Download - DOWNTOWN EXPRESS, OCTOBER 5 - 11, 2011

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VOLUME 24, NUMBER 21 THE NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN OCTOBER 5 - 11, 2011

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SHOTS, PG. 30

BY CYNTHIA MAGNUS“I think we established a dialogue,”

said Pat Moore, chair of Community Board 1’s Quality of Life Committee, about an informal meeting held on

October 3 with some members of the Occupy Wall Street group who are camped in Zuccotti Park. The purpose was to discuss ways in which relations between the Downtown community

and the protesters might be eased.At the C.B.1 full board meeting on

Tuesday, Sept. 27, Financial District

Downtown Express photo by Cynthia Magnus

It’s been over two weeks since the Occupy Wall Street protestors fi rst showed up at Zuccotti Park. Last week, some of them attended Community Board 1’s full board meeting in an effort to start a dialogue with local residents.

BY ALINE REYNOLDS Downtown residents’

wish to have their own cer-emony at the National Sept. 11 Memorial for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 was never granted. Instead they were given what some com-munity members feel is an equally good opportunity for refl ection: special access to the memorial on the fi rst

Sunday of every month. Assembly Speaker

Sheldon Silver invited an estimated 2,000 Lower Manhattan residents to the memorial’s fi rst “Community Evening” on Sunday, Oct. 2. Starting at 4 p.m. only people who produced iden-tifi cation proving they lived in a Lower Manhattan zip code, were allowed into the

BY ALINE REYNOLDSWhen Tribeca resident

Matthew Foster moved to the community in 2008, he never dreamed he’d have to send his two young children to a public school outside of the neighborhood.

“I live in this community, and I want to send my kids to school in this commu-nity,” said Foster.

The rezoning plan proposed by the city’s

Department of Education, however, would assign Foster’s kids to P.S. 3 in Greenwich Village once they reach kindergarten.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea at all,” said Foster at a hearing held at P.S. 234 on Tuesday night. “I had to look up P.S. 3 on a map. I have no idea about that school.”

Foster is one of a num-ber of neighborhood fami-

9/11 Memorial, Silver host fi rst ‘community evening’

Residents say ‘no’ to proposed rezoning

Protestors, C.B. 1 have dialogue

Continued on page 23

Continued on page 7Continued on page 4

more information: www.mandellschool.org (212) 222–2925

Mandell is opening a new pre-school in Tribeca/ Battery Park City. Probably best to line up now.

October 5 - 11, 20112 downtown express

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BY KHIARA ORTIZThe FAB! Festival on Saturday, Sept. 24, featured the

ribbon-cutting “Curtains Up” ceremony for three multiarts facilities on E. Fourth St.

The publicly funded projects include the Rod Rodgers Dance and Duo Multicultural Arts Center, The Shop and 64E4. Funders and supporters of the buildings’ renovations were thanked and honored, along with Borough President Scott Stringer, Councilmember Rosie Mendez and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Along with the BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) district in Brooklyn, E. Fourth St. between the Bowery and Second Ave. is New York City’s only other offi cially desig-nated cultural district. Since 2006, the city has committed more than $20 million to the renovation of six of the arts facilities on the block.

The building that is now home to the Rod Rodgers Dance Company and DUO Theatre at 62 E. Fourth St. used to be “boarded-up and graffi tied,” said Tamara Greenfi eld, execu-tive director of FABnyc. “Now they can be really proud and people will get a sense that things are happening.”

“The renovation of 64 E. Fourth will almost triple our cultural programming offerings to our community,” added Jose Cheo Oliveras, artistic director of Teatro Circulo. “We will be able to present more than 25 theatrical productions, increase the amount of our classes and workshops, and even open a forum for local companies to use our spaces as their performing venue.”

Sharing the space are the IATI Theater and Paradise Factory.

The third building, owned by New York Theatre Workshop, is at 72 E. Fourth St. and is New York State’s fi rst urban industrial cultural “green” building to meet gold-level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

standards. It was constructed using manufactured materials with recycled content and wood from well-managed forests to meet sustainable design principles. NYTW intends to attain the same level of green standards in its daily opera-tions.

Greenfield is excited about upcoming events, espe-cially the second annual East Village Eats festival on Sat., Oct. 22. For $29 Village foodies can embark on a self-guided tasting tour at 12 to 15 different local restau-rants and bars.

Fourth Arts Block cuts ribbon on renovated buildings

Photo by Tequila Minsky

Councilmember Rosie Mendez speaking at the FAB! Festival this past weekend.

downtown express October 5 - 11, 2011 3

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

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

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

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

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

C.B. 1MEETINGS

A schedule of this week’s upcoming Community Board 1 committee meetings is below. Unless other-wise noted, all committee meetings are held at the board offi ce, located at 49-51 Chambers St., room 709 at 6 p.m.

ON WED., OCT. 5: The Financial District Committee will meet.

ON THURS., OCT. 6: The Planning and Infrastructure Committee will meet.

ON TUES., OCT. 11: The Youth/Education Committee will meet.

ON WED., OCT. 12: The Tribeca Committee will meet.

DOWNTOWN DIGEST

V.C.F. OPEN FOR REGISTRATION

The 9/11 Health and Compensation Act’s Victim Compensation Fund registry is now open. Claimants may begin to fi ll out basic registration information, such as their names and addresses, but they won’t be able to sub-mit medical and other eligibility information until the end of the month, according to V.C.F. Special Master Sheila Birnbaum.

Birnbaum denied other media reports alleging the process has been delayed.

“There was no way we could get it up and running and be able to test the claims form and get it done in a way that would be meaningful,” said Birnbaum. “The claims section is being tested to make sure it’s understandable and easy to use.”

Birnbaum is organizing clinics for early November that would guide the claimants through the application forms. In the meantime, she said, interested claimants are offered assistance through a telephone help line. A list of frequently asked questions is also available on the V.C.F. website.

For more information, visit www.vcf.gov. To register, visit www.claims.vcf.gov/welcome.aspx.

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PRET-A-MANGER COMES TO HUD. SQ.

Pret-a-Manger has signed a 15-year, 3,854-square-foot lease at 350 Hudson Street. The sandwich shop is known for its all-natural ingredients.

“As Hudson Square continues to attract a diverse range of tenants, it is increasingly important to build a vibrant retail community to serve and retain those companies,” said Jason D. Pizer, President of Trinity Real Estate. “Pret-a-Manger is an important step in that process and we are delighted to welcome them to the area.”

The nine-story, 322,447-square-foot building houses the New York headquarters of leading international advertising and public relations fi rms Euro RSCG and Havas North America. The ground fl oor of 350 Hudson Street is also home to a signature café and retail shop from renowned chocolatier and purveyor of gourmet confections, Jacques Torres.


committee chair Ro Sheffe introduced a proposed resolution during the new business session. It suggested that the board urge the mayor’s offi ce to address the disruptions to area residents and local businesses caused by the occupation. It proposed that park owner Brookfi eld Properties take mea-sures to re-open space in the park for use by local residents and workers, for the NYPD to enforce existing noise control laws, and for the Board of Health to designate the Financial District as a noise sensitive zone.

The issue was tabled until the committee’s public meet-ing on Oct. 5, to give members time for further discussion. A member of the Occupy Wall Street group’s community relations committee, Justin Wedes, was among those invit-

ed to attend the informal Oct. 3 afternoon meeting.Sheffe said he raised four main issues related to the

occupation: noise disruption, pedestrian and vehicular disruption, sanitation, and dual use for the occupiers and local park users. Sheffe said it was important for the pro-testers to understand the background of the community, which has grown by 300 percent in ten years.

“They are surrounded by people who are raising fami-lies in this neighborhood, not the barons of Wall Street,” said Sheffe.

The C.B.1 committee requested that the protesters remove the drummers which currently play in Zuccotti. One of the protesters suggested that the drummers might move to the southernmost area of Battery Park.

At the occupiers “general assembly” session held later on Oct. 3 they voted to pass Wedes’ proposal to change

“quiet hours” from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m. They also voted to ask C.B.1 to support the group’s application to the NYPD for a sound permit that would allow the use of a mega-phone in the park.

At the Sept. 29 1st Precinct Community Council meet-ing it was explained to the several protesters in attendance that the NYPD cannot issue a sound permit without per-mission from the owner of the property.

One protester named Katie complained about the way earlier arrests were handled, but noted that police have been “mostly helpful.” Another protester said that Occupy Wall Street is a decentralized organization and asked about the best way to have a discourse with NYPD.

Inspector Edward Winski said, “My community affairs guys have gone into the crowd since day one, and can’t find anyone to speak to. When there’s a leadership struc-ture, we sit down and work it out.”

Wedes said that it is “in everyone’s interest” for the group to be approved for the sound permit, as the nightly general assembly meetings in the park would go faster, and that “a low megaphone would actually be quieter than the ‘people’s mic’ - a system in which a speaker’s statement is repeated loudly by the crowd so that every-one can hear.

Ted, a member of the protester community, stated his personal opinion when asked if the need for a mega-phone might be eliminated if the drummers stopped play-ing during general assembly. Currently participants must shout over the drums. “It doesn’t make sense for people to be disruptive during GA,” he said, “It also means that the people at G.A. are missing the drum circle.”

Wedes said he does not think it is “plausible” to ask the drum circle to remove themselves from Zuccotti. “We

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Continued from page 1

Downtown Express photos by Cynthia Magnus

Aly, whose cart on Cedar Street sells only breakfast items said his business has been down by 40 percent since the Occupy Wall Street protest started.

Downtown Express photo by John Bayles

Last Friday, protesters marched from Zuccotti Park to One Police Plaza.

Occupy Wall Street meets with C.B. 1



Three times out

A suspect in the Sept. 26 robbery of the Sovereign Bank branch at 2 Gold St. was arrested after he hit the place for a third time on Wednesday, Sept. 28, for a total of $26,000.

Charles Burnett, 29, with a record of two previous misdemeanor arrests, was charged with three counts of robbery. At 9:20 a.m. Monday, Sept. 26 he put a brown paper bag on a teller’s counter, handed over a note saying “put the money in the bag. I have a gun,” and fl ed with $2,258, police said. He returned at 10:54 a.m. the next day and fl ed with $14,000 after threatening a teller he would shoot her in the face if she didn’t give him all the money, police said. On Wednesday, Sept.28 he came back a third time and passed a note saying “I have a gun put all the money in the bag.” Two offi cers recognized him from a wanted poster and him as he was leaving with about $10,000, according to court documents.

Burnett was described as 6’1” and about 275 lbs. in a New York Post article, which also said he was recently released from a mental institution somewhere in the South. Burnett used the money from the Sept. 26 robbery to book a room in the Grand Hyatt on E. 42nd Street and Grand Central, according to the New York Post article.

Tickets Tickets Tickets

A Queens man carrying a bag of printed tickets was getting into his car parked in

front of 224 Front St. in the South Street Seaport around 11:25 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 2 when a man brandishing a black hand-gun demanded, “Give me the bag, give me the bag, give me the bag,” police said. An accomplice on a motorcycle drove up and the gunman grabbed the bag and got on the back. The robbers made a U-urn and sped west on Peck Slip, police said. The bag had 300 Watertaxi tickets, 200 Top of the Rock tickets, 200 Tussaud’s Wax Museum tickets and 700 Intrepid Sea/Air Museum tickets, with a total value of $6,400.

Cell phones lifted

Two suspects walked into the Verizon store at 102 Fulton St. around 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, took two cell phones from a display case and fl ed without paying for them. The phones, valued at $699 each, were store demonstration models and wee activated for use, police said.

Subway dipper

A Staten Island man, 23, got on a crowd-ed train at the Whitehall St. station around 12:20 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1 and lost the wallet from his back pocket with $133 and credit cards and his cell phone to a pick-pocket, police said.

Dump truck gone

A dump truck parked at a construction

site on the northeast corner of Leonard and Varick Sts. at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29 was discovered stolen an hour later, police said. The truck was valued at $50,000.

Booked on book theft

The man arrested on Sept. 26 for try-ing to sell books he reportedly stole from public library branches to a bookshop in the East Village, was also charged in an earlier theft of 11 books from the Battery Park City Public Library on North End Ave.

Andrew Hansen, 27, with a long record of library book thefts, was arrested on Sept. 21 in connection with the Battery Park City library theft. He is also a sus-pect in two other library thefts for which he has not yet been charged, according to reports.

On Monday, Sept. 26, he tried to sell stolen library books to East Village Books, 99 St. Marks Pl., but the owner held him for police. Hansen, who was also arrested in July for trying to steal books from the Tompkins Sq. library branch, is barred from the library system and from Strand Books on Broadway and E. 12th Street. In September 2009 he was arrested in Union Sq. for ripping labels out of stolen library books and in November 2009 he was arrested for shoplifting in the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Union Square, according to reports.

Burglary attempt

Three men in a mini van tried to beak into the Miu Miu clothing boutique at 100 Prince St. around 12:55 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 29 but after two tries with a crow bar, they failed to enter the place and drove off. Police

said a witness saw two men, one wearing a facemask and the other wearing a hooded sweatshirt, get out of the van. One of them smashed the front door glass with the crow-bar. The van then backed up to the door, and the two men put a blue plastic garbage can nearby and tried to pry open a lock at the bottom of the door. They failed to break the lock, left the garbage can and sped away north on Greene Street. The attempt was part of a citywide burglary pattern, police said.

Comfortable seat

A woman patron of Greenhouse, 150 Varick St., told police she left the place very drunk around 4:10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept.27 when a stranger told her there was a comfortable place to sit around the corner on Vandam Street. Once off Varick Street, the man took her cell phone and fl ed, police said. She discovered later that day that 10 unauthorized calls were made on the phone.

Scattered contents

A New Jersey woman, 28, told police she was with friends at Toad Hall, the bar at 57 Grand St., shortly after midnight on Saturday, Oct. 1 and left her bag on a hook under the bar while she went out for a smoke. When she returned, she found that someone had scattered the contents of her bag on the bar. She gathered every-thing, put it all back in her bag, but didn’t notice until after she got home that her wallet with ID and credit cards was miss-ing. Several unauthorized charges were made on the cards.

