Downtown Express December 21, 2012

downtownn expresss®

VOLUME 24, NUMBER 31 THE NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN DECEMBER 21 - 27, 2011

BY ALINE REYNOLDS In a matter of days,

the Peck Slip school has been expanded, zoned and assigned a principal.

Last week, the city Department of Education announced plans to fur-ther expand the K-5 elementary school from 656 seats to 712 seats, allowing additional space for two more classrooms when the school moves to its permanent location at One Peck Slip. Community Education Council District Two also approved the D.O.E.’s third and final rezoning proposal on Dec. 14. The new zone will send Downtown students who live north of Liberty Street and Maiden Lane and south of the Brooklyn Bridge to the Peck Slip School.

And, at NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force meeting on Monday, Dec. 19, the D.O.E. announced that Maggie Siena would be the new prin-cipal at Peck Slip. Currently Siena is principal at P.S. 150 and will remain there

through this school year. The expansion follows

the D.O.E.’s promise made in November to expand the school from 476 seats to 656 seats and to build two extra fl oors in the One Peck Slip building. “After the Postal Service decided not to maintain use of a part of the building, we were able to add additional space to the new Peck Slip site,” said D.O.E. Spokesperson Frank Thomas.

A U.S.P.S. spokesperson confi rmed the news and said that its retail and carrier operations are still slated to move to the John and Church Street locations in the coming months.

Silver said he was “delighted” over the news.

“For us, the more [seats], the merrier,” Silver said. “We need as many seats as we can get.”

While Siena said she didn’t know about staffi ng at the future school, she did impart information on the Peck Slip School’s curricu-lum, which will emphasize critical thinking and socio-emotional learning, among other core values of the

Peck Slip school gets new seats, new principal

BY TERESE LOEB KREUZERThe Howard Hughes Corp., which

has a long-term lease on portions of the South Street Seaport, quietly showed its plans for Pier 17 to a few members of Community Board 1 on Dec. 14 but refused to talk about them further or to

discuss them with the press.John Fratta, chair of C.B. 1’s Seaport

Committee, said that he, C.B. 1 chair Julie Menin and Paul Hovitz, a member of the Seaport Committee, met with Howard Hughes reps and saw some plans for a structure that would replace

the current mall. “They’re lowering the building,” said Fratta. “They’re going to make it all glass so no matter where you are on Pier 17, you’re going to have an unobstructed view of the

Howard Hughes pitches pier plans

Continued on page 13Continued on page 17

Downtown Express photo by Milo Hess

East and West celebrate the seasonThe annual East Meets West parade was held on Saturday, Dec. 17 and combined the heritage and culture of Little Italy and Chinatown in celebration of the holiday season. 4.

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

TREATING ACUTE ILLNESSES

ANY HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM.

Your Downtown

Holiday Guide, p. 22

December 21 - December 27, 20112 downtown express

Silverstein Properties Pres, Janno Lieber, goes on the recordLast week, the Downtown Express sat down with Janno

Lieber, president of World Trade Center Properties, an affi li-ate of Silverstein Properties, to discuss the construction prog-ress and leasing prospects of W.T.C. 2, 3, and 4; developer Larry Silverstein’s hiring of a co-chief executive offi cer; and other aspects of the W.T.C. redevelopment project.

BY ALINE REYNOLDS

DE: How long have you been with Silverstein Properties? What is your role in supervising the rebuilding of the W.T.C.?

I’ve been working here since 2003. I do a little bit of

everything: I work on W.T.C. business matters, as well as environmental, legal, public affairs and leasing issues. I also deal with stakeholder-related design and construction issues, which is like being a U.N. diplomat. We don’t have a lot of controversies right at this moment, though, so I actually got to go to my 11-year-old daughter’s basketball game for the fi rst time this week!

According to previous announcements by Silverstein Properties, 4 W.T.C. is scheduled to open in 2013; and 2 and 3 W.T.C. are to be completed by 2015. Are you on schedule with all three towers?

Four W.T.C. will be completed by 2013. Three W.T.C. should be up by 2015; although; we do have one milestone to hit: We need to get a 400,000-square-foot tenant in order to get a fi nancing backstop that makes sure we will complete

Janno Lieber, president of World Trade Center Properties, an affi liate of Silverstein Properties, stands beside a model of the future W.T.C. site.Continued on page 27

downtown express December 21 - December 27, 2011 3

SQUADRON BACKS GREEN INCENTIVE PROGRAM In advancing the mission to provide service and advance

Lower Manhattan, the Downtown Alliance, backed by State Senator Daniel Squadron, has put forth an initiative to launch the Green Commercial Incentive Program.

In Squadron’s letter to Governor Cuomo, the Senator asserted that, after the state passed legislation, New York has the means to create jobs and build the economy. The incentive program is expected to reduce energy use, increase tax revenues, grow and retain employment, as well as sustain the market for “green-tech” jobs, according to the proposal.

Squadron proposed that the Downtown Alliance be allotted $10 million to launch the program. “The program would cover the cost for new commercial tenants who make sustainability improvements to their spaces by offer-ing a grant of refundable credits and supporting small businesses and building owners. The investment…. would contribute to Lower Manhattan’s continued redevelopment and growth,” the letter read.

E.D.C. LIGHTING INITIATIVE The New York City Economic Development Corporation

(N.Y.C.E.D.C.) has issued a Request for Proposals to allow design and architectural professionals the opportunity to brighten Lower Manhattan and give it a 24-hour appeal to business, residential and commercial individuals.

“The new [street] lighting will make visitors feel more

welcome,” said Councilmember Margaret Chin said. “This project will further our vision for Lower Manhattan as a dynamic and forward-looking place to live.”

The N.Y.C.D.E.C. will provide the selected team up to $1 million to leverage other funding sources. N.Y.C.E.D.C. has identifi ed South Street between Fletcher and Whitehall Streets, as well as the pedestrian area bordered by Exchange Place, Broad Street and Wall Street, as two potential loca-tions that have the ability to engage a large amount of tour-ists, workers, and residents.

The initiative is scheduled to begin in late 2012.Elizabeth H. Berger, President of the Alliance for

Downtown New York said, “Downtown Alliance applauds E.D.C. President Seth Pinsky for this visionary plan.”

MOSES COMES TO LITTLE ITALYA bronze replica of one of the world’s most renowned

sculptures has found its way to a church in the heart of Little Italy.

On Dec. 1, the fi rst offi cial casting of “Moses,” made from Michelangelo’s original white marble sculpture, was installed in the sanctuary of the Church of the Most Precious Blood, at 109 Mulberry St. The bronze work, which was produced in the last 50 years, originated from the very fi rst molding of Michelangelo’s famed sculpture, which is part of the elaborate tomb of Pope Julius II in San Pietro in Vincoli Church in Rome.

The majestic bronze, crafted to the exact dimensions

of the original “Moses” by the Chiurazzi Foundry in Italy, depicts a horned, long-bearded Moses who, having just descended Mt. Sinai, is bearing the Ten Commandments down to the Jews.

“The work of art itself is deemed one of the great works of art in the history of the world,” said Chuck Huller, owner of SPQR, a New York-based art-brokerage fi rm. “It has not only tremendous historical signifi cance, it has what they called ‘implied movement’ — one motion stopping and another about to begin — as well as beauty, form and line.”

NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-9, 12-20

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

YOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 - 26

CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

C.B. 1MEETINGSPlease note that the C.B. 1 offi ce will be closed from

December 26 to the end of the month, and that no C.B. 1 meetings are scheduled during that time.

ON WED., DEC. 21: C.B. 1 will host its monthly full-board meeting at 6 p.m. in 3-Legged Dog’s art and technology center (Studio A, 80 Greenwich St. at Rector Street).

DOWNTOWN DIGEST


Gang assaultsA group of at least fi ve young men who got on a

southbound No. 4 train at Grand Central station around 11:30p.m. Sat., Dec. 17, harassed fellow passenger, slashed his face and fl ed at the Bowling Green Station. Police found a bloody knife on the tracks and bloodstained tissue paper. An Emergency Medical Service team treated the victim at the scene and took him to Bellevue Hospital in stable condi-tion.

A man walking with his girlfriend on Church St. at Walker St. around 1:30a.m. Sun., Dec.18 was struck in the head from behind, knocked to the pavement and then kicked repeatedly by a group of six or seven young men, police said. The victim was taken to Bellevue hospital with fractures of an eye socket, his cheek and a broken nose.

Bank robberyA man waited on a queue at the Emigrant Savings branch

at 110 Church St. around noon on Fri., Dec.16 and asked the teller when his turn came if he could change a $5 bill for singles even though he wasn’t a depositor. She was about to change the bill when he gave her a note demanding 100s and 50s with “no wrapped bills or I shoot everyone.” When the teller went for an alarm button, the robber said, ”Don’t do that.” She surrendered $5,000and he fl ed after taking the note back.

ShopliftersA group of six teenagers walked together into the

American Apparel store at 140 Broadway near Thomas St.

around 7:20p.m. Fri., Dec. 16, dispersed to look around and then regrouped to walk out. Two of the teens were carry-ing “booster bags” lined with metal foil to avoid detection devices. But since they were not seen taking any items, they were not arrested.

A man dressed in black managed to walkout of Abercrombie & Fitch, 199 Water St., around 5:20 p.m. Thurs., Dec. 15 without paying for 20 bottles of Fierce Cologne with a total value of $1.480.

Two men entered Folli Follie at 133 Prince St. around 7:30 p.m. Fri., Dec. 16 and asked to see watches. One of the suspects grabbed fi ve watches from the case, while the other grappled with the attendant. They fl ed with the watches with a total value of $1,900.

Nab larceny suspectA Queens woman shopping at Century 21 at 179

Broadway around 4:15 p.m. on Dec. 18 realized her bag was open and her wallet was gone. She soon discovered one of her credit cards was being used at 17 Park Row where clerks had seen the woman who used the card departing in a white Chevy Impala. The driver, Namala Conteh, 29, was arrested and charged with larceny.

Baruch Houses assaultLillian Rios, 50, her daughter, Cheryl Rios, 31 and Alyssa

Cruz, 16, all residents of the Baruch Houses, were arrested and charged with assault around 3:23 p.m. Mon., Dec. 12 after a traffi c agent told police the suspects punched and kicked her.

Ludlow St. thiefJimmy Perez, 49, pleaded guilty on Mon. Dec. 12 to steal-

ing a laptop, a jacket, a cellphone and electronic equipment

from a patron of Ludlow Bar, 165 Ludlow St. around 3 a.m. on Fri. Dec. 2. He was arrested when he returned to the bar on Tues. Dec. 6 when the manager recognized him and called police. Perez was sentenced to nine months in jail.

Arrest in 3 muggingsWilberto Navarro, 44, was arrested Mon., Dec. 12 and

charged with mugging three women on the Lower East Side and the East Village, including a 73-year-old victim in a motorized scooter.

He is charged with choking a woman from behind in a hallway of 57 Pitt St., threatening to kill her and stealing her wallet around 1:30a.m. Fri., Dec.9.

On Dec. 10 he attacked a woman, 73, in her motorized scooter as she entered the elevator of her Baruch Houses building at 595 F.D.R. Dr., around 5:10p.m. according to the complaint fi led with the Manhattan District Attorney. The suspect slammed her head against the scooter handlebar and fl ed with her bag, the complaint says.

The next day at about 2:30 a.m. he followed a woman into an apartment building at 520 E. 12th St., told her ”I want your money and I don’t want to hurt you,” and fl ed with he money and her iPhone, according to the complaint.

Navarro was being held in lieu of $255.000bail pending a Jan. 10 court appearance.

Car theftA man who parked his 2006 Hundai at the southwest

corner of Varick and Houston Sts, at 9 p.m. Thurs., Dec. 15 returned at 2 a.m. to fi nd it had been stolen.

‘Reclaim your humanity’The security guards at 75 Varick St. at Canal St. called

police at 4:45 p.m. Sat. to say that two people had entered the locked high-rise loft building and hung a 100-ft.-long white banner with “Reclaim Your Humanity” in black letters from the 17th fl oor of the building. Police arrested Moses Appleton, 24, and Suzahn Ehrahimian, 23, as they came out of the elevator on the fi rst fl oor. The suspects said they worked in the building but were not specifi c, police said. Their hands were also stained with black paint. They were charged with burglary.

