The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF NOVEMBER - DECEMBER ALL THAT GLITTERS AT THE MET
29-5 2018
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TRUMP TOWER BUS STOP TO RETURN TRANSPORTATION MTA will restore southbound stop removed due to security concerns after 2016 election BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
the treetops, graced with green, safe and secure, designed to literally get students off the street — was back on track. “This is absolutely fantastic news!” said Tom Wrocklage, an executive board member of the school’s PTA, which has campaigned for the rooftop conversion for the past four years. “Right now, our kids have to play on the street, and they’re at great
Since Donald Trump was elected president in the fall of 2016, the area surrounding his Midtown residence — to say nothing of the rest of the country — has experienced severe disruptions. While protests at Trump Tower have ebbed in frequency over the last year, police barricades still line the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue, penning in crowds of gawking tourists. Security checkpoints loom outside the 58-story building, which is staffed by the NYPD and Secret Service around the clock. Traffic is often snarled in the area, due in part to the continued closure of 56th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues. But a small measure of normalcy will soon return to the neighborhood with the restoration of a longstanding Fifth Avenue bus stop, in front of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church between 55th and 56th Streets, which was removed due to security concerns after the 2016 election. By the end of November, southbound M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 and Q32 buses will once again pick up and drop off riders in the shadow of Trump Tower, according to officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the NYC Department of Transportation. The stop’s two-year absence left a gap of more than a third of a mile between stops, forcing passengers to walk to their destinations from as far as 60th Street or 52nd Street. “There are eight blocks without any local bus stops, which of course is
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Upper East Side state Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright (back row center) poses with visiting students from P.S. 290 at her community office on York Avenue. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Seawright’s office
REACHING FOR THE ROOF PLAY SPACES Providing 600 kids at P.S. 290 on the UES with a safer place to play than the street has been the dream of parents for years — but the cost was always prohibitive. Until now. BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
If there is one cardinal rule of municipal construction in New York, it boils down to this: Project costs inevitably go up. Which makes it all the more extraordinary now that the price for a massive retrofit of a public school has gone so dramatically down. The tab for creating a new rooftop play space atop P.S. 290 on East 82nd Street plummeted last month by some $4 million or more. Suddenly, an ambitious if longstalled plan to carve out a classroom-and-recreation area — above
“Nothing must stand in the way of the well-being and growth of our children.” Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright
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“We have to balance the security needs of the city with the ability of people to get around and use their neighborhood ... the situation has improved since November 2016 and this is another example of it continuing to improve.” Council Member Keith Powers
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For two years, buses have bypassed a former stop near Trump Tower due to heightened security in the area. Photo: Michael Garofalo
Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, November 30 – 4:12 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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MIRACLE ON 100TH STREET COMMUNITY A holiday without presents awaited the needy kids of Manhattan Valley. But our readers changed that glum prospect — and now, the toddlers and preteens will gets hats and scarfs, toys and teddy bears. BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
It was a close call: Christmas — or at least the traditional gift-giving that accompanies it — was almost called off for the children of the Frederick Douglass Houses on the Upper West Side. The annual holiday party hosted by Carmen Quinones, president of the tenants association at the 18-building housing development, was facing likely cancellation because of a lack of funds. Now, it’s back on track. The kids of Manhattan Valley will once again be showered with presents and love. And the generosity of the readers of The West Side Spirit and Our Town made it all possible. “There are angels with big hearts right here in New York, and they all came forward for the children,” Quinones said. “God is good.” We’re not the business of tooting our own horn. Our mission is to cover
news, events and features in our Manhattan communities. But our reporters and editors take great pride when outcomes and results reap benefits in our readership areas. This is a story about a story. Specifically, an article — “Gifts of the Magi” — that ran on Nov. 8 in four papers published by Straus News and told of faltering fundraising efforts to stage a joyous little party for 125-plus needy kids whose parents simply can’t afford to buy Christmas gifts. The event, which takes place at 830 Columbus Avenue off 100th Street on Three Kings Day, a holiday that is hugely popular in the Caribbean and falls this year on Jan. 6, is a life-saver for the residents of Frederick Douglass. No wonder: Average annual family income in public housing is $24,423. Every single day, residents struggle to get by. After necessary spending for food and shelter, there’s seldom enough left over for gifts. And that’s where Quinones comes in. A veteran community organizer and resident of the 4,500-apartment complex for 43 years, she’s paid most of the party’s costs out of her own pocket in years past. Neighbors have branded her a “onewoman Santa Claus.” A mother of three, grandmother of 19 and great-
grandmother of four, she loves to purchase and disburse stuffed animals, teddy bears, Cinderella dolls, Disney figures, flashing trucks, educational videos, heart-shaped items. This year, Quinones wanted to add to the offerings. Frederick Douglass often lacks heat and hot water, so she was determined to buy hats and gloves and scarfs to keep the kids warm on frigid wintry days. But she needed a little bit of help to pull it off. She had lost her father. She was battered by Hurricane Maria when she went to Puerto Rico to bury him. She barely survived. Her lupus worsened. Related health problems resulted in financial pressures. It was all pretty daunting.
THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS So Quinones made a Facebook appeal for $2,000 to help underwrite food and gifts. The paper you’re holding in your hands or reading online related her story. And the checks, small and large, soon started flowing. Cosmin Maiorescu, a Romanian immigrant who has lived on West 17th Street in Chelsea since settling in the U.S. 11 years ago, is unemployed. But that didn’t stop him from wrapping up a $10 bill and mailing it to Quinones. “I think you are a hero!” he told her in
Carmen Quinones (first row at right), shown here with tenants and cops at the Frederick Douglass Houses in Manhattan Valley. Photo courtesy of Carmen Quinones a letter. “Please accept my little help. It’s not that much, but it’s coming from a big heart.” In an interview, the 35-year-old Maiorescu, a freelance photographer, said he knows what it’s like to not possess much, to not afford much and to receive no presents at holiday time. But that does not strip a person of the giving spirit. “If I have to I’ll skip a meal, I’ll skip a meal,” he said. “Your story just moved something inside of me, and whatever I have, I want to give something back. The city has been very good to me, and it’s the right thing to do.” Before long, I was even hearing from my 90-something mother Barbara Feiden, who wrote in an email, “Your article on the Douglass residents got at least one very modest contribution — from me.” But it was longtime Upper East Side resident Donna Golkin whose largesse — she wrote a personal check for $1,800 — ultimately tipped the scales.
