The local paper for the Upper East Side MAKING A SPLASH IN TIMES SQUARE ◄P.21
WEEK OF NOVEMBER
16-22 2017
RAISING THE ROOF AT CHAPIN DEVELOPMENT The elite East Side girls’ school has embarked on its second skyward expansion in 10 years to fulfill its academic mission and keep students “under one roof” — but trash, rodents, truck traffic and highdecibel jackhammering have irked the neighbors BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
NYPD collision and injury data indicates that bicycle safety has improved on the East Side in recent years. Photo: Michael Garofalo
MEASURING BIKE SAFETY SAFETY Stats show drop in East Side cyclist and pedestrian injuries BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
There are more bikes than ever on the city’s streets. About three-quarters of a million New Yorkers ride a bicycle regularly, according to the city’s Department of Transportation — over 250,000 more than five years ago — but data indicates that cyclists’ safety is improving even as their numbers increase. Though annual bike fatalities citywide have remained relatively flat in recent years, when increased ridership is taken into account by measuring on a per-trip basis, the fatality rate for cyclists dropped 71 percent between 2000 and 2015, according to a recent DOT study. On Manhattan’s East Side, the number of traffic collisions involving cyclists is on pace to continue on a
downward trend: to date, there have been 228 collisions involving cyclists in 2017, down from 350 in 2016 and 373 in 2015, according to NYPD data. The number of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians injured in collisions on the East Side dropped over the same period. Since 2012, 1,194 cyclists have been injured in collisions with motor vehicle on the East Side, but none have been killed, according to an analysis of NYPD data covering East Side zip codes from 26th to 96th Streets performed by the office of Council Member Ben Kallos. Thirty-nine pedestrians were killed by motor vehicles over the same period, along with 2,722 injured. Since 2012, no pedestrians have been killed in collisions with bicycles in the East Side zip codes covered in the analysis. Police in the 17th and 19th precincts have issued 1,557 summonses to bicyclists so far this year, mostly for running red lights and failing to give pedestrians the right of way.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
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Every morning, author and Upper East Side character Susan Cheever follows the same routine: She leaves her home on East End Avenue to walk her dog in Carl Schurz Park, always turning left, toward East 85th Street, never right, toward 84th Street. Why? The memoirist and biographer does not want to encounter what she deems the loud, disruptive, unsightly construction site a few feet to the south, where the Chapin School is in the throes of a noisy, multiyear expansion project. Again. Cheever, the daughter of the late short-story writer John Cheever, has lived around the corner since 1992, and she describes a nightmarish scenario. “What they’ve done to that sleepy beautiful Upper East Side crossroads is not to be believed,” she said. “They completely ruined what was once a very beautiful Manhattan block.” The exclusive all-girls private school has occupied the same building at 100 East End Avenue since 1928, and every decade or so, going back to 1971, it has enlarged or reconfigured its original footprint — at times growing internally, at times horizontally, at times vertically. But every single addition has been in keeping with the vision of Maria Bowen Chapin, the educator who founded “Miss Chapin’s School” in 1901 and believed that her young charges — then
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The three faces of the Chapin School are in evidence in a recent photo looking west across East End Avenue: At the base is what remains of the original Georgian-style building. Atop that is the first vertical addition, built in 2006, and the crane at Jewish women and girls light up left is being used to construct the second vertical addition, which will add three new the world by lighting the Shabbat floors to the existing eight-story school. candles every Friday evening Photo: Serene Green 84 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, November 17th – 4:18 pm. For more information visit CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 www.chabaduppereastside.com
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WHEN BAD DRUGS DO GOOD HEALTH Can MDMA, aka Ecstasy or Molly, treat PTSD? A team at NYU Langone Health moves ahead with a study BY CAROL ANN RINZLER
It’s an ill wind that blows absolutely no good and a really bad drug that has absolutely no beneďŹ ts. The classic example is thalidomide, once banned for causing devastating birth defects, now FDA-approved to treat conditions ranging from cancers to skin lesions. Last month, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine reported that smoking marijuana can actually improve your sex life. Last week, a New Jersey Appellate Court panel put the cherry on this pharmacological sundae by ruling it “glaringly apparentâ€? that pot can be good medicine. There is similar good news about “magic mushroomsâ€? whose active ingredient, psilocybin, appears to reduce anxiety and depression in cancer patients. And believe it or not, studies at the University of
Cagliari (Italy) suggest that the “date rape drug� gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) may do for alcoholics what methadone does for heroin addicts: reduce the craving. And then there’s MDMA (methylsafrylaminc), aka Ecstasy or Molly. Some mid-20th century psychiatrists thought the drug, developed by Merck in 1912 as precursor to medicines that would control bleeding, made it easier for patients to access insights that sped relief. But MDMA soon made its way to the streets and onto the party scene, so, in 1985, DEA put it on the list of Schedule 1 drugs, those with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. MDMA is still Schedule 1, but a growing number of researchers think it can treat PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Based on early trials, last summer the FDA made MDMA eligible for “breakthrough therapy,� meaning it’s now possible to set up more clinical trials to test its safety and effectiveness for PTSD patients. In previous trials sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), 65 of 107 participants with chronic, treatment-
resistant PTSD got better after two months of MDMA plus talk therapy. Now MAPS is about to run a multisite Phase 3 study of the “Efficacy and Safety of Manualized MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy� at 14 centers in the United States plus two in Israel. One of those trials will happen right here in New York at NYU Langone Health. Dr. Stephen Ross, Chief of Addiction Psychiatry, and his team are excited to be a principal academic site for the trial, which Ross says “further advances our history in examining new ways to diagnose and treat this devastating illness.� Yes, he adds, more study is required, but “the rapid response of the FDA earlier this year to allow this MDMA clinical trial to move to Phase 3 illustrates the optimism many people have for this research.� Naturally, not everyone agrees. Even in a medical setting, MDMA is not without side effects: nausea, chills, sweating, muscle cramping, and blurred vision, high blood pressure, faintness, panic attacks and in severe cases, loss of consciousness and seizures. And some worry that people who hear MDMA being used as
Dr. Steven Ross, Director of Addiction Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health, a principal academic site for the MDMA trial. Photo courtesy of NYU Langone Health a medicine might think it’s a safe recreational drug. While you ponder that, ponder this as well. Effective drugs sometimes arise in strange places. There’s iridium, an element found on earth but in much greater concentrations on celestial invaders like the asteroid that knocked off the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago. British and Chinese scientists have found that iridium kills cancer cells by â€œďŹ lling them with a deadly version of oxygen.â€? So the researchers created an organiciridium compound and lasered it into a
model lung cancer cell tumor where it killed the bad but not the healthy cells. It could be another Eureka moment like thalidomide for cancer, marijuana for good sex, psilocybin for depression, GHB for alcoholism and — if MAPS and Ross have it right — MDMA for PTSD. Carol Ann Rinzler is the author of more than 20 books on health including “Nutrition for Dummies.� Her latest, “Is It Safe to Kiss My Cat?�, addresses the ordinary hazards of everyday life.
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th district for Week to Date
Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr
KEYSTONE COLLAR
UNLOCKED LOCKER
PARKED AND PINCHED
Barneys will have one less shoplifter to worry about for a while. At 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 5, a 23-yearold woman from Pennsylvania was seen by an employee putting items of merchandise in her black handbag inside the high-end retailer located at 660 Madison Avenue. These items included a Sacai jacket valued at $1,385 and two ChloĂŠ sweaters totaling $1,395, for a total haul of $2,780. The woman was arrested and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Police remind gym goers always to lock your locker. At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 25, a 48-year-old man left his belongings in an unlocked locker at the Equinox gym located at 140 East 63rd Street. When he returned to his locker just 15 minutes later he found that $500 cash and two credit cards were missing. An unspeciďŹ ed amount of unauthorized charges turned up on the cards later.
