The local paper for the Upper er East Side REPORTING FROM VIETNAM, IN FICTION < Q&A, P.21
WEEK OF JUNE
18-24 2015
BIKE CRASH INFLAMES UPPER EAST SIDE NEWS Woman, 67, in serious condition following collision with a cyclist on First Avenue BY MICKEY KRAMER
Mary Grace Belfi is in serious condition following the crash on June 9.
She was planning for a nice lunch with her daughter. Lilly. But on the afternoon of June 9, Mary Grace Belfi, 67, stepped into the First Avenue bike lane at 86th street, in order to get to her parked car, and was struck down by a bicyclist, who fled the scene. The accident, and the ongoing hunt for the cyclist, inflamed a neighborhood that has long been wary of bikes
and bike lanes. Citibike’s expansion has met more resistance on the Upper East Side than any other part of New York, and neighbors in the area frequently swap stories about nearmisses with cyclists. Paul Steely White, the executive director of cycling advocacy organization Transportation Alternatives, offered no defense of the runaway cyclist, calling it “a brutal act,” adding, “that this coward must be brought to justice.” Katie Belfi, 30, another of Mary Grace’s daughters, describes her mother’s current condition as “serious and uncertain” as she’s still getting neurological tests due to the
brain injury. Mary Grace suffered extensive bleeding on the brain, and a broken nose and collarbone. Katie Belfi said she cannot understand “protected” bike lanes that seem to make cyclists safer, but not pedestrians and “not a design that forces people that are parked to cross another lane of (bicycle) traffic without a crosswalk.” Michele Birnbaum lives on E. 86th Street. While calling the accident “a horrible thing,” she added that she’s not surprised and is angry that the city streets were “turned upside down for such a small percentage
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
45 Years and Counting
SCENT AND THE CITY BY CODY GERARD
Every week for the rest of the year, Our Town will celebrate our 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 As you approach the corner of 65th Street and Second Avenue, the distinctive scent of flowers overrides some of the city’s more typical odors. Attribute this phenomenon to Fellan Florists, an Upper East Side flower shop in the fragrant business since 1927. It’s run by John Laskaris, whose father, Antonio Laskaris, bought it from the founder in 1950. The store has sprouted in different
Fabulous upcoming New York State events and must-sees at ILoveNY.com/summer15 and inside!
locations since, but has long ties to the Upper East Side, Laskaris said recently. “The original location being on 71st and Lexington,” he said. “We moved from 71st and Lex, to 72nd and Third,” he said. “It was a huge corner store and Third Avenue was not the avenue it is today.” The store has moved several times since, mostly because of increasing rents. For a dozen years, the flower shop anchored at 61st and Third Avenue. It then moved, a decade ago, to its current location. “We should be here for at least another five,” Laskaris said. He credits Fellan’s longevity to “a lot of hard work and determination.” And also to the flowers. “We pride ourselves on our quality of service and quality or product,” he said. The biggest boon for Fellan was
Photo Credit: Gilles Aliard
Fellan Florists has been bunching bouquets since the Roaring ‘20s
Illustration by John S. Winkleman when the elevated subway that used to run over Third Avenue was taken down. “We saw people coming in and the neighborhood grew.” Despite its longtime, and however peripatetic, presence in the neighborhood, Fellan’s long-term future
is uncertain. “That’s an unknown,” Laskaris said. “Possibly my wife will continue, children no, they have other interests.”
Our Take OUR WEEK IN ALBANY One of the joys of living in New York City is our ability to keep our distance from Albany. But this week, the dysfunction, the scandal, the ineptitude of our state’s capital hit home, in the failure of legislators to pass a new rent control law. The existing rent law, which helps 2 million people in the city stay in their reasonably priced homes, expired this week, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo was unable to get his rag-tag crew of lawmakers in line. The failure in Albany gave Mayor Bill de Blasio a rare chance to revel in the turmoil in the governor’s office, continuing the petty playground rivalry between our two top elected leaders. “This is really Albany at its worst,” de Blasio told radio station WCBS 880. That is saying something. The capital, and its leader, have found themselves torn between two powerful forces in the rent debate: the real estate lobby, on the one hand, and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, on the other. The usual instinct to cave to the former is being blocked by fear of the latter. The result is a legislature in deepfreeze. It’s easy to compare Albany to the logjam in Washington, D.C. At least we have an election next year to shake things up in D.C. In New York, we’re stuck with what we’ve got. Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday June 19 – 8:12 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com.
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WHAT’S MAKING NEWS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD FAST-FOOD WORKERS RALLY FOR $15 MINIMUM WAGE Hundreds of fast-food workers gathered at a church to push the statewide “Fight for $15,” before entering into Governor Andrew Cuomo’s wage board meeting at New York University’s Kimmel Center earlier this week. The Service Employees International Union said $15 an hour could help fast food workers pay for basic living expenses. The International Franchise Association said in a press release that Cuomo’s proposed wage hike is should apply to all New York businesses, not just fast-food chains. The state’s minimum wage is currently $8.75 and is expected to increase to $9 by the end of the year. But some business owners are concerned that an increase at all would raise restaurant prices and result in fewer hours for workers. However, labor groups argue that less employee turnover would decrease costs and increase effort given by workers with increased pay. City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Manhattan would reap a $1.6 billion annual increase benefitting 237,100 workers from the gradual increase to $15 per-hour by 2019.
the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents landlords, as saying. Mayor Bill de Blasio cautioned that some landlords could use the impasse to hassle tenants, including by threatening eviction. The city’s public advocate, Letitia James, said her office would provide legal help for tenants “facing harassment, unfair rent increases, or unlawful eviction attempts.” She launched a hotline — (212) 669-7250 — for tenants to call and get help, which they could also do by sending an email to gethelp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov
Supporters of an increase in the minimum wage rallied near Columbus Circle on April 15. Photo: The All-Nite Images, via Flickr
EXPIRATION OF RENT LAWS NO CAUSE FOR PANIC: OFFICIALS Although rent regulations expired earlier this week without any resolution to the impasse among lawmakers, officials and others said renters have little to fear — New York and its millions of renters have been in a similar predicament before, with little fallout. “The real story is, don’t panic,” The New York Times quoted a former executive di-
rector of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board, Tim Collins, as saying. State lawmakers were not able to hammer an agreement by the time the regulations expired Monday, but advocates and others said that when they do agree on legislation, those laws would be retroactive to June 15, The Times reported. Until that’s done, existing leases – and rent amount – stay in effect. “If the laws do lapse at midnight, landlords should continue to operate as if the rent laws in every aspect remain in full force and effect and that includes sending out renewal lease notices,” the paper quoted Mitch Posilkin, general counsel for
APPLE’S UPPER EAST SIDE RETAIL STORE IS BUILT OVER A 1920S REINFORCED BANK VAULT The almost 100-year old building located on 940 Madison Avenue is now Apple’s Upper East Side retail store. It used to be the home of the U.S. Mortgage & Trust Bank, but when Apple took over it, it aimed to restore and return the building to its 1920’s roots. There used to also be a bank vault below the surface of the store that Apple has converted into a special VIP room for private meetings with business customers. The company’s head of retail, Angela Ahrendts, said maintaining the original
look of the place while modifying it to look different from typical Apple Store designs is similar to how iPhone users personalize their own devices. “It’s no different than every customer downloads different apps and customizes their phones differently,” she said.
DOWN FROM 980 POUNDS, WITH NEW BATTLES TO WAGE Paul Mason, who has been known as the world’s fattest man, lost 650 pounds. Although that seems like a lot, he needed 50 more to stop feeling like a cripple. Four plastic surgeons at Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side performed a nine-and-a-half hour operation on him last month and removed those extra 50 pounds at no charge, The New York Times reported. His life completely changed after that, but he still faces some struggles. He says he can now go out to the movies with his girlfriend for the first time in 30 years, but he can’t fully provide for her, the paper reported. Mason is struggling monetarily and said he wouldn’t mind stacking shelves if that meant getting him a job. What he once thought was the only impediment in his life turned out to be just one of many.
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG
WIDOW OF CBS CORRESPONDENT SUES DRIVER IN FATAL CRASH The widow of “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon has sued the driver of a town car that crashed and killed her husband. The New York Post says Francoise Anne-Marie Simon filed the lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court. It names the driver, Reshad Abdul Fedahi, the limousine company, Skyline Credit Ride, and its contractor, Travez Transporation. The suit says Bob Simon “suffered conscious pain” before dying of his injuries. The 73-year-old was killed Feb. 11 when the limo crashed on Manhattan’s West Side Highway. It says the death could have been avoided if Fedahi’s employers had not rehired him. Fedahi had two speeding convictions and nine license revocations. The Post says Fedahi and Skyline didn’t return messages seeking comment. Travez declined to comment. The suit seeks punitive damages.
TAXI ROBBERY, ASSAULT
MOTORCYCLE ROBBERY
Three men were arrested on assault, robbery and other charges after they beat a taxi driver and tried to take a bag from inside his cab on East 86th Street on June 16, police said. The men, identified by police only as being aged 18 to 23, were also charged in a similar robbery and assault of a cab driver in midtown earlier in the day. According to police, the incident uptown began when the men approached a parked cab on 86th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues and broke the taxi’s side-view mirror. One of the men then reached into an open window and grabbed a duffel bag from inside the car. The driver, 42, got out of his cab to try and retrieve his bag but was beaten. The three men then ran into a nearby subway station. Officers saw the men jump the turnstile and apprehended the three. They were each charged with six criminal counts, including felony robbery, robbery to cause physical injury and assault. The driver suffered cuts to his face, legs and torso, police said.
