Our Town June 6th, 2013

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cityArts

DINING SINCE 1970 PAGE 16

EVERY THURS.

NYPRESS.COM • THE LARGEST PAPER ON THE EAST SIDE • JUNE 6, 2013

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Marine Transfer Station Troubles

Lawsuit against city and mayoral candidate outcry adds fuel to the fire By Joanna Fantozzi In a lawsuit currently before the New York State Supreme Court, Assembly Member Micah Kellner has sued the

Department of Sanitation and the city on the grounds that the current plan for the 91st Street Marine Transfer Station goes against the 2006 Solid Waste Management Plan. In the original plan, the city planned to distribute waste to three new Marine Transfer Stations: the 91st Street Station near Asphalt Green, Gansevoort in the West Village, and another at 59th Street. Because the latter are about 10 years from construction - three behind the 91st Street Transfer Station, Kellner said the city must create a new Environmental Impact Statement, and immediately stop all construction and planning at 91st Street. At the hearing last week, the State Supreme Court heard both sides. “To say a whole generation is going to go by before the other two stations will be finished when they were supposed to be constructed in tandem, one can assume that we will take on the burden of collecting more trash,” said Kellner. The plan for the 91st Street Marine Transfer Station, as it stands, states that the MTS will handle about 30 percent of Manhattan’s residential waste, and eight percent of the

borough’s commercial waste. In addition, the cost of the project has slowly escalated, from an original 30 million-dollar estimate, to $180 million. An independent budget office, however, calculated earlier this year that the actual cost of the project would be closer to $245 million, and might grow even larger. Right now, the city has a permit from the Department of Sanitation to transfer 1800 tons of trash per day, but the permit of operation is up for renewal in the fall. The lawyer for the plaintiff, Albert Butzel, said that the city could very well increase the maximum garbage allowed to 5000 tons per day, which would create even more of an environmental, air quality

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Father’s Day Gift Guide There’s just no excuse for getting him a tie. By Helaina Hovitz

For the foodie father: Head to Zabars (2245 Broadway, 212-787-2000, www. zabars.com) and pick up the Swiss Diamond Skillet, perfect for the health-conscious cook who loves healthy, highperformance tools. The nonstick coating, reinforced with real diamond particles, is designed for virtually oil-free cooking to reduce fat and calories from every meal—and it’s recommended by the American Vegetarian Association. Plus, it’s all on sale. (10” fry pan with lid is $74.95 (normally $160.00), 10.25” fry pan is $97.95 (normally $130.00) and 8” fry pan is $49.95 (normally $95.00). While you’re at Zabar’s, pop some Marich Chocolates ($4.99 per box) in your cart. The Dark Chocolate Chipotle Almonds are so decadent they should be illegal. Folks also love the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Cashews, Chocolate Cherries and English Toffee Caramels, and Natural Chocolate Toffee Pistachios. Fortunately, Zabars carries them all.

Lastly, nab BUILT’s Convertible Picnic UIL ILT’ T s Co C nvverti n erti er tibl ble le Picn P Pi icn cnic ic Bag ($150) on n the way out—it out—iit includes incllud des wine glasses, plates plates, flatware flatware and napkins for a party of four, a place to keep wine bottles secure, a corkscrew and bottle opener. It turns into a placemat to eat on and also includes a removable insulated bag for food storage and dirty dishes. If he likes to make or take his own lunch, get him the Bento Salad Bowl from BUILT ($21.99, Stevdan’s, 474 Avenue of the Americas, 212-243-42222) which keeps salad fresh and cool for up to four hours so it won’t wilt on the way to work. They also carry BUILT’s Sandwich Bag ($7.99) which is reusable and washable, so if dad likes being green, he’ll appreciate being able to nix the Ziplocs and tuck this bad boy in his bag. This pretty much sells itself: Spoonables Spreads and Gift Baskets from Murray’s Cheese (254 Bleecker St., 212-2433289, www.murrayscheese. com). First of all, Spoonables Caramels are just plain insane. With sweet, salty, nutty, and

Continued on page 6

ALSO INSIDE HOMELESSNESS CITY’S TOP PROBLEM? P.4 KIDS’ ART FROM LUNCH ROOMS TO PARKS P.9 OPINION: EDUCATION BRINGS EQUALITY P.18

CRIME WATCH sedan, approached her from behind, and removed her handbag from her left arm. The man got back in his auto and sped off southbound on Lexington Avenue. The woman canceled her cards and assisted police in an unsuccessful canvas of the area. It is possible that surveillance cameras on Third Avenue may have recorded the incident. The woman also stated that the thief ’s vehicle had a Connecticut vanity plate reading JFLOW. The items stolen included a Michael Kors black purse valued at $275, a Michael Kors tan wallet worth $125, Ray-Ban glasses valued at $120, an iPhone 5 charger costing $30, her apartment and office keys, and her debit and credit cards. Could the thief ’s vanity ultimately prove his undoing?

By Jerry Danzig

Missing Motorcycle Mayhem Police have reported a recent rash of chopper robberies on the Eastside, including: • Saturday, May 8, 11 a.m., 64th Street -Red 2009 Vespa LX 150 with NY plates. • Tuesday, May 21, 8:15 a.m., Park Avenue between 62nd and 63rd Streets -2008 Honda CBR 1000 with NY plates. • Friday, May 24, 10 p.m., First Avenue and 74th Street -2001 Honda motorcycle with NJ plates.

Not in Kansas Any More During rush hour on Tuesday, May 28, a 35-year-old woman from Wichita, KS got on an M 96 bus at Central Park West and 96th Street heading eastbound. The bus was crowded, and she felt an unknown man push against her. The man got off the bus at 96th and Fifth Avenue, when she realized her wallet was missing. When she called to cancel her cards, she was advised that someone had tried

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OUR TOWN

Illustration by John S. Winkleman

unsuccessfully to withdraw $40 in U.S. cash using her debit card. Items stolen included a Louis Vuitton brown wallet valued at $700, $1,000 in cash, her debit cards, and her Kansas driver’s license.

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Going with the JFLOW Just after midnight on Tuesday, May 28, a 24-year-old woman was walking on East 61st Street and Third Avenue, when an unknown man in his 20s got out of a silver

A Couple of Counterfeiters In the afternoon of Saturday, May 25, a 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman were observed in a luxury department store on Third Avenue purchasing store property with forged U.S. currency. Subsequent to the couple’s arrest, Continued on p.3

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

Nobel Prizewinner Sends Off Local Grads

CRIME WATCH Continued from p.2 the woman was also found in possession of six hypodermic needles containing heroin residue and 55 envelopes containing heroin residue.The counterfeit couple were arrested on May 25 and charged with forgery. It is assumed that their heroin was the real thing…

Fayetteville Day In the afternoon of May 25, a 34-year-old woman living on York Avenue reported that while she had been away traveling in another country, an unknown person had used her credit card information to make unauthorized purchases. She discovered these charges when she returned to her home and reviewed her credit card statement. She was still in possession of the card. She reported that $855.32 had also been charged to her credit card in a department store in Fayetteville, New York.

The 2nd Avenue Restaurant & Retail Week kicked off with a street fair last weekened.

To Russia with Larceny In the evening of May 25, a 69-year-old woman living on East 94th Street reported that an unknown Internet company had sent her a $9,800 electronic deposit with the request that she purchase property for them. The woman was subsequently advised by her bank that the funds transferred were fraudulent. In addition, the Internet company based in Switzerland turned out to be fictitious, and the items that she had purchased for them had been shipped to Russia. Blyad!

Graduates of The Birch Wathen Lenox School on the Upper East Side held their graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 23 at the Congregation Rodeph Sholom. Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor, scholar, author and winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace, was the commencement speaker. Headmaster Frank J. Carnabuci praised Professor Wiesel as “a hero whom our graduates will always remember not just for his commitment to the betterment of humankind, but also as their commencement speaker who guided them through this monumental moment in their lives. The mission of our school, to inspire students toward active citizenry in the global community, could not have been better supported and validated than it was today.” Professor Wiesel touched on several themes in his commencement address, including global justice and cultivating a hunger for knowledge. “Be thirsty for justice. As long as there is one person in the world who for all kinds of wrong reasons – the color of the skin, or the condition of his or her life, or the origin of the family – if there is one person who feels victimized by society or a prisoner of destiny, that person should know that you are his or her ally,” Wiesel said. “Do not open a book without fervor. Do not go to a classroom without fervor. Fervor is something that gives you only pleasure naturally. It gives you a thirst for knowledge. If I were to ask God to give me something in the few years that remain, it is to remain with this thirst. I am thirsty.” He left graduates with a small but powerful message: “Above all, remember that sometimes the smile on your lips can bring consolation and joy and meaning to the person next to you.”

5 things to know about NYC charter schools

What are charter schools?

How do they operate?

Where do they fit in the bigger picture?

How long have they been around?

How do you apply?

Charter schools are free public schools open to all students. They have a 5-year contract with a NYS authorizer, and if they don’t perform well they are closed.

Charter schools are independent of the NYC Department of Education. This gives them freedom to use new teaching approaches, and even have longer school days and school years.

It’s all about choice. NYC operates a “portfolio system” of public schools. This includes magnet schools, zoned and non-zoned district schools, and charter schools.

The first charter school in NYC opened in 1999. Fourteen years later, there are 183 charter schools located in all five boroughs.

It’s easy. There is likely a charter school in your community, and you can apply to more than one school at once online.