Stuyvesant senior killedTerrance Tsao, 17, a Stuyvesant High School Senior,

was killed on Fri., Dec. 16 around 9:40p.m. when a car jumped the curb and hit him at Cropsey Ave., Bay 37th St. in Gravesend near his Brooklyn home. The driver, Vitali Korzavin, 46, was charged with driving while intoxicated and vehicular homicide. Tsao was an honor student and worked as a docent in the Aquarium in Coney Island.

— Albert Amateau

Julius Shulman, MD • Dalia Nagel, MD 212 693 7200 | TribecaEyeCare.com

Now in Tribeca! Adult, Adolescent & Pediatric Eye Care

Board Certified Ophthalmologists Laser Vision Correction Cataract Surgery with Premium Lenses

Affordable Contact Lenses Comprehensive Eye Exams

19 Murray St. NYC

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

Spring StreetNatural

RestaurantNew Year’s Eve Prix-Fixe

Holiday Dinner includes Appetizer, Entree, Dessert

Live Jazz Trio

62 Spring Street (corner of Lafayette) 212/966-0290 Reservations suggested

www.SpringStreetNatural.com

$39 or Vegetarian $29

Midnight Champagne

Toast

POLICE BLOTTER

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


Tribeca group lobbies to keep Bogardus Plaza BY ALINE REYNOLDS

Tribeca residents and business owners are waging a campaign to hold onto a cherished pedestrian plaza in their neighborhood.

The pedestrian plaza adjacent to Bogardus Gardens, dubbed Bogardus Plaza, on Hudson Street between Chambers and Reade Streets, was a typical one-lane street with curbside parking until mid-2010, when the city transformed it into a temporary pub-lic seating area at the onset of the Chambers Street reconstruction project.

The city’s plan was to reopen the street to vehicular traffi c once street construction on the southern end of the plaza was completed in summer 2012.

But now, halfway into the three-year street project, the plaza’s mastermind and operator, “Friends of Bogardus Garden,” (F.B.G.) is petitioning the city Department of Transportation to permanently close the street so that the plaza may be retained and enhanced.

Bogardus Plaza is an essential asset to the community, as there isn’t a comparable pub-lic space with tables and chairs in the imme-diate vicinity, according to F.B.G. President Tory Weill.

“It’s sort of an epicenter of activity in Tribeca,” said Weill. “People stop there on their way to somewhere else.”

Weill along with other F.B.G. members have garnered the support of more than 300

local residents and 25 local businesses to make the plaza permanent. And, as of last week, they received near-unanimous backing of Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee, which voted 9-1 in favor of keeping the pub-

lic space as is. “We’re fi lling a need in the community,”

said Weill. “We have [petition] signatures from businesses, residents — people who really count — saying they want this space.”

The D.O.T. seems on board with the idea as well. Spokesperson Scott Gastel said the agency is “seriously” assessing F.B.G.’s request to permanently close the portion of Hudson Street.

According to a D.O.T. study conducted in summer 2010, only 114 vehicles per hour drove through the area that is now the plaza.

Gastel also said the D.O.T. is consider-ing supplying the plaza with additional tables and chairs in the springtime, having already invested $11,000 in the space thus far. F.B.G. is also soliciting outside funds for a clock tower, WiFi service and community programming for the plaza.

“I’m a huge fan,” said 90 West Street resident Scott Lawin, who frequents the plaza on weekends with his wife and tod-dler in the summertime. “The more we can do to create open space for neighborhood residents, the better.”

When it was open to traffi c, the busy Hudson and Chambers Street intersection was a danger zone for pedestrians, Lawin noted, adding, “I almost got hit a few times before the plaza was there.”

“It’s a nice place,” echoed Christopher Blumlo, managing partner of Marc Forgione restaurant, at 134 Reade St. “I grab a coffee there to sit down and take a breather once or twice a week.”

Downtown Express photo by Aline Reynolds

The temporary pedestrian plaza next to the Bogardus Garden was created last year. The Tribeca community now seems split on making the plaza permanent or reopen-ing the portion of Hudson Street it now occupies.

Continued on page 19


Progress on Fulton Street also offers history lessonBY ALINE REYNOLDS

Work along Nassau Street in the Financial District is scheduled for completion in June and that’s music to the ears of Downtown residents who have been anxiously awaiting a more detailed timeline from the city on the large-scale capital construction project.

The $23 million endeavor, which involves utility updates and street repair along Fulton and Nassau Streets, will be fi nished in December 2012, according to Thomas Foley, assistant commissioner of the city Department of Design and Construction’s Manhattan construction infrastructure divi-sion. Foley gave an update on the project at Monday’s Community Board 1 Planning and Community Infrastructure Committee meeting, following complaints from Nassau Street residents that street work appeared to be slowing down in the last month.

Scaffolding recently erected in front of 150 Nassau St., a landmarked residential building currently undergoing safety-related renovations, has forced the D.D.C. to tem-porarily halt part of its excavation work occurring there, according to Foley.

“It is not safe for [us] to excavate at the curb line,” Foley explained.

Foley insisted the snag wouldn’t delay the Nassau Street project’s overall completion date of June. If the scaffolding at 150 Nassau isn’t down by April, as anticipated, Foley said the building’s owner would be respon-

sible for street work-related costs amounting to more than $50,000.

“If it’s not down by then, we’re leaving the site, and we’ll be issuing violations to the owner so they do the work themselves,” said Foley.

The building’s owner couldn’t immedi-ately be reached for comment.

Foley and Robin Forst, director of com-munity relations of the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, assured the committee that construction has advanced despite delays.

“People on the street will see there has been a tremendous amount of work visible for the last month,” said Forst. “Just because people don’t see work going on, doesn’t mean there isn’t work going on.”

“I’m satisfi ed that the [D.D.C.] realized how important it is to the community for this project to be completed,” said John Fratta, chair of C.B. 1’s Seaport-Civic Center Committee, which jointly led the December 19 meeting.

HIDDEN TROVES As the city digs up parts of the Financial

District and the South Street Seaport to improve underground utilities, archeologists have been waiting close by to examine any unusual objects it discovers. They’ve found a trove of treasures thus far, including a well-preserved Liberty half-

100%wool accessories.

Gently feltedfor warmth.

Roses, Stripes, Skulls and Hearts.....

shopbutternut.com

* Actual savings may vary based upon efficiency measures selected, age of home, appliances, equipment and other factors. A participating contractor can help evaluate potential savings.

** Financing, energy audits, and workforce development opportunities made available through the Green Jobs-Green NY Act of 2009.

Join the thousands of homeowners who have saved up to $700 on their annual home energy costs*

NYSERDA’S HOME PERFORMANCE WITH ENERGY STAR® PROGRAM IS ONE OF THE NATION’S LEADERS IN MAKING HOMES MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT.

Most New Yorkers qualify for a free or reduced-cost comprehensive home assessment, also referred to as an energy audit, and low-interest loans.** Additionally, participants may be eligible for cash-back incentives. All our Home Performance contractors are accredited by the Building Performance Institute.

For complete information, go to nyserda.ny.gov/residentialor call 1-877-NY-SMART.

RE

S-H

P-a

dv1

-feb11


Alyssa Loorya displays some of the artifacts, at a C.B.1 meeting on Monday, that she has uncovered during the construction happening on Fulton Street.Continued on page 20


BY ALINE REYNOLDS For months, John Street and Broadway

residents have endured relentless noise and vibrations thanks to the numerous ongo-ing construction projects surrounding their buildings.

But for 180 Broadway, one of the major culprits when it comes to the constant jack-hammering and other noise, the dis-turbances will be less frequent and not as annoying, according to project supervisor Robert DeWitt, senior vice president of con-struction at SL Green Realty Corp.

The real estate investment fi rm, which is building a 19-story dormitory for Pace University at the site, recently began erect-ing the new building’s superstructure. The necessary demolition and foundation work was completed around Thanksgiving.

While construction-related vibrations will be kept to a minimum, most of the noise moving forward will be limited to trucks carrying concrete and other materials to the site, DeWitt said.

“The majority of the noisy work which the neighbors and community can hear was done for demolition, to get to this point before the holidays,” said DeWitt during an interview at the construction site last week,

where 80 workers were busily setting rebar for concrete that will make up the building’s subbasement. “As we’re going up, there’ll be noise of concrete trucks and there’ll be noise of workers on the inside, but I don’t think it’ll be to the extent of the demolition.”

Though SL Green will soon be removing the vibration monitors previously installed in 176 Broadway and 12 John St., DeWitt said he and his team continue to converse regularly with the buildings’ residents and construction managers heed their concerns about the disruptions.

“They’ve been rebuilding down here for the last 10 years, and unfortunately our proj-ect is coming at the tail end,” said DeWitt. “[Residents] have been frustrated for several years, so we’re trying to help them through it.”

DeWitt has also stopped in at nearby businesses to talk to owners and employees who have felt hassled by the construction.

However, Nelson Guncay, manager of Nu-Way Shoe Repairs at 12 John St., a few doors down from 180 Broadway, hasn’t yet received a visit. Business, he said, has dropped by 20 percent this year, largely due, in his opinion, to the nearby construction.

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.

INCLUDES PRIME RIB GRAND BUFFET

PREMIUM OPEN BAR, CHAMPAGNE TOAST, PARTY FAVORS & MORE..

SAILING FROM NEW YORK WATER WAY FERRY TERMINAL

WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER

BOARDING 10:00PM, SAILING 10:30PM, RETURNING 3:00 AM

PARTIES OF 2 - $199. PER PERSON

PARTIES OF 3 TO 8 - $189.00 PER PERSON

PARTIES OF 9 OR MORE- $179.00

PLUS TAX & GRATUITY

FOR RESERVATIONS PLEASE CALL 1-800-924-8477 OR 732-697-9500

WWW.CORNUCOPIACRUISE.COMMENTION THIS AD FOR 10% OFF!

Worst is over at 180 Broadway, says developer



Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and happy New Year Lower Manhattan! Here’s the holiday forecast through the end of the year:

The busy holiday travel season contin-ues with offi cial NYC gridlock alert days Thursday, Dec. 22 and Friday, Dec. 23. For those heading into New Jersey via the George Washington Bridge, the westbound lower level will be closed 9 p.m. Thursday night to 5 a.m. Friday morning with addi-tional closures possible the following week as well. With the Hudson St. entrance to the Holland Tunnel also closed, your best bet for getaways may be the Lincoln Tunnel. However, the Lincoln should be a no-no on Christmas Eve Saturday with a 1 p.m. foot-ball game at the Meadowlands between the Jets and Giants. It’ll be even worse after 4 p.m. as the game lets out and the fans head out to Christmas Eve dinner.

The week between Christmas and New Years is also jam packed with shopping (big for return and exchanges week) and New Years travel, especially Thursday, Dec. 29 and Friday, Dec. 30. Come New Years Day and Monday, Jan. 2, all major roads and crossings will fi ll up for return trips home and the shift back to reality on Tuesday, January 3. Allot extra time if you’re catch-ing a fl ight and please consider transit. Safe travels and happy holidays everyone!

From the mailbag:

Dear Transit Sam, I have a question regarding street clean-

ing rules during bad weather, especially with the snow season practically upon us. When

the streets are covered with snow, the street cleaning machines don’t usually drive by. Are street cleaning rules still in effect when this happens?

Tom, Tribeca

Dear Tom, When the city is hit with a snowstorm,

the fi rst parking rules to be suspended are sanitation rules (street cleaning/alternate side parking). Last winter also resulted in some meter suspensions as well. But, pay very close attention to radio announce-ments or visit http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/home/home.shtml because in most cases, only street cleaning rules are suspended. And when the weather is very severe, you may hear that a “Full Snow Emergency” has been declared. This means that standing and parking are prohibited on all snow emergency routes, which are designated with “snowfl ake on red” back-ground signs. If there’s a sign confl ict (say there are also ASP signs on the block), the snow emergency rule would take pre-cedence. Let’s hope for less snow this go around.

