Our Town April 10th, 2014

Page 1

The local paper for the Upper er East Side YOUNG DANCERS STORM THE STAGE

WEEK OF APRIL

< ARTS, P. 16

NYPRESS.COM

10 2014

OurTownEastSide @OurTownNYC

TAKING ATTENDANCE

In Brief ARTS SHORTFALL IN NYC SCHOOLS A new study by city Comptroller Scott Stringer shows that the city is underfunding school arts programs. The report shows that 20% of public schools lack any arts teachers at all, despite state laws requiring arts education for middle and high school students. The problem, according to the report, is disproportionately worse at schools in low-income parts of the city, adding to existing educational inequities across New York, Stringer says. To fix the problem, New York would have to spend $25 million to supply an arts teacher to every school that needs one -- a tenth of a penny for every dollar spent by the Department of Education.

COMMUNITY BOARDS Councilmember Kallos recommends community board members get the boot over absenteeism BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

UPPER EAST SIDE Members of local community boards may soon be making attendance at meetings more of a priority. In reviewing potential board members to reappoint to the Upper East Side’s Community Board 8, freshman Councilman Ben Kallos recommended to Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s office that several members not be reappointed because they were absent from 25 percent or more of mandatory meetings in 2013. Of those recommendations, John Bartos, appointed in April 2012, claimed he was singled out by Kallos during the process for political reasons. Other members of the board whom Kallos recommended not be reappointed could not be reached for comment or would not comment on the record for this story. According to Kallos’ office, they sent letters to certain CB8 members questioning their attendance records and raising other concerns, like arriving late to meetings and leaving early, if they were found to have been absent or tardy more than 25 percent of the time. Kallos told Our Town that he made that recommendation for all board members who fit the criteria – even those whose reappointment he had no control over – regardless of their political affiliations. Kallos said that in making the recommendations, his office used information supplied by the borough president’s office. “We literally used the information that was given to us by [Borough President] Gale Brewer,” said Kallos. “We had objective criteria and we looked at it and saw there was pretty high absenteeism on the board. I adopted a standard, and applied it to the comprehensive research that [Brewer’s] CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

COLUMBIA DENTAL STUDENT MISSING FROM U.W.S.

A NEW SCHOOL FOR DOGS SMALL BUSINESS A successful two-woman dog training business is seeking a new downtown home after a fire destroyed their previous space BY MARY NEWMAN

CHELSEA Lifelong New Yorker Anna Grossman grew up on 17th Street and 3rd Avenue watching her mother start her own business, and run it out of their apartment. Following in her mom’s foot steps, she has partnered with Kate Senisi to open a dog training studio, School For Dogs, which they also started out of Grossman’s apartment. After college, Grossman worked as a journalist, getting stories published in the New York Times, Gizmodo, and the Boston Globe. In 2008 she wrote “A Chorus of

Dog Whisperers” for the New York Times, which told the story of people changing their established careers to become dog trainers. “That article had sort of planted a seed in my head,” she explained. “Between 2007 when I wrote that article and 2010, I was always keeping my eye out for [dog training] programs.” Grossman decided upon the Karen Pryor Academy, which pairs online classes with several weekend workshops. After finishing the program, and becoming a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA), she met her partner Kate Senisi at a meet up for New York trainers. Two years ago, they transformed Grossman’s childhood home into their studio and have been building a successful business. She continued to live in the back of the apart-

SCHOOL FOR DOGS If you would like to donate visit their website at www. schoolfordogs.com, or go straight to their Indiegogo account at www.indiegogo.com/projects/ help-nyc-s-school-for-thedogs-rebuild. ment, while they utilized the former living room space and roof deck to work with their clients. Grossman helped develop a tablet app that allows dogs to paint, press buttons with their nose, and take “dog selfies.” Their work has been showcased on the Today Show, CBS, and made front-page news at the Wall Street Journal. Senisi is from Schenectady, NY

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

Jiwon Lee, a 29-year-old female student at Columbia’s College of Dental Medicine, has been missing since Tuesday April 1. Friends say she was last seen at her apartment at 220 West 98th Street, at 8:30 p.m. The police are seeking the public’s assistance in locating Lee, and her friends and family have set up a Facebook page and are papering the city with missing person flyers. Lee is described as 5’2” tall, 120 lbs., with black hair and eyes. Anyone with information can call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW. NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.

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Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS CHECK

GETAWAY DESIGNER AND BUILDER OF UPSTATE COTTAGES $300,000 - $600,000 LAND INCLUDED Sullivan county, WOODSTOCK, SAUGERTIES, bearsville, stone ridge, Rhinebeck, Hudson, Red Hook, Millbrook... 'HVLJQ %XLOG 5HQRYDWH

The Yorkville coffee shop DTUT enticed customers last week with a gimmick inviting them to meet “Matthew McConaughey.”

COFFEE SHOP OFFERS CHANCE TO MEET “MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY” DTUT, a coffee bar at 1744 2nd Avenue, recently offered customers a chance to meet Matthew McConaughey. Customers were excited, but soon angry, when they discovered that Matthew McConaughey is the name of the shop’s new pet goldfish. “Lots of people came in and asked, ‘Is he just visiting?’” said DTUT’s manager Neath Williams. “So we say, ‘Well, you can feed him if you want.’” Most customers took the joke in stride, and even stuck around to pick up a cup. NY Daily News

CONTRADICTIONS IN CHILEAN NANNY ABUSE CASE Felicitas del Carmen Villanueva Garnica, a Chilean nanny for an Upper East Side couple who is claiming abuse, has now muddled the story during her court deposistion. Orignally, Garnica claimed that the couple “trafficked” her into the country and was denied food and medicine while locked in a room with their abusive

children. Now she claimed in a sworn deposistion that she wasn’t locked in the room, regularly left the apartment when the children were at school and often spoke to her mother and son back in Chile. “Under oath, she admits that her most incendiary allegations are not true,” court papers argue. NY Post

MAN MURDERED IN UPPER EAST SIDE APARTMENT BUILDING An unidentified 53-year-old man was found dead in his Upper East Side apartment last week. Police say he died from a stab wound. The man was pronounced dead on arrival at his East 85th Street apartment building by EMS crews. Medical examiners have yet to determine the exact cause of death. No arrests have been made. NBC New York

UBER CAB SERVICE OFFERED $2.50 CAB RIDES ALONG 2ND AVENUE Uber, an app for livery cab service, offered users a $2.50 ride anywhere along 2nd Avenue on April 1st as a temporary

replacement for the 2nd Avenue subway project. Riders who took advantage of the special had to be picked up and dropped off along 2nd Avenue. The deal ended at midnight. “We gave the subway line often referred to as ‘The Line That Time Forgot,’ an overnight overhaul,” the company said in a statement, calling their service the “U Train.” “After decades of waiting, we decided to take Second Avenue into our own hands.” DNAinfo.com

TIMES PROFILES EMERGING U.E.S. GALLERY SCENE The New York Times profiled the Upper East Side’s growing gallery prescence. They noted the affordable prices along 57th Street and spaces on or just off Madison Avenue and how the galleries are mostly hidden in office buildings or discreetly marked brownstones. One of the galleries featured was the Michael Werner Gallery “At Michael Werner, there’s no looking back, only forward motion, in the astounding display of 110 early drawings done by the irreverent shapeshifter Sigmar Polke in the ‘60s and ‘70s.” NY Times

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 3

CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG BANKUM Someone made unauthorized charges on a young woman’s bank account. At 1 PM on Tuesday, April 1, a 19-year-old woman received a text message from her bank, alerting her that fraudulent activity had been discovered in her account. Charges had been made at several locations amounting to $1,300. The victim still had her debit card in her possession.

DEBIT CAD Another young woman had her bank account compromised. At 8 AM on Monday, March 31, a 26-year-old woman discovered that three transactions totaling $1,060 had been made at ATMs by an unknown person. She too still had her debit card in her possession.

THIS ACQUAINTANCE SHOULD BE FORGOT A man’s acquaintance was arrested after stealing the man’s wallet. At midnight on Monday, March 31, a 59-yearold man was accompanying a male acquaintance to the latter’s apartment, when the

acquaintance unexpectedly grabbed the man’s wallet and ran off. The wallet contained no money or credit cards and was later recovered in the street. The acquaintance, a 42-year-old man, was subsequently arrested and charged with grand larceny.

POUCH OUCH Someone stole a pouch from a woman’s backpack. At 2 PM on Saturday, March 29, a woman was descending a crowded staircase at the 86th Street Lexington Avenue subway station when she felt someone bump into her. A few minutes later, as she was walking on Park Avenue, she discovered that a small pouch containing her credit cards, $200 in cash, and two hearing aids valued at $6,000 had been removed by an unknown person from her backpack.

COMMUNITY ALERT! Safeguard your apartment and home. Recent burglaries have occurred in the neighborhood. Be alert for suspicious activity. Perpetrators are gaining entry

by: • Forcing locked doors, mainly the front, due to inadequate locks. • Front doors left open and unsecured. • Unlocked rear windows. • Fire-escape windows. Remember to: 1. Lock all windows and doors – even when you will be away from home only for a few hours, even if you live in a doorman building. 2. Install and lock secondary locks. 3. Do NOT leave your electronics (laptops, iPods, etc.) near your windows in plain view. 4. Install only FDNY-approved safety gates on ďŹ re-escape or ground-level windows. Your local precinct Crime Prevention Survey consists of a walk-through of your home and a list of security recommendations to help prevent your chances of being burglarized. Call your local precinct and ask the crime prevention officer for this FREE service. If you have any information regarding any burglaries, please contact your local precinct detective squad.

The Pothole Project: One Month and Counting

We featured this pothole last month in a story on the city’s pothole problem -- and it’s still there. We’ll check back weekly until it’s ďŹ xed. Send us your pothole nightmares -- email us at news@strausnews. Meanwhile, watch your step. Photo by Daniel Fitzsimmons.

The Original Teachings of

Theosophy as recorded by H.P. Blavatsky & William Q. Judge

What is Religion? A Religion in the true and only correct sense, is a bond uniting men together – not a particular set of dogmas and beliefs. Now Religion, per se, in its widest meaning is that which binds not only all MEN, but also all BEINGS and all things in the entire Universe into one grand whole. ‌Thus Theosophy is not a Religion, we say, but RELIGION itself, the one bond of unity, which is so universal and all-embracing that no man, as no speck – from gods and mortals down to animals, the blade of grass and atom - can be outside of its light. H.P Blavatsky

All Meetings Free No Dues No Collections TV Channel 57 Fri @ 9:30PM

SUNDAY EVENINGS 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. April

13 The Cycle of Reincarnation 27 Theosophy Generally Stated

May

11 The Mahatmas as Ideals and Facts 25 Seven Kinds of Dreams

For full program contact:

The United Lodge of Theosophists Theosophy Hall Phone (212) 535- 2230

347 East 72nd St., New York www.ULT.org

The Madison Avenue Business Improvement District Congratulates the 2014 OTTY Award Winners 6 MADISON AVENUE DISTRICT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION INCORPOR

59 EAST 79TH STREET " EW YORK ! AX WWW ORG

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Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

Useful Contacts

A scene from Matilda , the musical that Matthew Warchus was in town to direct when his family stayed at a vermin-infested rental on the Upper West Side.

POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct

153 E. 67th St.

212-452-0600

FDNY 22 Ladder Co 13

159 E. 85th St.

311

FDNY Engine 39/Ladder 16

157 E. 67th St.

311

FDNY Engine 53/Ladder 43

1836 2nd Ave.

311

FDNY Engine 44

221 E. 75th St

311

FIRE

CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Daniel Garodnick

211 E. 43rd St. #1205

212-818-0580

Councilmember Ben Kallos

244 E. 93rd St.

212-860-1950

STATE LEGISLATORS State Sen. Jose M. Serrano

157 E. 104 St.

212-828-5829

State Senator Liz Krueger

1850 2nd Ave.

212-490-9535

Assembly Member Dan Quart

360 E. 57th St.

212-605-0937

Assembly Member Micah Kellner

1365 1st Ave.

212-860-4906

COMMUNITY BOARD 8

505 Park Ave. #620

212-758-4340

LIBRARIES Yorkville

222 E. 79th St.

212-744-5824

96th Street

112 E. 96th St.

212-289-0908

67th Street

328 E. 67th St.

Webster Library

1465 York Avenue

212-288-5049

Lenox Hill

100 E. 77th St.

212-434-2000

NY-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell

525 E. 68th St.

212-764-5454

Mount Sinai

E. 99th St. & Madison Ave.

212-241-6500

NYU Langone

550 1st Ave.

212-263-7300

CON EDISON

4 Irving Place

212-460-4600

US Post Office

1283 1st Ave.

212-517-8361

US Post Office

1617 3rd Ave.

212-369-2747

212-734-1717

HOSPITALS

POST OFFICES

FOR MATILDA’S DIRECTOR, RATS AT $15,000-A-MONTH PROPERTY Broadway director Matthew Warchus found himself living with rodents, maggots and bedbugs in his pricey West End Avenue rental BY PHILIP BOROFF

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

PREVIOUS OWNERS HAVE INCLUDED:

Include your full name, address and day and evening telephone numbers

Tom Allon, Isis Ventures, Ed Kayatt, Russ Smith, Bob Trentlyon, Jerry Finkelstein

On April 11 of last year, the musical “Matilda” opened to some

of the best reviews of the Broadway season. But any celebration at the $15,000-a-month Upper West Side brownstone that the show’s producers rented for the family of director Matthew Warchus was tempered by the presence of uninvited guests. A week after the opening, Warchus “reported that he saw a nine-inch rat in the kitchen of the apartment,” according to papers in a lawsuit over the infestation in New York State Supreme Court. “On the same day he also reported that maggots were found in the sofa of the apartment.” Bedbugs had already made an appearance at the apartment, at 615 West End Avenue. While landlord-tenant disputes over rodents are all too common in the city, they don’t usually center around such pricey properties or high-profile people. And they don’t often start with accusations from the landlord, which in this case accuses one of Broadway’s biggest names of inviting the rats into the property. The landlord, Shira White, hired an exterminator to catch the rat while the producers -- Matilda Broadway L.P. and Dodger Properties LLC -- paid to eradicate the bedbugs. But when the nine-month lease expired and the Warchuses returned to England, instead of returning the security deposit, White’s company, NINIS LLC, sued Warchus and the producers. White claimed that the Warchuses failed to keep the apartment in good condition, violating the lease. “Virtually every person who visited the apartment commented negatively on the dirty, unsanitary conditions; the horrendous clutter; and mess of the apartment,” according to the landlord’s complaint. “It was concluded that the rat actually was brought into the apartment” in a chair in which it was nesting, White said in the suit. (The tenants supplied the furniture.) She claimed she couldn’t rent the apartment after the Warchuses left because of the “unsanitary conditions” and a requirement that she disclose the bedbug history to prospective tenants. She seeks more than $450,000 in damages. In counterclaims, the “Matilda” producers blamed White and her teenage son, who were both living in the basement and ground floor, for the infestation. White “was asked to maintain a more sanitary garbage disposal area, but failed to take any action,” the “Matilda” producers said. She was also told “about the unsanitary conditions caused by her son’s frequent and rowdy

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 5

weekend parties (which occurred while she was traveling), and again failed to take remedial action.” There was no heat when the Warchuses moved in in December 2012 and they had to sleep in their coats for the first nights, the producers’ complaint said. They seek return of their $15,000 deposit, plus interest, and damages of at least $100,000. “The building was advertised as a charmingly restored 19th century brownstone,” the producers said in court papers. “In fact it was poorly designed, badly and cheaply renovated, and had problems that one would not find tolerable in a college dormitory, let alone in a triplex apartment renting at $15,000 dollars per month.” Lawyers for both sides declined to comment and White didn’t respond to an email. The producers claimed that the landlord “made harassing phone calls” to Warchus’s wife, Lauren Ward, who played the teacher Miss Honey, as she was preparing to perform. Producers also claimed the Warchuses were harassed about cleanliness during showings to prospective tenants. White’s complaints “focused on things that were transitory, trivial and understandable given that the occupant had three young children, was directing a Broadway musical in which his wife had a prominent role, and that the family often had insufficient notice of showings of the apartment,” the producers said in court papers. In February, Warchus filed a motion to dismiss the suit against him. “Matilda” rented the brownstone, he said and he wasn’t on the lease. And he’s an independent contractor of the production, not an employee, and while living in England he wasn’t validly served with the suit. The case is ongoing, although Morrell Berkowitz, the lawyer for the landlord, has applied to withdraw. He referred in a filing to unpaid invoices that “have been outstanding for a lengthy period of time.” Karen Wohlforth, a New York lawyer and former family court referee who isn’t involved, said it will be difficult for White prove that “Matilda” is responsible for the uninvited guests, particularly given the citywide plague of bedbugs. “Unless the bedbugs can testify,” she said.

The building at 615 West End Avenue, the site of two lawsuits seeking to assign blame over how a rental unit became overrun with rats and bedbugs.

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Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

Neighborhood Scrapbook

Iraklii Buziashvili, MD PhD

More

Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism, Men’s Health

neighborhood celebrations? neighborhood opinions? neighborhood ideas? neighborhood feedback? neighborhood concerns?

Diabetes, Thyroid Disorders, Male Sexual Dysfunction, Low Testosterone, Male Infertility, Obesity, Osteoporosis, High Cholesterol & High Blood Pressure, Calcium Disorders, Adrenal Disorders

785 Park Avenue NYC 212.288.8382

FREE POOL EVENT AT THE VANDERBILT Y

Email us at news@strausnews.com

WHITBOURN | ANNELIES

April 26, 2014 at 8:00pm | Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center 7KH ø UVW PDMRU FKRUDO VHWWLQJ RI 7KH 'LDU\ RI $QQH )UDQN

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The Vanderbilt YMCA is marking the start of the swimming season with YSplash – a free ďŹ veday family pool event that kicks off a week-long celebration of swimming designed to help kids stay safe and healthy at the beach, pool, or water park this summer. From April 14 through April 18, YSplash programs welcome swimmers, non-swimmers, parents and children to come to their local YMCA in their swimsuits—ready to jump in the water and learn. Pictured, Crystal Santiago, a Vanderbilt YMCA intern.

SPRING CUTBACK ON THE HIGH LINE

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Friends of the High Line hosted its annual Spring Cutback – the park’s biggest horticultural undertaking of the year – and bid a “not so fond goodbye� to winter on April 2. Co-Founder Joshua David and Executive Director Jenny Gersten were joined by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, NYC Parks Manhattan Borough Commissioner Bill Castro, and dozens of volunteers from the Chelsea and the Meatpacking District communities. Photo by Liz Ligon courtesy of Friends of the Highline

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 7

A NEW SCHOOL FOR DOGS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 and became a CertiďŹ ed Professional Dog Trainer and behavior consultant after changing her career as a graphic designer. She specializes in aggression issues, leash walking, and selfcontrol. “We show people how to be a leader to your pet, without using force,â€? Senisi explained. “Our training is force-free all the way.â€? Both trainers want to reduce the number of pets surrendered to shelters, which is usually caused by a pet’s behavioral issues. As their business was beginning to

ced to start over thrive, they were forced after an electrical fire decimated d home and their Grossman’s childhood cember 29, 2013 entire studio. On December ge noises coming she woke up to strange form her wall. “The power went out, which didn’t e there wasn’t a seem right because te at night,� she storm, and it was late re popping noissaid. “Then there were es coming from my wall, and five minutes later smoke just started artment.� billowing into the apartment.� They lost everything,, but phave continued to operate their business by renting space from different doggie daycare centers

around Manhattan. At a recent class, held at a dog training facility Grossman is using temporarily in Chelsea, we

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spoke to one of their longtime client ents, Sharon Marine and her dog Violet. h remained loyal She has to Se Senisi and Grossman durin their transition during becau she has conbecause tinue to see amazing tinued result with Violet. results “Th have taught me “They bette ways to interact better with Violet, using posir tive reinforcement to teach her things, but it al been teaching has also me,� M Marine said. Grossm was catering Grossman ere developmental to different

stages of each dog in class. She uses a reward-based training method, teaching dogs stimulus control, how to stop and sit next to their owners on command, and ways to avoid distractions. “Training your dog is an ongoing thing, so having a space is important,â€? Grossman said. “The [training] space helps communicate that this is a place we want you to come back to through out your dog’s life.â€? Schools for Dogs has raised $12,618 of a $20,000 goal through an Indiegogo campaign. The money will help replace equipment burned in the ďŹ re, and secure a location on 1st Street and 2nd Avenue on the Lower East Side, which has a back yard and plenty of space for their growing business.

JOHN KRTIL FUNERAL HOME; YORKVILLE FUNERAL SERVICE, INC. Dignified, Affordable and Independently Owned Since 1885 WE SERVE ALL FAITHS AND COMMUNITIES 5 )/'&1 /'+$1)-,0 $2250 -+.*'1' 5 )/'&1 2/)$*0 $2850 5 4.'/1 /' *$,,),( 3$)*$%*'

1297 First Ave (69th & 70th & + # " $& )" $ " $ ) * "#( & " $ + ))) $& '" $ #! #! Each cremation service individually performed by fully licensed members of our staff. We use no outside agents or trade services in our cremation service. We exclusively use All Souls Chapel and Crematory at the prestigious St. Michael's Cemetery, Queens, NY for our cremations unless otherwise directed.

Watch our series of video interviews with the pioneers of the Israeli wine industry and then buy the wines.

PIONEERS OF ISRAELI WINE Now through May 1, 2014 Free shipping on a case. Use code: GCIW14

grapecollective.com/Israeliwine

8

Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

Voices Feedback

HOW WOULD YOU JUDGE MAYOR DE BLASIO’S FIRST THREE MONTHS IN OFFICE?

LETTER

LOVE FOR THE NEW LOOK

“ I haven’t seen a difference. To me it hasn’t changed.” Segolene B.