Learn more about charter schools at what.arecharterschools.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

OUR TOWN

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NEWS

Is Homelessness New York’s Number One Issue? housing, said, ”I’m very pleased this effort is putting a focus on these issues. We need all the allies we can get.” He aims to bring mayoral candidates together to debate homelessness By Alissa Fleck and make it a priority issue in the campaign. Prior to the rally, 43 individuals set up “What?” “Affordable housing!” “When?” overnight camp in City Hall Park in solidarity “Now!” That was the rallying cry last Friday with the 57,000 homeless people living in New as volunteers from Habitat for Humanity New York City. York City, the Interfaith Assembly on Housing Dr. Anne Klaeysen, leader of the New York and Homelessness, mayoral candidates Society for Ethical Culture, was one who spent and representatives from a variety of other the night in the park. organizations gathered on the front steps of “Every evening we shelter eight women,” City Hall to call for an end to homelessness in said Klaeysen. “I often sleep on a cot, but the city. last night we made a virtual home on the The call to action was led by Larry Wood of sidewalk.” the Goddard Riverside Community Center. “We have working poor and we have Wood, who noted bankers and developers working homeless in our city,” she added. agree more money must be allocated for “They have the right to a safe, warm home.” Homelessness in the city is • at an all-time high, according to Council Speaker Christine Quinn. “There is no question that .com comprehensive affordable housing is one of the most

Organizations rally for affordable housing for all in the City

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ACTING EDITOR Megan Bungeroth • editor.ot@strausnews.com CITYARTS EDITOR Armond White • editor.cityarts@strausnews.com STAFF REPORTER Joanna Fantozzi FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Alan S. Chartock, Bette Dewing, Jeanne Martinet, Malachy McCourt, Angela Barbuti, Casey Ward, Laura Shanahan PUBLISHER Gerry Gavin • advertising@strausnews.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth, Kate Walsh ADVERTISING MANAGERS Marty Strongin, Matt Dinerstein CLASSIFIED ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Stephanie Patsiner DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Joe Bendik OUR TOWN is published weekly Copyright © 2013 Straus Media - Manhattan, LLC 212-868-0190 • 333 Seventh Ave, New York, NY Straus Media - Manhattan publishes Our Town • The West Side Spirit • Our Town Downtown Chelsea Clinton News • The Westsider To subscribe for 1 year, please send $75 to OUR TOWN, c/o Straus News 20 West Ave., Chester, NY 10918

Matt Dunbar, the associate director of important issues for the next mayor,” said government relations and advocacy with Quinn. Habitat for Humanity NYC, noted, “At the rate The Speaker also pointed out while we can build, it would take 5,500 years to meet homelessness is often thought of as a problem current affordable housing needs in the city.” impacting those with low or no income, even “That’s why we’re here not just with our those in the middle income range struggle to hammers but with our pens,” said Dunbar. find housing. Dunbar explained Habitat Quinn echoed Wood, has launched the Build Louder saying that across every “Homelessness in the Hammer & Pen Campaign business sector she is city is at an all-time which aims to help elect the hearing demands for high...” best affordable housing mayor housing to be built for and pursue a comprehensive workers, and many Council Speaker housing plan. Dunbar and New Yorkers are left out Christine Quinn. other Habitat volunteers of federal funding for unfurled a paper scroll with housing. signatures from thousands of supporters of the “We cannot yield to gentrification,” said push for affordable housing. Quinn. “It’s unacceptable there are so many Councilmember Gale Brewer, who neighborhoods where people cannot afford to represents the Upper West Side, noted the live. We need permanent affordable housing.” devastating impact for homeless seniors and She added there needs to be a major said currently no one is doing what needs to overhaul to New York City Housing Authority be done to help in the city’s government. and Section 8 federal subsidy policies. “In my district we lost 10,000 rent-regulated “We’re running in place if every time we units,” said Brewer. “At least half the homeless build more housing we let a slumlord drive a people simply do not have the rent.” unit into the ground.” Musa Abdus-Salam, of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing’s board of directors, said minorities are always left behind by policies that fight homelessness because they often aren’t as aware of their rights. “Everyday I get calls from new families,” he said. “Some have been living here for 20 years and have four kids and now they’re being asked to leave their homes. This is not a faith-based problem, it’s a general problem.” Phillip Tracy Speight, a formerly homeless veteran, said alcohol and substance abuse problems led to his homelessness but got back on his feet with the help of these organizations and is now living in Jericho Housing. “I’m here representing the veterans who fought in combat and are now sleeping on the street,” he said. Marc Greenberg, the executive director of the Interfaith Assembly, located in downtown Manhattan, said, “We have to tear down the wall between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ We don’t want a candidate to walk in without a plan.”

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THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

OP-ED

Roosevelt Island Pulls Through Day In The Dark Power outage caused by ďŹ re on 59th Street bridge not a cause for concern in the future By Joanna Fantozzi

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n Friday May 24th, most of Roosevelt Island experienced a power outage that lasted most of the day. The tram and subway continued working, but students at P.S. 217 had to be relocated to a church for the school day. Con Edison was able to restore power back to the entire Island by the next morning. The problem, according to Con Edison spokesperson Chris Olert, is that the Con Edison equipment under the 59th Street Bridge caught fire after an accident, and four of the five electrical feeders were out of commission - two were damaged in the fire, and two had been down for maintenance. “The system was overloaded,� said Olvert. “If only two of our feeders had gone out, no one would have noticed the difference.� The whole power outage was tweeted about all day. Joseph Strong, a representative from City Council candidate Ben Kallos’ office said that his team started giving out

water to residents as soon as they heard about the power outage. But just because Roosevelt Island was off the grid this Memorial Day weekend, does not mean this will be a regular occurrence, even when Cornell Tech’s new campus opens in 2017. In fact according to Jeff Prekopa, a member of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, this has been the only major blackout in recent memory, besides the five days following Hurricane Sandy this past fall. “I’ve been here for years, and these are the only power outages I can remember,� said Prekopa. “It’s actually pretty reliable here.� Cornell Tech will obviously create a large upsurge in the power supply on Roosevelt Island, but Con Edison is not concerned. “We will increase the service for Cornell Tech just as we would for any new business,� said Olvert. “We always want to accommodate new business.�

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you discounts on future classes.

Father’s Day Guide Continued from page 1

spicy varieties, they’re versatile and perfect for apple-dipping, ice cream topping, and even marinating steak or pork loin. Check the website for recipes like this one: http:// www.spoonablellc.com/pulled-pork-withspoonable-caramel-glaze/. Of course, while at Murray’s, you’ll have to pick up a gift set—Murray’s has five ready to go: The Griller, The Chiller, Mountain Man, Man Cave, and Dapper Dad. The Griller ($59.99), for one, features classic bratwurst and Andouille Sausage from Brooklyn Cured, Sir Kensington’s Gourmet Scooping Ketchup, crunchy McClure’s Relish, Fontina Fontal cheese, and their BBQ all-star, Murray’s Vermont Select Cheddar. You’re welcome. Treat him to a cooking class—or five— through Course Horse (www.coursehorse. com), a new online database that features more than 25,000 classes citywide. We suggest The Harmony of Beer and Cheese with Janet Fletcher ($75, 254 Bleecker St.), The Ultimate Burger ($95, 334 Amsterdam Ave.), Pasta Making at Spina Restaurant ($75, 175 Avenue B, snacks and wine included), and Learning the Basics, a 4-part series ($395, 236 West 26th St., #601). All local classes earn you points through the site’s rewards system, which gives

For the guy who needs a day o and a little pampering: AIRE Spa Tribeca (88 Franklin St., 212274-3777, www.ancientbaths.com) Seriously, this is like a Zen/European getaway dished out in two-hour time slots. Dad can journey to this spa’s six underground pools designed to relax and detoxify the busiest of men. There’s a specia salt-water pool that makes people float, so he can literally take a load off after he relaxes in their aromatherapy sauna. No cell phones allowed, no lamps or natural or artificial light, just candles and tea by the poolside. Add a 1560 minutes massage into the middle of his session, and hello, heaven. Bonus: dad doesn’t have to commute home with a soggy suit, because they have a special machine that sucks the water out of ‘em! Any service or combination thereof is available on a gift card, and they’re open late if he wants to go after work. Give him some luxury via Lush (7 East 14th St., 212- 255-5133, and 529 Broadway, 212-925-2323 , www.Lush.com). Dad probably wouldn’t be caught dead buying these for himself, but we guarantee he’ll love it if you do. Individual items of interest are their Fair Trade Foot Lotion ($23.95), made for keeping little piggies soft, supple, and stimulated—spearmint and peppermint essential oils are circulation boosters, which also

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have antifungal and antibacterial properties and are excellent at bringing cooling relief to hot, aching feet. The Volcano Foot Mask ($22.95) refreshes feet, removes odors, and blasts bacteria that causes unacceptable stinkiness—organic potatoes, papaya and kaolin draw out and dissolve dirt. Especially helpful to the cycling dad is their Stepping Stone ($4.95), which scrubs away dry, rough skin. The invigorating fragrance of lemon and lime oils help to deodorize, and (hard to pronounce) lycopodium powder helps to absorb odors, and Jojoba oil and cocoa butter sink in to keep feet soft and moisturized and keep him treading softly. As for gift sets, they have several, the most bountiful of which is Ka-Pow! ($86.95), a big ol’ box filled to the brim with stimulating pieces like Whoosh shower jelly, Wiccy Magic Muscles massage bar, solid Sugar Scrub, Dirty soap, Ocean Salt face and body scrub, Buffy body butter, Happy Hippy and Grass shower gels. Dad, get ready to take over the shower and take on the world! For the smooth-shaven, “all-natural� dad with sensitive skin, try Weleda’s wild-crafted, biodynamic four-step skincare regimen (Earth Matters, 177 Ludlow Street, 212-475-4180, www.earthmatters.com, and Healthfully Yours Organic Market, 98 East 4th St., 212598-0777, www.healthfully.com). Designed to ensure dad enjoys a clean, close shave that leaves skin feeling smooth, calm and refreshed on Father’s Day and beyond, the shaving cream ($14.50), crafted with Pansy extract, Goat’s Milk, and Almond Oil, forms a luxurious lather and helps tone skin and reduce post-shave irritation. The Moisture Cream ($21) does the same, and so does the After-Shave Balm ($23) made with Organic Chamomile and Myrrh extracts) and Smooth

Shave Toner ($23).

