DOWNTOWN EXPRESS 01/18/12

downtown expressCHINESE

“TIGER TALES,” PG. 21

®

VOLUME 24, NUMBER 35 THE NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN JANUARY 18-24, 2012

BY ALINE REYNOLDS A group of vocal North Moore

Street residents are afraid to walk to the subway these days, partly due to illegally parked vehicles in front of the World Trade Center Command Center.

Police cars parked along Varick

Street between Ericsson Place and North Moore Street, particularly those that are parked near the northwest corner of the street, are causing a blind spot for pedestrians as they cross the street, according to 25 N. Moore resident Michael Marra, who appeared

before the Jan. 11 Community Board 1 Tribeca Committee to voice his con-cerns. Some of the cars, Marra said, are illegally double parked in front of fi re hydrants and even cross the boundaries

Downtown Express photo by Milo Hess

A construction worker applies some fi nishing touches to the new Fiterman Hall on West Broadway, which was heavily damaged on 9/11. The building is slated for completion this fall.

BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER

For the last three years, Robert Trentlyon, a pub-lic member of Community Board 4 and the former pub-lisher of Downtown Express, has been a man with a mis-sion. He has been preoc-cupied with the implications of a sea level rise for New York City’s 520 miles of coastline and the possibility of a disastrous storm surge that could wreck large parts of the city and cost billions to clean up.

On Jan. 5, Trentlyon spoke about the city’s vulnerabil-ity to C.B. 1’s Planning and Community Infrastructure Committee, hoping that the committee would join C.B.s 2 and 4 in framing a resolution asking the Army Corps of Engineers to study preventive measures against disaster.

“We’re in a lot of trouble here,” Trentlyon told the committee. “As we know, the sea level is going to be going higher and the storms are going to get more severe.”

Trentlyon noted that the city’s present mitigation pol-

icy is to create a “soft edge” of marshes on the circumfer-ence in order to lessen the effects of fl ooding.

“This makes a lot of sense if you’re living on Long Island,” Trentlyon said. “If you’re living in Manhattan, which is really hard edge, with giant buildings that go to the waterfront, what you really need are sea barri-ers.”

Trentlyon readily admits that he is not an expert on climate change, sea level rise or storm surge technology, but he consulted engineers and oceanographers who have studied these matters for years and who recom-mend storm surge barriers as the most effective means of defense. A storm surge barrier is essentially a wall with a gate that remains open unless it is needed to defl ect a rush of water.

“Storm surge barriers are not a new concept,” Trentlyon said, and added that in the United States, a monster hurricane in 1938 that passed over Long Island on its way to New England, killing more than 700 peo-ple and leaving a swath of

C.B. 1 comes to grips with storm surge realities

W.T.C. Command Center hinders more than it helps, says locals

Continued on page 7Continued on page 16

January 18 - 24, 20122 downtown express

LOWER MANHATTAN

STORY

A romantic dinner at a neighborhood restaurant. A walk along the promenade. A blind date that led to

a lifetime of happiness.

What’s your story?

Enter the Downtown Alliance’s “Lower Manhattan Love Story” contest to win a dinner date at Wall & Water Restaurant, a night at

Scan here for details or visit www.DowntownNY.com

Downtown Express photo by Milo Hess

Occupying MLK’s dayThe Occupy Wall Street movement built upon the message behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, last Monday, January16 by holding a rally in Union Square. The demonstration was sponsored by a sub-group called “Occupy 4 Jobs” and reminded everyone that on the day before Dr. King was shot, while standing on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, he had pledged to start a movement to guarantee fair paying jobs for all people.

downtown express January 18 - 24, 2012 3

Join us for our Super Bowl Partyon February 5th!Reserve a table now!

Drink specials throughout the game.

POPS SCOUTS AROUND FOR MUSICIANS

The TriBattery Pops, Downtown’s first all volunteer community band in a century, is seeking out horn play-ers for its ninth season. The band performs six commu-nity events each season and records albums that have international distribution and have been nominated for Grammy awards. The band recently performed at Occupy Wall Street demonstrations and multiple nights at an American masterwork dance organized by the Trisha Brown Dance Company. This year, they will be celebrating the end of the Mayan calendar by perform-ing tunes such as ‘The End’ by the Beatles, ‘The End’ by the Doors, and ‘The End of the World’ by Skeeter Davis.

The band is looking specifically for additional horn players, so if you have an ear for the apocalyptic and possess a tuba, trombone, or saxophone, you might want to consider hopping on the TriBattery Pops bandwagon. “Being in the Pops is a lot of fun, requires little work, and goes well with family, school, and work,” assures Pops conductor Tom Goodkind. “As conductor, I would never disallow cellular phone calls – even during record-ing sessions!”

Band practice takes place starting at 7 p.m. on the last two Fridays of every month between January and May, at the Church Street School for Music and Art (74 Warren St.). For info, email Conductor Tom Goodkind at [email protected] or visit TriBatteryPops.com.

9/11 VICTIM’S FAMILY OUTRAGED BY PURPORTED CAUSE OF DEATH

Rafael Hernandez, 49, an advocate for immigrant workers exposed to dust at Ground Zero, died on September 25th, 2011, according to an Associated Press report.

The cause of Hernandez’s death was obesity, obstruc-tive sleep apnea and enlargement of the heart, according to the city Medical Examiner’s office. However, friends and family of the Queens resident are railing against the city’s conclusion that Hernandez died of natural causes, contending that, after doing three months of cleanup work at the World Trade Center site, he developed seri-ous respiratory issues including asthma that could have bolstered his claim for victims’ medical compensation and would have granted his name a spot at the National Sept. 11 Memorial.

Hernandez came to the U.S. illegally in 1999 to sup-port his family in Mexico, and later became a volunteer firefighter for the city. Having partaken in the post-9/11 clean-up effort, Hernandez led a bi-weekly support group called Frontiers of Hope for recovery workers to discuss their illnesses and the long-term psychological effects of working in and around Ground Zero.

Thousands of people affected by 9/11 have attributed health problems to exposure to toxic dust at the disaster site,

NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-9, 12-21

EDITORIAL PAGES . . . . . . . . . . 10-11

YOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 - 27

CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

C.B. 1MEETINGSA schedule of this week’s upcoming Community

Board 1 committee meetings is below. Unless otherwise noted, all committee meetings are held at the board offi ce, located at 49-51 Chambers St., room 709 at 6 p.m. For a list of committee meetings next week and beyond, visit the C.B. 1 website at http://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb1/html/home/home.shtml.

ON THURS., JAN. 19: The Quality of Life

Committee will meet.

ON MON., JAN. 23: The Housing Committee will meet in room 709, and the Personnel Committee will meet in room 715.

ON TUES., JAN. 24: C.B. 1 will convene for its monthly calendar meeting at the Manhattan Youth Downtown Community Center (120 Warren St.).

DOWNTOWN DIGEST

Continued on page 19


Girl killed on Delancey St. A 12-year-old girl on her way home from Castle Middle

School on Henry St. was struck and killed by a car around 2:40 p.m. Fri., Jan. 13 at Delancey and Clinton Sts, at the Williamsburg Bridge ramp.

Dashane Santana, a resident with her family in the Jacob Riis Houses between Avenue D and FDR Dr., had dropped her book bag and bent down to retrieve it when the 2008 Toyota struck her. Witnesses said the driver, 58, was headed onto the bridge when he hit the victim and might have run over her again while backing up to investigate. Police said there was no criminality and the driver was not charged.

Dashane, in the sixth grade in the school on Henry St., had phoned he mother to tell her she was going with friends to the Dunkin Donuts before coming home. She was taken to Downtown Hospital where she died later.

Delancey and Clinton Sts. is a notoriously dangerous crossing. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in a news conference that fatal accidents had occurred in May and August last year at the intersection.

At the nearby intersection of Delancey and Essex Sts. there were 523 auto accidents between 2008 and 2010, according to Transportation Alternatives, a civic group that promotes pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Fragrant returns Keith Andrews, who was arrested last week for shop-

lifting several bottles of Fierce, a men’s fragrance from Abercrombie & Fitch, 199 Water St. was arrested again in the high-end store at 7:05 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 12 when a store

security guard spotted him tucking 30 bottles of Fierce, val-ued at $1,920, into a blue shopping bag and trying to walk out without paying. Before his previous arrest at the store on Jan. 7, he had been arrested for shoplifting the store on Aug. 22. Because of the prior arrests at the location, Andrews was charged with burglary.

Beauty aidsAn employee at Sephora, 555 Broadway, spotted a woman

stuffi ng 20 boxes of cosmetics valued at $1,168 at 7:35 p.m. Sat., Jan. 14 and trying to walk out without paying. The sus-pect, Alba Carrasquero, 26, was charged with larceny.

Greenhouse effectsTwo patrons of Greenhouse, the club at 150 Varick St.,

had their wallets picked from their trouser back pockets this week. A New Jersey man, 20, lost his wallet to a thief in the crowded bar around 12:30 a.m. Mon., Jan. 16. Two hours later, a Connecticut man, 21, had his pocket picked and discovered later that the thief had made unauthorized pur-chases of $87 at MacDonald’s and $80 at two gas stations. On Fri., Jan. 13, a French resident of Manhattan walked into the First Precinct police station and reported that he was at a party at the club the night before New Years Eve when a thief had made off with his jacket, which he had hung up. There was no explanation for the delayed report.

Lost earringA Tribeca resident told police that she put her bag on

a seat in a bus around 5:30p.m. Thurs., Jan. 12 while she searched to fl oor for a lost earring. She did not fi nd the ear-

ring and discovered when she got home on Duane St. that her wallet had been picked from the bag.

Bag found emptyA Philadelphia woman.27, told police she had hung up

her bag while having a drink at Merce Bar, 151 Mercer St. at 7:30 p.m. Wed., Jan. 11 and discovered 20 minutes later that it had been stolen. Around 3 a.m. she got a phone call from Fanelli’s at 94 Prince St. around the corner saying the bag turned up there. However, her laptop computer was gone and $200 in unauthorized charges had been made on a bankcard.

Football distractionA Brooklyn woman, 29, told police she hung her bag on the

back of her chair and was watching the Giants beat the Packers in the Reade St. Pub, 135 Reade St. on Sunday night Jan. 15 and discovered after the game that the bag was gone. She learned later that two attempts to use her debit card had been denied.

At Starbucks, 195 Broadway, on Sunday afternoon, a Swedish visitor, 38, had her bag stolen from the back of her chair.

A woman shopping at the Old Navy sore, 503 Broadway, forgot to pick up her wallet at the checkout counter around 8 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 12 and phoned the following morning but the wallet with $40 cash and credit cards was gone. An unauthorized charge of $150 had been made at Muji USA, the discount chain branch two blocks away at 455 Broadway.

Car stolenA Brooklyn man, 40, who parked his gray 2010 Hyundai

sedan at the curb in front of Film Forum on W. Houston St. around 7p.m. Wed., Jan.12 returned three hours later to fi nd the car had been stolen.

— Albert Amateau88 Fulton Street(Corner of 33 Gold St.)New York, NY 10038212.587.8930212.587.8935

Free Delivery!Min. $10

Authentic Thai & Vegetarian

POLICE BLOTTER

BY ZACH WILLIAMSThey were told to stop three weeks ago, but the buses

are still rolling.In a report issued on December 23, 2011, the Federal

Motor Carrier Safety Administration (F.M.C.S.A.), stated that Double Happyness Travel posed an “imminent haz-ard” to public safety. But, despite the federal government’s Jan. 6 order to halt operations until safety concerns were addressed, the company appears to have continued its long distance bus service linking Chinatown to other cities.

Bright pink buses publicizing the ‘Double Happyness’

website picked up passengers Monday outside a terminal near the intersection of East Broadway and Pike Street. A driver and a passenger confi rmed that the Pennsylvania-based company was indeed operating the bus, which was bound for Albany. Just minutes before, staff inside the termi-nal said the company had shut down while other companies that use the terminal were operating as usual.

David Lee, a representative of the company, said in a phone interview that the company had ceased operations

Double Happyness still promoting bus service

Downtown Express photo by John Bayles

Curbside, cut-rate bus companies like the one above, operated by Phoenix Bus Company, have been under close scrutiny following a slew of deadly crashes in 2011.

Continued on page 8


Canal remains hot for tourists seeking knock-off goodsBY ALINE REYNOLDS

On a recent afternoon, roughly 30 coun-terfeit salesmen displaying handbags, watch-es and other merchandise lined Canal Street between Mercer Street and Broadway. As pedestrians passed, some of the vendors gestured to pocket-sized catalogs, while oth-ers whispered, “Gucci,” “Louis Vitton,” or simply “handbag.”

One of them succeeded in luring 18-year-old Calvin Morley of Bradenton, Florida. “They were trying to sell us G-Shock watches, which are normally about $120 new. I bought this one off a guy for $20,” said Morley as he pointed to the watch on his wrist.

Psyched about his purchase, Morley sought out another watch from a different vendor. “He [the vendor] was sketchy about it — he was about to open his briefcase, and then he said, ‘Hold on, the cops are coming.’ I didn’t end up getting it.”

Thanks to Morley and scores of other Canal Street shoppers, selling illegal, counterfi et merchandise is a multi-billion dollar industry in NYC, according to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition. With the passing of yet another tourist-packed holiday season Downtown, it is continuing to thrive.

Local residents, meanwhile, are growing increasingly fed up by the congestion it is causing on their streets. The illicit activity on Canal Street, in particular, is more preva-lent than ever, some say, despite stepped up

enforcement by the local police precincts. “It’s been a zoo. They’re everywhere,” said

Lispenard Street resident and Community Board 1 member Paul Cantor, who often has to contend with car traffi c along Canal Street when the sidewalk is inundated with vendors. “I don’t see any reason why I should [be forced to] walk on the street to try to get home.”

“We’re unable to enter our doorway at certain times, because there are counterfeit peddlers encroaching on our property, try-ing to take over our threshold,” said David Kapp, president of a co-operative at 305 Canal St. “These are not people that respect the fact that we live there, because there is so little enforcement by the N.Y.P.D.”

The cops however contend they have increased enforcement. In spring 2010, the NYPD launched a Canal Street initiative to more effectively crack down on the criminal sales.

One approach the Department has explored is having more eyes on the street to catch the vendors in the act of selling counterfeit goods, since mere possession of the goods isn’t a crime unless the vendors have warehouses full of them, according to Sergeant Gregory LeRoy, a member of the Manhattan South ped-dlers’ task force.