“The children of Frederick Douglass should know just how special they are – and that they receive what all children SHOULD be receiving at this special time of the year,” she said. Golkin said she was moved by Quinones’ determination that the kids have a “magical holiday season” and felt fortunate that she, along with others, could help her achieve her goal. But make no mistake, she added, “This incredible woman is doing the heavy-lifting here on behalf of all these wonderful children.” “It is an incredible feeling for people to realize that even strangers care about them,” Golkin said. “And I hope that gives Carmen and the parents of the children some comfort. Indeed it does: “My heart is so full,” Quinones said. “God sent another angel.” Now, she’s off to buy presents for the kids. invreporter@strausnews.com
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11 a.m. — Children’s Pageant 10 p.m. — Candlelight Service
11 a.m. — Worship
1140 Park Avenue at 91st Street, 212-289-4400, www.brickchurch.org
NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG BY JERRY DANZIG
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th precinct for the week ending Nov 18 Week to Date
SENIOR SCAM This is one of the worst scams we’ve ever reported. During the period between Wednesday, July 18 and Tuesday, Nov. 13, a 74-year-old woman living on the Upper East Side received e-mails from a fraudulent ďŹ nancial institution calling itself First City Bank asking her to wire money to receive a payout of $7 million. Unfortunately, the woman complied, wiring money on multiple occasions to different bank accounts. The ďŹ nal request for payment came from the phone number 518-558-5132, and police believe the perpetrator’s name could be Dr. Albert Jones. In all, the woman was scammed out of $800,000, according to police.
Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr
behind one of his gloves. The stolen item was a Paul & Shark winter jacket, valued at $1,275.
SHARK ATTACK At Paul & Shark fashion boutique, a 38-year-old man wearing construction gloves entered the store, located at 667 Madison Ave., at 3:40 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19. He then took an item from the front window display and left without paying. He headed up Madison Avenue on an e-bike and made a right turn onto East 61st Street, leaving
STOLEN PROPERTY ARREST At 5:40 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19, a 21-year-old man was driving a gray 2014 BMW 528, heading westbound
on East 71st Street, when a police officer observed him disobeying a traffic sign. The officer stopped the motorist, ran the defendant’s name in the police database, and discovered that the man had a suspended license. The officer then arrested the man and drove his vehicle back to the 19th Precinct, where he recovered 104 checks from the defendant’s jacket pocket, along with a glassine envelope of marijuana and 403 more checks in
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Year to Date
2018 2017
% Change
2018
2017
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
1
0
n/a
Rape
0
0
n/a
12
14
-14.3
Robbery
0
4
-100.0 127
109
16.5
Felony Assault
2
0
n/a
134
115
16.5
Burglary
6
1
500.0
200
185
8.1
Grand Larceny
25
28
-10.7
1,260 1,224 2.9
Grand Larceny Auto
2
2
0.0
70
the man’s car, all made out and signed by people other than the defendant. Police report that Kabine Kaba was arrested and charged with criminal possession of stolen property.
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manager. The customer then went to the entrance, took out a black trimming instrument with a blade and cut the store’s awning valued at $400, causing visible damage. Police report that Robert Fultz was arrested the following day and charged with criminal mischief.
AWNING ASSAULT A supermarket customer was arrested after intentionally damaging the store’s front awning. At 6:20 a.m. on Nov. 18, a 33-year-old male customer inside the Key Foods at 1769 Second Ave. got into an argument with the store
CLEANING SURPRISE Sadly, scammers continue to regard seniors as prime victims. From Sunday, Oct. 14 to Friday, Nov. 16, a 100-yearold woman residing on the Upper East
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Useful Contacts
Drawing Board BY MARC BILGREY
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 Keith Powers
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
1485 York 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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COUNCIL WEIGHS HATE CRIME BILL JUSTICE Legislation would form interagency office tasked with coordinating city’s anti-hate efforts BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
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Amidst a recent spike in hate crimes, the City Council is considering legislation that would create a new city office dedicated to addressing bias-motivated incidents. Early in November, soon after a gunman killed 11 Jewish congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue, police in New York City arrested an individual suspected of drawing swastikas on several Upper West Side buildings. Several similar acts occurred in Brooklyn within a few days, adding to a list of over 500 anti-Semitic incidents reported across the city in the last two years. Legislation introduced by Council Member Mark Levine would establish a new mayoral office for the prevention of such hate crimes. The office would serve to foster cooperation and collaboration between the various city agencies involved in disparate issues relating to hate crime, ranging from law enforcement and prosecution to outreach and prevention to counseling services for victims. “When the city confronts major challenges like this, we often establish an entity to coordinate amongst the many agencies that are required to work together,â€? Levine said at a Nov. 19 hearing, citing existing interagency bodies tasked with coordinating city resources dedicated to domestic violence prevention and legal assistance programs, among other topics. The new office, Levine said, would provide policymakers with a more holistic view of the city’s efforts to ďŹ ght
A police and ďŹ re call box on the Upper West Side, near West 104th Street and Columbus Avenue, was vandalized with a swastika and “KKKâ€? in October 2018. Photo: Office of Council Member Mark Levine
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hate crimes and their effectiveness, enabling officials of various agencies to better coordinate budget requests, work together on common strategies, share statistics, target resources for victims and identify trends and vulnerabilities. “This would be a way to coordinate prevention, awareness, investigation, prosecution, impact on communities” and all other aspects of the city’s response to hate crimes, Levine said. Jewish New Yorkers are consistently the city’s most frequently targeted group, with anti-Semitic hate crimes accounting for nearly half of all reported incidents in 2017. To date, anti-Semitic hate crimes are up 18 percent over last year. “The increased reports of swastikas and other criminal mischief here in the five boroughs absolutely concern us, and none of it will ever be tolerated in New York City,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said at a Nov. 7 press conference. O’Neill said hate crimes were down at the beginning of the year, but a recent uptick, which he attributed to “the current atmosphere,” has put this year’s figures in line with the previous total. Hate crimes targeting African-Americans are up 27 percent this year over 2017, including a Nov. 1 incident in which a Bronx man allegedly scrawled a racial slur on the African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan. As of Nov. 11, the NYPD has recorded 308 confirmed hate crime incidents citywide in 2018, slightly more than the 303 incidents recorded through the same point last year. The number of reported incidents citywide in 2018 is on pace to align with the 2017 and 2016 totals of 325 and 333, respectively, up from 309 in 2015. At the national level, the FBI’s tally of reported hate crime incidents increased by 17 percent in 2017 from the prior year — the third consecutive year in which the number of hate crimes increased.
TROUBLING TIMES • Feb. 28, 2017: The entrance of the Fourth Universalist Society, a Unitarian Universalist church on Central Park West, was defaced with swastikas soon after officials declared the church would serve as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. • March 20, 2017: Timothy Caughman, a 66-year-old black man, was allegedly murdered on West 36th Street by a white supremacist who reportedly admitted to police that he had traveled to New York from Baltimore specifically to kill black men. • Oct. 25, 2017: Vandals spray painted a swastika on the doors of Sutton Place Synagogue on East 51st Street. • July 28, 2018: The white supremacist group Identity Evropa held a demonstration in Fort Tyron Park in Inwood, unveiling a banner reading “Stop the invasion, end immigration.” • Oct. 1, 2018: A sukkah on the East River Esplanade in Carl Schurz Park was defaced by vandals on the last day of the celebratory Jewish holiday of Sukkot • Oct. 12, 2018: Members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group, clashed with anti-fascist protesters in street brawls after Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes delivered a speech at the Metropolitan Republican Club on the Upper East Side. • Nov. 1, 2018: A Bronx man allegedly defaced African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan with a racial slur.