Transit Sam

Confused about ever changing traffi c regulations and transit operations? Need winter driving tips or help navigating around lower Manhattan? If so, please send me an e-mail at [email protected] or write to Transit Sam, 611 Broadway, Suite 415, New York, NY 10012

everything is

HALF-OFFwhile supplies last!

deYour paper.

Transit SamThe Answer man

You Saw It...

And so did thousands of our Readers.

To advertise call 646.452.2496


CELEBRATE NEW YEAR’S EVE

IN STYLEENCHANTMENT

AWAITS YOU ABOARD THE

LUXURY ZEPHYR YACHT

ENCHANTMENTAWAITS YOUABOARD THE

LUXURY ZEPHYRYACHT

INCLUDES:

• 3-Hour Party Cruise with Open Bar with champagne toast at midnight!

• Passed and Stationed Hors D’oeuvres

• Live DJ Entertainment and Dancing

• Moon Deck and 2 Fully Enclosed, Climate Controlled Decks

• Watch the Times Square Ball Drop on 10 Flat Screen TVs

• Festive New Year’s Eve Decorations and Party Favors

• Breathtaking, close-up view of the Harbor fireworks

SCHEDULE & TICKETS:

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Departs: Pier 16, South Street Seaport

Boards: 9:30pm | Sails: 10:00pm - 1:00am

$200.00 $175.00 WITH THIS AD!*

All passengers must be 21 years or older; Valid ID required to board

with this ad!**Save $25.00

Just mention code CMNYE12 when calling!

* While supplies last. Valid on phone and walk-up orders only. Must present original ad or code for discount. Cannot be combined with any other

special offers, discounts, or coupons. Cannot be applied to previously purchased tickets. Coupon has no cash value. Expires 12/31/11.

Tickets and information:

212.220.8951 www.circlelinedowntown.com

Follow us on


EDITORIAL

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

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 GregoryJulius 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

Don’t ban the buskersWashington Square buskers are decrying a crack-

down by the Parks Department, which admits it is apply-ing new anti-vending regulations against them.

At a Dec. 4 press conference, three busking acts said they had received 21 summonses collectively in the past three months.

New regulations on expressive-matter vending went on the books in July 2010 but didn’t go into effect till this May. These rules limit the number of vendors of First Amendment-protected matter — such as paintings and books — in high-traffi c park locations, such as Union Square, Battery Park, the High Line and Central Park. The new rules also state that artist vendors must stay 50 feet from park monuments and 5 feet from benches. A temporary restraining order against the new regulations’ enforcement was lifted. But a federal lawsuit, by Robert Lederman of ARTIST (Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics) remains alive.

Under the new rules, artist vendors can’t be in Union Square’s southern plaza, but must compete for marked spots on the square’s western and eastern sides. According to Lederman, it was only after he complained, in his suit, that musicians were still being allowed to perform in the southern plaza, that Parks moved to apply the new rules to buskers, too. In fact, to our knowledge, the legislation does not specifi cally mention performers, musicians or buskers. It thus seems likely that enforcement against musicians was only started to defend the artist-vendor rules against Lederman’s litigation. A Parks spokesperson denied this, saying the rules always included buskers.

In addition, attorneys Norman Siegel and Ron Kuby dispute that buskers are even vendors. Anyone can watch tumbling tandem Tic and Tac, Colin Huggins (a.k.a. “The Crazy Piano Guy”) or sand artist Joe Mangrum, but pay-ment is optional. It’s different than having a sidewalk artist paint your portrait for a set fee. And if just putting out a hat means “vendor,” then what’s a homeless pan-handler selling?

Also, it may now be impossible to busk at all in Washington Square: There may be no point that isn’t 50 feet from a monument or 5 feet from a bench, given that the park has the arch, the fountain (deemed a monu-ment) the Garibaldi statue, the Holley monument and scores of benches.

One can still play music for free in the park, but to nix busking deprives the square of an essential part of its creative, spontaneous character.

Parks says the new rules prevent congestion and ensure that people can see the park monuments. And yet — in a clear double standard — Parks’ own Union Square vendors Holiday Market is now causing major congestion and is within mere feet of the Washington and Gandhi statues.

In addition, Benepe stated, the rules are also so parkgoers can enjoy the “sounds of silence” — but, hey, isn’t that a Simon and Garfunkel song, commissioner? Meanwhile, Bob Gormley, Community Board 2 district manager, said the board gets zero complaints about loud music in the park.

Plus, existing regulations already state decibel levels must be reasonable. Loud drummers were an issue a few summers ago — but told to tone it down, they did. There are also already rules requiring permits for amplifi ed sound and large gatherings. In other words, new regula-tions limiting busking in parks aren’t needed.

C.B. 2 will hold a speak-out on the issue on Mon., Dec. 19, at 6:30 p.m., at the N.Y.U. Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, eighth fl oor, at which the public is invited to speak for or against Parks’ actions. We encourage people to attend and make their voices heard on this critically important issue.

Same old story

To the Editor,Re. “P.A.C. funds questioned at C.B. 1 meet-

ing” (Downtown Express article, Dec. 14): Once again, another part of what is

planned for the World Trade Center site has been found to be surpassing its original cost. However, this is not something new, espe-cially when just about everything else there has been found to cost more as well. Even when Christopher Ward, before he resigned as the head of the Port Authority, wanted to raise the tolls to help fi nance it, that still wasn’t enough, though that is now being challenged in a lawsuit fi led by the Automobile Association of America. Rather than trying to fi nd a way to get funds for it, this should just be scrapped instead, because it is pretty much unnecessary.

In reality, does the site really need a Performing Arts Center? Overall, it just shows how much money and time could have been saved if the Twin Towers would have been rebuilt rather than try to look for ways to fund something that is already breaking the bank on some parts alone.

Tal Barzilai

Against B.I.D. intrusion

To the Editor, Re. “SoHo B.I.D. needs work”

(Downtown Express editorial, Nov. 9): As a longtime SoHo resident, I am against

this new intrusion into our neighborhood. Where were they when the SoHo streets

were truly dirty? Now that there is money to be made in gentrifi cation, enters the “B.I.D.”..? That will only add to the already too high rents and force the few remaining small businesses and artists that were the reason this area became “Soho”! out.

Please preserve what is left, alone.

Ginny Pugliese

More to the story

To the Editor, Re. “City Hall renovations nearly complete”

(Downtown Express article, Dec. 14):There is more to this story. Construction

began in 2007 with an original cost estimate of below $50 million and a completion date of 2009. In 2008, the fi rst of a series of cost overruns raised the price tag to $65 million.

A fi nal price tag of $123.8 million and completion date of July 2012 is nothing to be proud of. Why was NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn silent about these huge cost overruns and the multiyear delay in the proj-ect’s completion? As she is an aspiring mayor-al candidate, this should give voters pause for concern. With a multibillion dollar municipal defi cit, there are higher priorities.

Consider that NYC Councilmembers meet in full session or committee on a part-time

basis. They continue manipulating public campaign fi nancing along with raising $500, $1,000, $2,750, and $4,900 in pay-to-play campaign contributions from special interest groups. They are paid infl ated base salaries of $113,500 per year supplemented by lulus from $4,000 to $28,000, all for a part-time job; and enjoy personal drivers, private City Hall park-ing spots, and millions in pork-barrel member item projects to give out to friends. They pay staff to ghost write newsletters, speeches, op-eds, and letters to the editor; are reimbursed for out-of-town travel reimbursement; and received free tickets to all sorts of events.

Was it worth spending $123.8 million dollars to build a new “Big Top” over the Big Apple’s Greatest Circus on Earth to support the Councilmembers’ continued daily discus-sions of irrelevant and useless resolutions? The City Council could move in with the real circus and save the taxpayers some money. We could have two shows for the price of one admission. Now that would be a real treat!

Larry Penner

Faith restored

To the Editor,Re. “B.R.C., a good neighbor” (Downtown

Express editorial, Dec. 1):The editors of the Downtown Express,

the Villager and Chelsea Now have restored my faith in journalism. Your editorial “BRC, a good neighbor” has, for me, put you among the ranks of “pull no punches” journalists who are willing to speak their minds to power and everybody else. In spite of the prevailing lukewarm acceptance of B.R.C. by the larger community, and the outright rejec-tion of their presence by the newer, mostly younger, richer neighbors, this little neighbor-hood press has said its piece, unvarnished. My heart swells.

Our elected offi cials and our community leaders must now take the cue, and a deep drink of reality. This is not the 1990s, when the city’s homeless population was at a manageable level and not in your face at every street corner, subway entrance, under every sidewalk bridge and under your front stoop. The 200-bed limit imposed on shelters made great sense in light of the miserable conditions we allowed to prevail in the warehouses of that era. It might have worked if many more shelters had been estab-lished. The logic is fading.

People living on the street have a right, a legal right, to a place to sleep indoors. We have a responsibility, moral and legal, to provide the beds. It’s that simple. In these times, is it such a leap to imagine any one of us in their place? Every homeless person once had a home.

We have to recognize that there will be diffi culties fi tting this population into our lives. It behooves us to do so, unless we pre-fer to continue stepping over sleeping — or worse — forms on our way to the offi ce.

Thank you, Downtown Express, Villager and Chelsea Now.

Pamela Wolff

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Fundamentalist cyclists have me praying for reliefDOWNTOWN NOTEBOOK

BY ALPHIE MCCOURTIn the mid-1970s I lived in San Francisco and

worked in a restaurant in Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge, 14 miles from the city. I rode the bus. Sometimes, when I worked late and the buses had stopped running, I caught a ride to the freeway and hitchhiked from there.

One night I caught a ride in a van. The driver and I were roughly the same age, about 35. He addressed me as “sir.” Two longhairs, we talked a bit, mostly about where we were from and how we grew up. He continued to call me “sir.”

Across the Golden Gate we went and on into the city. He drove me to the building where I lived, down behind the Opera House, on a street full of whores. He had mentioned “the club” a few times. Now, as I alighted from the van, again he mentioned “the club.”

“The club?” I said. “What’s the club?”“The Hells Angels,” he said. “Oh,” said I.This Angel-biker had gone out of his way for

me. Would a New York City cyclist do likewise? Perhaps, but cyclists tend to be more elitist than bikers. Leather jackets, beards, boots and booze are not for them.

Two years ago, as I walked by the Church of the Holy Apostles, on Ninth Ave. and 26th St., I was reminded of this. On that day, the people, mostly homeless men, were waiting outside the soup kitchen. A small knot of men had spilled over from the sidewalk and into the bike lane,

where an offi cial person with a clipboard did his headcount, or whatever business he was conducting.

I would have to make my way through the small crowd. Out of the knot of people came a cyclist in all his fi nery. He had had to slow down and he was annoyed, outraged, even. He passed me, too close for comfort and his shirt sleeve brushed against mine.

I am up in years, a lifelong pedestrian and subway rider. Once or twice a week I must drive in Manhattan. Now, if I were driving with the window rolled down, and my sleeve happened to touch the sleeve of a cyclist, what would hap-pen? There would be the spit of outrage, the lawsuit, the settlement and a rise in my insurance premiums.

Last year, on Eighth Ave., I was standing in the street, in the parking lane, just south of the crosswalk, when a car reversed into me. It was a heavy impact but, luckily, the car suffered no damage. Nor did I. The driver emerged briefl y, sat back in, resumed his reverse all the way across the crosswalk, and achieved his parking spot. That parking lane is now a bike lane. When it comes to bike lanes, we pedestrians know to look both ways. I should have known it then.

Self-appointed and -anointed, cyclists per-ceive themselves as centurions of the climate. There is a whiff of fundamentalism about the mayor’s approach and in the attitude of

these pedaling apostles of the environment. Fundamentalism, at its best, and there is no best, is a prayer before dying. At its worst, and there sure is a worst, it’s a prayer before killing. We need the separation of Bike and State.

I grew up on a bicycle. To a boy on a bike, open road with no traffi c in sight — that’s freedom, pure freedom, as close as I would ever come to fl ying. When I was 15, a small group of us rode the 80 miles, over the Kerry Mountains, from Limerick to Killarney. We carried blan-kets, ground sheets, tents, pegs and food for the weekend. On Saturday night we cooked and camped out. On Sunday the rains came. We were experienced campers. Even so, our stuff still got soaked. On Monday, with double the weight, we rode back to Limerick. That was our Tour de Kerry.