A series of motorcycle thefts on the Upper East Side has left a man without his 2015 Yamaha motorcycle, police said. The man told officers he had parked his bike on East 60th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues on the night of June 11 and found it gone about six hours later. Officers from the 19th Precinct said it was one in a string of motorcycle robberies in recent weeks. The Crime Prevention Office has sent out advisories to all 1,200 registered motorcycle owners in the precinct to alert them of the increased risk of theft.
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 19th Precinct for June 1 to June 7 Week to Date
Year to Date
2015
2014
% Change
2015
2014
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
1
0
n/a
Rape
2
0
n/a
3
4
-25
Robbery
2
0
n/a
45
36
25
Felony Assault
0
3
-100
49
44
11.4
Burglary
3
1
200
56
84
-33.3
Grand Larceny
24
25
-4
522
552
-5.4
Grand Larceny Auto
2
2
0
26
24
8.3
MAN PICKPOCKETED ON BUS A 74-year-old man was pickpocketed on an eastbound cross-town bus on East 96th Street on May 28 at about 9:30 a.m. The man’s wallet contained no cash, but the thief allegedly used the man’s credit card to make fraudulent charges. Police are investigating for grand larceny. Jason Kuffer, via Flickr
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Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 19th Precinct
153 E. 67th St.
212-452-0600
159 E. 85th St.
311
FIRE FDNY 22 Ladder Co 13 FDNY Engine 39/Ladder 16
157 E. 67th St.
311
FDNY Engine 53/Ladder 43
1836 Third Ave.
311
FDNY Engine 44
221 E. 75th St.
311
IN A BOOM MARKET, ‘TENANT RELOCATORS’ PUT ON THE SQUEEZE NEWS
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
JUNE 18-24,2015
NY-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell
525 E. 68th St.
212-746-5454
Mount Sinai
E. 99th St. & Madison Ave.
212-241-6500
NYU Langone
550 First Ave.
212-263-7300
CON EDISON
4 Irving Place
212-460-4600
POST OFFICES US Post Office
1283 First Ave.
212-517-8361
US Post Office
1617 Third Ave.
212-369-2747
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Pressuring people to move, sometimes with strong-arm tactics BY JENNIFER PELTZ
They’re accused of showing up unexpectedly, calling again and again, following their targets to work and even approaching their relatives. They aren’t bill collectors or bounty hunters but a curious feature of New York’s superheated housing market: “tenant relocation specialists” hired to help landlords buy residents out of rent-stabilized apartments that could become much more valuable if they leave. “They’re slimy. ... They feel like if they do enough to scare you, you’ll just give up,” said Shawn Dahl, among the tenants whose complaints about stalker-like tactics have prompted officials to consider tighter controls. While some relocation specialists say they respectfully broker good deals for tenants, they’ve come under scrutiny in New York, where skyrocketing rents have created an increasingly potent incentive to induce rent-stabilized tenants to leave. Landlords often can get a vacant apartment deregulated, renovate and get triple the rent or more. There’s no one typical scenario, but in one Manhattan building, a rent-stabilized two-bedroom can rent for about $1,100 while market-rate ones started at $4,800. Citywide, 266,000 apartments have been deregulated since 1994. “Tenant relocators are on the forefront of creating some of the serious problems we have with keeping affordable housing,” said Brandon Kielbasa of the Cooper Square Organizing Committee, a tenant advocacy group. New York City doesn’t have statistics on complaints about tenant relocators. But CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities says it has worked with 40 to 50 households approached by relocators in the last year. City lawmakers heard a litany of unsettling stories at a hearing this spring: A resident getting multiple calls per week with a $16,000 buyout offer and threats of suits or jail if he refused, followed by relocation specialists going to his adult children’s homes to urge them to press him. A mother refusing repeated buyout offers, then finding a landlord’s agent chatting up her teenage daughter on the subject. A relocator approaching one man more than 10 times this year. Dahl said former police officer Anthony Falconite made a series of intimidating moves: blocking a doorway when she tried to shut him out, needlessly waiting by her parked car on the street and helping the landlord approach her estranged girlfriend, unsuccessfully, about taking mon-
Councilmember Dan Garodnick, who is behind legislation to crack down on the relocators
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
ey to give up their rent-stabilized apartment in Manhattan’s East Village. Still, the unwanted buyout suggestions persisted, including one that came right after renovations upstairs caused a hole in her ceiling and a sewage backup in her kitchen sink. “You start thinking, `Am I going crazy?’ I just want to be left alone,” said Dahl, who has sued Falconite and her landlord. They have denied her claims in court papers. Falconite and landlord 9300 Realty Inc. say he works in buildings as a private investigator. The decorated police and fire department veteran’s activities “have been consistent at all times with the requirements of the law,” his lawyer, Ed Spiro, said. The landlord said in a statement it wants “to keep our tenants as long as possible” in buildings it invests in upgrading, and Falconite’s role has been to verify tenant identities in buildings with histories of illegal subletting and squatting. But New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman told Falconite in a letter that it believed he was working to relocate tenants by berating and browbeating them. Separately, Schneiderman made similar allegations about relocator Michel Pimienta, who agreed in October to pay a $40,000 fine and avoid relocation work for a year. City lawmakers are proposing to prohibit buyout offers if tenants say they’re uninterested, require telling residents they can
decline and make relocators pass exams to get special new licenses. Current law can require them to have real estate licenses. “People’s homes are their sanctuaries,” and the city needs to stop them from being hounded there, says Councilman Daniel Garodnick, the licensing proposal’s sponsor. Landlords say accounts of some strongarming shouldn’t tarnish everyone who works out what can be welcome, profitable deals for tenants -- sometimes with six or even seven-figure cash payouts, nicer apartments or both. “Not every offer for a buyout is necessarily a negative or rooted in harassment,” said Angela Sung Pinksy, a vice president of the Real Estate Board of New York, a landlords’ group. Some tenants even call owners unbidden to ask about cashing out, says landlord lawyer Niles Welikson. Upper West Side real estate broker Jan Reynolds says her relocation work starts with taking tenants to lunch and sometimes ends with them getting snazzy new digs -- landlords may even buy a place and give the tenants low rent for life -- and sixfigure settlements. To tenants, she says: “This might be an opportunity, if you have a dream that money can move forward.” And to landlords, she says: “You have to make it really worth their while” and be patient. “You can’t get people to leave by bullying them.”
JUNE 18-24,2015
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Photo Credit: Jef f Anzevino
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JUNE 18-24,2015
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A TRAGIC TRAFFIC PATTERN NEWS Pedestrian safety laws named after children are high profile, but frequently low-impact
Commission records obtained by this newspaper. A look at other pedestrian safety laws named after children in the wake of tragedy reveals a similarly troubling trend of spotty enforcement.
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Hayley and Diegoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law In 2009 an unattended delivery van left in reverse backed onto a sidewalk in Chinatown and killed Hayley Ng, age 4, and Diego Martinez, age 3. A year later, legislation was passed in their name that gave law enforcement an intermediate option between issuing low-level moving violations and serious criminal charges in accidents that cause injury or death to pedestrians or cyclists. But according to Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy organization, the law went almost entirely unenforced one year after it was put in place. The group reported in 2011 that summonses issued under the law remained more or less ďŹ&#x201A;at before and after Hayley and Diegoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law was passed, meaning law enforcement wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t taking advantage of the middle ground that the law afforded them. Wendy Cheung, Hayley Ngâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aunt, told TA the family worked hard to pass the law, and hopes police, â&#x20AC;&#x153;will use all the tools at their disposal to bring justice
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Elle Vandenberghe with her mother, Heather
It has become a ritual in New York City when a child is killed or injured in a horrific traffic tragedy: The city and the family unite in grief. Neighbors and community groups express their outrage. Legislators introduce a law intended to make sure nothing like it ever happens again. And all too often, nothing more ever happens. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is a precedent in this city for laws named after children that get dropped, basically,â&#x20AC;? said Dana Lerner, whose 9-year-old son, Cooper, was killed on the Upper West Side last January. â&#x20AC;?None of these laws has ever really been enforced.â&#x20AC;? In the aftermath of her sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death, Lerner worked to pass Cooperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law, which targets cabbies who are charged with breaking traffic laws and critically injuring or killing another person. Despite the high proďŹ le of the case, only two drivers have been suspended under the law, and none have so far had their licenses revoked, according to Taxi and Limousine
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to our streets and protect others from the pain of losing a loved one to traffic violence.â&#x20AC;? That sentiment, offered three-and-a-half years ago, echoed a similar statement by Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, who after learning that Cooperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law had only been applied twice in nine months, told this newspaper she wishes law enforcement would issue more violations and arrests at the scene of serious accidents involving TLC-licensees so Cooperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law would have more impact. In general, NYPD officers responding to the scene of an accident only issue tickets if they personally witnessed the unlawful conduct that led to it. In cases where a person is critically injured, is dead or is likely to die, the NYPDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Collision Investigation Squad conducts an investigation and can issue arrests. After the lax enforcement of Hayley and Diegoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law was revealed, sponsors State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh tried to pass a bill giving officers explicit permission to issue arrests and violations to drivers in accidents, even if they hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t witnessed what happened. The bill passed the State Senate in 2012 but failed in the Assembly where it eventually languished in committee. Both lawmakers are continuing to push for its full passage.
Elleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law In September 2009 a driver who spied a prime parking spot on the Upper East Side reversed up a one-way street and struck Elle Vandenberghe, fracturing her skull. The injury led to a stroke in the emergency room, which damaged her brain and led to a months-long stay in the intensive care unit and 11 surgeries. Against uncertain odds, Elle has since partially recovered and retained the use of her brain and regularly works with a therapist to improve her condition. Like many parents who find themselves in this situation, Elleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother, Heather Vandenberghe, was incensed that the driver who hit her daughter walked away with merely a traffic ticket. With the help of then-Assemblyman Micah Kellner, she worked to pass a law in her daughterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name that
says drivers who break traffic laws, and as a result seriously injure or kill pedestrians, can lose their license for six months or, upon a second offense, one year. Vandenberghe contends Elleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law has never been applied. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unfortunately Elleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law has not been enforced at all since it was passed unanimously by both houses of the New York legislature and signed by the governor in 2010,â&#x20AC;? said Vandenberghe in a recent interview. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In New York City this is speciďŹ cally due to NYPD policy that an officer has to actually witness a reckless driver hitting a pedestrian in order to charge the driver under Elleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law. This was never part of the law, it has arbitrarily become department policy under leadership of the NYPD.â&#x20AC;? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exactly that weakness that State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblyman Kavanagh tried and failed to fix in 2012 with Hayley and Diegoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hayley and Diegoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law is a really important tool to crack down on careless driving, and we believe thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a number of ways to make sure itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fully enforced,â&#x20AC;? said Squadron in a recent interview, noting that he and Kavanagh are still pushing for the bill that would increase officer discretion at the scene of serious accidents. However, said Squadron, â&#x20AC;&#x153;with or without passage of this law we believe Hayley and Diegoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law is an important tool that should be used. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not being used in all the cases we believe it should be used. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still pursuing this legislation.â&#x20AC;? Kavanagh could not be reached for comment on this story. Elle Vandenberghe has a traumatic brain injury as a result of the collision, which causes daily seizures and learning challenges, according to her mother. She also walks with a limp and cannot use her right hand, and is deaf in one ear. Despite this, Vandenberghe takes comfort in the fact her daughter is alive. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Elle has proven to be a miracle, simply by being alive,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every day I look at her and am reminded that she is the bravest, most amazing child I know.â&#x20AC;? And yet, as in the case of Dana Lerner, lax enforcement of Elleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law is disheartening to
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JUNE 18-24,2015
THE 12 WEEKS OF SUMMER New Deals Every Week, All Summer Long. Earlier this month, the street where Cooper Stock died was renamed in his honor. Dana Lerner is on the right, holding the sign with Councilmember Helen Rosenthal Vandenberghe. “The intention behind the law was to remind drivers that their actions have consequences, and to pay closer attention and be mindful of pedestrians or face actual consequences,” said Vandenberghe. “Because the law is not being enforced, it’s as if it doesn’t exist.” For Transportation Alternatives Deputy Director Caroline Samponaro, the issue of enforcing pedestrian safety laws, especially those named after children, is dependent on a culture shift within law enforcement that is at present mostly
dependent on the driver’s narrative of what happened in a serious accident. “When it comes to bad decision making behind the wheel, we do not hold drivers accountable,” said Samponaro, who noted that with victims and families she’s spoken to, and in reviewing police accident reports, the driver’s perspective is usually given the most weight. “I think it’s the drivers perspective that’s written into the traffic reports and it’s ‘oops, that was an accident and were going to move on.’ You’re lucky if you have a witness.”
have
Do
But despite the meager returns, Samponaro said she is seeing some progress. “One the one hand you can say there’s been an improvement in enforcement,” said Samponaro. “But it’s inadequate. Progress has been made, but it’s a question of scalability.” Samponaro said the idea is to enforce these laws to such a degree that drivers are aware that reckless driving can have serious consequences, thereby changing behavior. “The way to change behavior is to have predictive and consistent enforcement,” she said.
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Voices
Write to us: To share your thoughts and comments go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a letter to the editor.
Editorial
BETRAYING COOPER STOCK The tragedy never seems to end for the family of Cooper Stock. The 9-year-old boy was struck and killed by a taxi while crossing W. 97th Street in Jaunary 2014. Since his death, his parents, Dana Lerner and Richard Stock, have worked tirelessly – and, given the circumstances, heroically – to squeeze some meaning out of his death. His mother, in particular, has campaigned to highlight the dangers faced by pedestrians in the city, especially from taxi drivers. Her efforts culminated last fall in the passage of Cooper’s Law, which was supposed to make it easier to take the licenses away from taxi drivers who kill people. To Dana Lerner’s dismay, Cooper’s Law now looks to have been more about PR than substantive reform. An investigation by
this newspaper’s Daniel Fitzsimmons, published last week, showed that in the nine months since the passage of Cooper’s Law, only two taxi drivers have had their licenses suspended, a truly dismal showing. The vast majority of drivers involved in fatal or critical accidents wriggle free based on gaps in the law – usually because NYPD officers at the scene didn’t issue a violation at the time of the accident (a step needed for Cooper’s Law to take effect). Other drivers have gone free because their victims, while maimed or brutally injured, weren’t categorized as being in “critical” condition. West Side Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, who shepherded the legislation through the New York City Council, needs to move immediately to close the gaps in the law. She told us last week she was considering tweaks to the legislation; instead, the changes need to be substantive, and they need to happen now. Until they do, Cooper’s Law will remain essentially a soundbite, yet another piece of legislation passed in the wake of tragedy that actually changes very little. And the family of the little boy at the heart of this, who so badly want to make sure that no other family has to endure what they have endured, will be betrayed.
A JURY OF MY (DISTRACTED) PEERS OP-ED BY FREDRICKA R. MAISTER
To say that I am not a huge fan of jury duty is an understatement. However, based on past stints of being summoned downtown, I have found jury duty has its redeemable qualities: the proximity of the courts to Chinatown and the possibility of crossing unexpected paths and bonding with interesting New Yorkers. During the requisite long periods of tedious waiting between calls to the courtroom, I could always strike up a conversation with a prospective juror on any number of subjects, form an instant friendship and share a lunch at a local Chinatown restaurant. I once met a woman who lived in my uptown apartment complex; we had lunch and have been friendly ever since. If I looked around the jury room, I could observe and hear other similar connections being made between former strangers. Sadly, that human interaction I remember so fondly had
all but disappeared when I was recently called again for jury duty. To my utter amazement, the jury waiting room had morphed into a library, quiet, serious, with everyone’s gaze directed downward, fixed on their smartphones or tablets. Not wanting to intrude on another’s privacy, I, unlike my usual “Chatty Cathy” self, never spoke to anyone. Nor did anyone say a word to me. I was glad I brought my iPad along to play Jumbline 2, the word game to which I am helplessly and hopelessly addicted. To be sure, about seven years ago, the time of my last jury service, I did notice some in the jury pool sitting in front of courtprovided desktop computers or their own laptops, but they were in the vast minority. Everyone else, myself included, waited to go home to check e-mail or surf the Internet. Not so this last time around. With the exception of three women with no visible electronic devices, who were heard chatting in Spanish, we were all immersed in our own virtual
cocoons. I could not help but be struck by how invasive and entrenched the global technological revolution had become in our lives. Even though I was an active participant in this new reality, the isolation and lack of human connection I experienced among such a large group of my fellow New Yorkers felt disappointing and disturbing. Since I had not cultivated any “new friends,” I took off for Chinatown alone. Not being in the mood to lunch by myself in a restaurant and feeling hungrier for human contact than for food, I opted to take out a sweet bun with red beans, an almond cookie and a coffee to savor in Columbus Park, where I knew I would find a bustling social scene with hordes of elderly Chinese locals. Besides, the early spring weather after a particularly brutal winter was glorious, warm and sunny. Busy, full of life with no cell phone in sight (I looked around!), Columbus Park did not disappoint. It seemed as if the senior population, closeted for the winter, had been let loose,
free at last to congregate, laugh, gossip and enjoy each other’s company. Clusters of elders played Chinese chess, checkers, mahjong and card games or practiced Tai Chi. A Chinese performer sang traditional Chinese music backed up by musicians playing classical Chinese instruments. I was lucky to find a corner spot at a concrete picnic table next to a group of four animated ladies who were gambling with cards. Since I didn’t speak Chinese and their English, I surmised, was limited or non-existent, we exchanged smiles a lot. I felt very welcomed as if I belonged just by being there. I closed my eyes, pretending that I was in China. I wish I could have stayed in the park all afternoon basking in the human warmth, but that story would have to wait. Jury duty was calling and I had to get back to my iPad. Fredricka R. Maister is a longtime Manhattanite and freelance writer.
OUR TOWN WINS AGAIN! Our Town was honored by CUNY’s Center for Commuity and Ethnic Media in an awards presentation on June 11. The awards, known as the IPPIES, single out independent media outlets for excellence. Our Town received third place for best print product in its circulation category.