You could be left longing for belongings you leave in a car parked on the street. At 9:40 p.m. on Sunday, November 5, a 27-year-old woman from the Bronx parked her 2016 Nissan outside 1465 Second Avenue. When she returned two hours later, her property were missing from inside the car. There was no damage to the vehicle, and the victim told police she wasn’t sure she had locked her car. The items stolen included a Louis Vuitton bag valued at $900, a Louis Vuitton wallet worth $1,000, documents and other property.
Year to Date
2017 2016
% Change
2017
2016
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
0
2
-100.0
Rape
0
0
n/a
13
5
160.0
Robbery
6
3
100.0
104
80
30.0
Felony Assault
3
1
200.0
110
108
1.9
Burglary
0
6
-100.0
183
179
2.2
Grand Larceny
37
35
5.7
1,162 1,207 -3.7
Grand Larceny Auto
2
1
100.0
49
66
-25.8
CRAIGSLIST CROOK
MAIL TRAVAIL
Yet another craigslist transaction went sour for a seller. At an unspeciďŹ ed time on Saturday, November 4, a 27-year-old man met a buyer on East 67th Street and First Avenue to sell an Apple iPhone he’d advertised on craigslist for $1,600. The buyer paid for the phone using Venmo, but two days later the seller discovered that the payment was fraudulent and he was out both the phone and the money.
Police advise the public to write checks using permanent ink to avoid alterations by thieves. On Wednesday, November 1, the LĂŠvy Gorvy gallery located at 909 Madison Avenue mailed a check in the amount of $275 using a mailbox on East 74th Street and Park Avenue. A few days later they discovered that the check had been altered to the amount of $1,658.75 while another check had been forged in the amount of $1,853.35, making a total stolen of $3,512.
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CHAPIN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 known as “proper ladies-intraining” — should be schooled “under one roof.” That’s been the guiding philosophy ever since, and so, the entire K-through-12 school has stayed in one perpetually growing building – not a spread-out campus cluster, or even across-the-street facilities, which is far more common in Manhattan academia. The result, Chapin educators say, is that its under-one-roof approach has fostered a sense of continuity and community, encouraged student interaction with girls from different grade levels, and helped burnish its reputation as one of the nation’s top prep schools. Unfortunately, pedagogic philosophy, however inspired, offers scant comfort to neighbors, in this case, mid-block residents of 84th Street west of East End Avenue, whose numbers include dozens of seniors in rent-stabilized walk-ups. After all, many of them have lived through the clangor of construction projects past that steadily enlarged the Chapin envelope — first in 1971, then in 1987, next in 1996 and again in 2006. Now, the cycle has resumed, and they’re in the midst of a build-out that began in May 2015 and is expected to last five to six years, with anticipated completion in late 2020 or early 2021. Back in 2006, Chapin built its first vertical addition, adding two stories to its original, six-story, Delano and Aldrichdesigned, Georgian-style building – the one Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis attended from first to sixth grades. That initial skyward thrust c reated a n ei g ht-stor y, 132,328-square-foot, 117-foot tall school. Chapin is climbing higher still. With an enrollment of 783 students and some subpar facilities that don’t meet
A photo from the mid-1930s of the original, six-story, Georgianstyle Chapin School. Built in 1928 at 100 East End Avenue at 84th Street, the exclusive all-girls academy has been expanding – internally, vertically and horizontally – ever since. Photo: OldNYC, via New York Public Library Collection current needs, it’s embarked on a $135 million expansion, its second major vertical addition in a decade. Renderings released by the school show three more floors added to the existing eightstory building, resulting in an 11-story, 176,249 square-foot structure that will top out at 186 feet. A projected fence to enclose rooftop recreational space will push the height to 207 feet. “This project is vital to fulfilling the school’s academic mission,” said Anneli Ballard, Chapin’s director of marketing. “It involves replacing substandard athletic and physical education spaces with a regulation-size gymnasium ... for our student athletes, enhancing program space for science, engineering, math and technology classes, and constructing a cafeteria for lower school students.” Three new performing arts classrooms will also be built to boost the music-and-dance curriculum. Current space is “insufficient,” the school says. The proof: Chapin’s high school dance team has been known to rehearse in the hallways. The school’s ambitious aims,
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necessitating the inevitable racket of hard hats at work, has collided with life on a tranquil block. It has taken quite a toll. Serene Green 84, a citizens group formed in 2015 to oppose the project, cites collateral damage to both streetscape and quality of life. “They’re the neighbors from hell,” said co-founder Cynthia Kramer. The block of 84th Street between East End and York Avenues, already a bit narrow, feels even more closed-in due to worksite staging. So much so that when a tower crane was set up last month, its dangling hook appeared to “swing perilously close” to the walk-ups on the north side of the street, said Lisa Paule, the other co-founder of the group. “I could almost touch the hook from my fire escape,” said Paule, who lives in a fourth-floor coop at 531 East 84th Street. The operation was safe and supervised by building inspectors at all times, the school says. The two women cited, among other issues, trash heaps, the occasional colony of rats scampering from a school alley, a daylong water outage, early-morning deliveries, truck traffic at all hours, the use of the block as a loading dock – and high-decibel noise so unbearable that even state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli took notice. On August 31, his auditors determined that 122 noise complaints had been lodged with 311 about construction at 100 East End Avenue, more than any other work site in the city in the period between January 1, 2014 and June 30, 2016. Chapin says the audit was performed during excavation work, which is “always the loudest phase of any project.”
An architectural rendering shows the East End Avenue side of the Chapin School as it is expected to look upon completion of a new vertical addition in 2020 or 2021. The school will be tripartite in appearance, with its original 1928 base topped by a 2006 addition and then crowned with the current expansion, which is adding three floors to create an 11-story building. Rendering: Courtesy of Chapin School After it wrapped up in the summer of 2016, noise complaints tapered off. To deal with that issue and others, the school holds public meetings every four to six weeks to solicit feedback, brief residents on the expansion and mitigate impact. It has limited after-hours construction, performs no exterior work on Sundays, altered garbage pick-up hours to accommodate neighbors, pays a premium so haulers don’t come in the middle of the night, and runs a “rigorous rodent extermination program” in coordination with nearby buildings. “The school has and will continue to take extensive measures to ensure the expansion program is carried out in the safest, most responsible and efficient manner, with as minimal impact as possible,” Ballard said. It’s an approach that has won over some residents: “They’re incredible neighbors who care about us, they’re considerate, communicate with us frequently, and clearly go above
and beyond in reaching out,” said Hope Webster, who moved to the block in 2006. Community Board 8 voted to oppose the project in 2015. It’s never reversed that position. And yet, in the two intervening years, the board has been impressed by the school’s performance. “The Chapin School has been a model for other schools to follow as to how best to handle an expansion project in a quiet residential area,” said James Clynes, chairman of CB8, who said the school had set up a 24-hour line to call for any problems. “I’m convinced that Chapin is a good neighbor,” he added. Cheever has lived through what she views as intrusive and disruptive construction before. During a 1996 build-out for a new library and theater, she penned a New York Times opinion piece, “My Neighbor, My Nuisance,” lamenting noise, diminished light, profound disruptions and the “building of a parapet where there is now sky.” Why did she stay? She didn’t.
In a recent interview, Cheever said that in 2001, she moved from the 84th Street side of her building to the 85th Street side to get away from the incessant din. “Now, they’re not pounding on my door, shining lights in my window, and waking me up at six in the morning,” she says. The ruckus was supposed to end in late 2018. Chapin said that original project completion date was “provided by a construction team that is no longer on the project,” and that when a new job-site manager came on board in 2016, it developed a new schedule, targeting completion in the 2020-2021 academic year. “I doubt that Chapin is any more pleased than the community is with the delay in completing their expansion,” said City Council Member Ben Kallos. Webster is philosophical: “This is New York, and I’m a lifelong New Yorker,” she said. “If there’s one thing we do in New York, we grow!”
NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
UP TO CODE
Peace of mind begins by planning today!
