The local paper for the Upper er East Side WEEK OF JULY
AUTHOR DRAWS WS INSPIRATION ON FROM OM NEIGHBORS ORS
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Q&A, P. 24
2014
OURTOWNNY.COM
OurTownEastSide @OurTownNYC
AN ALTERNATIVE TO ALTERNATE SIDE NEWS The City Council is proposing changes to alternate side parking rules that could alleviate some of the waiting-around time for car owners BY MARY KEKATOS
THE SECOND-LUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD MILESTONES At home with the Upper East Side’s Lou Gehrig expert, on the anniversary of the famous speech
UPPER EAST SIDE “This is the most unproductive use of my time,” said Bob S. as he sat in his car on East 85th Street, waiting for the clock to hit 10:30 a.m. “I deal with this pretty much on a daily basis.” It’s the bane of many a New Yorker’s existence: moving their cars for a 90-minute period while street sweepers come by to clean-up the litter. Often a row of cars can be seen doubleparked on the street as drivers idly and impatiently wait for the hour and a half to end – lest they be issued a $45 ticket. Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez (D10th), however, is sponsoring a bill that will relax alternate side parking rules. This planned legislation would allow cars to return to parking spaces once the street sweepers have come through, helping cut down the wait time significantly. For many drivers, this is an ideal situation. “Every time the [street sweepers] pass, I say to myself, ‘Just let me park so I can leave’,” said Yonah Zerykier. “[The bill] sounds awesome and would help save so much time.” “Parking in the city is either impossible to find or extremely expensive,” added Keila Torres. “Relaxing the rules would help breed a less stressful environment.” While the bill has more than its fair share of advocates, 39 co-sponsors on the City Council alone, not everybody supports it. Although Mayor de Blasio finds Rodriguez’s efforts “commendable,” his administration just asked the City Council to hit the brakes on any new legislation. Perhaps the most vehement opposition to the proposed change comes from the Department of Sanitation. Paul Visconti, assistant chief of operations, says that the relaxed rules will lead to more idling and that street
Every year around the 4th of July, the phone in Ray Robinson’s Upper East Side apartment, where he has lived for the past 57 years, starts to ring again. Though it’s been nearly a quarter century since the publication of “Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time,” Robinson’s definitive biography, the anniversary of Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech, delivered on Independence Day in 1939, inevitably brings Robinson back into the limelight. This year marked the 75th anniversary of the speech, creating a particular celebrity moment for Robinson, a crisp 93-year-old who, before the Gehrig book, spent most of his journalism career as an editor at women’s magazines. The Daily News sent a reporter to interview him last week, as did Newsday. Bob Costas, a friend of Robinson’s, came by the apartment to interview him for a Gehrig special on the MLB Network. Though the Yankees held a special commemoration ceremony for Gehrig this year—every first baseman in the league read a line from the speech – Robinson had to skip it because of a persistently painful toothache. Does it bother Robinson that it’s now looking like his own legacy will forever be tied to the baseball player he first watched at the age of two? “Not a bit,” he said. “He’s remained my hero.” Robinson’s ties to Gehrig long predated the book. First there was that toddler outing, when his father took him to watch Gehrig hit balls on
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BY KYLE POPE
In Brief ARTS FUNDING FOR CITY SCHOOLS Mayor Bill de Blasio, Comptroller Scott M. Stringer and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced last week how the city will spend $23 million in additional arts funding for New York City schools. The city will hire 120 new arts teachers at middle and high schools that are underserved, improve arts facilities across the city, and foster partnerships with some of the city’s cultural institutions. “We want every child to feel the spark that comes from learning something they are passionate about. The investments we are making here won’t just help our students explore music, dance and the arts. They will help these children grow in a way that helps them succeed in school and in life,” said Mayor de Blasio.
PROTESTERS AWARDED $185K OVER 2004 RNC ARRESTS
Robinson with one of the photos that line the halls of his E. 90th Street apartment. Photo by Kyle Pope
RAY ROBINSON’S LOU GEHRIG CONNECTION 1922: Watched Gehrig practice at Columbia, as a two-year-old on the lap of his father 1929: Met Gehrig briefly at
Yankee stadium after asking for an interview for his grade-school paper 1939: Paid 50 cents to attend Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium 1990: Published “Iron Horse,” the definitive Lou Gehrig biography
Four people arrested at an anti-war march during the 2004 Republican National Convention have been awarded $185,000 in the first trial stemming from lawsuits over protest arrests surrounding the GOP gathering. Coming about six months after the city reached an $18 million settlement with about 1,800 other RNC protesters, Wednesday’s federal jury verdict caps a lingering chapter in the legal saga that followed the arrests, nearly all of which ended with cases dismissed or defendants acquitted. Jurors awarded each $40,000 in compensatory damages for being wrongfully arrested., more than what individual protesters got in the settlement, which included about $7 million in attorneys’ fees. The jury also awarded a total of $25,000 in punitive damages against police Deputy Chief Thomas Monahan, who led the response to the march.