For the on-the-go man: For the outdoorsy dad, stop by Urban Angler, 381 5th Ave. 2nd floor, 800-255-5488, www.urbanangler.com) for Montauk Tackle Company Shirts ($59 and up), which are perfect for all outdoor activities, like biking, hiking, paddle boarding, and working out. The material features 50 UV sun protection, moisture wicking, stain release and anti microbial technologies. Some of the shirts have been described as “beach to dinner wear!� More of their styles can be found at www.montauktackle.com. AIRBAC Backpack ($109.99, Adorama, 42 W. 18th St., 212-741-0052, www.adorama. com) is the only backpack with a patented air support system that cuts the weight of its bag contents in half. For the dad who needs a backpack that’s going to hold all of his gear this summer, this bag lets him travel or exercise without the pain! For the cycling dad, grab Ibex’s new Rim Short Sleeve Jersey ($110, Bicycle Habitat, 244 & 250 Lafayette Street, 212-431-3315, www. bicyclehabitat.com) made from the company’s newest technical Merino wool fabric (nylon and wool knit together). It’s built specifically for endurance sports, so even though it’s a snug fit, the fabric is exceptionally breathable. Best of all, it’s naturally odor resistant, so dad will still smell pleasant after his ride.

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THE 7-DAY PLAN FRIDAY

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 SATURDAY

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MONDAY

TUESDAY

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THURSDAY

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BEST PICK

Big Apple BBQ Block Party

Madison Square Park, East 23rd to 26th and Fifth Avenue, bigapplebbq.org, 11 a.m., June 8th. Here’s something you don’t see every day in Manhattan - a classic barbeque. The country’s top pit masters will be serving up delectable and award-winning barbeque, from pulled pork to sausage to brisket. Live performances from rock, blues, and soul artists will be taking place throughout the day, along with seminars and demonstrations.

.com Visit nypress.com for the latest updates on local events. Submissions can be sent to otdowntown@strausnews.com

American Darkness

Umbria Jazz Festival

Danziger Gallery, 527 West 23rd St., danzigerprojects.com, 11 a.m. FREE: O. Winston Link was a commercial photographer who devoted five years of his life to capturing the last moments of steam on the Norfolk and Western railway line in the 1950’s. He took the pictures only at night, when the steam appeared white against the black sky, using train personnel and locals as supporting cast. This exhibition is a combination of works from both Winston, and Gregory Crewdson, who is one of the pioneers of large scale contemporary color photography.

Birdland, 315 West 44th St., birdlandjazz.com, 5 p.m., $20-$35. Central Italy’s most prestigious jazz festival has transplanted itself to Times Square for a week of enticing shows. Tonight the Stefano Bollani Trio will perform, which includes Bollani, Morten Lund, and Jesper Bodilsen. They are all award-winning and highly revered, each being highly in demand in Europe for collaborations. This is your chance to listen to the sensation the Italians have been keeping all to themselves.

Sidewalk Art

Vintage Police Car Shows

The Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl., skyscraper.org, 10:30 a.m., $5. Children of all ages are invited to test out their architectural skills. First they will sketch a blueprint for a building that is familiar to them, such as their home or school. Then they will work together to create a colorful skyline on the sidewalk right in front of the museum. This could be the first step on their path to designing an iconic New York building…who knows!

New York City Police Museum, Front St. btwn Maiden Ln & John St., nycpolicemuseum.org, 10 a.m., $5-$8. Dozens of police cruisers will be on display outside what once was New York City’s 1st Precinct. You will be able to view cars that were used on duty and on television shows, one of the most famous cars being the Batmobile from the 1960’s series. If you’re a car buff, you will be in heaven. Even if you aren’t, there is guaranteed to be a car here that will excite even the most unenthusiastic tag-along.

Imran Qureshi The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, metmuseum.org, 10 a.m., free-$25. Qureshi is a Pakistani artist who is best known for creating contemporary updates on the miniature paintings that flourished during the Mughal Era. Head up to the Met roof top to see for yourself, while also taking in a spectacular view.

FREE: Sing This One Back to Me Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, 6 p.m. Bob Holman, “the postmodern promoter who has done more to bring poetry to cafes and bars than anyone since Ferlinghetti” (according to Henry Louis Gates Jr.), will read from his newest book, “Sing This One Back To Me,” at the newly-reopened Bowery Poetry Club. The book explores Holman’s traveling to West Africa in search of the roots of the oral tradition, hip-hop and spoken word.

Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival ◄FREE: Museum at Eldridge Street, 12 Eldridge St., eldridgestreet.org, 12 p.m. This block party celebrates both the Chinese and Jewish communities who call the Lower East Side home. There are multiple activities for you to participate in to expand your mind and learn more about another culture, or even learn something new about your own. Watch Chinese opera and acrobatics in awe, learn Yiddish and Chinese, play mah jongg, take a synagogue tour, or watch a food or folk art demo.

The Songs of Adele Birdland NYC, 315 W. 44th St., www.birdlandjazz.com/event/278477-pop-show-songs-adelenew-york/, 6p.m., $25. On Monday Birdland, the self-described “jazz corner of the world, will host the second evening of The Pop Show, its newest monthly event. Each Month, Broadway, jazz and cabaretperformers sing the hits and deep tracks from a different pop musician’s catalog backed by a pulsating six-piece band. This month’s concert features the songs of Adele.

Hidden Harbor Tour

The Moth StorySLAM

South Street Seaport, Pier 16, nywatertaxi.com, 6:15 p.m., $25-39. Discover the secrets behind one of the busiest waterways in the world. A large portion of the tour is spent travelling North up along the West Side of Manhattan. You will pass Hudson River Park, historic ships, ferry terminals, Chelsea Piers and passenger ship terminals. You will then cross over to the New Jersey side, passing the historic Hoboken waterfront, featured in “On the Waterfront”. It closes with a sunset view of lady liberty.

Housing Works Bookstore Café, 126 Crosby St., housingworksbookstore.org, 7 p.m., $8. If you consider yourself a master or an admirer of fiction, this has your name written all over it. This extremely popular storytelling series challenges fablers to deliver an impressive tale based on a specific theme: this week’s being “fathers”. Ten compete, 3 teams judge, and there is only one winner. Make sure you get in line early, as spots for competitors and spectators alike go quickly.

FREE: Marc Maron

FREE: Wednesday Night Skate

Barnes & Noble Union Square, 33 East 17th St., bn.com, 7 p.m.. Maron is famous for oversharing about his life on his podcast WTF- but in the most hilarious and entertaining way. In his new book Attempting Normal, he doesn’t fail to give what his fans expect. The popular interviewer, stand-up comic, and sitcom star shares his middle-aged frustrations and partakes in some classic ranting, which is something he does very well.

Union Square, South End, unionsquarenyc.org, 7:45 p.m. Each week, dozens of skaters cruise around the city for two hours. They explore a different route each week, previously wheeling through Central Park, Queens, Brooklyn, and even Jersey. Don’t be intimidated by these distances, all skill levels are welcome as long as you can stop and turn. Post skate, the fun continues at Mumbles Bar and restaurant which is also where the gang heads if the event is rained out. Don’t forget your helmet and wrist guards- safety first!

FREE:A More Perfect Union Andrew Edlin Gallery, 134 10th Avenue, edlingallery.com, 11 a.m. In March 2008, Barack Obama delivered an inspirational speech that many believe is what convinced Americans to vote him into office. Although Ralph Fasanella passed away in 1997, this speech would have deeply resonated with him, which why this exhibition shares its title. Fasanella was a self-taught New York painter, creating boldly colored and intricately detailed work. He shared similar ideals to Obama and aspired for a more perfect America, frequently combining scenes of what was with what could be.

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◄ FREE: Hester Nights

Eventi Plaza, 851 Sixth Avenue, eventihotel.com, 5 p.m. Wind down on Thursday evenings in this 12,000-square-foot, tree-studded open-air plaza, strung with twinkling lights. Food offerings span over a variety of cuisines, including Thai street food, made to order pizzas, and Vietnamese sandwiches. Wash your snacks down with a cocktail or a $14 pitcher from the Tiki Bar. Afterwards, you can head to the Brighton theatre for a movie and popcorn for no cost.

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

NEWS

Local Students Use Art to Fight Violence Kids from the Robert F. Kennedy School created a table-top work of art that will be displayed in Central Park

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ost of the time, students are strongly discouraged from drawing on lunch tables, but a recent collaboration between the Department of Education, New York City parks and a local arts education advocacy group is flipping that idea on its face. A program called LeAp (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program) teamed up with students at the Upper East Side’s Robert F. Kennedy middle school (110 E. 88th Street) to help them create a mosaic tile and oil paint piece of art on the top of a lunch table. The title of the piece is “Stop the Violence - Choose Peace Now,” which the students chose in order to address the issue of ending violence and bullying. “Our table addresses violence with a focus on stopping bullying,” the students said in

their collective statement about the work. “We have created images and have written out tips for peaceful options that we hope are helpful to all students and people in general. We want everybody to be peaceful.” The work will be displayed in Central Park through August as part of the citywide exhibition “A View from the Lunchroom: Students Bringing Issues to the Table.” Two schools from each borough participated in the program, and 10 city parks will display the kids’ works, which address issues including gun violence, Hurricane Sandy, teen pregnancy, child abuse, and environment/ climate change, throughout the summer. Developed by LeAp’s Public Art Program, the sixth-annual exhibition empowers young people to have a voice in their communities by speaking out on issues of relevance to them and to become catalysts for social change through their art. Lunchroom tables are used as a canvas for this project as a symbol of student ideas and conversations. “LeAp’s Public Art Program gives our students a citywide platform to showcase their artistic talents and generate awareness for important issues facing their communities,”

said Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott at the kickoff event in Union Square last Thursday, May 23. “We are thrilled to have LeAp as a partner in our efforts to enhance arts education in the schools.” “Kids are part of our communities and experience all the same things we do but don’t have a voice. LeAp’s Public Art Program gives them a citywide platform to express themselves on issues that matter most to them,” said creator and director of LeAp’s Public Art Program Alexandra Leff. “We are so proud of our students who have taken on such major issues in thoughtful, creative and powerful ways and we are sure that the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who see these beautiful and meaningful tables citywide this summer will be enlightened and inspired,” LeAp teaching artists worked with students to explore community issues, study the history and practice of public art, and ultimately create beautiful works of art on the surfaces of the lunchroom tables for public display. In addition, internationally-renowned Guest Artists Christo, Lorna Simpson, Mel Kendrick, Daze, George Boorujy, Emma Amos, Federico

Solmi, Thomas Nozkowski, Jaune Quick-toSee Smith, and Phyllis Galembo met with students at their studios, galleries or at the schools to discuss their work and the power and impact of public art.