LEARNING The GirlCode program helps female students who love STEM succeed BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL
Talk to the elementary and middle-school members of GirlCode for five minutes and it’s easy to feel like Penny on “The Big Bang Theory.” These young women are not only proficient in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), but intelligent, poised, articulate, and personable. At the Celebrating Young Girls in STEM event on November 8 at the Arlo Nomad Hotel in midtown, they were also excited to present their socially-conscious projects, each with a game component, because it’s not enough for them to play for recreation. They want to create the games. Kayla Massick, 12, has attended The Coding Space — home of The GirlCode Program — since she was nine. Inspired by her grandfather, an environmentalist, she designed the Clean Water Project, where players remove debris floating down a river. “I like coding because it lets me make something from nothing.” Because the crafting of any tech project has its bugs, Kayla, like any true coder, has the wherewithal to sit at her computer, “until I figure it out.” 10-year-old Georgia Green, who has been with GirlCode for a year, chose to raise awareness about poverty, inequality and hunger by developing the Q&A game Code For Change. For her, the fun was “making it more than the finished product.” Robots fashioned by MIT ignited a passion for tech in Sofia Basilio, 10, who’s been with GirlCode for two years and presented Clean Water For All, “to teach kids about stopping ocean pollution.” GirlCode is one of the handson programs offered at The Coding Space, which has locations on both the Upper East and Upper West Side of Manhattan. GirlCode’s mission: To create a world where girls and women have the tools, drive and community to shatter the
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GirlCoders from left to right: Sofia Basilio, Chaya Trapedo, Kayla Massick, Georgia Green, Camille Lurie, Emerson Davis. Photo: Lorraine Duffy Merkl glass ceiling. Co-founders Nicole Kelner and Eli Kariv began The Coding Space three years ago, offering co-ed afterschool programs, because they saw there was a huge demand for coding education. In a 2016 Gallup study of K-12 schools nationwide, 90 percent of parents said theyed want their kids to learn coding but only 40 percent of schools offered computer science courses. “Coding is a great skill that we want all students to learn,” says Kariv. “It’s a second language, just like Spanish or French. It’s also an amazing medium for solving problems and critical thinking.” After the launch, they decided to add a girls-only program based on Kelner’s experience as one of the only women at her former tech job in San Francisco. Rather than complain to female colleagues about how there aren’t enough women in tech, she and Kariv started girl coding workshops. They were such a hit, a summer program and after school classes were added, and GirlCode was born. Through the power of coding, Kelner says, “We teach computational thinking, a growth mindset, and confidence to young girls. We especially love providing a space where they can imagine a better future self by being exposed to positive female mentors in STEM. We also go on field trips to Google, Facebook and Microsoft. [The girls] start thinking of themselves as problem-solvers in the world of technology.” Coding is a powerful tool to help young women change the world. No one knows that better than the mothers whose girls participate in GirlCode. Educator Shaina Trapedo says that after two days at the GirlCode summer camp, her daughter Chaya, 13, came home talking about loops and algorithms. “I have a Ph.D. in English, yet didn’t understand what she was talking about,” said Shaina. So Chaya ex-
plained: “This is the language we use to talk to computers.” Impressed with the program’s “empowering initiative,” Shaina introduced it to her administrators at the Manhattan High School for Girls on the Upper East Side, where she is the Director of Humanities. Now, coding is part of the core curriculum. “If they take English and math, they need coding. It’s collaborative and teaches problem-solving.” For Chaya, though, coding is “a labor of love. It’s exciting to see things happen.” Her contribution to the event was a watersaving game called Pro Water. “I thought about all the water we waste by leaving the tap on when brushing our teeth.” Emerson Davis, 11, and her partner Camille Lurie both loved video games and wanted to make their own. With their Poverty Project, when a player loses, their money goes to charity. Emerson has been coding for four years, the last two at The Coding Space. She’s been at GirlCode for two months. Emerson is following in the footsteps of her mother Debra, who has a background in tech. “I came up when girls were told ‘math is hard,’ and many girls were discouraged. I’m not going to let anyone take the steam out of [Emerson’s] love of tech.” Is Emerson looking to a career in STEM? According to Debra, her daughter likes coding, has expressed an interest in UI (user interface) design, and is toying with the idea of becoming a YouTube star. Whatever she, and all the girls of GirlCode choose to do in the future, chances are they’ll succeed with coding as their foundation. For more information about GirlCode, contact admissions@ thecodingspace.com or call 929-352-1272 or go online: thecodingspace.com/girlcode.html Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novel “Back To Work She Goes.”
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NO STANDING EAST SIDE OBSERVER BY ARLENE KAYATT
Alert: Missing bus stop and other rider hassles — Lexington between 88th and 89th. A page in any publication or blog detailing the outrageous conduct of the MTA as an entity and drivers as their agents would sure have a following. Including twits and tweets! While it’s understood, well-known and detested, riders know that construction happens in NY and for some reason there’s always a bus stop included in the construction site. But where’s the notice letting riders know where the replacement stop is? You won’t find out from the MTA. And don’t bother asking the bus driver when
you arrive with bated breath at the next stop. He won’t tell you. “But what was the stop before this one?” asked the exasperated rider who sprinted several blocks to catch the bus she just missed. “You’re on the bus now, right?” Smarts 101. And then there’s the driver on the M55 route that travels along what starts as Church Street and becomes Sixth Ave and which was previously the M5. The route started at South Ferry and World Trade Center and ended in Washington Heights and was curtailed and now ends at 44th and Sixth. At the same stop you get what I think is still called M5 which continues on up to Washington Heights, just like old times. A rider unfamiliar with the change asked the driver if he could change at 44th St without having to pay an additional fare on
the continued route. “You’ll have to ask the next driver to find out.” Hmm. Just what the public needs, bus driver discretion to decide the fate of each passenger’s fare. Imagine the brouhahas and time wasted as the driver pronounces his/her decision about who pays and who doesn’t. Oy. No wonder neither Gov. Cuomo nor Mayor de Blasio claim ownership of the MTA. Can we talk, Joe Lohta? Delivery by the ounce — It must be two years since Key Food replaced Associated Market on Second Ave in the 90s where it now stands in an upgraded physical condition. However, supermarkets like Key Food, Associated and Gristede’s are going the way of moms and pops. My take is that moms and pops are generally forced out by high rents and competition from CVSes and Duane Reades and that the big box supermarkets are prey to Amazon/Whole Foods. While I’ll stick with the locals — Key Food, C Town (which exists for now on First Ave in the 80s), Gristedes, D’Agostino’s (the latter two are too
pricey) — I can’t really abide the $4.95 service charge for delivery at Key Food. With the diminishing number of food markets around and the higher costs, neighborhood residents opt to shop in quantity, but if you have to add $5 to your bill, it may not be worth it. Especially if you are a single person household. Nearly $5 is a hefty add-on even if you’re shopping at supermarkets with cheaper prices. Halloween Boo Boo — Not much of a secret that the closely guarded townhouse on East 81st (Lex/Third) belongs to Madonna, who claims to cherish her privacy. So why would she decorate the enclosed sprawl — which she says she wants “hidden” from the hoi polloi — with ghosts and ghouls hanging out windows? The spooky types Madonna shuns were busily snapping pics and peeking between the opening in the gates, hoping maybe to see Madge in the surroundings of her one-woman gated community. Sorry, no sightings to report. Bentornato, Il Carino — Nice to
see the new canopy at Yorkville’s Il Carino Italian restaurant. It’s eyecatching, colorful and a stand-out. Welcome back, again. This time to stay. CUNY’s got “Close Up” — Sam Roberts is back. His formerly erstwhile NY1 Sunday p.m./Monday a.m. hour has found a weekly home, albeit for a half-hour, early Sunday afternoons on the CUNY station. The New York-ey, well-informed reporters and other talking heads really have the pulse and beat of our town. Lively, acerbic real New York as it takes on the issues. The lively and chatty hour was a high point of the week in getting an overview of the week’s news by Times reporters — the newbies and the old-timers — holding forth about the ins and outs of mostly local and state news. Their no-holds-barred take on the week’s news is fun and informed. Breathing is more refreshing with Close Up on the CUNY Channel (75 on Spectrum). Great having the regulars back — Sam Roberts, Clyde Haberman, Eleanor Randolph. Cheers!