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Voices
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BLESSINGS AND BIG BREAKS EAST SIDE OBSERVER BY ARLENE KAYATT
Getting blessed — Join columnist Cindy Adams and her Yorkie, Juicy, at this year’s 10th annual Blessing of the Animals at Christ Church, located at 60th Street and Park Avenue, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 9th. No pets without people. No people without pets. Always SRO. The services include a procession of animals to the altar — there have been pigs and goats, llamas and horses. And there will be blessings at the altar for the family cats, dogs and birds by Christ Church’s Senior
Minister Stephen Bauman, and Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein from Central Synagogue. No RSVP.
Speaking of blessings — The East Asian mandarin duck that found refuge in New York’s Central Park should get a blessing by proxy to remain safe and stay in the park and not get deported, if it gets icy and it turns out that the duck is undocumented. No news should mean no newsstands — Those silvery stands standing either mid-block or on the corner that claim to be “newsstands” but don’t carry newspapers or magazines have been a pet peeve of mine. In a
May 2017 column, I noted that the proliferation of the structures was taking up valuable street space to sell candy and soda and lottery tickets, but not newspapers. Not only are they operating under a misnomer, but they are crowding the sidewalks. Now Community Board 6 is tackling the issue after receiving an increased number of applications for new newsstand locations in Midtown East. Not only do these “newsstands” unfairly compete with existing brick and mortar businesses that sell the same candy, soda and lottery tickets, but they are also operating under a false premise. If they don’t carry newspapers or magazines, they shouldn’t be
allowed to operate as newsstands. And they also take up precious sidewalk space for the privilege. The public outcry should continue. And the Department of Consumer Affairs, which approves the placement of newsstands, should not be complicit in permitting a misuse of the city’s streets. Kudos to CB6 for taking a stand!
Tenant’s right — It happened here in our town: a residential tenant at 160 East 84th St. won a new lower base rent after the landlord took advantage of the luxury decontrol provisions of the Rent Stabilization Law to deregulate a studio apartment. As reported in New York Law School’s
MY CITY IS GONE PUBLIC EYE BY JON FRIEDMAN
Living in Stuyvesant Town just ain’t what it used to be. You can call this Manhattan 2.0 in 2018. Life is just inconvenient enough for me to remember the glory days. The Pretenders’ elegy, “My City Was Gone” now applies to the corner of my little town. The recent closing of Petite Abeille, a beloved Belgian-American restaurant on my block, is the latest example. Yes, it was overpriced. And, yeah, it was sometimes maddening when no one deigned to answer the phone to record my takeout order, or let the phone ring a dozen times. But it was worth the aggravation. “The Belgian place,” as my neighbors and I referred to it, served the best French fries around. And the French toast — do you see a theme here? — couldn’t be beat. Now, that’s all gone. This is truly a sign of the times. All over the city, bodegas, neighborhood favorites, service establishments such as dry cleaners and drug stores, not
to mention those heartwarming, oldfashioned mom and pop places are all closing their doors for good. Their rents have increased to a point where they could no longer afford to stay in business. For Stuyvesant Town residents alone, the past few years have seen a shocking litany of now-former favorites that were close enough to walk to. Across the street from my apartment, Adriatic, my go-to takeout place for a slice of pizza or a platter of veal parmigiana, left the neighborhood about a year ago. The blessed Carvel on East Twenty-Fourth Street and Second Avenue was a summer staple — until it wasn’t. Di Roberti’s, down on 11th Street, hit the road without saying goodbye, taking the money and running, along with stacks and stacks of the best damn chocolate chip cookies in the city. And, you bet, I still can’t walk past the corner on Second Avenue and 10th Street and scowl, remembering how I could practically fall out of bed and jump on a stool and gobble down the world’s greatest matzo ball soup. (Don’t tell my mother I said that!) More disturbing than me having to schlep a few blocks out of my way
A beloved restaurant, now closed. Photo: Jon Friedman to find new favorite places that serve my favorite grossly unhealthy foods is what this all means. My — our! — quality of life is declining, right before our eyes. For the umpteenth time, Manhattan is changing. More than ever, this is be-
coming a town of haves and get outs. You get the feeling that Gordon “Greed Is Good!” Gekko could run for mayor and win in a landslide because he has eerily tapped into the code of the city in the twenty-first century. Despite politicians’ pledges to build
“CityLand,” the State Department of Housing and Community Renewal set the tenant’s new base rent by using a sampling method. The tenant of the studio apartment challenged the new rent and “sought application of a more favorable [and] allowable formula which would have produced a lower rent.” The New York Court of Appeals agreed with the tenant, and ruled that the building (and others like it) at 160 East 84th St. is ineligible to use luxury decontrol provisions because it was receiving tax incentive benefits under New York City’s J-51 Exemption and Abatement program.
more “affordable” housing, this is still a (very) rich person’s city. Perhaps this is merely a continuation of a decadeslong trend, which probably began when Ronald Reagan was the U.S. President. That’s when I first started noticing the homeless population. Maybe the most relevant equation is to conclude that the more homeless people you encounter on the street, the more this is a haven for the rich. Not long after I moved into Stuy Town, I lugged a bag full of dirty pants and shirts to the local dry cleaner. When I came back to retrieve my stuff, I watched as the woman in line in front of me asked the owner, “Do you take a check?” Of course, he said, nodding. When my turn came, I said, “So, you take checks?” “No” was all he said. Years later, when I reminded him, he shrugged and explained, “I didn’t know you then.” By the way, he’s out of business, too. Now, my dry cleaner, who couldn’t place me in a police lineup, gives me neat print-outs of my orders — and charges a lot more than I used to pay. I guess I could sum up my disillusionment in one sentence. Something is wrong when there are more bank branches within walking distance of my home than bagel places.
