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MARCH
NEW YORK'S MR. HOSPITALITY
19-25
Q&A, P.18 >
2015
OurTownEastSide Ou @OurTownNYC
45 Years and Counting
LINKING THE OLD AND NEW AT P.J. CLARKE’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING PLANS QUESTIONED Some say city program could be overly favorable to developers BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
A city program meant to promote the construction of affordable housing stock could actually be subtracting from it in some cases. Under the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s inclusionary housing program, developers who build a certain number of permanently affordable units are entitled to floor area ratio (FAR) credits that can be applied to another project in the city or sold. But in some cases, the affordable units created may turn out to be fewer than had previously existed. On the Upper East Side, for instance, Icon Realty Management recently filed plans with HPD to build a sixstory, 12-unit apartment building at 405 E. 78th St, where 11 of the 12 units will be permanently affordable. In exchange, Icon is getting 32,500 square feet of additional building space that they’re applying to a 200,000 square foot project on 80th Street and Second Avenue. Under HPD’s program, developers can build on up to 20 percent more
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Sinatra’s bar, now in the Facebook age BY PANYIN CONDUAH
Every week for the rest of the year, Our Town will celebrate its 45th anniversary by profiling a neighborhood business that has been around longer than we have. Know of a local business that should be on our list? Email us at news@strausnews.com When you walk down the street at 55th Street and 3rd Avenue, it’s easy to pick out which building doesn’t fit in with the rest. Among the neighboring highrises, the stout red brick building known as PJ Clarke’s still stands tall in the changing neighborhood. This old-school time capsule has been in existence since 1884, and its three owners have taken on the challenge of preserving history. “It was a necessary need for the neighborhood for so long,” said Ariel Sims, director of communications. Patrick Joseph Clarke started off as a bartender, then took over and made it his own in 1912. To keep the business from being snatched into bigger hands, Clarke passed down the restaurant to the Lavezzos family and now to current owner Philip Scotti. “It’s sheer luck that Phil Scotti became involve in the venture, he was at the right place at the right time,” said Sims. Scotti has expanded the business, opening two locations in the city, a location in Woodbury, N.Y., Washington D.C., and two locations in San Paulo, Brazil. At the original location on 3rd
Illustration by John S. Winkleman Avenue, Bartender Jerry and Manager Carol continue to keep up the Irish feel. Throughout their 12 years of work, Jerry and Carol have enjoyed meeting an array of customers, ranging from construction workers to celebrities (including, famously, Frank Sinatra and songwriter Johnny Mercer, who penned “One For My Baby” on a napkin at the bar). Jerry also watches the transformation of customers who first come in as strangers. “They’re seated as strangers and by the end of their lunch they’re chatting and exchanging numbers with the people at the next table hanging out and making friend-
ships,” he said. As new bars enter the New York scene, PJ Clarke’s is able to hold its own. Customers are still able to flip through the old jukebox while they unwind after work or admire the photo collage of boxers, politicians and musicians. To connect online, the bar has launched a “It happened at PJ Clarke’s” Facebook campaign, to enable customers to swap stories. PJ Clarke’s remains one of the oldest bars in New York, along with Old Town, McSorley’s and Pete’s Tavern. Its owners are committed, though, to ensuring it also stays one of the most vibrant.
In Brief ANTITRUST DEAL FOR TOUR BUS COMPANIES Beloved by tourists, tolerated by locals. The big tour bus companies like City Sights and Gray Line have become a staple in Manhattan, as much a part of the tourist draw as Broadway shows and the Empire State Building. But they’ve also become a headache for locals, who complain about clogged traffic, aggressive hawkers, even unwelcome gawking if you happen to live on the second floor along their routes. Turns out, they’ve also been running an antitrust racket, according to a settlement reached this week between the bus companies and investigators. City Sights and Gray Line agreed to pay $7.5 million and give up nearly 50 of their stops in Manhattan to settle a lawsuit brought by state and federal investigators. That lawsuit, filed in 2012, accused the two companies of teaming up to eliminate competition and push up prices. By locking up the best stops at the top sights in the city, the two companies effectively kept other companies from entering the market, keeping prices high. So those armies of hawkers peddling tickets in color-coded windbreakers? They’ve basically been working for the same company, creating an illusion of competition when in fact little real competition existed. “This settlement allows competition to thrive once again, and ensures that these companies did not profit from operating an unlawful and anticompetitive joint venture,” Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a statement following the settlement.
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2 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
WHAT’S MAKING NEWS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD RENEWED PUSH TO INCLUDE LUNAR NEW YEAR ON CITY SCHOOLS’ HOLIDAY CALENDAR Mayor Bill de Blasio is being pushed to make good on his pledge to close city schools for the Lunar New Year holiday. Officials joined with community groups at City Hall rally last week to press for the holiday, which is celebrated in several Asian countries, including China, North Korea South Korea and Vietnam. De Blasio last month announced that
the city’s public schools would close for two of the most sacred Muslim holy days, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha starting next school year. At the rally, State Senator Daniel Squadron said de Blasio had ample time to also add the Lunar New Year to the 2015-2016 school calendar, Downtown Express reported. Asian Americans make up about 15 percent of the city’s student population.
REPORTING NYC IDLING
TRUCKS CAN REWARD NEW YORKERS WITH MONEY INCENTIVES Upper West Side Councilmember Helen Rosenthal and Rockaway Councilmember Donovan Richards Jr. want New Yorkers to submit video recordings or photos of idling cars in trucks in return for cash. According to a 2009 report from the Environmental Defense Fund, idling cars in the city are responsible for 13,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the air every year. The Gothamist reports that if stationary The Lunar New Year could become a city schools holiday if proponents have their wish. Photo by Patrick Kwan.
drivers fail to cut their engines within three minutes, or within one minute if parked in a school zone, they can face a $220 ďŹ ne. If passed, the law would give city Department of Environmental Protection officials authority to give out ďŹ nes based on the submitted photos and video clips. Councilmembers believe the city could do a better job issuing summons when it comes idling vehicles, for which the city issued only 209 summons last year. Residents would have to take a class and register with the DEP before they could submit evidence and, eventually, collect a portion of the ďŹ nes.
NYC HOMELESS PROGRAM BRINGS 30% TO SHELTERS OUT OF SUBWAYS About one-third of the city’s chronically homeless people living in subways and train stations are now receiving shelter and services through the city’s outreach program, according to the Department of Homeless Services. A $6 million multi-year contract with the Bowery Residency Committee signed last year has added 40 social service workers clinicians to the caseloads, the Daily News reported. According to a 2013 city survey, 1,841 people were living in the subway system, nearly twice as many as four years ago, the paper reported. Officials reported that in order to be labeled as “chronic homeless� one must have
set bedding in the subway ďŹ ve times. Assistant commissioner Danielle Minelli-Pagnotta said the increase in placement in the program has work well.
ZIPCARS TARGETED BY THIEVES Police have arrested 18 people suspected of driving off with fancy Zipcars stored in Manhattan garages, the New York Post reported. Thieves had driven off with at least 20 Zipcars from parking lots in lower Manhattan during the last few months, The targeted cars have been mostly luxury vehicles – Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs and Audis – the paper reported. Prospective renters make online reservations for a vehicle, which they then pick up at partnering garages by using a “Zipcard.� The thieves apparently convinced garage attendants in Tribeca, the Financial District and Chinatown that their Zipcards — which turned out to be phony — were not working and the attendants then unlocked the cars, the Post said. Many of cars were found, apparently after they had been taken on joy rides, the paper said, although some of the other vehicles were later linked to crimes in other boroughs. The thefts have since decreased, the paper said.
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MARCH 19-25,2015 Our Town 3
CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG
NEW YORK REAL ESTATE HEIR ARRESTED FOR MURDER
Robert Durst, a wealthy and eccentric heir to a New York real estate fortune, was arrested for murder just before the airing of the last episodes of a six-part documentary about his links to two killings and the disappearance of his wife. Durst’s defense lawyer said that the FBI arrested him at a Marriott hotel in New Orleans on a Los Angeles warrant for the murder of Susan Berman 15
years ago. Durst, 71, has never been charged in connection with the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathie, or in the unsolved 2000 murder of Susan Berman, in Beverly Hills, California. He was acquitted in the 2001 dismemberment death of his Galveston neighbor, Morris Black, because he said the killing was in self-defense. Durst has always denied involvement in his wife’s disappearance or Berman’s murder. Defense lawyer Chip Lewis, who successfully defended Durst in the 2001 dismemberment death of his Galveston neighbor, said he will waive extradition and be transported to Los Angeles to face the charges. The arrest came on the eve of Sunday’s broadcast on HBO of the first episode of a six-part documentary, “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” by filmmaker Andrew Jarecki. Jarecki told The Associated Press that Durst is a strange but smart man who’s long feuded with his wealthy family. “The story is so operatic,” Jarecki said. “That’s what’s so fascinating to me — seeing someone who is born to such privilege and years later is living in a $300-a-month rooming house in Galveston, Texas, disguised as a mute woman.”