Congratulations on a vastly improved Our Town. The redesign, with better layouts, assertive headlines in bolder fonts, and more interesting and varied editorial content has turned a flimsy local publication into a community paper one looks forward to reading. If the type is smaller, so is that of the New York Times. Our Town now looks like what it is, a newspaper to be taken seriously, not a ‘Reader’ for school children. Peter E. Rosenblatt

“ I haven’t really noticed a change. There’s no difference.” Kelly F.

NOT SO HONORABLE SENATOR? Comment on our April 3, 2014 profile of State Senator Liz Krueger, who won a 2014 OTTY (Our Town Thanks You) Award for East Sider of the Year: The Hon. Liz Krueger betrayed her constituents by endorsing Bill de Blasio for Mayor. The mayor is a staunch supporter of the Marine Transfer Station, and despite Sen. Krueger’s opposition to the plan, she helped sweep into office the very man intent on implementing it. NewYorkerfortheEastRiver

BIKE LANE NUISANCE Just past the bus stop on the east side of lst avenue between 79th and 80th streets, a part of the bus lane has had concrete placed so that one lane of traffic is cut off. This is in addition to a bike lane, which isn’t used very often, since the riders also use the east side of the street, and a car parking lane. What is going on? Why is that bus lane blocked and what is the purpose of it? I called Ben Kallos’ office and spoke to one of his workers, but so far no response. These bike lanes are terrible and should be removed. The riders do not follow the traffic lights. Martin Stahl

AWAITING REPAIR FOR SEVEN YEARS A depression on a corner of East 79th Street and York Avenue has been causing dangerous conditions for far too long BY ROY H. CARLIN

UPPER EAST SIDE For seven years, where the M31 and M79 Cross town stop, at the northeast corner 79th Street and York Avenue, there has been a depression at the street curb which collects water, as it did on March 29 and 30th. In winter, passing vehicles spray the water on the sidewalk

STRAUS MEDIA-MANHATTAN President, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com

Publisher, Gerry Gavin advertising@strausnews.com Associate Publishers, Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth, Kate Walsh

creating glare ice where bus passengers disembark. The passengers slip and fall as they descend the bus. When not freezing, the water sprays those passing on the sidewalk. One needs about half dozen bags of macadam to fill the depression. Without avail over seven years, I have contacted Council Members Lappin and Garodnick, Mayor Bloomberg, and State Assemblyman Micah Kellner about this. Please help.

“ I don’t think there’s enough to really judge him. He’s showed us he can shovel snow.” Mark T.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Send your letters to news@ strausnews.com. Be sure to include a full name and contact information.

Classified Account Executive, Susan Wynn

Editor In Chief, Kyle Pope editor.ot@strausnews.com

Distribution Manager, Mark Lingerman

Editor, Megan Bungeroth editor.otdt@strausnews.com

Staff Reporters, Gabrielle Alfiero, Daniel Fitzsimmons Block Mayors, Ann Morris, Upper West Side

“ The only thing that comes to mind is the charter school problem. but that’s not really his fault. I think he’s trying.” Leslie O. Jennifer Peterson, Upper East Side Gail Dubov, Upper West Side Edith Marks, Upper West Side

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 9

Things People Do in their Basements

BY BECCA TUCKER shouldn’t be bowled every time, but I can’t seem to work up a decent level of jadedness. On assignment, I go interview someone in the middle of nowhere because I heard about them from someone else in the middle of nowhere, and I pull up to their house and pet the dog and walk downstairs. And gasp. What do I find downstairs? What don’t I find downstairs. A laboratory where yeasts are being incubated for experimental, out of this world beers that few will ever taste because they cannot be sold, can only be poured into tasting glasses and offered, along with historical explanations of each variety, to visitors who happen to have the good fortune of finding themselves

I

in this basement. A big room filled entirely by a world of antique toy trains on multiple tracks and elevation levels, with bridges and airplanes and different towns and tunnels and a hot air balloon. You have to turn the trains on gradually or it scares people – and this wasn’t even what I came to interview this guy about. And no kids live here. Maybe it’s not a basement but a turret, attached to a domed house that a giant man built with his own giant hands and the sawmill in his yard. The house draws its energy from a hydro-plant the giant man also built at the mouth of a waterfall down the hill, which he can monitor from his living room using the touch screen of an iPad. The turret is made out of an old silo, and in its top is the bedroom, from which he and his wife watch flying squirrels glide through the tree canopy. A music teacher whose son went off to college spins the hair from her pet rabbits, on a foot-powered spinning wheel, into the yarn with which she knits sweaters. The wicker handbag that a co-worker tosses onto the lunch room table at the office is, on closer inspection, not wicker at all, but crocheted, by her, out of hundreds of plastic bags. If these people had P.R. agents, they’d be all over the New York Times Thursday Styles section. But they are content to toil away in their basements, probably doing

better work because they do it just because, because they like it, and there’s not much else to do around here. “You wouldn’t believe!” When I get home from an interview, I try to convey the world I just stepped out of. But I am too easily amazed, too often incredulous, to be a trustworthy authority on what’s worth getting worked up about. Husband Joe listens, and more often than not replies: “It’s their ultimate.” What he means is that he and I spend an inordinate amount of time playing the obscure sport of ultimate Frisbee. Other people have the same amount of energy, and pour it into other outlets, with results that appear astounding to outsiders. I chafe a little when I read a breathless story about a restaurateur who grew a beard and moved from the city to the nether reaches of the Hudson Valley to open a boutique bistro featuring wild game. Do you know? I grumble. That this is not some uninhabited wasteland that you’ve just discovered and civilized? That the people who already live here are making sausage from the deer they hunted, and carving canoes out of tree trunks like it’s no big deal? That they are doing things in their basements that you just cannot believe? Becca Tucker is a former Manhattanite who now lives on a farm upstate and writes about the rural life.

Anders Zorn, Mrs. Richard Howe, 1900, detail, oil on canvas, Private Collection

The Sixth Borough

ON VIEW FEBRUARY 27 – MAY 18, 2014 NATIONAL ACADEMY MUSEUM

1083 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street Open Wed–Sun, 11 AM – 6 PM www.nationalacademy.org 212.369.4880 x201

Holy Week Marble Collegiate Church Dr. Michael B. Brown preaching April 13, Palm/Passion Sunday 10am: Family Worship, Prayer Circle and Bible Study with Sister Carol Perry 11am: A Needy Crowd (Mark 11:1-10) April 17, Maundy Thursday 7pm: An Anonymous Host (Luke 22:7-13) Dramatic readings with music by the Marble Sanctuary Choir. Holy Communion. April 18, Good Friday 11:30am: Music for Prayer and Meditation - Kenneth Dake Noon: Simon of Cyrene (Mark 15:16-22) Marble Festival of Voices, Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra 1:30-3pm: Prayer Vigil 7pm: Jazz Revelation - A Jazz Funeral For Christ April 20, Easter Sunday 8:30am: Prayer Circle 9 & 11am: Witnesses at the Empty Tomb (Matthew 28:1-10) Dr. Michael B. Brown, Senior Minister 1 West 29th St. NYC, NY 10001 (212) 686-2770 www.MarbleChurch.org

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Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

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11 AARP-TAX AIDE: FREE TAX RETURN PREPARATION SERVICE 67th Street Library, 328 East 67th Street 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., Free AARP volunteers, who are certified by the IRS, prepare all returns. There is no cost to you for preparation and no cost to you for electronic filing (e-file). Certain returns with voluminous data or less common types of income, credits or deductions are beyond the scope of the AARP program. Some materials you should bring with you are: Last year’s Federal and State income tax return. Social Security Cards for you, your spouse & dependents. Tax information statements summarizing your 2013 income: Forms W-2, Forms 1099 for: Social Security payments, interest, retirement benefits, and annual tax statements from brokers, etc. Details including any support for deductions and credits: medical, childcare, education, etc. nypl.org

in the Outfield (1951) for the Four Seasons, with Cynthia 3rd Commandment: You shall Roberts and Owen Dalby, not take the name of the Lord violins. your God in vain; The Postman clarionsociety.org Always Rings Twice (1946) for the 7th Commandment: You shall not commit adultery; and The Front (1976) for the 9th Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 92y.org

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12 16TH ANNUAL SPRING RUN Central Park 9 a.m., $25/30 The race is a four-mile run and walk in support of Concern Worldwide and the work that it does to improve the conditions of people living in world’s poorest countries and areas affected by war, conflict, and natural disaster. After-party at East End Bar, which includes a free buffetstyle breakfast for all event participants. concernusa.org/springrun

THE CLARION ORCHESTRA PERFORMS VIVALDI CONCERTI GROSSI

Renaissance library of the Fabbri House, 7 East 95th Street, 5th & Madison 92Y, Lexington Avenue at 7:30 p.m., $35 92nd St Each of the concerti 10 a.m., $25 Explore serious and comedic features multiple solo instruments to reveal Vivaldi’s films that reflect the Ten depth of imagination and Commandments. Some of textural brilliance. The the day’s screenings include program will include the Inherit the Wind (1960), for Concerto in A minor (Op. 3, the 1st Commandment: I am No. 8), Sinfonia in G minor the Lord your God who took ‘San Elena al Calvario’, and you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage; Angels Winter and Spring from The

COMMANDING FILMS

SECOND HAND ROSE: A JOURNEY DOWN THE YIDDISH RIALTO

92Y, Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street 10:45 a.m., $40 Stroll down Second Avenue, the famed “Yiddish rialto,� and explore its connections to the modern day East Village and Lower East Side. Observe the names of famous performers of the Yiddish theater on the Second Avenue Deli’s “Starwalk,� visit the Community Synagogue and see Congregation Adas Yisroel Anshe Meseritz, a tenementstyle synagogue described as a “little jewel.� 92y.org

DON JUAN, OR THE WAGES OF DEBAUCHERY Jan Hus Playhouse 351 E. 74th Street betw. 1st & 2nd Ave. 2:30 p.m., $18/$13 student/senior In 18th century Europe, Don Juan (“Don Shajn�) was among the top “hits� of the Czech marionette repertoire when the only theatre truly available in small towns and villages were shows by itinerant puppeteers. Their plays were a whimsical mixture of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,� heroic legends, and rudimentary preShakespearean tragedies. janhus.org

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 11

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games outside in the garden. Appropriate for all ages. mvhm.org

NEW YORK WRITERS WORKSHOP YSPLASH WEEK! PRESENTS: WRITING Vanderbilt YMCA, 224 East FOR CHILDREN 47th Street 5 a.m. - 11 p.m., Free A free five-day family pool event that kicks-off a week-long celebration of swimming designed to help kids stay safe and healthy at the beach, pool, or water park this summer. Instructors at the Vanderbilt YMCA will demonstrate the lifelong pleasure to be found in safe, confident and joyful activity in and around the water, offering swim lessons, games for the swimming pool, contests and parent education sessions for a free. April 14th - 18th. ymcanyc.org/vanderbilt