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NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018
PLAY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 risk from bicycles, e-scooters, cars coming out of nowhere — unfortunately, even gun violence is something we have to worry about,” he added. “If they’re up on the roof, they’ll finally have security ... But we’re not going to celebrate until the ribbon is cut.” The cautionary note is understandable: No budget for the project has been publicly released. Millions of dollars must still be secured. No final blueprints have been drawn up. Engineering work lies ahead. A timeline hasn’t been established. The city procurement process can be painfully slow. But supporters say a corner has been turned in efforts to fund a rooftop play space at the five-story, red-brick schoolhouse, which was built in the Beaux-Arts style in 1903 — and has seen no substantive changes to its physical plant in 115 years. Located between Second and Third Avenues on the Upper East Side, P.S. 290, which instructs kids from pre-K through the fifth grade, is one of only eight public schools in Manhattan — out of a borough-wide total of 505 — that offer no designated areas
for physical education. While 497 schools house gymnasiums or provide space for citymandated phys-ed programs in their buildings or off-campus, P.S. 290 has no stand-alone gym or adequate courtyard space for recess, lacks a “gymnatorium,” or converted auditorium, and has no indoor play space nearby. That makes the facility, relaunched in 1991 as the Manhattan New School, a throwback to a century-ago era when physical education was not an imperative, virtually no public schools boasted gyms — and the sole form of instructional exercise was dubbed “recess-on-the-street.” Those time-capsule conditions — totally out of whack with today’s risk-and-safety standards — were the subject of a Page One story in Our Town (“The School That Time Forgot,” Oct. 4-10) that documented how 600-plus elementary students had no choice but to use a so-called “play street” in front of the school for recess, exercise needs and other physical activities. Seeking to get the kids off the street, out of harm’s way and up into protected outdoor play space on the roof, advocates raised a small fortune: East Side City Council Member Ben Kallos allocated $1.52 million
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P.S. 290 on East 82nd Street, where more than 600 elementary school students have nowhere to play but the street. Photo: Douglas Feiden
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in three separate funding tranches over three years. East Side state Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright raised $500,000 from a state facilities funding program. The PTA ponied up $250,000 from movie nights, bake sales and Halloween dances. With $2.27 million in the bank, and community support locked up, the rooftop-retrofit project was within striking distance of an initial $2.8 million estimate. Then, costs began to go, well, through the roof, doubling, trebling, almost quadrupling by some accounts. No firm budget was unveiled, but estimates ranged from $7 million to $10 million. What happened? The old school has no elevators. To make it ADA accessible, a lift from street level to the roof would have to be built, necessitating major interior construction and additional costs north of $4 million. “The mayor’s office has rightly started to take a more aggressive stance that as we do construction work, we build a more accessible city for the future,” Kallos said. He cited several East Side schools that now lack accessibility. Still, he said, school administrators were troubled about the loss of instructional space that would result from elevator installation — four classrooms,
about one-eighth of available space — and believed that left them no viable option but to seek an ADA waiver. So the city’s School Construction Authority (SCA), which Kallos praised for responding to community needs, applied to the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) for a waiver. Initially, it was nixed, he said. “But thanks to reporting by Our Town, the waiver request received additional attention and was examined a second time, and now, the waiver will allow the project to move forward,” Kallos added. The city’s Dept. of Education on Nov. 26 confirmed that SCA, which builds and renovates schools, received a waiver from MOPD. That brought the price tag down roughly $4 million, other sources estimate. Both Kallos and Seawright pledged to seek additional funding to bring the project to fruition. “This is not just about providing a safe play space,” Seawright said. “This is about meeting the essential developmental needs of our children. Nothing must stand in the way of their wellbeing and growth.” invreporter@strausnews.com
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NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018
ALL THAT GLITTERS AT THE MET Jewelry across the world and the ages BY MARY GREGORY
Not every culture cherished paintings or fancy furniture. Not every culture created books. Not every culture wanted much in the way of clothing. But every culture since the beginning of history has found a use for jewelry, posits Melanie Holcomb, curator at The Met’s department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters and organizer of “Jewelry: The Body Transformed,” a stunning, revealing and dazzling exhibition. Rituals of birth, marriage and death, declarations of deep inner beliefs and statements about social and political status all find expression in jewelry. According to Holcomb, “To fully understand the power of jewelry, it is not enough to look at it as miniature sculpture.” Instead, she’s organized an exhibition culled from the Met’s encyclopedic holdings that focuses on jewelry’s interaction with and effects on the body and spirit. With some 230 glittering works on
An Edo or Meiji period (mid-19th century) lacquer comb with flower-shaped roundels from Japan. Photo: Adel Gorgy
IFWHAT: YOUJewelry: GO:The Body Transformed WHERE: The Met Fifth Avenue WHEN: Through Feb. 24, 2019 view, the show sparkles, but it also draws viewers into a contemplative conversation about what we, as humans, say about who we are through what we wear. It’s been this way for millennia. Few of us today need to glance beyond our own selves to find some piece of adornment meant to express personality, remember someone dear, tell time, gather hair, or just beautify. “Jewelry is one of the oldest modes of creative expression — predating even cave painting by tens of thousands of years—and the urge to adorn ourselves is now nearly univer-
Egyptian Broad Collar from the Amarna Period ca. 1353–1336 B.C. Photo: Adel Gorgy
sal,” said Max Hollein, director of The Met. Beginning in a darkened gallery filled with clear cases presenting spotlighted, precious objects, the opening vision is both jaw-dropping and subtle. In a hurry to gaze at so much opulence, viewers might miss that the see-through cases, as they stand before them, line up so that foot ornaments, like spectacular hammered gold sandals and toe covers, then lead to waist ornaments, chest and neck pieces, and finally crowns. They reach from ancient Egyptian, to Bronze-age Celtic, to China’s Tang dynasty, to the Chimú people of Peru, to the Dan peoples of the Côte d’Ivoire, to William Harper’s intriguing, painterly 1994 “Brooch: Homage to Cy Twombly and Joseph Cornell” and beyond. Thanks to the Met’s extensive collection and Holcomb’s curatorial creativity, we can conjure, with our mind’s eye, a figure decked out in a whole world’s worth of jewelry. Such visual wizardry reminds us to pay attention to sight lines, those often missed but evocative placements curators and designers work so hard to engineer, hoping to spark viewers’ imaginations. Here, they’re as brilliant as some of the gems on display. The gold and emerald Crown of the Andes, placed at eye-level in a glass window, overlooks a 12th century sculpted Indian dancer. Each echoes the other’s sensual lines and curves. Distinct sections present jewelry that ruminates on the Divine Body, the Regal Body, the Transcendent Body, the Alluring Body and the Resplendent Body. They start with Mesopotamian funerary beads from about 2500 BC and take the viewer across time and around the world. We learn that ancient cultures summoned the divine by rattling “noisy” jewelry. In traditional Japanese women’s wear, only the hair was ornamented, with exquisite combs and pins. Medieval
Jasmine Bud Necklace, 19th century, India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala), gold with rubies strung on black thread. Photo: Adel Gorgy rulers announced their power and wealth through crowns, chains and rings. (It should never be hard to spot the king, Holcomb points out in the wall texts.) Swords and hilts spoke of masculinity. Lustrous pearls draw attention to skin tones. A carefully placed brooch or pendant can lead the eye artfully to the décolletage. Masks transform wearers, just as jewels seem to animate sculptures. Allure and seduction can be put on or taken off with the right kinds of jewelry, and in contemporary culture, jewelry can be used in traditional ways or to make challenging statements. The exhibition concludes with contemporary pieces that speak directly to this moment. Rich or poor, regardless of gender, decked in gold and platinum or clay beads and feathers, all people have found ways to express notions of wealth, power, spirituality, pride and beauty through adornments of the face, neck, wrists, ears, ankles and more. From dazzling crowns to humble combs, as the show points out, it’s all how you wear it.
“Yashmak” Shaun Leane, Designed for Alexander McQueen,Spring/summer 2000, edition 2017, Aluminum, Swarovski crystal. Photo: Adel Gorgy
NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018
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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS
Bakery On 3rd Cafe
1885 3rd Ave
Grade Pending (27) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Steak And Hoagies
1657 Madison Ave
A
The Jaguar Restaurant
1735 Lexington Ave
Grade Pending (20) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. 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.
Il Gnocchi Restaurant
118 East 116 Street
Grade Pending (7) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
La Avenida
2247 1st Ave
Grade Pending (24) 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.