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atherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day is Sunday, June 21, and as always I say, it must not be one day of remembering in a year of, well, sort of forgetting. Indeed political wannabees should be stressing the father need in general, and fathersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs. A most profound regret of my life is not â&#x20AC;&#x153;being thereâ&#x20AC;? enough for my widowed, much older dad, whom I loved very much. Ah, but not in ways that made a difference to our everyday lives. And nobody intervened to say what Daddy would, unfortunately never say, that he really needed more involvement with his only child and his grandchildren who lived a thousand miles away. Ah, intervention is so tragically underused, even in substance abuse cases where this so-needed involvement originated and was so thankfully mainstreamed by former First Lady Betty Ford. I had so hoped former First Lady Hillary Clinton, now presidential candidate, would say in her campaign kick-off address in our own Roosevelt Island, how she made sure both her father and mother remained an integral part of her married family life. And I hoped the importance of grandparents and other kindred to the health of the nuclear family would have been stressed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for the health of all generations not only the youngest â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not to mention society. Siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins are also important, and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget in-laws. My widowed dad and his seven-year-old motherless child were warmly welcomed into the large extended family of his brotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife. It made all the difference to our lives - and to my life to this day. Although strengthening the extended family is no doubt a concern, Clintonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus is on how her mother overcame an extremely disadvantaged, neglected and untypical childhood, one which reportedly inspired her
only child to become a political activist. And especially it seems for the welfare of children. But this somehow overlooks the big picture and getting back to longtime dads, ignoring the myriad problems of elder people and especially the fastest growing 85-plus age group, thankfully, now explored in the N.Y.Times Metropolitan Section piece, â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Oldest Oldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;: A Group Portrait.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Even though the photo of an elder man kissing the hand of an elder woman in a nursing home setting is rather atypical of elder needs and experiences, this ďŹ rst of a seriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rightly realizes that â&#x20AC;&#x153;this group is almost invisible.â&#x20AC;? And related to one invisibility cause were 90-year-old Ping Wangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rueful remarks that people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to hear about your aches and pains so you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell them, and you must heal yourself, because nobody else will. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not ďŹ t to printâ&#x20AC;? was my letter that these stories must be told so that elders and the myriad problems that often inexorably come with age will be better understood (so important) and of course, acted upon, and above all, so that the old/old group are as visible as other age groups. And to those who say they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to hear these sad stories, but rather stories of those who are â&#x20AC;&#x153;making it,â&#x20AC;? I say both are needed, but especially those who are not â&#x20AC;&#x153;making it,â&#x20AC;? and that all elder lives are diminished by western societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aversion to getting older and old and by its generational aparthied system. I hope you too will phone the Metropolitan Section (212-556-1234) to thank them for the ground-breaking piece and share your concerns, including mine that ageism and age apartheid, especially, but not only in family networks, must be challenged and overcome. While there are many more 85-plus aged women, men are even more reluctant to share their problems, especially personal ones like needing more time with their offspring or, being too much alone. Ah, men in general are reluctant to share personal problems. And this too must change â&#x20AC;&#x201C; big time. Remembering your father and mine with very much love. dewingbetter@aol.com
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ON THE FRONT LINES
Out & About More Events. Add Your Own: Go to ourtownny.com
Military Veterans at The Art Students League of New York
a live reading of Jean Reagan’s “How to Surprise a Dad” and “How to Babysit a Grandpa.” (212) 369-2180 http://store-locator. barnesandnoble.com/ event/4852488
Returning World War II veterans remade the Art Students League and reshaped American art. See paintings by Rauschenberg, Held, Leslie and 20 other prominent
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postwar artists, and the works of 40 contemporary veterans.
June
Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery JUNE 19—JULY 29, 2015
TheArt StudentsLeague of NewYork 215 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 212-247-4510 www.theartstudentsleague.org
June
19 June20
SUMMER READING KICKOFF: THE SUPERHERO IN ALL OF US ▲
THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO IF YOU THINK YOU SMELL A GAS LEAK IS NOTHING. Smell gas. Act fast. Don’t assume someone else will call 911 or 1-800-75-CONED (26633). Leave the area immediately and make the call yourself. You can report a gas-related emergency anonymously, and not even be there when help arrives. For more gas safety information, visit conEd.com and take safety into your own hands.
NEW YORK OPERA FORUM PERFORMS BELLINI’S NORMA
96th Street Library, 112 East 96th St. 1-4 PM, Free A performance of Vincenzo 67th Street Library, 328 East Bellini’s tragic masterpiece, 67th St. “Norma,” as interpreted by the 3:30 PM, Free As part of the NYPL’s Summer New York Opera Forum. (212) 289-0908 Reading Program, children’s http://www.nypl.org/events/ entertainers Presto Pete and programs/2015/06/20/cloneIncredulous Chris put on a superhero- themed magic show, music-new-york-opera-forumperforms-bellinis-maria-stuarda all while teaching the audience important lessons about friendship and life. Open to children of all ages. (212) 734-1717 http://www.nypl.org/events/ programs/2015/06/19/superhero-all-us
EDWARD HENKEL’S MOVEMENTTALKS: DANCE AS EQUALIZER Buttenwieser Center, 1395 Lexington Ave. 8 PM, $15 Dance directors Susan Slotnick and André Noel have made careers out of reaching atrisk youth and prisoners through the power of dance. This Friday, they will appear at to discuss their work, their careers and their influences. (212) 415-5500 http://www.92y.org/Event/ MovementTalks-Dance-asEqualizer
MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK Carl Schurz Park Conservancy, 1483 York Ave. 4-7 PM, Free Kick off the beginning of the summer solstice with the Make Music New York celebration, a free music festival to celebrate the longest day of the year. (212) 459-4455 http://carlschurzparknyc. etapwss.com/index.php/events
BROADWAY AT 92Y ► Kaufmann Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave. 2 PM, Free Founded by Robbie Capp in 1994, the Broadway at 92Y Chorus is the only New York- based community chorus dedicated to covering classic American show tunes. Theater fans will not want to miss this one for their lives. (212) 415-5500 http://www.92y.org/Event/ Broadway-at-92Y-ChorusConcert
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GERARD & KELLY: TIMELINING Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue 5:45-10 PM, Pay What You Wish Barnes & Noble, 150 East Timelining is a multigenre per86th St. formance piece by duo Gerard & 11 AM, Free Kelly, centered around issues of It’s a treat to make your Father’s Day weekend a little bit sex and gender identity. Admissweeter. Take your children up to sion is only granted to those who the 86th St. Barnes & Noble for have purchased a museum pass
FATHER’S DAY STORYTIME ▲
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JUNE 18-24,2015
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Join us for a FREE seminar on planning your funeral arrangements in advance.
“YOUR LIFE YOUR LEGACY” Hosted by:
FRANK E. CAMPBELL THE FUNERAL CHAPEL for the day. (212) 423-3575 http://www.guggenheim. org/new-york/calendar-andevents/2015/06/22/timelining/4860
MET ESCAPES - ARTMAKING WORKSHOP Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave. 2-3:30 PM, Free Individuals suffering from dementia will love the opportunity to attend this multi-sensory activity session. Programs meet in the Uris Center for Education, ground floor. Admission is free, but reservations are required. (212) 650-2010 http://www.metmuseum.org/ events/programs/programsfor-visitors-with-disabilities/ visitors-with-dementia-andtheir-care-partners/met-escapes-art-making
June23 BALLET LET EXERCISE RCISE CLASSES FOR OR ADULTS► 67thh Street Library, 328 East 67th St. 2-3 PM, Free An exercise class for older (50+) adults. Come in for an hour too learn basic ballet steps, improve ve your stamina and unlockk the ballerina within you. No experience necessary. Must register in person. (212) 2) 734-1717 http://www.nypl.org/events/ p://www.nypl.org/events/ programs/2015/06/02/balletms/2015/06/02/balletexercise-class-adults se-class-adults
AN EVENING VENING OF TAVERN TUNES Mount unt Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, den, 421 East 61st St. 6 PM, M, $15 adults, $5 children under 12, babies under 1 free American erican folk band STOUT drops into Mount Vernon for a
medley of traditional American music, ranging from drinking songs to sea shanties to war tributes. (212) 838-6878 http://www.mvhm.org/pages/ events/events.htm
June24 WEDNESDAY NIGHT SKETCH
VIEWPOINTS: CLASSICAL CONNECTIONS Asia Society, 725 Park Ave. 6:30-8 PM, $15 members, $17 students/seniors, $20 nonmembers Wendy Whelan, Parul Shah and Qian Yi lead a series of short dance demonstrations, showcasing their respective genres of choice; American ballet, Indian kathak and Chinese kunqu opera. (212) 288-6400 http://asiasociety.org/ new-york/events/viewpointsclassical-connections-wendywhelan-parul-shah-and-qian-yi
The Frick Collection, 1 East 70th St. 5-7:30 PM, Free Artists of all skill levels; trained experts, hobbyists and beginners alike; are invited to tome down to the Frick for a Wednesday night sketching session. Admission is free, but advance registration is required. COSMIC TRAUMA: AS(212) 288-0700 SYRIA AND EGYPT’S http://www.frick.org/calendar
June25 9/11
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, World 15 East 84th St. 6-7:00 PM, Free 992-7800 (212) 992-7 http://isaw.nyu.edu/events/ http://isaw.n cosmic-trauma cosmic-traum Feinman, founder Peter Feinm and president of o the Institute and of History, Archaeology, Arch leads this presentaEducation, lead tion on ancient Egyptian an and Assyrian theology A and politics. RSVP required. re
GEORGE J. MITCHELL: “THE NEGO NEGOTIATOR” Roosevelt H House, 47-49 East 65th St. 6 PM, Free Former Senator Sena George Mitchell comes to the Roosevelt House to discuss discu his latest book, Negotiator,” a memoir of “The Negotiato career in public serMitchell’s care signing to follow. vice. Book sign (212) 650-3174 650-3 http://www.roosevelthouse. http://www hunter.cuny.edu/events/georgehunter.cuny.ed j-mitchell-the-negotiator/ j-mitchell-the-
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Lola Alvarez Bravo. “Frida Looking Into Mirror With Dogs,” c. 1944. Courtesy of Throckmorton Fine Art.
FRIDA IN THE CITY Distinctive photographs of Frida Kahlo at Throckmorton Fine Art
BY VAL CASTRONOVO
Her image is emblazoned on the sides of buses in ads for a garden and art show at The New York Botanical Garden — which is ironic considering Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) suffered life-altering injuries in a bus accident when she was 18. But a quiet photo show, “Mirror Mirror ... Portraits of Frida Kahlo,” is vying for our attention at Throckmorton Fine Art, a gallery on East 57th Street that specializes in Latin American photography and deals in rare, vintage photographs of Mexico’s iconic artist. On a recent sunny Saturday, the gallery was jam-packed for a talk by psychiatrist and Kahlo scholar Salomon Grimberg. Surrounded by more than 50 photos of the artist taken by some of the 20th century’s most renowned photographers, Grimberg held forth for close to an hour on the woman he repeatedly called “the great concealer.” Kahlo’s spine was shattered after her bus collided with a tram in September 1925 in Mexico City. Her right leg — already thinner and shorter than her left leg from childhood polio — suffered multiple fractures. She concealed her impairment with long flowing skirts, by tucking her right leg under her left leg, a habit formed in early childhood — and through the force of her personality. Grimberg began by comparing Kahlo to the character of the Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera,” because “like the Phantom, she lived with a deformity ... and covered it up.”
