by law? That’s what France is considering. France’s junior minister for gender equality, Marlène Schiappa, said the country is figuring how to define street harassment and exactly how to charge catcallers. Though the law is in its early stages and facing opposition, Straus News asked women and men in Chelsea what the streets of New York would be like if catcalling became illegal.

“I think it would depend on how aggressive [catcallers] are,” said Thalia Sebelen, 20, in front of FIT. “But if you really, really feel uncomfortable or you feel that he is following you in any way or even raping you with his eyes ... then yeah, I think that [fining them] would be fine.” Others think the issue cannot simply be fixed through legislation. “I understand why they would want to do that,” Peter Miranda, 20, said. “But I don’t think necessarily fining it is really going to do anything. In this day and age people will say what they want to say regardless of how others will feel or what the consequences are.” “I mean, [fining catcallers] would be really helpful but I don’t think I really encounter a lot here in New York, catcalling, compared to other cities, states or even countries,” said Huong Le, 22, a young woman outside of FIT. In Walter’s, a local bar off Eighth Avenue, a group of men sharing some beers contemplated the point of catcalling. “I don’t catcall women, it’s ridiculous to me,” said Jeff Yazel, one of the bartenders. Whether or not Schiappa’s law gets passed in France, social-media movements have given women a platform to expose the Harvey Weinsteins of the world who have taken advantage of them in the past and gotten away with it. “#MeToo ... was an opportunity to take attention away from the predator and bring it back to the victims,” Alyssa Milano wrote on Motto. “But because we’ve been so silent — and silenced — about this issue, we don’t realize there is a community out there that’s ready to embrace and support us. Women need each other, and we need men.”

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

Khizr Khan in Conversation

MONDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 7:30PM 92nd Street Y | 1395 Lexington Ave. | 212-415-5500 | 92y.org Bring your pocket Constitution to see Gold Star father Khizr Khan, who made waves with his moving appearance at last year’s National Democratic Convention ($35).

Economics for the Common Good

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31ST, 7PM Albertine | 972 Fifth Ave. | 212-650-0070 | albertine.com Jean Tirole, who studies the dominance of major corporations, won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics. In his subsequent transformation from academic to public intellectual, Tirole conceived a new book, which seeks a positive role for economics in society (free).

Just Announced | TimesTalks: M. Butterﬂy

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH, 7PM The TimesCenter | 242 W. 41st St. | 888-698-1870 | timestalks.com Julie Taymor, director of the Broadway revival of M. Butterﬂy, joins cast member Clive Owen and playwright David Henry Hwang for a TimesTalks conversation. They’ll get into the creative process behind the story of a married French diplomat and a mysterious opera singer from Peking ($50).

For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

Business ‘HQ2’ TO NYC? As many as 50,000 new jobs hang in the balance as city vies to land Amazon’s second North American headquarters, pushing Lower Manhattan and Midtown West as ideal destinations BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

New York City quickly jumped into the fray when Amazon unveiled a business expansion plan that’s expected to become the largest in U.S. history — not counting the ramp-up to World War II. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant on September 7th trumpeted a hyperambitious proposal to invest $5 billion in construction on a second headquarters that will create some 50,000 highpaying jobs. Overnight, an unprecedented nationwide competition among cities and states was ignited. And as a fierce bidding war raged for “HQ2,” as the project is dubbed, Mayor Bill de Blasio on October 16th fired off a forceful if immodest letter to Jeff Bezos, the company founder and CEO: “The case for New York City is simple,”