I wish I could tell all this to the cyclist who’s having a hissy breakdown because a foolish pedestrian stepped in front of him or because some driver avoided him, only at the last minute, as he angled around the offside of the car. Would he listen? Or would he rather have his hissy?

There’s nothing holy about riding a bicycle. No reverence is due. The bicycle may become a good and effi cient way to travel around the city but there is little freedom in it. I can’t imagine how anyone could enjoy riding in city traffi c. Unless she’s towing an agenda. Or can it be the challenge? New York is renowned as a walking

city. True, you had to be prepared for the taxi breaking the red light, the car cutting it too close, the garbage truck going beep-beep-beep as he backed up. But we were used to it.

Courtesy and deference should be charac-teristic of the new apostles of the environment. Not so, in my experience. Instead, there is a petulant insistence on their rights, with little or no regard for their own duty of care. That will have to change, now. It will take cooperation, an approach that eschews elitism, fundamental-ism and the cult. The city belongs to all of us.

It belongs to the weekday bicycle messen-gers, stripped down and built for speed, the bag of top-secret fi nancial documents slung over the shoulder, bike-dancing through clustered pedestrians and traffi c jams. There’s a light-ness, a symmetry, in their perfectly engineered approach. And it belongs to the restaurant deliverymen, too often scorned as illegal immi-grants, as they trundle along on heavier bikes. I defend them. They are working. More impor-tant, I have never been hit by one. Come rain, come snow, I marvel at the determination of these disciples of the pissa. Where would we be without them?

Now, with bicycle rental stations offering convenient pickup and drop-off locations, even I will be tempted. Some years ago it was

TALKING POINT

BY JERRY TALLMERBen Shahn stared down at me from the wall. Two deep-set,

coal-black, piercing eyes fl oating in space above a clown’s nose, a ringmaster’s pursed lips

“Let me tell you how it was back in the day,” artist Shahn said. “We were all kept alive and kicking in those years — writ-ers, painters, actors, dancers, all of us — thanks to Mr. Harry Hopkins.”

Back in the day! Harry Hopkins! I hadn’t much heard that name in forty, fi fty, sixty years, Harry Lloyd Hopkins (1890-1946), who came out of the cornfi elds of Iowa and social work on New York City’s Lower East Side to become (in tandem with Eleanor Roosevelt) the soul and conscience of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and of F.D.R. himself.

It was Harry Hopkins who, as director of the federal gov-ernment’s huge Works Projects Administration, became in the pre-war early 1930s the single greatest employer of millions upon millions of Americans, not least the thousands of artists of all shapes and sizes and fi elds of endeavor who were kept from starvation, literally, by that same W.P.A.

In return, these artists and their arts rewarded that nation with a corollary, a raison d’être, an eternal fl ame, a beacon of where we’d been, we Americans, and where we might at best, at worst, be going,

“This new New Dealer in the White House today could use a little of that Harry Hopkins mojo, wouldn’t you say?” muttered the Ben Shahn up there in that litho on the wall.

“It’s okay to give out arts medals and have the recipients to dinner and all that, but what about the driving force of the work itself?

“This Obama could put that to better use, seems to me,” said

Ben Shahn. “All that energy. Like the energy of these Occupiers. Maybe borrow all that enthusiasm to create something like the Federal Theatre Project’s Living Newspaper productions of those same 1930s.”

Ben Shahn (1888-1969), who arrived in Brooklyn from Lithuania at age 6, is a case in point of a huge talent nurtured by the New Deal. As one of Roy Stryker’s team of photogra-phers for the Depression-era Farm Security Administration — Dorothea Lange was another such — Shahn would send back hard-edged images of the women, children and men of the rural South that foreshadowed masterpieces like James Agee and Walker Evans’s “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.”

That Ben Shahn was to fl ower into graphic artist Ben Shahn whose paintings and drawings would cut across and preserve a visual encyclopedia of everything American from Sacco and Vanzetti (and the stone-faced murderers of Sacco and Vanzetti) to a stop-motion frozen moment of pure innocence — kids at variegated play in a large, crowded schoolyard.

If virtually every American graphic artist of consequence in the 20th century came to us via the W.P.A., the F.S.A., the FERA and other New Deal agencies, so — in spades — did the people of theater, including Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan. Again, an object lesson for what might be called, here in (almost) 2012, the Second New Deal.

“They hate me — and I welcome their hatred,” said an ebullient, ready-for-bear, pre-election F.D.R. in 1936, and the same degree of hatred is surely the case with a new cast of characters — once more in spades — yes, pun precisely intended — to this very day. He who scorns history is doomed to repeat it.

Thank you, Mr. Shahn, that will do for today, said the

Stage Manager. Say hello for me to your artist daughter Abby, who used to live directly across from where I lived on Perry Street.

Enough playacting.Even as a grown man writes those words, he vividly

remembers, not for the fi rst time or the fi ftieth, the Living Newspaper productions like “One Third of a Nation” that he and the other kids were sent to by Miss Alice Stewart, their social studies teacher at Lincoln. And yes, that show and many others like it — brought forth by Hallie Flanagan’s Federal Theatre Project, as long as she was allowed to do it — played a distinct part in shaping the entire politics, attitude and thought processes of the rest of that writer’s life.

Oh hell, my life. -- --One of the talents kept alive by Harry Hopkins & Co. was

a certain Orson Welles. I can see him now, a large beautiful brooding Brutus in his 1937 Mercury Theatre production of “Julius Caesar” as metaphor on Mussolini’s Fascist tyranny. And I can still see, in that show, Norman Lloyd squeaking in terror: “I’m not Cinna the conspirator, I’m Cinna the poet!” as the black-shirted mob closes in on him.

As for poets, the New Deal also spawned Pare Lorentz, whose 1938 “The River” — on the mighty Mississippi and its fl oods — is to this day as beautiful and powerful as anything by (I learn from Google) one of that fi lm’s admirers named James Joyce.

From as far West as Idaho,Down from the glacial peaks of the Rockies,From as far East as New York,Down from the turkey ridges of the Alleghenies ….Up there on the wall, Ben Shahn winked one slow eye of

approbation.

‘One Third of a Nation: 2012’ — we need a new W.P.A.



neighboring public schools.“I’m very excited about the prospect of working with my

Downtown colleagues,” said Siena. “I’m pretty new to the East Side, so you’re going to have to shove me around a little bit,” she joked.

“You’re no stranger to the area,” replied Paul Hovitz, co-chair of Community Board 1’s Youth and Education Committee. “I think parents will be reassured… to know you’ll be in charge.”

Silver was equally happy with the D.O.E.’s appointment of Siena.

“It shows good faith by the D.O.E. at this early a stage to designate a principal who can be a spokesperson… and someone who can put the facilities in order,” said Silver.

PROJECTIONS DEEMED INSUFFICIENT The Peck Slip School expansion is just a small piece

of the larger puzzle to locate school seats for Downtown and district-wide children in their neighborhood. And, while the D.O.E. acknowledges the need for additional seats, it has yet to secure funding for many of them and to identify the need neighborhood by neighborhood.

Of the 3,846 seats funded by the D.O.E.’s 2010-2014 capital plan, 1,030 of these seats within District Two have not yet been sited, according to School Construction Authority Manager Michael Mirisola, who presented the

numbers to the C.E.C. District Two Zoning Committee at the Dec. 14 meeting. An additional 778 district-wide seats have been neither sited nor funded, he said.

“We acknowledge the need, we just don’t have the dough,” said Mirisola. “I know that probably most of you will tell me what we’re doing is not enough… but, judg-ing from what I’ve seen in other districts, it’s a lot.”

And while Mirisola and other D.O.E. officials have recently made note of the city’s gradual switch from district-wide seat projection analyses to sub-district analyses, the S.C.A.’s interpretation of the numbers is still not local enough, according to Eric Greenleaf, a business professor of New York University who has researched and documented the school overcrowding crisis in Downtown for years, and who serves on Silver’s overcrowding task force.

The current sub-districts, Greenleaf noted, lump Tribeca and the Financial District together with the West Village, and similarly merge Chinatown with the Lower East Side.

“They’re not even willing to recognize Downtown as a sub-district,” said Greenleaf. “You’re not going to find anybody who regards those as sensible neighborhoods.”

“The C.E.C. has been consistent that we need fore-casting done at a more granular level,” echoed Michael Markowitz, chair of C.E.C. District Two’s zoning com-mittee, noting that P.S. 3 in Greenwich Village, a one-time prospect for Tribeca students under a previous pro-posal, felt like “a whole world away” to their parents.

Debating how to predict school overcrowding

Chinatown is now illuminated for the holidays, thanks to an annual tradition made possible by the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association.

The brightly lit ornaments, made up of bell-shaped lights with red, plum blossoms in the center, adorn Canal Street, East Broadway, and parts of Chinatown’s his-toric district. Plum blossoms, which bloom during the winter, are meant to symbolize the community’s dedication and persever-ance to recover and rebuild following the attacks of 9/11.

Various community stakeholders con-vened on Mott Street last Friday, Dec. 16

to celebrate the ritual by fl ipping a sym-bolic switch.

“Chinatown Partnership is delighted to have the opportunity to celebrate and count all the blessings — light over dark-ness, hope over fear — as we want to make Chinatown shine,” said C.P.L.D.C. Executive Director Wellington Chen.

“This is a memorable event that our community looks forward to every year,” said NYC Councilmember Margaret Chin. “I am so happy that we can continue this tradition for the children and residents of Chinatown, and for the visitors that come each holiday season.”

— Aline Reynolds

Holiday lighting in Chinatown is symbolic

Downtown Express photos by Aline Reynolds

Continued from page 1

Downtown Express photos by Aline Reynolds

Maggie Siena, currently the principal at P.S. 150, was named the new principal of the Peck Slip School when it opens at Tweed Courthouse next year.


Santa, dragons and two historic neighborhoodsThe annual East Meets West Parade took

place on Saturday, Dec. 17.Floats, dragons and marching bands took

over portions the historic Chinatown and Little Italy neighborhoods to bring a little

holiday cheer to the residents. Santa, of course, made an appearance, as did local elected offi cials such as State Sen. Daniel Squadron, NYC Comptroller John Liu and Councilmember Margaret Chin.

Downtown Express photos by Milo Hess

Squadron awarded for public serviceOn Saturday, Dec. 17, NYS Senator Daniel Squadron received the Public Servant

of the Year Award from the Little Italy Merchants Association (LIMA) and the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, in recognition for his “com-passion, humanity, and commitment in serving the citizens of the Little Italy and Chinatown communities.”

After being presented with the award by LIMA President John Fratta, Sen. Squadron joined Chinatown and Little Italy leaders to march in the annual East Meets West Christmas Parade.

Photo courtesy of State Sen. Daniel Squadron’s offi ce

(Left to right) Wellington Chen, NYC Comptroller John Liu, John Fratta, State Sen. Daniel Squadron, Ralph Tramontana, NYC Councilmember Margaret Chin and Robin Mui.


BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER

NEW B.P.C.A. SEVERANCE POLICY: Five of the 19 people who were laid off by the Battery Park City Authority on Nov. 9 came to the B.P.C.A. Board of Directors meeting on Dec. 20 with a written request for “a fair and equitable severance package” and more. They also wanted their medical coverage to be extended and to have a retire-ment policy in place “that would allow vest-ment for those who were close to achieving it, time served for those who were months away from a plateau year, and a proper buyout package for those who were eligible to retire.”

They noted in their request that their previous letters to the Board had gone unan-swered.

The fi ve who had been laid off were warmly greeted by some of their former col-leagues, who shook their hands and hugged them.

B.P.C.A. chairman William C. Thompson, Jr. called the meeting to order and then immediately called an executive session to discuss personnel and contractual issues, which meant that everyone but the board members had to leave the room. The execu-tive session lasted for around two hours.

When the public session resumed, Thompson made a brief announcement. “We are asking the staff to develop a severance policy within the next week to 10 days,” he said. “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.”