But, he continued, “she had a presence regardless of her deformity, and she had talent.” Fans of the popular 2002 biopic “Frida,” starring Salma Hayek as the charismatic painter, will recall her famously reaching out to Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera to verify that talent — an encounter that led to their stormy marriage in 1929 (and to their divorce in 1939 and remarriage the following year). She had abandoned plans to become a doctor after the bus accident and taken up painting to express — and transcend — her physical and emotional torment. Rivera gave her the affirmation she so desperately needed to become an artist. Kahlo first saw herself in photos taken by her father, Guillermo Kahlo, a German immigrant photographer (her mother was Mexican). As Grimberg explained, it was Kahlo’s father who introduced her to photography and to the arts. Comparing her to the mythic Narcissus, Grimberg said Kahlo “spent her life in front of a mirror” and “lived surrounded by (them) — on tables, walls, the canopy of her bed, the front of her wardrobe and in the garden wall.” In mirrors, he said, “she was seeing her sense of self.” The show here features two mirror images by Mexican photographer Lola Alvarez Bravo, one of which depicts Kahlo in the garden of her home outside Mexico City, La Casa Azul (The Blue House), in the company of a pair of hairless dogs. The exhibit acknowledges Kahlo’s cult status while at the same time paying tribute to those who enabled it. It boasts the work of a string of notables, including Imogen Cunningham, Gisèle Freund, Lucienne
JUNE 18-24,2015
IF YOU GO WHAT: “Mirror Mirror ... Portraits of Frida Kahlo” WHERE: Throckmorton Fine Art, 145 East 57th St. (between Lexington and Third Avenues) WHEN: Now through September 12 www.throckmorton-nyc.com Bloch, Carl Van Vechten, Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Nickolas Muray, the Hungarian-born American photographer and dashing Olympic fencer who was Kahlo’s on-again, off-again lover for nearly 10 years. (Muray, divorced three times, wanted to marry Kahlo; Kahlo was married to Rivera, who had
his own issues with fidelity.) Muray took gorgeous color pictures of his Mexican lover, five of which line the walls of the gallery, including the most famous one ever taken of her, “Frida With Magenta Rebozo, The Classic” (1939), which Rivera likened to a Piero della Francesca. (A rebozo is a Mexican shawl-like garment worn over the head or shoulders.) As Grimberg noted in his talk, Kahlo once told Muray that there were “only two men I love — Diego Rivera and you.” She cultivated a masculine look until she met Rivera, thereafter accentuating her feminine side with long hair, long dresses, hair ornaments and dazzling pre-Hispanic jewelry. She visited New York on several occasions, most memorably accompanying Rivera in
1933 when he was commissioned to paint a mural for the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center — a mural that was later destroyed because it included a portrait of Lenin, much to the chagrin of the Rockefellers. In 1946, she traveled to the city for a spinal fusion at the Hospital for Special Surgery. In the end, Grimberg concludes that Kahlo, who died in 1954 at the age of 47 after a lifetime of surgeries, hospitalizations and pain, “was stuck. She didn’t have access to the cosmos. Everything she did was about herself. She was self-absorbed and lived in a dead-end. It was like living in a mirror: How far can you go when you’re looking into a mirror?”
5 TOP
JUNE 18-24,2015
13
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org
FOR THE WEEK
The Reach of the Landmarks Law: A Balancing Act
BY GABRIELLE ALFIERO
THURSDAY, JUNE 18TH, 6:30PM
OUR ARTS EDITOR
NEW YORK CITY
Museum of the City of New York | 1220 Fifth Ave. | 212-534-1672 | mcny.org
DANCE
Look back on a half-century of preservation in New York as a panel discusses the 1965 law’s impact, limitations and future potential. ($16)
ALVIN AILEY AT LINCOLN CENTER
Word for Word: Candace Bushnell with Jay McInerney
The celebrated Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater closes out a two-week run at Lincoln Center. Performances include the world premiere of Rennie Harris’ “Exodus” and other new productions for the company, as well as favorites from the company’s repertoire, including Alvin Ailey’s work “Night Creature and Revelations.” Alvin Ailey at Lincoln Center Through June 21 David H. Koch Theater 20 Lincoln Center Plaza W. 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue Assorted show times Tickets $25-$150 To purchase tickets, visit alvinailey.org or call 212-496-0600
BOOKS CELEBRATE INDIA! POETRY READING
London duo Jungle, who go separately by J and T, built their infectious, percussive singles in a home studio before releasing their label debut in 2014, and Paris-based Cuban twins Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé Diaz of the outfit Ibeyi sing both in English and Yoruban, the language of their Cuban father Anga Diaz, against rhythmic, piano-driven tracks. Jungle, Ibeyi and Sunni Colon Saturday, June 20 Central Park SummerStage Rumsey Playfield Entrance at Fifth Avenue and Terrace Drive 6 p.m.-10 p.m. FREE For more information, visit www. cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage/
As part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition of art from India’s Deccan courts, poet Purvi Shah reads her original works, which often explore journeys and a sense of place, along with poetry from Deccan India that coincides with the exhibit, “Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy.” Celebrate India! Poetry Reading Friday, June 19 Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street 6:30-8 p.m. FREE with museum admission For more information, visit metmuseum.org or call 212-535-7710
KIDS
MUSIC
STORY TIME WITH BERNADETTE PETERS
POP-UP MUSICALS
Stage and screen legend Bernadette Peters reads from her children’s book “Stella and Charlie, Friends Forever,” an illustrated tale about the bond between two shelter dogs. The actress has long been devoted to animal adoption; along with Mary Tyler Moore, she started “Broadway Barks,” an annual pet adoption event and fundraiser. A book signing will follow. Story Time with Bernadette Peters Tuesday, June 23 Barnes and Noble 150 E. 86th St., at Lexington Avenue 11 a.m. FREE For more information, visit barnesandnoble. com or call 212-369-2180
Throughout June 21, the first day of summer, singers and actors pop up at seven different parks in Manhattan, performing songs from iconic musicals, including “Guys and Dolls,” “West Side Story” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” as part of Make Music New York, a citywide music festival that brings free performances to public spaces. Pop-up Musicals Sunday, June 21 Jackson Square Richard Tucker Square Broadway and W. 66th Street 11 a.m. FREE For more information, visit makemusicny.org
JUNGLE, IBEYI AND SUNNI COLON
To be included in the Top 5 go to ourtownny.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24TH, 12:30PM Bryant Park Reading Room | 42nd St. & Fifth Ave. | 212-768-4242 | bryantpark.org Catch a conversation between the authors of Sex and the City and Bright Lights, Big City, who for better or worse helped craft the contemporary New York scene. (Free)
Just Announced | Eye to Eye: Gallery Readings by Michael Cunningham and Kathryn Harrison
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8TH, 6:30PM Guggenheim Museum | 1071 Fifth Ave. | 212-423-3500 | guggenheim.org The literary superstars behind The Hours and The Kiss lead an intimate reading inspired by the narratives of the new exhibition Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim. ($18)
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
14
JUNE 18-24,2015
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS Stargate Diner
1580 3Rd Ave
Grade Pending (21) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Subway
1434 Lexington Avenue
A
Trattoria Pesce Pasta
1562 3 Avenue
Grade Pending (19) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Bm Deli & Grocery
1916 3 Avenue
A
Blimpie
29 East 104 Street
A
El Barrio Juice Bar
308 E 116Th St
Not Yet Graded (34) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/ sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
Delicias Mexicanas
2109 3 Avenue
A
Prime One 16
2257 First Avenue
A
Makana
2245 1St Ave
Not Yet Graded (18) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas.
Brothers Bakery Cafe
2155 2Nd Ave
Grade Pending (20) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas.
Uptown Roasters Cafe
135 E 110Th St
Not Yet Graded (4)
Megasun Restaurant
1773 Lexington Avenue
Grade Pending (9) Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or nonfood areas.
Jfk Fried Chicken And Pizza
1998 2 Avenue
Grade Pending (22) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml. 314 East 70 Street
A
Dallas Bbq
1265 3 Avenue
A
New Beijing Wok
1324 2 Avenue
Grade Pending (20) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred
Trend Diner
1382 2 Avenue
A
Tanoshi Tei
1374 York Ave
Not Yet Graded (20) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
Cafe Mingala
1393B 2Nd Ave
A
Amc Orpheum 7 Theatres
1538 3Rd Ave
A
The New Amity Restaurant 1134 Madison Avenue A 1575 3 Avenue
A-Jiao Sichuan Cuisine
1817 2Nd Ave
Do
Grade Pending (35) Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewageassociated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution. Grade Pending (22) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
something
have
Ooki Sushi
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like
Shabu-Shabu 70 Restaurant
?
into
JUN 5 - 13, 2015
you You’d look
Email us at news@strausnews.com
JUNE 18-24,2015
15
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
Sports
WIN FOR ASPHALT GREEN BASKETBALL The Asphalt Green 16U boys team went 3-1 in the Hooperstown May Madness Tournament in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., en route to the tournament championship. The championship game was held at Mount St. Vincent College in Riverdale
on May 31. With six minutes remaining, and a 10 point deficit, Justin Fishman, David Lopez, and Damont Kearse led the comeback for Asphalt Green. This was the first tournament championship for the team this season.