67th Street Library, 328 East 67th Street 5-6:30 p.m., Free Whether you’re talking about picture books or teen novels, children’s books today are not your grandfather’s bedtime stories! Learn how the market for children’s fiction has evolved and how to give your own stories the “spank of life” in this workshop for those interested in writing for children. nypl.org

16 COMMUNITY BOARD 8 FULL BOARD MEETING

15 SPRING BREAK CRAFTS & GAMES Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, 421 East 61st Street, between First & York 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Free with museum admission Drop in during regular Museum hours to combine your imagination with common 19th-century materials to make your own creation to take home. Afterward take a tour, explore the Children’s Corner, or play with historic toys and

Chapel of the Good Shepherd, 543 Main Street, Roosevelt Island 6:30 p.m., Free Public Session – Those who wish to speak during the Public Session must register to do so by 6:45 pm Public Hearing-BSA Application No. 42-14-BZ, 783 Lexington Avenue, Block 1396, Lot 22-Application for a Special Permit to operate a Physical Culture Establishment (PCE), Lush Cosmetics, filed pursuant to Zoning Regulation 7303. The application seeks authorization to occupy a total of 2,310 square feet on the cellar, first and second floors of a five story building in a C18X zoning district. Update on the Cornell Technion Project Parks Committee-Margaret Price and Barbara Rudder, Co-Chairs Landmarks CommitteeDavid Helpern, David Liston, and Jane Parshall Co-Chairs Street Life CommitteeJonathan Horn and Domenico Minerva, Co-Chairs Transportation Committee-A. Scott Falk and Chuck Warren, Co-Chairs cb8m.com

POSTCARDS FROM COOKIE: A MEMOIR OF MOTHERHOOD, MIRACLES, AND A WHOLE LOT OF MAIL

Barnes and Noble, 86th & Lexington Ave, 150 East 86th Street 7 p.m., Free Caroline Clarke’s moving memoir of her surprise discovery of her birthmother Cookie Cole, the daughter of Nat King Cole, and the relationship that blossomed between them through the heartfelt messages they exchanged on hundreds of postcards. barnesandnoble.com

17 COMMUNITY BOARD 8 HEALTH, SENIORS & SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE Lenox Hill Hospital, 130 East 77th Street, Robert Carmel Conference Rm 6:30 p.m., Free Edward Hill, Executive Director of Outreach and Strategic Coordination from the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence will give a presentation regarding the prevalence of domestic violence in our community, the services available to domestic violence victims and the opening of the Manhattan Family Justice Center. Joe Samalin, Outreach Manager, for the World Trade Center Health Program will make a presentation on the program’s resources. Legal discussion on domestic violence. cb8m.org

RELATIONSHIPS, FRIENDSHIPS AND INTIMACY: THE MIND/ BODY CONNECTION The Metropolitan Club, One East 60th Street 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m., Contact below for ticket pricing This informative spring luncheon features lively discussions on important topics in women’s health and provide an opportunity for the audience to engage in a lively “give & take” with the speakers. The panel of experts will provide insights and practical advice on the emotional and physical impact of relationships on our health at every stage of our lives. 201-941-6064; lenoxhillevents@nshs.edu

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Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

MILESTONES

A NEW GRANDBABY! Mort and Judy Berkowitz of the Upper West Side proudly announced the arrival of their grandson, Ari Tucker Berkowitz. Ari was born January 15, weighing in at 9 pounds, 7 ounces. Ari, his parents, Mike and Debbie Berkowitz, and his other set of grandparents, Michael and Jackie Tuttle, live in California.

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Send us a photo and birth announcement to news@ strausnews.com.

TAKING ATTENDANCE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 team did across 12 community boards throughout Manhattan in 2013.” In New York, community board appointments are divided between the borough president’s office and City Council members in the districts that the board serves. Each incoming council member is responsible for reappointing - or not - those members that were appointed by their predecessor. However, the borough president can choose not to follow a council member’s recommendations. As of press time on Monday, the borough president’s office had not announced publicly who was reappointed to any of the Manhattan’s community boards. Bartos told Our Town he has not received word from the borough president’s office on whether he’s been reappointed. Kallos said he did not know if the borough president is following his recommendations. Kallos said that he did not think his recommendations were harsh, and that it was part of an initiative to bring muchneeded reform to the city’s community board process. “I’m recommending community board reform for myself and 50 of my colleagues. I’m also recommending it for five borough presidents,” said Kallos. “In order to recommend those reforms, I have to be willing to implement them, so I have.” In March, Kallos announced a report his office conducted that

contained dozens of recommendations for reforming the city’s 59 community boards, including establishing term limits and ending “automatic reappointments…with consideration given to attendance, service and participation.” Bartos, in an email to CB8 members forwarded to Our Town, said he was told by Kallos in a phone call that he would not be re-appointed to the board, “because of what he claimed to be my poor attendance record.” “The justification for my removal seems a little odd,”

“ I’m recommending community board reform for myself and 50 of my colleagues. In order to recommend those reforms, I have to be willing to implement them.” Council Member Ben Kallos wrote Bartos. “All absences were excused with advance notice given - I missed Land Use and Full Board last July when I was out of the country, and the others were due to either sickness on my part or pressing obligations - something I’m sure we can all relate to as board members.” Board members are obligated to attend full board meetings and Land Use Committee meetings because any resolution coming out of the board goes through one or both of those bodies. The policy exists to ensure that everyone on the board votes on an issue before a resolution is issued. In the email and in subsequent conversations with Our

Town, Bartos said that he suspected his ouster was politically motivated, since he’s an active member of a local political club, the Manhattan Young Democrats, which had supported Kallos’ opponent in his city council bid. Kallos strenuously denied his recommendations were political in nature and said they were strictly based off numbers provided by the borough president’s office. Records reviewed by Our Town show that in 2013, Bartos was absent from four full board meetings and two Land Use Committee meetings out of a total of 19 mandatory meetings. The records revealed 10 other CB8 members who were also absent at more than 25 percent of mandatory meetings, the standard set by Kallos. Kallos’ office said that if Brewer follows his recommendations, there will be people reappointed to the board who donated to his opponents in the City Council race and those who are not politically aligned with him. Recruiting and retaining younger board members is also part of Kallos’ community board reform platform. At 32, Bartos is one of the board’s youngest members. In his farewell email to fellow CB8 members, the MBA candidate at Fordham University vowed to return to the community board. “Make no mistake, I’m a 32year resident of this community, and I certainly don’t intend this to be my last time serving on CB8,” wrote Bartos. “I love my neighborhood, I love my community board, and I’m not going away anytime soon.”

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 13

Jeanne Straus, president of Our Town’s publisher Straus News, welcomed attendees and thanked the night’s sponsors.

Please join

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Winner for the Bravest & Finest award, Officer Michael Lombardi of the 19th precinct, with Commissioner Bratton.

COMMUNITY Our Town celebrates people who make the Upper East Side great UPPER EAST SIDE Last week, we held the reception for the OTTY (Our Town Thanks You) Awards, honoring 16 Upper East Siders who make their neighborhood a wonderful place to

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Center WEDNESD AY APRIL 2, 2014 - 6:0 0-8:0 0 PM Th 1470 Madis e Mount Sinai Hospital on Ave@101 St. (2n Ple ase RSVP

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live and work. Over 100 people attended the event, held at Mount Sinai’s Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine, at 1470 Madison Avenue, joining awardees and their friends and family members for cocktail hour before the award presentation by emcee Marc Santia of NBC New York.

Gracey Balducci Doria, winner for a Restaurant award for her famed Grace’s Market and Grace’s Trattoria, with her grandson. Photos by Mary Newman

William Marquardt (left) received a Community Builder OTTY for his work cleaning up the streets of the Upper East Side, and George McDonald (right) won for Philanthropy, for his work as the founder of The Doe Fund, which provides job training, employment and support to homeless men and women.

State Senator Liz Krueger (left) received the award for East Sider of the Year. Next to her is NYPD Commissioner William Bratton and his wife, attorney Rikki Klieman, who were given the Power Couple of the Year Award. To their right, Ian Wardropper of the Frick Collection won a Culture award.

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Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

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SPRING 2014

NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN/WEILL CORNELL

Weill Cornell Opens Its Transformative Belfer Research Building, Empowering Scientists to Speed Discoveries to Patients

FREE CANCER SCREENINGS Throughout the year, the NYP Cancer Prevention Program offers free screenings for different types of cancer. Screenings are open to adults 18 years old and over. No appointments required. For more information, email chw9040@nyp.org or visit www.nyp.org/cancerprevention

W

eill Cornell Medical College has opened the Belfer Research Building, a state-of-theart facility that ushers in a new era at the institution for cutting-edge, translational science. The 18-story, $650 million building, which opened on Jan. 31 after seven years of fundraising and nearly four years of construction, nearly doubles Weill Cornell’s existing research space and empowers scientists to rapidly translate groundbreaking discoveries into the most advanced patient care. The 480,000-square-foot building, located at 69th Street and York Avenue, is devoted to translational bench-to-bedside research targeting some of the most formidable health challenges of the 21st century, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, children’s health, global health and infectious diseases. Its proximity to the adjacent Weill Greenberg Center, the medical college’s flagship

Skin Cancer Screening May 2, 2014; 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. 1305 York Avenue (at 70th Street), 9th Floor Oral Cancer Screening May 29, 2014; 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. 1305 York Avenue (at 70th Street), 5th Floor Year-Round Northern Manhattan Cancer Screening Partnership offers free breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colorectal cancer screenings for New York State residents 50 years of age or older who do not have health insurance and have not had a recent test for these kinds of cancer. For questions and appointments, please call: 212-851-4516 DOMESTIC WORKERS HEALTH FAIR ON MAY 31 A free health fair specifically for domestic workers will offer health screenings (blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and BMI), hands-on pediatric CPR demonstrations, health counseling, and information on burn safety, seizures, and immigrant and human rights. Join us for a fun day for the whole family, including face painting and giveaways. WHEN: Friday, May 30, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. WHERE: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, 331 East 70th Street (Bet. 1st and 2nd Avenues).

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$75 million gift from benefactors Sandra and Edward Meyer and the Sandra and Edward Meyer Foundation will expand and enhance Weill Cornell Medical

THE MYRA MAHON PATIENT RESOURCE CENTER Men’s Health: An Update on Prostate Health Updates in Women’s Health: Novel Therapies to Keep You Dry April 24, 2014; 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Presenters: Bilal Chughtai, M.D., Richard Lee, M.D., Michael P. Herman, M.D. LOCATION FOR SEMINAR:

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cancer will investigate alongside one another to encourage unconventional partnerships. This new research standard will empower Weill Cornell’s world-class scientists and attract additional top-tier talent to the medical college. The Belfer Research Building uses sustainable materials, highly efficient mechanical systems and green construction. The building is designed to maximize energy efficiency and features a high-performance, doubleskinned fritted glass curtain wall with openings and sun-shading devices that enhance visual and thermal comfort. Weill Cornell is seeking gold certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. In addition to laboratory space, the Belfer Research Building features lounge spaces, a café, garden and The Starr FoundationMaurice R. Greenberg Conference Center and Terrace. The center,

The Belfer Research Building

which spans the second and third floors, includes a reception hall and three conference rooms equipped with video-conferencing technology for in-house and international meetings. The Daisy and Paul Soros Student Meeting Room, located on the first floor, provides an inviting open space where students can study, relax and meet.