“It sounded a little bit positive in that they’re going to develop a severance policy” said Hector Calderon, spokesman for the Battery Park City 19, as those who were laid off call themselves. “All we have to do is keep our hopes high.”

“I’m just going to see what happens,” said Danielle Fyffe, who had worked for the Battery Park City Authority for 28 years before she was laid off. “I guess we’ve done all we could do, and I’m so grateful for everyone’s support.”

“I’m very appreciative to this Board,” said Leticia Remauro, who was formerly the B.P.C.A.’s vice president of community relations. “I think people who are working at the Authority know that in the event that a future reorganization results in their separation, there will be a severance policy

in place. That gives people peace of mind in the workplace, and I think that’s very, very important.”

Matthew Monahan, a spokesman for the Authority, indicated that any newly drafted severance policy would apply retroactively to the 19 people who were terminated in November.

BLUE SMOKE: Danny Meyer plans a trio of restaurants in the retail space surrounding Battery Park City’s Conrad Hotel at 102 North End Ave. In June, Shake Shack at 215 Murray St. was the fi rst to open, with burgers, fries, shakes, wine and beer. Now comes No. 2: Blue Smoke, with barbecue chicken, pork, brisket and ribs and Southern soul food such as braised collard greens and hush puppies. Sticky toffee pudding stars on the dessert menu.

“We will be opening beginning December 27 with limited service,” said Leah Herman, a spokesperson for Blue Smoke. She said that at opening, Blue Smoke would probably only be serving drinks. “We will open for dinner in early January, and for lunch a few weeks after that,” she said.

Blue Smoke is located at 255 Vesey St.

WINTER GARDEN STAIRS: The Winter Garden stairs in 2 World Financial Center are safe, Brookfi eld Properties vice president David Cheikin reported to Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee on Dec. 6. Some new retail stores will be installed in the back of the stairs, but otherwise, Cheikin promised, the Winter Garden will look much as it does now. The only change to previously presented designs for the interface between the World Financial Center and the World Trade Center will be that the glass cube that acts as an entrance way to the World Financial Center will have rounded corners instead of square ones. Construction at 2 World Financial Center is now under way and should be completed by 2013.

TRAINS AND CHAMPAGNE: North Cove Marina’s Holiday Train Garden will be open from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. through Dec. 24 on the marina’s fl oating clubhouse, the “Honorable William Wall,” with a room-sized display of trains that wend their way through a landscape that looks a lot like Lower Manhattan. Admission is free.

A Champagne bar on the “William Wall’s” lower deck will open on Thursday, Dec. 22,

closing on Dec. 24 and then reopening on Jan. 5. “With SouthWest NY closed, there are fewer places in the community for people to socialize,” said North Cove Marina’s com-modore, Michael Fortenbaugh. He said the Champagne bar will be open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday evenings throughout the winter. “It’s a nautical-themed space,” he said, “and it rocks when the ferries go by too close. So for people who love the water, this will be a great place to hang out.”

BARE, NAKED TREES: The Battery Park City Parks Conservancy wants your

bare, naked Christmas trees. Just leave them on the curb and Parks Conservancy staff will pick them up between Dec. 27 and Jan. 27, chip them, and turn them into mulch for use in Battery Park City gardens and in historic Battery Park. “We only want naked trees,” B.P.C. Parks Conservancy director Tessa Huxley emphasized. “It’s amazing what peo-ple leave on the trees! Lights, ornaments, tinsel. Tinsel doesn’t compost well.”

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

Downtown Express photos by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

At the Battery Park City Authority Board of Directors meeting on Dec. 20, Chairman William C. Thompson, Jr. announced a severance policy that would apply retroactively to those who were fi red on Nov. 9 as well as to anyone who might be laid off from the Authority in the future.

The B.P.C. Parks Conservancy’s compost pile in Wagner Park. From Dec. 27 to Jan 27, the Conservancy will pick up Christmas trees deposited curbside and use them for mulch in neighborhood parks.


BY BOB KRASNERThere’s no place like home. But when

you, your wife and your kids spend a whole lot of time at work, then there’s no place like Ciao For Now, a cozy East Village eatery that the owners see as “an extra living room for the neighborhood.”

Owners Kevin and Amy Micelli, who met and married in California in 1994, previously ran an inn in Woodstock. But “it was a bit like ‘The Shining,’” said Kevin. After nine months of strangeness, they came to New York City and spent fi ve years working odd jobs — restaurants, catering, selling fl owers — until they realized, shortly after 9/11, that it was time to do something on their own.

Kevin had already trademarked his new business name well before it existed. Amy was pregnant and working as a teacher when “Ciao” found its fi rst home on E. 12th St. between Avenues A and B. The place later moved across the street to its current home.

As they recalled, they “didn’t have a penny,” and in classic American style, they “put everything on credit cards.” The couple did most of the renovation in that space themselves, which they chose because they wanted to be in a neighborhood where, as Amy noted, they would “be around people who we like and want to spend time with.”

Kevin knows his regular customers by name. He’ll admit to being the manager in a business where job descriptions are con-

stantly blurred and he ends up doing the baking, as well as a myriad of other jobs. But the recipes are entirely the domain of Amy, who has “an incredible palate,” according to Kevin.

The cafe, which is open for breakfast and lunch and does a sizable amount of catering, uses organic supplies whenever possible and always bakes the muffi ns and all the rest in small batches to maintain quality. Speaking of quality, in an effort to improve the city’s quality of life, deliveries are made in a “zero pollution” electric car and garbage is sent to a community garden for compost.

Although they have a modern approach to food and energy, they have an old-fash-ioned work ethic that they are sure to instill in their kids, while keeping it a fun place to be employed. Their three children, Django, 8, Opal, 6, and Atlas, 4, have their own little “clubhouse” in the basement and sometimes keep themselves amused by making cook-ies for their own consumption. Most of the regulars know their names, too.

The customers do tend to change, though, since, the owners said, the place is “constantly getting new students in the area.” After 10 years at the location, Amy noted that “the block has transformed many times...and there are fewer crazy people and drug addicts now.” But their establishment is a constant and will most likely remain, because for the Micelli family, “It feels like home.”

East Village eatery is like a home for this cafe clan

Photos by Bob Krasner

Clockwise from above left: Kevin and Amy Micelli at Ciao for Now; Kevin charging up the electric delivery van; kids Atlas, Opal and Django having fun making cookies.


Howard Hughes reveals Pier 17 plans

Brooklyn Bridge.”At the Seaport Committee’s meeting on Dec. 19, Fratta

said there would be stores in the building, but they would not be chain stores, according to members of the Howard Hughes development team.

“They are going to be coming to our committee,” Fratta said, “ I believe they said, in a couple of months so we’re looking at probably February or March. But they were very clear – it’s just for Pier 17. We asked them for a master plan. We know what you want to do for Pier 17 and it sounds very sexy and everything else. What about the rest of the Seaport? They claim that because of the economic crisis that we’re in, they’re not ready to move on anything other than Pier 17.”

Howard Hughes Corp. owns, manages and develops com-mercial, residential and mixed-use real estate throughout the United States. It is a successor to General Growth Properties, which wanted to erect a high-rise building on Pier 17 and a 495-foot-tall hotel/condo tower on a lot just outside the land-marked Seaport district. General Growth wanted to move the historic Tin Building to make room for these structures but its bankruptcy in 2009 scuttled those plans.

However, the memory of that near miss still makes those who opposed General Growth’s vision very nervous.

At the Seaport Committee meeting, Robert LaValva, founder of the New Amsterdam Market on South Street said, “You see that time and time again there were markets on the water and over time, one replaced the other. This is an iconic site for the City of New York. It has a deep history and has a continuity of use over four centuries.”

He worries that the wrong kind of development would

destroy the unique, historic character of the Seaport.Currently part of the Seaport is landmarked by the New

York Landmarks Preservation Commission, which means that any proposed development would have to pass muster with that commission. The north side of Pier 17, which once was Pier 18, is not landmarked and is therefore vulnerable to development even though it’s on the National Register of Historic Places. The New Market building, once used by the fi shmongers of the Fulton Fish Market, is in the unland-marked area. LaValva would like to use that and the Tin Building to house part of the New Amsterdam Market so that it could operate year round.

“It may be premature, but down the road we should start looking at a resolution urging or demanding, really, that those stalls be used for this purpose so we don’t have to worry about something else coming in over there,” Fratta said. “We know how important it is to the community.”

He recalled the former role of the fi sh market in pro-viding jobs for people who didn’t have much education. “Unfortunately, when we lost the Seaport [which moved to Hunts Point in the Bronx in 2005] we lost all those jobs,” he said.

“One of the important components of our mission is job creation,” LaValva replied. “Food businesses are businesses where almost anyone can enter them who wants to work hard. It’s a pathway to a career.”

To protect the New Market building, Community Board 1 has, on two occasions, adopted resolutions that were sent to the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission requesting an extension of the historic district. They have not responded.

“We should be notifying all elected [offi cials] to support the landmarks designation,” Fratta said. “We don’t need a motion for that. We can send a letter.”

The committee has already asked the City’s Economic Development Corporation to clarify the status of all the Seaport property that it controls. “That would be the Seaport Museum and the Howard Hughes properties and other properties that they manage separately such as the East River Esplanade and the Tin Building and the New Market building,” said Michael Levine, director of planning and land use for Community Board 1. “They promised to get back to us within a few months. It’s a complicated issue as to who has leasehold to what. They’ve admitted to us that it’s not easy to explain. They want to do the research and then come back to us.”

Meanwhile, the interested parties are watching Howard Hughes warily, ready to protest if the real estate company’s Seaport plans should prove to include something other than the three-story, glass structure with a roof garden that was furtively dangled in front of Community Board 1.

And, while Guncay and area residents attested to less noise and fewer vibrations in recent weeks, some remain wary to jump to optimistic conclusions.

“It’s nothing like before, when they were ripping down the building, but I’d like to see it [continue], and then I can really believe it,” echoed Mary Ann Moy, who lives on the fi fth fl oor of 12 John St., which borders the 180 Broadway site.

While 176 Broadway resident John Reuther feels somewhat reassured by SL Green, he is still concerned that the loud noise and strong vibrations will resume once the new building reaches the height of his 16th floor penthouse.

“They’ll be gradually building up to our level, right next to our windows,” said Reuther.

SL Green is using a variety of mitigation tactics to con-tinue to reduce noise levels, according to DeWitt.

“We’re working with [construction manager] Tishman Construction to use the minimal amount of equipment on site and the most noise-effi cient equipment on site,” DeWitt said.

The developer is also cutting down on weekend work at the site.

Asked about future weekend hours, DeWitt said, “In the past, we started at 10 a.m. on Saturdays, rather than starting at 7 a.m., as an accommodation to the neighbors; and we usually work until 3 p.m.”

According to Catherine McVay Hughes, a resident of 176 Broadway and the vice chairperson of Community Board 1, SL Green “has listened to the concerns of the neighbors and made adjustments to minimize the impact on the surround-ing residential community.”

“This is much appreciated, and we hope that they they continue to be good neighbors,” said McVay Hughes. “Hopefully, they are now on schedule with the end of 2012 completion date, so that the sidewalks can be returned to the

people at that time, if not sooner.” “We’re on schedule, as we’ve promised, to wrap up con-

struction towards the end of 2012 or in the fi rst quarter of 2013,” said DeWitt.

Developer heeding residents’ concerns over noise


The worst of the noise at the construction site at 180 Broadway is over, according to the project’s developer.



Seaport Committee keeping close eye on Pier 17 plans


M.A.T. girls volleyball team takes NYC championshipCoach Erin Scutt had come to practice early on the fi rst

day of volleyball tryouts in the M.A.T. gymnasium in early September. After all, she fi gured, volleyball was a popular sport at the downtown middle school, and she wanted to make sure the net was ready to go for everyone that wanted to come try out for the team. As the students piled into the gym one by one, two by two, there was only one problem: 75 girls wanted to play. One net wouldn’t cut it.

“We had to take half of them outside in the yard with our Junior Varsity coach Sabine Kullman and I stayed with the rest. It was unbelievable,” Coach Scutt said.