Mayor Bill de Blasio told the audience at a town hall meeting at St. Francis College in Brooklyn on October 18 that online retailers like Amazon are “very destructive to communities,” saying he’s never shopped at the e-commerce behemoth. His timing was unusual: Only a couple of hours earlier, the city had submitted a bid to lure Amazon’s proposed second headquarters. Photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office de Blasio wrote in response to the bid solicitation. “We are the global capital of commerce, culture and innovation. No city has a greater diversity of talent, of industries, and of collisions that fuel great ideas and companies.” The city was hardly alone. Amazon said it received 238 proposals from cities and regions in 54 states, provinces, districts and regions for what became, in effect, a torch-lighting for the Olympics of the business world. In submitting its formal proposal, the city’s Economic Development Corp. laid out the case for how the city would meet Amazon’s criteria, which includes pro-

viding 500,000 square feet of offices by 2019 with an eventual expansion potential of a staggering eight million square feet of buildable space. A diverse tech talent pool, bountiful housing market, vast air-transit system, world-class academic and research institutions and the nation’s largest public transportation network, as well as an “ecosystem for innovation” and the “biggest tech pipeline in the Northeast” were key attributes flagged by EDC. As for locations, City Hall picked two Manhattan sites: • Midtown West. And specifically, Hudson Yards, the new-and-still-ris-

ing-live-work-and-play neighborhood, which boasts a potential campus of 26 million square feet. There are 2.4 million workers within a 45-minute commute of the site, and the midtown core is served by 15 subway and rail lines, EDC said. • Lower Manhattan. And specifically, the rebuilt World Trade Center complex, which offers 8.5 million square feet, breathtaking harbor views, a workforce of 1.7 million people within commuting distance and 13 nearby subway and PATH lines. The city also touted sites in Long Island City in Queens and the so-called Brooklyn Tech Triangle, which includes downtown, DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Bottom line: If the city lands HQ2, it will reap $2.8 billion to $3.3 billion in “estimated taxes from direct jobs” over a 30-year period, an EDC analysis found. Sounds good so far. But there are a couple of wrinkles that Amazon — which was founded in 1994 and is now world’s largest retailer — will be sure to notice: • Tax incentives. There are none in the city’s proposal. de Blasio has generally, but not always, opposed them in corporate retention and relocation deals. Yet Amazon has said tax breaks would be “a factor” in its ultimate decision. As City Hall keeps its wallet shut, rival locales are ponying up. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is offering $7 billion in tax credits, $2 billion more than Amazon plans to invest, to lure the retailer to Newark. Governor Andrew Cuomo is also wielding incentives to bring HQ2 to several upstate communities, but so far, he’s refused to quantify them.

• Muddled messages. Barely two hours after City Hall submitted its proposal, de Blasio told a town hall meeting in Brooklyn that online shippers like Amazon are “very destructive to communities.” For good measure, he added that he’s never shopped at Amazon, much prefers the city’s “brick-and-mortar retailers,” doesn’t have much use for Starbucks either, and suggested his listeners make similar shopping choices. Despite the discordant words, the public courting continues. Officials at City Hall called attention to a “Dear Jeff” letter from the Partnership for New York City, the influential business group, which called the city the “clear choice” for the company’s second headquarters. “In New York, you will find a community of super-achievers who hail from every country in the world,” dozens of member CEOs wrote Bezos last week. “That’s the reason we are here, and it is what makes this the logical place for Amazon’s HQ2. We hope you agree.” EDC noted in its proposal that Amazon doesn’t have to move to the city — it already has several important business operations here. The company has two brick-and-mortar bookstores, in Columbus Circle and at 7 West 34th Street, where it also has a large distribution center. Its online fashion retailer, Shopbop, is located at 230 West 41st Street. It also has 92,500 square feet of office space at 1350 Sixth Avenue. And its advertising unit will be moving into 360,000 square feet at 450 West 33rd Street, now known as 5 Manhattan West, by 2018.

NEIGHBORHOOD SIDE STREETS MEET 87TH STREET

sideways.nyc

LOOP OF THE LOOM 227 EAST 87TH STREET Loop of the Loom, tucked below street level on 87th Street, is a center for saori weaving, a practice that combines the art of weaving with the principles of Zen. The founder of Loop of the Loom, Yukako Satone, began her career as a graphic designer in both Japan and New York. She says she did not consider herself a “craft person” until she was introduced to saori weaving when her daughter was five years old. She became a certified saori instructor in Japan. Yukako then made the decision to open a studio in Manhattan, hoping to introduce this specific type of weaving to New Yorkers. For more photos and side streets, go to sideways.nyc

OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com

OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

SEARCHING FOR AN ACUPUNCTURIST HEALTHY IN THE CITY Studies show the treatment can help with pain, fertility and moods. But how to find a skilled practitioner in NYC? BY SUSAN MARQUE

When I lived in Los Angeles I used to get acupuncture treatments to help with everything from a sprained ankle to menstruation problems. There are numerous studies showing that acupuncture is useful in treating pain, fertility, moods, and more. It took me a long time to ďŹ nd a licensed doctor of Chinese medicine that I admired and who got consistent results. One person insisted I come back for more treatments than I felt I needed. Another hit a nerve (painful) a couple of times and I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t trust their needle technique after that. A third left an aging sick dog in the treatment room and then went on to mention that the dog had picked up ďŹ&#x201A;eas just as I was supposed to be relaxing with needles all over my body. I might have quit acupuncture at that point but I happened to meet Bethany Muhl L.Ac., when I was randomly seated next to her at an event. She offered to give me a free treatment to help with a knee problem and I thought Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d see what she could do. Muhl fixed my knee in that single

Diem Truong. Photo: Susan Marque session and it seemed she could assist with just about any complaint in two treatments. An added bonus was that she was an artist and fun to talk to. She understood how our emotions play a role in our physical health and would sometimes talk out an issue while she was positioning the acupuncture needles. I thought I would never be able to duplicate her good care in New York without the same sort of trial and error I had gone through in Los Angeles, but I decided to ďŹ nally dig in when my irritating digestive issue was acting up and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d tried other options. The ďŹ rst person I asked was my primary-care physician. Dr. Alan Remde is both an MD and a holistic doctor. He emailed me quickly with three suggestions. 1. There are acupuncturists in the clinic he works out of.

RABBINIC ORGANIZATION for SPIRITUALITY and EDUCATION

BAR AND BAT MITZVAH EDUCATION

2. He listed phone numbers for the Tri-State College of Acupuncture as a low-cost option. The school has a clinic where well-trained students work under the watchful eye of licensed professors. 3. He gave me ten names and numbers of acupuncturists that he had on a referral list, but didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know. While I like Remde as a physician, I have mixed feelings about the clinic itself, so I passed on the ďŹ rst suggestion even though it would be convenient. I called my insurance to see if acupuncture was covered. (Be sure to check with yours because many plans do include a limited number of treatments.) Since it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, I kept looking. I contacted Muhl in case she had a colleague in New York City. She didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Her suggestions were similar to my physicianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and she leaned towards the budget-friendly school option. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve tried that in the past with spotty results. It can be a good way to go, but I really wanted to find a traditional Chinese medicine doctor I could stick with. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like finding the right hair stylist who gets you and your needs. I looked at Yelp. There were many five-star ratings and places with radiant reviews. I picked Soho Acupuncture Center because Diem Truong L.Ac., MSTROM (masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in traditional Oriental medicine) is actually Chinese and I had a good feeling about his practice. My intuition seemed spot on. The office is large, offering tai chi and

Soho Acupuncture Center. Photo: Susan Marque qigong classes a few times a week by outside instructors. Truong took his time to find out a little about me and answer any questions. I liked that his father had also been a traditional Chinese doctor. His grandparents were Chinese and ďŹ&#x201A;ed to Vietnam, where he was born. Truongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dad practiced in Vietnam before moving the family to the Bronx, New York where Diem and his two brothers grew up. They went to school uptown and traveled downtown daily to help out in their fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shop. They learned about herbs and cleaned between patients. Diem was the only one who went on to continue his studies in acupuncture. While he was in school, Truong worked both as a sushi chef and a bartender. The delicate work with knives has given him a dexterous technique; I barely felt the needles as he swiftly

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worked. His background in bartending has enhanced his bedside manner. He seems to truly care about his patients and wants to cure what bothers them as quickly as possible. In the Asian tradition, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a badge of honor to get someone out of pain or discomfort in a single session. Just when I thought the treatment was over, Truong explained that he was going to do Toina, a type of massage that would enhance the acupuncture. He continues to keep learning whatever he can to bring more to his practice. Each session is custom designed to facilitate speedy results. I liked the treatment and felt safe and cared for, so I deďŹ nitely would go back. There are many skilled acupuncturists in this city. Find the one that is the right ďŹ t for you.