Jarecki told a Hollywood version of Durst’s story in the 2010 film that starred Ryan Gosling, “All Good Things.” A week before the release of that film, Durst called Jarecki saying he wanted to see it, and eventually agreed to be interviewed by Jarecki. That footage led to the documentary series. Jarecki said the six episodes left him with a “firm conclusion” about Durst’s guilt or innocence. HBO distributed the first two episodes in advance, making news with Durst’s admission that he lied to investigators about what he did on the night of his wife’s disappearance. Jarecki has kept the last four episodes under wraps to maintain suspense.
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th district for March 2 - March 8 Week to Date
Year to Date
2015
2014
% Change
2015
2014
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
0
0
n/a
Rape
0
0
n/a
1
1
0
Robbery
3
0
n/a
17
15
13.3
Felony Assault
1
1
0
22
20
10
Burglary
2
3
-33.3
25
51
-51
Grand Larceny
28
26
7.7
222
223
-0.4
Grand Larceny Auto
0
1
-100
5
10
-50
PURSE PURSUER
PREVIOUS DEVIOUS?
Unfortunately, being aware of your surroundings doesn’t always protect you from a determined thief. In the early hours of March 12, a 31-year-old woman walking on 72nd Street near First Avenue when she became aware of a man following her. She changed directions in an attempt to elude her pursuer, said to be in his 20s, but he eventually approached her and attempted to snatch her purse. A scuffle ensued in which the woman sustained minor injuries to her foot, but the thief managed to grab her bag and fled eastbound on 72nd. The contents of the purse included credit cards, cash and a phone with a total value of $500.
A new tenant in a 92nd Street apartment between First and Second Avenues returned home on March 12 to find jewelry and two of her purses missing. Since she told police she had locked the apartment and there were no signs of forced entry, and she and police suspect a previous tenant might have gained entry with an old key. The total value of the items stolen amounted to $4,000.
FRAUDULENT SHOPPER Thieves using fraudulent credit cards should probably avoid buying high-ticket items. A man was arrested on forgery and grand larceny charges on March 8 after he tried to buy a $5,000 handbag from a department store with a credit card he was unauthorized to use, police said. Store security had become suspicious when the man showed what they determined to be a fraudulent state ID, police said. Store employees checked with the issuing credit card company, who confirmed that the man had no permission or authority to use that card. Other than saying he was 26 years old, police did not identify either the man or the store.
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Dr. Michael B. Brown preaching
March 29, Palm/Passion Sunday 10am: Family Worship, Prayer Circle and Bible Study with Sister Carol Perry 11am: Fair Weather Faith (Mark 11:1-10) April 2, Maundy Thursday 7pm: Greater Love Hath No One Than This (John 15:12-14; Luke 23:26)
Dramatic readings with music by the Marble Sanctuary Choir. Holy Communion. April 3, Good Friday 11:30am: Music for Prayer and Meditation - Kenneth Dake Noon: Forsaken or Faithful? (Psalm 22:1-2; Psalm 31:1-5, selected verses) The Marble Choir, Festival of Voices, and Orchestra 1:30-3pm: Prayer Vigil 7pm: Jazz Revelation - A Jazz Funeral For Christ April 5, Easter Sunday 8:30am: Prayer Circle 9 & 11am: The Divine Post-Script (I Corinthians 15:50-56) Dr. Michael B. Brown, Senior Minister 1 West 29th St. NYC, NY 10001 (212) 686-2770 www.MarbleChurch.org
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4 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct
153 E. 67th St.
212-452-0600
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
FIRE FDNY 22 Ladder Co 13
159 E. 85th St.
311
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157 E. 67th St.
311
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1836 Second Ave.
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221 E. 75th St.
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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
1916 Park Ave. #202
212-828-5829
State Senator Liz Krueger
1850 Second Ave.
212-490-9535
Assembly Member Dan Quart
360 E. 57th St.
212-605-0937
Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright
1365 First Ave.
212-288-4607
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.
212-734-1717
Webster Library
1465 York Ave.
212-288-5049
100 E. 77th St.
212-434-2000
HOSPITALS Lenox Hill NY-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell
525 E. 68th St.
212-746-5454
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E. 99th St. & Madison Ave.
212-241-6500
NYU Langone
550 First Ave.
212-263-7300
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212-460-4600
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floor area than they would normally be allowed to in certain districts. The rules stipulate the project that’s using the building bonus — called a receiving site – be built within a half-mile or within the same community district as the affordable housing property that’s creating the bonus — the generating site. But Icon’s application may be operating at a net loss when it comes to building affordable housing. Their proposal for 405 E. 78th St., at 11 affordable units, is five fewer than the 16 units of rent-stabilized housing that Community Board 8 said had existed in the building. Alvin Schein, the attorney representing Icon on the inclusionary housing application, disputed that number. He initially told Our Town that only two units at 405 E. 78th were rent stabilized when Icon bought the property. According to tax documents, however, the entire building was rent stabilized in 2008, one year after Icon purchased it for $2 million. Told about the documents, Schein said Icon’s records showed that there were five rent-stabilized tenants in the building Icon acquired it. “It appears that the rent registration records were not updated in 2008 to reflect this,”
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said Schein, who indicated Icon offered buyouts to the tenants to vacate the property and that it is currently empty. Icon officials refused to speak directly with Our Town about how the property was vacated. Schein presented the application to Community Board 8’s housing committee last week, and said the generating site at 405 East 78th will be turned over to a nonprofit when it’s built and then managed by an off-site superintendent. “I’m concerned about the tradeoff on what you’re getting to build on Second Avenue,” CB8 member Elaine Walsh said at the meeting. “This project leaves us with less affordable units. Why is this a good plan?” CB8 housing committee chair Ed Hartzog also said he was uneasy with the application. “We’re losing a tenement building with 16 affordable apartments and getting 11 in return, that’s a concern,” said Hartzog. “We’re going a little bit the wrong way.” But Hartzog is more concerned about the opacity of the inclusionary housing application process. While Hartzog and Walsh believe that Icon’s generating and receiving site plans should be included in the same application, Schein said the East 80th Street project was “not part of this application.” Hartzog was skeptical. “There’s a logical symmetry that these projects are inextricably linked together,” he said of the bonus receiving
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site at 301 East 80th Street. He called the housing application process opaque. According to Hartzog and HPD assistant commissioner for inclusionary housing Louise Carroll, who was also at the CB8 meeting, Icon submitted an incomplete application to both the department and the board. “The inclusionary housing plan is supposed to provide a lot of information, which I don’t have and you don’t have,” Carroll told the community board. “We don’t review or approve incomplete applications.” Carroll noted that HPD waits for the board’s ruling before proceeding with their own review of inclusionary housing applications. Schein, who said the “essence of the deal was presented to HPD,” said he expects the application to be completed in the next couple months. His firm is also handling another, much larger, inclusionary housing application similar to Icon’s on the Upper East Side. Extell Development wants to build 25 units of affordable housing at Second Avenue and 92nd Street in exchange for a 115,000-square-foot FAR bonus. Extell hasn’t yet identified a receiving site, but the developer also has the option of holding onto the FAR and selling it at a later date. These deals have Hartzog wondering if the community is getting shortchanged when compared to the amount of building space that’s being afforded to developers. He’s
especially concerned about a development boom along the nascent Second Avenue corridor, as work on the subway line wraps up. “What’s going to happen to the commercial shops that survived [the subway construction]? How many of these tenements we still see on Second Avenue are going to be bought up and consolidated?” he asked. “I think that’s a big concern people have.” Hartzog, who said he doesn’t oppose development, nevertheless said more affordable housing is needed on the Upper East Side because of the district’s high concentration of seniors on a fixed income. He said his priority is insuring that the community gets something out of the transaction. “My initial response is not ‘no,’” he said. “For me, it’s how do we achieve a better result?” It appears HPD’s inclusionary housing program is attracting more developers. Carroll said her department has 62 inclusionary housing projects in the pipeline, though it’s unclear how many of them involve transferring the FAR bonus to a receiving site. Hartzog said in his four years on the community board he hadn’t seen any before Extell and Icon presented their applications this year. Schein said his firm is handling about 20 such inclusionary housing applications in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including the Icon and Extell deals.