“I’d say between the 1st and 5th pre-cincts, there is a continuous presence down there at all times,” said LeRoy.

Another strategy is the collaboration with brand-name merchandise companies in order to identify the knock-off merchandise, since the sale of imitation goods is allowed so long as they aren’t direct knock-offs. Merchandise is considered illegal when there is an actual logo signifying a specifi c brand.

“When we’re looking to do certain enforcements, companies would come with us Downtown and do undercover purchas-ing to identify merchandise,” said LeRoy. “The goal for their own company is to see how [counterfeit manufacturers] are repro-ducing their products. They also train us on how to identify the real [accessories] com-pared to the counterfeits.”

But these enforcement tactics only go

Assemblyman Shelly SilverIf you need assistance, please contact my office at (212) 312-1420 or email [email protected].

Fighting to make Lower Manhattan the greatest place to live, work, and raise a family.

Downtown Express photo by Aline Reynolds

Selling illegal, counterfeit merchandise is a multi-billion dollar industry in NYC and Canal Street has always been a hot-spot for vendors. The NYPD launched a special intitiative in Spring 2010 to try and curb the problem.


OPEN 24 HOURS // 7 DAYS A WEEK64 SLICE CT SCAN ULTRASOUND

TREATING ACUTE ILLNESSES

ANY HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM.


C.B. 1 denies proposals for two buildings in Tribeca BY ALINE REYNOLDS

Two distinct proposals for multi-story additions to landmarked buildings in Tribeca have been unanimously shot down by mem-bers of Community Board 1, since approv-ing them, they said, would violate a well-established precedent the board set in the early 2000s.

Most recently was architect James Schelkle’s plan to restore two vacant, dilap-idated buildings along Lispenard Street. Schelkle’s design was met with fi erce oppo-sition by the C.B. 1 Landmarks Committee, who at its Jan. 12 meeting voted 7-0 against it.

Schelkle has proposed to tack on three fl oors to an existing two-story building at 52 Lispenard St. and cover it with a terracotta façade comprised of scalloped, gray tiles, fl oor-by-fl oor planters and stone window frames. The three upper fl oors of the original 19th century, fi ve-story building had been removed following a destructive fi re in 1937, leaving a giant void in the streetscape ever since, according to Schelkle. The cast iron façade of the adjacent fi ve-story building with the same address, meanwhile, would be “meticulously restored” and repainted light grey.

Schelkle’s client intends to eventually combine the buildings and convert their interior into residential condominiums, according to the architect. The proposed

alterations, Schelkle argued, melds old archi-tectural styles with new ones and “speaks to Tribeca’s distinct architectural language and history.”

Additionally, Schelkle plans to build a two-story rooftop penthouse atop the two buildings, which would also have a ter-racotta façade and be set back from the street to be visually unobtrusive, according to Schelkle.

“There are two penthouses on the imme-diately adjacent two buildings, so the pent-

house addition ties in with the scale of the block,” said Schelkle.

Schelkle’s presentation didn’t come close to passing muster amongst committee mem-bers.

“I think the design they proposed is extremely banal and is not in keeping with the historic context of the neighborhood,” said committee member and architect Corie Sharples. “It does not reference or pay trib-ute in any way to the original building … and will detract from an otherwise almost completely intact historical streetscape.”

Schelkle lacked a rendering to prove the low visibility of the penthouse, Sharples noted.

“It is our committee’s policy not to approve additions over one story unless they are completely invisible from the street,” said Sharples, “which needs to be demon-strated in a mock-up.”

Paul Cantor, whose apartment directly

OPENING THIS WINTER! 18,000 Sq. Ft Preschool and Therapy Center

FOR INFORMATION AND TO SCHEDULE YOUR TOUR CALL SIREESHA EDARA 212.566.8853 x1412, [email protected]

101 Norfolk Street | New York, NY 10002(CORNER OF DELANCEY STREET AND NORFOLK STREET)

Brand New

Facility!

We accept private insurance.

Speech Therapy Physical Therapy Occupational Therapy Special Education

Counseling SEIT Evaluations

Introducing a State-of-the-Art Sensory Integration and Multi-Sensory Gym

• Interactive Metronome

• Therapeutic Listening

• Feeding Therapy (SOS)

• PROMPT Articulation Therapy

• Lee Silverman Voice Treatment Program

• Myofascial Release

• Lidcombe Program (Early Stuttering)

• Play Therapy

• Social Skills Training

• Oral-Motor Therapy

• PECS

• ABA

COMPAN IES

Museum of the City of New York curators are busy preparing for the grand reopening of the South Street Seaport Museum on Fulton Street.

Starting Thursday, Jan. 26, the famed maritime museum, which was on the brink of closure last year, will be showcasing 16 galleries worth of furnishings, photography, videos and relics from its permanent collec-tion, according to the exhibit’s co-curator, Donald Albrecht. Items on display will include “Mannahatta,” a digital rendering of Manhattan circa 1609, as well as an esti-mated 4,000 images taken by a few hundred Occupy Wall Street photographers docu-menting the demonstration.

The Seaport Museum will also be show-ing a 22-minute fi lm depicting the history of New York City, and another fi lm about

Terminal 8 at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Three other galleries, entitled “Made in New York,” will be devoted to contempo-rary costumes and furniture designed and crafted in the city, while another exhibit dubbed “Time and Tide” will focus on the history of water and the Seaport.

“Our thinking was, we had to disprove the naysayers who said, ‘the South Street Seaport [museum] is not going to happen’ — so we decided to open it very quickly,” said Albrecht. “It’s not meant to suggest this is the ultimate shape the museum is going to take.”

The museum’s opening hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. For more information, visit seany.org.

— Aline Reynolds

Seaport Museum prepares for imminent reopening


Architect James Schelkle’s plan to restore the building at 52 Lispenard Street (above) was unanimously voted down by the C.B. 1 Landmarks Committee last week.


“We’re coming to this addition through research, and developing the design based on what exists… There must be a way to get to a point where you can do an addition that’s more than one story.”

— Carlos Zapata


Planning for storm surge

destruction, was the wake-up call. “In 1938 after the hurricane hit, three

cities — New Bedford, Providence and Stamford — all built storm surge barriers,” Trentlyon said. “The problem is that by the time they built them, 30 years had passed. London has them. Rotterdam has them. Venice is building them.”

Trentlyon said that two of the experts he had spoken to — Douglas Hill, a con-sulting engineer and an adjunct lecturer at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and Malcolm J. Bowman, a distinguished professor of ocean-ography at the University’s School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences — recommended two alternative placements for storm surge barriers to protect New York City.

One idea would be to have three barri-ers: at the Narrows, a tidal strait separat-ing Staten Island and Brooklyn, below the Throgs Neck Bridge, and at the Arthur Kill strait at the far end of Staten Island. Another proposal would be to have a single storm surge barrier between Rockaway and Sandy Hook.

“That’s a long distance,” Trentlyon said, “but most of the water level there is fairly shallow at about 20 feet. The Ambrose Channel — the main shipping channel — is in the middle of it.”

Either way, Trentlyon said that the esti-mated cost for the barriers would be around $10 billion, with half the money going to fea-sibility studies and design and half allocated to construction.

Trentlyon’s presentation was initially met with skepticism. “What do we know already about the risk?” asked Jeff Galloway, chairman of the Planning committee. “New Orleans, Rotterdam, Venice — all those places are under sea level already. That was the problem with New Orleans. Once you’ve breached the levees, you’re in a disaster zone. We’re not below sea level. We’re above sea level, though people like me who live in Battery Park City are very close to sea level. But I see the $5 billion price tag in the study, which probably translates into $10 billion before it’s actually built.”

Trentlyon replied that if New York City experienced a Category 3 hurricane, the esti-mated loss would be $200 billion between property damage and loss of time going to work.

“I would imagine a good chunk of that would be wind damage,” said Galloway.

“Part of it would be wind damage,” Trentlyon replied, “but if you have a 20-foot-high storm coming ashore, a lot of dam-age would be [from water]. Another study, which came out in August of 2011, was done by the Federal Transit Administration. They say a 20-foot storm surge would go into the subway system and except where the subways were elevated, the entire sys-tem would be covered with at least four

feet [of water] within 40 minutes. You’re talking about salt water coming in. That means that everything’s damaged. All the machinery would have to be taken apart and cleaned. The estimate by the Federal Transit

Administration is that that would take three-to-four weeks and, some engineers say, three-to-four months.”

Committee member Ro Sheffe wanted to know where Trentlyon got his data. “I was a meteorologist for the U.S. Navy,” Sheffe said, “and I’m curious about the source for this climatology information. First of all, has there ever been a 20-foot storm surge here? There have been records kept in New York City for 148 years.”

“I believe it was in 1821 the East River and the Hudson River rose up and they covered the entire island from Canal Street south,” replied Trentlyon. “In 1893, a Category 1 hurricane destroyed Hog Island, a resort island off the Rockaways in south-ern Queens. The storm hit. The island disap-peared. It never came back. In 1938, a hur-ricane hit here. It was called the Long Island Express. It came up through Brooklyn and Queens and demolished a lot of the frame houses.”

While this conversation was proceeding, Galloway was reading the F.T.A. study. “It’s talking about an eight-foot storm surge,” he said. “It says at that level, the subways would be fl ooded, and they estimated $58 billion in damage from just the fl ooding of the subways alone from an eight-foot storm surge at the current sea level height. And if sea levels rise, it’s going to go up to $84 billion so, based on this study, a relatively modest storm surge could have catastrophic consequences.”

In the end, the committee was convinced that something had to be done. It passed a resolution asking the Army Corps of Engineers to “expeditiously conduct a study about the feasibility of installing storm surge barriers to protect New York City.” It also asked that elected offi cials at the city, state and federal levels support such a study.

The resolution will go in front of C.B. 1’s full board at its next meeting on Jan. 24.

Trentlyon’s messianic mission is far from fi nished, but at least he was able to go home that night knowing that a few more people had come to grips with the perils on New York’s horizon.

Continued from page 1

Based on this study, a relatively modest storm surge could have catastrophic consequences.

— Jeff Galoway

www.DOWNTOWNEXPRESS.com


following the report, claiming it would not be “stupid” enough to flout the order. He added that since many drivers do not speak English, the F.M.C.S.A. had not been able to properly evaluate the com-pany whose fleet he admitted was “pretty safe”.

“At this point the owner is just trying to rectify the problem,” said Lee.

The company must prove to the F.M.C.S.A. that it has adopted new policies aimed at addressing 21 violations of safety regulations recorded in the report in order to legally restart operations.

Alleged violations include failure to ensure that all drivers submit to drug test-

ing before operating company buses and to refrain from working beyond a maximum amount of hours per day. Close to 50 falsi-fi ed driver reports indicated the company neglected to ensure that drivers were prop-erly overseeing maintenance of their vehicle, according to the report.

“Individually and cumulatively, these vio-lations and these conditions of commer-cial motor vehicle operation substantially increase the likelihood of serious injury or death to Double Happyness Travel, Inc. driv-ers, passengers, and the motoring public,” the report read.

The F.M.C.S.A. issued the cease-and-desist order once it discovered that the com-pany was still operating. Non-compliance with the order could result in legal action and fi nes of up to $16,000 per day and

could even lead to criminal charges if viola-tions are found to be willful, according to the report. “If Double Happyness continues to operate illegally, the company will face additional enforcement action”, according to the order.

Offi cials from the federal agency did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Chinatown residents alleged their travels on Double Happyness buses, at least, were safe. However, accidents in the last year involving Chinatown buses from several companies have resulted in multiple fatalities. A recent crackdown by F.M.C.S.A. on curbside bus companies is only the latest effort by the state and federal governments to clamp down on unlawful businesses.

A bus bound for New York City in May crashed north of Richmond, Virginia, after the driver allegedly fell asleep. An accident last March in the Bronx killed 15 passengers that boarded a bus driven by a convicted criminal with an invalid driver’s license. Three days later, a bus headed from Chinatown to Philadelphia crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike, resulting in two deaths and dozens of injuries.

Nonetheless, several Chinatown residents said Double Happyness provides cheap transportation. A woman working at a food market near the terminal who only gave her last name, Chen, said she was unperturbed by the allegations that the company posed a danger to passengers.

“It does not matter,” she said in Mandarin.

Last week, Rudin Management Co. took complete ownership of the 35-story, 885,000-square-foot office building at One Battery Park Plaza in Lower Manhattan. This building was co-owned with Rose Associates for 50 years up until last week. The New York Post reported the Rudin family paid $80 million for

the remaining half of the tower. Major tenants in the building include Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., Seward and Kissel, and Hughes Hubbard and Reed LLP. The Rudin family also owns other down-town buildings including 55 Broad St., One Whitehall St., 110 Wall St. and 32 Avenue of the Americas.

Downtown Express photo by Marshall James Kavanaugh

Rudin takes over One Patter Park Plaza

BY ALINE REYNOLDS Community Board 1 residents that live

east of Broadway are demanding a greater number of fresh produce markets in their neck of the woods.

The three greenmarkets that operate on Lower Manhattan’s east side are simply not enough to satisfy the growing residential demand of the South Street Seaport and the eastern portion of the Financial District, according to C.B. 1 Financial District Committee Chair Ro Sheffe, who conveyed the message to GrowNYC at the committee meeting earlier this month.

Sheffe argued that the current greenmar-kets are unequally distributed around Lower Manhattan.

“If you take as a benchmark four green-markets serving 22,000 residents on the west side of Broadway,” said Sheffe, “we need more than three serving 44,000 people on the east side.”

Committee member and Southbridge Towers resident Mariama James, for one, is yearning for a greater variety of greenmar-kets where she can purchase staple cooking ingredients such as fresh salt, olive oil and vegetables.

“Residential growth in the Financial District is at its highest rate, but ameni-ties are at its lowest rate,” said James. “We should have something on this side [of Broadway] other than the Sunday markets at the Seaport.”

Michael Hurwitz, director of GrowNYC’s greenmarket program, which runs four Lower Manhattan greenmarkets west of Broadway, said the nonprofi t has come up short thus far in an active search for new sites that would be amenable to produce stands.

“We have spent dozens and dozens of hours looking for a locale east of Broadway,” said Hurwitz, “and we really

haven’t found one that would work for a great market.”