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Tired of Hunting for Our Town? Subscribe today to Eastsider News of Your Neighborhood Maggie Gyllenhaal as “Candy” (Eileen) in HBO’s “The Deuce.” Photo: Paul Schiraldi/HBO

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ENTERTAINMENT Why entrepreneurial women can identify with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character in “The Deuce” BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL

I’ve never been a prostitute, especially not one who strolled pre-gentrified 1970s Times Square, yet oddly enough I find myself identifying with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character on HBO’s “The Deuce.” I don’t think I’m alone. The Golden Globe-winning actress plays Eileen, a single mom whose son is being raised by her mother in the outer boroughs, while she lives in Manhattan (in what looks like an Upper East Side luxury doorman building) so she can be closer to her job on 42nd Street where she hustles in a curly blonde wig as “Candy.” What’s so compelling about this striving New York woman, is that even though her story is set forty-ﬁve years ago, she seems contemporary. Thanks to our gig economy, we’re used to the rise in female entrepreneurs, making Eileen’s independent streak understandable. From the getgo, we know her alter ego is a cut above her colleagues; she’s a little savvier, a little smarter, and a maverick. Eileen’s gone rogue, operating without a pimp because, “Nobody makes money off my —— but me. I’m gonna keep what I earn,” so she can spend it on her boy.

Because of layoffs, or simply feeling underemployed, and with no prospects in their current industries, today’s women are going back to school or taking unpaid internships to try and switch careers. It’s easy to relate to Eileen’s desire for a new challenge. She’s aware that the world — her world in particular — is changing, and she wants a better place in it. There are no “Pretty Woman” fantasies of being rescued by a millionaire or unrealistic ideas about transitioning into a more respectable business. This ambitious escort knows she’s in the only industry she’s ever going to be in, so when adult ﬁlms start to trend, Eileen’s Candy is ready for her close-up. However, to paraphrase Tess in “Working Girl,” although Eileen may have a bod for sin, she’s got a head for business. She knows the real money isn’t in performing, but in making as well as distributing the movies. And she’s not one to “leave money on the table for somebody else to pick up.” What she really wants to do (pardon the Hollywood cliché) is direct, as well as produce. All Eileen needs is someone to give her a chance and show her the ropes. Don’t we all. I remember my months after college graduation looking for a job as an advertising copywriter, only to be met with the always frustrating Catch-22 — you can’t get a job without experience and can’t get experience without a job. Like Eileen, I took a stepping-

stone position. As the assistant to a creative director at a large agency, I lived on the belief that all the typing, copying and coffee fetching would lead to my big break. I also networked, showing my portfolio to other agencies, hoping they’d think of me if something came up. I felt Eileen’s pain when she delivered her elevator pitch to an oblivious male filmmaker she’d invited to lunch. As he scarfed down his free meal as though it were his last, he blew her off with a wave of his fork: “I don’t need no more overhead.” The disappointment on her face coupled with the slump of her shoulders was body language I remember all too well. (My hopes were dashed with a more articulate, “There’s no money in the budget at this time to take on junior people.”) If it was demoralizing to be dismissed as a rookie, it’s even worse now as an industry veteran, often told I have too much experience or not the right kind. But this is New York City, the place where people come to follow their dreams, because here is where the opportunities are. And so, I keep hustling. For inspiration, I watch Eileen always find a way to get her way, and remember that’s me — minus, of course, the hot pants, halter top and platform high heels. Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novels “Back to Work She Goes” and “Fat Chick,” for which a movie is in the works.

