The local paper for the Upper er East Side AN OUTOF-THEBOX SCHOOL
WEEK OF DECEMBER
3-9
Q&A, P.21 >
2015
Our Take
A NEW COURSE ON HORSES NEWS A plan from the mayor would sharply reduce the number of horses and move their stables into Central Park BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week his team is working on a bill to reduce by over 80 percent the number of horse carriage operators in Central Park and move the stables at which horses are lodged to inside the park, a shift from previous efforts that focused on banning the industry altogether. His ascension from mayoral long shot to City Hall was aided by his pledge to ban horse carriage rides in Central Park, but almost two years into his tenure that
VINTAGE GOODS, AGED AND NOUVEAU K & D Wines and Spirits has been on the Upper East Side since right after Prohibition BY MICKEY KRAMER
It’s a kaleidoscope of colors and, nearly, a case of sensory overload walking into K & D Wines & Spirits: 1,500 different bottles, in all shapes and sizes, line shelves from floor to ceiling. K & D has been serving — and lifting — spirits on the Upper East Side since 1934. The current Madison Avenue location, just below 94th Street, is two blocks south from the original storefront. It’s been run by Richie Klein and Andy Klugerman since 1995. Their fathers, Artie Klein and Erwin Klugerman, ran the store from 1962 until the boys, childhood friends who had started work at the shop as delivery boys, took over.
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promise remains unfulfilled. In comments last week he revealed the new approach would move the stables to inside the park, so horses would not have to contend with city traffic, and reduce the number of carriage operators from their current level of over 200 to just three dozen. The debate is currently framed by a group of animal rights activists on one side, most notably NY Class, which contributed significantly to de Blasio’s mayoral ambitions. On the other side is the Teamsters Joint Council 16, which counts among its ranks horse carriage drivers. The activists maintain that having large animals in a major urban center is cruel and that the horses are regularly
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Corruption in Albany has become the background noise of our state politics. Scandals are followed by more scandals. Politicians start out as reformers, then somehow end up as part of the problem. Which is why this week’s guilty verdict in the Sheldon Silver graft case is both breathtaking and depressingly familiar. And once again, we’re left to ask: Could this be the catalyst that finally prompts real change in our corrupt capitol? If the answer depended on our current governor to sweep out the muck, the answer would clearly be no. You had to smirk at Andrew Cuomo’s statement in the moments after the Silver verdict, in which he vowed “zero tolerance” for public corruption. This from a man who disbanded his own Moreland Commission, the best shot Albany had in decades to clean up its own house. No, our hope for change has to come from the outside, from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. For months, Bharara and his team have sensed that Albany was ripe for a takedown, and the Silver verdict proved them right. Should we care about any of this? We really don’t have any choice. And if it takes the federal government to save us from ourselves, at least change is coming.
Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday December 4 – 4:11 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com.
Illustration by John S. Winkleman
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SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT SHELDON SILVER?
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