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MARCH 19-25,2015 Our Town 5
Pride of New York
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6 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
NY1’s Roma Torre emceed the evening. Photo by Mary Newman Dr. Neil Calman, of Mt. Sinai, an awardee. Photo by Mary Newman
EAST SIDERS TURN OUT TO CELEBRATE OTTYS Fourteen people honored in Our Town ceremony More than 100 Upper East Siders turned out to celebrate this year’s OTTY Award winners in a ceremony at Mt. Sinai Hospital on March 16. For more than a decade, Our Town has honored people in the
community who have made the East Side a better place to work and live. This year, 14 people were honored, at an awards ceremony emceed by NY1’s Roma Torre. In addition to the honorees and their families, the event was attended by local elected officials,
including Comptroller Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and Councilmembers Ben Kallos and Dan Garodnick. For more photos from the event, go to www.ourtownny. com
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer with Our Town Editor-in-Chief Kyle Pope. Photo by Mary Newman
Councilmember Ben Kallos, honoree Nancy Taylor of Bideawee, and Straus News President Jeanne Straus. Photo by Mary Newman
Comptroller Scott Stringer, with honorees from FDNY Engine Company 44 and EMS Station 10. Photo by Mary Newman
MARCH 19-25,2015 Our Town 7
THE BARDS OF THE HAMILTON SENIOR CENTER An eclectic group of amateur poets and their weekly roundtable BY KYLE POPE
The poem for the day is “Dream Boogie” by Langston Hughes, and Barbara Brenner, a theater major from back in the day, kicks things off with a reading that sounds almost like a rap. Good morning, daddy! Ain’t you heard The boogie-woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? Next up, Irving Goldman, the only man in the group and a retired psychologist. Listen closely: You’ll hear their feet Beating out and beating out a– You think It’s a happy beat? Finally, Gun Garel, from Sweden, who has been writing poetry since she was 14. Listen to it closely: Ain’t you heard Something underneath like a – What did I say? Sure, I’m happy! Take it away! The group joins together on the last word of the poem, “Ye-a-a-h,” holding it for an extra note. Not what you’d expect on a weekday afternoon at the Hamilton Senior Center on West 73rd Street. Yet here is it, every week, around a table under fluorescent lights, where an eclectic group of a dozen or so neighbors has gathered for the last four and half years to write poetry. Some, like Garel, have been at it their entire lives. Others, like Marie Vassallo, are trying poetry for the first time. Several members of the group have passed away, including one member who died at the age of 105. Brenner signed up one day because it was too cold outside to do anything else, and now can’t imagine her life without the Hamilton Poets. “For me, it’s like a safe house,” she said. “We can fall and not get hurt because we support each other. We can try things and not be afraid.” The format each week is the same: the group reads a poem, going around the room with each person reciting a verse.
Usually, they’ll read the work a couple of times to let the words sink in. Then, they’ll discuss the work, dissecting everything from the language used to the images evoked to the biography of the poet. (Langston Hughes, who writes about race and justice, warranted a particularly spirited discussion, fed by news out of Ferguson, Mo.) Finally, the group is asked to write a poem inspired by the reading they discussed, the results of which are read aloud after 20 minutes. A one-dollar donation per class is requested, but optional. (Also, being a senior citizen isn’t a requirement of the class, though the average age appears to hover in the 70s.) The poets will tell you that poetry-on-demand isn’t for the meek, as Vassallo captured in her poem, entitled “Divine Intelligence”: Divine Intelligence , I’m waiting for Your words, Mine are refusing to surface I’m ready to fall on my knees I’ll let them crack if I have to I need a poem Earlier this year, 30 poems from the group were compiled into a collection, “Hidden in the Light,” published by Dunton. The book came into being after Goldman ran into an old friend, Lese Dunton, and raved about the poetry group. Dunton, which helps authors selfpublish their books, hand-held the Hamilton Poets in putting the thing together, with each member pitching in to cover costs. That was in September. By January, “Hidden in the Light” was out, available on Amazon. com. “These people have amazed me with their boldness,” said Michelle de Savigny, an Upper West Sider who has served as the group’s teacher and moderator since the beginning. (The compilation is dedicated to her, after an epilogue from Otto Mond, a member of the group who died last year.) “When they asked me, ‘Why don’t we put a book together?’ I said, ‘Go for it.’ And they did.” A lover of poetry for as long as she can remember, de Savigny was a reading specialist at the private Town School on the
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The Hamilton Poets during their regular Tuesday afternoon meeting. Photo by Kyle Pope Upper East Side for more than two decades. Then, she decided to switch careers and now is training as a psychotherapist specializing in aging and mental health. The poets use the class, she said, for everything from a weekly social outlet to a venue to vent their frustrations about growing old in a city obsessed with youth. “They all are very much in touch with the cycle of life,” de Savigny said. “This gives them the chance to talk about their lives.” More than anything, poetry gives them a chance to be heard. “It’s invigorating, freeing,” said Garel, whose contributions to the book include a revenge poem aimed at her stepmother. My father’s second wife A witch from hell If there ever were such a creature.
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The poem, “To Forgive Is Nobler,” proceeds from there. Other contributions are gentler, like a poem from group member Patricia Dasko, who once did PR for Lowell Thomas and traveled Europe with a renegade ballet company. Now, she writes lovingly about the simple sharing of an ice cream cone between mother and child. I know this is delightful These two are worth watching. I no longer can enjoy ice cream So they do it for me and I am happy to be here, to watch them and to know this ritual is still here. “I never thought I had any inclination to do anything like this,” Dasko said of the Hamilton Poets’ ritual. “But I am so glad it’s here.”
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chose to get arrested outside of a car wash in Brooklyn earlier this month, in support of the workers who have been on strike there since November. This is the first time I have ever been arrested -- even though I have supported many different causes in many different ways throughout the years. Getting arrested is not something to be taken lightly. But I felt it was necessary to shine a light on the grievous wrong these workers and so many others in New York’s car wash industry – and in other industries across the country -- have experienced in their work lives. And I wanted to express my outrage over the treatment of low-wage immigrant workers generally and the growing income inequality in our society. It is important now because of the times we live in – a time when the income equality gap is greater than ever, when workers and immigrants are increasingly under fire in legislatures across America and in the Halls of Congress, and when low-wage workers in car washes, fast food restaurants, airports and retail stores are feeling the squeeze like never before. In most parts of the country, millions of these workers make the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. In New York and elsewhere the minimum is higher, but still much too low. That’s why we have seen – and been part of -- campaigns like the “Fight for Fifteen” and “Low-Wage Rage.” And that’s why I, along with national labor leaders - including the new UFCW International President Marc Perrone - and New York City Council members Brad Lander and Carlos Menchaca blocked the streets outside the Vegas Auto Spa in Park Slope, where the ‘carwasheros’ have been on strike for four months against an owner they claim stole money from them through wage and hour violations. They went without paychecks through the holiday season and this cold, harsh winter. But what is happening at the Vegas car wash – and the entire car wash industry across New York – is just an example of a greater problem across America. Hard-working men and women are not being paid enough to make ends meet and it is the lowest-paid workers who often work in the most horrendous conditions. The workers at Vegas have sued the owner in court and filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board for unfair labor practices, and with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. These workers are among the many at 10 car washes across New York City who voted to join the RWDSU since the Wash New York Campaign – a joint effort by New York Communities for Change, Make the Road New York and the RWDSU – began three years ago. In addition to better wages and job safeguards, carwasheros need protections against an industry that is largely unregulated and has been rife with wage theft. In New York alone, one major car wash owner has agreed to pay more than $7 million in back pay and penalties for wage and hour violations. That is why we have been urging the City Council to pass – and the mayor to sign -- the Car Wash Accountability Act, which would require car washes to be licensed and regulated and would include strong worker protections. It is sad that here – in the richest city in the richest country in the world – workers and their supporters still have to put their bodies on the line to get economic and workplace justice. Working women and men in this city and country -- regardless of whether or not they are low-wage immigrants -deserve better, and we must come together with a collective voice to demand it. Stuart Appelbaum is president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and executive vice president of the 1.3 million-member United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
Visit us on the web at:
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8 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
Voices
Letter WASTING MONEY AT THE D.O.E. To the Editor: How much money is the NYC Department of Education wasting every time they take out multipage ads in the New York Daily News along with other newspapers for “The latest news from the NYC Department of Education Public School Press”? These dollars would be better spend educating children than promoting Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Farina. Drip, drip,drip, watch your tax dollars go down the drain. Have you also seen all the “Don’t Let Tax, Water, Or Repair Charges Come Between You and Your Property” full page ads in your daily and weekly neighborhood newspapers? Even worse, was the 116-page recent supplement which appeared in the New York Daily News. It lists line by line the name of every New Yorker who owes real estate tax water sewer, emergency repair or other property - related charges “the City of New York may sell a lien on your property” advertisement. Is this the best way the NYC Departments of Finance, Environmental Protection along with Housing Preservation and Development can spend taxpayers dollars? Why can’t all three agencies compare their respective lists of people who owe money with those filing city and state tax returns? Surely the technology exists to place a lien on any tax refunds. You could also extend citizens the courtesy of a telephone call or letter or email informing them of their overdue obligations. What’s next, will the city send out marshalls going door to door serving subpoenas? Sincerely, Larry Penner
EAST SIDE ELECTED OFFICIALS: DON’T CUT THE M15 BUS SERVICE LETTER Elected officials on the Upper East Side have teamed up to protest planned service changes to the M15 bus, named last year by the Straphanger’s Campaign as the least reliable line in the city. Their letter, sent earlier this month to MTA President Carmen Bianco, is reprinted below. Dear NYC Transit President Bianco, We are writing to commend the proposed improvements to the M31 Bus weekday service and to request a reconsideration of the proposed cuts to the M15 Local service. We thank the New York City Transit for
its diligent evaluation of bus service routes; the planned response for the M31 Bus weekday service will notably improve the waiting time and needs of MTA customers along this route. The results stemming from the study along the M15 Local Service route are concerning. According to your own figures, approximately 55,000 passengers travel along the M15 corridor. Cutting revenue mile service 6.4%, as planned in your letter, Bus Schedule Revisions Effective April 2015 dated Jan. 9, 2015, will escalate the problems along this already strained route. Following our previous letters to you regarding these service issues along the M15 Local Service route, we have continued to hear from numer-
ous constituents who have experienced severe delays in service, as well as empty buses bypassing crowded bus stops on a regular basis. Your letter noted that the Select Bus Service schedules were considered in the revisions to the local routes along the Madison Avenue line. We urge you to look into the overlap and service capacities along the Second Avenue line as well. As the Second Avenue Subway is under construction, the M15 Bus line continues to be a vital artery for residents to commute to work, pick up children from school, participate in community service work, and be able to have the necessary transportation for their daily living activities. The support that the M15 Local Bus service provides to lo-
cal businesses is essential. We request that you address these delays and service issues along the M15 Local route. The research and evaluation done by the MTA is a commendable beginning to bus schedule revisions. We urge you to listen to the lived experiences of your customers and increase services to reflect the realities of current operating conditions. Thank you for your immediate attention. We will await your response. Sincerely, State Senator Liz Krueger Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright Council Member Ben Kallos
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er. Could he have wandered off into the snow? “Where’s your baby?â€? I asked Rebeca, the dam. From seeing her rear her young last year, I knew that she’d be bellowing if she didn’t know where her baby was, although it was also true that she seemed to have made her peace, or else forgotten, about the missing girl. I rushed inside to ask Joe when and where he’d last seen the baby boy? In the warming box, a few hours ago, he said. I rushed back and dug through the sweaters, half fearing to ďŹ nd another limp body. Nothing. Then I saw a little black and white form wedged between the warming box and the wall, in such a narrow slot that not even a chicken could squeeze in there to bother him. Such a good spot, but was he stuck, unable to wriggle out to nurse? I reached in and pet him, and felt a warm ball of fur. I fortified his sleeping nook by leaning a slab of wood against the wall, to block any drafts from blowing in the crack between the ground and the wall. I pet him one more time. He wasn’t shivering. He was perfect, and very much home. Becca Tucker is a former Manhattanite now living on a farm upstate and writing about the rural life.