6th grade student Elizabeth Serrano,

Meet New York Basketball Legend

John Starks Ridgewood Savings Bank 1404 2nd Avenue Saturday, June 8th Noon to 2:00pm

FREE Photo & Autograph

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PAGE 9

OP-ED

Million Dollars Earned by CUNY Graduates for $25,000 Investment earned $25,717 more with an average income of $56,788. Earlier this year, the New York City Council passed Resolution 1671-2013 calling on the New York State Legislature and Governor By Ben Kallos Cuomo to sign the New York State Dream Act, left out of this year’s State Budget, that would provide government funding for higher education of undocumented immigrant youth, of which 400,000 are currently attending public schools, who among other requirements entered the United States before they turned 18. We can nearly double city, No one knows mor tgages better than Karen Carter, your state and federal income tax friendly, neighborhood Mortgage Consultant. She has a collection by simply funding CUNY education through special, limited-time mortgage that, if approved, could get you lower tuition, merit based PRYLQJ RQ D QHZ KRPH RU UH¿QDQFLQJ \RXU H[LVWLQJ RQH +XUU\ scholarships, loans and other financial aid. Taxpayers could because this offer may be withdrawn at any time. expect an immediate return of their investment within three years and, for an initial )L[HG 5DWH 0RUWJDJHV investment of $22,920, a fortyyear payoff of $346,398. That %L :HHNO\ 0RU WJDJHV is a return on investment of 15 times – better than you’ll do at $GMXVWDEOH 5DWH 0RUWJDJHV any hedge fund. City and state personal &R RS &RQGR /RDQV income taxes in 2012 for a high school graduate 621<0$ 2WKHU $IIRUGDEOH earning the average salary of $31,071 would be $962.71 Karen Carter and $1,687, respectively, +RXVLQJ 3URJUDPV (NMLS ID# 646651) while taxes for an average worker with a bachelor’s /RDQ $PRXQWV XS WR degree would be $1,878.31 and $3,345 respectively. That 0LOOLRQ $YDLODEOH is a combined difference of $2,574 each year. Including To make an appointment or the difference in federal taxes that’s a total yearly return on meet Karen at one of our investment of $8,660. Ridgewood Branches, With CUNY tuition now at $22,900 over four years – call 917-807-6480 more than many prospective students can afford – the ZZZ ULGJHZRRGEDQN FRP .DUHQ state and city must restore funding to CUNY and restore 4XHHQV 5LGJHZRRG - 71-02 Forest Avenue +ROOLV +LOOVLGH $YHQXH the merit-based scholarship /DXUHOWRQ 230-22 Merrick Boulevard program. Ben Kallos is an attorney 1DVVDX )UDQNOLQ 6TXDUH +HPSVWHDG 7XUQSLNH and candidate for City Council <RUNYLOOH 1646 1st Ave 0DQKDWWDQ 73UG 6WUHHW 1404 2nd Ave in the Upper East Side’s 5th district. Member FDIC

Investment in scholarships and loan forgiveness would be repaid by taxes within 10 years

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y funding public college education for all - regardless of immigration status - the City will build a better workforce, earn more in taxes and become

stronger. Graduating with a bachelor’s degree means $1 million more in lifetime earnings than a high school degree, according to the United State Census. In 2006, those with just a high school diploma earned just $31,071, while their peers with a bachelor’s degree

“WE HAVE A SUPER LOW RATE UP TO $2.0 MILLION!”

.

.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

cityArts

Edited by Armond White

New York’s Review of Culture . CityArtsNYC.com

Like Father Like Ingenue

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Jaden Smith

oys without fathers are the target audience for Will Smith’s After Earth. Its story of a boy Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) trying to live up to his father Cypher Raige’s (Will Smith) survivalist code is a potential blockbuster, combing futuristic whimsy with street hardness (and its opposite: vulnerability). What Black moviegoer or Fresh Prince of Bel Air fan can’t imagine where this comes from or what it means? The theme of a youth seeking to bond with his macho military father by emulating his masculine strength is set a thousand years in the future but suggests more than the usual Summer comic-book-movie fare. If the 2009 The Karate Kid blatantly established Jaden Smith’s trust fund, this time Daddy Will produces After Earth with genuine purpose. While not as profound as the deeply felt lifelessons of Kendrick Lamar’s good kid m.A.A.d city, After Earth yet evokes a similar vibe. After Earth’s coming-of-age sci-fi story repeats the basic Luke Skywalker template with Kitai’s experiences after crash-landing on Earth and dealing with a traumatic memory. (“He’s a feeling boy” his mother says.) But whether dull or exciting, After Earth’s new genre–Hip-Hop Sci-Fi–replaces 50s Cold War metaphors and pulp video-game escapism with a morality tale about growing into manhood and responsibility. It’s exactly the unusual hybrid one might expect a thoughtful Black filmmaker to initiate. Two images stand out: A shot of male bodies hanging from a tree that connotes lynching and a post-apocalypse montage of urban destruction cannily resembling old news footage of riot-torn cities. Smith’s audience might not catch the significance of these images among the film’s imaginative, Avatar-biting CGI, that’s why the story takes place after the end of history. After Earth contemplates the future of Kitai’s perseverance. Race consciousness is implicit in the saga of both males’ survival. It transfers an urban walkabout of a drugs-and-gangs drama

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

OUR TOWN

Will Smith guides his son through Hollywood Darwinism in After Earth By Armond White

Will Smith and Jaden Smith in After Earth. into a primal setting where Kitai tests himself against nature–the meteorological elements and the ferocity of animals (while listening to Cypher as if to an ancestral voice). From movie star father to legatee son, After Earth basically illustrates Hollywood Darwinism: what it takes to survive a vicious culture and predatory environment. (Like Tom Cruise’s inquiry into the perfidy of love in Oblivion, this personal tale of filial commitment gives Smith’s equivalently nostalgic vision but replaces Cruise’s idealized, vernal future with a complicated nature.) Sharing rage as more than a name, Cypher speaks the film’s theme: “Danger is real. Fear is a choice,” teaching his son to live as he does: “completely without fear.” Basically hiphop braggadocio, this contradicts the wiser moral lesson of the 1984 film Claudine where Diahann Carroll as a welfare mother advised her son “You’d better be scared. This world will kill you!” Only hip-hop machismo would make Smith advise “ghosting”– the film’s “neurobiological ” state where “you don’t have a trace of fear in you.” It’s the modern version of what Paul Laurence Dunbar described in

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his poem “We Wear the Mask.” As a Hollywood potentate, Will Smith wears a mask of omnipotence (his one and a half-note performance here is a bit too stoic) letting his son account for brash youth. (Shots of Jaden freezing in the cold may remind contemporary viewers of those Moorehouse College graduates getting drenched in rain while President Obama, under a canopy, lectured them not to make excuses after spending four years doing undergraduate work.) Cypher’s unreachable paternal tenderness may strongly affect moviegoers who welcome paternal scolding, but it’s by no means sure-fire, especially given M. Night Shyamalan’s lethargic, nonvisionary, sub-Apocalypto direction. Smith fans who are unaware of how adolescent life lessons were taught in rich, earth-bound movies like Sounder, The Yearling, National Velvet, The Human Comedy may yet respond enthusiastically to After Earth–less as entertainment than as a matter of need. Follow Armond White on Twitter at 3xchair

PAGE 11

CITYARTS FILM

Beauty vs. Beastliness Soderbergh’s Liberace pic confuses sympathy with politics By Armond White

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rom the actors’ perspective, Behind the Candelabra looks like a compassionate portrayal of the pianist and singer Liberace‘s relationship with Scott Thorson. The older established celebrity’s involvement with a younger man, masked for the public from 1977 to Liberace’s death in 1987, gets exposed here as an example of the deception then practiced by some gay performers. The title of this HBO production either criticizes or ridicules the closet, but as Michael Douglas portrays Liberace and Matt Damon portrays Thorson, there’s also a strange confession of the weaknesses and dependencies that occur in such insecure and unstable showbiz relationships. The film itself feels unstable partly because Richard LaGravanese’s screenplay starts from Thorson’s memoir, taking the defensive view of a complainant in a palimony case. Behind the Candelabra shows Thorson as a “bisexual� with interest in becoming a veterinarian who, through association with gay hustlers, is picked up to be Liberace’s consort (one in a series). The two go from friends to lovers to a filial partnership. Liberace proposes adopting Thorson to make their coupling legal; Thorson even undergoes plastic surgery to resemble Liberace (and to fit Liberace’s romantic ideal). Through the attrition and tension of intimacy (as well as drugs, sex and materialist escapades) they part acrimoniously, leaving Thorson thrown back on the working-class heap. A star is not born. Douglas and Damon attempt illuminating these men’s fragile humanity. (A shot of Rock Hudson’s death notice in a newspaper headline casts the fatal pall of AIDS.) Their almost fascinating commitment to these roles--portraying romantic and social clowns putting forth fronts for peers, audiences and each other--bounces back on the stars’ own artistic dedication. After years of seeing Douglas play scoundrels and Damon as politically-correct paragons, they (even when bare-assed) can’t help but lend villainy to Liberace and victimhood to Thorson. It’s Douglas and Damon’s stock-in-trade and possibly what they best understand about human nature: the greed and selfishness of power and the resentment and ambition of the powerless. Regrettably, this approach also limits Behind the Candelabra to stock characterizations. Another aspect of the film’s instability comes from its conceit that by looking back at the wreckage of Liberace and Thorson’s closeted lives; the film makes an au courant Marriage Equality parable. But Marriage Equality (a tortured euphemism for gay rights) wouldn’t resolve a relationship where partners are unequally joined or mutual exploitative, contradicting their monogamous commitment or one that is based on unspecified consensual deals that differ from