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TRAVEL BASEBALL BEATS YORKVILLE Asphalt Green’s 10U travel baseball team fought through the weather to beat a tough opponent in the Yorkville Eagles. The team received stellar play from Liam Stewart – who threw out multiple baserunners – and the hot bat of Max Tanz, who just missed going for cycle.
16
JUNE 18-24,2015
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com
Property
< HERO IN PARIS ATTACK VISITS NEW YORK Members of the city council welcomed Lassana Bathily to City Hall. Bathily, a Muslim man who saved Jewish shoppers from terrorists during an attack on a Kosher supermarket in eastern Paris in January, hid the shoppers in a storage room until authorities could respond. Councilmember Mark Levine, who chairs the council’s Jewish Caucus, met with Bathily
In Brief APPOINTMENT TO CIVILIAN BOARD Mayor Bill de Blasio recently appointed Salvatore Carcaterra to the Civilian Complaint Review Board. According to the mayor’s office, Carcaterra brings over two decades of law enforcement and counterterrorism experience to the CCRB. As deputy chief of police from 2000-2002, he organized and managed the implementation of the NYPD’s overall terrorism response after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Carcaterra also helped direct and manage the daily operations of the entire NYPD workforce. Prior to serving as deputy chief, Carcaterra held other leadership positions within the NYPD. Currently, he is the president of a private security consulting firm, SFC Security & Intelligence. Carcaterra fills the third seat on the board designated by Commissioner Bratton. The CCRB is made up of 13 members: five members designated by the mayor; five members designated by the city council; and three members designated by the police commissioner. The CCRB is an independent agency that is empowered to receive, investigate, mediate, hear, make findings, and recommend action on complaints against New York City police officers alleging the use of excessive or unnecessary force, abuse of authority, discourtesy, or the use of offensive language.
FINE COLLECTION BILLS INTRODUCED A four-bill legislative package to improve how the city issues and collects fines for Environmental Control Board violations was announced recently by city council members Ben Kallos and Julissa Ferreras. The ECB is a city tribunal that adjudicates “quality of life” violations issued by 13 city agencies. After a decision, the fines are collected by the Department of Finance or referred to the Law Department or a third-party debt collector. Of the debt referred to the Department of Finance, 90 percent have been issued as a default judgment, making it extremely challenging to collect. Eighty-four percent of debt owed to is over two years old, according to Kallos’ office. Taken together, the bills would allow issuing agencies to suspend or revoke licenses and permits for large unpaid debts resulting from ECB violations, provide specific location information so the city can follow up with those who do not pay, prevent tickets from getting thrown out, and would allow 30 days to correct typos or small errors in violations issued. “Quality of life will get better if these reforms pass,” said Kallos.
alongside City Council Speaker Melissa MarkViverito and council member Mark Treygar. “Lassana Bathily’s selfless actions exemplifies the best of our common humanity. In the face of gut-wrenching tragedy, he lept forward to help people he he did not know and whose faith differed from his. The reason he gave for his actions was simple, yet powerful: ‘we are
brothers,’” said Levine. Mark-Viverito called him a “true hero” and said, “In the face of fear and danger, Mr. Bathily showed selfless bravery and saved many lives.” Councilman I. Daneek Miller, the sole Muslim member of the New York City Council, said Bathily has rightfully become an international symbol and “a link for Muslims and Jews alike to rally towards in a time of despair.”
FRESHENING UP A STALE HOUSE ASK A BROKER
BY MICHAEL SHAPOT
How is it possible that some properties linger on the market for months while bidding wars abound, little inventory exists, and everything’s gone in a flash? Is the place jinxed? Is it the economy? Is it the market? It’s the marketing, stupid. It’s always the marketing. Bread sitting on the counter for a few days grows moldy. Old fish stinks. A home lingering unsold for a few weeks is deemed ‘stale.’ Serious bidders have rejected it as overpriced, flawed in some way, and in need of renovation or have found another a home. But if moldy bread and the stinky fish get tossed, what does one do with a stale house? Refresh, re-energize and reimagine the listing in five steps: 1. Adjust the Price and/or Seriously Consider a Low Offer The best price to sell any home is the top price that a qualified buyer will pay. If the issue is price, reduce like you intend to sell. Be ruthless. Don’t hesitate to undercut a competitor’s price, and don’t fool around with nickel-and-dime reductions. Similarly, if there are more than two offers at the same price point, the market is giving you a message: that’s what your place is worth. As difficult as it may be, wrap your brain around
a seemingly low offer if 1. there really aren’t any others, 2. it’s a qualified offer, and 3. the offer gets you where you want to be and when you want to be there. For instance, a client rejected a ‘lowball’ $1.9 offer on a $2.4 listing. That was two and a half years ago. Since then, there have been three other brokers, eight price reductions, no other offers, and now the home is listed at $1.699. Serious sellers need to think long term. If market conditions worsen, today’s low offer may look better in the rear view mirror. 2. Highlight what buyers want Identify the target buyer who will pay the most for the home, and market to that person. Offer a rich, detailed description telling a story that sings. Explain how she will feel when she owns the property. Speak his language. Know where they hang out online, and be sure they can find your listing there. 3. Stage
“The cost of effective staging is less than your first price reduction,” says staging guru Anne Kenney. Stagers highlight property features, demonstrate benefits and camouflage flaws. They critically analyze how the home looks, smells, sounds and feels. Examine your home with a buyer’s critical mindset. What do you really see? Is it boring, ugly, taste-specific or cluttered? Closets too crowded? Dingy and in need of a coat of paint? Sparkly clean and fresh smelling? If not, what can be done? Wash the windows, buff the floors, recaulk where necessary, reposition existing furniture, re-hang artwork. Too much to absorb? Then get a stager. 4. Shoot new pictures Central Park’s winter wonderland in the dog days of summer? When you send off-season pictures, you tell everyone that your home didn’t sell. Use timely, professional photos. New pictures will liven the listing, potentially attracting those who
overlooked the home the first time, or convincing others to revisit with an open mind. A picture is worth a thousand words, but professional photographers know that the right picture of your home may be worth several hundred thousand dollars. 5. Show when the buyers want to look Be flexible about the viewing schedule, and be tidy at all times, willing to show at a moment’s notice. Is five minutes of junior’s nap schedule really worth staying another few months? If Rover hates people, send her to Doggy Day Care. People won’t buy what they can’t see. Open the door. If the competition is selling and yours is not, clearly it’s the marketing and not the market. Toss out the moldy bread, stinky fish, and stale listing. Begin with fresh things. Michael Shapot is a broker at Keller Williams in Manhattan.
JUNE 18-24,2015
17
Our Town|Esider ourtownny.com
Real Estate Sales Neighborhd
Address
Price
Bed Bath Agent
Beekman
444 E 52 St.
550000
Lenox Hill
205 E 69 St.
2165000
2
3
Halstead Property
900 5 Ave.
6250000
3
3
Stribling
3
2
Warburg
Beekman
420 E 51 St.
525000
Lenox Hill
Beekman
415 E 52 St.
785000
Lenox Hill
166 E 61 St.
875000
Beekman
2 Beekman Place
2495000
Lenox Hill
21 E 61St St.
7131000
Beekman
425 E 51 St.
627500
Lenox Hill
167 E 67 St.
2195000
Carnegie Hill
45 E 89 St.
3250000
Lenox Hill
422 E 72 St.
2195000
3
Carnegie Hill
1160 Park Ave.
6606190
1111 Park Ave.
2950000
Carnegie Hill
114 E 90 St.
2500000
Carnegie Hill
115 E 86 St.
1500000
Carnegie Hill
166 E 92 St.
435000
Carnegie Hill
1080 5 Ave.
4000000
3
2
Olshan Realty
Carnegie Hill
170 E 92 St.
487000
1
1
Compass
Carnegie Hill
27 E 95 St.
2785000
3
2
Halstead Property
1
1
Bellmarc Realty
Carnegie Hill
55 E 87 St.
660000
155 E 91 St.
470000
Lenox Hill
33 E 70 St.
6230000
Lenox Hill
880 5 Ave.
2193750
Lenox Hill
781 5 Ave.
4500000
Lenox Hill
200 E 66Th St.
3385681
Lenox Hill
420 E 72 St.
1375000
Lenox Hill
1175 York Ave.
836000
Lenox Hill
301 E 62 St.
999000
Lenox Hill
333 E 66 St.
655000
Lenox Hill
184 E 64 St.
7125000
Lenox Hill
184 E 64 St.
7125000
Lenox Hill
165 E 60 St.
2450000
Lenox Hill
150 E 61 St.
505000
Lenox Hill
188 E 64 St.
905000
Lenox Hill
21 E 61St St.
8149250
Lenox Hill
21 E 61St St.
9167500
4
Douglas Elliman
Carnegie Hill
Carnegie Hill
4
2
Brown Harris Stevens
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COLUMBUS CIRCLE
Downtown Sales Snapshot Number of contracts signed so far in the second quarter $0 - $600k
$600x - $1M
$1M-$2M
$2M-$5M
$5M-$10M
$10M+
STUDIOS
63
10
1
1
-
1
1 BED
57
107
40
6
-
-
2 BEDS
5
41
99
46
4
-
3+ BEDS
-
-
20
79
45
11
TOWNHOUSE
-
-
-
1
2
1
1836 BROADWAY, NYC FRIDAY, 6/19 SATURDAY, 6/20 SUNDAY, 6/21
12 PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6PM
Median Sales Price STUDIOS
371,000
1 BED
675,000
2 BEDS
1,418,888
3 BEDS
2,925,000
FOLLOW US ON
Source: UrbanDigs LLC
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Photo by Lori Cannava
18
Our Town|Eastsider ourtownny.com This photo of the cyclist involved in the Belfi accident is being circulated by authorities.