— Albert Amateau

POLICE BLOTTER

BY ALBERT AMATEAUIt was all about St. Vincent’s from morning till night last

Thursday, Sept. 22.At 10 a.m. the state Health Planning Council heard tes-

timony on the conversion of St. Vincent’s O’Toole Pavilion on the west side of Seventh Ave. into a comprehensive com-munity health center with a free-standing emergency depart-ment to be operated by North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

Later that day, at the 6 p.m. Community Board 2 meeting, opponents and supporters debated the Rudin Organization’s proposed redevelopment of the former hospital’s east cam-pus into a 450-unit condo residential complex.

In a joint statement to the Health Planning Council, local elected offi cials said that while they were concerned about certain details of the planned health center, they acknowl-edged that it would provide signifi cant community health-care to the Lower West Side.

Nevertheless, the local politicians said they would contin-ue to advocate for a full-service acute-care hospital. The joint statement by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, state Senator Tom Duane, Assemblymembers Deborah Glick and Richard Gottfried and Congressmember Jerrold Nadler also noted that the state Department of Health had found there was a continued need for St. Vincent’s up until its closure last year. But the politicians added that, “No experienced healthcare provider has yet put forth a credible proposal to re-establish a hospital on the site.”

The elected offi cials, however, remained concerned about the Fire Department Emergency Medical Service protocols for delivering patients to the proposed health center and for transferring them to full-service hospitals.

Although the North Shore-L.I.J. emergency department would serve more than 90 percent of the patients who received treatment at the St. Vincent’s emergency room, ambulances would have to take some patients to other hos-pitals.

“The [Department of Health] must not approve this appli-cation until and unless North Shore-L.I.J. and the Emergency Medical Service have established ambulance protocols,” the statement said.

In addition, the elected offi cials suggested that the pro-posed O’Toole health center could also accommodate a full-service hospital at a later date.

“A new full-service hospital remains our goal. If the center is approved, we will continue to urge in the strongest possible way that North Shore-L.I.J. or another provider build upon the service [the health center] offers,” the state-ment said.

Nevertheless, most people at the Health Planning hearing called for a full-service hospital and told the department to reject the North Shore-L.I.J. center.

Members of the Coalition for a New Village Hospital sub-mitted statements contending the proposed comprehensive care center and free-standing emergency department would inevitably put patients at risk.

The coalition has submitted a petition with more than 2,000 signatures opposing the North Shore-L.I.J. center, as well as the Rudin residential project on the east side of the avenue.

Both the residential project and the North Shore-L.I.J. health center are part of the same current city uniform land use review procedure (ULURP) currently underway.

At the C.B. 2 meeting, neighbors of the former hospital urged the community board not to recommend the zoning required to accommodate the large-scale residential develop-ment.

Al Butzel, the attorney representing Protect the Village Historic District, which was founded three years ago in response to the Rudin plan, said, “The zoning is being manipulated in this case.” Rudin is seeking a rezoning that would increase development at the site by 40 percent more than ordinary residential zoning, Butzel noted.

He said the group was also against a proposed under-ground parking garage, which would be the fourth one on W. 12th St. between Seventh and Sixth Aves.

Gary Tomei, a member of Protect the Village Historic District, said the Rudin project would set a precedent for New York University’s request for large-scale development of its two superblocks in the South Village.

Philip Schaeffer, a lawyer representing the W. 13th St. 100 Block Association, said that Rudin has not shown that

Post-St. Vincent’s debate continues on two fronts



N.Y.U. offi cial cites ‘lack of civility’ at C.B. 2BY ALBERT AMATEAU

New York University’s proposal that the city Parks Department take over two city-owned green strips on the east and west sides of the university’s northern superblock provoked confl icting responses from elected offi cials and Village civic associations.

The university announced at a Sept. 15 news conference that it would modify its original proposal to acquire the strips along Mercer St. and LaGuardia Place between W. Third and Bleecker Sts. and support a Parks Department takeover from the city Department of Transportation.

But the university wants easements that would allow access across the strips and permit construction beneath them in con-junction with the long-term NYU 2031 rede-velopment plan for its two superblocks.

Critics focused on two main issues: the easements and the fact that N.Y.U. did not confer with Community Board 2 about its new plans.

Community Board 2 last week rejected the proposal saying, “The ease-ments would allow for long-term, tem-porary closing of the two park strips.” The board also wanted an evaluation of legal issues pertaining to the transfer of the strips and the granting of easements across them. The board resolution also fi nds fault with the orientation of the two strips.

“While publicly accessible, all the new

open space included in the proposal would be inward-facing with a university campus look and feel, not befi tting the character of the community,” the resolution says.

Regarding the process, the resolution complains that N.Y.U. did not work with C.B. 2 on developing the plan or even talk to the board about it, “although they did con-sult with other advocacy organizations.”

The resolution added, “[The] C.B. 2 board admonished N.Y.U. for not discuss-ing the issue prior to its announcement to the media, which could be interpreted as a cynical attempt to manipulate the wider public.”

The resolution urged the university to work with the community on strategies to transfer a total of four park strips on its two superblocks to the Parks Department to preserve them as a much-used and cherished public open space.

Councilmember Margaret Chin’s Offi ce said, “While the councilmember appreci-ates that N.Y.U. has been listening to what the community has set as priorities, she still feels there is a lot to talk about and will meet with the university, community board and affected community groups as the process unfolds.”

State Senator Tom Duane said this week that he thought N.Y.U. showed bad faith making its decision without engaging the community board.

“Negotiating by press release is a terrible idea,” Duane said.

He also suggested that there is no guaran-tee that the public would have access to the park strips in the foreseeable future because of construction.

Alicia Hurley, N.Y.U. vice president for government relations and community engagement, replied that she was disap-pointed with the “fi xation” on process over substance.

“We’re proposing to make the strips parkland. That’s a good thing,” she said. “It’s hard for us not to notice the lack of civility with which we are treated when we do go before the community board. We understand that, to some extent, it comes with the territory, but that doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t seem especially produc-tive,” Hurley said.

Lawrence Goldberg, president of Friends of LaGuardia Place, said, “I’m anxious for the strips to be part of the Parks Department, but I fi nd the current proposal with a requirement for access easements to be unacceptable because it would result in the ultimate destruction of the park.”

Alyson Beha, of New Yorkers for Parks, a citywide parks advocacy group, said N.Y.U. has been consulting with the organization on the Mercer St. strip.

“Our priority is to ensure that there is no alienation of park land,” she said.

Although the strips have been the responsibility of the city Department of Transportation, they have been used as park space for many years. The group wants to make sure that N.Y.U. reaches a binding neighborhood maintenance agreement for the strips, Beha said. “Alienation,” in terms of park property, means removing it from city ownership or public use.

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, called the N.Y.U. proposal a “sham parks plan.”

He said the easements would allow N.Y.U. to build under the parks, dig through them to the underground space at any time and to use the strips for construction staging.

“By N.Y.U.’s own admission, these parks would be closed to the public for years at a time,” said Berman. The G.V.S.H.P. director is a longtime critic of the NYU 2031 plan to add 2.5 million square feet of develop-ment to its two superblocks, bounded by LaGuardia Place and Mercer, Houston and W. Third Sts.

In a letter to local and city offi cials, Berman urged that the university’s expansion plans not be approved.

The Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031, headed by Terri Cude and Martin Tessler, was equally critical.

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Community not sold on city’s proposed rezoning

lies that object to the proposed zoning changes for Lower Manhattan. The pur-pose of the rezoning is to create a zone for the new Peck Slip elementary school and to realign the sizes of the zones according to the capacity of each school. The new zones would divide the neighborhood of Tribeca, such that the Fosters and other families who live north of North Moore Street would be assigned to P.S. 3 in Greenwich Village rather than to P.S. 234, their local neighborhood school.

Another notable change to the current zones is that children who live in Gateway Plaza and are currently in the P.S. 89 zone would be reassigned to P.S. 276. The pro-posal, under consideration by the District Two Community Education Council, will be finalized by the end of the year.

“No matter where the zone lines are drawn, somebody will be in a different zone than they had expected to be,” said Elizabeth Rose, director of portfolio plan-ning at the D.O.E. “We know that’s pain-ful and we know that’s unexpected.”

The department is doing its best, Rose continued, to retain students in the schools they’re zoned for. But that statement didn’t satisfy parents such as Melissa Goldsmith, who said she would

be considering private schools if her pre-school-aged child is zoned for P.S. 3 start-ing next year.

“There’s no way he can walk there,” said Goldsmith. “I don’t want him really crossing Canal Street during Holland Tunnel traffic hours.”

At the latest school overcrowding task force meeting held by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver last Tuesday, Sept. 27, Rose also announced that P.S. 1 and P.S. 126 in Chinatown have a collective capac-ity of 350 to 370 additional seats, and that they’ll therefore serve as alternative opportunities for waitlisted Downtown students in the coming years.

P.S. 1 Principal Amy Hom, however, contended that her school could only hold one additional group of kindergarten-ers. The D.O.E., she noted, is counting cluster rooms, offices and even closets as classroom space into their capacity projections.

“Technically, I could open one more class in kindergarten, because each year would need an additional classroom,” said Hom. “If it becomes overcrowded here, it’s not going to be pleasant.”

Both proposals fail to address the long-term dilemma of the lack of elementary seats in Downtown schools, according to Eric Greenleaf, a member of the task force and a business professor at New

York University. “Their overcrowding solution is to

overcrowd more schools,” said Greenleaf. “It kind of ignores a lot of long-estab-lished neighborhood boundaries, and also doesn’t solve the problem, which is that more schools are needed.”

Part of the problem, Greenleaf elabo-rated, is that the D.O.E. lacks the neces-sary projections to plan ahead. “When you do school rezoning, you have to take a look at enrollments in the future, to see if the zone is sufficient to meet the demands in the future,” he said. “The D.O.E. has absolutely no forecast for what they think enrollments will be in the next three-to-four years.”

Overcrowding in Lower Manhattan schools, meanwhile, will continue to worsen every year, as the district will be short 1,200 or 1,3000 seats, according to Greenleaf’s data.

“At this rate, in a few years, every sin-gle Downtown school will have a waitlist — even the incubator Peck Slip school,” said Greenleaf.

Rezoning a handful of blocks in Tribeca to P.S. 3 is not sufficient to accommodate the hundreds of incoming school children, echoed P.S. 234 parent Tricia Joyce.

“One cannot construct 20,000 new apartments without building new schools. It’s simple math,” said Joyce. “The outdat-ed planning methods used by the D.O.E. have failed, over and over again for a decade. It is time to accept these failures and build new schools concurrent with residential 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.


Downtown Express photo by Aline Reynolds

Elizabeth Rose, director of portfolio planning at the D.O.E., at a public hear-ing held Tuesday night at P.S. 234 to discuss the city’s proposed rezoning plan for Lower Manhattan.

Continued on page 8


Saying ‘no’ to rezoning

The task force was nonetheless pleased to hear that more space has opened up in One Peck Slip, which they’re hoping will prompt the D.O.E. to expand the school beyond its slated capacity of 476 seats.

The U.S. Postal Service has tentatively selected 116 John St. as the future site for their retail operations currently situated in the Peck Slip building, according to Hank Burmeister, manager of the Northeast Facilities Service Office of the U.S. Postal Service. The new post office, located only a couple of blocks south of Peck Slip, would be approximately the same size as the current 3,000-square-foot store and offer similar services. Burmeister said it could open as early as spring 2012.

Meanwhile, the Postal Service is con-templating moving its delivery branch to 90 Church St., across from the World Trade Center site.

“It’s an accommodation that we’re very happy about,” said Community Board 1’s Youth and Education Committee Chair Paul Hovitz.

The additional space in the Peck Slip building, Hovitz said, “enables the D.O.E. to comply with our request to increase the new school’s capacity to 600-plus students.”

Silver echoed this sentiment in a Sept. 22 letter to NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

“Given the continued dire need for new elementary school classroom seats in our Downtown community, I strongly urge you to use that extra space to expand the size of the planned 476-seat school,” Silver wrote. “We face a school over-crowding crisis in Lower Manhattan for the foreseeable future, and we must not miss this excellent opportunity to create additional school seats to help address that crisis.”

The D.O.E. declined to comment.The plans, however, have yet to be

finalized, according to Burmeister. While the Peck Slip building has officially been transferred to the School Construction Authority, he said, the D.O.E. has agreed to pay U.S.P.S. half-a-million dollars for renovations to its existing facilities should the company decide to stay put.

“We are entitled to some type of mon-etary value for our improvements if we were going to go back to the Peck Slip location,” said Burmeister. “And, further discussions have to take place with the S.C.A. if we indeed move out perma-nently.”

The agreements, Burmeister said, would be finalized by the end of the year.

Women’s Healthcare Services

Returns to Tribeca

Following the closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital, many

physicians came to New York Downtown Hospital so

they could continue to serve their patients on the

West Side.

With the opening of a new Center on 40 Worth Street,

we are pleased to welcome two exceptional physicians

back to the community. They will be working in

collaboration with physicians from Weill Cornell

Medical Associates.

Dr. Zhanna Fridel and Dr. Vanessa Pena are board

certified obstetricians and gynecologists utilizing

leading diagnostic and treatment methodologies across

a broad spectrum of women's health issues.

• Normal and High Risk Obstetrical Care

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• Urogynecology (female urology)

• Cord Blood Banking

• Cervical Cancer Vaccination

• Menopausal Management

• Contraception

For an appointment with Dr. Fridel and Dr. Pena,

call (212) 238-0180

40 Worth Street, Suite 402, New York, NY 10013

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800.367.7908

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Newest C.B. 1 committee is all about housingBY ALINE REYNOLDS

The goal of Community Board 1’s new Housing Committee, is “to allow people to have tenure in the community,” said commit-tee chair Tom Goodkind.

“It should be up to you, not the condi-tions you’re living in, to move out of your home,” Goodkind told the audience on Monday, Sept. 26, as they discussed ways seniors could more easily age in place and how and where tenants can obtain rent-stabilization in the neighborhood.