Unbelievable isn’t nearly strong enough a word to describe the kind of cult following the sport of volleyball has at M.A.T. Girls practice before school in the playground. They practice during recess in circles, bumping and setting. They drive their parents and neighbors crazy by serving balls into their apartment walls. They beg their phys-ed teacher to give them free time in the gym so they can practice.

“Insanity,” said M.A.T. athletic director John DeMatteo. “That’s all I can call it. The school has gone nuts for vol-leyball.”

And rightfully so since no middle school in NYC has had as much success with girl’s volleyball as M.A.T. And after that fi rst practice, coach Scutt knew she had something special. “From day one, I knew this was a special team ... a team capable of playing the game the right way at such a young age and a team capable of winning a championship,” the coach recalled.

“These girls have set the pace for this city and have proved that girls in middle school are capable of playing at a very high level, even in New York.” NYC volleyball commissioner John DeMatteo says. “M.A.T. has set the bar high; because of Erin’s coaching and talent, she has inspired

other coaches to work harder and realize what can be done through hard work and know-how.”

Seriously? Volleyball played in New York City? In a city dominated by basketball, when one thinks of volleyball, images are usually of California or Florida ... with beaches, palm tress and sand courts; they do not think of indoor gym-nasiums in Manhattan or Brooklyn. That was 10 years ago. Now, the NYC middle school volleyball league, created by M.A.T., has over 30 schools represented by four boroughs. The road to the championship is no easy one. After a regular season, 16 schools made the single elimination tournament. M.A.T. seeded number one overall with a perfect record, dominated the competition from the start and found them-selves in familiar territory: championship game day. Playing in front of a packed recreation center, audience of over 300

people, including fans from both teams, M.A.T. faced the uptown champions from the West Side middle school 333. With the crowd going crazy and non stop volleying and action, M.A.T. won the fi rst game, but found themselves los-ing to 333 by one point in the second game with the score 24-23 (they play to 25).

“The atmosphere was unreal. I’ve never experienced a sporting event like it,” said Coach Scutt. “The kids painted their faces, the parents made signs and people were just cheering as loud as possible. It’s what every youth sporting moment should look like.”

With the home crowd on their back, 8th grader Mairead Farrell made a perfect pass to Naomi Harrison Clay who then set to Margaret Matthews who fi nished off the 26 to 24 win. It was M.A.T.’s third time in the fall championship game and their fi rst win.

A smiling Coach Scutt held the championship trophy in her hands and looked back to that fi rst practice, where she envisioned this moment from day one.

“Yes, I knew my girls would be champions, not just because of what the scoreboard said, but because of how they played the game and because of the kind of student athletes they are,” said Coach Scutt. “I could not have asked for better role models for our younger girls than the 8th graders I had this year. I will miss them terribly, but I know they will go on to accomplish great things in life and on the volleyball court.”

The M.A.T. girl’s team consisted of 8th graders Mairead Farrell, Margaret Matthews, Nina Lehrecke, Ava Friedlander, Naomi Harrison Clay, Lauren Ng, Tiffany Yuen, Wen Lin Zhu, Natalie Martinez, Olivia Simonds and next year will look to their 7th grade returning players Sophia Marino, Georgia Greenleaf, Annalisa Valdivia and Jolien Louis.

Newly Renovated Backyard

2 blocks south of the World Financial Center

Photo courtesy of John DeMatteo

The M.A.T. girls volleyball team celebrates after win-ning the city championship.


Opposing views about a temporary plaza’s future

Alan Solman, owner of Kings Pharmacy at 5 Hudson St., said profi ts at his store have risen by fi ve-to-ten percent thanks to plaza users who pop in to purchase beverages and snacks. The plaza is a pleasant sight for pass-ersby, compared to a bustling street backed up with cars, Solman added.

“When you walk by, you see four or fi ve students sitting around, enjoying them-selves,” said Solman. “It has a calming effect.”

Other community members, however, are calling for the plaza’s closure, contending that the northbound street is a vital thor-oughfare for cars traveling along Hudson Street.

Timmy Acapella, general manager of Acappella Restaurant, a Northern Italian restaurant at 1 Hudson St., attributed a 15-to-20 percent drop in business since the plaza opened last year to the diffi culty the blocked-off space causes his customers who are dropped off by cars. “[The plaza] serves its purposes for six months out of the year,” said Acapella, “but for us, it’s a problem.”

“The city must take into consideration the effects it has on the people that work in the neighborhood.”

Marc Ameruso, the only Tribeca Committee member who voted against the C.B. 1 resolution, deems the plaza an “assault on traffi c fl ow.”

“For the community board to vote on closing the street without really doing any study is irresponsible,” said Ameruso. “The street shouldn’t be permanently closed until the Chambers Street construction is com-pleted and Chambers Street becomes a two-way street again, to allow us to determine whether or not this [plaza] will cause issues in the rest of Tribeca.”

Tribeca committee member and Duane Street resident Allan Tannenbaum also has reservations about a permanent closure of the street, but ultimately voted in favor of the C.B. 1 resolution.

“A lot of traffi c that would normally turn off of Chambers to go up Hudson Street, is now forced to turn onto Church Street, and it creates a bottleneck there,” said Tannenbaum. “But we’ll have to keep on being inconvenienced for the greater good of the community.”

Let’s do something togetherTrinity Wall Street

an Episcopal parish in the city of New York

Leah

Red

dy

trinitywallstreet.org

All Are WelcomeAll events are free, unless noted.

212.602.0800

Christmas Worship

TRINITY CHURCH

CHRISTMAS EVE Saturday, December 24Service with Children, Youth & Families, 4pm

Holy Eucharist, 6pm

Festive Eucharist, 10pm (9:30pm Choral Prelude)

CHRISTMAS DAY Sunday, December 25Choral Eucharists, 9am and 11:15am

Webcast live at trinitywallstreet.org

ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL

CHRISTMAS EVE Saturday, December 24Midnight Eucharist, 11pm

CHRISTMAS DAY Sunday, December 25Holy Eucharists, 8am and 10am

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1pmConcerts at OneTrefoil: Christo e Nato Lauding the Nativity in Medieval Florence Trinity Church

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1pmBach at OneThis Bach at One performance is part of Trinity Wall Street’s Twelfth Night Festival, a new Early Music Festival featuring Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. The six cantatas of the Oratorio will be presented Dec. 25, 26, 27, and January 1, 2, and 6.

Celebrate the holidays at one of Trinity Church or St. Paul’s Chapel’s many Christmas Eve or Christmas Day services.

worshipSUNDAY, 8am and 10amSt. Paul’s ChapelCommunion in the round8pm Compline, music, and prayers

SUNDAY, 9am and 11:15am

Trinity ChurchPreaching, music, and EucharistSunday school and child care available

MONDAY – FRIDAY, 12:05pm

Trinity Church Holy Eucharist

MONDAY – FRIDAY, 5:15pmAll Saints’ Chapel, in Trinity ChurchEvening Prayer, Evensong (Thurs.) Watch online webcast

TRINITY CHURCHBroadway at Wall Street

74 Trinity Place is located in the office building behind Trinity Church.

ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL Broadway and Fulton Street

CHARLOTTE’S PLACE109 Greenwich St, btwn Rector & Carlisle

The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, Rector The Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, Vicar

“Dark” and “romantic”, this “white-tablecloth” TriBeCa Northern Italian piles on the antipasti and other “delicious” “old-world” delights served “with flair” by “over-the-top” waiters; just “hold your breath when the bill comes” — and “decide the tip” before downing the gratis “housemade grappa.”

~Zagat 2008

“Romance is in the air” at this “dark” TriBeCa Northern Italian where “delicious” food is served by waiters who put on a “great show”; be sure to “finish the night” with the “gratis homemade grappa” — it’ll “help dull the shock of the bill.”

~ Zagat 2007 The food, the service and the ambiance make you feel like you are in a scene from the Godfather. “We will make you a dish you can’t refuse!” Our unique Northern Italian Cuisine, atmosphere and impeccable service will make your dining experience

~Michelin Restaurant Guide, 2008

Make your reservation for New Year’s Eve dinner and book your holiday party now!

Open for Lunch & DinnerMon. - Fri., Lunch: 12 - 3 PMDinner: 5 - 10:30 PM, Sat: 5 - 10 PM

Sunday: 5 - 10 PM

visit us at: www.acapella-restaurant.com

Celebrating our 19th anniversary in Tribeca

11

~Z

Have a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season from Sergio and Tim



Progress on Fulton Street

penny dating back to 1806. “The side benefi ts of all the development

that’s been going on in Lower Manhattan, is learning about the history, and I brought props, so everybody gets to see what we’re fi nding,” said Alyssa Loorya, president of Chrysalis Archeological Consultants, who has been excavating different areas in Downtown since 2004.

Loorya brought in a couple of the arti-facts for display at the committee meeting, including a 1790 German stoneware mineral water bottle.

“One of the things that early New York City residents always faced was diffi culty in getting fresh drinking water… so New Yorkers have been importing water for cen-turies,” explained Loorya.

Loorya and her team have also uncovered a range of dinnerware that once possibly belonged to Stephanus Van Cortlandt, New York’s fi rst native-born mayor from the 17th century.

One artifact from England discovered dur-ing the excavation, for example, highlighted one aspect of pottery collection from former centuries. “There’s been a lot of research on this whole industry of trying to recapture or steal the market of [dinner] plates and pot-tery from China,” said Loorya.

The archeologists have also found several teapots, liquor bottles, bone tooth-brushes, and medicinal containers, some of which are marked with names of illegal substances.

“It’s not unusual to see bottles from the 18th and 19th century marked opium or cocaine, or to have any number of local busi-nesses listed,” explained Loorya.

Antiquated water pipes have enlight-ened the excavators about well construction from earlier centuries and the history of Manhattan Water Company, which is known today as Chase Manhattan Bank.

“Chase Manhattan bank started as a water company with banking rights, because it was easier to enter the banking world in that manner,” said Loorya.

77 READE CONDOMINIUM A AGGAMIN BIOLOGICS A ALLIANCE FOR

DOWNTOWN A BATTERY PARK CITY CONSERVANCY A BATTERY PARK

CITY DAY NURSERY A BATTERY PLACE MARKET A BIALOSKY + PARNTERS,

ARCHITECTS A BOMBO SPORTS A BLUE ZEES REAL ESTATE A BOND

REAL ESTATE A BOOMER ANG TOYS A BRONSKY ORTHODONTICS A

CHADBOURNE & PARKE LLP A CHAMBERS STREET ORTHODONTICS

A CHAMBERS STREET WINES A CHURCH STREET SCHOOL FOR MUSIC

AND ART A COSMOPOLITAN HOTEL A DOWNTOWN DANCE FACTORY A

DOWNTOWN EXPRESS.COM A ELG METALS, INC. A EXERBLAST

A FABRICANT & FABRICANT INSUR ANCE A FERGUS PARTNERSHIP

CONSULTING A JENNIFER FISHER JEWELRY A FRANCO FAMILY

FOUNDATION A GEE WHIZ DINER A DR. RUBY GELMAN, DMD A

GEORGES RESTAUR ANT A GOLDMAN SACHS A GR ASSHOPPER

A HOUSE SYSTEMS A INATTESO PIZZABAR CASANO A IZZY AND NATS A

LEAVE THE DISHES A LIPMAN ADVERTISING A MAILBOXES ETC

A MANHATTAN YOUTH A MASLOW 6 WINE SHOP A MASTERPIECE

PIZZERIA RESTAURANT A MAXDELIVERY.COM A MISSION CAPITAL

ADVISORS, LLC A MR. STITCH A NANOOSH A NYX DESIGNS A RECTOR

STREET FOOD ENTERPRISES A REIT DESIGN A ROXTER A

SAXTON'S RIVER ORCHARD A SEER CAPITAL A SHAKE SHACK

A SLATE A VINCE SMITH HAIR EXPERIENCE A SONIC YOUTH A

STRIBLING REAL ESTATE A THE PALM TRIBECA A THE TRIBECA

TRIBUNE A TRIBECA ASSOCIATES A WALKERS RESTAURANT A

WILLIAM ROGERS ARCHITECT A Y WATER A ZUCKER’S BAGELS

DO

WN

TO

WN

SOC

CE

R L

EA

GU

E

T H A NK YOU S P ON S OR S ! FOR A

FANTASTIC SE A S ONO F F U N ON THE PITCH

EVEN MORE VALUABLE COUPONS ATMBETRIBECA.COM

closed 12/25 and 12/26

FedEx, DHL, USPS & FreightYou Bring It, We Pack It & Ship it!

