The local paper for the Upper er East Side WEEK OF MAY
15
FORAGING FOR FOOD IN THE CITY’S PARKS CITY ARTS, P. 14 >
2014
NYPRESS.COM
OurTownEastSide @OurTownNYC
STILL FIGHTING, 20 YEARS ON
In Brief
PROPERTY
HUNDREDS RALLY FOR NIGERIAN GIRLS
An iconic East Side artist is once again fighting her landlord over a tenant downstairs
About 200 people gathered outside the Nigerian consulate in New York in support of captured Nigerian girls. Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the crowd of activists, human rights groups and Nigerian immigrants during the Saturday afternoon prayer vigil and rally in Manhattan. He told the crowd the kidnappings of more than 270 girls by the extremist group Boko Haram should be denounced around the world. Anti-gun violence organizer Iesha Sekou led a group of about 50 who marched from a Harlem church to the consulate. She says her group rallied because the girls were taken at gunpoint. Boko Haram claims to use Islamic teachings as justification for threatening to sell the kidnapped girls into slavery.
BY JEFF STONE
UPPER EAST SIDE Twenty years ago, the artist known as Matuschka won a major victory for her neighbors by leading the charge to force out a Cooper’s Coffee restaurant on the Upper East Side. The store had earned a number of Health Department violations and made life hell for its neighbors, keeping them awake at all hours with an overwhelming coffee odor that seemed to not only come through their floor, but also seep through electrical sockets and cracks in the wall. Now, all this time later, Matuschka - a successful photographer perhaps best known for the award-winning “Beauty Out of Damage,” a self-portrait of her post-mastectomy chest that appeared on the cover of the New York Times Magazine – is fighting an eerily similar battle. She says her apartment on 87th and Lexington Avenue is again virtually uninhabitable because of Eli’s Essentials, a Zabar’s store that moved into the space in 2013 after a string of businesses were unable to afford rent. Despite a clause in her lease agreement preventing the landlord from renting the first floor space to any “coffee shop or food establishment that does cooking (such as broiling, frying, baking) or steaming,” Matuschka alleges that Eli’s Essentials is doing just that, and she once again finds herself at war with a tenant in her building. While the facts of the squabble are in dispute -- staff at Eli’s maintains that the food is cooked elsewhere and moved into the store each morning -for Mastuschka, it represents something far bigger: that for artists like her, it’s become nearly impossible to both live and create in the city. Matuschka arrived in New York at CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
DANIEL A. NIGRO APPOINTED FIRE CHIEF
Upper East Side artist Matuschka has won a battle against a downstairs tenant in the past, and hopes to again. Photo by Mary Newman
“They don’t really care about
me; they just care about how much money they can make off this apartment.”
MATUSCHKA • Became famous for a 1993 selfportrait following a mastectomy
• Succeeded 20 years ago in forcing out a local coffee shop for health violations
• Now once again battling a downstairs tenant, Eli’s Essentials, a Zabar’s store
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his appointment of Daniel Nigro, a 32-year veteran of the FDNY and former chief of department, to serve as New York City’s fire commissioner. Appointed chief of department on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, Nigro led the FDNY through search, rescue and recovery operations at Ground Zero, and provided operational leadership for FDNY and EMS response units and personnel. “Our courageous firefighters sacrifice to protect this city each day, and I will ensure these first responders are protected and cared for as well,” Nigro said.“The Mayor has outlined a strong vision for the future of this department— one that provides for all our residents equally and reflects our city’s diverse communities.”