One way the committee plans to imple-ment that vision is by opening up a center for the elderly named “Manhattan Seniors.” The nonprofi t, which the committee hopes to launch by the end of 2012, would provide 24-hour affordable domestic health care, cleaning, and other services for seniors, as well as organize daytime activities for them in the neighborhood.

Manhattan Seniors would serve as an alternative to displacing the elderly from their homes, according to Goodkind.

Seniors, he said, tend to get disoriented — and in some cases, fall ill — when they move out of their homes and into nursing care facilities.

“Maybe we should stop bringing seniors to facilities and offer them to age in place with the same kind of assistance,” said Goodkind. “It’s a new model no one has really approached yet.”

Once formed, the organization will be soliciting funding from private and govern-ment organizations, so that participating seniors receive steep discounts for the ser-vices.

The services, Goodkind stressed, must be affordable. “Mayor Bloomberg wants everyone to age in place, but it’s not possible at the moment,” he said. “We want to make it possible, so that people have an option to remain at home.”

The committee will be inviting neighbor-hood landlords to help set up satellite offi ces in the community, so that the seniors can have easy access to the services offered by Manhattan Seniors. The committee is cur-rently working on a business plan, which it hopes to have prepared by the spring.

RENT STABILIZATION Downtown has more rent-stabilized

units than the community thinks, accord-ing to Goodkind.

The number has risen by one-third since C.B. 1 came out with its rent-stabilization guide in 2009, he reported, prompting a need to update the board’s rent-stabiliza-tion guide to include approximately 2,000 additional rent-regulated units.

The revised guide, Goodkind said, will be available for distribution by the end of the month.

“I think this is a very important sub-

ject,” said Goodkind, who said he has wit-nessed fellow community members being forced out of their homes due to increases in rent and other living expenses.

Preserving rent-stabilized units in the area, Goodkind continued, “will keep a large part of the community in tact.” In the case of 37 Wall St., the city’s Civil Court issued a fi nal decision in August 2010 that all of the building’s units are subject to rent-regulation, no matter what the rents are.

Scores of other apartments in Lower Manhattan should be stabilized but aren’t, according to housing attorney Serge Joseph, who represented the 37 Wall St. tenants in court.

“One of the conditions of receiving 421G [tax exemption] is that all apart-ments would be subject rent stabilization, even if the initial rent for an apartment in that building is $2,000 or more,” Joseph said. “The solution is, these tenants need to enforce their rights… they need to demand that they be treated as rent-sta-bilized tenants” said Joseph, by fi ling rent overcharge complaints to the state’s divi-sion of Housing and Community Renewal.

C.B. 1 might also consider taking the issue to the state Supreme Court, accord-ing to Joseph, since a ruling from a higher court might be the best way to secure tenants’ rights. “Another landlord may say they’re not bound by this [37 Wall

St.] decision,” he said. “Otherwise, I’d be comfortable saying all the 5,000 apart-ments [in the rent-stabilization guide] are indisputably rent-stabilized.”

Paul Newell, the Democratic district leader for New York’s 64th Assembly District, agreed that legal action is neces-sary to enforce rent regulation rules. “If we can try and get a bunch of people in the room and craft a legal strategy, it sounds to me like there is legal grounds to extend sta-bilization to at least 50 percent of the units in the Financial District,” said Newell.

Housing Committee member Tiffany Winbush, who has been living at 37 Wall St. since 2009, said she was very relived about the judge’s ruling.

“I’m benefi ting, ‘cause I have a lease agreement that shows me how much my rent is expected to go up over a year or two years,” she said. “So at the end of my lease, I’m not surprised.”

Winbush made it clear, however, that her rent isn’t the least bit inexpensive. Just because it’s rent-stabilized, she explained, “it doesn’t necessarily mean that your apartment is more affordable. It just means that it’s protected and can’t go up by extremes.”

The committee also has plans to update and reprint the board’s senior and affordable housing guides in the coming months.

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

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1pmPoetry Writers’ WorkshopLed by J. Chester Johnson, published poet & Trinity parishioner. Works will be read on Sunday, October 23 at St. Paul’s Chapel.74 Trinity Pl, Second Fl, Parlor

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1pmBach at OneThe Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra present a weekly service of J.S. Bach’s music, accompanied by poetry readings. St. Paul’s Chapel

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1pmGospel on GreenwichA Bible study and prayer group with seminarian Joe Mitchell. Bring your lunch.Charlotte’s Place

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 6pmO God My Heart is Ready To Serve: the Feast of Saint PhilipExplore aspects of being ready to serve God and one another. This week: The Rt. Rev. Andrew R. St. John, DD74 Trinity Pl, 2nd Fl, Parlor

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1pmConcerts at OneEric Clark, pianoTrinity Church

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 10amPracticing the Presence of God: Through StewardshipThis week: Rambam’s Ladder of Giving The Rev. Matthew Heyd reflects on generosity and why the essence of giving is loving.74 Trinity Pl, 2nd Fl, Parish Hall

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1pmBible Study for 20s & 30sSeminarian Joe Mitchell leads a lectio divina (divine reading) style Bible study.74 Trinity Pl, 2nd Fl

Volunteer to pack or hand out Brown Bag Lunches every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:45pm outside Trinity Church.

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


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LETTERS TO THE EDITORHudson Sq.: moving on and moving up

The windy and colder weather this past weekend did not deter hundreds of parents and their kids from com-ing to the grand opening of the Children’s Museum of the Arts’ new location in Hudson Square on Saturday.

Indeed the block of Charlton Street between Greenwich and Hudson might have been the happiest place in the entire city if happiness can be judged by the number of ear-to-ear grins on kids’ faces.

Kudos to the C.M.A. for choosing such a smart location and for being so creative in transforming an old loading dock into a space that even in the winter will be a source of warmth and activity. It will also provide a blast of color to a neighbor-hood that has long been defi ned by warehouses and super-blocks associated with the printing and trucking industries.

Hudson Square, which is just west of SoHo, south of the West Village and north of Tribeca, is proving to be an example of how a community can embrace change and reap the benefi ts that diversity offers.

A large part of this metamorphosis is the beginning of the switch from a 9-to-5 district to a 24/7 mixed-use neighborhood. Gone are the days when the blue collar workers who brought their lunch to the job simply packed up at 5 p.m. and jumped on a subway to head home, leav-ing tumbleweeds and a ghost town in their wake.

Now, the area is home to media and creative compa-nies, large and small, architecture fi rms, graphic design-ers and nonprofi ts that have chosen Hudson Square over Midtown or Jersey City.

On October 13th at Community Board 2, and October 27th at the Dept. of City Planning, the community will have a chance to weigh in on a rezoning proposal that would essentially be the fi nal piece of the puzzle in terms of making Hudson Square a mixed-use neighborhood.

The scoping session, a mandated public input session administered by D.C.P., is the community’s opportunity to learn about and voice their opinions on the proposal.

Trinity, the district’s major property owner and the major force behind the rezoning plan, has proposed allow-ing residential use — adding up to 3,500 new residents over 10 years — to help create a 24-hour community. By boosting residential occupancy to 25 percent, the sidewalks would no longer be desolate at night and on weekends. Retail would be attracted to the neighborhood, because with more residents, there would be a market for it.

The rezoning wouldn’t allow big-box-size stores — except for a supermarket — and nightclubs couldn’t open in the district. A special permit would be needed for new hotels with more than 100 rooms.

Part of the residential growth would come in the form of a 429-foot tower Trinity is proposing at Duarte Square, at Canal St. and Sixth Ave. In an important community giveback, Trinity would provide 75,000 square feet of raw space for a new 420-seat, K-to-5 public school in the tower’s bottom four fl oors, rent-free in perpetuity.

There is much to like in this zoning proposal: mod-est residential use to help create a 24/7 neighborhood, height caps on new construction, restrictions on hotels and night clubs, a new school. All of this while main-taining the neighborhood’s predominantly commercial presence of media and creative companies.

In our view, the proposal has been well–thought through and responsive to community concerns. If any-thing, we think that the proposal should make room for more residential conversions to accelerate the transition to a stable 24/7 neighborhood.

We encourage residents to turn out at the upcoming scoping hearings to voice their concerns and opinions about this rezoning proposal.

Wait for the facts

In light of the recent events around Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna I have thought long and hard about highly conten-tious cases I have covered for over 25 years as a court artist for various news media organizations.

Many cases, including: John Delorean, Central Park Jogger, Raymond Donovan and others have been sensationalized and then subsequently the defendants have been exonerated.

This is especially troubling because so many times the defendant’s lives have been destroyed in the wake of their cases. I recall Raymond Donovan saying after he was found not guilty, “What offi ce do I go to, to get my reputation back”.

The downtown community was familiar with Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna.

He was the Commanding Offi cer of the 1st Precinct for 5 years. When he moved on Community Boards 1 and 2, wrote resolu-tions that passed unanimously, commend-ing and thanking him for his service to our community.

His accomplishments were numerous, including the 30 percent drop in major crimes in the precinct over his tenure. Before the court of public opinion indicts and fi nds him guilty let us step back and let the due process take over, realizing this is a com-mander with a solid track record downtown and dedicated service to our community.

It is something to bear in mind when balancing it against a single incident that we still do not completely understand.

Let’s just wait until all the facts are in.

Elizabeth Williams

Not a festive day for all

To the editor:The circus atmosphere of the Stiller

Run in the Battery Park City and sur-rounding area, totally incongruous near the National Sept. 11th Memorial, made Sunday Sept. 25 an awful day for me as a resident, and was a distressing sign of what a pathetic culture we have become. Plenty of unsung heroes who died on 9/11 did not require this raucous, highly commercial event with its fascist political underpinnings. The Stiller big tent circus show certainly does not honor them.

The violation of resident rights was appalling. Battery Park City was held hostage so that the Stiller Run, life imi-tating adolescent-prime-time television, now glitzier than ever, could take over. Residents were not warned of the close down of the neighborhood, of the horren-dous noise for hours under our windows, of the shut down of MTA bus service. The complete disregard of resident needs and rights for the entire day by a secret politi-cal inner circle process was disgusting to me as an American. This is exactly Occupy

Wall Street demonstrators are protesting: big Business (and the Stiller Run is making a big business out of one man’s death on 9/11) and their politicians taking over the rights of ordinary people. That the connec-tion is not made is exactly what the “Wake Up, America” movement is trying to get across. That 30,000 people practiced their new religion of “running,” but only a few are willing to be pepper sprayed by the NYPD is a potent sign of our social and political disarray in America. I wonder what foreign tourists on Sunday thought of this demonstration of their most negative stereotype of Americans: adolescent at any age and obsessed with money.

Dolores D’Agostino

Everyone should get on board

To the editor,As I watch these protests on Wall

Street, I am reminded of the civil rights marches of the 60s. Yes, I lived through them and saw the police response every night on the news. I listened to my father complain that “those people” should be happy they’ve got what they got. “They never had it so good,” he said.

Yesterday, I bought a new phone. The saleslady behind the counter mentioned that she used to play volleyball in college. Well, now she’s got her Bachelor’s degree. And her college education got her student loans, a crappy minimum wage retail job, and no time for such frivolity as volleyball.

God forbid she gets in an accident or gets sick. God forbid she gets old.

These kids marching on Wall Street are heroes. To the extent that they make people wake up concerning the class war-fare that has been going on in this country for decades, they should be applauded and not corralled, pepper sprayed, and sent to jail.

Politicians (yes Republicans, you know who you are) need to face reality the way these protesters face it.

Healthcare should and can be free (it always is when I travel to Canada, and yes, I’d consider Canadian citizenship but I shouldn’t have to). Everyone (even Republicans) should want healthcare for themselves and their neighbor. We’d all have it, if we had the healthcare President Obama wanted and Congress receives.

Jobs should and can be plentiful. President Obama’s jobs bill provides jobs that bolster our national infrastructure. Considering the extent of present decay, everyone (hear me, Republicans) should be on board.

Politicians need to wake up and be happy these protests are confi ned to Wall Street, because they may soon migrate to their dis-trict offi ces and (GASP!) Republicans will not want that.

William Cooke


TALKING POINTMemorial’s fi rst “community evening” embraced by residentsBY TERESE LOEB KREUZER

If the managers of the National September 11 Memorial were concerned that few Lower Manhattan residents would bother to show up at the memorial for the four hours on Oct. 2 reserved exclusively for them, they worried in vain. On the fi rst of what are planned to be monthly evenings for the community, it took around 45 minutes for the crowd at the entrance gate at 4 p.m. to get inside.

Rounding the corner of the barrier that separates the memorial from the security checkpoint, the visitors saw a welcoming committee of politicians. New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose offi ce had specifi cally invited many of those in line to attend, posed for photos with con-stituents. State Senator Daniel Squadron, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney and others were there. Mayor Bloomberg made an appearance.

Then, because it was a community eve-ning, there were friends and acquaintances to greet, with more talk about the dem-onstration in Zuccotti Park than about the memorial. “The politicians should be over there, not here,” opined one Lower Manhattan resident.

It seemed like a big party. “They should be serving wine and

cheese!” Community Board 1 member, Liz Williams, quipped.

But the sound of the waterfalls beckoned, more powerful than the impulse to chat. People drifted toward the pools, surrounded by ledges on which the names of those who had died on 9/11 and in the World Trade Center attack of 1993 had been incised.

“I pushed forward to the edge and began reading the victims’ names on the side of the fountain,” Community Board 1 mem-ber Noel Jefferson recalled afterward. “The water seemed to resonate within me. I felt as though I was walking into a sacred place.”

“The pools are breathtaking and abso-lutely phenomenal,” said Williams. “I was awestruck by them. If allowed one could really get caught up in their very deep mean-ing and end up leaving in tears. Actually I saw them under construction and they did not hit me that way at the time. But to see them completed was a very powerful experi-ence.”

From her apartment window, Battery

Park City resident Mashi Blech had also seen the pools under construction. “I hon-estly didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “The space is much more park-like than I thought it would be. I found the memorial visually spectacular, dramatic and power-ful. I thought it was fi tting to have the vast amount of water fl owing down into the cen-ter. To me, it felt like tears for all those lives that were lost.”

