The local paper for the Upper er East Side THINK YOU KNOW CENTRAL PARK? TAKE OUR NEW QUIZ < P.6
CITY’S SAFETY MEASURES LAUGHABLE, SAY M.T.S. OPPONENTS
Summer In The City
Residents and politicians opposed to the East 91st Street marine trash transfer station lampoon city’s response to construction accident BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
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31 2014
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OurTownEastSide @OurTownNYC
In Brief COPS: ‘SPIDER-MAN’ SLUGGED OFFICER IN TIMES SQUARE
NEWS
YORKVILLE For people fighting against an Upper East Side trash transfer station, the city’s offer to cover it with steel during construction offers little reassurance of the overall safety of the project. The city’s Dept. of Design and Construction is proposing to erect a steel “cocoon” over the construction site at Asphalt Green to address safety concerns after an accident July 9 sent a 10-pound jackhammer chisel crashing through a fourth-floor window at the athletic complex. An employee at Asphalt Green narrowly missed being hit by the chisel and escaped with only minor injuries. Children enrolled in a summer program there were playing in a field on the other side of a fence from where the accident occurred. The cocoon would provide a 20-foottall sheath-like barrier over the road that bisects Asphalt Green and leads to the marine transfer station. The city’s Dept. of Sanitation plans to use the road as an access point for garbage trucks unloading at the MTS. The city halted construction at the site pending a safety review and the contractor responsible for the accident fired several employees who were found to have violated safety procedures. In addition, the DDC assigned a safety inspector who will remain at the site full time during construction to monitor the contractor,
WEEK OF JULY
ALONE, AND LOVING IT, IN SUMMERTIME NEW YORK BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL As you read this, Manhattanites are getting ready to head out to the Hamptons for the weekend: the young New Yorkers to their shares occupied by 25 of their closest friends, the older and mortgaged to their second homes. This can be a bone of contention for some, leading to the FAQ: “Why them and not me?” But I say, “Goodbye and thank you.” With any luck, those on their way to the East End via jitney, railroad or car (or helicopter, if they live on Park, Madison or Fifth) are employed by companies with summer hours that afford them the oppor-
tunity to leave early Friday afternoon, and they likely won’t return until very late Sunday night. While those cats are away, I can play on an emptier, hence more pleasurable, Upper East Side. “Every weekend is like being on vacation,” says my husband, Neil, about our neighborhood from late May to early September. He in particular enjoys the practically vacant Carl Schurz Park, which he considers his personal reading room. I appreciate walking across the main thoroughfares – 86th, 79th, 72nd, plus up and down the avenues -- without the feeling that I’m trying to navigate an obstacle course, or as though I’m a football
player running interference. The lines are shorter just about everywhere, and I don’t have to use Fandango to secure seats at AMC Loews Orpheum 7 or City Cinemas East 86th Street. Even finding a parking space is without its usual long day’s journey into night oppressiveness. The best, though, for me is not having to call for dinner reservations or use my OpenTable app, which usually gets a good workout during the rest of the year. There’s something very breezy, New York chic about just walking into a restaurant and being seated right away. That’s what happened
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A man dressed as Spider-Man was arrested on charges he slugged a police officer who told him to stop harassing tourists in Times Square. Junior Bishop, 25, of Brooklyn, was charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and criminal mischief. The NYPD said the officer stepped in after Bishop demanded at least $5 from a woman he posed for a picture with, instead of the $1 tip she offered. Police said a costumed Bishop “put out his hand and told the woman 5s, 10s or 20s only.” Police said the officer told him he could only accept tips - not require payment. Bishop yelled and cursed at the officer, police said, and told him: “Mind your own (expletive) business.” Bishop broke free and punched the officer in the face, police said, causing a cut and eye swelling.
THIEVES HACK INTO 1K STUBHUB ACCOUNTS Some of the hottest tickets in town went to an international ring of cyber thieves who took over more than 1,000 StubHub users’ accounts to fraudulently buy tickets and resell them, prosecutors said Wednesday. Ten people around the world have been indicted or arrested in connection with the case, which involved more than 3,500 tickets and at least $1.6 million in unauthorized purchases of sought-after seats, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said.
Jewish women and girls light Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday August 1 - 7:53 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com