The local paper for the Upper er East Side WHAT TO DO ON HALLOWEEN
WEEK OF OCTOBER-NOVEMBER
29-4
< TOP 5, P.13
2015
CROSSTOWN BIKE LANES GET A LOOK Groups’ survey results will yield recommendations to city officials, DOT
SETTLING INTO A RETIREMENT ROUTINE THIRD OF SIX PARTS
BY MICKEY KRAMER
Under cloudy skies and cool temperatures last weekend, roughly two dozen cyclists and pedestrians crisscrossed a few Upper East Side streets on Saturday with a purpose. Organized by Bike New York and Transportation Alternatives, Saturday’s so-called Street Scan sought to survey and identify crosstown streets that might be best suited for protected bike lanes and accompanying streetscape improvements, such as pedestrian islands and curb extensions. On bikes and on foot, the group surveyed 61st, 62nd, 67th, 68th and 72nd Streets from Fifth Avenue to as far east as each street extended. “Call it selfish if you will, but having a (crosstown) bike lane will make my ride safer,” said Joe Enoch, an avid cyclist, who bikes to work every day from the East 90s to 11th Avenue in the 50s. Perhaps not surprisingly, Enoch concluded that all the streets he studied should have the bike lanes. He said that 61st and 62nd Streets were “particularly wide” and had a natural connection to the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge used by cyclists riding to and from Queens. Sharon Pope, the community outreach manager for Bike New York, and Thomas DeVito, the director of organizing for Transportation Alternatives, said they would be releasing a report — as well as the organizations’
BY HEATHER CLAYTON COLANGELO/ EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS DIRECTED BY DORIAN BLOCK
It’s 7:15 a.m. on a Tuesday in late spring. Hank Blum has been lying in bed for almost an hour “chilling,” as he calls it, and wondering what to do for the day. Fifteen minutes later, he gets out of bed and shuffles into the kitchen. He pours grinds into the coffeemaker to brew a pot for his wife Patti, and then pours kibble into a bowl for his dog, Ethel. He then begins his daily regime of medicines - six pills and two or three inhalers a day - to control his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and atrial fibrillation (AFib). Next, Hank turns on the
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GRAYING NEW YORK A series looking at growing older in the city
Photos by Heather Clayton Colangelo
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Our Take THE PRICE OF GETTING OLDER Fact Number One: New York, like the rest of the country, is getting older. Demographers say that of the 8 million people who live in the city, more than 1 million are over the age of 60. Over the next two decades, that number will rise by 50 percent. Fact Number Two: New York is getting much pricier. Housing prices in the city have never been more expensive, and the number of new affordable units being built isn’t nearly enough to house the number of people who need them. The clash of those two facts is creating a crisis for seniors in our city. The soaring costs of living here, juxtaposed against the fixed income that most seniors must live on, is souring the city for its fastest-growing group of residents. Our “Graying New York” series, published in cooperating with the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, has sought to put a face on the issues that senior New Yorkers deal with everyday. Their stories have inspired us. Now, it’s your turn to weigh in. Join us on Nov. 23 for a public forum on how to create a more livable community for all of us. The Town Hall, which we’re holding in cooperation with AARP, is from 2-4 p.m. and is free to everyone, and we hope you’ll come. RSVP at rsvp@strausnews.com
Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday October 30 - 5:37 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com.
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