Amor Cubano
2018 3 Avenue
Grade Pending (29) 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. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
Kennedy Fried Chicken
1774 Lexington Ave
A
Love Cafe
283 Pleasant Avenue
A
Pee Dee Steak
2006 3 Avenue
A
KFC
1922 3 Avenue
Grade Pending (58) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Filth flies or food/refuse/ sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or nonfood 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. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
A.M. Deli Juice Bar Food
308 E 116th St
Grade Pending (26) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
NOV 14 - 20, 2018 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. Lorenzo & Maria’s Kitchen
1418 Third Avenue
A
Chicky’s On 86
355 E 86th St
A
Bondurants
303 E 85th St
Grade Pending (21) 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. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Heidelberg Restaurant
1648 2 Avenue
A
Agora Turkish Restaurant
1565 Second Avenue
Grade Pending (21) Evidence of rats or live rats 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. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Cafe Bleriot
226 E 83rd St
H & H Midtown Bagels East 1551 2 Avenue
A Grade Pending (27) Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. 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. 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. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Piazza Pizza & Grill
1530 3 Avenue
A
La Pulperia
1626 2nd Ave
A
Asian 83
1605 2nd Ave
A
Biddy’s Pub
301 East 91 Street
Grade Pending (21) 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.
Libertador
1725 2 Avenue
A
Neighborhood Scrapbook
HONORING ‘URBAN HEALTH HEROES’
Claudia Aristy of Bellevue’s ROR and HELP (center) with Laurie M. Tisch, President of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and Jennifer J. Raab, President of Hunter College. Photo courtesy of Hunter College
Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab and Illumination Fund Founder and President Laurie Tisch announced this year’s recipients of the eighth annual Joan H. Tisch Community Health Prize. These awards honor individuals and nonprofit organizations in the New York metropolitan area for distinguished accomplishment in urban public health. The 2018 recipients are Claudia Aristy (Hunter College ’07), who serves as Director of Children of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read (ROR) Program as well as the Health Education and Literacy for
Parents (HELP) Project; and the Service Program for Older People, Inc. (SPOP), one of the first agencies in the U.S. to focus on meeting the mental health needs of senior citizens aging in place in their communities. Both recipients were honored at a ceremony and reception on Tuesday, November 13 at The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. “We are proud indeed to recognize these urban health heroes,” said President Raab. “They are perfect examples of the Tisch Family’s extraordinary effort to identify and acknowledge people and
organizations that make a major impact on their communities.” Said Laurie M. Tisch: “The Service Program for Older People, Inc. and Claudia Aristy have both exhibited their unwavering commitment to serving those in need in our communities.” Made possible by support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, the Prize is part of the Joan H. Tisch Legacy Project, which is based at Hunter College, and is a tribute to Joan H. Tisch in recognition of her humanitarian activism in health care and social services.
NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018
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A TREE FALLS IN CHELSEA Meet NATURE
Kenny Barrett
An arboreal casualty is a reminder of how vulnerable — and miraculous — our city greenery is BY DEBORAH FENKER
Last week’s early snowfall that the authorities predicted would turn to rain never did, and in fact turned out to be substantially more profound a storm than most anyone expected. A projected one or two inches that would melt into puddles by rush hour turned into substantial and sloppy accumulation, wreaking havoc on both mass and private transit, and foiling the shoe choice of many who were understandably and unfortunately unprepared. The wet, heavy flakes settled onto vulnerable branches that had not yet lost their foliage, the slushy weight snapping branches like uncooked spaghetti and even felling an unprecedented number of specimens. Right here in Chelsea, we suffered an arboreal casualty that uprooted a thirty to forty year old Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) on 22nd Street and took a good portion of the sidewalk with it, as well as a very shiny late model BMW that happened to be unluckily parked beneath. One doesn’t often think of the trees that line the side streets of the city, except when they display their vibrant autumn foliage, bloom into uffy nebulae of delicate spring blossoms, or droop their branches so low as to inhibit pedestrian traffic. The trees of New York subsist much like their human counterparts, crammed into living spaces much smaller than the ideal, and susceptible to daily toxicities, such a vehiclular pollution and a chronic basting of
Uprooted. Photo: Deborah Fenker
The trees of New York subsist much like their human counterparts, crammed into living spaces much smaller than the ideal. their roots with the dog urine of careless walkers and owners. The diminutive tree pits allotted to each tree are barely sufficient for their expansive root systems, which can grow up to three times as wide as a tree’s own canopy. While many trees feature a depth-seeking taproot, the majority of a tree’s nutrition come from these lateral roots that hover within the ďŹ rst few feet of soil, which in New York are unequivocally smothered by a layer of concrete. The soil, too, is so compacted that healthy root growth is virtually impossible, and when they become topheavy with an accumulation of slush as they did last Thursday, heavy winds render them defenseless. That the trees even grow as large as they do is something of a miracle, but the New York City Parks Department maintains a wide variety of them, from the stinky, slippery-leafed ginkos to the spectacularly showy fruit-blossom trees that explode come springtime. There are 2,983 trees documented in
Aftereffects of the storm at 212 West 22nd Street. Photo: Deborah Fenker
Chelsea alone, which one can ďŹ nd details of on the very informative and fascinating interactive NYC Parks Street Tree Map (tree-map.nycgovparks.org). Or, perhaps, now 2,982. And that Callery pear wasn’t the only one to come down: a similar catastrophe befell a tree that night down on West 13th Street just across from The New School; I heard of another on the news on the Upper East Side, one in SoHo, and another car-crushing incident on Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens. No borough is immune. A month or so ago I saw one tree downed near Greenwich and Perry, no traumatic weather involved, but it pulled up the tree pit barrier and half the sidewalk all the same. The city was fairly swift, all things considered, to remove the Callery pear from the BMW. They sawed the trunk into chunks (the tree, not the car), which remains stacked beside the stump on the south side of the street, its branches mounded on the north side into a leafy mass about the same size as the car it crushed. The Parks Department issued a statement to alert the public of a blitz of branch-trimming last Sunday as a result of all the downed trees and limbs. On the surface, it seems tragic to have to cut back any of these life-giving beauties, as well as compromise their effectiveness for the crucial services they provide, from intercepting stormwater and buffering gales, to lowering temperatures with their benevolent shade, to perhaps their most important function of all, cleaning the air of toxins and capturing carbon dioxide to produce the oxygen we depend upon as humans. But a little preventative downsizing is vastly preferable to losing a whole, half-century old one, along with the potential destruction of whatever happens to lie beneath.
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Kenny Barrett Janovic Store Manager 888 Lexington Avenue
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Your Neighborhood Store 888 Lexington Ave @ 66th St | 212-772-1400
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NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018
Business
GIVE THE GIFT OF NO-PLASTIC STRAWS not ready for the #NoStrawChallenge, look for these options:
SHOPPING For the holidays, how to help friends and family protect the environment BY LEANNE ITALIE
Big problem or a fraction of the world’s plastic consumption? You decide, but know that single-use plastic straws are a recent target of environmental activists. As restaurants debate whether to voluntarily dole them out and lawmakers feverishly write bans against them to protect the ocean and sea life and to reduce stress on landfills, alternatives to plastic straws are plentiful. Some are downright gifty. If you want to feel better about yourself and your holiday gift choices, and to urge someone on your list to give up plastic because they seem
YES, TIFFANY & CO. Let your loved one sip in style with a selection of reusable, luxury straws from Tiffany, because who doesn’t love to see a blue box with their name on it come gift time? One, in sterling silver covered in rose gold vermeil, comes as a crazy straw with a twist at the bend at the top. The straw comes with a tiny band of the Tiffany blue in enamel, just to make sure people know its origins. $375. Another lets the sterling silver shine with a little monkey crawling up a vine. $425.