Hurwitz and his team are being selective in their quest for new locations, since open-ing a new market east of Broadway would only be worthwhile if it were poised to be successful, Hurwitz said.

“I wouldn’t want to over saturate the area and take away from the farmers servicing those locations unless it would be worth the while of an extra trip down for a farmer,” added Hurwitz.

GrowNYC appeared before the commit-tee to request approval for a city permit that would grant additional sidewalk space to its market situated at West Broadway between Barclay Street and Park Place. Last fall, the market was transferred from Zuccotti Park, where it had been stationed for seven of the last ten years.

The market gets more foot traffi c at the West Broadway site due to its proximity to the PATH station, and it is conveniently located adjacent to the farmers’ parked trucks, according to Hurwitz.

“We were limited to 70 feet at Zuccotti — that doesn’t really provide for a thriving marketplace,” explained Hurwitz. “Here, we’re able to get a few more feet, spread out, and make it a bit more user-friendly.”

In February, GrowNYC will begin to identify new products to sell at the West Broadway market, which now consists of a selection of fruits, vegetables and baked goods.

“Our ultimate goal is to have a pres-ence when the new W.T.C. is opened,” said Hurwitz. “We want to be there with the size and type of market we had pre-9/11, when we had between 18 and 22 tents every day.”

While GrowNYC’s market outside the World Financial Center has struggled since


Calls for more greenmarkets east of Broadway

Bus Co. still promoting service after halt orderContinued from page 4


Debate over Gov Island’s Liggett Terrace BY ALINE REYNOLDS

An unused, asphalt parking lot on Governors Island will soon be converted into a public recreation space complete with fl owers, hedges and seating. While Community Board 1 generally supports the plan, a few members of its landmarks com-mittee fear the renovation could take away from the island’s architectural signifi cance.

Governors Island’s parks and public space master plan, which will be put into action starting this spring. By 2013, Liggett Terrace, which refers to the six-acre, 2,600 space parking lot and lawn adjacent to Liggett Hall, will be fully ready for use by the public, according to Leslie Koch, presi-dent of the Trust for Governors Island. The terrace sits next to the landmarked, brick-and-limestone Liggett Hall, which, erected in 1929, was the fi rst permanent building on the island’s landfi ll and will be preserved by the Trust.

“There’s no need for the parking lot,” said Koch, particularly since non-personnel cars aren’t permitted onto the island. “We thought it was more important to create a beautiful public space.”

C.B. 1’s landmarks committee approved the Trust’s design of the island’s historic district with reservations it will outline in a forthcoming resolution. Committee chair Bruce Ehrmann, for one, would greatly prefer to see the existing Liggett Terrace

retained as is. The neoclassical qualities of Liggett Hall

reinforce the notion that the six acres should adhere to the same architectural style, according to Ehrmann. “The space in front of the building looks rectilinear, and the building’s design is rectilinear. This is a typi-cal formal pattern that Beaux-Art architects

have used time and again,” he said.“Now they’re putting in this trendy,

biomorphic planting space that absolutely obscures all of that,” Ehrmann continued. “There’s plenty of space to do that in the acres [of park space] that aren’t landmark-designated.”

“The issue is, we’re a landmarks com-

mittee – we’re responsible for protecting landmarks,” chimed in Jeff Ehrlich. “We’re concerned that we lose something as this gets covered up.”

To Ehrmann’s point, scant evidence has been found that architect fi rm Mckim, Mead and White had neoclassical intentions in mind when designing the building, accord-ing to Koch, who personally visited the NY Historical Society to examine the original drawings of Liggett Hall. “There was noth-ing to suggest any sort of design for a Beaux-Art plaza,” she said. “Instead what we felt was important was to respect that beautiful building, which is of course a landmark, and encourage the new park and public space uses [of the island].”

The name “Liggett Terrace” was only conceived by the Trust a couple of years ago, Koch noted. “It’s not historic,” she said.

Other committee members were enthralled by Koch’s presentation. “I think the design is just terrifi c,” said committee member Susan Cole of the overall plan. “I like the open space, the thoughtfulness of the green, and how they’re trying to inte-grate the Brooklyn ferry stop to make it a more pleasant arrival.”

“It’s clearly a labor of love – you’ve put so much thought and detail into it,” echoed committee member Vera Sung.

family friday Relax with your kids and meet other downtown families for free pizza, children’s movies, and community. Everyone is welcome.

Family Friday is sponsored by Trinity Wall Street, an Episcopal parish in Lower Manhattan, but you do not have to be part of the parish to attend. Donations to support Family Friday are welcome.

Directions by subway: 4 Wall Street station Rector Street station

Charlotte’s Place 109 Greenwich Street, between Rector & Carlisle Streets

212.602.0800 trinitywallstreet.organ Episcopal parishin the city of New York

Dreamworks’ How to Train Your DragonA young Viking named Hiccup aspires to become a dragon slayer.

Walt Disney’s Brother BearA young Inuit boy kills a bear for revenge and is magically turned into a bear for punishment.

Siblings Carmen and Juni Cortez must save the world from a mad scientist.

k

must ist.

A rendering of Liggett Terrace. Courtesy of the Trust for Governors Island.



PUBLISHER & EDITOR

John W. Sutter

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

John Bayles

ARTS EDITOR

Scott Stiffl er

REPORTERS

Aline ReynoldsAlbert Amateau

Lincoln Anderson

SR. V.P. OF SALES AND MARKETING

Francesco Regini

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Allison GreakerColin Gregory Julius Harrison

Alex MorrisJulio Tumbaco

BUSINESS MANAGER / CONTROLLER

Vera Musa

ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Troy Masters

ART DIRECTOR

Mark Hasselberger

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Vince Joy

CONTRIBUTORS

Helaina N. Hovitz • Terese Loeb Kreuzer • Jerry Tallmer

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Milo Hess • Jefferson Siegel • Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Published by COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC

515 Canal St., Unit 1C, NY, NY 10013 Phone: (212) 229-1890

Fax: (212) 229-2790On-line: www.downtownexpress.comE-mail: [email protected]

Downtown Express is published every week by Community Media LLC, 515 Canal St., Unit 1C, New York, N.Y. 10013 (212) 229-1890. The entire contents of the newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2011 Community Media LLC.

PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERRORThe Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for other errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue.

Member of theNew York Press

Association

Member of theNational

NewspaperAssociation

GayCityNEWSNEWS TM

© 2011 Community Media, LLC

EDITORIALBloomberg should hold his horses

Lower Manhattan is growing in ways that only a decade ago seemed not just improbable, but impossible. Who would have thought that our neighborhood, in the wake of 9/11, would rebound and rebuild so strongly that it would end up serving as a beacon, as a model for rebirth and as an example of a community dedicated to healing, to exhibiting hope and resilience in the face of adversity?

Lower Manhattan needs many things right now to support and balance this rapid growth, including more school seats and affordable housing.

These pressing needs provide a context for our endorsement of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s pledge to fi ght Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan, verbalized in his State of the City address given last week, to sell off three publicly owned Lower Manhattan buildings in a one-shot deal all in the name of closing a budget gap that exists in the upcoming fi scal year. The buildings in question are 49-51 Chambers, 22 Reade, and 346 Broadway.

If we have one message for Mayor Bloomberg, it’s “hold your horses.”

By no means are we against the city shedding cer-tain assets in the name of streamlining government and saving taxpayers’ dollars. But the city needs to ensure essential services are provided to its residents that make this city so great.

In 2009 in Lower Manhattan, 970 children were born; in 2011, that number rose to 1,086. There is a desperate need that everyone recognizes Downtown’s necessity for new school seats, and great diffi culty, as we have seen, in fi nding them. Selling three publicly owned buildings without fi rst investigating whether they can be used to address the school seat shortage is irresponsible and shortsighted. And the same investiga-tion is needed to see if these buildings can be developed residentially as part of an affordable housing program or incentive.

However if the city wants to put these buildings on the auction block, there is still the question of public review and input, and the need for the city to follow its Unifi ed Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP. All buildings disposed of by the city must go through the ULURP process — key participants in the ULURP pro-cess are the Department of City Planning and the City Planning Commission, local community boards, borough presidents, the City Council and the Mayor.

Only one of the three buildings included in the mayor’s proposal has been subjected to the ULURP process: 346 Broadway. The Mayor made no mention of a ULURP process for the other two buildings on Reade and Chambers Sts. in his speech last week, which has led many to believe that neither property will be converted for residential use — specifi cally affordable housing — an essential need in the eyes of a majority of C.B. 1 members and Lower Manhattan residents.

The mayor’s one shot proposal has given rise to fears that there is a sweetheart private developer deal in the making, one that may result in yet more hotel develop-ment in an already dense tourist destination.

We hope the Mayor uses this opportunity to detract from that perception.

We strongly support the borough president’s call for transparency in the overall process and for the allowance of public input. What is clearly necessary is a full public review, where residents, stakeholders and local elected offi cials can voice their opinions on what’s best for these three properties.

Easy on your wallet

To the editor:Earlier this month, the New York Times

raised its newsstand price from $2.00 to $2.50. They are now the most expensive daily newspaper in New York, if not the nation. Others such as the Wall Street Journal cost $2.00, USA Today and Newsday $1.00 each along with the New York Daily News or New York Post at 75 cents each. Only our favorite Downtown Express is still the best deal in town providing the best coverage of news from lower Manhattan free of charge!

Larry Penner

Apocalypse now

To the editor:Re. “Villagers pack Town Hall, hoping to

stop N.Y.U. plan” (news article, Jan. 11):New York University’s 2031 plan is the

death knell for Greenwich Village and its neighbors. The plan’s impact on light, air quality, traffi c, density and health will be catastrophic, and the University’s predatory and grandiose request for rezoning changes would alter the face of Greenwich Village forever.

I’m reminded of what Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Bhagavad Gita, said after the atomic detonation in New Mexico: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

N.Y.U.’s plan, if approved, is death to our neighborhood, the destroyer of worlds. The plan must be stopped.

Rhoma Mostel

Cruise-ship safety

To the editor:As a former naval offi cer; offi cer-of-the

deck underway, independent and formation

President Barack Obama returns to the Big Apple on Thursday, meaning a Gridlock Alert for that day. The president will likely helicopter from JFK to an upper Manhattan location and back, so Lower Manhattan should be spared the worst of the traffi c disruptions.

If you venture uptown, however, be warned: RFK-Triborough Bridge and FDR Drive north of 59th Street will have tempo-rary closures in both directions around 3-4 p.m and again around 10-11 p.m. During his visit, the President will stop by fundraisers at Daniel restaurant on E 65th St. between Madison and Park avenues, Spike Lee’s townhouse on E 63rd St. between Lexington and Third avenues, and the Apollo Theater on W 125th St. between Frederick Douglass Blvd. and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. Drivers should stay south of 59th Street and west of Central Park, or use the West Side Highway.

Monday is the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year and 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. Alternate side parking is suspended citywide, while all other parking regulations remain in effect. (Remember to feed the meters!) Chinatown marks the beginning of the Lunar Year with festive dragons, dances, and fi recrackers. More than 200,000 people are expected to witness the Lunar New Year celebrations, which kick off with 600,000 rounds of fi recrackers at 11 a.m. in Sara Roosevelt Park between Grand and Hester streets. A parade will wind around Mott, Bowery, East Broadway, Bayard, Elizabeth, and Pell streets until around 3 p.m. There will be some intermittent lane closures dur-ing that time frame. Drivers heading from

the Manhattan Bridge to the Holland Tunnel or vice versa via Canal St. should expect turbulence.

From the mailbag:

Dear Transit Sam, What’s the story with the traffi c light on

the corner of Vesey St. and Broadway in Lower Manhattan? The green signal letting traffi c go from Vesey St. to the east side of Broadway or to Park Row (toward Brooklyn Bridge) only lasts for approximately 10 seconds.

John via e-mail

Dear John, The geometry of this intersection cre-

ates long crosswalks. As a result, the traffi c signal cycle includes an exclusive phase for pedestrians to cross without turning vehicles. The New York City Department of Transportation has since studied the inter-section and found that, although it might be short, the green light is long enough to allow the number of cars waiting at the light to clear the intersection.

Transit Sam

Confused about ever changing traffi c regu-lations and transit operations? Need winter driving tips or help navigating around lower Manhattan? Want to know when the President next comes to town, or which line is next for the MTA’s new FASTRACK program? If so, please e-mail [email protected] or write to Transit Sam, 611 Broadway, Suite 415, New York, NY 10012

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Transit SamThe Answer man



TALKING POINT

BY CARL ROSENSTEINThe restless spirits of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs were

hovering over the proceedings at the big town hall meeting concerning N.Y.U.’s massive expansion plan and ULURP. There, the Angry Buddhist, seeker only of truth, was labeled a “heckler” by crack Villager reporter Al Amateau, when all I loudly demanded of Councilmember Chin was to “state your position!” The Villager editorial board should do so much.

This New York University proposal is not new. It has been on Chin’s desk for the two years she has been councilmem-ber of Chinatown. Chin’s cloying comment, “I feel your passion and commitment to the issue” was disingenuous, manipulative and insulting to the 500 adults in the room. She was addressing us like fi rst graders, in the same man-ner ruthless power broker Robert Moses would chide Jane Jacobs and Villagers, decades ago, for their opposition to his urban renewal plans that would have fl attened the West Village; thus my “heckle” — “What is your position?”

Chin, coy as ever and in top form, refused to answer, but claimed all 51 councilmembers will decide the matter. This is bogus. Council protocol demands that if the councilmember from the district impacted by a purely local land-use matter vociferously opposes the proposal, the colleagues will fall in line. This happened precisely last fall when Chin had her colleagues, with no opposition save for Rosie Mendez, over-turn the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation of 135 Bowery, an 1817 Federal building, on behalf of her friends at the First American International Bank. This N.Y.U. ULURP is too important for vagueness.

Chin has used the same delaying and obfuscating strategy regarding the proposed Soho Business Improvement District. The Soho BID has been nearly unanimously opposed by Community Board 2, as well as by Assemblymember Deborah Glick, state Senator Daniel Squadron and several thousand Soho residents, plus The Villager. And the Soho BID process has clearly been marred by ballot fraud instituted by the BID proponents. Yet, all this is still not enough for Chin to have stated her clear, conclusive and fi nal position, yea or nay, to this day. What contemptuous, premeditated gall.