BY ANY OTHER NAME GRAYING NEW YORK BY MARCIA EPSTEIN
Sometimes I don’t know where I live. Oh, I don’t mean it that way. I know my address. It’s on West 97th Street, on the Upper West Side. At least that’s how I always describe my neighborhood. I am an Upper West Sider. I live on the Upper West Side. The UWS is defined as extending from 59th Street to 110th, between Central Park and the Hudson River. I never give it a second thought. However, it seems I might also live in Manhattan Valley. According to Wikipedia and most other sites, Manhattan Valley runs from Broadway to Central Park West, and from 96th Street to 110th Street. One site, however, says Manhattan Valley comprises 100th Street to 110th Street, Broadway to Central Park West. Yet a third site
claims it is 96th Street to 110th Street from Amsterdam Avenue to Central Park West. The Park West Neighborhood History Group says that Manhattan Valley is a piece of the Bloomingdale area that centers along Manhattan Avenue from 104th to 110th Street. Go figure! And so, I also live in the Bloomingdale area. This local history group calls the area from 96th Street to 110th Street, from the Hudson River to Central Park West, Bloomingdale. The area was once known as the Bloomingdale District, and the history group wants this name to be used again. The Ninth Avenue El was principal in developing what the History Group calls the Bloomingdale Community. It was built in 1878 and 1879 by seven men and a team of horses. In 1903, it was the last el in New York to go electric, and in 1940 it was closed. The name Bloomingdale is still used by some to refer to the part of
the Upper West Side, the location of old Bloomingdale Village, which extended from 96th to 110th Street and from Riverside Park east to Amsterdam Avenue. In 1907, the greenspace at the intersection of Broadway and West End Avenue, and 106th and 107th Streets, now called Straus Park, was designated as Bloomingdale Square. Getting complicated? You bet! In any case, the neighborhood, whatever boundaries you decide to use, includes The Bloomingdale School of Music and the Bloomingdale branch of the New York Public Library. The name Bloomingdale comes from Bloemendaal, a town in the tulip region of Holland. It consisted of farms and villages known as the Bloomingdale Road. In 1899, after being widened and paved, Bloomingdale Road was connected to and became an extension of Broadway. Some restate companies never know what to call all these neighborhoods
Straus Park was so named for Isadore and Ida Straus, who went down with the Titanic, in 1912. Prior to that, the area, bordered by 106th and 107th Streets, Broadway and West End Avenue, was known as Bloomingdale Square, for Bloomingdale Road, the former name of Broadway. Photo: Richard Khavkine of the Upper West Side. And there are those who feel that calling the area Bloomingdale is confusing because Bloomingdale’s Department store is on the East Side. Well, no wonder the confusion. I am totally confused myself. So where do I live? I suppose I live in all three neighborhoods: the Upper
West Side, Manhattan Valley and the Bloomingdale area. I am a member of BAIP (Bloomingdale Aging in Place), and I use the Bloomingdale branch of the library. Nevertheless, if you ask me where I live, it’s The Upper West Side.
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NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
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MESSING WITH MY MOM’S LEGACY
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“We’ll Be There For You!�
The son of the founder of the Riverside Neighborhood Assembly House on a move to privatize Mitchell-Lama co-ops BY ALAN CHARTOCK
In 1967, the Riverside Neighborhood Assembly House opened on the West Side of Manhattan on 96th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. It was one of the first, if not the first, of the Mitchell-Lama buildings in Manhattan. The idea was to make sure that common folks who could not afford the high rentals could remain in the neighborhoods of New York. I recently heard that the average rental of a one bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan runs $3,400 a month. That’s a lot of money. People I know in the RNA House are paying about $600 a month for a one bedroom. To this day, the Mitchell-Lama program has some pretty strict rules. In order to get one of these apartments, you have to be on the waiting list and meet certain criteria. You have to fit between certain economic guidelines and because there aren’t enough apartments to go around, you may have to wait on the list for years to buy shares in a cooperative building. Like other co-ops, you don’t own your apartment. Rather, you own shares in the building but you get to use the apartment. If you are allowed to buy into the building, the rule is that when you leave, you have to surrender your shares at the price you originally paid in plus a prorated share of the amortization while you were there. You may wonder why I am writing about the RNA House, now an incredible fifty years old. It is so important to me because it was my mother who thought up and gave birth to the place, just as she gave birth to my brother and me. My mom, Shirley Chartock (later reverting to her given name of Sarah), was the school community coordinator on
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In front of the RNA building on 96th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues. Photo: Alexis Gelber the West Side of Manhattan. She thought up the Riverside Neighborhood Assembly (after whom the building is named) whose job it was to bring the people and the schools together and she sponsored an awful lot of conferences and theater parties to make it all happen. She worked incredibly hard at it and then she taught in the evenings at Hunter College in the education department. She founded the Fire Island Youth Group and ran that for many summers. My mother was at the forefront of those folks who believed that there should be a place, an integrated place, where people could live when so many were being forced out of their neighborhoods. When the Mitchell-Lama program originated, thanks to Mayor Robert Wagner and a cadre of assistants (Warren Moscow and Robert Moses among them), my mom saw an opportunity for the Riverside Neighborhood Assembly to sponsor a ďŹ rst. I seem to remember Bob Wagner laying it all out in our living room. That’s why I’m not happy about the latest development in the long history of the RNA House — they are trying to mess with my mom’s legacy.
All these years later, there is a move to change the MitchellLama co-ops so that the apartments people could actually afford would be privatized. That means some of the people who are the cooperators want to own their apartments and sell them at current market prices and, of course, make out like bandits. The whole idea of affordable housing was to make real middle class, integrated housing a reality. After twenty years in the program, the law allows the cooperators to vote on whether to privatize. In most cases, people have been true to the mission but in others, they have been understandably greedy. Soon the RNA House will have to decide. My mom, whose name is not up there on the plaque even though it was her project from start to finish, will be rolling in her grave if the cooperators ďŹ ghting the privatization should lose. Then a good idea would have gone sour. Too bad. Alan Chartock is professor emeritus at the State University of New York, publisher of the Legislative Gazette and president and CEO of the WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network. From an article in the troyrecord.com.
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NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
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Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com
EDITOR’S PICK ROOTS OF YOGA New York Society Library, 53 East 79th St. Nov. 16, 6:30 p.m. $15, advance registration required Despite yoga’s popularity in the west, few practitioners delve beyond the Sanskrit words toss around in class to learn more about the origins of the practice. That may change with “The Roots of Yoga,” a book comprised of core teachings of yoga in their original form, collected, translated and edited by two prominent scholars of the subject. “The Roots of Yoga” includes a wide range of texts from different schools of yoga, with many pieces in scholarly translation for the first time. Join authors Sir James Mallinson, a lecturer in Sanskrit and Classical and Indian Studies at SOAS, University of London, and Mark Singleton, a long-term research fellow at the American Institute of Indian Studies as they discuss their book. It’s sure to become a resource for the experienced yoga practitioner, and a guide to kickstart the beginner’s practice.