Introducing the New Meyer Cancer Center

Sponsored by NewYork-Presbyterian’s Ambulatory Care Network. For more information, call Chris Marengo, 212-746-6460.

Weill Cornell Medical College, Weill Greenberg Center 1305 York Avenue at 70th Street, 2nd Floor To register for any of the seminars or for more information, please call 646-962-5721

ambulatory care center at 1305 York Ave. at 70th Street, ensures that breakthroughs made in the laboratory can be quickly and seamlessly applied to patient care as improved treatments and therapies in the clinic. The Belfer Research Building will also serve as a nucleus where physicianscientists, educators, students and researchers from Weill Cornell and around the globe can collaborate on the latest discoveries and research breakthroughs. The building includes 13 floors of laboratories equipped with the most advanced research technology. Its open floor plan and thematic orientation is designed to break down research silos and foster cross-disciplinary collaboration among Weill Cornell’s premier scientists, transforming the paradigm for high-impact translational research. Scientists from multidisciplinary translational research centers and institutes focused on precision medicine, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and the molecular underpinnings of

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College’s distinguished cancer research and care programs. This landmark gift names the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell, led by preeminent cancer researcher Dr. Lewis Cantley, which is dedicated to using precision medicine and other cutting-edge biomedical approaches to spur and then translate research breakthroughs into the most advanced therapies From left: Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, Sandra Meyer, Edward for patients. In honor Meyer, Dr. Lewis Cantley and Anthony Meyer of the Meyer family’s

generous gift, Weill Cornell named its flagship building on 1300 York Avenue as the Sandra and Edward Meyer Research and Education Building. “The Meyer family’s generosity will enable us to realize our goal of developing cancer treatments that capitalize on precision medicine, offering targeted, individualized care based on each patient’s tumor,” says Dr. Cantley, the Meyer Director of the Meyer Cancer Center. “This gift will make it possible for us to be at the forefront of cancer research, to purchase the necessary technology and recruit the very best talent to carry out this vital work.”

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in Manhattan on the Upper East Side at York Avenue and 68th Street, comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College. For general information, call 212-746-5454. For information about physicians and patient programs, call 877-NYP-WELL. www.nyp.org weill.cornell.edu Published by NewYork-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical Center, 212-821-0560.

New Treatment for High-Risk Aortic Aneurysms

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ascular surgeons at NYP/Weill Cornell are investigating the use of custom-designed stent grafts for the treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms – Dr. Darren Schneider a potentially deadly enlargement of the main artery carrying blood from the heart to the body and vital organs – for patients deemed high risk for open surgery. The FDA-approved clinical trial aims to address the unmet need for minimally invasive stent graft devices that can provide a safe and effective treatment for patients with aneurysms located in the aorta in both the chest and abdomen. Treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms, complex aneurysms that span both the thoracic aorta in the chest and the abdominal aorta, usually consists of open surgery, which carries up to a 20 percent risk of death. Many patients undergoing this surgery are elderly and may have other medical conditions, precluding the option of surgery or making it highly risky. The study is led by Dr. Darren Schneider, chief of vascular and endovascular surgery at NYP/Weill Cornell. The stent grafts are custom designed for each patient’s anatomy by the NYP/Weill

Cornell study team and are manufactured by Cook Medical. They are assembled during the operation with up to five branches for the various critical vessels that supply blood to the kidneys, liver, intestines, and other organs. “It’s our hope that with this new technology, we can fix these complex aneurysms and spare patients from the risk of major complications and death associated with open surgery,” said Dr. Schneider. An aneurysm is a common condition in which a portion of the aorta becomes enlarged and weakens. It can then rupture, bleed and lead to death. For several years, surgeons have been using minimally invasive techniques to implant a stent graft for repair of less complex aneurysms involving regions of the aorta without branch vessels that supply blood to critical abdominal organs. The stent graft is inserted through the femoral artery in the groin and advanced into the aorta using X-ray guidance. The stent graft then creates a new liner in the aorta and stops the dangerous flow of blood into the aneurysm sac, protecting the patient from a rupture. This option, however, has not been available for thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms, which involve the part of the aorta with the critical branches that supply blood to the major abdominal organs. Based on earlier studies conducted at other medical centers, use of

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The stent grafts are custom designed for each patient’s anatomy and are assembled during the operation with up to five custom-placed branches for the various critical vessels that supply blood to the kidneys, liver, intestines, and other organs, allowing for a precise fit.

these branched stent grafts may make treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms much safer for patients. NYP/Weill Cornell is the only center in the Northeast known to have this technology. The study will enroll up to 30 patients over two and a half years. The first procedure in the study was performed in January 2014. For more information, call 212-746-5192.

New Chief Operating Officer Named at NYP/Weill Cornell

C

am Patterson, M.D., M.B.A., has been appointed senior vice president and chief operating officer at NYP/Weill Cornell. In his new role, Dr. Patterson will be responsible for the strategic direction and management of NYP/ Weill Cornell and will report to Dr. Laura Forese. Dr. Patterson arrives from the University of North Carolina, where he served in multiple leadership roles including physician-in-chief at its Center for Heart and Vascular Care, executive director of its McAllister Heart Institute, chief of the division of cardiology, and associate dean of health care entrepreneurship. Dr. Patterson is a clinician-scientist who has served in multiple

leadership roles. In 2000, he was recruited to the University of North Carolina to lead its cardiovascular research institute. Having achieved consistent success in this role, Dr. Patterson was appointed chief of cardiology in 2005. Under his leadership, the division improved the quality and efficiency of clinical services, enhanced and expanded patient access, and reversed a budget deficit to become profitable. Dr. Patterson’s success as division chief led to his appointment as the founding physician-in-chief of the Center for Heart and Vascular Care, a clinical care center that takes a comprehensive approach to treating cardiovascular diseases.

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Breathe Easy: State-of-the-Art Lung Cancer Screening and Treatment Nasser K. Altorki, M.D. Bradley B. Pua, M.D. Autism: Recognizing the Signs; Diagnosis and Treatment Options Catherine Lord, Ph.D. Advances in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and Reducing the Risk of Developing Dementia Richard S. Isaacson, M.D. Norman R. Relkin, M.D., Ph.D. The Aging Eye: Research and Treatment Advances Anton Orlin, M.D. Priyanka Sood, M.D.

Seminars begin at 6:30 p.m. and are held at Uris Auditorium; Weill Cornell Medical College; 1300 York Avenue (at 69th St.) For more information, if you require a disability-related accommodation, or for weather-related cancellations, please call: 212-821-0888. Or visit our website at: www.weill.cornell.edu/seminars All seminars are FREE and open to the public. Seating is available for 250 people on a first-come, first-served basis.

15

SPRING 2014

ORNELL

New Treatment for High-Risk Aortic Aneurysms

V

ascular surgeons at NYP/Weill Cornell are investigating the use of custom-designed stent grafts for the treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms – Dr. Darren Schneider a potentially deadly enlargement of the main artery carrying blood from the heart to the body and vital organs – for patients deemed high risk for open surgery. The FDA-approved clinical trial aims to address the unmet need for minimally invasive stent graft devices that can provide a safe and effective treatment for patients with aneurysms located in the aorta in both the chest and abdomen. Treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms, complex aneurysms that span both the thoracic aorta in the chest and the abdominal aorta, usually consists of open surgery, which carries up to a 20 percent risk of death. Many patients undergoing this surgery are elderly and may have other medical conditions, precluding the option of surgery or making it highly risky. The study is led by Dr. Darren Schneider, chief of vascular and endovascular surgery at NYP/Weill Cornell. The stent grafts are custom designed for each patient’s anatomy by the NYP/Weill

Cornell study team and are manufactured by Cook Medical. They are assembled during the operation with up to ďŹ ve branches for the various critical vessels that supply blood to the kidneys, liver, intestines, and other organs. “It’s our hope that with this new technology, we can ďŹ x these complex aneurysms and spare patients from the risk of major complications and death associated with open surgery,â€? said Dr. Schneider. An aneurysm is a common condition in which a portion of the aorta becomes enlarged and weakens. It can then rupture, bleed and lead to death. For several years, surgeons have been using minimally invasive techniques to implant a stent graft for repair of less complex aneurysms involving regions of the aorta without branch vessels that supply blood to critical abdominal organs. The stent graft is inserted through the femoral artery in the groin and advanced into the aorta using X-ray guidance. The stent graft then creates a new liner in the aorta and stops the dangerous ow of blood into the aneurysm sac, protecting the patient from a rupture. This option, however, has not been available for thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms, which involve the part of the aorta with the critical branches that supply blood to the major abdominal organs. Based on earlier studies conducted at other medical centers, use of

APRIL

22

The stent grafts are custom designed for each patient’s anatomy and are assembled during the operation with up to five custom-placed branches for the various critical vessels that supply blood to the kidneys, liver, intestines, and other organs, allowing for a precise fit.

these branched stent grafts may make treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms much safer for patients. NYP/Weill Cornell is the only center in the Northeast known to have this technology. The study will enroll up to 30 patients over two and a half years. The ďŹ rst procedure in the study was performed in January 2014. For more information, call 212-746-5192.

New Chief Operating OfďŹ cer Named at NYP/Weill Cornell

C

am Patterson, M.D., M.B.A., has been appointed senior vice president and chief operating ofďŹ cer at NYP/Weill Cornell. In his new role, Dr. Patterson will be responsible for the strategic direction and management of NYP/ Weill Cornell and will report to Dr. Laura Forese. Dr. Patterson arrives from the University of North Carolina, where he served in multiple leadership roles including physician-in-chief at its Center for Heart and Vascular Care, executive director of its McAllister Heart Institute, chief of the division of cardiology, and associate dean of health care entrepreneurship. Dr. Patterson is a clinician-scientist who has served in multiple

leadership roles. In 2000, he was recruited to the University of North Carolina to lead its cardiovascular research institute. Having achieved consistent success in this role, Dr. Patterson was appointed chief of cardiology in 2005. Under his leadership, the division improved the quality and efďŹ ciency of clinical services, enhanced and expanded patient access, and reversed a budget deďŹ cit to become proďŹ table. Dr. Patterson’s success as division chief led to his appointment as the founding physician-in-chief of the Center for Heart and Vascular Care, a clinical care center that takes a comprehensive approach to treating cardiovascular diseases.

29

Breathe Easy: State-of-the-Art Lung Cancer Screening and Treatment Nasser K. Altorki, M.D. Bradley B. Pua, M.D. Autism: Recognizing the Signs; Diagnosis and Treatment Options Catherine Lord, Ph.D.

M AY

6

13

Advances in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and Reducing the Risk of Developing Dementia Richard S. Isaacson, M.D. Norman R. Relkin, M.D., Ph.D. The Aging Eye: Research and Treatment Advances Anton Orlin, M.D. Priyanka Sood, M.D.