Matt Damon in Behind the Candelabra. traditional fidelity. These complexities, the conditions of partnership and details of character that override the Marriage Equality issue, get mixed up with the inexact parallels of Liberace and Thorson’s quasiliberated lives. Too often Douglas’ sympathetic performance looks and sounds wide-eyed and goofy-voiced like Carol Channing, while Damon improbably suggests Cesar Caligari’s childlike creature, un-willful yet petulant. In depicting these wildly luxurious and disingenuous lifestyles, director Steven Soderbergh seems to confuse Liberace and Thorson with the out-gay Las Vegas magicians, Siegfried and Roy. Behind the Candelabra is partly, unmistakably, a freak show (Magic Mike II). And this is where the actors’ empathy and the director’s condescension collide. It recalls that ungracious moment in George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck taking a gratuitous slam at Librace, ignoring the fact that his flamboyance was never totally deceptive. Liberace’s public (like Little Richard’s) always “knew.� (Liberace was the Elton John of Vegas, a glitzy dresser and colorful entertainer to all.) Soderbergh can’t find an appropriate moral context for this story. Using the glib cynicism he learned from Mike Nichols, Candelabra turns into a roman a clef circus performed by a bevy of comic pranksters: Dan Ayckroyd, Rob Lowe, Scott Bakula, Paul Reisner and Debbie Reynolds as Liberace’s money-grubbing mother. Soderbergh’s dismissive treatment ignores Liberace’s artistry, judging his showmanship not for its skill and friendly kitsch but as proof of bad taste rather than emotional generosity. This beauty-and-the-beast concept is what’s kitschy.

L I V E J A Z Z N I G H T LY ‘The Best Jazz Room in the City’ —Tony Bennett

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Michael Douglas as Liberace in Behind the Candelabra.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

MUSIC CITYARTS

Music of the Heavens Musica Mundana’s transcendent New York performance By Judy Gelman Myers

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necessary to the tango’s centrifugal drive without self-conscious enslavement to its syncopation. The true meaning of musica mundana revealed itself in Piazzolla’s “Milonga,” arranged as a clarinet-piano duet. Like Rodrigo in his Concierto de Aranjuez, Piazzolla captures something ineffably sad in the universe, a melancholy inherent in the turning of the spheres, transported on Lumanovski’s clarinet with unsentimenal sympathy, an empathic, godlike recognition of the way things are. The show ended— perfectly—with Piazzolla’s “Liber Tango,” whose sophistication of harmonies, intricate interplay between melodic lines and

Musica Mundana undana is the worst kind of false cognate: it pretends to mean its opposite. Musica syncopation give his music the kind of richness that makes you mundana is not, as one would expect, beg for just one more, for the evening to never end. mundane music at all but the music of the spheres, the sounds the planets make as they revolve in limitless space, a heavenly noise we could hear if we only opened ourselves to it. It’s also the name of the excellent chamber ensemble that played Drom on May 23, in a program that flowed effortlessly from the Argentinean tangos of Piazzolla THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2 and Gardel to “Romanian Melody” by German Romantic composer Max Bruch and “Tango” by Stravinsky. For Musica Mundana, music is music, disregarding–or transcending–geographical borders and questions of genre. What allows this trio to move with dexterity and authenticity between varied material is its heterogeneity–each of its superb musicians combines classical training with a deep knowledge of ethnic traditions. A master of Debussy’s piano scores, Turkish-born director Aysegul Durakoglu concertizes in Sephardic repertoire; Argentinean-born cellist Leo Grinhauz studied under Janos Starker and recorded with Paquito D’Rivera; Macedonian clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski, the first Rom to graduate from Juilliard, is a founding member of the New York Gypsy AllStars. Their classical training forbids cheesy exaggeration while their ethnic roots forbid excessive rigidity. For example, Lumanovski rendered “Czardas,” composed in 1904 by Italian Vittorio Monti but heard most often in Hungarian restaurants, with the virtuosity metmuseum.org it required but none of the shenanigans that frequently accompany its playing, while Open 7 days a week starting July 1 Also on view through August 25 Paper Campaigns: All exhibitions free with admission American Civil War Prints, 1861–65 Durakoglu and Grinhauz artfully supported Piazzolla’s Above: Frederic Edwin Church, Our Banner in the Sky, 1861, oil on paper, Collection of Fred Keeler; and Unknown artist, The Civil War and American Art is made possible by an anonymous foundation. Additional support is provided by the Four Seasons (“Autumn” and Captain Charles A. and Sergeant John M. Hawkins, Company E, “Tom Cobb Infantry,” 38th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund and the Enterprise Holdings Endowment. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity Infantry, 1861–62, quarter-plate ambrotype with applied color, David Wynn Vaughan Collection. from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. It was organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Summer”) with the force

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR IN ART

THE CIVIL WAR AND AMERICAN ART

PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Photography and the American Civil War is made possible by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

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PAGE 13

CITYARTS THEATER

Building Boldness

OPPORTUNITY Motivated and talented low-income public high school students are eager to go to college but can’t afford SAT prep.

Actors find new inspiration for Ibsen By Valerie Gladstone

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renn Schmidt loves playing the role of the highly sexual and manipulative Hilde in Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder. The current production, directed by Andrei Belgrader at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and starring John Turturro as the eminent and egomaniacal architect Halvard Solness, leaves Schmidt plenty of room to display the cunning that will totally derail Solness’s life. “Working with John is a blast,” Schmidt said to CityArts. “He’s willing to try anything. It’s like a duet, a dance.” Belgrader gave his cast the freedom to try anything in order to shed new light on the powerful work. He and Turturro, both active in film, television and theater, had already collaborated before on Beckett’s Endgame in 2008 at BAM. This play was first published in 1892, around the time when Freudian psychology had begun to influence thinking about human behavior. Ibsen was, in a sense, doing some soul searching in his handling of these characters and their conflicts. As a young man, he had been fascinated with the symbol of an architect building a castle in the air and a young girl out of reach in one of its towers. And like his protagonist, he had been tempted late in life by much younger women; he well understood both the excitement and the danger. This advanced stage of his life as a master playwright –“The Master Builder” is one of his last plays–is also echoed in the life of Solness. His buildings could be seen as symbols of Ibsen’s plays, which had become ever more grand in their themes over the years. He saw the arrogance of Solness’ rationalizations as he progressively lost a sense of reality; however, his empathy for Solness and the other characters gives the work remarkable resonance. Concerned that at times Ibsen over-explains the characters’ impulses, Begrader compressed some scenes. “Andrei knows the script inside out, so he knows exactly what to bring out at exactly what moment,” Schmidt says. “He inspires me to keep digging to see what else is in the play and in Hilde. She is ruthless certainly but I believe she actually loves Solness. That’s my challenge–to show her in all her complexity. I believe the play is a love story.”

IMPACT Every year, New York Cares brings its Kaplan SAT Prep program to public schools throughout the city. In 2012, volunteers worked in 40 schools and helped 1,000 students get into the colleges of their choice, including several admissions to Cornell and New York University.

Volunteer or Donate at newyorkcares.org.

New York Cares is New York City’s leading volunteer organization.

PAGE 14

Photo credit: Lauren Farmer

OUR TOWN

Wrenn Schmidt and John Turturro in The Master Builder.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

SHOPPING AROUND

Family Thrift Shop Proffers One-of-a-Kind Finds Unique Boutique, which has Upper East and West Side locations, is packed with fun items By Laura Shanahan

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t’s unique! It’s a boutique! It’s the – what else? – Unique Boutique, a family owned-and-operated thrift store, located for your shopping convenience at 487 Columbus Ave., near 84th Street, and at 1674 Third Ave., near 94th. Talk about opportunities for serendipitous browsing: “We’re putting out new things every day,� says Zachary Hassan, the exceptionally genial manager of the Columbus Avenue shop. “So come often – you never know what you’ll find.� Since everything stocked, from home accessories to clothing, jewelry, books and more, comes from auctions, wholesalers, estate sales and donations from viewers like you – oops, sorry, I just channeled Channel 13 there for a moment – almost everything is one-of-a-kind, right? Not “almost everything,� Zachary pointed out – “everything.� What about those half-dozen or so identical-looking glasses over there? “They’re just one set,� Zachary again correctly pointed out. (I would like him even if his somewhat uncommon name wasn’t my father’s middle moniker and even if we hadn’t had great fun noting all the famous Zacharys past and present.) Ah, the donations. If you finished your spring cleaning and would like to divest yourself of your unwanted items, bring ’em

on in at either location, and get a tax receipt in return. Now then, here is a representative sampling of what you can expect to find. First – emit a high-pitched scream if you also love miniatures – a set of teeny-tiny glass mugs, complete with teeny-tiny handles. They’re the kind beer might come in, except these are – oh, great, the one set of items I didn’t measure – but I’m estimating just under 2-inches high. You can use them as wee shot glasses, or for cordials or perhaps as the new unit of measurement for the legal purchase of soda in the city. (Ho-ho, I actually support anything that may limit obesity and disease – call me crazy.) Pay just $8.99 for a set of four of these pebble-textured glasses in varying shades of rose and peach. Is it a vase? Is it a very narrow liqueur glass? Pay just $8.99 again for this 8-inch tall very slender plum-colored column of glass, finely etched with a floral pattern – and it’s your call. While the glassware and other small household items are especially intriguing, do not overlook the selection of books; $1 for paperbacks and $2 for hardcover. In the former category, I found such bestsellers as The Lovely Bones and Three Cups of Tea; but there are also more obscure tomes, which make for fascinating rifling. Going from the cerebral to the skimpy, I spotted an almost illegally short stonewashed denim skirt by Tractor in size 10 that (whew!) turned out to be short-shorts trimmed with the most girly eyelet-trimmed pink ruffles; $8.99. A sleeveless white tank in size XL is banded across the chest with blue and purple stripes and reads “Gap Surf �; $2.99. Glam it up with a

stretch bracelet of outsize faceted “turquoise� stones for $3. Find lots of blue jeans for either gender, plus a good selection of summery men’s shirts. I thought the pallid-yellow cotton short-sleeve Gap shirt was almost too bland and blah until I flipped it around. Elaborately embroidered in black and red was a canoe, of all things, and the words “Est. 1969, Vintage River Canoe Tours, Classic Heritage.� Love it. And for $7.99. Like Zachary says, come often. If you don’t see something you must have, you’re just not looking.