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Photo by bilalmwirk, via flickr
Thu 16 Fri 17
Sat 18
RECITAL SERIES: BARBARA HANNIGAN
METFRIDAYS: DROP-IN DRAWING▲
CHINA ON FILM: APUDA
Park Avenue Armory 643 Park Ave. 7:30 p.m. $75 Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan makes her U.S. recital debut with a musical program covering the Second Viennese School, where new musical language was developed through collaboration between composers, painters, writers and other artists in the city’s salons and cafes at the turn of the century. Additional shows on Nov. 18. 212-616-3930 armoryonpark.org
The Met, 1000 Fifth Ave. 6:30 p.m. $10 Draw inspiration from legendary artists and observe The Met’s collection through creative challenges in the galleries. Materials are provided, but you may bring your own sketchbook. Demonstrations repeat every 30 minutes; open to visitors of all ages. This event is part of #MetFridays: New York’s Night Out. 212-535-7710 metmuseum.org
The Guggenheim 1071 Fifth Ave. Noon Free with museum admission Apuda, a middle-aged man born with intellectual disabilities, returns home from watching over the orchard and discovers his father can no longer rise from bed. This film chronicles Apuda as he takes care of his father day in and day out, tending to him in his own special way. Part the “Turn It On: China on Film, 2000-2017” film festival. 212-423-3500 guggenheim.org
NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
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Sun 19 Mon 20 Tue 21 YOUNG ADULT BOOK CLUB▼
A CELEBRATION OF OLIVER SACKS
Shakespeare and Co., 939 Lexington Ave. 4 p.m. Free Join a group of like-minded readers to discuss “Turtles All the Way Down,” a detective story that chronicles teenage life by John Green, author of the bestselling “The Fault in Our Stars.” Get your signed copy and receive a 10 percent discount. 212-772-3400 shakeandco.com
Unterberg Poetry Center 1395 Lexington Ave. 7:30 p.m. $22+ Enjoy a words-andmusic tribute to the beloved neurologist and author upon posthumous publication of “The River of Consciousness,” a collection of Sack’s essays that weaves together ideas on evolution, botany, memory, time, Darwin and Freud, among other subjects. With Simone Dinnerstein, Atul Gawande, Bill Hayes and Maria Popova. 212-415-5500. 92y.org
SONDHEIM’S ‘FOLLIES’ The Beekman Theatre 1271 Second Ave. 7:30 p.m. $20 Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical will be staged for the first time at London’s National Theatre and broadcast live in New York. This extraordinary 3-hour, 30-minute show chronicles the Follies girls, 30 years after their final performance, as they gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. citycinemas.com/beekman
Wed 22
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INTRO TO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY▲ Cherry Hill Fountain Central Park, Terrace Drive 9:30 am. $95 Join professional photographer George J, Kunze as you learn how to work with lighting and shadow in three iconic areas of Central Park: Bow Bridge, Bethesda Fountain and Poet’s Walk. Photographers are encouraged to bring a friend who will model for them; Kunze will offer feedback and Photoshop help. Cameras required. eventbrite.com
LET IN THE LIGHT WITHOUT GIVING UP YOUR PRIVACY
GRAMERCY PARK 292 3rd Avenue @ 23rd St 212-777-3030 YORKVILLE 1491 3rd Ave @ 84th St 212-289-6300
UPPER EAST SIDE 888 Lexington Ave @66th St 212-772-1400
HELL’S KITCHEN 766 10th Ave @ 52nd St 212-245-3241
UPPER WEST SIDE 159 W 72nd St @ B’way 212-595-2500
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NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
THE LONG ROAD TO A MASTERPIECE Da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” BY MARY GREGORY
The chapter being written at Christie’s this week is just a small part of the long story of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” (Savior of the World). Painted around 1500, roughly contemporary with da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper” at the height of the artist’s career, its beauty, serenity and spirituality did little to shield it from the vagaries of fate. Like many important works of art, it led a sheltered life at the beginning, and then, as time, fading fortunes and changes of ownership and taste stretched across centuries, it eventually languished, unloved. “Salvator Mundi” may have been commissioned by Louis XII of France. It ended up in England about 150 years later, where King Charles I was an avid picture collector. Wars ensued, power shifted. Fortunes were made, others were lost. It was listed in a 1650 inventory of the royal collection, and a notable printmaker made a copy of it titled “Jesus after Leonardo ... Leonardus da Vinci pinxit (Leonardo da Vinci painted it).” s It seems to have stayed with English nobility, passing through generations, till the 1800s. By then, the panel on which it had been painted had split, and, as was the practice at the time, a restorer had a crack at fixing it up however he saw fit, probably unaware that it was a da Vinci. It was purchased at auction in about 1900 for the Cook Collection, as a work by a follower of Leonardo. In 1958, that collection was liquidated, and the painting (still mislabeled) sold for £45, or about $500 in today’s money. The second genius involved with “Salvator Mundi” was an unnamed American businessman with a keen eye, who snatched up a dark and unheralded picture at a small, regional auction house in 2005, reportedly for about $10,000, sensing greatness. This was despite the fact that the masterpiece was hiding behind a restoration that included the most clichéd disguise of all — a fake moustache. It took years for cleaning, expert opinions, valuations, restoration and second opinions, exhibitions and another change of owners to bring the story to its current page — a sale of epic proportions on November 15. The picture passed all the scientific verifications of materials and technique. It’s composed almost exactly as da Vinci’s other great portraits (of which only a handful exist). It’s been accepted by the world’s top experts as da Vinci’s work. The story has been checked and rechecked.
The image is evocative and ethereal in its beauty…. Luminous, gentle eyes and an enigmatic, soft smile radiate beatific grace.”
Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi.” Photo: Adel Gorgy
But da Vincis aren’t about stories; they’re about light and color, scientific inquiry, visual intrigue, and mysteries of meaning. So, how does it look? The hands — one raised in blessing, the other holding a rock crystal orb that represents the world — are exquisite in technique, gesture and sensitivity. The face of Jesus is somewhat blurry, veiled by a soft focus. Experts have argued that that’s exactly as Leonardo intended, while others suggest that the forces of age and loss have taken their toll. It may be moot, since we can only regard the face of the “Salvator Mundi” that has come down to us. The image is evocative and ethereal in its beauty. The face of Jesus emerges from a black background, shining as though lit from within. Luminous, gentle eyes and an enigmatic, soft smile radiate beatific grace. The skin tones are fresh. The colors of the robes are rich and luxurious, its folds painted with great mastery. The ringlets of hair, like so many others da Vinci painted, are rendered with controlled precision and attention to the perfection of nature’s geometry. “Salvator Mundi” surrounds itself with a hushed yet powerful presence and is unquestionably a masterpiece of Renaissance art. It’s been dubbed the “male Mona Lisa,” and the greatest artistic discovery of the century. Is it? Push aside the pundits, and look carefully at the picture, itself. Let it speak to you. Take the advice of Leonardo, himself, an artist who was relentless in looking and who questioned everything. He said, “All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions.”
NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
Huge Selection of
FORKS AND FASHION
Bibles Fiction/Non-Fiction Children’s Books Greeting Cards .VTJD t (JGUT Original Art Events and More!
DESIGN SVA students created offbeat designs made out of silverware, pennies and tea bags for a Madison Avenue BID event
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:PSL "WF #UXO SE UI 4U t www.logosbookstorenyc.com
BY CARSON KESSLER
Using 382 forks, 59 spoons and two ladles, design student Filipa Mota designed the perfect, 1920s-inspired cocktail dress. Displayed on the corner of East 69th Street, Mota’s stainless-steel dress is one of 14 original ensembles decorating the sidewalks of the luxury shopping strip on Madison Avenue between 61st and 76th streets. With the guidance of Kevin O’Callaghan, 3D design chairman at Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts, 20 undergraduate design students created offbeat pieces to accompany the 36 premiere brands participating in the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District’s One-of-a-Kind Luxury Event. Participants include brands such as Bottega Veneta and Dolce & Gabbana, all featuring a roster of one-of-a-kind products for sale at their Madison Avenue locations. “[The event] is homage to the creativity of the brands found here and to the New York City brick-and-mortar shopping experience,� said Matthew Bauer, President of the Madison Avenue BID. “We wanted to make this event for the stores come to life on the street.� The design students created raincoats made out of enough teabags to fill 1,400 cups of tea and stilettos made out of enough pencils to write 12.9 million words. Each piece was made out of a single material and installed in a glass case outside of participating stores. Statistics accompanied each student’s creation, putting into perspective the astonishing number of items that went its development. “People are amazed that there is art on the street like this, in glass cases,� O’Callaghan said. “I’m being told that it’s kind of a game-changer, bringing the art to areas that don’t have the facilities to [show] art.� Students used the opportunity of a public art exhibition to highlight bigger themes, such as consumer trends and waste. “I used pennies to underline the money that we spend on
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Zhuoyuan Li used 288 pencils to create these sharp stilettos. Photo: Carson Kessler
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
Person Place Thing
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH, 3PM The Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Ave. | 212-616-3930 | armoryonpark.org Play 20 questions at a conversation between host Randy Cohen and playwrights Paula Vogel and Daniel Alexander Jones. The musical guest will be composer and pianist Samora Pinderhughes ($15).