A rebirth of paper straws. Photo: Marco Verch, via flickr dots and chevrons, and special-occasion themes like black-and-white patterns or baby blue dots. Lots of brick-and-mortar stores are into paper straws, too. Prices vary.
PAPER CAN BE COOL The disposable paper varieties of straws are enjoying a rebirth. Some are more festive than others. Amazon has an ample assortment in party-worthy metallics, colorful
BAMBOO & GLASS In addition to metals, from Tiffany level to more affordable in stainless steel, some materials not routinely associated with straws have become
more widespread amid the plasticstraw debate. Bamboo is having a moment all over the place, in utensils, plates — even toothbrushes. If you think bamboo straws would go unused by your giftee, paper varieties in bamboo prints are available by the box. Prices vary for bamboo straws. One company, Brush with Bamboo, sells a cute bundle of 12 tied with string, for $20. They are grown organically and artisan-made in northeast India, where bamboo straws are traditionally used to drink beer. As for glass, well, some companies insist their offerings are shatter free. A box of four , with a little cleaning brush, goes for $7.99 on Amazon. Two are bent. Ecostraw. com sells a nice variety for all types of drinks.
PASTA & WHEAT
ing but many are no-GMO, fully biodegradable and come in wide sizes worthy of bubble tea. One version is called Hay! Straws and comes tall at 7.75 inches, in a cute box of 100, for $8. Shorter ones are also available. They’re made from wheat stems and are sold with a warning to sip through them, not ingest them. Another company calls itself, yes, Pasta Straw. It says it’s working on a gluten-free version. So what’s the draw? Well, Pasta Straws says on its website that paper straws biodegrade in 30 to 60 days. Pasta Straws do it overnight and are edible, the company said. A sample pack wrapped in paper with a company sticker includes 24 and goes for $7.99. The problem: Generally, pasta straws don’t last as long as, say, glass or metal. Upside, they don’t get soggy like paper straws.
They may not be the longest last-
AMAZON EXPANSION: A TOUGH FIGHT FOR TALENT EMPLOYMENT NYC industries face increased competition as the tech giant plans to hire in the tightest job market in decades BY ALEXANDRA OLSON
When tech giants like Amazon expand, other companies don’t just worry about losing business. They also fret about hanging on to their employees. Some of the industries that have defined New York City and the Washington, D.C., area will face increased competition for talent when Amazon sets up shop in their territory, with plans to hire 50,000 new workers amid the tightest job market in decades. The expansion comes at time of fierce demand for computer programmers, mobile app developers, data scientists and cybersecurity experts. Salaries keep rising as companies from banks to retailers seek new technology professionals to expand their online presence and automate operations. Particularly in demand are soft-
ware developers, with many switching jobs each year. Even some banks have eased up on their dress codes to project a hipper image. “It’s a very competitive market in New York,” said William Lynch, president of the New York-based fitness tech company Peloton. “It really requires you to be smart about how you are reaching the new hiring pipeline.” Tech employment in the U.S. has grown by an average of 200,000 new jobs each year since 2010, a trend that is expected to continue for at least the next decade, according to an industry report from Computing Technology Industry Association, or CompTIA, which analyzes data from the Labor Department and other sources. The figure includes all people employed by tech companies, as well as tech professionals in other industries. In New York, big banks are among the biggest employers of computer technology professionals. J.P. Morgan Chase employs 50,000 people in technology and hired its first artificial intelligence research chief in May. Goldman Sachs has said one-quarter of its employees work in engineeringrelated roles. Amazon’s traditional
retail rivals are striving to expand their online business and develop new technologies to improve operational efficiency. But young professionals are flocking to tech companies, lured by the idea of changing the way people do everything from buying homes to exercising. “In the past, the traditional career path has been to go into financial services, investment banking and consulting. What we see now is a surge of interest in tech companies,” said Dan Wang, a professor of Business and Sociology at Columbia University. Amazon will begin recruiting in a few months for its two new headquarters in New York’s Long Island City and the Washington suburb of Arlington, seeking talent to support an empire that has expanded to include cloud computing services, advertising and, video streaming and TV production. The company expects to hire about 25,000 people over several years for each location. The average salary will be about $150,000 a year. Amazon’s move is only the most dramatic example of technology companies expanding their presence in the
East Coast. Instagram opened a new office in New York over the summer and plans to hire hundreds of engineers. Google is reportedly looking to add 12,000 more employees in New York City. Amazon, now 24 years old, will have to contend with New York’s thriving startup scene, where companies flush with venture capital offer young people big roles and the chance to upend new industries. That’s the kind of pitch prospective employees hear from Peloton, which announced plans Monday to move into bigger headquarters in midtown Manhattan in 2020. The fitness tech company, which received $550 million in new investment in August, will be hiring thousands of people across locations in the next years, especially in technology, marketing and sales, said Lynch, the company president. It currently has nearly 100 positions open in New York City. “We are aware of Amazon and it’s amazing for New York City. But Google has been here. We’ve been recruiting against Google for a long time,” Lynch said. The scramble for talent goes beyond
tech workers. Technology companies employ more than 3.7 million people in supporting roles like marketing and financing, according to CompTIA. That panorama is top of mind for people like Dimple Bansal, a business graduate student at Columbia University who is focusing her studies on technology strategy. Last spring, she took an internship at Airbnb and over the summer she interned at Google. “Tech is a growing landscape. I think it’s exciting to bridge the divide between pure technology skills, and to bring the business mindset to these companies that are touching so many lives,” said Bansal, 27. Wang, the Columbia professor, said startup fashion brands could benefit from partnerships if Amazon leverages its New York location to venture into the luxury market. But Wang said that could mean a competition for workers from rivals like Walmart-owned Jet. com, which currently has job openings for dozens of engineers in its New Jersey headquarters, across the Hudson River from New York. “If I were working at Jet.com, I would be very tempted by Amazon,” Wang said.
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Inside the new bookstore. Photo courtesy of Shakespeare & Co.
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After more than 20 years of shuttering its doors on the Upper West Side, Shakespeare and Co. has returned to the neighborhood. In 1996, Shakespeare closed its first store at 81st and Broadway, but the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the independent bookstore opened its third location in the city at 2020 Broadway. The new store, located between 69th and 70th Streets, is 3,000 square feet and features a cafe, Wi-Fi and a machine where customers can self-publish books. Dane Neller, CEO of the company, said there is a buzz in the community about the new store. “This was a very underserved area and we thought that we
“Being small allows you to reach your customers better. I think employees like the fact they’re part of an independent bookstore.� Dane Neller, CEO, Shakespeare & Co. could serve that area again,� Neller said. “There’s still a very strong demand for people to go to bookstores.� Neller feels that one of the reasons their store stands out amongst its competition is its “Espresso Book Machine,� which the company invented and patented a few years ago. It can make a book in three minutes and also provides authors an outlet to print books as well. “I always believed that this
would be the future for bookstores,â€? he remarked. “They [customers] love it,â€? Neller commented. “It means a small bookstore can have inďŹ nite inventory.â€? Neller feels that the digitization of books, online booksellers and Amazon, will not have a negative effect on his company. He believes that Shakespeare is much more than a bookstore. As a small independent bookstore, he explained, people feel at home there and it is a much more intimate setting than being at a big box store. “I think being small allows you to reach your customers better,â€? Neller said. “I think employees like the fact they’re part of an independent bookstore.â€? Shakespeare & Co. has an Upper East Side location near Hunter College at 939 Lexington Ave, between 68th and 69th Streets, and a location in Philadelphia. It’s also planning on opening a West Village location at 450 Sixth Ave in spring 2019.
NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5,2018
BUS STOP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 pretty inconvenient for people who live in between,” said David Achelis, the president of the West 50s Neighborhood Association and a member of Community Board 5, who lives in the neighborhood and was one of a number of local residents who lobbied for the stop to be restored. Jeanette MacDonald, who frequently visits the area, said that the removal of the bus stop made it more difficult to get to the neighborhood, particularly for older riders who have difficulty walking long distances. She questioned why the stop couldn’t have returned sooner. “It’s amazing that two years have
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gone by in which everyone has been inconvenienced, yet now they’ve decided that it’s safe for the stop to be there as if something had suddenly changed,” MacDonald said. In an emailed statement, MTA spokesperson Amanda Kwan wrote, “Through close coordination with the NYPD and NYCDOT, we requested and were granted permission to restore those stops to ease our customers’ mobility, safety and access to our buses.” Keith Powers, who represents East Midtown in the City Council, reached out to the MTA on behalf of constituents to ask that the stop be reopened. Dan Garodnick, Powers’ predecessor in the Fourth Council District, had made the same request in early 2017, but the stop remained inactive
due to security concerns during the period, when Trump’s wife, Melania, and son Barron were still residing in Trump Tower. (Melania and Barron Trump moved to the White House in June 2017.) “Because of some of the security dynamics in the area had changed, we were able to get it restored,” Powers said. “We have to balance the security needs of the city with the ability of people to get around and use their neighborhood,” Powers said. “This is a unique situation with the president having a residence in our neighborhood, but I think the situation has improved since November 2016 and this is another example of it continuing to improve.”
VISIT OUR WEBSITE! at OURTOWNNY.COM ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
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Conversations with Diego Rivera: The Monster in His Labyrinth
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Diego Rivera’s last living student, muralist Rina Lazo, joins the book launch for the first English edition of a book of Rivera interviews. Art historian Anna Indych-Lopez will be in conversation with Lazo. They’ll be joined by actress Elena Hurst, reading excerpts from Rivera’s dialogs (free).
Neighborhood Shops Gym/Recreation Home Improvement Pets t Kids t Arts & Culture Food & Drink A N D M O R E !
Vanity Fair Diaries: Revenge of the ’80s | Tina Brown in Conversation with Jay McInerney
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4TH, 7PM 92nd Street Y | 1395 Lexington Ave. | 212-415-5500 | 92y.org Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City, published in 1984) sits down with a fellow icon of a gilded era, former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Tina Brown. A book signing follows ($40).
ISSUE DATE: Dec 6 AD SPACE DEADLINE: Nov 30
Just Announced | Dialogue 2018: Laurie Anderson in Conversation with William Kentridge
MONDAY, DECEMBER 10TH, 6:30PM
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New York Studio School | 8 W. 8th St. | 212-673-6466 | nyss.org NYSS, in the original home of the Whitney, brings in a pair of creative forces: artist and vocalist Laurie Anderson and South African multi-media master William Kentridge ($20 overflow room).
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One Person’s Manhattan
FIRE IN THE BELLY How 9/11 turned a communications specialist on Wall Street into a firefighter on the Upper East Side BY HARVEY COHEN
It was September 11, 2001, and David Guilford was at his desk in downtown Manhattan working for Goldman Sachs. He was preparing for another typical day — arranging video, audio and PowerPoint presentations for the masters of the universe whom he served. It was a job he liked but as the son of a life-long New York City cop and with other relatives who served in the New York Fire Department, he always felt something was missing. Was he really doing anything to help his fellow citizens? Did his job have any real meaning? Was there more he could do? Somehow deep inside, he always knew the answers. But then that day on 9/11, his life changed. From his office he could see the destruction, the chaos, the death caused by the two planes that hit the World Trade Center. That’s when he heard his true calling. He took the test to become a New York City firefighter and also took tests to become a cop in both Nassau and Suffolk counties. He passed them all. But the decision was really very easy. Nothing could match the courage and dedication of those firefighters on 9/11. They put their lives at risk and so many of them had made the ultimate sacrifice to save others. How could
David Guilford. Photo courtesy of David Guilford
You trust your life every day to your fellow firefighters. How many people at other jobs have that kind of trust.” David Guilford, firefighter anyone serve any way greater than that? Guilford began his training in the FDNY probie training program. But no matter how difficult that training became, he never gave up. He lifted weights to gain strength. He ran and ran to increase his endurance. And he practiced and practiced with the tools of the firefighting trade. He learned how to climb up to roofs, he carried dummies on stretchers and most of all, he stretched his own abilities. And it felt good. He preferred the discipline, the order and the precision of a military style operation. It was good to be away from the constraints of an office, and most of all to know he would be helping people and saving lives. On his first day at a firehouse, Guilford was out on a call within the very first hour. And though he recognized the danger that was possible, he really wasn’t afraid because he trusted his training and his fellow firefighters. Reflecting on that, he says: “You trust your life every day to your fellow firefighters. How many people at
Collecting supplies for victims of Superstorm Sandy. Photo courtesy of David Guilford. other jobs have that kind of trust.” Every firefighter knows that very little matches the dangers of blindly walking through smoke filled halls. “You enter a burning building,” Guilford says, “you can’t see anything, all you have are your hands to feel where you’re going. But you just keep moving forward.” And he never really does know what he’ll be facing in the next few feet or in the next room. It could be a ceiling that’s about to collapse, a wall that’s about to fall or a child desperately gasping for their last breaths. He remembers being called one time to a church on East 68th Street where a small child had suffered a seizure. Dave performed CPR in the middle of the street and then continued working on the child in the ambulance all the way to the hospital. The child survived. “I became a firefighter to help people,” Guilford says. “It’s a great feeling knowing that’s what I can do every day.” Superstorm Sandy also offered another chance to show his love of service. Though the area around his firehouse on East 85th Street wasn’t hit hard by the storm, Guilford was moved and affected by the devastation and ruin caused in other parts of the New York area. So he contacted the manager of a local bar on the corner of his firehouse and he put together a drive to collect food, merchandise and clothing and store it on the sidewalk in front of the bar. Initially he expected to collect just enough to fill up his own car. But goods kept coming and coming. The first night he actually slept on the street to watch over and protect what had been collected. After two more weekends of collections, it all added up to a total of 28 truckloads of canned food, batteries, cloths, toys and even supplies for pets. It meant a lot for Guilford, but even more for those people who had been flooded from their homes and separated from their
FIRE SAFETY TIPS DO Call 911 in case of fire, smoke, odor of gas or medical emergency Have working smoke/carbon monoxide (CO) alarms Have an escape plan and practice It Know if you live in a fireproof or nonfireproof building Close the door when escaping from fire
DON’T Play with matches or fire Overload electrical outlets Use extension cords improperly Use frayed or cracked electrical cords Leave candles burning unattended Source: FDNY
families and jobs. When Guilford is not fighting fires, he likes to swim at a local Upper East Side pool and run and exercise in Carl Schurz Park. He also co-leads the FDNY Triathlon team and spends many weekends training with the rest of the team by running and cycling in Central Park. One can only wonder how many lives have been saved and helped because on the day of New York’s worst tragedy, David Guilford found the best way to serve.