The Soho BID legislation now sits in the offi ce of the councilmember from Coney Island, Domenic Recchia, the chairperson of the Council’s Finance Committee. Recchia is the scoundrel who engineered the Coney Island upzoning change from amusements to retail and the $94 million land swindle that pocketed Thor Equities a $60 million profi t at taxpayer expense. This is New York City land-use politics at its dirtiest.

Chin is certainly the linchpin, though, in this enormous ULURP. Pro-real estate chum Speaker Christine Quinn will certainly have enormous infl uence, though her power will ebb in 2012, as does her 13th — I mean, third — and fi nal term.

The implications of this ULURP are as enormous as the ironies. Moses created the two N.Y.U. superblocks in the early 1950s when existing 19th-century commercial build-ings similar to the surrounding extant streets were deter-mined “blighted.” As pointed out by Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the rationale of urban renewal was to demolish obsolete “slums” defi cient in light and air and to replace them with projects including expanses of green space in perpetuity between new towers that were allowed to exceed existing zoning height limitations. This was a great boon to developers. Jane Jacobs argued vehemently against urban renewal in her seminal “The Death and Life of Great American Cities.” Jacobs was right most of the time, but in the case of the Le Corbusier-inspired Washington Square Village and the handsome I.M. Pei Silver Towers, the outcome, after 50 years, due in large part to the verdant landscaping and mature trees, must be determined a success. The housing projects in Red Hook are

another story.So fast-forward 60 years and we have N.Y.U. trying to

infi ll these superblocks with massive commercial construc-tion. Robert Moses would be aghast and so would Jane Jacobs. Moses as Shiva, the master builder and destroyer, and Jacobs as Brahma, the urban savior and creator, brought together by destiny and locked for eternity in battle, would be locked arm and arm protesting this proposal. Not only because it would destroy the existence and rationale of this rare urban renewal success, but also because it would open the fl oodgates to ULURP for all the other superblocks around the city. All of that open space. Big real estate is salivating. This is the precedent they need. Something this big emanates from the top. The mayor is surely involved deeply.

So, will Chin be a handmaiden for our imperial mayor and the ambitious Council speaker, just another sordid bit player trolling for bigger stakes in the real estate juggernaut that has been choking the life and authenticity out of our

city for decades? Again, Councilmember Chin, “What is your position?”

Unless the community leaders on C.B. 2 who “have our back” demonstrate defi ant integrity, and unless Borough President Scott Stringer is a mensch and not a mouse, and unless the sycophants of the D.I.D. — or Defeated and Irrelevant Democrats — immediately fi eld a candidate to begin the critical 2013 campaign to unseat Chin, I am upping the 10-to-1 odds I have been offering on Chin defaulting to N.Y.U. to 25-to-1. Bets can be placed via Al Amateau. OMMMMMMMMMM.

And Prince Arjuna asked Krishna, “What makes man sin?”

“Greed, lust, anger. All is clouded by desire. Like a mirror by dust and a fi re by smoke.”

The Bhagavad Gita

Notes from a heckler: The Angry Buddhist returns

Photo by Tequila Minsky

Councilmember Margaret Chin, speaking at the recent “Community United Town Hall on N.Y.U. 2031,” is feeling the heat — and not just from the Angry Buddhist — from constituents impatient to know where she stands on the university’s superblocks mega-development plan.

Weekend limited-service stops can leave straphangers stranded.

IRA BLUTREICH


BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER

B.P.C.A. SEVERANCE POLICY: At the Battery Park City Authority’s Board of Directors meeting on Dec. 20, 2011, B.P.C.A. chairman William C. Thompson, Jr. announced that a new severance policy for the Authority would be developed within the next week to 10 days and that it would apply retroactively to the 19 B.P.C.A. employees who were dismissed on Nov. 9. “The Board is authorizing me to approve that policy, and what we will do is offi cially ratify that policy at the next board meeting,” he said.

As of Jan. 17, 2012, a severance policy is in place, but Matthew Monahan, a spokesman for the Authority, said he was unable to reveal the details until those directly affected had received letters about their severance from the Authority. “A policy was drafted,” Monahan said, “and was approved by the Board.” He said that letters about severance had been mailed to the former 19 employees, but he did not know when they had gone out.

RATS: On Thursday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m., representatives of the B.P.C.A. and the Battery

Park City Parks Conservancy will talk about rats with Dr. Stephen Frantz, a professor of public health at S.U.N.Y. Albany, who knows what can be done to keep the rodents at bay. “It would be foolhardy to suggest rats can be eliminated,” the Authority said in a press release, “but by reducing their food supply, we can reduce the attractiveness of this area to them.” People who feed squirrels and birds are also inadvertently feeding rats, the Authority said.

The free meeting will be held at 6 River Terrace, next to Le Pain Quotidien, across from the Irish Hunger Memorial.

BOOKS: On Saturday of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, a box of books appeared at the corner of Rector Place and South End Avenue in Battery Park City. Taped to the lid was a sign that said, “Enjoy!” The box contained such items as “Great Railway Journeys of the World,” “The Annotated Frankenstein” and “Let it Come Down” by Paul Bowles along with an assortment of other novels, homosexual erotica and reference books. The next day, there were more books with a sign that said, “Whole new batch! (Last one).” Someone had scrawled, “Thank you!”

under the donor’s sign. This time there were travel guides to London and the Yucatan and a volume called “Italian Pride: 101 Reasons to be Proud You’re Italian.” A few hours later, some of these offerings had been snapped up and a few new ones had appeared: “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White and a law dictionary among them. Like the loaves and fi shes in the Bible, the box seemed to have become an inexhaustible cornucopia, sprout-ing new books even as old ones disappeared. Monday, the box was still there. Someone had arranged the books tidily, spines upward. A cursory inspection revealed that a hardbound copy of “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown had been added to the mix. Twenty minutes later, it was gone. A guide to Portuguese wines had been less popular. It had languished in the box for several hours until an Italian tourist spotted it. “Are these really free?” she won-dered. A passer-by said, “Yes,” and the tourist went down the street with her treasure.

By Tuesday morning the book box at the corner of Rector Place and South End Avenue was gone. Maybe that was just as well. It had rained during the night and the books would have become soggy, but it added a little mys-tery and fun to the streetscape while it lasted.

BROOKFIELD ENTERTAINS: On Saturday, Jan. 14, Lower Manhattan’s Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Gary Fagin gave a knockout performance of some hearty American music in the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center — owned by Brookfi eld Properties. The free concert honored the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty and the 200th anniversa-ry of Castle Clinton in Battery Park with pieces such as “Liberty Fanfare” by John Williams and “John Henry” by Aaron Copland. Judy Kuhn, a Broadway star who has been nomi-nated for Tony and Drama Desk awards and who lives in Tribeca, was powerful and affect-ing as she sang “Annie Laurie,” a traditional Scottish ballad and “Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway” by Stephen Foster. These were

the kinds of songs that would have been sung by Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale,” who in 1850 made her American debut in Castle Clinton with the help of P.T. Barnum, — no slouch at attracting crowds. Kuhn topped off her set with a funny rendition of “I Said No” from a 1942 Styne and Loesser musical called “Sweater Girl.” The evening concluded with a John Philip Sousa waltz, “La Reine de la Mer.” Fagin invited the audience to get up and dance, and many did.

Because of construction at 2 World Financial Center, the hallway to the south of the Winter Garden had been blocked off and baffl es had been hung on the mezzanine level. This led to acoustics that were better than ever, with a more robust sound from the orchestra and little distracting noise from elsewhere in the building. Debra Simon, vice president of Brookfi eld, who is in charge of arts program-ming, said that Brookfi eld would study the acoustics as construction proceeds at 2 World Financial Center.

The artists who perform in the Winter Garden are paid by Brookfi eld and all the programs are free to the public. This is a boon to both the performers and the audience. The arts groups get a paycheck and the public gets arts programming of the highest quality. “It’s a great gift!” said one audience member happily, after the Knickerbocker concert.

Next up in the Winter Garden will be a Chinese lunar New Year celebration on Jan. 28 with crafts, calligraphy and a variety of dances and from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, a four-day festival of the haunting fi lms of Bill Morrison, who uses re-edited silent fi lm footage to tell stories of communal and personal history. The opening and closing nights of the Bill Morrison festival will feature live musical accompani-ments. For more information, go to http://www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com/cgi-bin/Go.cgi?q_id=1188.

To comment on Battery Park City Beat or to suggest article ideas, email [email protected].

Downtown Express photos by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Soprano Judy Kuhn and members of the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra during a concert of American music at the Winter Garden in Battery Park City on Jan. 14. The free concert was underwritten by Brookfi eld Properties, which owns the World Financial Center

Over the M.L.K. Jr. holiday weekend, boxes of free books appeared at the corner of Rector Place and South End Avenue. For several days, the ever-replenished supply added a little mystery and fun to the streetscape.


277 Water St 212.444.9443 www.samsaracafe.com

WE’RE OFFERING OUR REGULAR MENU ALONG WITH

VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIALS,INCLUDING A COMPLIMENTARY

GLASS OF CHAMPAGNE.

CALL TODAY TO MAKEYOUR RESERVATIONS.

Photo by Marlis Momber

Electricity was in the airTraffi c was temporarily stopped on Avenue A between Fourth and Sixth Sts. Saturday night, and a large crowd gathered to watch, as Con Ed removed a transformer from the Fifth St. substation and loaded it onto a huge fl atbed truck for removal. Sunday morning the scene repeated, with a replacement transformer being hoisted into the substation, above.

Jefferson Siegel


My times with Taylor MeadBY CLAYTON PATTERSON

I first met Taylor Mead at the Limelight nightclub in 1986. Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey of the band the The Fabulous Pop Tarts had a Sunday night cable TV show they shot at the Limelight. They would interview underground and nearly aboveground celebrities. Taylor was one of the invited “superstars.”

I would photograph the striving-to-be-mainstream celebrities before they went on the program, and Nelson Sullivan, the original 1980s creative video impresario, with his handheld, state-of-the-art, com-mercially available video camera, would flush out the glamorous part of the wait-ing characters.

My next Limelight recollection of Taylor is when Screaming Rachael, Jeremiah Newton and I created a cable award show called “The Nelsons,” in memory of Nelson Sullivan. The Nelsons were given to people we thought made a significant contribution to the kind of cable TV we appreciated. Taylor was a recipient of one of these awards.

In 1987 when Dennis Hopper had his brilliant photo exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery I videotaped the open-ing. Even though Jim Jarmusch, Julian Schnabel, Matt Dillon and other movie/artist celebrities were there, one of the most poignant moments in the video was when Taylor came in and Dennis and Taylor reunited again for the first time in many years. A truly classic moment. You could see Hopper was truly surprised and appreciative to see his old friend.

On First St. between Avenue A and First Ave. there was a tiny little jewel of a store, Little Ricky’s, which sold almost every kind of small item, masterpiece of kitsch and just about any type of knick-knack one could imagine as cool and a must-have. This was before Little Ricky’s moved to First Ave. and Third St. In this mini-paradise I bought, for $5, a copy of “Taylor Mead On Amphetamine and in Europe” (Boss Books, 1968).

The Ludlow St. block my friend Taylor lives on, pre-gentrification, was a danger-ous war zone run by a crew called the Ludlow Boys. The Ludlow Boys sold a brand of heroin called Hell Raiser. The block was treacherous for those who had no business being there. But the Boys were all local and Taylor was a known and loved member of the community. One quality that made him an endearing neigh-borhood figure was his self-proclaimed duty to feed the local feral cats. Taylor was that hardly visible shadowy figure, seen late in the night, dropping off open cans of cat food under fences and in vacant lots.

I used to wonder how Taylor stayed so active and healthy. He told me he walked 80 blocks a day. The fact that he lived on the top floor, five flights up, in an old ten-ement building also helped to keep him in shape. O.K., that kept him healthy, but sometimes his drinking would interfere with his physical fitness. I remember one

time he came home drunk and fell down the stairs, fracturing his wrist. I photo-graphed his injury and then contacted his old friend and supporter Baird Jones. Baird got a New York Post Page 6 item on Taylor and people reached out to offer him whatever kind of help they could provide.

On numerous occasions I would pho-tograph Taylor when I would see him on the street, or in the JAE Bodega, at 99

Stanton St., buying cat food, or at one of his favorite eating places, Lucien’s Restaurant or the Pink Pony. Lucien and his wife, Phyllis, and Zac, their son, love and adore Taylor. When Taylor comes into one of these two fine-dining establish-ments they treat him like the Ludlow St. Grand Poo-Bah. Lucien always has him sit at his personal table. On Monday nights at the Pink Pony, Zac and I ran a dine-and-film club. Anton Perish came and

screened his “Candy and Daddy” movie, staring Candy Darling and Taylor Mead.

One of the most important videos that Elsa Rensaa, my wife, and I made for Taylor was when his landlord was doing everything in his power, legal and ille-gal, to evict him from his rent-stabilized apartment. Pre-gentrification it was hard to rent these run-down dumps. Post-gentrification the monthly rent for the tiny, two-room hovel would cost more than a two-week holiday in Spain.

Both Elsa and I were disgusted at the landlord’s determination to evict his octogenarian tenant. His apartment was overrun with roaches, the plaster was fall-ing off the walls, the place had not been painted in decades, the bathroom had no door, the faucets leaked, a large portion of the plaster ceiling was bulging and ready to fall. The building violation that I felt was the most hazardous was a hole in his bedroom ceiling. Above his bed was an opening large enough that I could stick my head through and see the great outdoors. When it rained or snowed the drops or flakes would fall onto Taylor’s bed.

Thankfully, Amy Wallen, the direc-tor of “The General Returns,” in which Taylor had acted, took it on as her mission to fight this case in court. She satisfied all of the judge’s demands, like cleaning up the apartment, getting rid of the roaches, sweeping the floors and cleaning up all the cat litter that Taylor’s cats kicked onto the floor. She contacted Cindy Carr, who wrote an exposé in the Village Voice on this life-threatening crime. And Elsa and I provided the photographic and video evidence of the disastrous living conditions. Amy was diligent, she did the hard cleanup work and spent the hours preparing the case and going to the God-forbidden place known as Housing Court. She won the case and Taylor’s home was saved. Sadly, prior to the cleanup, the landlord sent some thugs to clean up the apartment and they bagged up many of Taylor’s artistic creations and personal belong-ings and threw them out.