Seminars begin at 6:30 p.m. and are held at Uris Auditorium; Weill Cornell Medical College; 1300 York Avenue (at 69th St.) For more information, if you require a disability-related accommodation, or for weather-related cancellations, please call: 212-821-0888. Or visit our website at: www.weill.cornell.edu/seminars All seminars are FREE and open to the public. Seating is DYDLODEOH IRU SHRSOH RQ D ÂżUVW FRPH ÂżUVW VHUYHG EDVLV

16

Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

YOUNG DANCERS TAKE OVER 92Y DANCE Teenage choreographers strut their stuff in weekend-long showcase BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO

UPPER EAST SIDE The 92nd Street Y has long played host to some of the most celebrated contemporary dancers, companies and choreographers, including Alvin Ailey’s, Merce Cunningham’s, and

Robert Joffrey’s companies. Some of New York City’s talented teenage choreographers can add their names to this impressive list. “Dance Up!—The Next Generation,” a weekend-long concert series presented by 92Y Harkness Dance Center, features work exclusively by teenage choreographers. Now in its ninth year, the series features a diverse array of performances, from hip hop to modern dance, all created by some of the city’s youngest choreographers. “Most choreographers have a studio

showing or performance at their high schools,” said John-Mario Sevilla, director of 92Y Harkness Dance Center. “They don’t usually get a chance to show it to the public. This is one of the few opportunities for high school choreographers to present in a stage setting for an audience in one of the more prominent spaces in the city.” 92Y received 30 applications for 12 slots in the showcase, which were reviewed by a jury of five directors and teachers with 92Y’s dance program, including Sevilla. When assessing the applications, the judges looked for “experimentation and invention,” Sevilla said, and a distinct, authentic voice. One of the 12 groups selected for the showcase was Shake System, a co-ed hip hop ensemble led by instructor Michelle Seabreeze, and formed out of Urban Arts Partnership, an organization that provides integrated arts education programs to underserved public school students. Choreographed by Christie

Hip hop dance group Shake System will perform at the 92nd Street Y Dance Up! showcase.

DANCE UP!— THE NEXT GENERATION 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center Buttenwieser Hall Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street Saturday, April 12 and Sunday, April 13 at 3:00 p.m. $15

Benitez, Wilkiaris Crispin and Alex Parker, their piece, “Behind the Mask,” adapts traditional elements of hip hop dance, such as breakdancing and popping and locking, in order to confront gender stereotypes and bullying. Benitez, 19, choreographed a breakdancing portion of the piece, set to M.I.A’s song “Y.A.L.A,” that challenges traditional perceptions of women in hip hop. “We’re usually, like, entitled to such a small role, which is usually very feminine, sexual, many things like that,” Benitez said during a break in a recent Saturday morning rehearsal at the Urban Arts Partnership space on Howard Street. “I’m just trying to show that us females, we can also get into a guy role, a kind of more confident, masculine kind of role.” Benitez, who graduated from the Heritage School on the Upper East Side last year and is majoring in biology at Bronx Community College, said she’s more

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 17

comfortable with dance forms typically associated with male dancers. “I dress a certain type of way,” Benitez said. “I prefer male dances, like breaking more than voguing.” During rehearsal, she wore loose sweatpants, a baggy tee shirt, Nike high tops and a black beanie covering her short hair. In “Behind the Mask,” she sometimes assumes a male persona while other girls with long hair and more form-fitting clothes embody female characters. “I don’t really know what people would think of me, and I kind of don’t care,” she said. “I’m gonna just do me, what I know, what I’ve learned.” Parker’s portion of the choreography uses krumping as an energetic, frenzied assault on bullying, while celebrating freedom of expression and individuality. “We all express our own selves, but as one,” said Parker, 16, who’s a junior at the Heritage School, where he met Benitez. “We all express ourselves, express our style, our swag.” Sevilla said Shake System’s inventive use of hip hop choreography along with the social-

Kids in the dance group Shake System pose at a rehearsal. ly-conscious theme of their piece impressed the judging panel. “They’re trying to use dance as a medium to say something important,” Sevilla said, a characteristic, he noted, that

all the selected choreographers share. “They’re not just doing cool moves to music, which can be fun and entertaining, but they’re going for something deeper.”

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18

Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

Food & Drink

< DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY REOPENS AFTER HEALTH DEPT. SHUTDOWN Cronut king Dominique Ansel’s eponymous Spring Street bakery reopened Tuesday morning after it was shut down by the health department on Friday, April 4. An ungraded inspection revealed that, among other infractions, the bakery showed “evi-

dence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.” A day before the inspection, Gothamist posted a video— recorded by a customer—of a mouse scurrying across the floor behind the bakery’s pastry counter. According to a statement on the bak-

ery’s Facebook page, the milk and cookie shot creators “have completely fortified our facilities with a full reconstruction and re-cementing.” The statement also suggests that Ansel and his crew were unfairly singled out due to the bakery’s success.

In Brief THOMAS KELLER GROUP CONTESTS PER SE’S HEALTH VIOLATIONS After Thomas Keller’s Per Se received a much-publicized, less-than-satisfactory health inspection in February, in which the restaurant earned enough violation points to earn a C grade (though the grade remained pending), Thomas Keller Restaurant Group refuted the citations during a ‘health tribunal’ through the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. On Friday, April 3, the judge dismissed seven of the original health violations found during the February inspection, including failure to display an easily-visible letter grade card and inadequate hand-washing facilities in prep areas. Some violations remain, such as a chef drinking water from an open container near food preparations, though Thomas Keller indicated in a statement on his restaurant group’s page that he plans to further contest the citation for failing to cook potatoes at 140 degrees, the temperature recommended for preparing hot food. Per Se currently holds a B grade, with 18 violation points.

TAVERN ON THE GREEN TO REOPEN THIS MONTH Fairway’s poached chicken breast is cooked in broth, instead of fat.

HEALTHY HOLIDAYS COOKING A Manhattan nutritionist proposes some Passover and Easter alternatives Tavern on the Green in February, when it was still undergoing major renovations.

After more than four years of renovations and delays, Tavern on the Green is slated to open for dinner service on April 24, the Daily News reported. The iconic Central Park restaurant, which closed in 2009, will also serve lunch and brunch in its redesigned dining room starting in May. Though the restaurant’s website does not feature a menu yet, Tavern on the Green is already accepting reservations. New owners Jim Caiola and David Salama, who also own Beau Monde creperie in Philadelphia, told the Daily News that the newly-renovated interior will feature an open kitchen and dark wood décor. Once open, Tavern on the Green will serve dinner nightly, with lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and weekend brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

BY SHARI PORTNOY

Holidays and dieting aren’t usually found in the same sentence. But there is some good news for the health conscious: Local caterers do have flavorful, authentic foods for Easter and Passover minus the fat and calories.

peas, fennel, string beans, baby zucchini and gourmet carrots, and you won’t miss the fatty kugel. Zabar’s also has a new Passover healthy dish. Instead of the traditional high-fat stuffed cabbage, try the all new slowroasted leg of lamb with herb crust. Marinated in wine and herbs, this tasty entrée with a side of honey grilled carrots with Ras El Hanout, a north African spice, will leave you satisfied. When you are tired of matzoh ball soup, you won’t find a healthier soup than Fairway’s root vegetable puree. Made without oil or butter, this soup is made from pure vegetables, a dieter’s delight. Sweet tooth after dinner? Try Fairway’s flourless gluten-free cookie. Made mostly with egg whites, nuts and potato starch, you have the flavor without the fat.

Passover People are looking for an alternative to brisket and here it is. For the first time, Fairway has on its kosher menu a new item: poached chicken breast with dried fruit. This seven-ounce chicken breast is cooked in chicken broth -- not fat -- with Easter herbs and dried fruit. Add a side of color- While ham is the food most associated ful spring vegetables, made of asparagus, with Easter, health conscious shoppers

have altered their table in the past few years. Fairway is selling more grilled and poached salmon to Easter customers than ever before. Put the dill sauce on the side, add grilled asparagus and wild rice with cranberries and pecans, and you have a healthy Easter Plate. Zabar’s new item, roasted brussel sprouts, is made with a drop of oil and salt, a low-calorie alternative to many of the prepared salads and vegetables that already come with dressing. So for the upcoming holiday, try a new healthy dish instead of the usual, you will be coming back for more next year. Shari Portnoy is a nutrionist and licensed dietitian who runs the food labeling site www.FoodLabelNutrition.com

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 19

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS

Cendrillon MASSENET’S

MARCH 25 - APRIL 1, 2014 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml. Ciao Bella

27 East 92 Street

A

Cafe D’alsace

1695 2 Avenue

A

Guang Ming

1764 1 Avenue

Grade Pending (18) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Il Salumaio Wine Bar

1731 2 Avenue

Grade Pending (23) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Akita Sushi

Amor Cubano

1718 2 Avenue

1771 1 Avenue

2018 3 Avenue

Juilliard OP ERA

Not Graded Yet (41) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored. Closed by Health Department (51) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred. Grade Pending (19) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.

El Nuevo Caribeno Restaurant 1675 Lexington Avenue

A

New Fa Shing Chinese Restaurant

2107 3 Avenue

A

Hot Jalapeno Restaurant

219 East 116 Street

A

5 Star Cheesesteak And Pizza

2039 1 Avenue

A

Bakery On 3Rd Cafe

1885 3 Avenue

Not Graded Yet (27) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Cuchifrito

168 East 116 Street

A

Casimir & Co

1022 Lexington Avenue

A

Great Performances

725 Park Avenue

A

ELLEN AND JAMES S. MARCUS INSTITUTE FOR VOCAL ARTS

Massenet’s Cendrillon Emmanuel Villaume

Conductor

Peter Kazaras

Director Juilliard Orchestra t Juilliard Singers Wednesday, April 23 and Friday, April 25 at 8 Sunday, April 27 at 2 Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Juilliard Rosalie O’Connor

Taijiyama

BRIAN ZEGER, Artistic Director

Tickets $30 at the Juilliard Box Office & online at www.juilliard.edu/cendrillon Senior/Student/Alumni tickets $15 JANET AND LEONARD KRAMER BOX OFFICE at Juilliard 8FTU UI 4USFFU t .POEBZ o 'SJEBZ ". o 1.

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20

Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

HEALTH

TEN WAYS TO A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP HEALTH Getting enough sleep is an important part of maintaining overall health Healthy sleep habits can make a big difference in your quality of life. Try to keep the following sleep practices on a consistent basis: Stick to the same bedtime and wake up time, even on the weekends. This helps to regulate your body’s clock and could help you fall asleep and stay asleep for the night. Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual. A relaxing, routine activity right before bedtime conducted away from bright lights helps separate your sleep time from activities that can cause excitement, stress or anxiety which can make it more difficult to fall asleep, get sound and deep sleep or remain asleep. Avoid naps, especially in the afternoon. Power napping may help you get through the day, but if you find that you can’t fall asleep at bedtime, eliminating even short catnaps may help. Exercise daily. Vigorous exercise is best, but even light exercise is better than no activity. Exercise at any time of day, but not at the expense of your sleep.

