The local paper for the Upper er East Side WEEK OF OCTOBER
THINK YOU KNOW CENTRAL PARK?
23 2014
OURTOWNNY.COM
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SENIORS CLAIM THEIR STREET SPACE
FLYING HIGH (BARELY) ABOVE CARL SCHURZ PARK
PUBLIC SAFETY New Yorkers of a certain age grill DOT, bicycling advocates, on street safety BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
Seniors from all over the city gathered last week at the JASA Club on West 76th Street for a lively -- and sometimes frustrated –- discussion about the fraught relationship they have with bicyclists while navigating city streets on foot. JASA, a senior center on the Upper West Side, organized the forum in conjunction with Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, who sat on a panel with two representatives from Transportation Alternatives, an administrator at Riverside Park, a traffic safety officer from the 20th Precinct, and the Department of Transportation’s Manhattan Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione. Tra n spor tat ion A lter nat ives brought along a volunteer named Gene Aronowitz, 77-years-old and an avid bicyclist, who said he could relate to both sides of the debate. Aronowitz said there have been 200 traffic fatalities so far this year, 100 of which were pedestrians; 17 cyclists were killed, he said. Although he said he recognizes that enforcement is necessary on dangerous bicyclists, he said that cars are the bigger issue, citing just two pedestrian fatalities from bicyclists compared to 98 from cars. “The probability that I will get killed on the streets from a bicyclist is infinitesimal,” said Aronowitz. “It’s the cars that we have to look out for.” While that may be true, seniors at the meeting said they’re not just worried about dying in a collision with a bicyclist. They’re tired of the heartstopping near misses and watching bicyclists flout the law with impunity, to say nothing of serious injuries that occur when a collision does happen.
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OurTownEastSide @OurTownNYC
In Brief SEAWRIGHT ENDORSED BY POLITICAL CLUBS, FORMER OPPONENTS Democratic candidate for state assembly Rebecca Seawright announced the endorsements of all three Upper East Side Democratic Clubs, as well as those of her former primary opponents. East Side Democratic Club, Four Freedoms Democratic Club and Lenox Hill Democratic Club all joined to endorse Seawright in the race against Republican challenger David Garland. Primary candidates Gus Christensen, David Menegon and Edward Hartzog also endorsed Seawright.
The local paper for the Upper er East Side
The local paper for Downtown own
The local paper for the Upper per West Side Sid
Proudly Present
The 2014
THE BUILDING SERVICE WORKERS
OF THE YEAR
ROBERT PELEGRINO
MARIBEL NOVA
STAFFORD WOODLEY
RONALD ST. JOHN
MICHAEL MACGOWAN
AZELL BOST
RICHARD BALANCIER
RICKY CANDELARIO
SHAWN THOMAS
GERTA CADET
JOHN BATTLE
LOVELL KINGSBERRY
Sponsored by The City University of New York
BUILDING MAINTENANCE SERVICES
GLENWOOD B U ILD ER O W N ER M A N A G ER
MARILYN RIVERA
JEFF CAMACHO
FLOR CASTRO
ARIEL DEJESUS
FADILA MRKULIC
SABRINA LADSON
CHARLES DIBLASI
WILLIAM SULLIVAN
TASHA HORTON
EDITOR’S NOTE Meet the people who make living in New York a little bit easier. This year’s list of Building Service Workers awardees -- the eighth such collaboration between our newspapers and 32BJ SEIU -- celebrates people who are usually happy living under the radar. They include the building super who grew up in the neighborhood in which he now works; the porter who alerted residents to a fire in the building; the school cleaner who has become a mentor for his kids. These awards give us an opportunity to say thank you, both individually to this year’s winners and collectively to the thousands of other service workers who are equally as deserving. Straus Media-Manhattan, the publisher of Our Town, The West Side Spirit and Our Town Downtown, is proud to partner with 32BJ in presenting this list. Special thanks to Hector Figueroa, president and Elaine Kim at 32BJ for their collaboration on this project. Thanks also to all of our sponsors listed in these pages, and to Mary Newman, Morgan Keller and Nicole Wynn at Straus Media. We at Straus are proud to be part of this effort, and proud to bring this new selection of neighborhood heroes to your attention. Jeanne Straus, president of Straus News Kyle Pope, Editor-in-Chief
HONORING THE CITY’S BUILDING SERVICE WORKERS
About to take off. Avi, one of the pilots, prepares the Knight Vapor for a flight in the moonlight.
NEWS A hearty band of hobbyists flies drones on the Upper East Side BY MAXINE DOVERE
UPPER EAST SIDE The planes carry no passengers. Cargo any heavier than a battery would overload them and knock them out of the sky. Still, fly they do, buzzing windows along East End Avenue. Flyers gather informally, arriving
at the street side plaza, one by one. They are New Yorkers whose day jobs are in high tech or real estate or some of the other things Upper East Siders do. The Flyboys of 86th Street experience the thrill of flying via remote control, all operated through a single double A battery that lasts about 15 minutes, and always above Carl Schurz Park. “They can reach up to 450 feet,” one flyer said. A round orb floating above a slightly clouded sky cast a soft glow. The remote-controlled, ultra light mod-
el plane ascended into the moonlight. The planes have barely any weight and are made of plastic film stretched over a hardwire frame. They are powered by a miniature motor and carry the tiniest landing gear imaginable. Some have sparkling, colored LED lights; the unlighted models are somewhat more stealthy. Only the sound of their tiny propeller alerts to their presence that a flying vehicle is skyward.
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Join us in celebrating the best doormen, supers, office cleaners and other service workers in the neighborhood. For the eighth year in a row, this newspaper has partnered with 32BJ SEIU to present the Building Service Workers Awards, honoring the standouts in their jobs. A special section profiling the winners appears inside this week’s paper. Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candle every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday October 24 - 5:45 pm For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com.