Shows I have had at the Clayton Gallery and Outlaw Art Museum that included Taylor include “The ’80s: 326 Years of Hip,” curated by Anne Loretto, Clayton Patterson and James Rasin; “A Group Exhibition of Four Octogenarian Artists, With Boris Lurie, Mary Beach, Herbert Huncke and Taylor Mead”; “Wild Boys, Bad Boys, Outsiders and Originals, The Heavyweights | Tompkins Square Park Police Riots: 1988 to 1998, Then ’til Now,” curated by Chris Kelley and Alfredo Martinez.

For more information, see “Twenty Questions With Taylor Mead in Love,” by Michael Bowen, as well as “Captured: A Film Video History of the Lower East Side, curated and produced by Clayton Patterson, edited by Clayton Patterson, Paul Bartlett and Urania Mylonas (Seven Stories Press).

Photos by Clayton Patterson

Taylor Mead in a theater performance on the hopping Lower East Side.

Taylor Mead, left, and restaurateur Lucien, one of his biggest fans.


BY JANEL BLADOWChilly, quiet MLK Day in the hood. Were

people actually refl ecting on the Dream or hitting slopes and sales elsewhere? Hopefully there are people dreaming and someday their dreams will come true.

CELEBRATING LADY… January 9 saw friends gather around and wish Markie Myers a happy birthday. The fun lady and crew hoisted a few at the “clubhouse” – Meade’s, on Peck Slip and Water St. Festivities contin-ued all week as friends and family joined her and mate Dave Richter and their little Ellis in celebrations. SR wishes lovely Markie many, many more happy birthdays!

CELEBRITY SIGHTING… Another pretty woman graced the hood two nights later. Actress Amy Carlson from the TV hit show Blue Bloods brought some friends to SamSara, 277 Water St., for fun and great food. The pert blonde actress who plays Linda Reagan on the family of cops show shared food, drinks and laughs with a group of friends.

JAM SESSION… While this is the quiet season when most of us are trying to keep the dopey New Year’s resolutions we made at

the beginning of the month (not!), some of us still want to have fun. Check out Cowgirl Seahorse, 259 Front St., on Monday, Jan. 23, 8 p.m., for some serious foot-stomping. The Crusty Gentlemen get their swing on and play their rocking bluegrass music for a night of fun. When this quartet starts pluck-ing, things heat up! What better way to get the chill off in January?

WRITE A ROMANCE… And speaking of heat… As reported by John Bayles in Downtown Express last week, the Alliance for Downtown for New York is sponsoring a contest for the most romantic downtown love story for Valentine’s Day. Enter the Lower Manhattan Love Story contest and you and yours could win dinner for two at the lovely Wall & Water restaurant and a romantic weekend night at the posh Andaz Wall Street hotel. That’s not all; Greenwich Jewelers is adding a $250 gift certifi cate to its store. All you have to do is write in 500 words or less the story of how you fell in love below Chambers Street, either with your signifi cant other or with the actual neighbor-hood. Deadline is February 8. Email entries to [email protected] or mail to Downtown Alliance, Att: Lower Manhattan Love Story, 120 Broadway, Suite 3340, NY,

NY 10271 by 12:59 pm Feb. 8. For more details and rules, visit www.downtownny.com.

PEACE OF MIND… If you are like SR and already broke most of your New Year’s resolutions, then you might want to get some free mental focusing. Every Wednesday through Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m., the Transcendental Meditation program of Lower Manhattan, 80 Broad St., offers free introductory talks about how meditation releaves stress, develops happiness and cre-ativity and improves health and well being. Reservations required. For more info and to reserve, go to www.TM.org/nyc.

GET YOUR GAME ON… So who isn’t excited that the Giants are possible contend-ers for Super Bowl XLVI? Well, maybe SR who watched the Packers fold and play their worst game this season on Sunday. But, I digress. We’re moving forward and if the Gits make it, we’d be thrilled. So will almost every bar in NYC. So where will you watch the big game? If you aren’t having a party or invited to one, the best bet is to visit one of the great bars in our hood. SR took a stroll the other day to check out big screens, best seats and super snacks for Super Bowl

Sunday, Feb. 5. Here are our favs:Best view & brew: Vino NYC Beer

& Wine, 3rd fl oor, Pier 17 Market, is at the end of the pier with two medium TV screens to watch the game and sweep-ing 180-degree views of the East River, Brooklyn and bridges. The big plus is that you have your choice of snacks from the many mall food shops – wings, dumplings, burgers and more.

Best seaside sports bar: Fish Market, 111 South St. Several TV sets line the back bar of this tiny old school dive-like pub/restau-rant. Great for seafood grub like oysters, clams and calamari, and a pint.

Best for a swill time: The Paris Café, 119 South St., is a premiere place to watch sports with its horseshoe-shaped bar and multiple large screens hung overhead; Not to overlook their dynamite burger.

Best sports bar ever: Jeremy’s Ale House, 228 Front St. Okay so SR has a special place in our hearts for one of the oldest, fun-nest, grooviest, grimiest, craziest clubhouses in the Port. Big, boisterous and badass, Jeremy’s is a fave place to watch sports with it frat-house feel and big screens everywhere. Buckets of beer and lots of fried foods to sop up the suds – a winner for watching the home team.

SEAPORT REPORT

BY MARSHALL JAMES KAVANAUGHDuring Mayor Bloomberg’s State of the

City address last Thursday, he again brought up the city’s dedication to bring more bicycles to city streets. The city originally announced last year that in the summer of 2012 it would begin the nation’s largest bike share program.

The program will be run by Alta Bicycle Share, a company that already manages the bicycle share programs in Washington D.C., Boston, and Melbourne, Australia. The pro-gram will feature a total of 10,000 bicycles available at stations throughout Manhattan as well as in Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Park Slope, downtown Brooklyn, and areas in between.

Alta Bicycle Share will raise a private investment of $50 million to fund costs for this program, and not use taxpayer dollars. To become a member it will cost an annual fee of $100. Members will be able to use bikes for up to 30 minutes for no additional charge. Alta has still not announced how much it will cost beyond that time, but in Washington DC users pay $1.50 for 30 min-utes to one hour, $3.00 for up to 90 minutes, and $6.00 for every 90 minutes after that. There will also be daily and short-term rates for fi rst time users.

The city Department of Transportation has set up a website for NYC residents to vote on sites where the city should place bike

share stations. Tribeca proves to become a very popular hub for bike share traffi c with plenty of stations voted on close to resi-dences and workplaces. Weather permitting,

getting from point A to point B may become a much easier task this summer for Tribeca residents who need to travel short distances across town.

On Monday some resident bicyclists braving the cold January weather remarked on the possibility of the Bike Share pro-gram coming to their neighborhood. One Tribeca resident, Debra, said she hoped more people would be using the program causing “cars to become more aware and respectful of the increased amount of riders.” She mentioned that she has her own personal collection of bicycles spread out across town already, which she uses during her commute when outside of the neighborhood.

Another bicyclist, Phil, said he had used bike share programs in other cities and found them to be helpful. “It will be seasonal though with more use likely in the summer,” he predicted and then looked around at the cold, wet weather conditions. “In the winter, not so much.”

Though there were a few commuters who were not already aware of the bike share program, there was no one who had any-thing negative to say about it. If everything goes as planned, this summer the streets of Tribeca will become full of bikes and bike share patrons. Remember to bring a hel-met though, as Alta Bicycle Share has not announced any plans to include these as part of the rental.

For more information and to vote on a bike station near you, www.nyc.gov/bike-share.

Tribeca could be prime locale for bike share program

Downtown Express photo by Marshall James Kavanaugh

A bike rack at the corner of Greenwich and N. Moore Sts. in Tribeca is usually full and is proof the city’s bike share program could be a hit in the bike-friendly neigh-borhood.


W.T.C. Command Center unpopular with locals

of the Varick Street pedestrian crosswalks. The situation has gotten so bad, Marra said, that he has seen

the MTA M20 bus resort to unloading passangers in the middle of Varick Street rather than at the nearby bus stop.

“From a community perspective, the unwise choice to put the Command Center in a residential neighborhood is clear – police cruisers, the civilian cars of offi cers, and the small interceptor vehicles are too numerous to physically fi t in the neighborhood,” said Marra.

Short of the NYPD fi nding a local parking lot to park their vehicles in, Marra said, “I think we have the right to expect that at least those offi cers who park personal or offi cial vehicles in the neighborhood will stay will stay away from hydrants, not park in places that cause visibility or other traffi c dangers to pedestrians, and keep sidewalks open.”

A police van routinely parked in the crosswalk makes the turn especially dangerous, according to Marra, who frets about the safety of his two young children.

“We taught the kids to walk against the North Moore pedes-trian light, because it’s way more dangerous to cross when you have the light with cars making a turn from Varick Street,” said Marra.

“It’s really hard to get visibility on that corner, and cars are making sharp turns [onto North Moore Street] at relatively high speeds,” echoed Allen Murabayashi, president of the board at 25 N. Moore St. “It’s just an unsafe atmsophere for what really is a family-oriented block.”

Signage is in place to remind cops of the parking regulations, and the Police Department would take internal disciplinary action ranging from verbal warnings to summonses to the towing of vehicles if the rules are violated, according to Sergeant George

Giga. Varick Street is especially packed with parked cars these days because the space is shared between the Command Center, the First Precinct and Transit District Two, he noted.

“Within the Police Department, there’s a big ‘no-no’ to park vehicles in crosswalks or hydrants, unless it’s an emergency,” said Giga.

The C.B. 1 Tribeca Committee is drafting a resolution requesting that the Command Center and the NYPD take

additional enforcement steps to address the parking issue. “The volume [of cars] doesn’t work in our neighborhood, so we’re formally requesting that the NYPD take more action on this and try to improve it,” said Committee Chair Peter Braus.

A dangerous intersection isn’t the only problem that came with the Command Center’s creation last year; a stairwell the Command Center constructed last summer has also caused concern.

The stairs’ installation, which required the partial demolition of a brick wall inside the landmarked First Precinct building, is scheduled for review by the city Landmarks Preservation Commission at a Feb. 7 hearing, according to L.P.C. Spokesperson Lisi de Bourbon. The three-story building, constructed in the early 1900s, is landmarked for its neo-Renaissance design, according to data provided by the L.P.C.

“A permit was required prior to the installation of the stair-case,” said de Bourbon, “but we issued no violations or warning letters because the Police Department submitted an application for a review of the work after we contacted them.”

Light and noise emanating from the stairwell was disturb-ing residents that live in the adjacent building at 27 N. Moore St., prompting complaints to the Police Department in the fall. The Police Department made an effort to resolve the problem in early December, when the Command Center removed half of the stairwells’ light bulbs and painted the sides of the remaning light fi xtures black, according to Giga. Residents of 27 N. Moore St. couldn’t be reached for comment.

“Neither [tactic] was satisfactory, so they put up a wall,” said Giga. “I was in one of the [adjacent] apartments, so I defi nitely understood their grief.”

The Command Center, which deploys more than 200 police offi cers to monitor possible terrorism activity in and around the W.T.C. site, is still slated to move to 4 W.T.C. in approximately two years.

Cold Outside?JUMP INSIDE THE GAME

Join the Blasters!Play your way to fitness

Register Now for

Winter & Spring Programs✹ Out of This World Birthdays

✹ After School Series✹ Date Night Drop Offs

✹ NEW: Preschooler Blast, Bend & Breathe

The only video game-inspired adventure gymCheck for Special Promotions www.exerblast.com | 100 Reade Street | 888.898.9797


The new W.T.C. Command Center at the NYPD’s First Precint in Tribeca is more of a pain and less of a com-fort for nearby residents.



so far. While cops have handcuffed 2,764 salesmen since the Canal Street initiative began, 85 percent of the arrests led only to misdemeanor charges, according to N.Y.P.D. statistics.

“The charges are not sticking in court, and the vendors often get a small [amount] of community service [as punishment],” noted LeRoy. “No repeat offenders are being put in jail. You arrest them one day, and they’ll be out the next.”

Councilmember Margaret Chin believes that to success-fully tackle the problem the city needs to target the demand side of the trade by educating and even penalizing counter-feit purchasers. She introduced a bill in the City Council last year that, if passed, would fi ne buyers up to $1,000 and carry a jail sentence of up to one year.

“This is really the smart and cost-effective way to lessen the demand,” said Chin of the law. “It gives [offi cers] anoth-er tool when they see this kind of activity going on.”

However, Councilmember Pete Valone, who chairs the City Council’s public safety committee, has reservations about the proposed enforcement method. He nevertheless plans to schedule a hearing for the bill in the early spring.

“I agree with [Councilmember Chin] that this is a serious problem and that we need to do some oversight on this topic,” said Valone. “But as a former prosecutor, I can tell you it would be a very, very diffi cult law to enforce. You would need proof beyond reasonable doubt, and I’m not sure that’s the best use of our undercover [offi cers] in New York City.”

“It seems easy enough to make arrests of the sellers,” Valone continued, “based on what’s going on.”

Both Cantor and Kapp support Chin’s bill and believe it could lessen the demand for fake merchandise. Kapp, for one, has often witnessed Canal Street vendors getting away

with the sales by playing “cat-and-mouse” with the cops. “The cops swing by, they fold up the blankets, and then

they stand there,” said Kapp. “The cops go down the street, they open up the blankets, and they put the merchandise [back] out on the sidewalk.”

For now, though, shoppers such as Alex Vasquez from

Essex County, New Jersey, can continue to buy knock-off merchandise without being penalized.

“I bought some colognes, some earrings and a chain for a total of $80,” said Vasquez. Asked about the counterfeit activity, he said, “I’m guessing if it’s going on, someone must have noticed and [is] allowing it.”


Tourists on Canal Street huddle over a pile of knock-off handbags on a recent afternoon.

Despite NYPD intiative, illegal vendors still thrivingContinued from page 5

opening in 2010, its greenmarket at Bowling Green has become a hotspot in the com-munity — so much so that it will be expanding in the coming months, accord-ing to Hurwitz. Hanover Square resident Renee Kopel, who frequents the market twice a week, said she missed it “terri-bly” during its one-week hiatus between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Kopel’s favorite snacks from the Bowling Green market are the pumpkin cupcakes and the apple cider donuts.

“We went in search of something decent for breakfast, and everything [else] just looks and tastes processed and is gener-ally more expensive,” said Kopel.

GrowNYC operates year-round green-markets at Broadway and Battery Place, Tuesday and Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and at Greenwich St. between Chambers and Duane Sts., Wednesday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. GrowNYC also runs greenmarkets at West Broadway between Barclay Street and Park Place every Tuesday from April 5 to Dec. 20, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and at South End Ave. at Liberty St., inside the cul-de-sac, every Thursday from April 7 to Dec. 22, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.grownyc.org.