E.O. Wilson and Paul Simon in Conversation: Life, Creativity and the Future of the Planet
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH, 3PM 92nd Street Y | 1395 Lexington Ave. | 212-415-5500 | 92y.org Biologist and conservationist E. O. Wilson (The Origins of Creativity and Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life) speaks on the intersections of science and culture ($35). Filipa Mota created her 1920s-inspired dress from old silverware found at vintage stores. Photo: Carson Kessler fashion,� said Mert Avadya of the inspiration behind her dress made out of 12,500 pennies. James Tsang used 225 RAM chips, a common source of e-waste, to create his armorinspired design. The multi-dimensional event created an unusual experience for shoppers. “A key attribute
that makes Madison Avenue able to attract both the international visitor and the local client is that our boutiques present items that are truly one-of-a-kind,� Bauer said. The One-of-a-Kind luxury event is scheduled to close on November 15.
Just Announced | Secret Science Club Presents Illusions of Mind
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH, 8PM The Bell House | 149 7th St., Brooklyn | 718-643-6510 | thebellhouseny.com Brain scientists Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik (Champions of Illusion) join the Secret Science Club to talk about the sight gags that surround us, and what these visual illusions reveal about evolution and the inner workings of our minds (free).
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
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NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS NOV 1-9, 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. Love Cafe
283 Pleasant Avenue
A
Franklin Hotel
164 East 87 Street
A
Dig Inn
1297 Lexington Ave
A
Butterfield Catering
346 East 92 Street
A
The District
1679 3 Avenue
A
Ooki Sushi
1575 3 Avenue
Grade Pending (27) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/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.
Mole Cantina Mexicana
1735 2 Avenue
A
A-Jiao Sichuan Cuisine
1817 2Nd Ave
A
Asian 83
1605 2Nd Ave
Grade Pending (18) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Members Dining Room @ The Met Museum
1000 5 Avenue
A
Gracie-Mews Restaurant
1550 1 Avenue
Grade Pending (23) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Live roaches 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.
Wa Jeal
1588 2 Avenue
Grade Pending (23) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
The Penrose
1590 2 Avenue
A
Aki Sushi
1531 York Ave
Grade Pending (36) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Insufficient or no refrigerated or hot holding equipment to keep potentially hazardous foods at required temperatures. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. Thawing procedures improper.
Cascabel Taqueria
1556 2Nd Ave
Grade Pending (31) Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. 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.
Pig Heaven
1420 3Rd Ave
A
Bagel Bobs On York
1641 York Ave
A
Al Vaporetto
168 E 81St St
Not Yet Graded (28) Food contact surface improperly constructed or located. Unacceptable material used.
Demarchelier Restaurant
50 East 86 Street
A
Dulce Vida Latin Bistro
1219 Lexington Ave
Grade Pending (37) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Sewage disposal system improper or unapproved.
Thai @ Lex
1244 Lexington Ave
Not Yet Graded (24) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE! at OURTOWNNY.COM
NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
BIKE SAFETY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Motor vehicle operators received nearly 16,000 summonses in the two precincts over the same period, including 1,541 to drivers for not giving the right of way to pedestrians. The two East Side precincts have also placed heavy emphasis on enforcing the city’s ban on electric bicycle use, confiscating 103 to date this year — accounting for more than 10 percent of all e-bikes seized by the NYPD citywide. In addition to targeting individuals who ride the motorized bikes, most of whom are food delivery workers, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in October that the city would soon begin fining the businesses that employ them. Starting in 2018, businesses that use e-bikes or allow employees to use them will be subject to fines of $100 for a first offense and $200 for each subsequent offense. On the East Side, the enforce-
15
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com ment regime has been accompanied by an educational push, which includes DOT-sponsored training sessions for business owners and delivery riders. Free safety vests, lights and bells are distributed at the trainings, which are part of a bike safety program led by Kallos and fellow Council Member Dan Garodnick. “I think what’s been most effective is going to restaurants door to door with DOT and giving them information and equipment they need,” Kallos said. Kallos applauded the work of the East 72nd Neighborhood Association, which has released reports grading local restaurants on their bike safety practices, including whether riders wore vests, displayed identification tags or rode ebikes. Kallos said he hopes that other neighborhood associations in his district will join in similar surveys, “so that every restaurant on the East Side is getting a letter grade and those guides are found in every lobby in the district. Consumer be-
havior will drive restaurants to adopt better practices.” Perhaps the most significant development of the last year for East Side bikers was the long-awaited implementation of protected bike lanes southbound Second Avenue from 110th to 68th Streets. Kallos said the new bike lane has helped improve safety for cyclists in the district, but that it needs to be expanded further south. “I am a fan of the Second Avenue protected bike lane, but it stops once you reach the sixties, which are the most dangerous intersections in the district,” Kallos said, adding that he also plans to push for more crosstown bike lanes on the East Side. The DOT has prioritized the expansion of bike lanes in recent years, adding 18 miles of protected lanes in 2016 and 45 miles over the last five years. According to the DOT, 89 percent of fatal bike collisions between 2006 and 2016 occurred on streets without bike lanes.
More neighborhood news? neighborhood celebrations? neighborhood opinions? neighborhood ideas? neighborhood feedback? neighborhood concerns?
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NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
Business TAX BILL WILL AFFECT REAL ESTATE, BUT HOW? Implications for both clients and businesses are far from clear BY FREDERICK PETERS
How will Federal tax law changes impact our New York real estate markets? Since several major issues remain to be worked out, and the bill has just begun debate in Congress, it’s far too soon to tell. With so many different constituencies lobbying pro or con various provisions, we know very little about what the final bill will look like. That said, we can certainly prognosticate based on some of the proposed bill’s more significant changes: • The deductibility of mortgage interest. This part of the bill could well remain intact, because such a small percentage of U.S. homeowners have mortgages (or houses) worth in excess of $500,000, which would replace $1,100,000 as the new maximum deductible mortgage amount. Of course, the impact on New York City would be substantial, especially for homes priced at $2 million and under. Fortunately, at least for now, the true value of the lost deduction reflects the low interest rate climate. The value of a lost interest rate deduction on $600,000, calculated at 4 percent, is
Photo: 401kcalculator.org, via flickr $24,000; for someone paying at a 40 percent tax rate, the cost would be $9,600 per annum. Inconvenient, certainly, but not a market killer. • The deductibility of state and local taxes. While the end of the alternative minimum tax should have some mitigating effect on this provision, the heaviest burden will fall on high-tax
states like New York, and high-tax municipalities like New York City. Since there is a substantial groundswell of opposition to this from U.S. representatives and senators on both sides of the aisle who hail from high-tax states, it remains to be seen if it will make the final cut. I originally anticipated that for many of our customers and clients
these losses would be offset by the proposed reduction of the top federal income-tax rate, but that reduction has apparently gone by the wayside for earners of $1 million or more. So this provision could result in higher taxes for our clientele, which is never a good thing for our business. • Business tax rates. Other than the
clear plan to reduce corporate tax rates to 20 percent, which will be a boon to both shareholders and large business owners, this part of the bill remains a work in progress. The bill proposes a reduction in the tax rates paid on the profits of pass-through entities like subchapter S corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships. Pushback began almost immediately from those concerned that this would create a loophole for people in the highest brackets to create passthrough entities as a way of lowering at least part of their tax burden from 39.6 percent to 25 percent. Time will tell. Since so many real estate clients are either corporate officers or business proprietors, these provisions would be highly beneficial to them and thus to the real estate marketplace. Overall, everyone needs to assume a wait-and-see attitude. The first shots have been fired, but there are long battles ahead in both the House and the Senate before we truly understand the final implications of this tax bill for our client base. For now, we can sit back with interest and watch the show! Frederick Peters is CEO of Warburg Realty.