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I held the baby goat to my chest like you might hold an infant, explaining to toddler Kai that the goat was dead, but without quite knowing if I believed it myself. Did her eye move? I blew on her nose. Her head rested in the crook of my elbow like she was just very, very tired. Fluid The goats, in better days. dripped from her rear end; I delivering eggs to the city, re-wrapped the towel. Should I put her in a bucket which I now do on Monday nights. Had I been, might it of hot water? I asked Joe. have gone differently? She’s gone, he said. Joe closed the cardboard And so she was. Perfect, that two-day-old furry body box and left it in the foyer, so was, except there was no- I could see her, say goodbye. body home. Her joints still When I opened the box and had their bounce, but her lifted the baby, I couldn’t eyes were milky and dry and shake the feeling that if I could warm her cold little no breath came in or out. There’s no time to get sen- body, which never could get timental, or hold a funeral warm after it emerged from like we did with the ďŹ rst goat the womb in a snowstorm, we lost, was it two years ago maybe she’d have one of those now or three? But time or no, miraculous recoveries. No. Like exiting an airport sadness will come at times like these and stay awhile. It terminal, once you go out especially hurts, on a farm, you cannot come back in. The when it’s a girl. Girls produce ground was too snow-covered for a burial, so I placed the more life; milk. Was it our fault? It’s hard to cardboard shroud on top of know. We’d noticed she was the snowy compost and whisshivering, and not standing pered the same few words – as well as her brother, but the only words – that come to I had heard that girls take me in these moments, whethlonger to get up on all fours. er I am beholding the corpse of When we saw she was cold, my grandfather or a chicken. should we have taken her “Lie down with the ash heap, inside sooner? Or maybe it rise up with the corn.â€? Then I trudged through the would have turned out better if we’d left her with her wet snow to the outbuilding to check on the little boy, mother? Husband Joe had brought the twin brother of the lost her inside, eventually, and girl. It was nearly dark, and I tried to bottle-feed her with wanted to make sure he was colostrum that he had milked cozy enough to get through from her mother, but she another cold night. Our three grown goats were wasn’t interested. He had put her in a blanket in a card- there, his mother included, board box by the heater. She but the baby wasn’t in the didn’t make it through the wooden box ďŹ lled with sweatnight. I wasn’t there. I was ers. He wasn’t with his moth-
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10 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
Out & About 22 Encounter figures rendered by artists such as Alice Neel, Chuck Close, and Alex Katz and explore the groundbreaking methods these artists used to command attention. With Marianna Siciliano, assistant educator at the museum. 212-535-7710
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Metropolitan Museum, 1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street, Gallery 534 (Vélez Blanco Patio) 11 a.m.-noon, free with museum admission. With Kristen Windmuller-Luna, of the Art and Archaeology Department at Princeton University, examine power objects and power associations in works of art from West Africa that have been popularly mislabeled “fetishes.” 212-535-7710
EXHIBITION TOUR — CAPTAIN LINNAEUS TRIPE: PHOTOGRAPHER OF INDIA AND BURMA, 1852– 1860 Metropolitan Museum, 1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street, Gallery 691 10:30 a.m–11:30 a.m., free with museum admission Beth Saunders, a curatorial assistant with the museum’s department of photographs, leads a tour of Tripe’s photographs from his travels to India and Burma (the Republic of Myanmar). 212-535-7710
AARP TAX AIDE 67th Street Library, 328 East 67th St. 10 a.m.-2 p.m., free AARP volunteers, certified by the IRS, prepare all returns. Certain returns with voluminous data or less common types of income, credits or deductions are beyond the scope of the program. Bring all your materials with you. First come/first served. 212-734-1717
21 COMMANDING ATTENTION: PORTRAITS IN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART Metropolitan Museum, 1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street, Gallery 534 (Vélez Blanco Patio) 11 a.m.–noon, free with museum admission.
CONFRONTING THE MYTH OF THE FETISH: POWER FIGURES AND ASSOCIATIONS OF WEST AFRICA
SUNDAY SKETCH AT THE FRICK MUSEUM ACTUAL SIZE PLUS 92nd Street Y, Buttenwieser Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave., at 92nd Street. 8 p.m., $25 and up Sally Silvers’ award-winning choreography comes out to play to pay homage to the films and motifs of Alfred Hitchcock. Silvers teases romance with fear, jump-cutting many of his classic looks & obsessions. 212.415.5500, http:// www.92y.org/ Event/SallySilvers
Frick Museum, 10 East 71st St., at Fifth Avenue, Garden Court. 1 p.m.–3 p.m., free with museum admission (pay what you wish 11 a.m.-1 p.m.) Join up for an afternoon of informal sketching in the Garden Court. All skill levels are welcome, materials are provided. No reservations necessaryy 212-5470704, http:// www.frick. org/
11 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
23
www.92y.org/Event/NikolaiLugansky-piano
MICROSOFT EXCEL BASICS
French Institute, Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th St. 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., nonmembers, $13; students with ID, $7 LĂŠa Seydoux, Diane Kruger, and Virginie Ledoyen star in this look at the ďŹ nal chaotic days of Marie Antoinette’s court just before the break of revolution. Free wine reception following both screenings. 212-355-6100
96th Street Library, 112 East 96th St. Noon-2 p.m., free Learn to use Microsoft Excel. In this class you’ll learn how to create and edit spreadsheets, format cells, Insert math operations, adjust column width and row height, insert a chart, and more. Registration required: Phone or in-person 212-289-0908
FAREWELL, MY QUEEN
LINDA FARSTEIN AND KATE WHITE
92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave., at 92nd Street 7:30 p.m., from $35.00 Lugansky, a leading Russian pianist, makes his 92Y debut with overlooked rarities by Tchaikovsky as well as works by Schubert. 212.415.5500, http://
Barnes & Noble, 150 E. 86th St., at Lexington Avenue 7 p.m., free Manchester performs selections from and signs copies of her new album, You Gotta Love the Life, a combination of original pieces and personal favorites 212-369-2180
THE TALK OF THE TOWN 96th Street Library, 112 East 96th St. 2 p.m., free Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman star in the 1942 comedy/drama directed by George Stevens in which a woman loves both a suspected murderer and the lawyer who defends him. 212-289-0908
25 MET ESCAPES: EXPLORING WORKS OF ART THROUGH TOUCH, PROGRAM FOR VISITORS WITH DEMENTIA AND THEIR CARE PARTNERS Metropolitan Museum, 1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street, Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m., free Individuals living with
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PIERRE BOULEZ: A 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Metropolitan Museum, 1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street 1 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Pianist Conor Hanick plays pieces by Boulez, John Cage and David Fulmer in the Met’s newly reinstalled 20th century gallery in celebration of one of the period’s greatest musical minds. www.metmuseum.org/ events/programs/concertsand-performances/
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92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., at 92nd Street 7 p.m., From $30 Linda Fairstein, former Sex Crimes Unit bureau chief in the Manhattan DA’s Office, is a proliďŹ c novelist. She has won the Nero Wolfe Award for best crime novel and International Thriller Writers’ Silver Bullet Award. 212.415.5500, http:// www.92y.org/Event/LindaFairstein-Kate-White
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dementia, together with their family members or care partners, can participate in discussions, handling sessions, art making, and other interactive and multisensory activities in the galleries and in the classroom. Reservations are required and can be made at 212-650-2010 or access@metmuseum.org
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12 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
SPRINGTIME FOR THE BIRDS IN CENTRAL PARK GALLERIES Two shows celebrating avian art take flight this spring BY VAL CASTRONOVO