Claims of unequal greenmarket distributionContinued from page 8

Downtown Express photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Residents east of Broadway are hoping their neighborhoods receive more greenmarkets in the coming year. Above, shoppers at the GrowNYC greenmarket in Battery Park City last summer.


BY ALBERT AMATEAUConstantine Sidamon-Eristoff, an environmental lawyer

and former New York region administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the George H.W. Bush administration, died at home in Manhattan at 81.

A Republican, he was a member of the M.T.A. board of directors for 15 years, having been appointed by New York Republican Governor Malcolm Wilson and reappointed by Democratic Governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo. Sidamon-Eristoff championed protect-ing land around the New York City watershed Upstate, which ultimately saved the city from having to build a $2 billion water-filtration plant.

Sidamon-Eristoff, a member of the Georgian aristo-

cratic family that emigrated from the Caucasus in the 1920s after the Soviet takeover of Russia, was born in Manhattan and graduated from Princeton in 1952 with a bachelor’s of science degree in geological engineering.

An officer in the U.S. Army Reserves, he served as a second lieutenant in the artillery during the Korean conflict, winning a Bronze Star and promotion to first lieutenant. After discharge from active service, he earned his law degree from Columbia in 1957.

He was chairman of the Audubon New York board of trustees and a member of the National Audubon Society board of trustees at his death.

He married Anne Phipps, a descendant of the family that created Phipps Houses in 1905 to build and man-

age low-and-middle-income housing. Sidamon-Eristoff was chairman emeritus and a member of Phipps Houses, which provides homes to more than 15,000 people and is actively developing 400 more apartments for low-and-middle-income residents.

In addition to his wife of 54 years, his son Andrew, a member of the New York City Council from 1993 to 1999, also survives, as do another son, Simon, and a daughter, Elizabeth, and eight grandchildren.

A public memorial service to be announced is planned for mid-February. Donations may be made in his memory to Audubon New York, 225 Varick St., N.Y., N.Y. 10014 or American Friends of Georgia, P.O. Box 1200, Truro, Mass., 02666.

Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff, city water protector

BY ALBERT AMATEAUJames J. Rizzi, a pop artist who was the first living art-

ist ever to be commissioned by the German government to design postage stamps, died suddenly on Dec. 26 in his Lafayette St. studio in Soho. He was 61.

Known for his 3D constructions, consisting of hand-colored prints mounted on top of each other with wires, he also designed the “Happy Rizzi House,” an exuber-antly painted office building in Braunschweig, Germany.

He also designed the exterior painting of a Boeing 757, the “Rizzi Bird” for Lufthansa’s charter Condor Airlines in 1996 and designed the painting of three Volkswagen New Beetles in 1999 for the German automaker.

Born to Dominick and Margaret Rizzi in Brooklyn, where he was raised, he graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and went to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla.

“He started paining as a child,” said his sister, Roberta Rizzi, “He drew all over his bedroom door,” she recalled.

James Rizzi developed his 3D constructions as a fine-

art student at the University of Florida, from which he was graduated in 1973. He had his first exhibits that year in the outdoor art shows around Washington Square Park and in Brooklyn Heights. Two years later he painted a 150-foot mural on the wall of a Sullivan St. building, which has since been demolished.

In 1980 he designed the album cover artwork for the Tom Tom Club, a music group, and later created anima-tion for the Tom Tom Club’s music video. He also under-took several design projects in Japan.

He was the official artist of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ga., and the next year was official artist for the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The first day of a 1997 retrospective of his work in Brooklyn, was officially declared James Rizzi Day in the borough.

A 2008 retrospective of his work included more than 1,000 of his pieces on display in the Rheingold Hall in Mainz, Germany, and attracted more than 50,000 paid visits.

His marriage to Gabrielle Hamill, a fashion designer, ended in divorce.

In addition to his sister, his mother and an older brother, William, also survive. A memorial was held at Perazzo Funeral Home, 199 Bleecker St., on Tues., Jan. 3.

James Rizzi, pop artist known for his 3D creations

James Rizzi.

BY ALBERT AMATEAUElisabeth Alice Moser, a resident of Pen and Brush,

16 E. 10th St., for 40 years until 2003, died Dec. 4 in Somers, N.Y., at age 85.

Born in Switzerland where she trained and worked as a psychiatric nurse, she came to New York in 1962 when she became a resident of Pen and Brush, a club dedicated to women in the arts.

She moved to an assisted-living residence in Somers in Westchester County eight years ago.

“My aunt loved the Village, attending plays and con-certs and watching people in Washington Square Park,” said her niece, Marianne DeBellis, of Malone, N.Y.

Elisabeth continued to work as a psychiatric nurse in New York and in later years worked as a private-care nurse until she retired in the 1990s, DeBellis said.

She was born in Arni, Switzerland, in the canton of Bern where her mother and father, Elise and Ernest Moser, were cheesemakers, her niece said.

“Elisabeth was incredibly generous,” recalled her friend Jill Wright, a former fellow Pen and Brush resi-dent. Once, when Elisabeth learned that a new resident

in the building had a relative who needed surgery, she knocked on her door, introduced herself, and offered financial help, recalled Wright, who moved from Pen and Brush in 2008. The club no longer has residential tenants and is selling its 1848 townhouse. Pen and Brush will continue as a women’s arts club at another location, said Dawn Delikat, director of the club’s art gallery.

Joan Barton DeCaro, another former Pen and Brush resident and a friend of Elisabeth’s for nearly 30 years, remembered her generous spirit and her love of theater.

“She was multilingual and spoke German, French and Italian — the official languages of Switzerland,” DeCaro added.

In addition to her niece, two sisters, Ann Marie Moser and Martine Gailloud, both of Switzerland, also survive, as do a nephew, Peter Kueng of Logan, Utah, three grandnephews and a great-grandniece. Two older sisters, Marguerite Kueng of Somers and Verena Moser of Switzerland, died earlier.

“At Elisabeth’s request, there were no formal funeral arrangements, and her family, friends and caregivers are celebrating the joys of Elisabeth’s life,” her niece said.

Elisabeth Moser, 85, longtime resident of arts club

OBITUARIES

Elisabeth Moser


Citing precedent, C.B. 1 denies props for Tribeca buildings

faces the aforementioned buildings, said he would lose natural sunlight that streams into his windows if the redesign plan were implemented.

“I’d nonetheless be supportive if they were making something beautiful there,” said Cantor, “but they’re destroying a beauti-ful building and cladding it with something that’s really not contextual. And the choice of materials is poor.”

Schelkle insisted, however, that the exist-ing façade of the two-story structure can’t be saved. “It has been altered many times over the years, and there are no records of what the original looked like,” he said. “There’s no way to restore it to what was there, because you don’t know what was there.”

Schelkle plans to present his design to the Landmarks Preservation Committee at its Feb. 7 meeting.

The C.B. 1 committee also vetoed a proposal to build a rooftop extension atop a residential building on Reade Street, claim-ing that endorsing the design would similarly contradict C.B. 1 principles.

Architect Carlos Zapata, famous for his design of the Cooper Square Hotel and other New York City buildings, presented a one-and-a-half story rooftop addition for 105-107 Reade St. and a modifi ed design

for the building’s cast-iron façade at C.B. 1’s Landmarks Committee meeting on Dec. 8.

The proposed rooftop addition would jibe well with the buildings it is sandwiched between, according to Zapata’s attorney, Frank Angelino.

“There is a two-story rooftop addition directly to the east, and another directly to the west,” said Angelino. “We’re no higher than those.”

The design comprises an outdoor pool and terrace as well as a consolidation of the building’s cooling machinery into a cooling tower.

“We’re proposing to move [the cooling equipment] into the rooftop addition in a manner where it’s concealed and mini-mizes the noise to the surroundings,” said Angelino.

The committee, however, advised Zapata and his team to go back to the drawing board, recommending that they transform the blueprint into a one-story rooftop addi-tion so as to reduce the rooftop’s visibility from street level. “Although your design is lovely… it’s been our tradition that [the landmarks committee] doesn’t accept pro-posals for two-story additions,” said commit-tee member Noel Jefferson.

Zapata committed to coming back to the committee with a revised proposal once he receives additional feedback on his design from the L.P.C. at an upcoming hearing.

The landmarks committee stopped accept-ing multi-story additions about a decade ago under the belief that they are discordant with the area’s historic buildings, according to Michael Levine, C.B. 1’s director of land use and planning.

“When they saw four-, fi ve-, and six-story additions on the south sides of Reade and Chambers Street, they said, ‘we don’t want it in the landmark district,’” said Levine. “The idea is, putting a modern building on top of an older building destroys the sense of the building.”

Zapata pleaded with the committee to approve the design, contending that the rooftop would be minimally visible from the street and that the proposed architectural changes are in keeping with the other build-ings on the block.

“We’re coming to this addition through research, and developing the design based on what exists,” said Zapata. “There must be a way to get to a point where you can do an addition that’s more than one story.”

“You’ll have to really struggle very hard,” replied Jefferson.


but with respect to those who have died, the city has rarely made the formal link.

CONDE NAST SIGNS OFF FOR MORE SPACE AT ONE W.T.C.

Media giant Conde Nast will be expand-ing its square footage at One World Trade Center by more than 100,000 square feet on fl oors 42 through 44, according to a report fi rst published in the New York Post.

Once the deal is fi nalized, the company, which last spring signed a 25-year, $2 billion lease with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, will possess 24 fl oors -- or 1.2 million square feet – of space in the future skyscraper. Conde Nast is expected to move into the building in 2015, according to a pre-vious report by the Downtown Express.

Neither a representative of Cushman & Wakefi eld, the leasing agent of One W.T.C., nor a Port Authority spokesperson would confi rm the news. Both offi cials declined to comment. Conde Nast, meanwhile, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Downtown DigestContinued from page 6


Architect Corie Sharples also applauded the design. “It seems like your research shows this wasn’t a formally planned, for-mally designed space, so I feel like you’re not detracting from the historic [element],” she said.

On a separate note, new promising initiatives mentioned by Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his Jan. 12 State of the City address may be brought to Governors Island in the near future. “Out in the har-bor, we’ll continue to be transforming the island… with 30 new acres of parkland that will make Governors Island one of the great waterfront destinations in the world,” said Bloomberg during his speech.

In particular, Bloomberg discussed “Space Works,” a city-launched organiza-tion that would secure long-term affordable

rehearsal and studio space for artists at loca-tions around the city that would possibly include Governors Island.

Koch said she would embrace the pro-gram. “We’ve become an extra destination for arts and culture – one of our tenants, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, runs year-round – and we’d love to see even more artist activity on the island, both as [part of] our public access programming calendar and our year-round tenancy,” said Koch. “We’re excited about New York continuing to be a capital for the creation of art, and for Governors Island to play a leadership role in that.”

Bloomberg also talked about a new joint initiative between the city and AT&T that would launch WiFi service in dozens of city parks. Koch said of the initiative, “It’s not an active project at this time, but it’s some-thing we would welcome at some point in the future.”

Debating history of Liggett Terrace

p a

Jazz on Sundays8-11 pm

Gabriel’s BrunchSat & Sun 11am - 4pm

16 N. Moore St. (at Varick) • 212-941-0142Open 7 days 11am - 4am


Keep on top of local crime,every week in THE POLICE BLOTTER


THE PICCOLINI TRIO: CIRCUS IN A TRUNK Just for the record, we have it on good authority that performers booked for shows at the Canal Park Playhouse almost always show up. But that’s not the case when The Piccolini Trio sits down to enjoy a performance from a circus that never arrives. For-tunately, clowns always travel with an antique trunk full of all the props, costumes and surprises necessary for putting on a show of their own. Combining contemporary as well as classic European clowning, the Piccolinis (Joshua Shack, John Stork and Joy Powers) also draw from the collective experience of having performed with the likes of Circus Smirkus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and the Mos-cow State Circus. The result is a repertoire of routines that use music, acrobatics, physical comedy, juggling and panto-mime in unique and unexpected ways. Their show, “Circus in a Trunk,” is part of Canal Park Playhouse’s Classic Brunch Matinee series — at which audience members can enjoy a selection of items from The Waffle Iron Café (open from 10am-6:30pm on Saturdays and Sundays, for ticket holders only). Among the Café’s repertoire: Hot-off-the-waffle-iron spinach, mushroom, smoked chicken sausage frittatas; French toast and traditional Belgian waffles. Greek yogurt, granola and fresh fruit provide a nice alternative to those making good on their New Year’s resolution to live on slightly less grease and sugar. Appropriate for all ages. Through Sun., Jan. 29; Sat. and Sun., at 2pm and 4pm. At Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal St., btw. Greenwich and West Sts.). General admission is $20, with a pre or post-show pre-fixe brunch available for an additional $8 in advance or $10 at the door. For reservations or more info, call 866-811-4111 or visit canalparkplayhouse.com. For info on the artists, visit piccolinitrio.com.

THE BULLY This musical from Vital Children’s Theatre (part of their touring repertoire since 2005) returns to NYC for an extended run. “The Bully” tells the story of a bus mix-up stranding Lenny (the nerd) and Steve (the bully) at the wrong school — where they both get picked on for being “the new kids.” When the boys are forced to work together to get back to their school, they begin to learn that they might not be so different after all. Appropriate for ages 4-12. Through Feb. 26; Sat. & Sun. at 11am & 1pm. Weekday 11am & 1pm school holiday performances on Jan. 27 and Feb. 20, 21, 22,

23. At Vital Theatre (2162 Broadway, 4th Floor, on the North East Corner of 76th St. and Broadway). Tickets are $25 (seat-ing in the first three rows, $30). For reservations, visit call 212-579-0528 or visit vitaltheatre.org.

JIM HENSON’S FANTASTIC WORLD If you grew up on “Sesame Street” and have seen the new Muppet reboot cur-rently in theaters (“The Muppets”), then a seen visit to this exhibit is a must. “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World” has much more to offer than just the chance to see Miss Piggy and Ker-mit under glass. There are also drawings, storyboards, props and a reel of witty commercials from the black and white era of television. “Fantastic World” can be seen through March 4. At the Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave., Asto-ria). Museum hours: Tues.-Thurs., 10:30am-5pm. Fri., 10:30am-8pm. Sat. & Sun., 10:30am-7pm. Admission: $10 for adults; $7.50 for college students and seniors; $5 for children under 18 (free for members and children under three). Free admission every Fri., from 4-8pm. For info and a full schedule of events, visit movingimage.us — or call 718-777-6888.