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The FDNY responded to a ﬁre at the Marine Transfer Station on East 91st Street Oct. 22. Photo: Tara Hagan, via Twitter

FIRE AT UES MARINE TRANSFER STATION SAFETY FDNY responds to fire Sunday at controversial construction site on East 91st Street BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Plumes of smoke rose over the Upper East Side after a fire broke out Sunday afternoon at the Marine Transfer Station construction site at East 91st Street and the FDR drive. At approximately 3 p.m. on Oct. 22, the FDNY received a call that a sidewalk shed at the site on East 91st Street had caught fire. The department responded to the call and controlled the fire at 3:40 p.m. The fire did not impact the transfer station itself and there were no injuries or evacuations, according to an FDNY spokesperson. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The waste transfer station, which is currently under construction, has faced persistent public opposition from residents and local elected ofﬁcials, who fear that the facility’s operation will adversely impact traffic congestion and air quality in the neighborhood, among other concerns. Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, whose district includes the transfer station, visited the construction site Sunday after the ﬁre. Seawright, who has opposed the project, said in a statement that she remains “deeply concerned about the impact of the Waste Transfer Station,” particularly due to its proximity to youth athletics facilities at the adjacent Asphalt Green recreation center. “We are of course grateful that no one was harmed,” Seawright said. “Nevertheless, there should be a full investigation by the appropriate governmental agencies responsible for safety oversight.”

A COIN FOR BREAST CANCER AWARENESS HEALTH Available for sale in 2018, the new commemorative symbol will help fund research At a press conference in New York on Monday, Oct. 23, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney and heads of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) unveiled the design of the country’s ﬁrst commemorative coin to raise money for breast cancer. Maloney authored a bipartisan act directing the U.S. Mint to establish the commemora-

tive program, which was signed into law in 2016. Sales of the pink-gold coin are projected to raise several million dollars in private funding for breast cancer research. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and as Maloney noted on Monday, “one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime, and it is the second leading cause of cancer death in women.” She was joined by breast cancer survivors at the press conference. “The only way for us to eradicate this deadly disease is through research to find a cure, and through increased awareness and screenings,” said Ma-

loney. “The pink tint of the gold coin is a fitting tribute to my dear friend Evelyn Lauder, who founded the BCRF and made pink ribbons the universal symbol for the fight against breast cancer.” The BCRF is the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world. Myra Biblowit, BCRF president and CEO, said that the foundation, which is based in New York, “is tackling breast cancer from every angle.” She added that the money donated through the new coin “will achieve maximum impact: fueling research to save lives.”

At the press conference (left to right): Deborah Krulewitch, Roslyn Goldstein, BCRF’s Dr. Marc Hurlbert and Myra Biblowit, Rep. Maloney, April Stafford of the U.S. Mint and Rebecca Scheinkman. Photos courtesy of the office of Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney

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PUTTING A FACE TO MEDICINE Medical reporter Dr. Max Gomez on his career of educating our city on health BY ANGELA BARBUTI

Dr. Max Gomez is used to hearing “Hey, doc,” from everyone from construction workers to police officers. As a medical reporter on CBS since 2007, and having a more than threedecade long career on-air, mostly in New York, he is not only recognized, but on occasion even asked for his medical opinion. This is quite a change from his humble beginnings here as a “starving postdoc” at Rockefeller University, with $10,000 a year as his entire stipend. Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Miami, Gomez studied geophysical sciences at Princeton University, and was also a local DJ and news director at the university’s radio station, WPRV, which would ultimately set the stage for his future work. His new book, “Cells are the New Cure,” which he co-authored with Dr. Robin Smith, sheds light on the breakthroughs in science involving the use of adult stem cells to aid in the treatment of disease. When asked about his goal for this project, he said, “The general public should be aware of it ... it’s not just future sci-ﬁ, this is stuff that’s happening now.... It’s a really exciting time.”

You began your career on television through a suggestion from a classmate at Princeton. I got my PhD at Wake Forest and was recruited to come up to Rockefeller University as an NIH postdoctoral fellow. I had about a year left on my grant and was running out of school to go to. I had to ﬁnally get a job and be a grownup and wasn’t so sure I wanted to poke rats with electrodes. And at the time, I was the head of the Princeton young alumni committee in New York and we were running a short series of career counseling seminars at the Princeton Club.... That’s what got me thinking about it. And my friend Robin Krasny, who was a classmate, was the one who suggested it. She said, “You did radio in college. You like science. Why don’t you try to do science on television?”