Evaluate your room. Design your sleep environment to establish the conditions you need for sleep. Your bedroom should be cool — between 60 and 67 degrees. Your bedroom should also be free from any noise that can disturb your sleep. Finally, your bedroom should be free from any light. Check your room for noises or other distractions. This includes a bed partner’s sleep disruptions such as snoring. Consider using blackout curtains, eye shades, ear plugs, “white noise” machines, humidifiers, fans and other devices. Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows. Make sure your mattress is comfortable and supportive. The one you have been using for years may have exceeded its life expectancy – about 9 or 10 years for most good quality mattresses. Have comfortable pillows and make the room attractive and inviting for sleep but also free of allergens that might affect you and objects that might cause you to slip or fall if you have to get up during the night. Use bright light to help manage your circadian rhythms. Avoid bright light in the evening and expose yourself to sunlight in the morning. This will keep your circadian rhythms in check. Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and heavy meals in the evening. Alcohol, ciga-

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rettes and caffeine can disrupt sleep. Eating big or spicy meals can cause discomfort from indigestion that can make it hard to sleep. It is good to finish eating at least 2 to 3 hours before bedtime. Wind down. Your body needs time to shift into sleep mode, so spend the last hour before bed doing a calming activity such as reading. For

some people, using an electronic device such as a laptop can make it hard to fall asleep, because the particular type of light emanating from the screens of these devices is activating to the brain. If you have trouble sleeping, avoid electronics before bed or in the middle of the night. If you can’t sleep, go into another room and do something relaxing until you feel tired. It is best to take work materials, computers and televisions out of the sleeping environment. Use your bed only for sleep and sex to strengthen the association between bed and sleep. If you associate a particular activity or item with anxiety about sleeping, omit it from your bedtime routine. If you’re still having trouble sleeping, don’t hesitate to speak with your doctor or to find a sleep professional. You may also benefit from recording your sleep in a Sleep Diary to help you better evaluate common patterns or issues you may see with your sleep or sleeping habits.

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 21

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The school offers several classes and one-on-one sessions with a teacher where one can learn guitar, bass, mandolin, ukelele and vocals. They are located on the first floor of 315 East 91st Street. Visit nycguitarschooleast. com for more information. The school offers courses to beginners and kids as well as adults.

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NYC GUITAR SCHOOL EAST

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UPPER EAST SIDE When the New York City Guitar School opened in 2004, it only consisted of one room in their location on West 30th Street. Now, the

business

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NYC Guitar School is looking to expand their reach into the Upper East Side community

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MUSIC

BY NICK MARTINEZ

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TEACHING EAST SIDERS TO ROCK

school has over thirty teachers, 20 classrooms and locations in Brooklyn, Queens, Midtown and, most recently, on the Upper East Side. “[The school] keeps growing,” said NYC Guitar School East’s program director Lauren Stockner. “We are adding teachers as of this year. It’s already getting full!” By using the template of success that the other locations have used, the barely two-yearold branch is thriving in the area. NYC Guitar School East teaches musicians of all ages, but has found its niche in the adult market. “Part of it is because of the book,” said Stockner. The book that she is referring to is Guitar For Absolute Beginners, written by NYC Guitar School’s founder Daniel Emery. The book focuses on teaching adults who are busy with their lives, how to learn guitar in a breezy, time-conserving way; it reached number one on Amazon’s Guitar & Fretted Instruments list. As for the school’s future, Stockner plans to further entrench the school in the community. “We’ve had a lot of schools reach out to us and we’ve been participating with that,” said Stockner. “Also, [we’re] looking at a place for a showcase.” The showcase has been a staple of the other Guitar Schools but the Upper East Side branch has yet to have their first. The showcase takes place at a local bar, or similar venue, where the adult students can loosen up and have a chance to perform for each other. Stockner said that these amateur rockstars are nervous about performing, but notes, “it’s a way to push them forward in a positive way.”

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Adult students in a class at NYC Guitar School.

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New Your ^ Neighborhood News Source

22

Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

Property

< BORO PREZ AND OTHERS CALL FOR LANDMARKS LAW REFORM WEST SIDE Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and representatives from the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Historic Districts Council are calling for reforms to the city’s landmarking process. The appeal comes on the heels of the of the Landmarks Preserva-

Q&A

What problem? effrey Roseman, executive vice president of retail at the Manhattan real estate powerhouse Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, talked to us about rising retail rents in Manhattan.

J

Do you see rising retail rents in Manhattan as a problem or evidence of economic progress? How can rising rents be seen as a problem? It’s clearly as a result of all the demand from retailers to be in New York City. Retailers from all over the world want to come [here], and that demand and limited supply in many key areas drives up the rents. Clearly economic progress to me. Many small businesses have had to close because their leases expire and the new rents are unaffordable. Do you think this is a problem in terms of neighborhoods losing their character and the institutions that once defined them? I hate to see “mom and pops” go out of business, but here’s the real reason many do: it’s because of execution, or lack thereof, to be able to compete in a changing retail environment. It’s really no different in other industries; if you don’t stay up with the times and progress, you are going to be passed by. There are many “mom and pops” that have kept up and been able to compete and thrive in this market. It many times involves a new generation of ownership, who is a bit more nimble and able to adapt to the changing environment What’s your response to arguments in favor of giving retail tenants the right to negotiate their leases with landlords? What’s your position on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act? They have the right to negotiate their leases. If you were to advocate for something that would help small businesses stay in competitive areas, what sort of policy would you support? What’s the most practical in your view? Government should never get involved in regulating these matters. If someone is able to pay the rents, shouldn’t that be enough evidence that the location warrants that rent? Do you think the city is suffering from a lack of small business tax revenue? Do you believe this will lead to an increase in property taxes? No. Would you argue that small businesses in New York City don’t need assistance on affording retail rents, either legislatively or in any other capacity? Yes

tion Commission (LPC) declining to consider landmark status for the Rizzoli bookstore building at 31 West 57th Street. “We must avoid more Rizzoli-like ambushes on our history,” Brewer said. The bookstore has been at its current loca-

tion for the past 29 years and will have to relocate if the owners, the LeFrak real estate family and Vornado Realty Trust, follow through with demolition plans for the building.

Photo: Inside Rizzoli bookstore on West 57th Street. Photo by M. Kasahara via Flickr

SAVING MOM AND POP RETAIL Is it time for an affordable housing-like effort to help local retailers?

Blacker and Kooby moved its store to Lexington Ave. because of soaring rents.

BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

The Upper East Side stationary store Blacker and Kooby has been around since 1963, at the corner of 88th Street and Madison Avenue in the heart of Carnegie Hill. For decades, the neighborhood mainstay sold art and school supplies, pens and pencils, notebooks and other items. Earlier this year, Blacker and Kooby closed its doors, the latest in a long line of small businesses that have been forced out of storied neighborhoods due to an expired lease and an increase in rent. Co-founder Fred Kooby said he was asked to pay double the $35,000 in rent he was paying for the space. Instead, the store moved to Lexington Avenue under the leadership of his daughter, Vanessa, and now offers only custom printing services. Vanessa Kooby said that while business is good, every day she gets a handful of former customers dropping by or calling to express their longing for the old storefront. “I mean, do I miss my old store? Sure,” she said. “Do I miss Madison Avenue the way it used to be? Sure. But this is really what Carnegie Hill is about right now on Upper Lexington and it worked out for me.” Retail rents in Manhattan are shockingly high-- and going higher, according to recent data. The Real Estate Board of New York, in its most recent study, reported double-digit increases in the major shopping districts

throughout the city. Throughout Manhattan, retail rents exceed their pre-recession highs of 2008. But while real estate experts hail the rising rents as evidence of strong global interest in New York, many local, independent small businesses simply cannot generate enough revenue to stay in the monied neighborhoods they once defined. So what’s to be done? Just as the city saw an affordable housing movement in the 1950s that carries through to today, some

“ Small businesses cannot stay in business competing with these banks and franchises paying these obscene rents, it’s impossible,” Steve Null, affordable rent advocate experts are wondering whether it’s time for a similar effort to help small businesses. Steve Null, a longtime proponent of affordable retail rents and director of the Coalition for Fair Business Rents, said the solution has been around since the 1980s, and doesn’t involve retail rent control, which he said is a non-starter. “There’s a very clear solution that’s been on the table for 25 years that just gives rights to the tenants, that’s all it does,” said Null. He is referring to the Small Business

Jobs Survival Act, which originated with the former progressive Councilwoman Ruth Messinger, who represented the Upper West Side. The bill establishes guidelines for landlord and tenant negotiations during the commercial lease renewal process, and has seen eight different iterations since failing in the City Council in 1986. The latest attempt in 2009 was stymied even though it had the necessary number of votes to pass - after Council Speaker Christine Quinn refused to bring it to a vote because she wasn’t confident it would hold up in court. Null said Mayor Bill de Blasio’s approach to helping small businesses - streamlining the city’s bureaucracy and reigning in excessive fines - misses the mark. “Small businesses, regardless of how long they’ve been there or how successful they are, cannot stay in business competing with these banks and franchises paying these obscene rents, it’s impossible,” said Null. Borough President Gale Brewer worked under Messinger when her office tried to pass the original version of the Small Business Job Survival Act, and she’s been trying to find a viable solution ever since then. Brewer said that when small businesses leave, it’s like “the heart and soul is torn out of the neighborhood. I’ve seen children cry when small stores leave and are replaced by a 7-Eleven or a drug store.”

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 23

Real Estate Sales Neighborhd

Address

Price

Bed Bath Agent

Lenox Hill

Beekman

415 E 52 St.

$582,000

1

Lenox Hill

Beekman

415 E 52 St.

$1,295,000

Lenox Hill

Carnegie Hill

110 E 87 St.

$950,000

Lenox Hill

Carnegie Hill

121 E 88 St.

$259,500

0

1

Corcoran

Carnegie Hill

55 E 87 St.

$795,000

1

1

Corcoran

Carnegie Hill

160 E 91 St.

$385,000

1

1

Halstead Property

Carnegie Hill

1133 Park Ave.

$2,190,000 4

2

Carnegie Hill

30 E 95 St.

$410,000

1

Carnegie Hill

1115 5 Ave.

