The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF NOVEMBER CONTEMPLATING THE DIVINE ◄P.12
23-29 2017
New York City residents may soon be able to register to vote online. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office.
ONLINE VOTER REGISTRATION GETS CITY COUNCIL OK POLITICS Legislation will let city residents register by mobile app BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Less than one quarter of registered New York City voters cast ballots in this month’s general election for municipal offices — a new low for voter turnout in the city, which has trended steadily downward in mayoral contests for the last three decades. Local elected officials hope that legislation passed Nov. 16 by the City Council will widen the pool of voters in future elections by making it easier for residents to register to vote. The bill requires the city’s Campaign Finance Board to implement and maintain a website and mobile application allowing eligible residents to register to vote online. New York is one of 36 states that permit online voter registration in some form, but the state’s online registration program is currently only open to residents who hold DMV-issued driver licenses, learner permits, or non-driver identification cards. This requirement acted as a barrier to online registration for many residents of New York City, where car ownership rates are lower than in the rest of the state.
Council Member Ben Kallos, the bill’s author, hopes that the legislation will make it easier for the city’s residents to access the ballot. “Only about 25 percent of Manhattan households own cars,” Kallos said, citing the New York City Economic Development Corporation. “Driver licenses and other state identification cards are not as common among people of color or low-income communities, so having an online voter registration system that anyone can use is incredibly important.” Seth Stein, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said that the mayor’s office is reviewing the final legislation. “The Administration worked closely with the City Council in crafting this legislation,” he said. “We support online registration and making voting more accessible to New Yorkers.” The legislation that has an 18-month timeline for implementation, but Kallos said he hopes the online registration system will be up and running “in a matter days or weeks rather than months and months,” noting that a working demonstration of the system is available on his website. The legislation relies on an informal opinion issued by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in April 2016 advising that online registration is legal in New York State.
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A weekend street scene outside the Westside Market on Broadway just south of 77th Street, which has been its home since 1979. The supermarket’s lease with the parent company of the Hotel Belleclaire, its landlord, expires on November 30. Photo: Douglas Feiden
FOUR OPENINGS AND A FUNERAL SHOPPING The 38-year-old Westside Market is leaving its cozy if cramped space on Broadway and 77th Street, but the grocer plans to open four new Manhattan stores BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
The Westside Market on Broadway off West 77th Street has offered up its roasted turkey dinner with gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and holiday pie on every Thanksgiving since it first set up shop in 1979. That tradition ends this year. Upper West Siders will have until 10 p.m. on Thursday, November 23 to pick up the repast — and not a minute
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more. That sentence is sure to horrify the culinary cognoscenti because for 38 years, the family-owned supermarket maintained 24-7 hours. But now, it is selling off stock, slowly emptying shelves, curtailing hours and winding down operations. A proud fixture on the ground floor of the Hotel Belleclaire since Ed Koch’s first term as mayor, the grocer will close its doors for good on November 30. That’s the day its lease expires. And since it couldn’t come to terms on a lease-renewal deal with its landlord, Triumph Hotels, which owns the Belleclaire and six other Manhattan hotel properties, the market will be vacating the premises, said Ian Joskowitz, its chief operating officer. But this is not another tale of a legacy brick-and-mortar business
that has succumbed to online competition in an overheated real estate marketplace. On the contrary, despite sky-high rents, slender profit margins and a punishing commercial rent tax, Westside Market, which runs four other groceries in Manhattan, is in a major expansion mode.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, November 24 – 4:14pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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