UNIQUE BOUTIQUE THRIFT SHOP ■487 Columbus Ave.; Phone (212) 362-8877 ■1674 Third Ave; Phone (212) 427-0077 ■What’s special? Everything! A kaleidoscopically changing selection of steal-priced goods for your home and person, from all your favorite eras up to the present

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PAGE 15

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DINING

As Katz’s Turns 125, Professional Eaters Binge Meat lovers competed for pastrami eating championship By Adam Janos

I

t was 86 degrees and humid, and the competitors stood, stone-faced, at the sun-drenched dais. Five gladiators, their arms locked military-style behind their backs, waited as the announcer counted down from ten, the throngs of onlookers pushing at one another, trying to catch a glimpse of the clash of willpower that was about to occur. And then, when the count reached zero, it started. They dunked their heads into salty brine, and began bobbing for pickles. The Amateur Pickle Bobbing Contest was an appetizer of an event for Katz’s Delicatessen at the Daylife Festival on Orchard Street Sunday, where the great Lower East Side institution celebrated its 125th anniversary. Since 1888, the deli has been doling out generously portioned kosher-style sandwiches. They now claim to serve up to 20,000 pounds of meat per week. On Sunday June 2nd, the deli honored the longevity of its storefront with something a little more quick and dirty: a competitive

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eating contest, with ten professionally-ranked competitive eaters gorging themselves on pastrami sandwiches for ten minutes, in an attempt to take home a share of the $7,500 purse that was up for grabs. So what is a professional eater? How does one become “professional�? At this contest, four of the top five ranked Major League Eaters were present: #1 Ranked Joey Chestnut who regularly wins Nathan’s Hot Dog competition on Coney Island, July 4th; #2 Tim “Eater X� Janus, who paints his face like a 1990s professional wrestler; #4 Matthew “the Megatoad� Stone; and #5, Bob “The Notorious B.O.B� Shoudt. “It’s not like you wake up one day and say, ‘hey, I’m going to be a professional eater!’� said Matthew Stonie. Stonie, a spry 130-pound 21-year-old, doesn’t look like the world’s #4 ranked eater. And yet the San Jose native competes, and in late April this year he beat #1 ranked Joey Chestnut in a deep-friend asparagus contest in Stockton, California, shocking the competitive eating world. “It all started when a local place had a big burrito, and if you could finish it all, you got the burrito for free. So I got the free burrito. Next, I signed up for an eating contest and won $600. I thought, hey, not bad for a halfhour’s work.� Stonie’s low-key demeanor stood in stark contrast to the event’s announcer, Major League Eating Commissioner George Shea, who pumped the crowd prior to the contestants coming out with speech that

was half-sermon and half-circus ringmaster. “They say that competitive eating is the battleground upon which God and Lucifer wage war over men’s souls my friends‌ and they are right!â€? Shea frantically shouted. “For this is a battle of the Titans that comes to earth only once, in only one location, and that is here at Katz’s Delicatessen on the corner of East Houston on Orchard Street, in New York, NY. The eaters have arrived from points all across the globe, here gathered by the sum of all, we march toward history made and so it is and so it always shall be! Let the contest begin!â€? Following that soaring rhetoric, the eating was, by contrast, a tedious and grotesque affair. For ten minutes, the ten eaters attempted to shove as many sandwiches down their gullets as possible, frequently dipping the bread into water or red Powerade to better assist its path from mouth to esophagus. Six minutes in, reigning champ Joey Chesnut spewed brown meat-water over the front row of the crowd (“The spray zone!â€? Shea shouted.) In the end, Chestnut took first place by eating 25 halfsandwiches of pastrami, eking in front of Stonie, who took second with 21.

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As a gaggle of New York television outlets surrounded Chestnut, Stonie retreated to the back of the stage. Still, he was upbeat, and insisted that he wasn’t disappointed. “We’re all friends,â€? said Stonie. “When we’re in the same city, we go out for drinks afterwards.â€? This must be something of a new tradition for Stonie: he only turned 21 in late May. For his birthday, he ate a 5.5 pound birthday cake in 8:59. When not competitive eating, he studies nutrition at Mission College in Santa Clara, California. When asked how he’ll strategize to to vault up to 1st place in the rankings and eventually overtake Chestnut, Stonie shrugs and admits competitive eating doesn’t require a lot of strategy or nuance. “It’s like lifting. You have to train your muscles, train your mind. But there’s not much technique‌ at least, not for pastrami sandwiches.â€?

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and safety impact on the neighborhood. “As far as the DEC and city sanitation are concerned, it’s going to be a lovely facility that has no adverse environmental effects other than noise, and it’s very hard to prove otherwise,� said Butzel. City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn, who has not changed her position on the plan, says that if the transfer station were built in a traditionally low-income neighborhood, the effects would be disastrous. “I am incredibly proud to stand up for all five boroughs, to stand up for people with asthma and children with asthma who have been put upon for too long by the City of New York, and to say that every borough has to do its fair share in taking care of its garbage,� said Quinn in a recent statement. But Pledge 2 Protect, the new non-profit that has been collecting signatures opposing its construction, say that her claims are inaccurate, saying that in terms of health effects, Yorkville is just as much, if not, more of an at-risk neighborhood with 62 percent more minorities than any other proposed site. The main arguments of the opposing side are that the city has done everything legal within its power to ensure an accurate assessment of environmental impact, and the concerns by the neighborhood are purely speculative. In its respondent brief, The department of environmental conservation claims that the city cannot be sued based on intangible complaints, and injuries that have not yet occurred. “The effects hypothesized by petitioners would require at least several uncertain future events to occur first: (1) the actual

construction of the East 91st St. facility; (2) the failure of the City to construct the Gansevoort and West 59th St. waste processing facilities; and (3) decisions by private commercial waste carters to attempt to use the East 91st St. facility rather than transporting commercial waste out of the City by truck,� the statement reads. Kellner said that he is not buying the city’s argument of speculation. “The city is saying you’re being speculative and you should wait until it’s built. If it’s already built, this neighborhood will become a parade of both public and private garbage trucks.� In fact, the process has already begun, illegally. Uncovered trucks were spotted recently carrying away debris from the old Marine Transfer Station. The company contracted to build the new transfer station, Skanska USA, had agreed to transport debris from the old site only via enclosed trucks, but a concerned citizen recently snapped photos of trucks driving out of the site with open tops. “Dust and debris was spewing out of them along with jagged metal,� said Kellner. “Skanska is already cutting corners when it comes to the community’s safety. If this is a harbinger of things to come this is bad news for Yorkville.� The Assemblyman said that he actually hopes that putting the project at a standstill will slow down the momentum of the construction, and the idea will be abandoned altogether. “The best outcome that they demolish current site, whether we win the lawsuit or the next mayor says this is a waste of city dollars, and then they can turn that platform into park space that the community needs. It would be a win-win.�

Manhattan Graduations This Week Compiled By Jake Orbison

Leman Manhattan Graduation Date: June 1, 2013 Outside Speaker: Luanne Zurlo, Founder and President of Worldfund. “The class of 2013 has defined the LĂŠman spirit – they have installed a legacy of academic excellence, internationalmindedness, and dedication to community that sets the tone for future generations at LĂŠman,â€? said Drew Alexander, Head of School.

Trinity School Graduation Date: May 24, 2013 Outside Speaker: John G. Golfinos, NYU Professor Topic: Neurosurgery, Trinity, Happiness Student Speaker(s) : Travis Arffa ’13 and Visala Alagappan Director of Communications Kevin Ramsey said about graduation: “We are, of course, exceptionally proud of our 2013 graduates, wish them great joy and success in their lives, and look forward to hearing about their adventures.� Graduated 108 students.

Loyola Graduation Date: May 31, 2013 Faculty Speaker: Ms. Cerussi, Mathematics Department Chair Student Speaker: Faith Amenn and Theodore Taylor-D’Ambrosio. Graduated 46 students.