$11,000,000 3

Carnegie Hill

141 E 88Th St.

Carnegie Hill Carnegie Hill

$467,501

1

1

Corcoran

Sutton Place

150 E 61 St.

$395,000

0

1

Brown Harris Stevens

Sutton Place

220 E 65 St.

$850,000

Sutton Place

167 E 61 St.

$670,000

Sutton Place

440 E 56 St.

$562,000

Lenox Hill

403 E 62 St.

$575,000

1

1

Citi Habitats

Turtle Bay

236 E 47 St.

$640,000

Lenox Hill

176 E 71 St.

$1,725,000 2

2

Wohlfarth

Turtle Bay

255 E 49 St.

$690,222

Lenox Hill

301 E 63 St.

$180,000

Turtle Bay

236 E 47 St.

$10

Corcoran

Midtown

111 E 56 St.

$865,000

Upper E Side

515 E 72 St.

$675,000

1

Corcoran

Midtown

117 E 57 St.

$1,800,000 2

Stribling

Upper E Side

200 E 79Th St.

3

Stribling

Murray Hill

245 E 35 St.

$310,000

0

1

Douglas Elliman

Upper E Side

111 E 85 St.

$1,500,000 2

2

Brown Harris Stevens

$4,875,000 3

2

Stribling

Murray Hill

330 E 38 St.

$1,475,000 2

2

Vipler Realty

Upper E Side

305 E 72 St.

$300,500

1

Weichert Realtors

141 E 88Th St.

$857,756

1

1

Stribling

Murray Hill

201 E 36 St.

$780,000

1

1

Akam Sales

Upper E Side

200 E 79Th St.

$5,238,896

1155 Park Ave.

$5,485,000 3

3

Douglas Elliman

Murray Hill

305 E 40 St.

$353,000

0

1

Corcoran

Upper E Side

14 E 75 St.

$48,588

Carnegie Hill

63 E 90 St.

$2,750,000

Murray Hill

50 Park Ave.

$832,500

1

1

Nestseekers

Upper E Side

515 E 72 St.

$775,000

1

1

Carroll Group

Carnegie Hill

120 E 87 St.

$815,000

0

1

Corcoran

Murray Hill

210 E 36 St.

$535,193

1

2

Bsrg Realty

Upper E Side

515 E 72 St.

$800,000

1

1

Owner

Lenox Hill

220 E 65 St.

$1,305,000 2

2

Douglas Elliman

Murray Hill

120 E 36 St.

$530,000

1

1

Brown Harris Stevens

Upper E Side

240 E 79 St.

$450,000

Lenox Hill

345 E 69 St.

$315,000

Murray Hill

71 Park Ave.

$925,000

1

1

Corcoran

Yorkville

520 E 90 St.

$582,000

1

1

Stribling

Lenox Hill

233 E 69 St.

$565,000

1

1

Corcoran

Murray Hill

330 E 38 St.

$988,000

Yorkville

330 E 80 St.

$299,500

Lenox Hill

150 E 72Nd St.

$6,873,187 3

2

Macklowe Properties

Murray Hill

311 E 38 St.

$550,000

0

1

Paip

Yorkville

525 E 80 St.

$3,940,000 5

4

Peter*Ashe

Lenox Hill

304 E 65 St.

$830,000

1

1

Douglas Elliman

Murray Hill

138 E 36 St.

$1,250,000

Yorkville

450 E 83 St.

$1,090,000 1

1

Coldwell Banker Bellmarc

Lenox Hill

200 E 66Th St.

$2,902,012 2

2

Corcoran

Murray Hill

211 E 35 St.

$125,000

Lenox Hill

167 E 67 St.

$429,000

1

Brown Harris Stevens

Murray Hill

16 Park Ave.

$627,000

Lenox Hill

150 E 69 St.

$2,500,000

Murray Hill

330 E 38 St.

$1,225,000 1

Lenox Hill

120 E 71 St.

$14,100,000

Sutton Place

425 E 58 St.

$2,200,000

Lenox Hill

403 E 62 St.

$610,800

0

1

1

1

Corcoran

435 E 65 St.

1

2

1

2

430 E 56 St.

$730,000

1

1

Stribling

420 E 58 St.

$770,000

1

1

Citi Habitats

347 E 53 St.

$1,377,500 3

3

Douglas Elliman

1

1

Halstead Property

0

1

Town Residential

$4,857,052 4

4

Stribling

Douglas Elliman

Vipler Realty

Rock Realty

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Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

The Pothole Project

NOT YOUR GRANDMA’S EASTER CELEBRATION SPRING FUN Haunted House creators reinvent an Easter carnival BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO

If this pothole at 47th & Park Ave. looks like any of the potholes in your neighborhood, send us an e-mail with the exact location and we’ll go take a photo or send us a photo with the location to news@strausnews.com We’re compiling locations to inform the City & improve our neighborhood The local paper for the Upper East Side

New Your Neighborhood News Source ^

LOWER EAST SIDE Easter is not a holiday typically associated with burlesque shows, dunk tanks and live DJs, but that’s exactly what visitors to Full Bunny Contact can expect. Developed by the creators of the annual Nightmare Haunted House, Full Bunny Contact is a four-day Easter extravaganza fashioned as a warped version of a traditional spring festival “Easter is a lot of things,” said co-director John Harlacher. “It started as a fertility festival and a celebration of spring. We can have fun outside, we can play again, and we wanted to capture that sort of spirit.” Held from April 17 through April 20 at Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center on the Lower East Side, the festival offers twists on traditional carnival games: instead of milk bottle toss, guests can knock over stacks of bunnies with jelly beans, compete against a giant chicken in a game of tic-tac-toe, or even challenge the divine in Dunk the Savior, a dunk tank where an accurately-thrown pitch drops Jesus into a pool of water. The marquee event and namesake of the festival is Full Bunny Contact, a one-minute egg hunt inside a steel cage, in which participants collect giant eggs filled with prizes (like a free slice of pizza from a nearby vendor), while three opponents dressed as Easter bunnies play defense. Contrary to the name of the event, the bunnies can’t grab or tackle contestants—their tactics are more akin to basketball moves than rugby scrums—but the bunnies can obstruct a contestant’s path and swat the eggs away. “We’re taking the basic idea of competition and we put it in a

The main event at Full Bunny Contact features vengeful rabbits trying to foil an Easter egg hunt. Photo by Michael Blase way that’s unusual,” Harlacher said. The festival does offer a few more traditional and low-key activities, including an eggdecorating contest, though most events events lean toward the unexpected. Kids can participate in a temper tantrum contest, in order to be crowned ‘New York City’s Biggest Brat’ and win upwards of 30 pounds of Easter candy, and a more adult crowd can stick around for a nighttime bunny burlesque contest, with performers dressed as rabbits. The event also includes food from Dean Street, Palenque and Sunday Gravy food trucks. The festival, Harlacher said, is geared toward adults and “adventurous kids.” “If your child would enjoy

FULL BUNNY CONTACT Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center 107 Suffolk St. between Rivington and Delancey Streets Thursday, April 17 until Sunday, April 20 Thursday, April 17: 7:0010:00 p.m. Friday, April 18: 2:00-7:00 p.m. and 7:00-10:00 p.m. Saturday, April 19: noon7:00 p.m., 7:00-11:00 p.m. Sunday, April 20: noon-8:00 p.m. Tickets $10-$60 going to a Knicks game or Six Flags, they would enjoy this,” Harlacher said.

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 25

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Our Town APRIL 10, 2014

YOUR FIFTEEN MINUTES ON BROADWAY TRAINING PROGRAM The cost of the 10 Week Spring Classic is $1,000. The Summer Program is $1800 four weeks, or $450 a week. Annual membership is $1,750 a year, and includes the summer program, spring classic program, winter program, and holiday intensive program. www.onbroadwaypatp.com Rema Webb with some of her students, who learn acting, singing and dancing at On Broadway.

BROADWAY VET LEADS THE NEXT GENERATION Q&A Rema Webb uses her own Broadway experience to teach young singers and dancers BY HELAINA HOVITZ

When she’s not performing in Violet at the Roundabout Theater, 16-year Broadway veteran and Upper West Sider Rema Webb teaches little ones how it’s done. Her performing arts training program, On Broadway, goes beyond vocal training and dance, covering everything from auditioning, reading music, and finding an agent. The Lion King cast member of 15 years made her Broadway debut in the 1998 production of Ragtime, and most re-

cently appeared in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live. We sat down with her to learn more about her life and teaching.

What inspired you to start the program? I’ve been thinking about it since 2011, and I’ve been educating kids since I was 21. I’ve always had wonderful mentors throughout my career and knew I wanted to teach. During rehearsals for Book of Mormon back in 2008, I jotted down notes during the workshops about the program I wanted to have.

them there. We had to fight for it, and I thought, I’m not going to wait to find programs. I’m going to create my own. I called a friend of mine, Daniel Siford, who is now managing director of our On Broadway Performing Arts Training Program. He’s worked with the child welfare system for over 10 years. He is also a member of Actor’s Equity, and has a special knack for working with children of all ages.

And you take a few kids from the foster system for each program?

the empowerment zone. We were with kids who were in all sorts of circumstances, and I found that my most disruptive and needy kids were my most brilliant kids, so they were the ones that I made my leaders. They were bright shining stars, but nobody had ever seen it. We want kids to come out of their comfort zone and not be written off as a disruptive kid or a hyper kid that comes from a broken home. We want to raise their self-esteem.

What’s the summer program like?

Yes, interns as well. We also have older students that participate in our one-on-one mentorship program. Last summer, there was one little girl, Cheyenne, who couldn’t speak in a lot of the classes because she was so afraid, but by the end of three months she had a solo and was wonderful. I didn’t realize until the day of the recital, however, that she didn’t have shoes. When I would check in on my instructors and classes from time to time, throughout the program weeks, I just thought she was wearing socks to be comfortable in classes. For any child that doesn’t have tap shoes, ballet shoes, black pants or dance skirts, I buy them. I don’t want to stress out any parent who can’t afford them.

Summer is the most intense. We invite parents in to warm up with the kids in the morning, and we do improv together. They have choir and vocal performance, we teach them how to read and write music, and for dance, they have modern technique and other classes. For theater they work on monologues and acting theory.

Tell me about the impact you have on these kids, beyond musical theater.

This year you’re offering classes that will focus more on the business end.

I was shy growing up, and my son was shy, too. Working at Freedom Theater, we did a lot of work with children in

As actors, it is important that we know all the ins and outs of the entertainment business. Our students will

Is it a family effort on your end? Who are some of the all-stars who come in and teach for you? We have Heather Hill, who’s currently in Phantom of the Opera, Mark Setlock who was the original Angel in Rent, Martha Banta, the resident director of Mama Mia and Rent, and Adam Danheisser, who’s currently starring in Rock of Ages.

What motivated you to finally start it up? It was serving on the PTA of my son’s public school, P.S. 165 on 109th Street. It was up to the parents to research arts programs, bring them in, and try to find ways to fundraise to keep

learn how to put together a noteworthy picture and resume packet, auditioning techniques, contract negotiations, union memberships, how to prep for meetings with agents, casting directors, and managers, and we will mentor them through the process. I’m the single parent of a 22-year old and a 10-year-old. Monday’s my only day off, so I have be mom then. My son goes to all of my classes. My daughter helps with administrative stuff, and my niece from Atlanta can design any type of set.

How do you balance it all? You can’t be stressed and worry how to be a perfectly balanced person. It doesn’t exist. I used my savings to fund this program, and it was so worth it. We have momentum going now and we just can’t stop!

APRIL 10, 2014 Our Town 27

CLASSIFIEDS Classified Advertising Department Information Telephone: 212-868-0190 | Fax: 212-2868-0190 Email: classified2@strausnews.com Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm | Deadline: 2pm the Friday before publication ANIMALS & PETS

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