THE FROG PRINCE The Galli Theater’s season continues with “The Frog Prince” (through Jan.29) and Aladdin (through Feb. 26). These productions are appropriate for all ages. All shows take place at 347 W. 36th St. (btw. 8th & 9th Aves.). For tickets ($20 for adults, $15 for children), call 212-352-3101 or visit web.ovationtix.com. Also visit gallitheaterny.com.

POETS HOUSE The Poets House Children’s Room gives children and their parents a gateway to enter the world of rhyme — through readings, group activities and interactive performances. For children ages 1-3, the Children’s Room offers “Tiny Poets Time” readings on Thursdays at 10am; for those ages 4-10, “Weekly Poetry Readings” on Saturdays at 11am. Filled with poetry books, old-fashioned typewriters and a card catalogue packed with poetic objects to trigger inspiration, the Children’s Room is open Thurs.-Sat., 11am-5pm. Free admission. At 10 River Terrace. Call 212-431-7920 or visit poetshouse.org.

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF THE ARTS Explore painting, collage and sculpture through self-guided arts projects at

this museum dedicated to inspiring the artist within. Open art stations are ongoing throughout the afternoon — giving children the opportunity to experiment with materials such as paint, clay, fabric, paper and found objects. Museum

hours: Mon. & Wed., 12-5pm; Thurs.-Fri., 12-6pm; Sat.-Sun., 10am-6pm. Admission: $10; free for seniors and infants (0-12 months). Pay as you wish on Thurs., 4-6pm. At 103 Charlton St. (btw. Hudson and Greenwich Sts.). Call 212-274-0986 or visit cmany.org. For group tours, call 212-274-0986, ext. 31.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR EVENT LISTED IN THE DOWNTOWN EXPRESS? Send information to [email protected]. Please provide the date, time, location, price and a description of the event. Information may also be mailed to 515 Canal Street, Unit 1C, New York City, NY 10013. Requests must be received at least three weeks before the event. Questions? Call 646-452-2497.

Moving Visions’ Murray Street StudioA Wise Choice for your child’s dance education!

Dance for Children and Teens• Modern Ballet (ages 5-18) • Choreography (ages 8 & up)

• Creative Movement/Pre-Ballet (ages 3-5)

19 Murray St., 3rd Fl. (Bet. Broadway and Church)

212-608-7681 (day)www.murraystreetdance.com

ADULT CLASSES Yoga - Tai Chi • Chi/Dance/Exercise for Women

YOUTHACTIVITIES

Photo courtesy of Chinese Theatre Works

January 28: The Chinese Theater Works performs the shadow puppet show “Tiger Tales” as part of the Children’s Museum of the Arts’ Lunar New Year Festival.

TIGER TALESOn January 28, in celebration of the Lunar New Year, the Children’s Museum of the

Arts will explore the arts and culture of New York’s Chinese community. The festival will include a variety of visual art experiences to teach families and children about traditional and contemporary arts in China. The Chinese Theater Works will perform “Tiger Tales” — a shadow puppet show. The day will be capped off by a special performance of the Chinese Lion Dancers of P.S.124! Events unfold from 10am-5pm, with special perfor-mances between 1pm and 4pm. Regular museum admission fees apply. For more info on the Children’s Museum of the Arts, see the listing on this page.

Photo courtesy of the Piccolini Trio

Don’t stop clowning around. See listing for “The Piccolini Trio: Circus in a Trunk.”

COMPILED BY NIKKI TUCKER & SCOTT STIFFLER


BY JERRY TALLMERCate Ryan was strapping herself into a

homeward-bound aircraft on the runway in Florida, waiting for takeoff to New York, thinking of everything and nothing, “when the engines started roaring,” she says, “and I burst out crying. I realized I might never see Mackie again.”

At that moment she decided to write a play about him. She had written eight plays and done a ton of writing for television. “None of it came easy, but this one” — started there and then, on the plane — “went the fastest of all.”

Mackie, short for Masolinar Marks, was the tall, handsome, soft-spoken, thoughtful Negro who had gone to work for Ryan’s mother on the north shore of Long Island “when it was Protestant,” almost two decades before Ryan was born.

It was Mackie who had taken the neglect-ed little girl under his own wing.

“He was my mother, my father, my disci-plinarian, my everything. Very, very nurtur-ing and very kind. Taught me how to think,

how to love, how to plant my fi rst garden. On the wall he had a sign: ‘AS YE SEW, SO SHALL YE REAP.’ “

A couple of years ago New Yorker Ryan had gone down to West Palm Beach, Florida to visit him, check on him.

“He was very frail,” says skinny, blonde, intense Ryan, “In fact, he passed away, at 94, just this past May. Died reaching for a cookie,” she says, waving her hands, her long slim fi ngers. “That was the end of it.”

But it wasn’t, because now Mackie lives on in “The Picture Box” (the play that Ryan started to write in that airliner speeding back

north) and in the embodiment of Mackie by the perfect actor for the part — brave, thought-ful, dignifi ed Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. (NEC) veteran Arthur French.

This, by the way, is the same Arthur French who a few years ago gave a lovely performance as Doug, dignifi ed old black member of a white Texan household, in the Broadway production of Horton Foote’s deep-digging “Dividing the Estate.”

The Mackie of Ryan’s play is called just that: Mackie. His story is told — up to and including his third wife, Josephine (Elain Graham) — with the assistance of a redis-

covered shoebox stuffed with old photo-graphs of the living and the dead.

“The Picture Box” is at the Samuel Beckett Theatre on West 42nd Street, through January 29, in a staging by Charles Weldon — the hard-hitting actor-director who, with the help of the law fi rm of Proskauer Rose, has brought the long-dormant NEC (the great Douglas Turner Ward’s historic NEC) debt-free and back to life.

“I’ve been working with Arthur for 40 years,” Weldon says. “I actually picked cot-

Mentor lives on, in ‘Picture Box’ words and deedsNegro Ensemble Company preserves legacy of a beloved caretaker

DOWNTOWN EXPRESSARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

Lilly O’BRIENS PUB & RESTAURANT

67 Murray Street, NYCT: 212-732-1592 F: 212-732-9446

[email protected]

TAKE-OUT & FREE DELIVERY!

Happy Hour: 4 p.m. - 8 p.m.; Kitchen Open 10 a.m. - 2 a.m.Showing all English Premiership Soccer Games; all Rugby Games; live GAA games

Photo by Carmen L. de Jesus

Left to right: Malachy Cleary and Arthur Frence as a Michigan hick and a Florida mentor.


THE PICTURE BOXWritten by Cate Ryan

Directed by Charles Weldon

Produced by the Negro Ensemble Company

Through January 29

Tues. at 7:30pm; Wed.-Sat. at 8pm; Sat./Sun. at 3pm

At the Samuel Beckett Theatre (410 W. 42nd St.)

For tickets ($36.50), call 212-239-6200 or visit telecharge.com

THEATER


ton as a kid. Nobody believes that. Just out of high school in Bakersfi eld, California, I had a number one doo-wop record. Nobody believes that either.

“Arthur and I went to Broadway togeth-er in Joseph A. Walker’s ‘The River Niger.’ We’d come to the NEC at the same time, in Walker’s ‘Ododo,’ 1969-’70, before Walker wrote ‘A Soldier’s Story.’ Here I was, on stage with all these great actors but had no idea who they were. The second play I was in was Derek Walcott’s ‘Dream on Monkey Mountain.’ Showed me I wasn’t an actor yet.”Weldon went on to prove otherwise for all these 40 years and more, and spent most of the past fi ve years — with Doug Ward ill and almost 80 years old — resuscitat-ing the brilliant Ward-Hooks-Krone Negro Ensemble Company through which every contemporary black American actor and actress of consequence had achieved that consequence.

Ryan didn’t know if the NEC was inter-ested in works by white playwrights. A lawyer friend suggested she send a copy of the script to Charles Weldon, and Weldon started reading it at bedtime.

“Usually,” says Weldon, “if I can read myself to sleep with a script, I no longer have interest in it the next day. But this time I woke up and thought: hmmm, a man of color raising this white kid, and he not a nanny. That’s interesting.”

There are two halves to the intermission-less 80 minutes of “The Picture Box,” and it’s the second, or reality, half — the life and times of Masolinor (Mackie) Marks — that’s the most amusing, interesting and moving. It

is preceded by a sort of comic book sequence in which a stick-fi gured couple of home-pur-chasing bigots from Michigan come down to Florida to examine their purchase and toss off vile anti-black clichés.

In just one half of one line — a few words said in irrelevant jest (“I would have been tied up by my neck”) — cool, calm Mackie exposes the deep-dyed terrible reality that is every American Negro’s inheritance at birth.

But then comes turnabout. In the fall of the year 2008, the TV cameras scanning var-ious crowds in these United States touched momentarily, here and there, on black men and women of a certain age wiping the tears from their (and our) eyes. The Mackie of Ryan’s “Picture Box” speaks for all who shared such moments of jubilation:

Never thought in my lifetime I’d be votin’ for a man with the same color skin as me. Never in my lifetime. My grandfather was a slave. A slave. Here I am, Lord willin’, eighty years old. Lived to vote for a young black man who wants to be the President of the United States of America. Somethin’ mighty fi ne. Mighty fi ne.

Rounding out the cast of “The Picture Box” are Elizabeth Norment and Malachy Cleary (as those two Tea Party types from Michigan) and Jennifer Van Dyck as a young white woman named Carrie (which is pretty close to Cate, yes?) who is forced to be civil while selling them her mother’s house.

The real Cate Ryan lives on Manhattan’s East Side, and says: “I do have a married name, but you don’t want to know that.”

Charles Weldon lives in Harlem and doesn’t pick cotton any more.

Mentor lives on

PIZZA PIES

DAILY SPECIALTY PIES

CALZONES

SELECTION OF APPETIZERS, SOUPS & SIDES

SALADS

HOMEMADE MACARONI

HOT PLATESCHICKEN

VEAL

ROLATINI

SEAFOOD

HOT HERO SANDWICHES

* Prices may vary

~


Photo by Carmen L. de Jesus

Left to right: Arthur French and Jennifer Van Dyck as lifelong friends.

FAMILY SIZE*

1

12

234

STUDIO

1 BED

2 BED

$2,178.00

$2,334.00

$2,801.00

$72,592 - $87,150

$77,792 - $87,150$77,792 - $99,600

$93,357 - $99,600$93,357 - $112,050$93,357 - $124,500

APARTMENTTYPE*

MONTHLYRENT**

TOTAL GROSS ANNUALINCOME RANGE***

Waiting List OpenHistoric Front Street is pleased to announce the opening of the waiting list for affordable rental apartments in the Seaport area of Manhattan. The size, rent, and income requirements for the apartments are as follows:

*SUBJECT TO OCCUPANCY CRITERIA **INCLUDES GAS FOR COOKING **RENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE ***INCOME REQUIREMENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

APPLICANTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO MEET INCOME AND ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.

To request an application, mail a POSTCARD to: R. A. Cohen & Associates, Inc., Historic Front Street

Attention Fred Fragano60 East 42nd Street, Suite 850

New York, New York 10165Requests must be postmarked by February 20, 2012. Completed applications must be returned by regular mail to a post office box that will be listed on the application, and must be postmarked by March 5, 2012. Applications not sent via regular mail or postmarked after March 5, 2012 will be logged in after all other applications. Applications will be selected by lottery. Priority will be given to applicants who live or work in New York City. No broker’s or application fee should be paid to anyone regarding these applications.

Only the first 350 requests for an application will be honored.

www.DOWNTOWNEXPRESS

.com


Just Do Art!COMPILED BY SCOTT STIFFLER

CROSSING LINES: THE MANY FACES OF FIBER

Founded in 1977 as a monthly gathering of six friends, The Textile Study Group of New York’s 2012 membership includes hundreds of basketmakers, crocheters, dyers, embroi-derers, felters, knitters, knotters, lacemakers, papermakers, quilters, sculptors, spinners and weavers. “Crossing Lines: The Many Faces of Fiber” celebrates the group’s 35th anniver-sary by displaying over 50 works by TSGNY members which demonstrate the power and versatility of fi ber art. A quilted collage of street signs, abstract art composed of sewing-machine stitches and towering masks made of threads are among the featured works. Curated by Rebecca A.T. Stevens, author and Consulting Curator of Contemporary Textiles at the Textile Museum in Washington, DC, the wildly diverse collection includes works both large and small, two- and three-dimen-sional, traditional and experimental.

Free. Through Feb. 19. Tues.-Sun., 12-4pm, at World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery. For more info, call 212-945-0505 or visit artsworldfi nancialcenter.com.

FLUX THEATRE ENSEMBLE PRES-ENTS “MENDERS”

Taking inspiration from (and liberties with) the Robert Frost poem “Mending

Wall,” Flux Theatre Ensemble’s world pre-miere of Erin Browne’s “Menders” is con-cerned with the things we try to keep at bay — and the lengths to which we’ll go to for a sense of security. As new recruits Corey and Aimes mend the wall that keeps their city safe from an unnamed, unseen threat, they begin to question their teacher Drew’s omi-nous tales of the big, bad outside world.

Jan. 19-Feb. 11, at The Gym at Judson (243 Thompson St., at Washington Square South). Jan. 19, 20, 21 at 8pm; Jan. 22 & 24 at 7pm, Jan. 27 & 28 at 8pm, Feb. 1, 2, 3, 4 at

8pm; Feb. 5 at 3pm; Feb. 7 at 7pm; Feb. 9, 10, 11 at 8pm. For tickets ($18, $15 for students), call 866-811-4111 or visit fl uxtheatre.org.

LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONThe International Tai Chi Institute’s

action-packed, three-hour variety show cel-ebrates the Year of the Dragon (which marks the beginning of the 12-year cycle of the Chinese horoscope). Over two dozen acts are scheduled — including dancers, acro-bats, musicians and demonstrations by Tai Chi Chuan and martial artists.

Sat., Jan. 21, from 1-5pm. At Pace University’s Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts (3 Spruce St., near City Hall). Tickets are $15 (no credit card payments accepted). To make a phone reservation, call 212-966-8830. Reserved tickets will be available at the box offi ce on the day of the performance, but must be picked up by 12:45 p.m. The box offi ce will open at 12 noon.