Collegiate Graduation Date: May 24, 2013 Outside Speaker: Robert M. Franklin Jr., President Emeritus of Morehouse College

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PAGE 17

Can a Mayor Influence Economic Justice? The biggest factor in getting our economy on track is providing an even playing ďŹ eld for education By Tom Allon

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wise upper middle class friend recently told me that her children will not inherit anything from their parents. “Their private school and college tuitions are their inheritance.� Another friend, raised in England, has always expressed bafflement about the expense of private schools and colleges in America. He received a world-class education, at English public schools and Oxford, virtually for nothing. I give these examples, because today in New York (and throughout America) we have a public education crisis of epic proportions. For the lower classes, who strive to make sure their children do better than they have done, the American dream is fading. For the middle class and upper middle class, the choice is either to trade off a potentially well-funded retirement or to consign one’s children to decades of debt in order to receive

a strong education. New York City’s public schools have been on a downward cycle for almost five decades and although the Bloomberg administration made modest strides in the past decade in certain areas, the usually confident mayor recently told The Atlantic: “We didn’t move the needle enough.� He’s right. His successor will have to move the needle dramatically and quickly to ensure that we don’t allow another generation of kids to fail -- by dropping out or failing to be college ready or failing to have the skills necessary for a 21st century job. Let’s look at the areas where Bloomberg has succeeded, by most measures: the high school graduation rate is up from 45 percent to 60 percent since Bloomberg took office. That’s good. But three-quarters of those graduates, who enter our City University system, need remediation. That’s not good. The City has created more than 100 charter schools in underserved neighborhoods like Harlem and Crown Heights, offering parents choices where none existed before. More than 50,000 kids are on waiting lists for charter schools, a good sign that they are a desirable option for parents who lived in neighborhoods with failing public schools. That’s good.

But charter schools only serve 50,000 kids in New York, less than 5 percent of the overall population of school-aged children. And the amount of political dueling that has resulted from charter school openings in middle class neighborhoods and their co-location with other public high schools has detracted from the pressing need to focus on teacher training and professional development at ALL public schools. That’s not good. We need a mayor in 2014 who will pick a schools chancellor who has the deft political touch to win over the City’s 1.5 million frustrated parents while also becoming a champion for teacher training and making principals master teachers whose evaluations of teachers are respected and welcomed. We need a mayor who understands that after teacher training and mentoring, one of the top priorities will be to build a world-class network of career and technical high schools to dramatically reduce drop-out rates and give our most disaffected learners a chance to learn technological and vocational skills that will lead to well-paying 21st century jobs. We also need a mayor who will focus less on closing “failing� schools and more on costeffectively rebuilding our crumbling public schools. Of the current field of mayoral candidates, no one has offered a comprehensive plan for fixing public education -- and thus solving a big piece of the economic justice problem. Although Christine Quinn has wisely spoken about “teacher mentoring� programs -- a key piece of the puzzle -- she has offered few other specifics of how she would deviate from Bloomberg’s top-down approach other than stating the mundane: “We need to tone down the volume� in educational battles.

Bill deBlasio’s plan to expand early childhood education is a worthy goal but then he ruins it by saying he would fund it through a tax on the wealthy -a non-starter that Albany would never green light. Anthony Weiner, amidst all the realityshow hoopla, has offered only platitudes and shallow ideas on education thus far. Bill Thompson has a solid background in education (he was head of the Board of Education in the 1990s), and the support of the Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch but so far he has not articulated a coherent or creative plan to improve our schools dramatically. One hopes that now that the campaign is in its stretch drive, Thompson will step up with a robust and well-designed plan to fix our schools. John Catsimatidis on the GOP side has been the only candidate touting the need for restoring “career and technical education� but he needs to spell that out more and give the voters a sense of how he’d implement and fund that important idea. Joe Lhota, another GOP candidate, seems to be thus far one of the few candidates with a nuanced understanding of how government works and how we need to budget wisely. But his education ideas have not been fully formed yet either and one hopes he’ll be able to do that soon so voters can better evaluate him. Clearly, the eager civic students dashing for City Hall have a lot of homework to do. regarding education. Tom Allon, a former public school teacher, is the President of City and State media and a former candidate for Mayor.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

DEWING THINGS BETTER

Keeping the Home Front Safe emorial Day is officially over and June 16th is Father’s Day, and neither must be one day of remembering in a year of forgetting. Yup, we say that about most holidays, but as a wise man, Samuel Johnson, discovered, “We often need as much to be reminded as informed.” And we remind ourselves of important things time and again, because, regrettably, our often out-of-the-box “information” is just not being remembered. Nothing is more important than being a good father. Infinitely more must be said about why too many fathers, especially the young ones, don’t want to parent. More must be sung about it too. I remind you of that too

little known country ballad, “Happy Birthday to a Little Girl” which premiered last year by the New Amsterdam Boys and Girls Choir based in East Harlem. It’s about an absentee daddy (prodigal daddy?) who longs to get back into the life of his now six year-old daughter. Now, if only more fathers would pick up on that song and the need for family love songs and stories in general, make good fathering a top value, and there’d be fewer intractable, tragic and very costly social problems to overcome. Which, of course, relates to keeping the home front peace and how we need to be informed and reminded of Tom Allon’s impassioned concern for this most basic need found in his “No Safe Bets in Mayoral Race” essay published in this paper’s May 30th edition. Allon is a devoted daddy, and as this paper’s former publisher and a native New Yorker, really knows the city’s history and remembers how as a teenager he was twice mugged in broad daylight. Although no longer

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

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A call for involved fathers and making the streets safer By Bette Dewing

M

a mayoral candidate, he couldn’t be more concerned that we’ve “heard little from the present field of leading Democrat contenders that offer comfort that New York will continue to be the safest city in America, in the post Bloomberg-Kelly era.” All elected officials need reminding that government’s first duty is to protect public safety. It’s surely the mayor’s first job, says Allon, who worries that the next one may rescind some measures that have made New York so safe. And this is a relevant sidebar for countless New Yorkers, especially elder ones, who feel threatened by the mayor’s infatuation with bicycling without enforcing the laws governing two-wheeled operation. It has made even prudent walking more stressful and sometimes outright dangerous and may be a factor in the city’s high fatal heart attack rate, even for tourists. And the Bike-Share program in a high density city with great public transit brings more private wheels to streets and likely

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walkways, and more novice riders. The racks are an eyesore and sometimes block access to buildings; recently ambulance personnel had to detour to pick up a patient. What about fire trucks? This safe traffic/public transit advocate believes just because other cities have BikeShare, doesn’t mean it’s good for Manhattan, the nation’s walkingest urban center, one blessed with superb public transit, which, remember, is by far the safest wheel travel mode. Bringing more private, non-emergency wheels, into this already high density borough, is not in the general public’s best interest. But, again Tom Allon’s informed concern that we not let the criminally-minded take back the city, needs to get - and stay - out there. Remind the candidates and media. Big time! Remembering your father and mine with very much love. dewingbetter@aol.com

PAGE 19

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CELEBRITY PROFILE

Going Down(town) in History Author John Strausbaugh paints the colorful history that permeates Greenwich Village

doors, and windows and stuck it in the side of this building and called it The Poe House. It’s a double slap in the face.

By Angela Barbuti

From your book, I learned that Washington Square Park wasn’t even a park at first.

L

It was a swampy meadow and mass burial ground for yellow fever and cholera victims. It was a parade ground, then Washington Square. It was sort of a park, but it wasn’t until the ‘50s that they closed off the streets. You used to be able to drive straight through and turn around and go back up 5th Avenue.

ife as we know it was greatly influenced by what once happened below 14th Street. “This place, for almost 400 years, was like a magnet for artists and a refuge for misfits and outcasts,” said John Strausbaugh, who literally walked miles around the Village on his journey to rediscover the quirkiness, charm, and rebellion that is part of the neighborhood’s rich saga. His book, The Village: 400 Years of Beats and Bohemians, Radicals and Rogues, a History of Greenwich Village, is much more than a history lesson. It delves deep into the characters that made the Village the unique area that it was, while vividly setting the scene - from speakeasies during Prohibition to coffeehouses in the 1950s. The events that occurred in these places make us realize that history was made in the Village and it was undoubtedly a center for creativity and a catalyst for change. The book also evokes a yearning for the past, coupled with a desire to preserve what’s left of this cultural hamlet that can only exist in New York City.

You talk about how Edgar Allan Poe lived in the Village and was claimed as the first bohemian - and how NYU eventually knocked down his house. I think that’s the last thing he would have wanted people to say about him. He wanted mainstream success and never had it, except a little bit when The Raven came out. Have you ever walked past Furman Hall? NYU has a talent for hiring famous architects and having them do their worst work for them. They knocked down one of the houses that was called The Poe House. Then, they basically went to Home Depot and bought some bricks,

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

How did the first subway line change the Village in the early 1900s? A lot of people then said, “This is the end of Greenwich Village.” There was no Seventh Avenue or Sixth Avenue. It was isolated and had all those twisty, goofy streets that it has still. They disrupted the whole avenue for more than two years to dig that Seventh Avenue transfer. The subway was bringing a lot more tourists. Then they did Sixth Avenue later. To this day, those are the two least ‘Village’ parts of Greenwich Village. In the 1950s coffeehouses emerged. We think of them as folk music places, but at first, they weren’t. People played checkers, chess, peaknuckle and canasta. The musicians were considered a distraction. Once they saw that the folk music was bringing people in, all the sudden it was in every coffeehouse in the Village.

Some of the venues you write about - Café Wha?, the White Horse Tavern, Cherry Lane Theatre, the Village Vanguard are still there today. My sister came up from Baltimore and wanted to go to the Village Vanguard. I think we were the only English speakers in the place, but we heard a great band. And I love that little room, they haven’t fixed it up too much. You know you’re in a place that’s been there forever.

You say that Café Wha? was once a basket house. Explain that concept. It was a place where anybody can try out, and at Café Wha? that meant anybody. Opera singers, vaudevillians, comedians, and eventually Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. But

OUR TOWN

they weren’t going to pay them. So if you were smart, you’d have a pretty girl go around with the basket and people would just drop change in it.

How did the Village play a role in the antiwar movement? Not surprisingly, it was the epicenter of the antiwar movement in New York. All the antiwar groups were there. The women’s prison was there, so if you were arrested in any antiwar protest and were a woman, you got brought there.

Explain the Stonewall Riots in ’69 and what they did for the gay liberation movement. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the gay and lesbian rights movement started very quietly and modeled on the Civil Rights Movement. They wanted to be accepted into the norm, not live lifestyles outside of it. The next generation came along and they were done with that. On three nights, in June of ’69, they just finally had had it and went nuts and rioted on the streets. It was the beginning of the national gay liberation movement.