Know someone we should profile in One Person’s Manhattan? Call 212-868-0190 or email nyoffice@strausnews.com
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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan
by Myles Mellor
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PUBLIC NOTICES SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK - COUNTY OF ROCKLAND INDEX # 033789/2015 FILED: 10/18/2018 SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS AND NOTICE Plaintiff designates ROCKLAND County as the place of trial. The Basis of Venue is that the Subject of the Action is situated in ROCKLAND County. BAYVIEW LOAN SERVICING, LLC, Plaintiff, against SARA KEATING, ESQ., as Guardian ad Litem for the respective heirsat-law, next-of-kin, distributees, executors, administrators, trustees, devisees, legatees, assignees, lienors,
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PUBLIC NOTICES
PUBLIC NOTICES
creditors and successors in interest and generally all persons having or claiming under, by or through Sterle K. Murray A/K/A Sterle Murray, who may be deceased by purchase, inheritance, lien or otherwise, any right, title or interest in the real property described in the amended complaint herein, STEPHEN F. DEGROAT, AS PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR OF ROCKLAND COUNTY, DORCAS MURRAY, AS HEIR TO THE ESTATE OF STERLE K. MURRAY A/K/A STERLE MURRAY, NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION & FINANCE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, Defendants. TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Amended Complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the Amended Complaint is not served with this Supplemental Summons, to serve a notice of appearance, on the Plaintiff’s Attorneys within 20 days after the service of this Supplemental Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this Supplemental Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York); The United States of America may appear or answer within 60 days of service hereof; and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Amended Complaint. NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME IF YOU DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE MORTGAGE COMPANY WHO FILED THIS FORECLOSURE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT, A DEFAULT JUDGMENT MAY BE ENTERED AND YOU CAN LOSE YOUR HOME. SPEAK TO AN ATTORNEY OR GO TO THE COURT WHERE YOUR CASE IS PENDING FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON HOW TO ANSWER
THE SUMMONS AND PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY. SENDING A PAYMENT TO YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY WILL NOT STOP THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT: THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is the foreclosure of a Mortgage, dated April 3, 2008, executed by the defendant, Sterle K. Murray a/k/a Sterle Murray, as Borrower, to JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as mortgagee, to secure the sum of $293,000.00, which mortgage was duly recorded in the Rockland County Clerk’s Office on April 11, 2008 under Instrument No.: 200800017115. Effective December 1, 2008, the Borrower entered into a Loan Modification Agreement whereby the principal balance was adjusted to $303,173.60. The Loan Modification Agreement was recorded on August 7, 2009, under Instrument No: 2009-00027972 in The Rockland County Clerk’s Office. Effective April 1, 2011, the Borrower entered into a Home Affordable Modification Agreement whereby the principal balance was adjusted to $307,271.88. The Home Affordable Modification Agreement was recorded on April 28, 2011, under Instrument No: 201100016299 in The Rockland County Clerk’s Office. Effective November 1, 2013, the Borrower entered into a Loan Modification Agreement whereby the principal balance was adjusted to $330,944.20, with a deferred principal balance of $99,283.26. The Loan Modification Agreement was recorded on March 25, 2014, under Instrument No: 2014-00008033 in The Rockland County Clerk’s Office. An Assignment of Mortgage was recorded on October 3, 2014, under Instrument No.: 201400026776 in The Rockland County Clerk’s Office, covering premises known as 28 Rela Avenue, Haverstraw, NY 10927
(Section 26.36, Block 1 and Lot 18). The relief sought within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt described above. To the above named Defendants: The foregoing Supplemental Summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of the Hon. Sherri L. Eisenpress, A.J.S.C. of the State of New York, filed along with the supporting papers in the Office of the Clerk of the County of ROCKLAND on 10/11/2018. This is an action to foreclose on a mortgage. ALL that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Village of Haverstraw, Town of Haverstraw, County of Rockland and State of New York, Section 26.36, Block 1 and Lot 18, said premises known as 28 Rela Avenue, Haverstraw, NY 10927. YOU ARE HEREBY PUT ON NOTICE THAT WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. There is now due and owing from the Estate of Sterle K. Murray a/k/a Sterle Murray to plaintiff the principal sum of $327,423.85 plus interest and late charges. UNLESS YOU DISPUTE THE VALIDITY OF THE DEBT, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER YOUR RECEIPT HEREOF THAT THE DEBT, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IS DISPUTED, THE DEBTOR JUDGMENT AGAINST YOU AND A COPY OF SUCH VERIFICATION OR JUDGMENT WILL BE MAILED TO YOU BY THE HEREIN DEBT COLLECTOR. IF APPLICABLE, UPON YOUR WRITTEN REQUEST, WITHIN SAID THIRTY (30) DAY PERIOD, THE HEREIN DEBT COLLECTOR WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED A DISCHARGE FROM THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT, YOU ARE NOT PERSONALLY LIABLE FOR THE UNDERLYING IN-
DEBTEDNESS OWED TO PLAINTIFF/CREDITOR AND THIS NOTICE/DISCLOSURE IS FOR COMPLIANCE AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE New York State Law requires that we send you this notice about the foreclosure process. Please read it carefully. SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT You are in danger of losing your home. If you fail to respond to the Summons and Complaint in this foreclosure action, you may lose your home. Please read the Summons and Complaint carefully. You should immediately contact an attorney or your local legal aid office to obtain advice on how to protect yourself. SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE The State encourages you to become informed about your options in foreclosure. In addition to seeking assistance from an attorney or legal aid office, there are government agencies, and non-profit organizations that you may contact for information about possible options, including trying to work with your lender during this process. To locate an entity near you, you may call the tollfree helpline maintained by New York State Department of Financial Services’ at 1-800269-0990 or visit the Department’s website at http://www. dfs.ny.gov FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS Be careful of people who approach you with offers to “save” your home. There are individuals who
watch for notices of foreclosure actions in order to unfairly profit from a homeowner’s distress. You should be extremely careful about any such promises and any suggestions that you pay them a fee or sign over your deed. State law requires anyone offering such services for profit to enter into a contract which fully describes the services they will perform and fees they will charge, and which prohibits them from taking any money from you until they have completed all such promised services. Section 1303 NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME If you do not respond to this Summons and Complaint by serving the copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home. Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property. Sending a payment to your mortgage company will not stop this foreclosure action. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. Stiene & Associates, P.C., Attorneys for Plaintiff, 167 Main Street, Northport, NY 11768 File # 201501160
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