WALL STREET DIALOGUESTrinity Wall Street — the Lower Manhattan

Episcopal church that knows a little something about what happens when Occupy Wall Street storms the gates — isn’t shying away from questioning our moral obligation to act upon ethical issues raised by the OWS movement.

Presented by Trinity Institute and happen-ing weekly through February 8, “Wall Street Dialogues” challenges a pundit to confront the audience with a provocative question whose Biblical origins have modern implications. Last week, Gary Dorrien of Union Theological Seminary discussed the distribution of wealth and power (“Economic Crisis, Social Ethics, and Economic Democracy”).

On January 18, priest and business econo-mist Barbara Crafton wonders whether Jesus — who had a little table-tipping incident involving money changers at the temple — would pay taxes (“Paying Taxes: Privilege or Confi scation?”). On January 25, James Copland, of the Center for Legal Policy at the Manhattan Institute, mulls over the moral values of capitalism (“Capitalism, Inequality, and Scripture?). On February 1, Ben Roberts (occupycafe.org) asks what it feels like to have enough (“Occupy as a Leap of Faith”). The fi nal installment, on February 8, has Yale Divinity School’s Kathryn Tanner contemplat-ing what the Bible has to say about econom-ic disparity (“Thinking Theologically about Income Disparity and the Gospel Response”).

Free. Every Wed. at 1:05pm, through Feb. 8. At Trinity Church (Broadway, at Wall St.; or watch online at trinitywallstreet.org). For info, call 212-602-0800.

HAIRCUTS COLOR TREATMENTS STYLINGCHILDREN’S CUTS EXTENTIONS JAPANESE STRAIGHTENING

LANCELAPPINTRIBECA.COMMON 10-7; TUE, WED, FRI 8-7; THUR 8-9; SAT 9-6; SUN 11-6

Experience...

Thursday Late NightExclusive service, wine & light fare, complimentary

conditioning treatments, visit our “refuge room”Appointments Recommended

TRIBECA DENTALFor the Whole Family

For an appointment, call 212-941-9095

19 Murray Street Between Church & Broadway www.TribecaDentalCenter.com

General Dentistry & CosmeticDentistry + ImplantsBleaching + Orthodontics

Dr. Martin GottliebDr. Raphael Santore

Dr. Reena Clarkson,Orthodontist

Dr. Ken Chu,Dr. Sara Fikree

Pediatric Dentists

Photo by Leah Reddy

Gary Dorrien of Union Theological Seminary speaks at Jan. 11’s Wall Street Dialogues event.

Image courtesy of Hyunju Kim

Fiber is good for you. See “Crossing Lines.”


www.thevillager.com

nowCh le seawww.chelseanow.com

downtown express®

www.downtownexpress.comCLASSIFIEDSDEADLINE WEDNESDAY 5:00 PM MAIL 515 CANAL STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10013 TEL 646-452-2485 FAX 212-229-2790

ATTORNEYS

CLASSES

PERSONAL COMPUTER SERVICESReliable!

Repairs, upgrades, installations,troubleshooting, instruction,

custom-built PCs and consulting.Older PCs serviced

212-242-7221

COMPUTER SERVICES

Wall Women Painting & Plastering Over 25 yrs experience. Located in

Chelsea area. Excellent References. Free estimate

Call 212-675-0631

HOME IMPROVEMENT

SHAPIRO, BEILLY & ARONOWITZ LAW FIRMSpecializing in injury,

discrimination,overtime, labor225 BROADWAY, NYC 10007

TEL 212-267-9020 FAX 212-608-2072

Write Right!Essays, Master’s thesis, doctoral

dissertations, manuscripts of any and all sorts, in private sessions with editor, widely

published fiction writer, newspaper feature writer, and college English teacher for twenty years with Ph.D.

646-234-3224

WRITING HELP

BPA & MERCURY FREE

Non-invasive dentistry for kids!

Helping our

kids stay safe,

healthy and smart

Dr. Lewis Gross, D.D.S.www.holistic-dentists.com | Tribeca, New York

Dr. Lewis Gross, D.D.S.www.holistic-dentists.com | Tribeca, New York

FINANCIAL DENTISTFrench Riviera, Charming

Townhouse. Location: le Barsur Loup (10 Kms Grasse,

25 Kms Nice), France.Breathtaking views, 2 BM, 2 Baths, LR, DR, EIK. $1250/wk. Turn key furnished.

Photos at www.vrbo.com/268911.(941) 363-0925

VACATION RENTAL

SOHO - Manufacturing space.Ideal for service, industrial. Ground

floor 5.750 sq ft plus basement$70/sf Call 212-944-7979

COMMERCIAL SPACE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

I AM LOOKING TO BUY

Brooklyn condo wanted2 bedroom/2 bath,

high ceiling,Brooklyn Heights,

Dumbo, Park Slope.

Email details/photos to [email protected]

Beach Front Property for Sale in Costa Rica

Costa Rica’s South Pacific Coastline is the hottest area of Central America’s fastest

growing economy. This rare and stunning property -- there are very few available beachfront properties in Costa Rica -- is ideal for large or small scale beach front private development. It offers stunning

views of Caño Island and is an hour-long, astoundingly beautiful shoreline walk to Ballena National Park. It includes

great infrastructure (electricity, water) and American style highway access. The property is located less than one

hour from an International Airport that is currently under development or a 4 hour

drive from the capital city of San Jose. We are offering the property in whole or in parcel with prices starting at $150,000. Call 727-678-1298; from within Costa Rica

call (506) 8860 5501 (Costa Rica); by email [email protected] or didier.

[email protected]; and qualifi ed marine navigator and instructor, I have questions concern-ing the grounding of the cruise ship Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy.

Was the captain on the bridge exercising control of the ship? If so, why was the ship so close to the rocks? If not, who was on the bridge conning the ship? What were their qualifi cations? Was there a maritime pilot on the bridge? The most dangerous period in peacetime for a ship underway is when it is leaving and entering port or traversing in close proximity to land. This is when you have to be on full alert.

Why did the Costa Concordia only hold emergency evacuation drills once every fi f-teen days? During a fi fteen-day period the ship would normally visit a number of ports and embark new passengers. A drill should be held prior to leaving every port.

The maritime industry should evaluate

the viability of lifeboat systems, which fail when a ship takes on a signifi cant list that makes it very diffi cult or impossible to launch lifeboats.

More attention must be paid to the safety of passengers and crew.

Donald A. Moskowitz

Letters policy Downtown Express welcomes letters to The Editor. They must include the writer’s fi rst and last name, a phone number for confi rmation purposes only, and any affi liation that relates directly to the letter’s subject matter. Letters should be less than 300 words. Downtown Express reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity, civility or libel reasons. Letters should be e-mailed to [email protected] or can be mailed to 511 Canal St., N.Y., N.Y. 10013.

Letters to the EditorContinued from page 10

Read the Archiveswww.DOWNTOWNEXPRESS.com


Steampunk: The Victorian future is nowTattoos, guitars, workstations: It all works, and it’s all good

BY SCOTT STIFFLERYou know how it is. Your electric guitar

emits a righteous sound — but it doesn’t have an antique pressure gauge. Your computer workstation is in desperate need of an aes-thetic reboot by way of a tabletop crafted from an 1870s cast iron buzz saw. Your submarine is a sweet ride at 20,000 leagues — but it lacks a dirigible for aerial warfare. That perfectly functional tattoo machine you work with every day…why isn’t it housed in a casing shaped like a mosquito poised to draw blood?

Such thoroughly modern dilemmas — which most of us will face at some point — require the services of a forward-thinking designer capable of dipping into the past (or, more accurately, an alternate timeline) for inspiration.

Bruce Rosenbaum is your man. His work, and that of over a dozen likeminded artists, is featured in “Mobilis in Mobili: An Exhibition of Steampunk Art and Appliance” — on dis-play through February 3 at the Wooster Street Social Club. A dynamic work of art in its own right, the SoHo tattoo parlor (location of TLC channel’s reality show “NY Ink”) is a fi t-ting environment for the Rosenbaum-curated exhibit. Like the steampunk movement itself, tattooing requires imagination and ballsy acts of hybrid reinvention. On Wooster Street, dermal transformation is committed with the help of machines whose whirling, droning and buzzing recalls our industrial past. Done right by a skilled practitioner, the object that emerges from this declaration of permanence invites stares and sparks conversation.

STEAMPUNK: ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES

Traced all the way back to the steam powered science fi ction of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells (and, more recently, the work of cyberpunk daddy William Gibson), the term “steampunk” is used rather liberally these days. Much more than just a literary refer-ence, it can refer to anything from cinematic

art direction (think “City of Lost Children”) to music (Thomas Dolby’s recent CD and online game for “A Map of the Floating City”) to lifestyle (see steampunk.com) to immersive environments (2011’s Abrons Arts Center haunted house had a steampunkish Alice in Wonderland theme).

What all these variations have in common, more or less, is an alternate universe/timeline narrative that marries science fi ction’s love of futuristic technology with the fashion, archi-tecture, gear and zeal for exploration found during Britain’s Victorian era. But no matter who’s doing the steampunking, and for what purpose, Rosenbaum says it’s author K. W. Jeter who gets credit for coining the term. Back in the late 1980s, he tossed it off to describe an emerging genre of literature he and a few others were exploring. Instead of setting their science fi ction tales in the future, Rosenbaum notes, “They were going into the industrial past and imagining what kind of innovations people would come up with if they had the technology that we have today. With steampunk, there is this functionality, a practical use for these objects.” So when the ray gun of science fi ction gets a steampunk twist, notes Rosenbaum, “It might have these beautiful Victorian com-ponents made of brass and copper — but it would still be able to stun people.”

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSRosenbaum’s own take on the genre, he

says, comes at it from a much more practical creative design solution perspective. His com-pany, ModVic, is known for restoring Victorian homes (1850s to early 1900s) back to their original beauty while giving a steampunk makeover to everything from the layout to the home entertainment system.

Even though it’s how he makes his liv-ing these days, Rosenbaum didn’t realize he was a champion of the steampunk aesthetic until somebody outed him. “My wife and I have always been into architecture, history and salvaging gadgets,” he explains. After purchasing their own 1901 Victorian home just over a decade ago, the Rosenbaums embarked on a number of restoration proj-ects. “We came up with this idea to bring in period objects,” he recalls, “but give them a modern use. Years later, when we fi nished, a friend came in and told us we were steam-punking because we were mashing these time periods and making appliances that were also functional art. At that point, we got obsessive about it. Everything that came into the house had to have this idea of being beautiful and functional.”

Their company ModVic (modern Victorian) was founded in 2007 — and what began as a way to add a few whimsical home furnishings to their restoration project is now a way of life — and a way to make a living. Their clientele no longer includes just those who want to give the old Victorian a bit of futuristic sprucing up. Their designs, he says, appeal to all kinds of people who

Photo by Scott Stiffl er

This might sting a bit: Christopher Conte’s Dermbot (aka “Skin Crawler”) was cre-ated specifi cally for the exhibit at Wooster Street Social Club. Constructed from steel, bronze and brass, the biomechanical object is a fully functional miniature tat-too machine. For more info on the artist, visit microbotic.org.

Photo by Steve Brook

This 1964 Norma Guitar (reimagined by Steve Brook) features vintage gold foil pickups, gages, working gears, gold leaf fi ligree and a turn of the century noodle cutter handle. The controls cover is a solid brass door plate from the Book Cadillac Building in Detroit.

MOBILIS IN MOBILI: AN EXHIBITION OF STEAMPUNK ART AND APPLIANCEOn view daily, from 12-9pm, through Feb. 3

At the Wooster Street Social Club (43 Wooster St.)

Free admission

Visit woostersocial.com, modvic.com and steampuffi n.com

Work from the exhibit is for sale through woosterstreetsocialclub.com

Closing Reception: 8pm, Jan. 28 (for tickets, brownpapertickets.com)

ART



love the beauty and craftsmanship that came out of objects made during the industrial age. “These things were meant to last for-ever,” Rosenbaum observes. “There was no such thing as planned obsolescence back then.” So Rosenbaum takes those durable objects and works them until they possess all the traits of fully functional modern house-wares. “A great example of that would be what we did for a patent attorney in Boston. He wanted a computer workstation that had a story to tell, so he could use it as an exam-ple for his clients. He gave us a conference table that was his uncle’s. His father was a woodworker. So I found an incredible seven-foot cast iron band saw from the 1870s. It had two 36-inch wooden wheels with steel spokes; a beautiful sculptural form.” The computer work station now sits on that restored band saw — which, Rosenbaum points out, has been modifi ed in a way that would allow the owner to bring it back to its original wood-cutting purpose.

No such fl exible fate seems to have

befallen the works in “Mobilis in Mobili: An Exhibition of Steampunk Art and Appliance.” Rosenbaum tasked himself and his contributors with developing a range of artistic works that incorporate authentic vintage elements and salvage components with modern functioning devices. The result: bicycles, cell phones, guitars, timepieces and entertainment systems that look as if they’ve been left behind by a time traveling Victorian with a knack for accessorizing.

Rosenbaum got a taste of his own edict recently when he was approached by the Revolving Museum (at the University of Massachusetts Lowell). Their proposal: take the latest hearing aids, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs and give them the steampunk treatment. Says Rosenbaum (with gears in his head already churning), “They want to celebrate the technol-ogy, not hide it, and also give people who are disabled a comfort level. If you see someone in a wheelchair, sometimes you don’t know what to say.” But if it’s a tricked out steampunk device, he reasons, “Instead of asking them how they lost the use of their legs, you’re asking them where they got that cool wheelchair.”

Wooster Street Social Club hosts artful steampunk exhibit

Photo courtesy of ModVic, LLC

Bruce Rosenbaum’s “totally modern stove housed in a gorgeous 1890s cast iron stove.”


Iron and steel worker Sam Olstroff created this object that reminds curator Bruce Rosenbaum of something out of the fi lm “City of Lost Children.” It does NOT elec-trocute people (we asked).


Roger Wood’s assemblage art takes Victorian hardware parts and pieces, then con-structs an object that looks as if it’s more than the sum of its parts. Above: Three clocks which tell time and look as if they might also be able to transport you into the future. Visit klockwerks.com.


DOWNTOWN EXPRESS 01/18/12

Documents

Transcript of DOWNTOWN EXPRESS 01/18/12