NEIGHBORHOOD SIDE STREETS MEET 64TH STREET
sideways.nyc
RISTORANTE ALTESI 26 EAST 64TH STREET Walking down the stairs and passing the espresso bar to enter Altesi, I felt like I had been transported onto an Italian street: the design was so perfectly European, with a calmness and slower tempo that signaled a Mediterranean location far removed from the bustle of Manhattan. The true jewel of Altesi, however, is the owner Paolo Alavian, who, after introducing himself and his wife Antonia, treated us like royalty. For more photos and side streets, go to sideways.nyc
NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
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NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
WEST SIDE STARTUP ENTREPRENEURS How two friends came up with the idea for Hubble Contacts, a subscription lens company BY SOPHIE HERBUT
You may have seen them on television. Benjamin Cogan and Jesse Horwitz introduce themselves as a woman with a barrel of money walks into the frame. Cogan takes a single $20 bill and hands the woman a bright green box of contact lenses. “You shouldn’t have to pay a lot for daily contacts that feel great,” Cogan says in the commercial.
Contact lenses are a necessity for many people. According to the Vision Council of America, about 75 percent of adults use some sort of vision correction, either glasses or contacts. An estimated 40 million people wear contacts lenses in the U.S. and daily contacts cost about $700 a year. Someone on a budget might overwear their contacts in order to save money and put their health at risk doing so. Cogan noticed that the price of contacts lenses spiked in 2015. He said it happened a lot, though people just accept it. But he and his friend Jesse Horwitz look into why — and decided to create a new company, Hubble Contacts, in 2016. Cogan and Horwitz were longtime
Benjamin Cogan and Jesse Horwitz are the founders of Hubble Contacts. They’re planning to ship to Europe by early next year. Photo: Hubble Contacts
friends. Cogan, 27, who grew up on the Upper West Side, had studied philosophy at Princeton. Horwitz, 29, studied Econ math at Columbia after changing his major a few times. The Upper West Side is their home — they even used to live across the street from each other. “This is such a West Side company,” said Cogan. “Everyone involved is from the Upper West Side.” Cogan and Horwitz discovered that the market was dominated by four major companies: Johnson & Johnson, Alcon, Bausch & Lomb, and CooperVision control 97 percent of the industry and change prices constantly. Cogan and Horwitz found the rise in prices can lead to people overusing their contacts, potentially risking health problems. Their platform was to end “overpay or overuse.” “It’s a high-price thing that leads to health concerns,” Cogan said of contact lenses. Cogan quit his job at Harry’s — a subscription service for razors and shave gel — and Horwitz left his position at Columbia University’s endowment fund to start Hubble. Hubble Contacts is doing to contact lenses what Harry’s did for razors. They’re competing with established companies, offering lower prices with the added convenience of having them delivered to people’s homes. “We spent a lot of time talking to people in the industry,” said Cogan. “There are a lot of middle men [in the industry.]” Hubble’s subscription service allows people to submit their prescrip-
Hubble Contacts are a soft lens, disposable contact subscription. They’re competing against four companies that dominate 97 percent of the contact lens industry. Photo: Hubble Contacts tion and receive 30 pairs of contacts for the month at about a dollar a pair. Subscribers can also submit a different prescription for each eye on the same order so they don’t have to order double. Daily contacts are usually more expensive than reusable lenses. And some people aren’t able to to use them, like those with astigmatism or who need bifocals. But Hubble Contacts are a viable option for many people who are overpaying for disposable contacts. Horwitz said Hubble’s design and marketing were very important to them. Cogan’s father came up with the company name. He was inspired by Cogan’s girlfriend, an astrophysicist, and the famous Hubble space telescope. Horwitz said they had hired a design team that gave them dozens of names but all were trademarked. Hubble employs about 100 people, including customer service employees and independent contractors. The
company is located on 60th Street and Broadway, and Horwitz said they are the only startup of their size on the Upper West Side. Cogan and Horwitz say their company is profitable. And about those commercials: when Hubble started, their ads were mostly on Facebook and Instagram. “When you advertise on Facebook, you start reaching people only as quickly as Facebook allows you to,” Cogan said. Cogan said there was a limit on how much return a company gets from advertising on Facebook. Hubble Contacts was hitting those walls. So by May, they moved into other mediums: television, radio and podcast. Their TV commercials have been on many networks, including Lifetime, Fox Sports, CNN and NBC. Currently, Cogan and Horwitz are focused on expanding to more countries. This past August they started shipping to Canada, and they’re now working on shipping to Europe between December to February.
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
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MAKING A SPLASH IN TIMES SQUARE The co-founder of the company behind the city’s new underwater adventure takes us behind the scenes BY ANGELA BARBUTI
For the past three years, a team of National Geographic scientists, as well as Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winners, have worked on a one-of-akind experience in the heart of Times Square. The attraction, “National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey,” uses digital and immersive technology to make guests feel like they are on an ocean journey from the South Pacific to the West Coast of North America. To ensure scientific accuracy, marine biologist and National Geographic explorer David Gruber was called in and walked from room to room of the exhibit. And to create its sea creatures such as humpback whales, great white sharks and sea lions, they consulted Thilo Ewers of Pixomundo, the Emmy Award-winning visual effect company behind the dragons in HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” The underwater sou nd s hea rd throughout were composed by Gra m mywinner David K a h ne, who collected them from libraries worldwide.
“Ocean Odyssey” opened on October 6, at West 44th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, and quickly garnered raves, according to William Pennell, co-founder of SPE Partners, the entertainment developer that created and produced the project. The Upper West Side resident and New York native has quite a multifaceted résumé, with highlights that include a law degree, acting gigs, work as a talent agent, and finally, the creation of SPE Partners with a high school classmate.
You attended New York Law and Fordham. Did you grow up in New York? I grew up in Smithtown, Long Island. At this point, at my age, it’s crazy to say I’ve spent most of my life on the Upper West Side. I started Fordham when I was 17, and basically lived on 66th Street and Amsterdam since Fordham, except for six years in LA. So I moved away, and then came back to the same street, which is pretty funny.
Tell us about your work as a talent agent in LA. I guess what led me to be a talent agent was I was an actor in my 20s. To make a very lon g stor y short, I finally got myself in a brand new Edward Albee play and said, “This is it.” And
Visitors to “National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey” at Times Square. Photo: National Geographic Encounter two weeks before we started our official rehearsal, he pulled the show. And I said to myself, “I need a little more control out of my life,” and that’s when I went to law school. And right out of law school, I moved out to Los Angeles and became a talent agent, with an understanding, having been an actor. My niche was advocacy for artists. I did that for about six-and-a-half years at Abrams Artists Agency. We represented someone on every television show, from the kid on “Two and a Half Men” all the way up to the famous actor Hal Holbrook, and everybody in between.
What led you to create SPE Partners? I called an old friend who I’d gone to high school with, Alex Svezia; he’s the “S” in SPE, and the “E” is entertainment. We’d always planned on doing something in entertainment together because we were both crazy cinema guys. And I called him one day from Los Angeles and said, “Let’s form a company. I’m going to come back; let’s figure something out.” The trend had been in immersive cinema. We had seen an article about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas in The New York Times, saying that immersive movies were the future. So we started to try and think about how that would manifest, and that started our path on this project.