The air was crisp. The sky darkened and it began to rain. Some people had brought umbrellas and continued to stroll around the edges of the pools, where the raindrops beaded on top of the names and touched the fl owers that had been left by mourn-ers — the single perfect rose that honored Thomas Paul Hannafi n, the small bouquet of red roses tied with white ribbon for Jesus Sanchez, who was on United fl ight 175.

Others took temporary shelter under a ledge of the September 11 Museum, still under construction. The rain didn’t last long. When it was over, a man in a yellow slicker with a squeegee came and wiped away the raindrops from the ledges, carefully avoiding the fl oral offerings.

It was getting dark. Soon the lights would come on in the pools. When they did, the

water, formerly silver, now looked like fi nely spun gold. Lights beneath the names made them legible, even in the gathering darkness. Spotlights illuminated the giant U.S. fl ags draped on the World Trade Center build-ings under construction. Through the glass façade of the museum, the tridents from the Twin Towers stood watch.

Two men, a woman and two little girls stood beside the north pool. The men said that they were in the Rangers, the elite corps of the U.S. Army. They had served in Afghanistan and Iraq and were visiting the memorial to mourn comrades who had died. They connected the attack on the World Trade Center with their service. “We went into the military because of this,” one of them said.

The father of the little girls knelt beside his older daughter so that he could look her in the face. He tried to explain to her where they were and why. Then he talked to her about fi refi ghter Stephen Siller, who, on 9/11, had donned 60 pounds of gear and had run through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to fi nd his squad and try to help. He died, leaving a wife and fi ve children. “I wanted my daughter to understand what a hero is,” the father said.

It was now fully dark. Most people had gone home. But Community Board 1 mem-ber, Geroge Calderaro, who had visited ear-lier in the day, made a point of returning to see the memorial at night. “The pools are an incredible feat of engineering,” he marveled. “Shortly after 9/11, someone commented that no memorial should be built right away, but that time should pass before we could comprehend and address the enormity of our losses that day. The 10 years that have passed have allowed for a brilliantly well-conceived and appropriate commemoration.”

“The modulations of sound remind me of Maya Lin’s Vietnam memorial,” said Community Board 1 member Jeff Ehrlich. “There, the memorial is very near the sound and life of city streets, but as you descend with the wall and so many names, you leave D.C. and enter a silence. Ascending out the other end, the sounds of life meet you again. Here, in contrast, that silence is generated by the din of the waterfall. It overpowers the city and the nearby construction and then envelops you.”

“I’m anxious to return,” said Noel Jefferson. “I would love to spend time read-ing and writing here. The sound of the water is very comforting.”

“The modulations of sound remind me of Maya Lin’s Vietnam memorial,”

— Jeff Ehrlich

Downtown Express photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

At night, through the glass façade of the unfi nished September 11 museum, the tridents from the Twin Towers stand watch.


BY TERESE LOEB KREUZERHerman Melville took a bead on the island of Manhattan

and its inhabitants when he wrote in the beginning of Moby Dick, “Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip and from thence, by Whitehall northward. What do you see? — Posted like silent sentinels all around the town stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fi xed in ocean reveries.”

The lure of the waterfront persists and was the inspired theme for the Downtown Alliance’s fi rst food tour of the 2011 fall season. The Downtown Alliance’s monthly food tours from fall to spring showcase some of Lower Manhattan’s most interesting restaurants and food shops, served with a liberal sprinkling of Downtown history.

On Sept. 24, culinary expert and tour guide Liz Young led a group of gourmets on a path reminiscent of Melville’s, starting at Gigino’s in Battery Park City’s Wagner Park, and then going on to Battery Gardens in historic Battery Park and from there to Pier 17 in the South Street Seaport, where Sequoia and Harbour Lights overlook the East River. From there, it was back to Battery Park City, where P.J. Clarke’s has an unobstructed view of the North Cove Marina.

Regardless of the conversation, a meal at Gigino’s is never boring. Diners look across the Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty and the domes of Ellis Island. Over lunch or dinner, they can watch sailboats and ferries, tugboats pushing barges up the river, kayakers and the occasional cruise ship. Coast Guard ships and fi reboats pass by and vessels belonging to the Army Corps of Engineers, whose mission is to keep the harbor clean, dredged and ice free. Sunsets over the Hudson can be particularly memorable. One woman in the tour group was so pleased by the view, that she immediately booked an outside table for her 26th wedding anniversary.

At each stop during a food tour, the group samples food and sometimes a beverage such as wine, coffee or soda. At Gigino’s the offering was a crisp, spicy salad of mixed greens and summer-fresh vegetables. Then it was on to

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Tour guide Liz Young listened as Michael Lister, a waiter at Gigino’s in Wagner Park, talked to the Downtown Alliance’s Waterfront food tour group on Saturday, Sept. 24. The Alliance’s monthly food tours explore various aspects of Lower Manhattan dining.



BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER

SCAFFOLDING EVERYWHERE: A for-est of scaffolding has sprung up in the south-ern part of Battery Park City, with more to come. The reason for this, according to Patrick O’Donovan, the super at 1 Rector Park, is “Local Law 11,” which mandates façade inspections and repairs every fi ve years.

“The buildings have to hire an engineer-ing fi rm to do a visual inspection and then report any and all problems,” explained Kenny Shane, the super at 377 Rector Place. He said that the inspection report has to be fi led with the Department of Buildings, and then the repair work has to be completed within a legally mandated time frame. “Since all of these buildings [in the southern part of Battery Park City] were built around the same time, you’re going to see scaffolding/work on many of them,” Shane said.

ART HISTORY FOR SENIORS: The Battery Park City Seniors group, led by the ener-getic Ruth Ohman, will be treated to another series of free art history lectures on Mondays at noon starting on Oct. 17. Silvia Espinosa, who

is studying for her doctorate in art history and who teaches at LaGuardia Community College, will cover art from the Fall of Rome in A.D. 400 to the rise of Charlemagne some six hun-dred years later. Espinosa describes this as “a period of profound and lasting changes in the political, cultural, social and religious outlook of Europe and its neighbors.” Lectures are held in the Battery Park City Authority’s community room at 386 W. Thames St. Ohman says that you don’t have to live in Battery Park City to attend.

Battery Park City Seniors also organizes exercise classes and meditation groups — and on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m., meets at Izzy & Nat’s at 311 South End Ave. for a get-together where everything on the menu is half price. For more informa-tion, email [email protected].

TWILIGHT NATURE WALKS: As the seasons change and birds and some insects migrate south, many pause in their arduous journey to rest in Battery Park City’s gardens and to take on fuel by supping on B.P.C. fl ow-ers. On Sept. 30, Doug van Horn, an educator with the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy,

led a twilight walk in Wagner Park, where ruby-throated hummingbirds darted among its scarlet and orange blossoms and an osprey and a night heron fl ew overhead. Monarch butterfl ies also alight in the park at this season before continuing on to Mexico, where they over-winter. The next twilight nature walk will be on Friday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. followed on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 11 a.m. by bird watching in Wagner Park. Both events are free.

OPEN HOUSE NEW YORK: The 9th annual Open House New York takes place on Saturday, Oct. 15 and Sunday, Oct. 16 with behind-the-scenes tours of hundreds of archi-tecturally and historically signifi cant spaces and

places in all fi ve boroughs. The Battery Park City public library at 175 North End Ave. is on the itinerary and so are Poets House at 10 River Terrace, Teardrop Park South and the Skyscraper Museum at 39 Battery Place.

When the B.P.C. library opened in March 2010, it was touted for its use of recycled mate-rials, its abundance of Internet-connected com-puters, and its sunny, welcoming environment. It is the New York Public Library’s fi rst LEED-certifi ed branch in Manhattan. Tours with a maximum of 20 people each will be offered on Oct. 15 at noon and 3 p.m. Like Poets House, the library opens onto Teardrop Park South — that imaginative evocation of what Manhattan would have been like when it had streams and rocky outcroppings among wooded hills. On Oct. 15, there will be tours of the park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Poets House, which was has a 50,000-volume library plus exhibition space and stunning views of the Hudson River, will be open that Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. with tours at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. The Skyscraper Museum will have a program for kids six years old and older that day at 10:30 a.m. during which they will be able to explore skyscraper architectural engineering concepts of shape and strength and design their own skyscrapers. Reservations are required.

Elsewhere south of Canal Street, Open House New York will include such places as the Broad Street Ballroom, 7 World Trade Center, the Museum of the American Indian at the Alexander Hamilton Custom House, the African Burial Ground and Castle Clinton.

Open House New York programs are free, but reservations are required for some of them. Otherwise, it’s fi rst come, fi rst served. People who want to go to the head of the line can purchase a weekend “Passport” for two people with a tax-deductible contribution of $150. For more information, go to www.ohny.org.

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

On Sept. 30, Doug Van Horn, an educator with the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, led a twilight nature walk in Wagner Park. The next twilight nature walk will be on Oct. 14.

Downtown Express photos by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Scaffolding, like that in front of Rector Square at the corner of Rector Place and South End Avenue, has sprung up in Battery Park City as a result of “Local Law 11” that mandates building facade inspections every fi ve years.


Eating on the waterfront

with private and public dining areas and a beer garden, the kitchen under execu-tive chef Ari Nieminen prepares lunch and dinner daily and also caters many private parties and special events. The group ate jumbo lump crab cakes ($16 on the fall menu) before departing for the South Street Seaport. Along the way, they had a chance to see a stretch of the new East River Esplanade with its inviting, water-facing benches.

Sequoia has been in the South Street Seaport for 20 years specializing in sea-food but with meat, pasta, poultry and greens also on the menu. Manager Todd Birnbaum served plates of two oysters, one a small, briny shellfish from the West Coast called a “Kumamoto,” and the other a plump, meaty Easterner — a large Bluepoint. Birnbaum advised nothing but a splash of vinegar on the Kumamoto. The

Bluepoints stood up well to the cocktail sauces in which they were immersed. They were accompanied by a delicious Brancott Estate 2010 Sauvignon Blanc.

At Harbour Lights with views of the Brooklyn Bridge, the group sat down to fusilli pasta with Gulf shrimp and bay scal-lops, sauced with roasted plum tomatoes and basil — a special on the menu that ordi-narily costs $21.95 — and a glass of wine.

The afternoon ended with a saunter up Fulton Street and across Vesey Street to P.J. Clarke’s where sous chef Marcello Perez came out of the kitchen with plates of cheesecake topped with blueberry com-pote, double fudge walnut brownies and warm apple cobbler paired with vanilla ice cream.

Downtown Alliance food tours cost $25. The next one will be on Oct. 22, and will focus on wine. The three-hour tours start at noon. To sign up or for more information, go to www.downtownny.com/programs/food-tours.

SPRUCE STREET SCHOOL, P.S. 397 PTA

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TASTE OF THE SEAPORT

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activities, plus a special booth run by Spruce students for a family-fun day.

All proceeds from The Taste of The Seaport go to enrichment programs for the students of

Spruce Street School, P.S. 397.

Spruce Street School, P.S. 397, Parent-Teacher Association Inc. is a Sec 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. Donations made to Spruce Street School, P.S. 397, Parent-Teacher Association Inc. will be tax-deductible to the extent provided under law.

ADVANCE TICKET SALES: $25 for 5 tastingsavailable at Fulton Stall Market, October 2nd, 11-4pm and online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ TICKET SALES DAY OF EVENT: $30 for 5 tastings

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the residential development would benefi t the neighborhood.

However, John Gilbert, chief operating offi cer of the Rudin Organization, pointed out that Rudin has guaranteed that space would be available for a 564-seat elemen-tary school on the fi rst six fl oors of the Foundling Hospital on Sixth Ave. and W. 17th St. The school space is guaranteed whether or not the residential project is approved.

The Rudin-fi nanced plan to create and maintain a 15,000-square-foot park on the triangle across W. 12th St. from the O’Toole building would be an impor-tant public benefi t of the project, Gilbert added.

More than 1,200 construction jobs and more than 500 permanent jobs — includ-ing 400 healthcare jobs — will result from the development on both sides of Seventh Ave. at 12th St., Gilbert said. Moreover, the application to build 590,660 square feet represents a 13 percent reduction from the 677,360 square feet of developed space currently on the site, Gilbert said.

The project also has the backing of Local 1199, the union representing the city’s hospital employees.

“This comprehensive project has our support because it will restore much-need-ed access to emergency care for everyone who lives and works on the West Side and would provide an opportunity for more than 400 caregivers to get back to what they do best, providing quality healthcare to those in need,” said Kevin Finnegan, 1199 political director, in a Sept. 22 state-ment on the Rudin-L.I.J. project.

Andrea Goldwyn, representing the New

York Landmarks Conservancy, told the community board that the conservancy reaffi rmed its support of Rudin’s residential conversion on the east side of the avenue.

Testifying in 2008 before the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission on the original version of the Rudin plan, the conservancy urged Rudin to lower the height of its proposed residential tower and to reuse some of its existing build-ings, Goldwyn recalled. Rudin eventually reduced the height of the large tower from 266 to 203 feet and instead of all-new con-struction, decided to adapt and reuse four of the original existing hospital buildings on the east campus.

“We appreciate the Rudin Organization’s responsiveness to both ours and the com-mission’s suggestions,” Goldwyn said.

The Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce cited the economic benefi t of both the residential project and the health center in its support of the project.

“The closure of St. Vincent’s has had a devastating effect on our local economy,” said Tony Juliano, president of the chamber, in a statement last week. “The proposal put forth by the Rudins and North Shore-L.I.J. will return healthcare to the neighborhood and will also help bolster many existing businesses and spur other small businesses to come to the Village,” he said.

Since St. Vincent’s closure in April 2010, more than 30 small businesses have closed their doors and many of the remain-ing nearby businesses have seen a devastat-ing decline, Juliano said.

Steve Rogers, a chamber member and owner of a neighborhood restaurant, said, “We’re very much looking forward to both the healthcare facility and the condo across the street. Let’s move on this, so it’s not delayed fi ve or 10 years.”