New York City is bird country, in case you haven’t noticed. Some 350 wild species, nearly a third of all bird species on the North American continent, make their homes here or visit each year. Recent sightings of snowy owls (not Hedwig, alas) on Governors Island and the shores of Brooklyn and Queens are cases in point. But the city has become even more bird friendly with the opening of two exhibits devoted to avian paintings — one by legendary watercolorist John James Audubon (1785-1851) at the New-York Historical Society, and the other by New York wildlife artist Alan Messer at The Arsenal in Central Park, the headquarters of the New York City Department of Parks. The show at the Historical Society is the third and final installment of the magnificent exhibition of watercolors made for Audubon’s opus, “The Birds of America” (1827-1838), a mammoth encyclopedia that sought to visually document each and every bird species in North America. Audubon was not the first to make the attempt; ornithologist Alexander Wilson set the example. But Audubon’s book, a double elephant (referring to the size of the paper) folio with 435 life-size prints made from copper plates engraved by Robert Havell Jr., became the gold standard. The Society boasts the largest collection of Auduboniana in the world. A special feather in its cap is owner-
1863-17-333GreenHeron
ship of these 435 original watercolors, representing over 1,000 birds and 500 species. More than 135 of those are included in the current show, with 180 species on parade, along with a chirpy audio guide with birdcalls and songs, courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. In the gallery, iPads afford a close-up view of Havell’s plates, based on the watercolors, while a video screen projects images of the paintings and scenes from the natural environment, underscoring Audubon’s extensive forays into the field to observe “the feathered race” (his term). Dr. Roberta Olson, the Society’s curator of drawings, recently led a spirited tour of the show, declaring Audubon “America’s Leonardo,” since, like his forebear, he infused his art with scientific precision and rigor. “Naturalists in the 19th century were the intelligentsia,” she explained. Both a naturalist and an artist, Audubon hunted and harvested thousands of birds for his painted catalog. His settings evoked the natural habitats of the various species — an “embedding” of his subjects in the interests of verisimilitude. But the operative word here is “cinematic,” a word frequently invoked by the curator to describe the dramatic action on the walls. Birds are flying, diving, swimming, eating, walking, preening, yawning, honking and generally engaging with one another in a fast and furious way. “The birds are alive and engage us,” Olson said exuberantly. Dismissing any notion that these were static images, she emphasized throughout the tour that
Audubon “was always involved with behavior” and pointed to a red-bellied woodpecker’s long, sticky tongue reaching out for food in a woodpecker group portrait (1822; 1836-37) to make her case. This artist’s genius was boundless. The birds in his compositions are all life-size, a historic feat. Feathers are palpable, and some, like those of the “Great Gray Owl” (c. 1834-36), have a velvety sheen. Audubon even “invented collage—not Braque or Picasso,” the curator claimed. Indeed, “Green Heron” (c. 1821-22) radically boasts a cutout image of the “Dad” bird, with an overlapping leaf creating a 3-D effect. This kind of layering was unknown at the time. But “American Flamingo” (1838) in shocking pink is the show’s glorious signature image. During our visit, the Society’s double elephant folio was opened to this brilliantly colored bird, creatively positioned to fit the page. One of four flamingo species native to the Americas, the creature appears to be in the act of feeding and, as Olson noted of the animated portrait on the wall, it is “looking at us and walking off the page.” Audubon had observed flamingos in the Florida Keys and worked from specimens sent to him from Cuba, two preserved in spirits. Pro tip: A visit to N-YHS to see the Audubons should be combined with a walk through Central Park to The Arsenal Gallery to see the avian paintings of artist-ornithologist Alan Messer. A New Yorker by way of Oregon, Messer seeks inspiration in the park’s Ramble, the marshes of Ja-
N-YHS Oppenheimer Editions AWC Plate 431 Greater Flamingo maica Bay, the islands in the Harbor, and the city’s abundant green spaces. The 30 beautiful works in “Conserving Our City of Nature,” presented by NYC Audubon and on view until April 23, include delicate oil and watercolor
renderings of myriad species. Messer will deliver a talk about his art at The Arsenal Gallery on April 8 at 6pm (email artandantiquities@parks.nyc. gov to RSVP). Get ready.
IF YOU GO WHAT: “Audubon’s Aviary: The Final Flight” (Part III of “The Complete Flock”) WHERE: the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, at 77th Street WHEN: Now through May 10 www.nyhistory.org
WHAT: “Conserving Our City of Nature: The Artwork of Alan Messer” WHERE: The Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, 830 Fifth Ave., at 64th Street WHEN: Now through April 23 www.nyc.gov/parks/art
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MARCH 19-25,2015 Our Town 13
FOR THE WEEK BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO OUR ARTS EDITOR
DANCE
“ACTUAL SIZE PLUS” In her latest work, choreographer Sally Silvers interprets scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic films. “N by NW,” a duet between former Merce Cunningham principal dancers Melissa Toogood and Dylan Crossman was inspired by the director’s 1959 Cary Grant thriller “North by Northwest.” March 20-22 92nd Street Y Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street Assorted show times Tickets $25-$29 To purchase tickets, visit http://www.92y.org/Event/Sally-Silvers.aspx or call 212-4155500
KIDS “CHINESE FOOD, AMERICAN STORY” Sarah Lohman, a “historic gastronomist” who recreates old recipes and blogs about her culinary experiments at fourpoundsflour.com, teaches a historic cooking class at the New-York Historical Society. The workshop will teach children how to make handmade dumplings, as well as chop suey, one of the earliest Chinese takeout dishes, from a 100-year-old recipe. Saturday, March 21 DiMenna Children’s History Museum at the New-York Historical Society 170 Central Park West, at 77th Street 2 p.m Tickets $16 To purchase tickets visit http://www. nyhistory.org/childrens-museum/programsevents-games
GALLERIES
the Latvian-born expressionist, with Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism professor Alexander Stille. Thursday, March 26 Albertine 972 Fifth Ave., Near 79th Street 6 p.m. FREE
FILM “COURT” Writer-director Chaitanya Tamhane’s first feature film “Court,” receives its U.S. premiere as part of Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual New Directors/New Films series. Tamhane’s film follows the arrest of a folk singer in India for inspiring a sewage worker’s suicide. Thursday, March 26 Film Society of Lincoln Center 165 W. 65th St., near Amsterdam Avenue 9 p.m. Tickets $16 To purchase tickets, visit http://www.filmlinc. com/films/on-sale/court
MIDTOWN GALLERY TOUR
MARK ROTHKO: TOWARD THE LIGHT IN THE CHAPEL To be included in the Top 5 go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.
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BOOKS Cultural historian Annie Cohen-Solal discusses her new biography, “Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel,” which chronicles the rise of
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Rafael Risemberg, a former art critic and college professor, has led regular gallery tours throughout the city’s art districts for 12 years. On March 21, he leads a tour of Midtown’s “skyscraper district,” visiting seven high-end contemporary art galleries. Saturday, March 21 Starts at 24 W. 57th St., near Sixth Avenue 1 p.m. Tickets $25 To purchase tickets, visit http:// nygallerytours.com/scheduled-tours/ or call 212-946-1548 for more information
Email us at news@strausnews.com
14 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
Food & Drink In Brief END OF ORIGINAL ESS-ABAGEL East Village bagel shop Ess-ABagel, which opened on 21st Street and First Avenue in 1976, will close its original location on Monday, March 23, EV Grieve reported. The shop was unable to come to an agreement on its lease, according to Town & Village blog, but a sign posted in Ess-A-Bagel’s window suggests that the longtime bagel shop won’t leave the neighborhood, and will reopen in an undisclosed location nearby. Disagreements with the landlord over rent potentially contributed to the shop vacating its longtime home, EV Grieve reported: a statement from the landlord’s representatives suggested that the owners of the store “repeatedly refused to meet us between their below-market rent and current market value.” The bagel shop operates a second location at 831 Third Avenue, near E. 51st Street.
SUSHI ZEN TO RELOCATE Midtown mainstay Sushi Zen is set to relocate by the end of the year, according to the Commercial Observer. The restaurant, opened in 1983 by chef and owner Toshio Suzuki, has occupied a few locations since service first began, and has been at 108 W. 44th Street since it’s previous midtown location was demolished in 2001, and though it’s moving a few blocks north, to a space on W. 47th Street, its landlord will remain the same, as both properties are owned by the Durst Organization. It’s new spot, at 114 W. 47th Street, is more than triple the size of its current location. The restaurant signed a 20-year lease on the 6,500 square foot property.