One less holiday hassle. We can pack it and ship all of your gifts to family and friends. You can save with these coupons. Cannot be combined with other offers. Exp. 12/31/11

MAIL BOXES ETC. 295 Greenwich St. @ Chambers St. New York, N.Y. 10007 212 964 5528 M-F 8AM-7PM Sat 10AM-5PM Sun Dec 4, 11, 18 11AM-4PM Mbetribeca.com We Have Holiday Stamps

A Jewish Reservist Tells How, Why and What He’s Ba ling in Afghanistan & Iraq

THE WALL STREET SYNAGOGUE’S breakthrough Fes val of Lights Party and Chanukah History Celebra on focuses on a

Torah-observant U.S. Army man, Adam Sternglass, who in past few years served some 3-1/2 years in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq

and on his astonishingly harmonious, “team-spirit” service rela ons with… not only Muslims enlisted in U.S. Army but with na ve Islamic peoples as well. A program of revealing facts and

insights about present foreign rela ons unknown and unreported in the media.

*RSVP A MUST! (212) 227-7800 EXT. 11. PLEASE GIVE FULL NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE

### WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. Star ng at 5:15 p.m. musically enhanced Candle Ligh ng, Glorious Chanukah Foods — Sizzling

Latkes, Jelly Donuts, the works. The Reservist will speak at approx. 5:45 p.m.

###WHERE: Wall Street Synagogue, 47 Beekman St. @ William St. (opposite N. Y. Downtown Hospital) the 2nd Floor Conference Room

BREAKTHROUGH CHANUKAH PARTY FOR ALL DOWNTOWN. FREE*


www.DOWNTOWNEXPRESS

.com


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 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 Kermit under glass. There are also drawings, storyboards, props and a reel of witty commercials from the black and white era of television. “Fantas-tic World” can be seen through March 4. At the Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave., Astoria). 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.

MANHATTAN CHILDREN’S THEATRE: A CHRISTMAS CAROL This presentation of the Charles Dickens holiday clas-sic (adapted and directed by MCT Artistic Director Bruce Merrill) features original music by Eric V. Hachikian. Through Dec. 24; Sat., Sun., at 12pm and 2pm; also on Fri., Dec. 23, at 12pm and 2pm. At Manhattan Children’s Theatre (380 Broadway, 4th floor; two blocks south of Canal St., at Broadway & White). Tickets are sold online for $18 (adults) and $16 (children). At the door, $20. For reservations and info, call 212-352-3101 or visit mctny.org.

THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE MUSEUM The Junior Officers

Discovery Zone is an exhibit designed for ages 3-10. It’s divided into four areas (Police Academy, Park and Precinct, Emergency Services Unit and a Multi-Purpose Area), each with interactive and imaginary play experiences for children to understand the role of police officers in our community — by, among other things, driving and taking care of a police car. For older children, there’s a crime scene observation activity that will challenge them to remember relevant parts of city street scenes, a physical challenge similar to those at the Police Academy and a model Emergency Services Unit vehicle where children can climb in, use the steering wheel and lights, hear radio calls with police codes and see some of the actual equipment carried by The Emergency Services Unit. At 100 Old Slip (btw. Front and South Sts.). For info, call 212-480-3100 or visit nycpm.org. Hours: Mon. through Sat., 10am-5pm and Sun., 12-5pm. Admission: $8 ($5 for students, seniors and children; free for children under 2).

NEW YORK CITY FIRE MUSEUM Kids will learn about fire prevention and safety through group tours, led by former NYC firefighters. The program — which lasts approximately 75 min-utes — includes classroom training and a simulated event in a mock apartment, where a firefighter shows how fires can start in different rooms in the home. Finally, students are guided on a tour of the museum’s first floor. Tours (for groups of 20 or more) are offered Tuesdays through Fridays at 10:30am, 11:30am and 12:30pm. Tickets are $3 for children and $5 per adult — but for every 10 kids, admission is free for one adult. The museum offers a $700 Junior Firefighter Birthday Party package, for children 3-6 years old. The birthday child and 15 of their guests will be treated to story time, show and tell, a coloring activity, a scav-enger hunt and the opportunity to speak to a real firefighter (the museum provides a fire-themed birthday cake, juice boxes and other favors and decorations). The NYC Fire Museum is located at 278 Spring St. (btw. Varick and Hudson). For info call 212-691-1303 or visit nycfiremuseum.org.

YOUTHACTIVITIES

123 West Broadwaylancelappinsalon.com • 212.227.4150

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

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

COMPILED BY NIKKI TUCKER & SCOTT STIFFLER

THE HOLIDAY TRAIN SHOW AND GINGERBREAD ADVENTURES

Within the enchanting setting of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, model trains zip over bridges and past replicas of New York landmarks made of plant parts such as nuts, bark and leaves. Marvel at the replicas, stroll the spectacular grounds, decorate (and eat!) gingersnaps — then break for some hot chocolate. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for students/seniors (free admission for children under 2).

Included in the price of admission to the Train Show: “Gingerbread Adventures.” Explore the plant ingredients (such as cin-namon and ginger) that make up a classic gingerbread recipe. Step inside a child-sized gingerbread playhouse, decorating a ginger-snap cookie with frosting and candies and examine gingerbread ingredients under a microscope. In the Adventure Garden, you’ll see a display of gingerbread houses designed by some of New York’s most imaginative bakers. Kids can take home a pot decorated with wheat seeds that will quickly grow into a miniature head of wheat hair (a living reminder that fl our — a key gingerbread

ingredient — is derived from a plant).The Train Show and Gingerbread

Adventures run through Jan. 16. At New York Botanical Garden (2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx). Open 10am-6pm, Tues.-Sun. Closed Dec. 25. On Dec. 24, closed at 3pm. On holiday weeks (Dec.19-Jan. 2), hours are 10am-7pm. For tickets and info, call 718-817-8700 or visit nybg.org.

Photo by Talisman Brolin


SHOPPING STOP #1: B & B VARIETY STORE (110 Ludlow St.)

Our fi rst stop provided Faceboy with a smart holiday outfi t: One $1.29 Santa Hat (with “2012” printed on it), and one pair of ($1.29) “2012” glasses — which anticipate New Year’s Eve, while providing excellent protection from the sun. Also on our receipt, a bottle of “212” men’s cologne (99 cents) — not for the faint of heart, or those with a sense of smell.

SHOPPING STOP #2: LOT-LESS (80 Clinton St.)

“Are you sure about the Sea Otter book,” asked Faceboy — concerned that we were falling under the spell of these lovable crea-tures and therefore vulnerable to the siren call of the book’s prohibitively indulgent asking price (99 cents). Against our better judgment, we emerged from Lot-Less with our own copy of “Splash Amidst Rowdy Rafts of Otters.”

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

~

p a

DOWNTOWN EXPRESSARTS&ENTERTAINMENTYour $20 Downtown ChristmasRev. Jen, Faceboy reveal ‘cutting’ edge tips

Photos by Scott Stiffl er

BY REVEREND JEN MILLER, FACEBOY & SCOTT STIFFLER

MEET YOUR HOSTS

SAINT REVEREND JEN MILLEROriginally from Middle Earth,

Maryland, Rev. Jen is an “elf that lives in a Troll Museum above a shoe store, with a chihuahua named Reverend Jen Junior.” She is “an Art Star, author, Troll Museum curator, columnist, guru, open mike host, ambassador to the otherworld, underground movie star, Voice of the Downtrodden & Tired and Patron Saint of the Uncool.” Rev. Jen is founder and host of The Anti-Slam (currently happen-ing every fourth Wednesday of the month, 10pm, at Bowery Poetry Club). Unlike poetry slams where a panel evaluates per-formers based on a numerical scale, all who take to the Anti-Slam stage receive a perfect 10. “I don’t believe in talent or genius,” says Rev. Jen, “but in authen-ticity and desire.” Rev. Jen’s new book,

“Elf Girl,” makes a wonderful holiday gift. Support the LES by purchasing it at Bluestockings Bookstore (bluestockings.org; at 172 Allen St.). For more info, visit revjen.com.

FACEBOYBorn and raised in Greenwich Village,

Faceboy began a long friendship and col-laboration with Rev. Jen when the two met in the mid-1990s — as Faceboy began what would become a 13-year run of “Faceboyz Open Mike” (which happened mostly at Surf Reality). Based on Rev. Jen’s dubbing her Anti-Slam performers as “Art Stars,” Faceboy declared Downtown’s emerging comedy performance circuit as the “Art Star Scene” (A.S.S.). Faceboy returns as a producer and host, with “Faceboyz Folliez” — a new variety show happening on the first Sunday of each month, 10pm, at Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery; bow-erypoetry.com). The next is on January 8. Visit faceboyzfolliez.com.



Downtown Christmas

The following day, having read this fi ne Zoobooks publication from cover to cover, Faceboy remarked: “It was horrifying. It told of massive hunting that nearly wiped out the entire species — that they were easy to hunt because they were friendly and would swim right up to the boats. It also told of their resurgence after a 1911 ban on hunting, and then their current decline due to polluted waters.” Rev. Jen wondered, “How could someone kill that?” — to which Faceboy replied, “Much like Christmas itself, learning about sea otters gives moments of hope fol-lowed by worlds of grief.” Faceboy’s plunge into the heart of holiday darkness was made worse a bit later in the day, as we decorated our tree to the strains of Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” The song, he remarked, “defi nitely makes me want to cut myself.”

Also purchased at Lot-Less: Disney’s “The Princess & The Frog Sticker & Earrings Set.” Dividing the set into 14 individual gifts, we fi gured, made its asking price of 99 cents seem very reasonable indeed. A $9.99 three-foot white Christmas tree (minimal assembly required) left us with a crisis of faith as to how we’d spend the little money we had left. The answer was staring at us…from a liquor store.

SHOPPING STOP #3: JADE FOUNTAIN LIQUOR COMPANY (123 Delancey St.)

After purchasing a $1 Gordon’s Vodka nip bottle (no tax), your hosts pay their respects to a nearby depository (dubbed by Rev. Jen as “The LES Stonehenge”) created by the accumulated discarding of empties by loyal Jade Fountain customers.

REV. JEN’S DECORATING TIPS:Tip #1: Hang the tree upside down, in

honor of Isaac Newton (whose birthday is also December 25). Whether you’re a Jew,

Christian, Buddhist or heathen — we can all agree on one thing: Gravity!

Tip #2: Use shit that’s already in your home to decorate (a Valium on a string, old Budweiser cans, NYC condoms, etc.)

Tip #3: When hanging banners, cross out the “Happy” in “Happy Holidays,” so guests don’t feel too much pressure — and cut out the “Merry” in “Merry Christmas.” People should be able to feel any number of emo-tions during the holidays.

REV. JEN’S ENTERTAINING TIPS:Because it’s a recession and you are prob-

ably working 50 hours a week just to pay your rent and Con Ed, you shouldn’t have to cook. Remember all that canned food you bought for Hurricane Irene? Why not just serve that? Spam Singlets and almonds for everyone!

Who can afford cheese and crackers? Opt for Handi-Snacks instead. They have that cool little wand for spreading the cheese.

In the toy aisle of Lot-Less, Rev. Jen and Faceboy share a sad, quiet moment — when they accept the grim reality that these dolls are thoroughly beyond their $20 budget.

Rev. Jen and Faceboy at “L.E.S. Stonehenge.”



Just Do Art!COMPILED BY SCOTT STIFFLER

TRINITY WALL STREET’S CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE FOR CHILDREN

On Sat., Dec. 24 (at 4pm), Trinity Wall Street’s annual Christmas Eve Service for Children, Youth and Families features a sermon presented in a storytelling format. Children are “highly encouraged to partici-pate,” and the Eucharist is celebrated. The Trinity Youth Chorus performs. At Trinity Church (Broadway at Wall St.). For info, call 212-602-0800 or visit trinitywallstreet.org.