Post-St. Vincent’s debateContinued from page 5


Hudson SquareFocus on

BY JOHN BAYLESTo the random pedestrian walking by, the

block of Charlton Street between Hudson and Greenwich Streets must have looked like a circus last Saturday, Oct. 1. There were tents and balloons, kids with painted faces, a police barricade and a line that stretched almost the length of the entire block. It wasn’t Barnum and Baileys however; it was the grand opening of the Children’s Museum of the Arts new Hudson Square home.

David Kaplan, the C.M.A.’s executive director, simply said, “Wow. This has been a long time coming.”

Kaplan was making his rounds early Saturday morning checking in on the chil-dren and making sure they were enjoying the organization’s new space and all it offers. From the fl oor of the building’s lobby he

pointed to a huge glass window on the left. The only thing visible was hoards of children bouncing happily on huge yoga balls.

“Talk about last minute,” said Kaplan.The space, on the building’s second fl oor,

is called the Ball Pond. It is comprised of a giant pit full of bouncy, yoga balls that the children can dive into and blow off steam. The walls are padded and it is completely safe, leaving the parents with only one worry: how they will get their children to stop having so much fun.

The “last minute” remark made by Kaplan did not refer to the idea of the Ball Pond. Indeed the Ball Pond was envisioned as a central space in C.M.A.’s new home. Kaplan was instead referring to how quickly his organization managed to pull off the move and the grand opening in what appeared to

be seamless fashion.The C.M.A. had previously called SoHo

home since its inception in 1988. The move to 103 Charlton Street, and the transfor-mation of a former loading dock of an old warehouse building, has all happened over the last 18 months.

The museum, whose collection includes over 2,000 works of art by children from all over the world, began thinking about a move back in 2008. It was then that they reached out to WORK Architecture and to Dan Wood.

“The museum’s board went on a big architectural search in 2008 based on a Wooster Street location,” said Wood. “ We designed a whole museum for that other spot, then there was the recession and the project went dormant.”

Once the economy stabilized, the museum had identifi ed the Hudson Square location as the perfect new home. It is three times larger than their old location and Hudson Square’s new identity as a hub for media companies and nonprofi ts were both major factors in C.M.A.’s decision.

“We started in SoHo in the 80s” said Lucy Ofi esh, C.M.A.’s director of marketing and special projects. “Now, Hudson Square feels the same way — up and coming.”

And for Wood, when the project started moving again, a change in his own life gave him a heightened appreciation for the museum’s goal.

“My wife and I had a baby,” said Wood. “So the whole project took on a new mean-

C.M.A. is Hudson Square’s new, shining star



The Children’s Museum of the Arts held their grand opening of their new home at 103 Charlton St. last Saturday.


ing for me.”Wood, his wife and their 18-month-old

baby were at the museum on Sunday. Wood said watching all of the kids running around the place really drove home the fact that C.M.A. was always stressing safety when it came to designing the new space.

Beyond being safe, the new museum is notable because it allows different types of programming to occur simultaneously while reaching every age group.

One example is the C.M.A.’s “clay bar.” In the old space the “clay bar” was only set up on particular days, but the demand was incredibly strong. The same can be said for the C.M.A.’s “Tech Room,” where the chil-dren take their clay fi gures and begin the animation process.

Now, the children have a fully stocked clay bar that’s always open, where they can pull up a stool at virtually any time and start molding away. Then they simply walk into the “Tech Room” next door, which is also always up and running and they can start on their way to becoming famous fi lm directors.

There are separate spaces for every age group, and for every type of art, not to men-tion a gallery space on the main. There is also a “quiet room.” But it should be known that the quiet room is the smallest room in

the entire museum, a metaphor, one could say, for the museum’s mission, which is to provide children with an atypical museum experience and to encourage as much cre-ativity and hands-on instruction as possible.

And the new home was selected to advance that mission and more importantly to advance the museum’s programming and enlarge its audience.

“The whole point of this was to reach as many children as possible,” said Elizabeth Fearon Pepperman, president of the C.M.A.’s Board of Directors.

HUDSON SQUAREWe’ve Been Busy

HudsonSquareBid.com

Questions/Comments?

A showcase for creativityContinued from page 15

Photo courtesy of the Children’s Museum of the Arts

The Ball Pond at the C.M.A.’s new home in Hudson Square.

BY JOHN BAYLESPhilip Mouquinho’s business card says he

is the “Owner/Chef” of PJ Charlton on the corner of Charlton and Greenwich Streets in Hudson Square. But anyone who has had the chance to chat with Mouquinho while dining at his restaurant would know that he could add another title to his card: Historian.

It’s one thing for a restaurant to last 30 years in New York City, but it’s another thing entirely for a restaurant to last 30 years in a spot like Moquinho’s. “Staying power” would be an understatement in describing the place.

“It used to be, that when people would arrive for dinner, they would come in and the fi rst thing they would say is, ‘Where are we? We had to ask the cab driver if this was the right place,’” said Mouquinho. “For the longest time this area has been dark, drab and dreary.”

And perhaps that is how the block of Charlton Street between Greenwich and Hudson Streets used to appear, especially at night. The street was once named Burr Street after Aaron Burr and then renamed following Burr’s duel with Alexander Hamilton and his subsequent arrest. It was then named after Dr. John Charlton, a trustee of Colombia University and presi-dent of the New York Medical Society and since then it has transformed from its earli-est days as a residential block in the early 19th century, to the way it looks today. It

was during the industrial revolution when the city tore down many of the townhouses

that lined the street and built in their place large, expansive factories and warehouses

to cater to two of the city’s most important industries, printing and textile manufactur-ing. In addition to the printers and manu-facturers, there was also the Heide Candy Company, at the corner of Charlton and Hudson, and in the building that houses PJ Charlton, a giant cardboard manufacturing company.

But like so many other streets in the neighborhood, Charlton Street is changing. And Moquinho has witnessed that change everyday from the corner window of his res-taurant for the last three decades.

Today, Mouquinho watches tourists stroll by with maps in their hands, mothers push-ing baby strollers or people walking their dogs. That makeup of pedestrians is quite different from when he bought the place in 1979.

“It was nothing like it is today. Around twelve o’clock you’d see some workers on their lunch breaks, but there was really a complete absence of life,” said Mouquinho. “I was used to just seeing trucks pulling up to the loading docks on the street.”

Mouquinho, who has lived in the neigh-borhood his entire life, remembers Charlton Street from his childhood.

“It was the perfect stickball neighbor-hood,” said Mouquinho, “because there were no fi re escapes that our ball could get stuck on. In the village, sometimes the old ladies wouldn’t let us have our ball back. We didn’t have to worry about that down here.”

Charlton Street has its very own historian


Philip Mouquinho in front his restaurant PJ Charlton.


Rodriguez and crew keep Varick Street traffi c in checkBY ALINE REYNOLDS

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

That’s the motto pedestrian traffi c manager Patti Rodriguez, a retired Police Department detective from New Hyde Park, Long Island, repeats in her head before commencing her afternoon shift every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the intersection of Varick and Spring Streets in Hudson Square.

Rodriguez is one of fi ve pedestrian traf-fi c managers that work for Sam Schwartz Engineering, the fi rm contracted by the Hudson Square Connection (the neighbor-hood’s Business Improvement District) to monitor traffi c along Varick Street since mid-August.

It became clear that there was a need for supplemental traffi c management when S.S.E. reported frequent blockage of the street’s crosswalks in July, according to the B.I.D.’s president, Ellen Baer.

“For all of us who work down here, if you try to cross Varick Street between 4 and 7 p.m., you have to kind of go out around the cars and out into traffi c,” said Baer. “We’ve observed just from being there that it puts a lot of people in a potentially dangerous situation.”

Hudson Square pedestrians ranging from foreigners to the visually impaired have come to depend on Rodriguez to get them across the intersection safely. Once the clock strikes

4:30 p.m., it’s indeed a “dead-on traffi c jam” at Varick and Spring Streets, according to Rodriguez, who starts her shift at 3. The bottleneck continues up to 7 p.m. — particu-larly on Thursdays and Fridays, Rodriguez said, when the intersection becomes heavily congested with commuters headed to their weekend destinations. The intersection has become even more clogged since the fall, when many returned from vacation and resumed their daily work commutes.

Rodriguez believes the traffi c will only get worse around the holiday season.

Policing the intersection is a different type of beast from Route 9A, Rodriguez’s other post, where traffi c was more stream-lined to begin with, she said.

“At fi rst, it was like New Year’s in Times Square, with everyone blowing their horns,” Rodriguez said of the Varick Street intersec-tion.

The car drivers have since grown accus-tomed to Rodriguez and have even started to rely on her to avoid the early evening gridlock.

“Now, we don’t even have to stop them a lot of times, ‘cause they know already we’re going to stop them,” said Rodriguez.

One of her main tasks while on duty, Rodriguez explained, is to regulate the pas-sage of cars traveling southbound on Varick


Photo courtesy of Hudson Square Connection

Patti Rodriguez on duty at the intersection of Varick and Spring Streets, as part of the Hudson Square Connection’s pedestrian traffi c management pilot program.

BY LINCOLN ANDERSONTrinity Real Estate is beginning the for-

mal application process to rezone Hudson Square to allow limited residential use.

Under the change, Trinity expects at least 3,000 new residential units would be added to the neighborhood, whose current M1-6 zoning allows manufacturing, commercial uses and hotels, but not residents.

In addition, Trinity has agreed to pro-vide, at its cost, a 420-seat, K-to-5 public elementary school for the neighborhood. This school, approximately 75,000 square feet, would be included in the base of a 429-foot-tall, residential tower Trinity would build on currently vacant property it owns at Duarte Square, which is at the district’s south end, bounded by Canal and Varick Sts. and Sixth Ave.

Over all, the rezoning area includes roughly an 18 block area between Houston and Canal Sts. bordered by Sixth Ave. and Varick St. on the east and Hudson and Greenwich Sts. on the west.

Scoping for the plan is now commenc-ing. Community Board 2 will review it on Oct. 13, and it will then be considered by City Planning on Oct. 27. Following an environmental impact statement, the next step will be for the rezoning to go through the city’s ULURP (uniform land use review procedure) process, starting early next year and take about seven months.

Hudson Square’s largest property owner, Trinity owns 40 percent of the neighbor-hood’s built space — and closer to 50 per-cent if the land Trinity leases to others is included.

The plan would put height caps on new

construction. Along wide streets, like Canal, Hudson and Varick Sts. and Sixth Ave., the maximum allowable height would be 320 feet, or 32 stories. For commercial use, the maximum allowable fl oor area ratio (F.A.R.) would be 10, with current bonuses for pla-

zas and arcades eliminated. On these wide streets, residential F.A.R. would be 9, which would get a bump up to 12 F.A.R. with the inclusion of affordable housing.

Currently, the whole district’s F.A.R. ranges from 10 to 12, but there are no height restrictions on buildings, which is how the Trump Soho condo-hotel could be built 490 feet tall, equal to 49 stories, by buying air rights from adjacent buildings and using a plaza bonus.

On narrow streets, like Greenwich and Spring Sts., and other east-west streets, the height cap would be 185 feet, about 18 sto-ries, and on midblocks the F.A.R. would be lowered from 10 to 6.5, but could rise to 8.5 with affordable housing included.

On Broome and Watts St., the F.A.R. would be even lower, 5.4, but could rise to 7.2 with the affordable-housing bonus. The height cap would be 12 stories.

Also under the scheme, existing buildings of more than 50,000 square feet could not be residentially converted. If a commercial building of more than this size were demol-ished, then there would have to be a “1-to-1 replacement” in the new building — meaning it would have to have at least 50,000 square feet of commercial space. Commercial build-ings less than 50,000 square feet could be residentially converted.

In addition, because Trinity is concerned

Trinity rezone plan would create 24/7 neighborhood


A map showing the area Trinity is proposing rezoning to allow residential use. The rezoning would also add height caps for new construction.


Keeping traffi c in check

Street that are en route to the Holland Tunnel.

“When the [traffi c] light changes, those cars are turning [right onto Varick Street] regardless of people crossing the street,” said Rodriguez. “So my job is to stop the cars completely and let the pedestrians cross.”

Rodriguez also prevents cars traveling on one of Varick’s three eastern lanes to cut into the line of traffi c headed toward the tunnel. To keep the “creepers,” as Rodriguez calls them, from causing accidents, she motions them to continue along Varick Street.

“People come with all types of excuses [to get to the tunnel as quickly as possible],” said Rodriguez. “My favorite is, ‘I have to make it to the airport in 15 minutes,’ and I think, ‘you couldn’t get to the airport any-way, then!’”

Nine times out of ten, the drivers obey Rodriguez and head to the next intersection without giving her a hard time. On occasion, however, an angry driver curses at her — to which she replies, “Have a good day.”

“I just let them vent,” Rodriguez said. “As a former detective, nothing you can pos-sibly tell me is going to faze me.”

As for the regulars, Rodriguez has become a familiar, welcome face in the neighbor-hood. Drivers who regularly pass by the

intersection purposely switch lanes to strike up a conversation with Rodriguez as they wait at the light. Some neighborhood pedes-trians call her by her fi rst name, including visitors of the nearby VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (at 500 Greenwich St.), who Rodriguez pays special attention to as they traverse the road.

“I’ll come up to them and I’ll say, ‘I got you’ — I’ll loop their arm around mine, and we’ll cross,” said Rodriguez. “I don’t know how they did it on their own prior.”

Even the neighborhood dogs have begun to recognize her.

“When they see us, they pull on the leash, wanting to come in our direction,” said Rodriguez.

The experienced traffi c manager will respond to brazen jaywalkers by letting them know that they’re crossing at their own risk. She tries her best, though, to have them stay put until it’s safe to cross the intersection.

“I try to hold them back, ‘cause otherwise everyone else will follow, and those people will end up getting hit,” said Rodriguez.

After her shift and “the madness is over,” Rodriguez heads home to spend some quality time with her wife and 16-year-old daughter.

“We have dinner and just sit down and chat about the day… that’s how we end our evening,” said Rodriguez. “Then we wake up early in the morning to start all over again.”

“One of TriBeCa’s fanciest Italians”, this “special-occasion” Tuscan features “excellent” food served by a “fawning” staff skilled in “old-school” tableside preparation; “low lighting” , “pretty” decor and “amazing” gratis grappa “make the hefty tabs easier to digest.”