One chapter focuses on celebrities like Dylan and Lennon moving back in the ‘70s. When he lived there, he was just little Bob Dylan, and when he came back, he was a global popstar. John Lennon and Yoko had the same sort of trouble. At first it was fine, but then people started zeroing in on them, and some of those are going to be crazies. For the first year, people left them alone. But by the second year, it got to be nuts and that’s why they moved up to the Dakota because there was a doorman and they were up on a high floor.

How did the atmosphere change as the AIDS epidemic broke out? It devastated not just the gay Village, but the entire Village. You had the hospital there that was the Ground Zero for AIDS patients. Everybody had scores of friends dying all the time. Because it literally decimated the Village, it opened up a lot of space and landlords instantly started moving in people with a lot

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of money. In the mid ‘80s, the neighborhood started to become too expensive for anyone else to live. You don’t see it written that way, but anyone who was there then says it.

You talk about how ironic it is to see a Brooks Brothers in the Village. In The Village! Who would have thought? There’s that sign that people have in their windows: “Less Marc Jacobs, more Jane Jacobs.” Marc Jacobs is a local, but still, how many Marc Jacobs stores do you need in Greenwich Village?

Do you consider Brooklyn to be what Greenwich Village was back in the day? Yes, in the sense that that’s where the arty kids and bohemians are going now. But no, because the Village was centrally located and within reach of everybody. The money that chased everyone out of Lower Manhattan and Manhattan is continuing to chase them in Brooklyn. Now, kids who just moved into Bed Stuy are moving out because they can’t afford it. When you can’t afford Bed Stuy, things have gotten a little strange. Join John at these talks and signings: June 8th at La Mama’s Coffeehouse Chronicles http://lamama.org/coffeehouse-chronicles/ john-strausbaugh/ June 13th at Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space www.morusnyc.org

PAGE 21

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Board Operator/Operations Assistant at Sirius XM Responsible for scheduling PT boardops, reviewing daily Operations reports and operating audio board equipment. Bachelor’s preferred. 2+ years audio board exp. required. Apply at https://careers-siriusxm.icims.com/jobs/8465/jo b

Associate Producer, Sports at Sirius XM Supports creative processes, content development and production of sports programming channels. Bachelor’s preferred. Min. 2 years radio/ audio production facility experience. Apply at https://careers-siriusxm.icims.com/ j o b s / 8 4 6 0 / j o b

Beautiful & Spacious CT House for Sale by Owner 3/4 “park likeâ€? acre in New FairďŹ eld, CT, 90 mins from NYC. 3 bdrm, 2 bthrm, 2 car gargage, ďŹ replace, nice hardwood oors, updated bthrms, newer kitch appliances. Perfect for yr round or wknd getaway. Easy access to MetroNorth. Very close to schools & Town Center(including Home Depot, Cineplex & Danbury Mall). Good schools. Low taxes. Pls call Valerie: 212-348-6462, leave message.

HEALTH SERVICES

Executive Assistant, Sirius XM Provides high level administrative support to SVP and General Manager, Music Programming & Digital Music. Bachelor’s preferred. Min. 5 years exp. as an assistant working with senior and/or executive management in fast paced, ambiguous environment. Apply at https://car e e r s s i riusxm.icims.com/ j o b s / 8 4 7 4 / j o b

Swedish deep tissue massage by Shiromi in/out (917)-703-3340

MASSAGE BEST BODYWORK & BEST RATE! Handsome, certiďŹ ed, friendly and experienced bodyworker does amazing Swedish work in a convenient and beautiful Chelsea space. I have a very high % of repeat clients because I will focus on your own individual requests and needs. And also for a low price! Carl 646-734-3042

Remember to: Recycle and Reuse

Home Services ANIMALS & PETS

grooming, daycare training

$25 OFF

To advertise call (212)-868-0190 Classified2@strausnews.com ANIMALS & PETS

the pet maven

House Call Pet Grooming & Cat Sitting

grooming or daycare service

Massage by Emerita (212)288-9132 OUTSTANDING MASSAGE NICE, BLONDE HUNGARIAN, SYLVIA Midtown East location. Cozy & Relaxing. Quality service. Please call for an appt. 212.888.0611

Steve’s Body Work Great Hands Available Daily UES 646-504-5602 bodyworknownyc.@aol.com

(new customers only)

212.486.5100

895 First Avenue (50th & 51st) www.preciouspetsnyc.com

“caring for your pet in the comfort of your home�

www.thepetmaven.com

917-744-4709

HOME RENOVATIONS

SWEDISH/SHIATSU CHINESE GUY Expert masseur. Swedish & Shiatsu. Therapeutic & relaxing. Private. 52nd St & 3rd Ave. Stephen: 646-996-9030

PSYCHOTHERAPIST

Domestic Staffing Service 145 East 62nd Street Housekeepers * Nannies * Elder Care * Chef * Organizing * Personal Assistants

212.257.6706 PAGE 22

www.lifeworx.com OUR TOWN

R ENOVATIONS Kitchens r Bathrooms /FX $POTUSVDUJPO r %FDLT r 3PPĂ OH Milford, PA 570-296-4458

In NY 631-656-0717

'VMMZ *OTVSFE r DJFSWPBOETPOT DPN www.nypress.com

Expert Psychotherapist Low $35 Fee (212)873-5640 (212)DOC-7119 REAL ESTATE - SALE

1/6 Price of the City! Westchester Village, Georgian 1 bd renovated Co-Op.888 sq ft,5 min walk to train,26 mins to Grand Central.Call Donald/Margaret 917-494-0114

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

Gentleman’s Farm For Sale By Owner MagniďŹ cent 29 acre farm in NE Pennsylvania. 4400 sq ft home in pristine condition. 3 story barn, riding ring. 5 fenced ďŹ elds with 1 1/2 miles of stone walls. Pond, woods, apple orchards & more. You have to see this to believe it! Plus great schools & low taxes. Easy commute to NYC, NJ & airports. www.nepafarm.com SERVICES OFFERED

SENSUAL BODYWORK young, handsome, smooth, athletic Asian. InCall/OutCall. Phillip. 212-787-9116 PUBLIC NOTICES

New York City Department of Transportation Notice of Public Hearing The New York City Department of Transportation held a public hearing on Wednesday June 12, 2013 at 2:00 P.M., at 55 Water St., 9th Floor Room 945, on the following petitions for revocable consent in the Borough of Manhattan: #1 Julie Herzig Desnick & Robert John Desnick -to continue to maintain and use a fenced-in area, together with planted area and trash receptacle, on the south sidewalk of E 93rd St. #2 Renaissance 627 Broadway LLC -to continue to maintain and use a stoop on the east sidewalk of Mercer St., between Houston and Bleecker Streets. #3 VJHC Development Corp. –to continue to maintain and use bollards on the west sidewalk of Bowery, north of Doyers St. Interested parties can obtain copies of proposed agreements or request sign-language interpreters (with at least seven days prior notice) at 55 Water St., 9th Fl. SW New York, NY 10041, or by calling (212) 839-6550.

“THE PERFECT FATHER’S DAY GIFT� A PORTRAIT DONE BY YOU CHILD

Draw a picture of Dad, scan it (or send it to us) and then order a mug or luggage tag with your child’s drawing on it.

Sponsored by Marble Collegiate Church All kids drawings will appear on our website as they are received. Just go to nypress.com and click on “Draw Your Dad� to get the details!

DO NOT USE PENCIL Use bold and bright colored pens, markers, crayons, etc. Light color and pencils will not reproduce on our website or newspapers.

PLEASE DO NOT FOLD YOUR DRAWING

E-mail your drawing to contests@strausnews.com or mail it to Straus News Contests 8FTU "WF t $IFTUFS /:

Then order Dad’s portrait PO B NVH UPUFCBH FUD (P UP nypress.com click on i%SBX :PVS %BEw BOE GPMMPX UIF EJSFDUJPOT Dad’s Name:

Marble Collegiate Church is a welcoming and accepting church, where all are

Your Name & Age:

valued and afďŹ rmed. Through dynamic and inspirational worship, and meaningful and rich programming and outreach, Marble creates a space where all will ďŹ nd transformational ministry, true community, and common ground. We hope you

Address:

will visit us at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 29th Street for Sunday Worship at 11:00 AM, or check our website at www.MarbleChurch.org.

City:

Dr. Michael Brown, Senior Minister.

Cell Phone:

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

OUR TOWN

www.nypress.com

State:

PAGE 23

Zip:

Responsibly Green, Elegantly Glenwood

The finest Manhattan rentals in the neighborhood of your choice. Near the Best NYC Schools t Unparalleled Service t Fitness Center t Children’s Playroom & Swimming Pool t 24-Hour Doorman t Magnificent Lobbies t Landscaped Gardens t Exciting City Views t Spacious Layouts t Building-Wide Water Filtration Systems t On-Site Parking Garage UPPER EAST SIDE

1 Bedrooms from $2,895

2 Bedrooms from $4,595

Convertible 3 Bedrooms from $6,095

MIDTOWN & UPPER WEST SIDE

1 Bedrooms from $3,195

2 Bedrooms 2 Baths from $4,995

3 Bedrooms 2 1/2 Bath from $8,995

TRIBECA & FINANCIAL DISTRICT

1 Bedrooms from $3,495

2 Bedrooms 2 Bath from $5,995

Convertible 3 Bedrooms from $8,595

GLENWOOD BUILDER OWNER MANAGER

212-535-0500 DOWNTOWN LUXURY LEASING OFFICE 212-430-5900 UPTOWN LUXURY LEASING OFFICE

Open 7 days, 10AM-6PM t NO FEE Free parking while viewing apartments

glenwoodnyc.com PAGE 24

OUR TOWN

Equal Housing Opportunity

www.nypress.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

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