How did you start to focus on cellular medicine? I had done some stories over at NYU and happened to meet one of the trustees, Robin Smith, who’s my co-author on this book. At the time, she was the chairman and CEO of an adult stem banking company called NeoStem. And Robin, by the way, is your typical underachiever. She’s a Yale MD, Wharton MBA.... She said, “I have trouble getting people to understand what adult stem cells are.” Because at the time, people didn’t understand. When I went to medical school, there was really no such thing as an adult stem cell. So she asked me to make some videos for the company, explaining the difference between embryonic and adult stem cells, how you can bank your adult cells and what they might be used for. And at the time, their usefulness was somewhat theoretical, to be honest. And not all that clear what they might be used for in the future.

What’s the difference between a regular cell and a stem cell? A regular cell is a cell that knows what it’s doing and has one job, basically. A muscle cell, liver cell, bone cell and brain cell. They have one job to do and that’s where they’re kind of stuck. Stem cells are these multi-potential cells that, in the case of an embryonic stem cell, in theory can become virtually every other cell in the body. Each of those cells can theoretically become bone, brain, muscle, skin, blood, whatever you want. It turns out we have a lot of adult stem cells left in our bodies. Stems cells are the ways as adults that we rejuvenate and regenerate our tissues. If we only had the cells we start out with, we’d wear out pretty quickly. Whereas a fully differentiated adult cell can only do what it’s supposed to do and in the end, runs out of gas and dies. And it’s confusing because people assume stem cells all mean you have to kill an embryo to do that and that’s not the case anymore. That’s why the Vatican is OK with having these stem cell conferences at the Vatican. We now have what we call transformed cells, where you can take adult cells, manipulate them genetically and turn them into embryoniclike cells.

You’re a big believer in putting a face to the science and used a lot of examples of patients in the book. Tell us one of their stories. Emily Whitehead had basically terminal leukemia and had gone through two rounds of intense chemotherapy and came out of remission twice. Really, she was out of options. They had this therapy they were working on down at CHOP [Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia] and said we’ve never tried it on a human. They took her T cells out, reengineered them so they would recognize her leukemia, put them back in. The doctors estimated that she had several pounds of leukemia cells circulating in her body. So the T cell had a target-rich environment to kill these leukemia cells. The treatment was working too well and releasing all kinds of hormones which were now going to kill her because of the side effects. So she’s now on death’s doorstep again, to the point that her parents were told she might not make it through the weekend. They talked to a researcher who had worked on this therapy. It so happened that his daughter had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which puts out this same hormone that they had identiﬁed was the offender that was killing Emily. They gave her that drug and the doctors at CHOP said they had never seen anyone that sick recover that quickly. In 48 hours she went from nearly dead to sitting up in her hospital bed, eating. Emily just had her checkup a couple of months ago and is ﬁve years cancer-free.

Tell us about your role in reporting at NBC after September 11, which earned you an award of excellence from the city. Needless to say, it was a very anxious and difficult time. I was doing mental health stories, and as my news director at the time said, my job was to talk people off the ledge. So things had sort of calmed down a little bit over the three weeks immediately following because it seemed that there were no other attacks imminent. And then we found Anthrax at NBC, in the building where I was. It had come through the seventh ﬂoor security office and then gone down to the third ﬂoor to Tom Brokaw’s office. And his secretary had gotten ... anthrax and been infected