UES BURGER BAR J.G. MELON EXPANDS Yorkville bar and burger joint J.G. Melon, which has served its suds and pub fare at 1291 Third Avenue at E. 74th Street since 1972, will add a West Village outpost to its arsenal, Eater reported. Located at 89 Macdougal Street, near New York University, the new location is slated to open late next month, and will be the only other J.G. Melon location in the city, though, Eater reported, the uptown institution did expand to Bridgehampton in the 1970s, and operated an Upper West Side counterpart until 1993, but the Upper East Side location has been the sole outpost ever since.
AN OVERABUNDANCE OF DIETS CAN MUDDLE MEALS THE COMMUNITY KITCHEN BY LIZ NEUMARK
Growing up, there were basic table rules: Eat what was served, finish what was on your plate, and don’t start until the hostess lifts her fork. On occasion, a cook had to allow for nut allergies or religious restrictions. Special requests attributable to allergies, food exclusions or dietdriven preferences were uncommon, though. Fast-forward to 2015 where the waiter’s mantra is, “Anything our chef should know about food allergies or dietary restrictions?” — or, as I like to say, “Is there anything we can eat?” The robust list of food exclusions stemming from the proliferation of serious food-related allergies and the explosion of personal diet regimes is overwhelming and shows no sign of abating. My personal list includes: no meat or fowl; limited fish; no dairy; never octopus; and eggs only of known origin. All of those are personal choices. So, what is the landscape? I thought this would be easy to discern, but the more I read and spoke with people, the more confusing things became. What we choose to eat is more complex than ever. Talk to someone about his or her diet and you get a philosophical, strictly medical or self-diagnosed explanation of his or her choices. The most popular food choice (it was the most Googled in 2013) is the paleo diet, which purports to mimic what our ancestors ate in the Paleolithic era, before the advent of agriculture and domestication of animals. Since precise records of the caveman’s diet don’t exist, the régime is open to interpretation. Broadly, though, its guidelines emphasize meat and protein, few carbohydrates (avoid starchy options like potatoes or squash) and a high fiber intake (not via grains but by eating lots of fruits and vegetables). On the paleo’s no-no list: dairy products, grains (wheat, rye, barley), legumes (beans, lentils), processed foods, refined sugars, junk food, sugary drinks and all those treats the cavemen couldn’t find at the local
bodega. Why paleo? It is based on the belief that our metabolism has not evolved fast enough to digest the modern Western diet and that our inability to properly digest what we feed ourselves leads to the rise of diet-related illnesses (heart disease, diabetes, obesity). Paleo adherents claim the régime leads to healthier and longer lives. The debate incorporates discussions over what exactly was on the paleo plate, the health impact of
eating animals is simply repugnant. For some others, though, it can also be a political statement about the inhumane treatment of animals in most meat processing facilities. The increase in the availability of humanely and sustainably raised meat is a great trend, but still represents a very small — and expensive — fraction of what you find at the meat counter. For all that, there are also “flexitarians” who selectively, and on occasion, add a meat or fish meal
these food choices and the evolution of our digestive systems. A paleo diet has attractive characteristics, especially the avoidance of overly processed food. Then there are vegan diets. Vegans are like vegetarians, avoiding meat, fish or poultry but they also completely shun animal-derived products like eggs, dairy or honey. The rationale behind choosing a vegan diet (and lifestyle) tends to be based on ethical and environmental reasons as well as on health reasons - or feelings of well-being. Speaking with most vegetarians or vegans, it becomes clear that the concept of
to their diets. Exploring gluten-free diets is fascinating and new information is emerging daily. Simply, a gluten-free diet is one without gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye and possibly oats. Fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, beans, legumes, nuts along with specific grains are naturally gluten-free. Processed foods pose a risk since most processing facilities are not gluten-free. Individuals with celiac disease are most at risk from the side effects of eating gluten, but many people find a gluten-free diet improves their sense of well-being in addition to being a weight-loss
régime. Gluten causes inflammation in the small intestines of people with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder. The proliferation of glutenfree products, from pasta to desserts, is in response to the demand for gluten-free options. In the past two years, the sales of gluten-free foods has increased 63%, according to the market research firm Mintel. Other significant diet categories include low-fat, low-sodium, dairyfree and nut-free. These régimes are typically in response to allergies or health concerns, with some adherents among those who want to lose weight. Popular culture or personal and religious choices include Atkins, macrobiotic, kosher, halal, Mediterranean, detox/cleanse régime and countless more. I had lunch this week with a woman who followed three diets, in sequence, over an eight-week period. She started with a vegan cleanse, then eliminated caffeine, alcohol, salt and oil. She followed that with a primarily bean diet, including very lean meat and salmon. Lastly, she embarked on a paleo stretch. As we sat at a table with a third friend, who has nut allergies, the waiter took note of our various and varied requests with great finesse. Our preoccupation, or borderline obsession, with what we allow ourselves to eat, or more significantly, what we won’t put on our plates, is of epic proportions. It reflects knowledge we have gained in the area of allergies and diet-driven diseases. It is a sad reflection on the absurd complexity of our commercial food industry that it buries allergens in common foods and adds sugar or high-fructose corn syrup to too many products. But it is also an opportunity to look in the mirror and wonder how we have become such a diet-obsessed culture. Our relationship with food has become so complicated that there is rarely a meal where a group can sit down and just enjoy what’s on offer without thinking about every ingredient. I used to cringe when my friend asked the waiter for her salad dressing on the side. Now that request, by itself, would be music to my ears.
MARCH 19-25,2015 Our Town 15
Real Estate Sales Neighborhd
Address
Price
Beekman
425 EAST 51 STREET
Carnegie Hill
Bed Bath Agent
Murray Hill
305 EAST 40 STREET
$805,000
2
1
Corcoran
$2,350,000
Murray Hill
16 PARK AVENUE
$555,000
1
1
Town Residential
1349 LEXINGTON AVENUE
$952,500
Murray Hill
201 EAST 37 STREET
$412,500
1
1
Owner
Carnegie Hill
1065 PARK AVENUE
$2,353,000
2
2
Corcoran
Sutton Place
415 EAST 54 STREET
$1,580,000
2
2
Douglas Elliman
Carnegie Hill
1199 PARK AVENUE
$675,000
1
1
Corcoran
Sutton Place
60 SUTTON PLACE SOUTH
$1,495,000
2
2
Halstead Property
Carnegie Hill
50 EAST 89 STREET
$8,250,000
3
3
Sotheby’s
Sutton Place
16 SUTTON PLACE
$2,142,976
3
3
Douglas Elliman
Lenox Hill
21 East 61st Street
$9,574,800
3
3
Extell Development Company
Sutton Place
400 EAST 59 STREET
$1,750,000
3
3
Halstead Property
Lenox Hill
21 East 61st Street
$9,574,800
3
3
Extell Development Company
Sutton Place
45 SUTTON PLACE SOUTH
$4,225,000
3
3
Sotheby’s
Lenox Hill
401 EAST 60 STREET
$2,800,000
3
3
Douglas Elliman
Sutton Place
300 East 59 Street
$999,000
1
2
Keller Williams NYC
Lenox Hill
515 PARK AVENUE
$4,750,000
Sutton Place
60 SUTTON PLACE SOUTH
$950,000
1
1
Halstead Property
Lenox Hill
166 EAST 63 STREET
$955,000
1
1
Halstead Property
Sutton Place
303 East 57 Street
$475,000
1
1
Corcoran
Lenox Hill
520 EAST 72 STREET
$449,000
0
1
Brown Harris Stevens
Sutton Place
411 EAST 57 STREET
$480,000
1
1
Corcoran
Lenox Hill
4 EAST 70 STREET
$4,350,000
Turtle Bay
100 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA
$1,930,000
2
2
Corcoran
Lenox Hill
575 PARK AVENUE
$850,000
2
2
Douglas Elliman
Turtle Bay
145 EAST 48 STREET
$650,000
0
1
Mariapaz Vito Real Estate
Lenox Hill
333 EAST 68 STREET
$1,170,000
2
2
Stribling
Turtle Bay
333 EAST 43 STREET
$327,905
Lenox Hill
301 EAST 69 STREET
$1,395,000
2
2
Corcoran
Turtle Bay
223 EAST 50 STREET
$342,000
1
1
Corcoran
Lenox Hill
333 EAST 69 STREET
$1,375,000
2
2
Sotheby’s
Upper East Side
181 EAST 73 STREET
$1,360,000
2
2
Douglas Elliman
Lenox Hill
188 EAST 64 STREET
$1,180,000
1
1
Peter*Ashe
Upper East Side
176 EAST 77 STREET
$745,000
1
1
Halstead Property
Lenox Hill
333 EAST 68 STREET
$691,750
Upper East Side
515 EAST 72 STREET
$1,650,000
2
2
Douglas Elliman
Lenox Hill
200 EAST 69 STREET
$3,800,000
Upper East Side
171 EAST 84 STREET
$1,300,000
1
2
Douglas Elliman
Lenox Hill
3 EAST 69 STREET
$880,000
1
1
Sotheby’s
Upper East Side
300 EAST 77 STREET
$1,485,000
2
1
Douglas Elliman
Lenox Hill
139 EAST 63 STREET
$825,000
1
1
Brown Harris Stevens
Upper East Side
425 EAST 78 STREET
$438,600
Lenox Hill
21 East 61st Street
$8,760,200
Upper East Side
120 EAST 79 STREET
$775,000
1
1
Brown Harris Stevens
Lenox Hill
137 EAST 66 STREET
$695,000
1
1
Olshan Realty
Upper East Side
45 EAST 85 STREET
$2,450,000
3
3
Kleier Residential