How did your partnership with National Geographic come about?
William Pennell, the co-founder of SPE Partners, the entertainment developer that created and produced “National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey.” Photo: National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey
We were trying to decide who would be the right partner to do something like this, and for many reasons, National Geographic was at the top of our list because it’s such a trusted brand and world-renowned. And also, there’s a woman named Lisa Truitt, who’s now the managing partner and chief creative officer of SPE. She was one of the leaders in IMAX and 3-D technology in film already. So it happened serendipitously. She was kind of thinking the same thing we were. Like
how do we break the boundaries and take someone and put them in a movie three-dimensionally, rather than sitting in a seat and watching a movie?
How can you explain Ocean Odyssey?
chovies, to escape their predators, become a giant sphere and predators, like whales and sharks, attack it. And we put you right in the middle of one in a high-resolution, 8K, 60 frames per second in a single shot, so it’s very exciting.
It’s closest to a walk-through movie or documentary. So it’s as if you walked into a film frame of a National Geographic documentary or a fictional film and that frame became four-dimensional and you were able to step inside it. And you basically take a scientifically accurate geographic journey through the South Pacific. And you walk through each room where you not only experience the science and entertainment through the technology, but you also learn. It’s very much based in science. National Geographic calls it storytelling with a purpose. We’re big on making science entertaining. You can go to a science fiction movie, but when you come to “National Geographic Encounter” and you see the Giant Humboldt Squid Battle, it’s based on science, looks real and actually exists in the world, and it’s just as exciting.
They did all the CGI animation. The company is called Pixomondo. One of their lead animators, Thilo Ewers, is the guy who designs and creates the dragons for “Game of Thrones.” We wanted someone who was going to be a real creature guy, who understands how to build them. And they won the Oscar for Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” for visual effects. Our sound composer is David Kahne, who’s worldrenowned and has worked with Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Kelly Clarkson and created this incredible soundscape using music, but primarily real ocean sounds. It’s been pretty amazing to work with people like that.
Who are the scientists who worked on it?
What are your future plans?
There were a lot of National Geographic explorers and scientists involved, but our most prominent was our chief science advisor for the project, Dr. David Gruber, an established National Geographic Emerging Explorer. He is the rock star of bioluminescence and underwater coral reefs. There’s plenty to read about him. Basically he would come in and go from room to room. And we worked with him to make sure we were getting everything scientifically accurate.
To create more locations around the world. “National Geographic Encounter” is really the brand and in each encounter we can do Ocean Odyssey or additional National Geographic-type subjects. So the next one could very much be an African safari or a space voyage. And we’re looking at cities, not only domestically, but also overseas. Very much so in London, it looks like that could be the next one.
What is your favorite part of the exhibit? There’s definitely a crowd pleaser and it’s the bait ball. We put people in a bait ball, which is a phenomenon that occurs and ours is off the coast of San Diego, California. And it’s where an-
You had a lot of Oscar, Grammy and Emmy winners working on this, as well as the visual effects team from “Game of Thrones.” What was their role?
www.natgeoencounter.com
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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan
by Myles Mellor
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NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
CLASSIFIEDS MERCHANDISE FOR SALE
PUBLIC NOTICES
REAL ESTATE - RENT
SERVICES OFFERED
PUBLIC NOTICES
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Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
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 December 6, 2017, in the Rotunda of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007, commencing at 1:00pm for the following account: Yasemin Aktas, as borrower,
Telephone: 212-868-0190 Fax: 212-868-0198 Email: classified2@strausnews.com
POLICY NOTICE: We make every eďŹ&#x20AC;ort to avoid mistakes in your classiďŹ ed ads. Check your ad the ďŹ rst week it runs. The publication will only accept responsibility for the ďŹ rst incorrect insertion. The publication assumes no ďŹ nancial responsibility for errors or omissions. We reserve the right to edit, reject, or re-classify any ad. Contact your sales rep directly for any copy changes. All classiďŹ ed ads are pre-paid.
PUBLIC NOTICES
PUBLIC NOTICES
110 shares of capital stock of 408 East 73 Street Housing Corporation and all right, title and interest in the Proprietary Lease to 408 East 73rd Street, Unit #5C, New York, NY 10021 Sale held to enforce rights of US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through CertiďŹ cates Series, 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 of the above captioned premises can occur. There is presently an outstanding debt owed to US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through CertiďŹ cates Series (lender) as of the date of this notice in the amount of $32,600.30. This ďŹ gure is for the outstanding balance due under UCC1, which was secured by Financing Statement in favor of CitiMortgage, Inc. recorded on October 16, 2006 under CRFN 2006000576994 and assigned to US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02Remic Pass -Through CertiďŹ cates Series 2007-02 via a UCC3 recorded on August 4, 2016 under CRFN 2016000268504. 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 $388,000.00.
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, attorney fees and out of pocket expenses incurred by US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through CertiďŹ cates Series. 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 US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through CertiďŹ cates Series, 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, US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through CertiďŹ cates Series, 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: October 17, 2017 Frenkel, Lambert, Weiss, Weisman & Gordon, LLP Attorneys for US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI Remic Series 2007-02- Remic Pass -Through CertiďŹ cates Series 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 631-969-3100 File #01-084751-#93355
Directory of Business & Services To advertise in this directory Call #BSSZ (212)-868-0190 ext.4 CBSSZ MFXJT@strausnews.com
OFFICE SPACE
AVAILABLE IN MANHATTAN
300 to 20,000 square feet
Elliot Forest,
Antique, Flea & Farmers Market SINCE 1979
East 67th Street Market (between First & York Avenues)
Open EVERY Saturday 6am-5pm Rain or Shine
Licensed R.E. Broker
Indoor & Outdoor FREE Admission Questions? Bob 718.897.5992
abfebf@aol.com
Proceeds BeneďŹ t PS 183
212-447-5400
I CAN SELL YOUR HOME OR APARTMENT QUICKLY!
N e s t S e e ke r s I N T E R N A T I O N A L
Real Estate Sales, 10+ Years Experience 587 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017 0Gm DF t 0UIFS Email: DavidL@NestSeekers.com Social Media davelopeznynj
CALL ME NOW AND GET RESULTS!
DAVID - 917.510.6457
Paintings & Icons Conservation and Restoration Manhattan location
Volunteering is Ageless Learn why organizations want you and how to get started!
Volunteers of All Ages Needed
Thursday, November 16, 2017 2:30²4:00 Rutgers Presbyterian Church 236 West 73rd Street (Subway 1, 2, 3 to 72nd St; one block north) (Bus²FURVV WRZQ 0 WR %œZD\ RQH EORFN QRUWK
Admission is FREE! Light Refreshments
RSVP to reserve your place 212 889-4805 or www.volunteer-referral.org
At Patina Studio your artwork will be restored, with personal and professional care, to give you pleasure for many years to come.
r XXX QBUJOBQBM DPN *Free on-site consultation*
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NOVEMBER 16-22,2017
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
COME HOME TO GLENWOOD MANHATTANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FINEST LUXURY RENTALS
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UPPER EAST SIDE 1 BEDROOMS FROM $2,995 2 BEDROOMS FROM $4,395 3 BEDROOMS FROM $6,595
MIDTOWN & UPPER WEST SIDE 1 BEDROOMS FROM $3,495 2 BEDROOMS FROM $4,795 3 BEDROOMS FROM $7,495
TRIBECA & FINANCIAL DISTRICT 1 BEDROOMS FROM $3,795 2 BEDROOMS FROM $5,895 3 BEDROOMS FROM $8,495
UPTOWN LEASING OFFICE 212-535-0500 DOWNTOWN LEASING OFFICE 212-430-5900 ! " " All the units include features for persons with disabilities required by FHA.
GLENWOOD Equal Housing Opportunity
BUILDER OWNER MANAGER
GLENWOODNYC.COM