~Zagat 2009

“A “trip to Italy without the airfare” offering some of the “best classic Italian in the city” ; “excellent food and service” backed up by “free grappa” at meal’s and make it “one of the city’s hidden treasures.”

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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

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11

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Hoping to turn Hud. Sq. into 24/7 neighborhood

about the area’s oversaturation with hotels, hotels with more than 100 rooms would need to get a special permit from the city.

According to Carl Weisbrod, a Trinity consultant, there haven’t been too many criticisms of the plan by Community Board 2 and Hudson Square property owners and residents. However, among the main sugges-tions that he noted are that residential con-

versions should be allowed for buildings of up to 80,000 square feet and that Watts and Broome Sts. not be downzoned as much.

C.B. 2 members and others have also said the planned new Trinity building at Duarte Square should be lower.

“We started out several years ago with a charrette,” Weisbrod said of the design process, saying Trinity has collaborated with local stakeholders. “We’ve been as responsive with the community as you could expect.”

As for why Trinity wants residential use, Weisbrod said it’s because this would improve the neighborhood for Trinity’s com-mercial tenants, by adding more people and foot traffi c, which would, in turn, help the area’s retail.

“Trinity is a commercial landlord. This is a commercial strategy,” Weisbrod said. “We want to make the neighborhood as attractive as we can for commercial tenants. All over the world, we see the healthiest neighbor-hoods are mixed-use neighborhoods. Trinity’s been here for 300 years; Trinity’s going to be here for another 300 years. Trinity takes the long view.”

Jason Pizer, president of Trinity Real Estate, added, “I hate to overuse the word, but ‘24/7.’ After 6 or 8 o’clock, there’s not a lot of life in the neighborhood. We’d love to have a supermarket in the neighborhood. A supermarket’s certainly not going to open up

in a neighborhood without residents.”Weisbrod illustrated this equation with

a simple graph he sketched on a pad. A supermarket in a mixed-use neighborhood has a spike of residential shoppers from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and then another spike in the early evening. During midday, workers shop there — Weisbrod sketched in another spike between the fi rst two. Without a com-mercial presence, though, there’s no midday spike — the supermarket would be dead during these hours, making it unprofi table. So, a mixed-use neighborhood would pro-vide a steady stream of customers through-out the day.

Similarly, local restaurants would also fare better with a more diversifi ed dis-

trict. For example, the Village Lobster and Crabhouse, at the corner of Varick St. and Seventh Ave. South, recently closed — just the latest in a long string of failed eateries at the spot. The Printing House condo is nearby, but otherwise there aren’t a lot of neighboring residents to patronize a restau-rant at that corner, Weisbrod noted.

Echoing Weisbrod, Pizer said the rezon-ing would make the area healthier and more vital.

“We want to live with this,” Pizer stressed, “not make a quick buck and get out. We’re not fl ippers. We’re looking to create value in a lot of ways — make this neighborhood more walkable, add amenities — not just raise rents.”


“The easements mean that our parkland will be destroyed since you cannot build beneath without removing everything on top,” the alliance response says. Mature trees, parkland, play space and open green areas would give way to “construction sites, diesel fumes, dirt, noise, vermin and all that

goes with them,” the alliance says.The alliance also wants two other

strips to become Parks property: the one that includes the dog run at Mercer and Houston Sts. on the southern superblock, and the other along Mercer St. between W. Third and W. Fourth Sts., just north of the north superblock, where the uni-versity built its cogeneration plant under-ground.

C.B. 2’s ‘lack of civility’Continued from page 6

“We want to make the neighborhood as attractive as we can for commercial tenants. All over the world, we see the healthiest neighborhoods are mixed-use neighborhoods.”

— Carl Weisbrod


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BY ALBERT AMATEAUSamuel Menashe, whose short, jewel-

like poems won him a following in Britain and belated recognition at home, died Aug. 22 at the age of 85 in a Manhattan nursing home, where he moved last year. The cause was listed as heart disease.

For more than 50 years, Menashe lived in a small three-room railroad fl at on the fi fth fl oor of a Thompson St. walk-up with a bathtub in the kitchen.

“When we’d run into him in the street he’d often recite a poem — they were all short,” recalled Julie Salamon, a neighbor, who with her husband, Bill Abrams, had been friends of Samuel Menashe for 35 years.

Salamon recalled Menashe’s elegant diction and resonant voice, which he dis-played occasionally at readings in local libraries, the most recent in March 2010 at the Mulberry St. Library.

“He read a passage from one of his stories about living in Spain after military service in World War II,” Salamon said. “He was a fascinating man, and we were very lucky to know him.”

His fi rst poem was published in the Yale Review in 1956, the year he moved into his Thompson St. apartment.

His poems also appeared in magazines, including The New Yorker and Partisan Review, a literary journal that published from 1934 to 2003. But he was relatively unknown until British poets promoted his work in the Penguin Modern Poets series and his book “The Many Named Beloved” was published in Britain in 1961.

Recognition in the U.S. came in 2004 when the Poetry Foundation gave him its fi rst Neglected Masters Award, with $50,000, and printed a collection of his work.

Samuel Menashe Weisberg was born

in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, where his father ran a laundry and dry-cleaning business. He graduated from Townsend Harris High School at 16, and enrolled in Queens College to study biochemistry. But he enlisted in the Army at age 18 in 1943. As an infantryman, he fought and slogged through France, Belgium and Germany.

In a 2003 article that Salamon wrote for The New York Times about Menashe, he recalled a day during the Battle of the Bulge when his company started the morning with 190 men and was left with only 29 by evening. The rest were dead, wounded or taken prisoner.

Menashe was 20 when the war ended. He returned to Queens College, but left without a degree and went to Europe, where he earned a degree from the Sorbonne in 1950. He started writing stories based on his Army experiences and his childhood. But, he recalled, “One night I woke up in the middle of the night and a poem started,” as he told a National Public Radio interviewer in 2006.

Salamon’s New York Times article notes that Menashe took the C train to Central Park almost every day where he often “walked a poem to completion even before I write it down.”

He taught occasionally at Bard and C.W. Post colleges, but earned his living in various pickup jobs as a waiter, tour bus guide, French tutor and lecturer on cruise ships, according to Salamon’s article.

Her article included a poem, “At a standstill,” that Menashe wrote about the bathtub in his kitchen:

“That statue, that cast/Of my solitude/Has found its niche/In this kitchen/ Where I do not eat/ Where the bathtub stands/Upon cat feet — /I did not advance/I can-not retreat”

Samuel Menashe, 85, poet

BY ALBERT AMATEAU Abe Greiss, a sculptor who was a neigh-

bor of the late Jane Jacobs and fought by her side 60 years ago to save the West Village from a devastating urban renewal project, died Sun., Sept. 25, in his Greenwich St. home at age 92.

He was an advertising art director for Macy’s for 20 years and taught at Fashion Institute of Technology.

He also owned the Greiss Gallery, at 217 Charles St., where he showed his own work and that of other artists, including Willem de Kooning and Louise Nevelson, said his daughter Victoria Greiss.

“He sold a de Kooning for $300 in 1956,” Victoria said. “Andy Warhol free-lanced for him at Macy’s.”

“Abe was very articulate and calm. He was the fi rst president of the West Village Committee to fi ght the 14-block urban renewal area,” recalled Art Stoliar. “That was before community boards took hold and the West Village Committee was where

everybody went to fi nd out what was going on,” Stoliar said.

Carol Greitzer, a former councilmember and longtime Village activist, recalled Abe’s years of advocacy alongside Jacobs.

In a 2004 article in The Villager about Jacobs’s visit to the neighborhood, Greiss recalled that his family and Jacobs shared a backyard.

Born in Newark, where he went to high school, he served in the Army Air Force during World War II. He met his wife, Carmen Vega, in Washington Square Park, Victoria said. While in the Air Force, he painted a large mural in the offi cers’ club in Greensboro, N.C.

A jazz and blues afi cionado, he was a friend of luminaries including Lead Belly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee.

In addition to his daughter Victoria, his wife Carmen Vega Greiss, another daugh-ter, Avia Petersen, and a son, Jeffrey Greiss, also survive. Redden’s Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Abe Greiss, 92, sculptor


Positive reviews at memorial’s fi rst ‘community evening’

memorial. Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a

brief appearance at the site while en route to the Yankees game, while Speaker Silver, Borough President Scott Stringer, Congressman Jerrold Nadler and other elected offi cials greeted the roughly 1400 residents that attended the event.

“The community has suffered as a result of the rebuilding effort,” said Silver during a short break he took from greeting com-munity members to talk to reporters. “I think it’s important for them to see what’s the result of their suffering.”

Community members, in turn, had mostly positive things to say about their very fi rst visit to the memorial.

“I can’t imagine anything more per-fect,” said Battery Park City resident Juliet Burrows, who waited out the brief after-noon rainfall with her family to locate the names of deceased friends and acquain-tances on the plaques that line the sides of the two refl ecting pools.

“The waterfalls are just breathtaking,” said Burrows. “They completely capture the scale of the buildings and the scale of the tragedy.”

The “community evening” is an appro-priate setting for local residents to unite

the same way they did in the days and weeks after 9/11, according to Burrows’s wife, Kim Hostler. Visiting the site with fellow Downtowners, she said, felt “tender and emotionally safe.”

“Otherwise, you’re afraid of that over-bearing tourist experience,” remarked Hostler.

B.P.C. resident Karen McDermott said she accepted Silver’s invite only after hear-ing that her friend and neighbor, Nartya Subramaniam, was available to join her. The two women, who were both displaced from their homes at 200 Rector Place, met at meetings held by the building’s residents over the months following the attacks where they shared their personal experiences.

As for the memorial, “they really thought through every detail,” said Subramaniam. “I think it’s really just perfect the way they organized [the names], rather than just alphabetical order.”

“I fi nd it very beautiful that you can actually touch the person’s name. It’s a very moving experience,” echoed NoLita resident Georgette Fleischer as her fi ngers traced the name of a deceased fi refi ghter she knew.

For Financial District resident Sharon Schuermann, walking next to the Twin Towers’ footprints brought back memo-ries of shopping in the lobby of the South

Tower just a half hour before the attacks. The layout of the memorial, Schuermann said, is “really effective” in commemorat-ing the day.

“I like the black holes in the middle, and the sound of the water, which masks out all the noise,” said Schuermann.

If it weren’t for the community eve-nings, some local residents that recently reserved a visitor’s pass, such as Lower East Side resident Dean Mellis, would have had to wait for weeks and in certain cases, months, to access the site.

“I signed up on the [web]site, and the earliest I could get through was mid-December,” said Mellis.

Mellis said he was delighted to visit the memorial when it wasn’t packed with hoards of tourists.

“It’s very moving to see there’s life and reconstruction, instead of people from out of town who want to look at this,” said Mellis.

Some community members voiced inter-est in coming to the memorial on a regular basis — and not necessarily on Sundays.

“I think it would be good if they were able to work out security issues so there was a way for people to come more easily on lunch breaks, for example,” said Lower East Side resident Bonnie Hulkower.

“I think it’s very important that the peo-ple from this neighborhood have access to

come here,” said Helena Fiscra from Battery Park City. “This is their neighborhood, and they still feel the same way years later.”

Visiting the site was also poignant for Tribeca resident Jean Grillo, a public member of Community Board 1 whose niece evacuated the South Tower just in time to survive. She and her daughter, Aria, visited the site together to pay their respects to the former head of security for Morgan Stanley, who Aria said died helping to save her cousin and others; as well as a fi refi ghter who was the father of Aria’s friend.

The Grillo family was very pleased with the layout of the plaza.

“I remember joking about the barren, awful plaza that had been there [before],” said Grillo. “We actually like the trees — they have a very, very humanizing, organic effect.”

Having the community evenings, “is a wonderful way to say, ‘you guys were also fi rst responders,’” said Aria, who served meals to recovery workers at St. Paul’s Chapel ion the days after the attacks.

“This is our neighborhood — it was our neighborhood before it was a Ground Zero,” said Aria.

When asked how often she planned on visiting the memorial, “We’ll always be coming here,” the younger Grillo replied, “because it’s our home.”

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HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION OPENING FALL ¤‚⁄¤

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Establishing a dialogue

want them with us. Maybe if we all move to Battery Park - we are getting bigger.”

Liberty Street residents Tony and Carla said that they and their children have lost all access to the park, which they say has been defaced and filled with garbage. “The city planners are making living here impossible,” said Carla. “After September 11 they said, ‘Come live down here.’ They have to provide residents some better level of protection and recognition.”

One produce vendor at the Tuesday green market at Zuccotti Park said that his business has been down by about 10 per-cent since the occupation. “The neighbor-hood business that usually comes, we’re not seeing them,” he said.

Aly, whose cart on Cedar Street sells only breakfast items said his business has been down by 40 percent since the occupa-tion. He said his customers usually come through the park, and he usually sells out and leaves by 1 p.m. Now he stays longer to try to make money.

Cox, a WTC construction site worker, said he buys his breakfast daily at Aly’s cart, but that it is time-consuming now to walk around the park to reach it. “There should be a walkway through the park so we can get through,” he said.

The manager at one local fast food restaurant told the campers last week that they were unwelcome to occupy tables and use the toilets. He said they use the elec-tric outlets for their devices, something that was always prohibited, and that the restrooms were defaced with stickers and graffiti. “Lots of tourists come to visit the [9/11] Memorial and want to relax and have lunch,” he said.

CouncilmemberMargaret Chin said, “My office is handling quality of life issues as they arise, and I urge all residents who are affected by the protests to contact my office.”

Chin’s spokesperson Kelly Magee said it would be helpful if constituents would forward any 311 complaint numbers to Chin’s office so they could follow up on them.

Protest supporter Vincent, a Greenwich Village resident, does not sleep in Zuccotti Park, but donated $1,000 online to Occupy Wall Street. Local worker Lucille said she hears the occupiers’ chants from her office across Broadway, but that it is not disrup-tive.

“I think it’s wonderful. I hope some-thing really good comes out of it,” said Lucille.