Lenox Hill
301 EAST 64 STREET
$585,000
1
1
Douglas Elliman
Upper East Side
402 EAST 74 STREET
$850,000
Lenox Hill
530 PARK AVENUE
$5,142,162
Upper East Side
181 EAST 73 STREET
$479,000
1
1
Plaza Real Estate Group
Lenox Hill
530 PARK AVENUE
$1,934,675
Upper East Side
363 EAST 76 STREET
$260,000
Lenox Hill
330 EAST 70 STREET
$465,000
Yorkville
250 EAST 87 STREET
$989,000
2
1
Maxwell Jacobs
Lenox Hill
166 EAST 61 STREET
$275,000
Yorkville
242 EAST 87 STREET
$465,000
1
1
Douglas Elliman
Midtown
465 PARK AVENUE
$427,975
Yorkville
205 EAST 85 STREET
$3,903,000
3
3
Focus Real Estate Group
Midtown East
153 EAST 57 STREET
$359,000
0
1
Douglas Elliman
Yorkville
333 East 91st Street
$2,815,461
3
3
Douglas Elliman
Midtown East
245 EAST 54 STREET
$585,000
1
1
Singer New York Real Estate
Yorkville
301 EAST 87 STREET
$785,000
2
1
Corcoran
Midtown East
240 EAST 55 STREET
$830,000
2
2
Douglas Elliman
Yorkville
300 EAST 93 STREET
$490,000
Midtown East
245 EAST 54 STREET
$365,000
0
1
Next Stop NY
Yorkville
450 EAST 83 STREET
$525,000
Midtown East
212 EAST 57 STREET
$3,600,000
Yorkville
301 EAST 87 STREET
$485,000
1
1
Owner
Midtown East
325 LEXINGTON AVENUE
$1,395,002
Yorkville
75 EAST END AVENUE
$1,265,000
2
2
Brown Harris Stevens
Midtown East
200 EAST 57 STREET
$1,158,000
Yorkville
301 EAST 79 STREET
$809,000
1
1
Douglas Elliman
Midtown East
325 LEXINGTON AVENUE
$1,232,082
1
1
Corcoran
Yorkville
301 EAST 79 STREET
$845,000
1
1
Corcoran
Midtown East
325 LEXINGTON AVENUE
$1,389,911
1
1
Corcoran
Yorkville
201 EAST 79 STREET
$1,700,000
2
2
Halstead Property
Midtown East
240 EAST 55 STREET
$385,000
0
1
Corcoran
Yorkville
520 EAST 81 STREET
$1,750,000
Midtown East
225 EAST 57 STREET
$350,000
0
1
Douglas Elliman
Yorkville
250 EAST 87 STREET
$800,500
2
1
Maxwell Jacobs
Murray Hill
630 1 AVENUE
$800,000
Yorkville
435 EAST 86 STREET
$410,000
1
1
Douglas Elliman
Murray Hill
225 EAST 36 STREET
$365,000
Yorkville
345 EAST 93 STREET
$383,500
1
1
Douglas Elliman
Murray Hill
80 PARK AVENUE
$865,000
Murray Hill
305 EAST 40 STREET
$410,000
1
0
1
1
1
1
Classic Marketing- 530 Park
Douglas Elliman
Corcoran
0
1
Owner
0
1
Corcoran
StreetEasy.com is New York’s most accurate and comprehensive real estate website, providing consumers detailed sales and rental information and the tools to manage that information to make educated decisions. The site has become the reference site for consumers, real estate professionals and the media and has been widely credited with bringing transparency to one of the world’s most important real estate markets.
16 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
IN PRAISE OF THE HAND-WRITTEN LETTER FROM CAMP The benefits of a slowmoving letter in an age of email BY ANNE K. FISHEL
In this era of tweeting and texting, the slow-moving, handwritten, paper letter is an endangered species. Unlike an electronic missive, the letter that arrives in an envelope can be touched, smelled, savored, tucked under a pillow, and filed away for decades. But of all types of letters, perhaps the most precious to both the sender and the recipient is the camp letter. And, I am pleased to observe that the camp letter is alive and well. Most camps still ban the use of the computer and insist that camp-
ers lie on their bunk beds during rest hour and write a letter home — a real letter, on paper, with an envelope and stamp. This ritual may be reason enough to send kids to camp: Where else are they going to learn how to address an envelope, lick a stamp, and wait for days to get a response? The camp letter may be the last hard copy standing, the last form of communication not to be replaced by e-mail or texting. Parents treasure their children’s camp letters, though they may still wish they could call or text to get that immediate access to their kids. Dr. Michael Thompson, in his recent book about camp, Homesick and Happy,
cautions parents against giving in to this impulse. He advises parents to stop sending e-mails, to send only one or two packages per summer (if their camper goes to a multiweek camp and the camp allows), and to take a break from checking the children’s camps’ online photos. Instead, he also advocates letter-writing as the best form of communication, with the following rationale: “You want your children who are campers to think about you when they write a letter twice a week and NOT think about you the rest of the time. They should be thinking about their friends, their counselors, their activities, and the fun they are having.”
17 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015 Still, it can be hard for parents to wait for news from a child, particularly if they are parents who are prone to worry. Again, Dr. Thompson offers this insight: “The time between sending and receiving a letter is a valuable opportunity for both parent and child to think about one another without having to do anything with or for each other.” By the time the letter is received, both reader and writer know that everything in the letter has changed. I may be homesick now, but by the time you receive it, who knows? You have an opportunity to help parents know how to respond to the worry-inducing and the joy-inducing letters. I think that a parent’s letters to a camper can benefit from the following ingredients: •Even in the face of their child’s own homesickness, they shouldn’t tell their child how terribly they miss him/her. •They shouldn’t give their child things to worry about, even if they try to put the news in a humorous light. For example, the fact that the house flooded, causing thousands of dollars in damage, won’t be salvaged by describing how funny it was to wear boots to bed. •Presenting an upbeat report about what’s going on at home
without making anything up is best. If parents have bad news, they’ll want to talk to their child face-to-face or arrange with the camp director to call their child at camp. When our dog died during a son’s first year at camp, we waited to tell him on visiting weekend. This wasn’t great timing either, but at least we could hug him and reminisce together about our beloved dog. •Letters also seem to make us more eager to tell stories and to offer expressions of love: While we are writing, we are in a little bubble with our own thoughts. This is good for the parents and for the camper. •Parents should ask questions that help prompt their child to write back. For example: Tell
Camp y a D e A mplet As Co leepAs S y! Awa
me about a new friend you’ve made? What are you most surprised about? Have you eaten any new foods? Have you learned any new songs? Anne K. Fishel, PhD, is the director of The Family and Couples Therapy Program at Massachuset ts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, where she is also an associate clinical professor of Psychology at the Harvard Medical School. She is the co-founder of The Family Dinner Project and the author of a forthcoming book, Home for Dinner: Mixing Food, Fun, and Conversation for a Happier Family and Healthier Kids Originally published in the 2014 September/October Camping Magazine.
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18 Our Town MARCH 19-25,2015
YOUR 15 MINUTES
NEW YORK’S MR. HOSPITALITY Q&A Working with Leona Helmsley, The Donald, and the case of the missing cake BY ANGELA BARBUTI
Arthur Backal’s name is synonymous with successful events in New York City. He has spent his career in the Manhattan hospitality world and worked in iconic hotels like the The Plaza, The Pierre, The Helmsley Palace and The St. Regis. He used all that experience to eventually create his own businesses, State of the Art and Backal Hospitality Group, which helps clients in planning everything from corporate events to weddings to nonprofit functions. While he was growing his first company, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel was opening in New York, and he was hired as its consulting director of catering, a position he stills holds today. “One night I could have been visible at four or five weddings and parties, making sure everything was alright,” he said. Now, at 53, with a wife and daughter, his priorities have shifted, and he sees the value of a work-life balance. “Just taking my daughter to school today, she asked me, ‘Can you take me to school again soon?’ That makes it all worthwhile.”
kids’ parties- Whitney Houston, Taylor Dayne, and Kenny G playing. They were just getting up there and doing one or two songs as friends. Now, if you had talent like that, you would have to have full production meetings and riders that tell you exactly what they want. Yeah, it’s great working with a celebrity, but to me, if they’re nice, approachable and real, that has a lot more currency.
How much interaction did you have with Leona Helmsley? Back then, when they first opened, it was one of the top hotels, because that’s why Leona Helmsley was in her heyday. I had enough interaction with her. I might have been only 21 years old, was pretty smart to know when to have interaction and when to avoid. [Laughs]
What was it like to work with Donald Trump? Do you watch him on The Celebrity Apprentice? Yes I do, and always tell people, “I was really the first apprentice.” Back then, I was a young, hotshot guy who got to know him. I really interacted with him a lot, and his wife, Ivana. She liked me; she saw that I had style and an appreciation for quality. Those were the early days, when they took over The Plaza. It was exciting. People can say that the Trumps and Helmsley were erratic or tough to work with, but it made me try harder and be better.