THE MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE: “I LIFT MY LAMP”

On December 25, “I Lift My Lamp: A Statue-esque Hanukkah” pays homage to poet Emma Lazarus and the Lady of the Harbor, by featuring Statue of Liberty-inspired crafts and fi lms (all activities are free with Museum admission). At 11am, a young Russian immigrant mouse gets separated from his family while arriving in America, in the 1986 animated fi lm “An American Tail.” Lady Liberty also makes cameos in Hitchcock’s 1942 fugitive tale “Saboteur” (at 1pm) and in 1985’s “Ghostbusters II” (at 3pm). Tours of the exhibit “Emma Lazarus: Poet of Exiles” will be given throughout the day.

At the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A

Living Memorial to the Holocaust (Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Place). For info, call 646-437-4202 or visit mjhnyc.org. Follow the museum, on Facebook, and at twitter@MJHnews.

WINTER HOLIDAYS AT 92YTRIBECATake a fresh, hot latke (the incredibly deli-

cious potato pancake that’s a happy Hanukkah staple). Then top it off with sour cream or applesauce. Then eat, regroup, repeat. The only thing that could possibly make the experienced better is…beer. 92YTribeca’s 4th annual “Beer + Latkes Hanukkah Celebration!” brings these two heavenly tastes together under one very happy roof. Brooklyn Brewery’s beer expert Dan Moss will present delicious beer pairings to compli-ment 92YTribeca head chef Russell Moss’s innovative and daring latke creations. Need three more reasons to go? How about candle lighting, dreidel spinning and a rousing game of Hanukkah trivia? Bonus Feature: If these spirited festivities aren’t enough to quell your holiday angst, Rabbi-in-Residence Dan Ain will be on call to fi eld your “December dilem-ma” questions (preferably before you’ve had that second drink). Thurs., Dec. 22, at 7pm. Tickets are $18 in advance, $22 at the door.

Lonely Christians, moody atheists and Photo by Leo Sorel

A storytelling sermon, audience participation and the Eucharist: All on Christmas Eve, at Trinity Wall Street. Continued on page 26


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]

New Ren. Hitching Post Tavern and InnFeat. Bar, Din Rm, Owners Apt., Guest Rms.Estab. in Catskill Mts intrsect. of 2 st hwysMin to ski, golf,st pks,Call 607-434-6382

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].

reported that a starlet had “accessorized” with a puppy in her handbag.

Some years ago, at a charity breakfast, I was asked to introduce the author of a book on schizophrenia among the Irish.

“There is no humor in mental illness,” I began. And I stopped. The audience laughed — the uncertain laugh of relief. The truth is there may well be more humor in mental illness than there is in the subject of bike

lanes. Yes, let’s save the environment, but, in our zealotry, let’s not forget to show a degree of consideration for the person stand-ing next to us.

The licensing and registration of bicycles is inevitable, along with special rules for the puppy on the crossbar. And traffi c tickets, for a new “revenue stream.” Drivers, riders and pedestrians will form a new coalition against this additional imposition. Neighborhood groups and community boards will do their job. Hysteria will die down and the city will move on to the next.

Relief from cyclistsContinued from page 11


Just Do Art!

bored Jews: three groups who really need to get out of the house on Christmas. Fortunately, NYC has a wealth of movie theaters and Chinese restaurants to help make the season bright. But why schlep all over town when you can have your meal and your movie in the same place? “Chinese and a Movie” delivers two action-packed Spielberg classics (“Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Jurassic Park”) and an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet (with booze available at the bar!). Sun., Dec. 25. Doors open at 2pm. $25 in advance, $30 at the door. “Raiders” screens at 2:30pm; “Park,” at 4:30pm. The buffet spread begins at 2pm and ends when it’s all gone.

These events take place at 92YTribeca (200 Hudson St.). Call 212-601-1000 or visit 92YTribeca.org. For Facebook: face-book.com/92YTribeca.

HANUKKAH CONCERT: THE MACAROONS

Indie music fans, unite! The Macaroons — a spinoff band from acclaimed rockers The LeeVees — are brining their equally acclaimed songs to The Jewish Museum for three shows in one day. Many of the tunes will be from their 2010 debut album (“Let’s Go Coconuts”). The band’s guitar-based sound references everything from the Kinks to Queen to the Shins.

On Sun., Dec. 25, at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. At The Jewish Museum (1109 Fifth Ave., at 92nd St.). For tickets ($20; $15 for children). For info, call 212-423-3337 or visit thejewishmuseum.org.

WASHINGTON SQUARE CAROLINGYou supply the vocal chords and the

holiday spirit. The Washington Square Association will supply the songbooks. That,

plus the Rob Susman Brass Quartet and a very tall Christmas tree, is all you’ll need to have a merry time singing holiday songs. The tree is lit from 4pm-1am, daily. The carol-ing festivities happen on Sat., Dec. 24, at 5pm — at the Washington Square Park Arch (located at the foot of Fifth Ave., one block south of Eighth St.). For info, call 212-252-3621 or visit washingtonsquarenyc.org.

A SWINGING BIRDLAND CHRISTMASLike a modern day Ed Sullivan — but

with charisma and vocal talent — our favor-ite cabaret impresario Jim Caruso holds court every Monday night at Birdland, as he gleefully emcees “Cast Party.” The long-running cabaret-themed open mic features newcomers, Broadway babies and living leg-

ends. Throughout, smooth crooner Caruso and the unreasonably talented pianist Billy Stritch keep things moving with an easy, breezy brew of satire and sincerity.

That chemistry bodes very well for “A Swinging Birdland Christmas.” Return with Caruso and Stritch to those thrilling days of yesteryear — when seasonal specials from showbiz veterans lit up the small screen. Along for the sleigh ride is the equally compelling Klea Blackhurst (whose comedic chops can be consumed by watch-ing her on the IFC channel’s “The Onion News Network”). The amiable trio will per-form swinging arrangements of “Christmas Waltz,” Kay Thompson’s “Holiday Season,” “Sleigh Ride,” “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” and other favorites. Bonus

track: Stritch, on piano, is joined by the other members of The Birdland Jazz Quartet (John Hart on guitar, Paul Gil on bass, Carmen Intorre on drums).

Through Sun., Dec. 25. All shows at 6pm (except Dec. 25, at 7pm & 10pm). At Birdland (315 W. 44 St.). For tickets ($30 cover, $10 food/drink minimum), call 212-581-3080 or visit birdlandjazz.com. Also visit jim-caruso.com, billystritch.com and kleablackhurst.com.

CZECHOSLOVAK-AMERICAN MARIONETTE THEATRE: “A CHRISTMAS CAROL, OY! HANUKKAH, MERRY KWANZAA (HAPPY RAMADAN)”

Just when you thought there wasn’t one more possible permutation of “A Christmas Carol,” along comes the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol, Oy! Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa (Happy Ramadan).” This adap-tation of the holiday mainstay (which at this point in the season has overstayed its welcome) deserves serious consideration thanks to the sheer amount of non-Dickens names dropped in its long but promising title. Adapted, directed and performed by Vit Horejs, it features over 30 puppets. Along the way, the familiar tale injected with a blend of English, Jewish, African, American and Czech winter rituals, cus-toms and holiday songs in Czech, English, Hebrew and Swahili (performed by an acapella choir).

Dec. 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, at 7pm; Dec. 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and Jan. 1, at 4 pm. At Clockworks Puppet Theatre (196 Columbia St., btw. Sackett & DeGraw; Brooklyn; F or G Trains to Carroll St. Station). For tickets ($20; $12 for kids), call 212-868-4444 or visit smarttix.com. Also visit czechmarionettes.org.


Photo by Orlando Marra

Ghost of a chance: a Dickens classic gets the Czech marionette treatment.

Photo by Ken Howard

The Rob Susman Quartet leads the singing on Dec. 24. See “Washington Square Caroling.”

Photo courtesy of The Macaroons

Let’s go (coco) nuts. See “The Macaroons.”


that building. So, that’s a question mark, and it’s a major priority of Silverstein Properties. Two W.T.C. will be brought to sidewalk level in 2012, but the fi nal completion is uncer-tain. It’s not getting any government credit backstop; so right now, we need a tenant or a new fi nancing scheme. We’re very hopeful that some big company will want to occupy it, but that could happen in 2016 or later.

What was it like prior to Silverstein Properties’ 2010 W.T.C. deal with the Port Authority? How has the deal affected prog-ress at the site?

Before we got the 2010 deal done, there were about fi ve years when a lot of people were grinding their teeth and, in effect, second-guessing Daniel Libeskind’s W.T.C. master plan. They were always ready to reopen issues and start all over again. In the meantime, some people who under-stood the city, understood that Lower Manhattan was organically turning into a world-class residential neighborhood: That the vision of a mixed-use Downtown was being achieved, but that the commer-cial offi ce redevelopment needed a push in order for Downtown to reemerge as a world class business center. The fact that the deal got done — and that there’s now an alignment between government and the private sector to get the project completed — created momentum in itself. And we got the fi nancing done for Tower 4, which created an additional level of certainty, momentum and progress. Then, we actu-ally have the physical manifestations — visible skyscrapers. So all of these things together have dramatically improved both the perception and the reality of the site.

Are you fearful of a double-dip reces-sion?

I’m always worried about the city’s econ-omy as it impacts near-term on our business. But I’m long-run optimistic about the city: it’s defi nitely not the easiest place to do business in some respects, but I think it’s still where businesses want to be, for all the right reasons.

Are there any leasing prospects at the moment for 3 W.T.C.?

It wouldn’t be fair to suggest anything is imminent, but we’re very optimistic, as there are real tenants out there who would satisfy the 400,000 square feet pre-leasing agreement.

What about 2 W.T.C.?

There are a few big companies — “mega” tenants, if you will — that are in the mar-ketplace. That’s as much as I’ll say at the moment. If and when a deal is happening, I’m sure you’ll be on to it.

Could a delay in the completion of W.T.C. 3 and 2 disrupt future connectivity at the site?

No. Below-grade connectivity will be maintained, since the underground retail will be open through the concourses. The retail above-grade comes on line as each of the buildings are fi nished.

So, why did Larry appoint a co-C.E.O.? Is he starting to scale back his work sched-ule?

No: Larry is working his tail off. He’s [still] very, very present, he’s just taking a very responsible approach to planning for the future of the company, which recently doubled its staff, let stand growing geo-graphically and in its breadth of projects. If you’re going to continue to grow and expand, you need to raise more capital as

well. That was something that Larry always did personally, and now he’s got a great, new, young partner to help him with that.

Describe your rapport with Patrick Foye, the Port Authority’s new executive director.

We have a very good and highly func-

tioning relationship. Pat was my contact person in the Governor’s offi ce on some of the Port Authority-related issues; he was a problem solver during the complicated fi nancing of Tower 4. Is the Port Authority a hugely complicated beast to run, and are different things pulling him in differ-ent directions? Absolutely: I don’t know how any particular issue is going to be resolved. All I know is that Pat Foye is a very smart guy and has real confi dence from Governor Cuomo.

Do you hope to see the Performing Arts Center come to fruition?

Absolutely. We cannot forget that the P.A.C. was a central aspect of Daniel Libeskind’s master plan for the W.T.C. site. Larry ceded some of the site back to the public sector so it could be built. Think about it: You’ve got Tower 1 and Tower 2, both big buildings. What should be between them? Well, there ought to be what was conceived of in the original plan, which is a low-lying building of some kind that introduces some public activity and that is going to add a dimen-sion of excitement and interest to the whole neighborhood. We still think it’s the right thing to do, and we’re certainly supporting the mayor, the governor and others who are puzzling through how to get it done.


Photo courtesy of Silverstein Properties

Four World Trade Center, as it appeared on Dec. 19, is steadily rising and will be completed by 2013.

Silverstein W.T.C. buildings on schedule

Downtown Express December 21, 2012

Documents

Transcript of Downtown Express December 21, 2012