The C.B.1 Financial District committee meeting is set for 6 p.m. Oct. 5, at 49-51 Chambers Street, Room 709.

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STONE SOUP Literally Alive Children’s Theatre presents this musi-cal by Michael Sgouros and Brenda Bell. It includes a pre-show arts workshop one hour prior to every performance. Appropriate for all ages, but recommended for ages 3 and up. Sat. and Sun., through Nov. 5. The workshop begins at 10am; show is at 11am. The Players The-atre is located at 115 MacDougal St. (btw. 3rd & Bleecker Sts.). Tickets are $40 for first 3 rows, $35 for second 3 rows and $25 for all other seats (price includes pre-show arts workshop). Purchase through ova-tiontix.com or by calling 212-352-3101. Tickets may also be purchased at the box office (on the days of the show only). For more info, visit soupinthevillage.com.

SHAKESPEARE’S TEMPEST Fresh from their film debut in “Shakespeare High,” the students of Los Angeles’s PUC schools are here to help you conquer your “Shakesfear” with their rollicking musical adaptation of “The Tempest!” Full of magic, romance and revenge, this interactive adventure mixes Frankie and Annette-style beach party songs with the Bard’s original text. This surfboard and sun interpretation is a perfect intro to Shakespeare for kids — and offers an educational blast for the entire family! Approximate running time is about 1:45 (with intermission). Fri., Oct. 7 at 5pm; Sat., Oct. 8 at 1pm; Sun., Oct. 9 at 3pm. Tickets are $26. At The Theater at St. Clements (423 W. 46th St.).

CATCH-AND-RELEASE FISHING & ART Join BPCPC’s Master Anglers and drop a line for some of the 30-plus species of fish that live in the New York Bay (the Hudson River’s estuary). During GO FISH, barbless hooks minimize injuries to both fish and participants. Fish are placed in saltwater tanks for observation and identification before being released back into the Hudson. Live demonstrations and displays teach fish anatomy and heighten awareness of the ecology, flourishing marine life and current state of good health of the Hudson River and its estuary. Drop in on fish-related art projects. Rods, reels and bait are provided for those who don’t bring their own. Free. Sat., Oct. 15, 10am-2pm. Art projects from 11am-2pm. At Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park (Battery Park City, Lower Manhattan Battery Place).THE LITTLE MERMAID Galli Theater’s original, interactive adaptation of the clas-sic fairy tale is at once humorous, exciting and philosophical, but never grim! Children will not have to sit quietly during this enchanting tale, because — as in every Galli Theater production — the actors invite children onto the stage in order to become part of the story. Sat., Oct. 15, 12:30-1:30pm. Free. At Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park (Battery Park City, Lower Manhattan). BRING YOUR OWN KID Every Sunday at 11am, 92YTribeca’s Bring Your Own Kid (B.Y.O.K.) series features live per-formances by children’s bands and entertainers (recommended espe-cially for ages 6 and under). Princess Katie and Racer Steve will have you rocking out kid-style at their “Dress Up Jam!” on Oct. 9. Be sure to come in a very strange and super weird costume! Then, Randy Kaplan plays kid-friendly (but not kid-exclusive) country blues and ragtime numbers at the “Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie” CD release party on Oct. 16. On Oct. 23, folk musician Alastair Moock debuts his second children’s album, “These Are My Friends.” At 92YTribeca (200 Hudson St.) For tickets ($15, free for children under 2), call 212-601-1000 or visit 92y.org/tribeca/byok.

SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE This beloved children’s story by William Steig — about Sylvester the donkey, and the tribu-lations that come along with his discovery of a magic pebble — is brought to life in a play presented by Tribeca Performing Arts Cen-ter’s Family Series. Recommended for ages 3 to 9. On Sat., Oct.15, at 1:30pm. At 199 Chambers St. For tickets ($25) call 212-220-1460. For more info on this and other Family Series productions this 2011-2012 season, visit tribecapac.org/children.htm.

BMCC TRIBECA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Highlights of the 2011-2012 family season include family favorites such as Clifford, the Big Red Dog (celebrating its 50th Anniversary), The Magic Schoolbus

(celebrating its 25th Anniversary) and will continue its partnership with Theatreworks USA with four productions (including The Yellow Brick Road). Single tickets are $25 (10Club members enjoy $14 tickets). A 10Club Membership enables you to purchase 10 admissions for $140 (parents save more than 40 percent off the cost of each ticket). To pur-chase a 10Club membership, call 212-220-1460 or visit Ticketing Ser-vices (office hours: Tues.-Sat., noon–6pm) located in the lobby of the Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers St. Visit tribecapac.org for single tickets.

BATTERY PARK CITY PARK CONSERVANCY’S STORIES & SONGS This multi-week program of participatory music and stories is for young children accompanied by an adult. By introducing musical performance and creative storytelling to children, “Stories & Songs” develops active listening, socializing and cultural literacy in a joyous, warm environment. Space is limited and advanced registration is required. To pre-register, call 212-267-9700 ext. 366 or visit BPCPC’s office at 75 Battery Place. Payment can be made by check to BPCPC, or by Visa or Master Card. Battery Park City Parks Conservancy offers 20 percent discounts to siblings enrolled in “Stories & Songs.” Mondays, Sept. 12 – Dec. 12 or Wednesdays, Sept 14- Dec. 7. It will cost $214 for 13 sessions. Located at 6 River Terrace (South end of River Terrace by the Irish Hunger Memorial).

PRENATAL YOGA Enjoy yoga in a supportive environment while learning postures and exercises specifically suited for pregnant women. Learn how to feel centered and strong during labor and delivery. All levels of yoga and all stages of pregnancy are wel-come. Thursdays, through Oct. 27, 9:30–10:45am. PARENT & BABY YOGA is a multi-level class is designed to strengthen the body after giving birth, and allows new parents to practice yoga with their babies (newborns through crawlers). Learn to regain the strength in the abdominal muscles, develop inner and outer strength, and meet other parents and babies. Mondays, through Oct. 31 (no class Oct. 10), 1-2:15pm; 2:30–3:45pm. Thursdays, 11am–12:15pm. At 6 River Terrace (off North End Ave.). Both classes are $140 for seven weeks (pre-registration required). See mayoganyc.com and yogafortwo.com for more info. Space is limited, and pre-registration is required for all

classes. Contact Ellen at 212-267-9700 ext 366 or email [email protected].

SATURDAY AFTERNOONS AT THE SCHOLASTIC STORE Every Saturday at 3pm, Scholastic’s in-store activities are designed to get kids reading, thinking, talking, creating and moving. At 557 Broadway (btw. Prince and Spring Sts.). Store hours are Mon.-Sat., 10am-7pm and Sun., 11am-6pm. For info, call 212-343-6166 or visit scholastic.com/sohostore.

POETS HOUSE The Poets House Children’s Room gives children and their parents a gateway to enter the world of rhyme — through readings, group activities and interactive performances. For children ages 1-3, the Children’s Room offers “Tiny Poets Time” readings on Thursdays at 10am; for those ages 4-10, “Weekly Poetry Readings” on Saturdays at 11am. Filled with poetry books, old-fashioned typewrit-ers and a card catalogue packed with poetic objects to trigger inspira-tion, the Children’s Room is open Thurs.-Sat., 11am-5pm (at 10 River

Terrace and Murray St.). Call 212-431-7920 or visit poetshouse.org.

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF THE ARTS Explore painting, col-lage and sculpture through self-guided arts projects at this museum dedicated to inspiring the artist within. Open art stations are ongoing throughout the afternoon — giving children the opportunity to experi-ment with materials such as paint, clay, fabric, paper and found objects. Drop in with wee-ones (ages 10 months to 3½ years) for the museum’s “Wee-Arts” program every Wed., Thurs. and Fri., 10:45am-12pm. Start the morning with Playdough, paints, glue and drawing — in an intimate and stimulating environment where experimentation, exploration and creative thinking are encouraged. Each session ($22 per family of three) ends with music and story time. Museum hours: Wed.-Sun., 12-5pm; Thurs., 12-6pm. Admission: $10; Pay as you wish on Thurs., 4-6pm. At 1345 Hudson St., btw. King and Charlton Sts. Call 212-274-0986 or visit cmany.org. For group tours, call 212-274-0986 ext. 31.

NEW YORK CITY FIRE MUSEUM Kids will learn about fire pre-vention and safety through group tours, led by former NYC firefighters. The program — which lasts approximately 75 minutes — 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 scavenger 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 and reservations, call 212-691-1303.

THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE MUSEUM The Junior Officers Dis-covery 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 experi-ences for children to understand the role of police officers in our com-munity — 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. 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).

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

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YOUTHACTIVITIES

COMPILED BY NIKKI TUCKER

JEFFERSON MARKET GARDEN HARVEST FESTIVAL

Photo courtesy of Jefferson Market Garden

Free kid-sized pumpkins and supplies to decorate, entertainment sponsored by the New York Public Library, seasonal autumn crafts, goodies and the rare opportunity for city kids to commune with big bales of straw are what makes this event an essential part of your fall calendar. It’s also one of your last chances to enjoy that Greenwich Village urban oasis — the Jefferson Market Garden. One of NYC’s most beautiful and enduring community gardens, this treasured oasis of fl owering plants and shrubs is open to the public Tues.-Sun. afternoons through October (then returns anew in May). The Harvest Festival is a free event. Sat., Oct. 15, 11am-2pm (rain date: Sun., Oct. 16). At the junction of Greenwich Ave., Sixth Ave. and W. 10th St. For more info, visit jeffersonmarketgarden.org.


COMPILED BY SCOTT STIFFLERBring a sweater or a light jacket — but

leave the cash behind. This October, you’ll fi nd four ambitious, provocative (and free) events on, and around, the High Line.

HIGH LINE OPEN STUDIOS

High Line Open Studios was created in 2007 to raise awareness of the many stu-dios scattered among Chelsea’s multitude of galleries. Since then, the annual event has continued to expand — just as the High Line has. What once took place in a single building on 26th Street now spans the entire length of the High Line (from 14th to 30th Street). To map out your own self-guided tour of West Chelsea’s studios, visit highli-neopenstudios.org. This rare opportunity to enjoy art at its origin allows you to see fi rst hand the creative spaces generally only open by appointment (and be among the fi rst to discover new talent before it makes its way to gallery walls around town, and around the world). You’ll also have the chance to purchase works directly from the artists’ studio inventory.

Fri., Oct. 14 through Sun., Oct. 16, 12-6pm. The free self-guided tour begins at the West Chelsea Arts Building (508-526 W. 26th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). For more info, visit highlineopenstudios.org.

SEEWATCHLOOKThe world premiere of multimedia

Brazilian artist Michel Melamed’s play — “SEEWATCHLOOK” — also marks the entry of a new verb into the universal lan-guage of pop culture. This series of short poetic and comic scenes has been designed specifi cally for visitors to the High Line (by way of uniquely repurposing that already interactive public space). Melamed directs a cast of 12, who present slices of everyday life meant to blur the line between citizens and actors — while challenging our notion of what it means to live in a city that often functions as one giant stage. By the end, Melamed hopes you’ll have a good answer to the question: “What do you see when you look at what you watch?” Further expanding the notion that we’re all players in one giant drama, Melamed is fi lming a documentary for the Brazilian cable TV channel “Canal Brazil” about the challenges of developing a new show in New York City. Don’t be surprised if you become part of the perfor-mance by the simple act of showing up.

Free. Oct. 6-16. Performances at 8pm on Thurs. and Fri. — and at 6pm on Sat. and Sun. On the High Line’s 10th Ave. Square viewing stands (10th Ave. and 17th St.; entrance at 16th St.). Running time, 65 minutes. Performances will not occur if it is raining. For more info, visit michelmelamed.com.

REMOTE NATIONSometimes you just want to keep watch-

ing TV. Good thing for you, then, that artist

Kevin Cooley’s installation “Remote Nation” has been extended though October 29. This “television-based large scale public art proj-ect” creates the illusion that imaginary resi-dents of a building are all at home watching the same program. Don’t believe it, though: Those 100 old-fashioned analog TVs fl icker-ing in unison are, in fact, being controlled by Cooley’s father from the comfort of his home in Colorado. The artist was inspired to create “Remote Nation” after observing his parents watching the same programs, but in separate parts of the house. Cooley (the son, not the father) says he intends the piece to “open a dialogue about how technology simultaneously expands our connection to the world at large and lulls us into a state of entranced isolation, cutting us off from the people immediately around us.”

On view from the High Line Park (btw. W. 24th and 25th Sts.) and at street level (on W. 24th and 25th Sts., just west of 10th Ave.), every evening after dark, through Oct. 29. For more info, visit remotenation.tv.

ALIVE-NESSES: PROPOSAL FOR ADAPTATION

High Line Art (as presented by Friends

of the High Line) begins its Fall 2011 pub-lic art season with Charles Mary Kubricht’s “Alive-nesses: Proposal for Adaptation.” Painted on park storage containers, the installation brings art to an area of the High Line that’s still closed to the public (and overgrown with wildfl owers and grasses). By painting black and white patterns on the park’s storage containers, “Alive-ness” alters our view of those large structures. The idea was inspired by “dazzle” — a type of protective design and coloration on animals that was developed into military camoufl age by the British in World War I to confuse the enemy by disguising ships. By applying dazzle to High Line stor-age containers, Kubricht invites viewers “to move and change directions, altering familiar visual information and questioning the objects shape and form, as well as the viewer’s fi eld of vision.” If you get lost or disoriented in the process, just blame the British.

At the High Line, at the Rail Yards (btw. W. 30th and W. 34th Sts.). The installation is on view from the northern end of the park (near W. 30th St.).

What’s up on the High Line

Photo courtesy of the artist

Michel Melamed’s “Guantanamo Dog.” See “SEEWATCHLOOK.”