Our Perspective New Law Brings Order and Oversight to Car Wash Industry By Stuart Appelbaum, President Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW
N
ew York City’s car wash industry has long operated like it has been doing business in the wild west, with a history of wage and hour violations and exploiting workers. For years, the city’s car washes have handled millions of dollars of consumer property annually and disposed of potentially harmful chemicals and wastewater with less government oversight than a neighborhood laundromat. Finally, that’s about to change. On Wednesday, June 10, the New York City Council passed the Car Wash Accountability Act, which for the first time gives the city regulatory power over the car was industry. The law requires car washes in NYC to obtain a license to do business, obey environmental guidelines, and obtain a bond to protect workers and consumers. For car wash workers in New York – including the hundreds of courageous “carwasheros” who have won a union voice with the RWDSU over the past three years – it marks a historic reform. The legislation will protect employees by requiring that their employers hold bonds that ensure they can repay workers in the event of wage and hour violations, and it will protect communities and make workplaces safer thanks to environmental guidelines. The bonds will also protect consumers by ensuring they’ll get paid in the event of damages to their vehicles. Under the law, car washes with an effective worksite monitoring system to prevent the theft of workers’ wages can purchase a cheaper bond than those without one. The best way for them to do this is through union representation. A union provides monitoring and a grievance procedure and empowers workers providing oversight and protecting them from wage theft. With a union in place to ensure workers are being treated – and that wage and hour settlements and fines are unlikely - a cheaper bond makes sense. The New York City Council, including the bill’s sponsor, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, are standing up for workers, communities, and consumers in passing the bill. And, we thank Mayor de Blasio for supporting reform of New York City’s car wash industry. During City Council hearings, car wash workers described their experiences of stolen wages and poor working conditions, and spoke about the harsh chemicals they work with. They cited instances where untreated wastewater may have been allowed to enter city streets and sewers. Consumers have also been put at risk by the lack of oversight. Without proper regulations or surety bonds, customers have had no means of recourse if their vehicles were damaged – or even stolen – while on the premises. Working together with New York Communities for Change and Make the Road New York, the RWDSU has succeeded in bringing union contracts to workers at nine New York City car washes and proven that low-wage jobs can be made better. And with the passage of the Car Wash Accountability Act, we’ve seen how grassroots action like the car wash campaign do more than help workers at unionized facilities. We can reform for an entire industry and improve the lives of thousands of workers.
For more information, visit
www.rwdsu.org
BIKE CRASH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 [cyclists] with such disregard for the feelings of pedestrians and the elderly population.” This past Saturday morning, where the accident took place, crowds of pedestrians and cyclists went about their day, with many ignoring most basic traffic rules. A twenty-something man was slowly walking into the bike lane, against the light, with his head down in his phone and ears filled with noise. A cyclist riding up first avenue with the light, zipped
past screaming, “get your head outta your fu**in’ phone.” Michael Blowney, 55 and his partner Nancy Haas, 57, avid bicyclists, do not feel safer with the protected bike lane. Haas calls it “scary” riding through the bike lane, worried when and if a pedestrian will venture into her path or navigating around a wrong-way cyclist. Blowney calls the entire traffic plan “rushed and not well thought out” and thinks most of the changes have made it more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. Following the report of the crash and fleeing cyclist, Up-
per East Side Councilmember Ben Kallos issued a statement which read, in part, “This devastating collision is a call to action to fight harder to ensure all can be safe in our streets. I hope the suspect who fled the scene will soon be apprehended.” On Monday, June 15, Kallos, along with auxiliary police officers, handed out bike safety materials at the site of the accident and followed that up with an announced Safe Cycling Initiative. He believes there should be increased enforcement and education for every threat to pedestrian safety on the streets and says that he will
be working with city agencies and nonprofits to put those plans into action. White adds that Transportation Alternatives “demands that all cyclists follow the rules of the road.” Katie Belfi said that the rules of the road aren’t the issue, as much as enforcement. “Why aren’t the cops ticketing bicyclists for speeding, red light running and riding the wrong way?” she asks. “This can’t continue without some sort of strict ticketing enforcement.”
JUNE 18-24,2015
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Neighborhood Scrapbook
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST The local paper for the Upper East Side
LUXURY MEGA-TOWER COMING TO SUTTON PLACE EXCLUSIVE East Side officials already gearing up to fight the project BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
Plans have been drawn up for a luxury 900-foot condo tower in Sutton Place, which, if completed as planned, would rank as one of the tallest buildings in Manhattan. The 268,000-squarefoot tower will become the second-tallest on the Upper East Side, behind the in-progress 432 Park Avenue at 1,400 feet, and one of the tallest in the city. Construction permits
degree views of Midtown, Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan, Central Park and the East River.” The 268,000 square feet of buildable space and air rights, which includes 58,000 square feet of inclusionary housing rights, have already been delivered. It’s unclear if the affordable housing will be offered on- or offsite, or how many units of affordable housing will be included. Representatives for The Bauhouse Group, which owns the site, declined to field questions about the Sutton Place Development, but a representative of the company provided a press release to Our Town that said the
April 7, 2015
April 8, 2015
The local paper for the Upper West Side
Safety Advocates Want Harsher Penalties for New York’s Drivers
THE TRAGEDY AFTER
RACING THROUGH EAST MIDTOWN
INVESTIGATION
The East Midtown Partnership hosted its second annual “Great East Midtown Challenge,” an evening of fun, trivia, and interactive activities around the district. The registration fee for teams in the challenge went to The Doe Fund, which has collected 1,300,000 bags of trash and 500,000 pounds of recycling in East Midtown since 2002. First place this year went to Wellness Center of New York, followed by the San Carlos Hotel and Meadows Office Interiors.
As many as 260 pedestrians are expected to die this year on New York City streets. But almost none of the drivers involved in those cases will be prosecuted -- adding to the nightmare for the families of the victims.
sterdam Avenue in an attempt to flee from cops who had seen him driving erratically and ordered him to pull over. The chase ended with the fatal crash on 97th Street. Originally, by giving him bail and charging him as a minor, Judge Carro was giving Reyes a chance to avoid having a public criminal record. But on Sept. 3, Reyes was again stopped for driving recklessly, without a license This time in speeding
March 2, 2015
December 4, 2014
MALONEY PUSHES FOR BREAST-CANCER COIN Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney and Texas Congressman Pete Sessions joined the Breast Cancer Research Foundation President Myra Biblowit, President and CEO of Susan G. Komen Dr. Judith Salerno, and breast cancer survivors to announce their plan to raise millions of dollars for the fight against breast cancer. The House members will soon introduce the Breast Cancer Awareness Commemorative Coin Act, which would direct the U.S. Treasury to issue up to 50,000 $5 gold coins, up to 400,000 $1 silver coins and 750,000 half-dollar clad with a design to symbolize the fight against breast cancer in 2018. The production cost of these coins will be fully covered within the sales price, and the proceeds will benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, headquartered in New York, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, headquartered in Texas. The bill has been co-sponsored by 306 Members of the House. Pictured, from left, are Congresswoman Maloney, Myra Biblowit, Judith Salerno, and Congressman Sessions
see Reyes punished for Ariel’s death, now more than a year and a half ago, in June 2013. Russo said in an interview that she finds cruel irony in the fact that she teaches history to boys the same age as Reyes, who was 17 when he ran over Ariel and her grandmother in a Nissan Frontier SUV in front of the little girl’s preschool on the Upper West Side. This is why she initially sympa
The local paper for the Upper East Side
November 5, 2014
April 17, 2014
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If you like Our Town, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re gonna love getting a personal copy of The Eastsider! Everything you like about Our Town is now available delivered to your mailbox every week in The Eastsider From the very local news of your neighborhood to information about upcoming events and activities, the new home delivered edition of The Eastsider will keep you in-the-know. And best of all you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to remember to grab a copy from the box or the mailroom every week.
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
To read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes” go to ourtownny.com/15 minutes
COVERING VIETNAM, IN REAL-LIFE FICTION Q&A Theasa Tuohy’s novel fictionalizes her reporting from Vietnam at a time when few women reporters were there BY ANGELA BARBUTI
An Oklahoma native who moved to New York after graduation from Berkeley, Theasa Tuohy’s interest in Vietnam was piqued after she found a book on the war in the slush pile while she was writing for Newsday. Her experience as a female reporter at a time when there weren’t many women in the industry influenced her debut novel “Five O’Clock Follies: What’s a Woman Doing Here, Anyway?” It follows Angela Martinelli, a freelance journalist who paid her own place ticket to Vietnam to report on the war. “The AP didn’t assign the first woman to the Saigon bureau until 1972,” she explained. “Angela went in 1967, so there were a few women there, but they were almost all freelancers. They had to make their own way.” We caught up with
Tuohy after her appearance at BookCon, which appropriately fell on the same month as the 50th anniversary of Vietnam.
Why did you choose the name ‘Angela’ for the protagonist? She’s a freelancer with an Italian last name, like me. I have absolutely no idea. Years ago, I wrote a play about this female combat photographer named Angela Martinelli. She wasn’t Italian; she married an Italian. Her background was that she came from this very upper-crust Boston family and all of her grandfathers had gone to medical school at Harvard and her mother intended to, but in those days couldn’t get in because she was a woman. I gave her an ethnic name so the mother would be pissed off about it. [Laughs] Initially I was writing about the war, but I had to keep finding more and more internal conflict. And it was that her mother didn’t approve of her being a reporter because she thought reporters were lowlife. And on top of it, Angela had married an ethnic. That was her inner struggle and what drove her to go to Vietnam and prove herself.