What was your first job in the industry?
How old were you when you first started your own business?
I had an opportunity to go with the Regency Hotel, on more of the office side, or the Helmsley Palace, more on the food and beverage side. I worked in all the different areas, the restaurant, lounge, bars. Very early on, I got a banquet/maître d’ job, working with people more than twice my age. I remember in the 80s, I saw Clive Davis. He had- I think it was for one of his
It was right when I had turned 40. I was thinking about it in my 30s, but then got the job at The Pierre. That was the last game-changer job, because it was when I left the St. Regis after eight years running all the food and beverage and catering. The job came open; it was one of the biggest catering jobs in the city and didn’t have much turnover. The guy before
The ballroom at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel
me was there for 20 years. They were heavily recruiting me and I said, “Alright, I’ll give it one more go, finishing my hotel part of my career.” It was a great job, but I wanted more.
Explain Backal Hospitality Group. It’s the parent company, but all embracing hospitality. I manage and develop venues and have ownership interest in different projects. I also have restaurant and technology interests. Our business happens to be more focused on the social market. We tend to do a lot more of that, but we’ve done plenty of corporate events and some not-for-profits, but our core business is the social business, so weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and birthday parties. But we do A to Z, from creating the concepts to finding the venues. Like everything, it’s a changing world. The internet is so interactive now. Clients know so much and are so hungry for knowledge at the moment. I’m all for it and think it’s great, but I’m always looking at how to move my business along. If I was just only doing planning, I think that would be a tougher situation.
I read that at a young age, you already started helping your parents plan parties. It’s very rare to know at an early age and I knew in eleventh grade. I was almost going towards being a chef because I did like to cook. My mother and father entertained a lot, but weren’t in the business. They loved food and exposed me to all these great restaurants over the years. It felt natural. I was good with people. I grew up around a lot of my parents’ friends, so it made it easier to learn how to talk and relate to all different types of people. When I went to college [Michigan State], it wasn’t as big of a profession. Chefs were nothing like they were today. Now the hospitality business has become global.
Tell us a story of a disaster happening at an event and how you fixed it. A whole wedding cake wasn’t ordered. The client never ordered it; we weren’t supposed to order it. There was a cake coming in for the party the next day, so I used that. It could have been a disaster, but it was averted. Things happen all the time, but you hopefully have enough experience to fix it.
How do you balance your family life with your work obligations?
I have been doing this a long time and I’m passionate about it. I know you still have to be present in the world of hospitality no matter what, but there’s a limit. I used to be not just at parties, but out trying every new restaurant. I love it, but if I have those nights where I could really be home and I know it’s not going to be critical, I’m going to be home. For more information on Arthur, visit www. backalgroup.com and www.apella.com
MARCH 19-25,2015 Our Town 19
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MASSAGE BODYWORK by young, handsome, smooth, athletic Asian. InCall/OutCall. Phillip. 212-787-9116
Massage by Melissa (917)620-2787 Outstanding, relaxing body work. Mdtwn East . Private. European Sylvia 212-888-0611 MERCHANDISE FOR SALE
Fresh California Organic Walnuts, home grown, hand picked. Reduces the risk of heart disease. One of the best plant source of protein, Omega 3 and E &B vitamins. $12 a pound shelled, $5 a pound in shell, plus shipping. Perry Creek Walnuts 530-503-9705 perrycreekwalnuts.com perrycreekwalnuts@hotmail.com Pandora Jewelry Unforgettable Moments 412 W Broadway - Soho, NYC 212-226-3414 REAL ESTATE - RENT
OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND. Best selection of affordable rentals. Full/ partial weeks. Call for FREE brochure. Open daily. Holiday Resort Services. 1-800-638-2102. Online reservations: www.holidayoc.com REAL ESTATE - SALE
COOPERSTOWN LAND SALE! 5 acres- $24,900 5 mins to Village. Gorgeous wooded setting, priced at 60% BELOW MARKET! Town rd, utils, ez terms! 888-905-8847 or newyorklandandlakes.com
POLICY NOTICE: We make every effort to avoid mistakes in your classified ads. Check your ad the first week it runs. We will only accept responsibility for the first incorrect insertion. Manhattan Media Classifieds assumes no financial responsibility for errors or omissions. We reserve the right to edit, reject, or re-classify any ad. Contact your sales rep directly for copy changes. All classified ads are pre-paid. REAL ESTATE - SALE
WANTED TO BUY
WANTED TO BUY
UPSTATE NY WATERFRONT! 11 acres- $69,900 Beautiful woods on bass lake 5 miles to Cooperstown! Private setting for camp, cabin or year round home! Terms avail! 888-479-3394 NewYorkLandandLakes.com
ANTIQUES WANTED Top Prices Paid. Chinese Objects, Paintings, Jewelry, Silver, Furniture, Etc. Entire Estates Purchased. 800-530-0006.
WE BUY-TOP DOLLAR PAID Fine & Costume Jewelry Gems-Silver-Gold-Jade Antiques-Art-Rugs Call Gregory@718 608 5854 Certified GIA Gemologist
SERVICES OFFERED
Allstate - The Wright Agency Anthony Wright 718 671 8000 Ao65989@allstate.com Auto.home.life.retirement CARMEL Car & Limousine Service To JFK… $52 To Newark… $51 To LaGuardia… $34 1-212-666-6666 Toll Free 1-800-9-Carmel Frank E. Campbell The Funeral Chapel Known for excellence since 1898 - 1076 Madison Ave, at 81st St., 212-288-3500 Hudson Valley Public Relations Optimizing connections. Building reputations. 24 Merrit Ave Millbrook, NY 12545, (845) 702-6226 Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers NYC’s Coolest Place to Skate! ChelseaPiers.com/sr 212-336-6100 John Krtil Funeral Home; Yorkville Funeral Service, INC. Independently Owned Since 1885. WE SERVE ALL FAITHS AND COMMUNITIES 212-744-3084 Marble Collegiate Church Dr. Michael B. Brown, Senior Minister, 1 West 29th St. NYC, NY 10001, (212) 689-2770. www.MarbleChurch.org Your Homeownership Partner. The State of NY Mortgage Agency offers up to $15,000 down payment assistance. www.sonyma.org. 1-800-382HOME(4663)
CASH for Coins! Buying Gold & Silver. Also Stamps, Paper Money, Comics, Entire Collections, Estates. Travel to your home. Call Marc in NY: 1-800959-3419 PUBLIC NOTICES
&HUWL¿HG 'RJ 7UDLQLQJ ,Q <RXU +RPH Vet Recommended Bonded & Insured Excellent References
Alex Himel (H) 516.767.0747 (C) 516.633.3384
Remember to: Recycle and Reuse
PUBLIC NOTICES
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, PURSUANT TO LAW, THAT THE NYC DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS WILL HOLD A PUBLIC HEARING ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 01, 2015 AT 2:00 P.M. AT 66 JOHN STREET, 11TH FLOOR, ON A PETITION FOR THREE STAR ON FIRST, INC. TO CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN, AND OPERATE AN ENCLOSED SIDEWALK CAFE AT 1462 FIRST AVENUE IN THE BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN FOR A TERM OF FOUR YEARS. REQUEST FOR COPIES OF THE REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSED TO: DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, ATTN: FOIL OFFICER, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004
New York City Department of Transportation Notice of Public Hearing The New York City Department of Transportation held a Public Hearing on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at 2:00 P.M., at 55 Water St., 9th Floor Room 945, on the following petition for revocable consent, in the Borough of Manhattan: 516 East 89th Street LLC – to construct, maintain and use a stoop and a walled-in area on the south sidewalk of East 89th St., east of York Ave. Interested parties can obtain copies of proposed agreement or request signlanguage interpreters (with at least seven days prior notice) at 55 Water St., 9th Fl. SW New York, NY 10041, or by calling (212) 839-6550.
SOHO LT MFG
462 Broadway MFG No Retail/Food +/- 9,000 sf Ground Floor - $90 psf +/- 16,000 sf Cellar - $75 psf Call Mark @ Meringoff Properties 646.262.3900
Directory of Business & Services DOG TRAINING
I Buy Old Tribal Art Free Appraisal 917-628-0031 Daniel@jacarandatribal.com
To advertise in this directory Call Susan (212)-868-0190 ext.417 Classified2@strausnews.com
Antique, Flea & Farmers Market SINCE 1979
East 67th Street Market
(between First & York Avenues) Open EVERY Saturday 6am-5pm Rain or Shine Indoor & Outdoor FREE Admission Questions? Bob 718.897.5992 Proceeds Benefit PS 183
ANTIQUES WANTED
TOP PRICES PAID
Chinese Objects Paintings, Jewelry Silver, Furniture, Etc. Entire Estates Purchased
800.530.0006
20 Our Townâ&#x20AC;&#x201A;MARCH 19-25,2015
COME HOME TO GLENWOOD
MANHATTANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FINEST LUXURY RENTALS
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GLENWOODNYC.COM
Builder | Owner | Manager
Equal Housing Opportunity.