Dr. Max Gomez. Photo: Gillian Fry with it on her skin. That’s when all hell broke loose and people were really freaking out, including the folks in the newsroom. We had people from the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] come in to talk to us then. My job was to get people to understand what the science was and what the risks were. I had some of my most difficult and combative discussions in those times. Because we would spend the ﬁrst 20 minutes of a newscast scaring the living bejesus out of people and then my job towards the end of the newscast was to calm everyone down. There was one segment where my story ran two-and-a-half minutes long and the executive producer wanted me to cut it down to 90 seconds. And I said, “No, I’m not. If we scare the crap out of

people for the ﬁrst third of the show, then you can damn well afford the time to have me explain.” And I was able to fortunately win those discussions. And that’s what I fought for and I guess that’s what the city Health Department recognized. In a lot of ways, that’s really one of the things I’m most proud of, because I was able to hopefully calm a lot of folks in the city down. www.drmaxgomez.com

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ANSWERS M P

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22 Kind of skeleton 24 Starbucks order 25 Roundish 26 Vortexes 29 Battle 30 Put to ___ 34 _____ Nicole Smith 37 Compendium 41 Fast no more 43 Singer Piaf 45 Muslim general 46 Put-on 47 Start of a wonderful life? 48 Swab 49 Pounds per square inch (abbr.) 51 Billiard striker 52 Seventh Greek letter 53 Copy, abbr.

E D W C T J L A B W L V O I D

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C R I O R D T S H A D E L D R

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WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor

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Level: Medium

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F G U F R B D W M G L J E E P

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Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9X9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3X3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.

SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

by Myles Mellor

CROSSWORD

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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

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OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1,2017

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of the above captioned premises can occur. There is presently an outstanding debt owed to Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (lender) as of the date of this notice in the amount of $528,227.41. This ďŹ gure is for the outstanding balance due under UCC1, which was secured by Financing Statement in favor of DE Capital Mortgage LLC which was ďŹ led on February 2, 2011 under CRFN 2011000038704. The lien was assigned to Wells Fargo Bank, NA by a UCC3 recorded on March 31, 2011 under CRFN 2011000114998. Please note this is not a payoff amount as additional interest/fees/penalties may be incurred. You must contact the undersigned to obtain a ďŹ nal payoff quote or if you dispute any information presented herein. The estimated value of the above captioned premises is $675,000.00 Pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code Article 9-623, the above captioned premises may be redeemed at any time prior to the foreclosure sale. You may contact the undersigned and either pay the principal balance due along with all accrued interest, late charges, attor-

ney fees and out of pocket expenses incurred by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and the undersigned, or pay the outstanding loan arrears along with all accrued interest, late charges, attorney fees and out of pocket expenses incurred by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and the undersigned, with respect to the foreclosure proceedings. Failure to cure the default prior to the sale will result in the termination of the proprietary lease. If you have received a discharge from the Bankruptcy Court, you are not personally liable for the payment of the loan and this notice is for compliance and information purposes only. However, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., still has the right under the loan security agreement and other collateral documents to foreclosure on the shares of stock and rights under the proprietary lease allocated to the cooperative apartment. Dated: September 28, 2017 Frenkel, Lambert, Weiss, Weisman & Gordon, LLP Attorneys for Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 631-969-3100 File #01071771-F00 #93108

PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC AUCTION NOTICE OF SALE OF COOPERATIVE APARTMENT SECURITY PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: By Virtue of a Default under Loan Security Agreement, and other Security Documents, Karen Loiacano, Auctioneer, License #DCA1435601 or Jessica L Prince-Clateman, Auctioneer, License #1097640 or Vincent DeAngelis Auctioneer, License #1127571 will sell at public auction, with reserve, on November 8, 2017, in the Rotunda of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007, commencing at 1:30pm for the following account: Michael Wawrzonek, as borrower, 127 shares of capital stock of 310 East 70th Street Apartment Corp. and all right, title and interest in the Proprietary Lease to 310 E 70th St., Apt 11S, New York, NY 10021-8609 Sale held to enforce rights of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., who reserves the right to bid. Ten percent (10%) Bank/CertiďŹ ed check required at sale, balance due at closing within thirty (30) days. The Cooperative Apartment will be sold â&#x20AC;&#x153;AS ISâ&#x20AC;? and possession is to be obtained by the purchaser. Pursuant to Section 201 of the Lien Law you must answer within 10 days from receipt of this notice in which redemption

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