How did you use your experience as a female journalist in this book? I knew what the environment was like for women in the business. I didn’t have to be in Saigon with these guys who d id n’t wa nt to talk to me. I knew what that was like at the Yonkers Herald Statesman for crying out loud. My mother was an old-time pilot, so I came from a background where if they
didn’t want me because I was a woman, I’d just try the next place. I didn’t have any feminist idea of, ‘This isn’t fair’ or anything like that, I just went ahead and did it.
When you arrived to the city, you took on lots of different jobs, including being a store detective at Macy’s. Yes, I worked as a store detective at Macy’s for one day. [Laughs] They were going to train me to go around and watch for shoplifters. I had a criminology degree from Berkeley, so I walked into Macy’s and told the head guy, and he was thrilled to pieces. He sent me out with an old lady with shopping bags and we walked around the store and she was showing me how to look for people. But I had to go back the next day for my routine physical, and couldn’t pass the eye test, so that was the end of that career.
Describe your first apartment in the city. I lived in a fifth-floor walk-up on Barrow Street. It was one of those shotgun things with four rooms and the middle room we turned into a closet, it was so small. I had two roommates from Berkeley. The back room was the bedroom and we put a double-bed mattress and a single one and they exactly filled up the room. And the shower was in the kitchen and the toilet was down the hall. You had to go out in the middle of the night in your bare feet.
When you were a young reporter, you had written a story about a fallen soldier in Vietnam. That’s absolutely true and I had forgotten about it. After the book came out, the publicist was asking me to go through and find AP stories and I found this story that still almost makes me cry. I was working for the Yonkers Herald Statesman and they sent me out to cover I think it was the first person from Yonkers killed in the war. He was a lieutenant and I went out to the Catholic church
and I’m sitting there trying to take notes, and I was crying. When I got back to the office, I couldn’t read any of them, the ink had all run on my notes. Later in your career, you found a book on Vietnam. It was called “Big Story.” It was written by a guy named Peter Braestrup who had the perfect credentials. He had been a Washington Post reporter and also had been in the Marines. As near as I can tell, he decided to prove that the press lost the war, as a lot of people to this day contend. He wrote a huge tome with, “The AP filed this story at 2:37 and then they filed a correction at 2:38 and then at 9:42 the Washington Post said
such and such.” So I had the whole thing laid out in front of me. It was like in my lap in terms of the coverage. He had a map that I carried with me when I went to Vietnam. It was the map of the part of Saigon where all the reporters hung out. And then I went and read a million books all written by reporters because the book is about a reporter’s life in Saigon.
What are you working on now? I just finished a novel about a woman stunt pilot during the first Powder Puff Derby in 1929. Aviation was huge in those days. People thought it was the most fantastic thing under the
sun. Women were not allowed to join this cross-country air race until 1929. It’s about the relationship between a woman stunt pilot and a New York tabloid reporter…As I said, my mother was a pilot and learned how to fly in an old open cock pit biplane that was used to train pilots during World War I. To learn more about the novel, visit: www.thefiveoclockfollies.com
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ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BEEN NEARLY SIX MONTHS WITHOUT ANY BIG SMILES. FOR EITHER OF YOU. No big, joyful smiles is one early sign of autism. Learn the others today at autismspeaks.org/signs. Early diagnosis can make a lifetime of difference.
JUNE 18-24,2015
JUNE 18-24,2015
CLASSIFIEDS MUSIC
GUITAR LESSONS Quick Results. Acoustic, Electric, Songwriting. NYC Loc. or your home. Get started now! Call Howie Scher at 646-2569676, or email schershot24@ aol.com for rates and hours.
ACCOUNTING/FINANCIAL SERVICES LOMTO Federal Credit Union It’s hard to beat our great rates! Deposits federally insured to at least $250K (212)947-3380 ext.3144
ADOPTION ADOPTION: Unplanned Pregnancy? Caring licensed adoption agency provides financial and emotional support. Choose from loving pre-approved families. Call Joy toll free 1-866922-3678 or confidential email:Adopt@ForeverFamiliesThroughAdoption.org ANIMALS & PETS
North Shore Animal League AnimalLeague.org 1-877-4-SAVE-PET Facebook.com/TheAnimalLeague ANNOUNCEMENTS
GrowNYC.org Recycle@GrowNYC.org 212-788-0225 ANTIQUES/COLLECTIBLES
Antique, Flea & Farmers Market, East 67 St Market (bet. First & York Ave). Open every Saturday, 6am-5pm, rain or shine. Indoor & Outdoor, Free Admission. Call Bob 718-8975992. Proceeds benefit PS 183.
CAMPS/SCHOOLS Alexander Robertson School Independent School for Pre-K through Grade 5, 212-663-2844, 3 West 95th St. www.AlexanderRobertson.com Huntington Learning Center Your tutoring solution! UWS. 212-362-0100 www.HuntingtonHelps.com Learn Something New Today! Free computer classes at The New York Public Library LEARN MORE nypl.org/LearnToday 917-ASK-NYPL York Preparatory School 212-362-0400 ext 133 www.yorkprep.org admissions@yorkprep.org ENTERTAINMENT
Carino on Second Blending traditional Italian favorites with contemporary accents. 1710 2nd Avenue (bet. 88th & 89th) NYC 212-860-0566 www.carino2nd.com Chirping Chicken - We Deliver & Cater! Mon/Sun 11am-11pm 1560 2nd Ave,(212)517-9888-9 Ask about our daily Greek specialty dish!
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ENTERTAINMENT
LIPS The Ultimate in Drag Dining & Best Place in NYC to Celebrate Your Birthday! 227 E 56th St., 212-675-7710 www.LipsUSA.com
Mohegan Sun Why Drive? For info call Academy: 1-800-442-7272 ext. 2353 - www.academybus.com Need to know about everything that’s happening in lower Manhattan? DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE, www.downtownny.com or just download our mobile app onto your cellphone and go! HEALTH SERVICES
Are you HIV positive? ASCNYC is here for you. Call or visit today! 212-645-0875 www.ascnyc.com Columbia Doctors of Ophthalmology - Our newest location at 15 West 65th Street (Broadway) is now open. www.ColumbiaEye.org 212.305.9535 High Colonic By Rachel Relieve constipation & bloating 24 yrs exp. 212-317-0467 ManhattanHypnosis.com Smoking, Weight, Success 917-923-6772 - $50 off w/ad New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital www.nyp.org/lowermanhattan Severe Asthmatics Breathing Techniques By Appointment 201-640-7501 HELP WANTED
ATTEND AVIATION COLLEGE– Get FAA approved Aviation Maintenance training. Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call AIM for free information 866296-7093
MASSAGE BODYWORK by young, handsome, smooth, athletic Asian. InCall/OutCall. Phillip. 212-787-9116
Massage by Melissa (917)620-2787 MERCHANDISE FOR SALE
Imperial Fine Books & Oriental Art - Rare & fine books, Chinese ceramics and art from the Ming to Qing Dynasties. 790 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor New York, New York 10065 (212)861-6620 www.imperialfinebooks.com Pandora Jewelry Unforgettable Moments 412 W Broadway - Soho, NYC 212-226-3414
REAL ESTATE - RENT
GLENWOOD - Manhattan’s Finest Luxury Rentals Uptown office 212-535-0500 Downtown office 212-4305900. glenwoodNYC.com
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 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 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 New-York Historical Society Making history matter! 170 Central Park West www.nyhistory.org (212) 873-3400 REAL ESTATE CLOSINGS Buy/Sell/Mortgage Problems. Expd Attorney & R.E. Broker, PROBATE/CRIMINAL/BUSINESS- Richard H. Lovell, P.C., 10748 Cross Bay, Ozone Park, NY 11417, 718-835-9300 www.lovellLawnewyork.com Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers NYC’s Coolest Place to Skate! ChelseaPiers.com/sr 212-336-6100 VACATIONS
Dutchess County Tourism Make plans for an easy weekend escape at www.DutchessTourism.com, 800-445-3131 Interlaken Inn A resort getaway in the hills of CT. Lodging, Dining, Spa and More! 800-222-2909 www.InterlakenInn.com
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ANTIQUES WANTED Top Prices Paid. Chinese Objects, Paintings, Jewelry, Silver, Furniture, Etc. Entire Estates Purchased. 800-530-0006. 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 TOP DOLLAR PAID FOR Fine & Costume Jewelry Gems-Silver-Gold-Jade Antiques-Art-Rugs Certified GIA Gemologist Estatements 718 608 5854 I Buy Old Tribal Art Free Appraisal 917-628-0031 Daniel@jacarandatribal.com
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PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, PURSUANT TO LAW, THAT THE NYC DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS WILL HOLD A PUBLIC HEARING ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 01, 2015 AT 2:00 P.M. AT 42 BROADWAY, 11th FLOOR, ON A PETITION FOR MACA RESTAURANT CORP TO ESTABLISH, MAINTAIN, AND OPERATE AN UNENCLOSED SIDEWALK CAFE AT 1594 2ND AVE IN THE BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN FOR A TERM OF TWO YEARS. REQUEST FOR COPIES OF THE REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSED TO: DEPARTMENT OF OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, ATTN:FOIL OFFICER, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004
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Guitar Lessons
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HOWIE SCHER 646.256.9676 schershot24@ aol.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
Pro Teacher NYC Location or your Home
800.530.0006
SOHO LT MFG
462 Broadway MFG No Retail/Food +/- 9,000 sf Ground Floor - $90 psf +/- 16,000 sf Cellar - $75 psf Call Farrell @ Meringoff Properties 646.306.0299
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