Image courtesy of Charles Mary Kubricht and Friends of the High Line

A modest proposal for adaptation: See “Alive-Nesses.”

p a


COMPILED BY SCOTT STIFFLER

AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND NATIONAL MONUMENT: YOUTH WEEK

Through October 8, the National Park Service will commemorate the 20th anniver-sary of the rediscovery of the African Burial Ground by hosting “Youth Week 2011.” One of the most signifi cant archaeological fi nds in U.S. history, the African Burial Ground is a 17th- and 18th-century cemetery that was redis-covered in 1991 when construction began on a federal offi ce building in Lower Manhattan. In 1993, the site was preserved as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior — and was designated as a National Monument in 2006 (that Monument is part of the original 6.6-acre site, containing theremains of approximately 15,000 people — making it the largest African cemetery exca-vated in North America).

“Youth Week 2011” activities and pro-grams will explore what the site’s rediscov-ery means to the community, while inviting visitors to learn about the crucial role free andenslaved Africans played in the devel-opment of New York during the 17th and18th centuries. On Thursday, October 6, events include the 11am workshop: “Proverbs, Aphorisms and Mother Wits — Learning from the Wisdom of the Ancestors and Elders” (by Pat Leonard; RSVP required) and the 3pm Gallery Talk, “Burial Practices and Pinkster.” On Friday, October 7, events include an 11am ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the rediscovery of the African Burial Ground. Former NY governor David Paterson is the key-note speaker. The ceremony will conclude with a wreath laying at the burial mounds (the Memorial and Visitor Center will remain open until 8pm). On Saturday, October 8, events include a 10am Libation ceremony (with Gregory Carr, featuring a drum circle); a 1pm Poetry Slam; the Red Storm Drum and Dance Troupe at 2pm; and, at 6:30pm, a candlelit “Abolitionist” walking tour leaving from the AfricanBurial National Monument and conclud-ing at the site’s outdoor memorial (RSVPrequired).

The African Burial Ground National Monument is located on the fi rst fl oor of the Ted Weiss Federal Building (290 Broadway in Lower Manhattan; close to Foley Square and just north of City Hall; cross streets are Duane and Reade). The Visitors Center is open Tues.-Sat, 10am-4pm. The Memorial, located at Duane St. and African Burial Ground Way, is open daily from 9am-5pm. For Youth Week 2011 activities, reservations are required for several programs, and will be handled on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis (to reserve, call 212-637-2019). For a detailed schedule of events, and information about visiting the monument year-round, visit nps.gov/afbg.

LECTURE: INVESTIGATING MANHATTAN’S MOST HAUNTED HOUSE

If you’ve ever watched one of those atrocious, silly and occasionally staged ghost-baiting paranormal “Reality TV” shows and said, “I could do that,” then don’t miss this lec-

ture designed with the budding supernatural sleuth and the paracurious in mind. It’s being given by Dan Sturges (sturgesparanormal.com) — host of the recently launched weekly web-based event, “The Psi Show.” Built like a mighty brick pizza oven, this kind and skeptical soul was handpicked in 2007 by the curious, credible historians at the Merchant’s House Museum to lead an ambitious investigation of “Manhattan’s most haunted house.” Occupied by the Tredwells (a wealthy merchant-class family) along with various servants and care-takers for a century, those who lived and died there have been making their presence known ever since the place opened up as a museum 75 years ago. During his many investigations, Sturges has picked up crystal clear recordings of footsteps, strange bumps in the night and unexplained voices seemingly engaged in intel-ligent conversation with members of the inves-tigative team. You’ll hear those audio clips, see unsettling images caught on fi lm, learn about equipment used in the effort to gather evidence and also have a laugh or two (Sturges is well aware of his pursuit’s absurdities). By the time the talk is done, you’ll be able to tell the difference between EMF and EVP — and if you need clarifi cation, there’ll also be a spirited Q&A session (plus the chance to buy tickets to a raffl e whose winner will get to accompany Sturges and the team on a future Merchant’s House investigation).

Sat., Oct. 8, 7pm, at the Merchant’s House Museum (29 E. Fourth St., btw. Lafayette & Bowery). Seating is limited. Reservations strongly recommended. For tickets ($20, $10 for MHM members), call 212-777-1089 or visit merchantshouse.org.

ART: CONVIVENCIA (“LIVING TOGETHER”)

The Cuban Art Space of the Center for Cuban Studies is currently presenting a dynamic exhibit showcasing the recent mixed media work of two young Cuban art-ists: Marlys Fuego and William Pérez.

Born in Cienfuegos in 1965, Pérez stud-ied at the Rolando Escardó Elementary School of Visual Arts, and later continued his studies at the San Alejandro Academy in

Havana (graduating in sculpture in 1986). Since then, he’s taken part in more than 100 group shows in Cuba and abroad. Regarding the current exhibit, Pérez states, “This series alludes to the concept of a an island starting from the representation of small ‘Inhabitable Spaces’ created by man in order to live, or to realize work, or in order to store objects. I have taken as reference points the spaces situated in the roofs of the old buildings of

Havana. These are small, semi-destroyed, additions of what were antique living spaces or other constructed spaces with forms and materials that defy sound architectural rea-soning.”

Born in Las Tunas in 1988, Fuego cur-rently lives in Havana, and has participated in more than a dozen group and individual shows in Cuba, Quito, Ecuador, and New York City. This is her second show at the Cuban Art space (the fi rst being 2010’s “Cuban Women Artists” — in which she exhibited a work in homage to sculptor Louise Bourgeois). Fuego notes, “My new works are installation and sculptural piec-es that address eroticism. These days, the Cuban population has acquired a taste for the excessively sweetened in the way they dress, their manner of expressing themselves socially, their appearance, and in their sexu-ality — assuming an aesthetic that character-izes the grotesque and exaggerated as that which is beautiful.” Fuego uses sequins, satin sheets and belts that exemplify this taste, in order to “convert it into an aesthetic that is anything but aggressive and, in some cases, naïve.”

Oct. 6-Nov. 19, at the Cuban Art Space of the Center for Cuban Studies (231 W. 29th St., 4th fl oor, btw. 7th & 8th Aves.). Gallery hours: Mon.-Fri., 11am-7pm. Sat., 12-6pm. For more info, visit cubanartspace.net or call 212-242-0559.

Just Do Art!

Photo courtesy of the National Park Service

“Youth Week” is observed at the African Burial Ground National Monument, through Oct. 8.

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BY SCOTT STIFFLER AND STEPHANIE BUHMANN

Spend a few sweaty mornings watching her work out at Gleason’s Gym, and a pic-ture begins to emerge. Based on the frequent and precise body shots she delivers to her sparring partner George — whose height and width and natural padding far exceed her own — you wouldn’t peg Jo Ellen Van Ouwerkerk as the type who can spend weeks or even months pursuing satisfaction with the way she’s depicted a face, or the dynamic she’s uncovered between a woman fl anked by stuffed kangaroos.

Good thing then, that the part of herself she pours onto the canvas stretched across a boxing ring can be accessed in seconds. Her eyes see an opening; her brain tells her to make a move; her hands go to work, and what’s done is done.

That this is occurring at a time of the day better suited to fi ghting the snooze alarm makes her Saturday ritual seem all the more jarring — considering certain assumptions you’ve made based on paintings seen at a Lower East Side gallery long before accept-ing the invite to see her spar at a Brooklyn boxing gym watched over by a calm presence in the front offi ce (that would be Bruce, who happens to be Van Ouwerkerk’s husband).

Now here’s a person who’s been boxing for 18 years, and excelled at martial arts before that. And as it turns out, all along, she’s had another shade to her decisive ath-letic temperament — one that allows for the long bouts of contemplation necessary to reach a point where the women she paints occupy a state of confi dent grace (often while surrounded by chaotic or unsettling images). Lizards or fl ames in their hair don’t seem to phase them. Nor does their creator seem particularly concerned when the same studied technique of jab, jab, punch she employs against an opponent is thrown back at her with equal or greater force.

A CERTAIN PLACE AND TIME“Van Ouwerkerk’s paintings, which focus

exclusively on the depiction of women, reveal an unusual stylistic blend,” observes Downtown Express art critic Stephanie Buhmann.

“Nineteenth Century portrait photogra-phy, the works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, the famous renditions of women by John Graham and later Willem de Kooning — as well as the collages of Joseph Cornell — are all reference points. At times, her compositions even pay homage to specifi c masterpieces, such as Picasso’s harlequins of the Rose Period.

“However, Van Ouwerkerk does not simply follow. With a convincing original outlook, she employs this eclectic vocabu-lary to portray her subjects in a manner that is at once timeless and contemporary. Meanwhile, Van Ouwerkerk’s compositions range in complexity. Forced into the position of a voyeur, the viewer can encounter her women during intimate moments. In Birds

Flying Backwards (1980), for example, our gaze seems to be able to penetrate closed doors. We get to study the subject as she fi nds herself alone and lost in thought. At other times, we observe them as they engage

in more complicated scenarios. Some of Van Ouwerkerk’s most ambitious canvases, such as Dancing Skeletons (1977-1999), depict multiple fi gures. In these works, women are forced to co-exist in one picture

plane, yet without clear relations or interac-tions. Van Ouwerkerk provides snapshots rather than narratives.

“In this body of work, there are no unfolding storylines. The women we encoun-ter are simply there, without a past or the insinuation of a future. Van Ouwerkerk, so one gathers, does not aim to lure us into mysterious lands. Instead, she guides our gaze inward. By confronting us with her detached fi gures, who do not reveal emo-tions, she makes us self-conscious. Most importantly, she makes us aware of our own place and time.”

MAKING THE ARTIST/ATHLETE CON-NECTION

“I like playing on Saturdays with friends,” Van Ouwerkerk says of her regular sparring sessions. “It’s great exercise, and constantly fascinating. You can always try to perfect something or fi nd a more economical move-ment. But I’m not there to compete. I am interested in trying something new, a new combination, different footwork…trying to change a pattern of movement.

“I like what I do. You have to have a lot of energy and you have to be disciplined,” she notes — although as the conversation shifts, it’s not clear if she’s referencing art or athleticism. Probably both. What she does have to say about the benefi ts and necessi-ties of exercise is, “I really believe it’s got to be a part of your whole life. It keeps you from getting sick. Or if you do get sick, you recover more quickly. It’s just part of the discipline. You have to be disciplined to get something done. I had breast cancer twice, and I never stopped training [at Gleason’s] with Hector. It keeps you from thinking that there’s anything different going on or anything wrong. Because you’re still working out. You’re still training.”

ON CANVAS, SHE KNOWS WHEN IT’S RIGHT

“Take any series of objects within a room,” says Van Ouwerkerk when asked about her sometimes immediate but more often studied process of getting it just right. “The table, the wall, the fl oor, a lamp. It all has to work. You have to look at it and say ‘that rings true to me. I don’t know why, but it does.’ Like if you painted a table, then you’d put a little statue next to it. No, that doesn’t look right. When you fi nally end up with a taxidermied bird, let’s say, it almost becomes a magical relationship between the two…but what’s the reason? Is it the style of the painting? Is it the color? I don’t know, so I just keep trying until, ‘Okay, that’s cor-rect...it always had to be those two objects together to emphasize the mood you’re after.’ ”

Regarding that process as it played out during the creation of Chinese Fingernails, Van Ouwerkerk recalls, “I knew there would be a woman standing, and on her fi ngers are these metal nails that the elite would

Brush strokes and body shotsOn canvas, she knows when it’s right

© Jo Ellen Van Ouwerkerk; courtesy of Woodward Gallery,

“Birds Flying Backwards” (1980; acrylic on canvas; 66 x 59 inches; 167.6 x 149.9 cm).

Photo courtesy of Gleason’s Gym (gleasonsgym.net)

Van Ouwerkerk (at Gleason’s), working with Hector Roca. Continued on page 31


wear. When I conceived the idea, there was going to be a mask on half of her face, with pointed, stylized ears. I thought, ‘This should be a beautiful image.’ So I tried it and tried it and tried it, and it didn’t look right. It should have worked, but it didn’t. So I had to paint over the mask.” Eyeing the painting as we speak, she says, “In the background are these stuffed animals that look kind of like kangaroos, standing on their hind legs. Believe me, I didn’t start out planning that. But after a period of putting other things in, it looked right.”

And though she references words like “magical” and “mystical” when asked to explain that knowing sense of when objects fi nally relate, don’t conjure an image of Van Ouwerkerk lighting incense and medi-tating in her longtime West Village or recently constructed Arizona studio in the hopes of invoking a visit from some supernatural muse. “I don’t think it’s that interesting,” she says of the artist’s process

from blank canvas to end game. “To me, it’s tedious. And frustrating. Maybe that’s kind of my Midwestern work ethic,” she reasons, “that I treat painting as a job. I don’t treat it as being something special and precious emotionally, like the cliché of an artist having to be inspired. But it is magical. You just have to go beneath the surface to fi nd the magic. Every object has a magical essence, and I try to fi nd the right combination [of essences] with color and style. But it can’t be forced, no matter what you planned.”

On why Van Ouwerkerk is represented by Woodward Gallery — and what draws her to collectors — Kristine Woodward explains, “We see something original and unpredictable within her paintings. There is a sensual, mystical quality to her pic-tures. She touches on the old and makes it contemporary. It is as if her women travel through time and are ageless. People uni-versally respond to Jo Ellen’s work through the subject’s eye contact. Her women are sirens drawing us into their individual situation. She provokes the viewer. Her

characters are seen for the one frame of their story, and her vision broadens our reference for normal. We follow marvel-ously entranced in their personal and curi-ous situations.”

What those situations mean, Van Ouwerkerk maintains, is, well, personal (and true, and unique) according to what’s lurking behind the eye of the beholder. “I love that someone can see something that I never thought at all about,” she notes — even when the viewer may be grafting their own ink blot agenda onto the work and emerging with a picture of the artist that doesn’t necessarily fi t her own. “Because I’m painting women, you’re making up your own stories that have to do with your psyche.” Of analysis (or perhaps more accurately, psy-choanalysis) she’s received from viewers of Women In Piles Of Wood Waiting To Burn, the artist reasons, “You only see trees on fi re, a pile of wood and a woman standing on it. It had nothing to do with being burned at the stake or being punished. To me, it was just a beautiful image.”

Jo Ellen Van Ouwerkerk’s most recent exhibition — “Curious Sanctuary” — ran at Woodward Gallery from January 29-March 19, 2011. Her work can be viewed, by appointment, at Woodward (133 Eldridge St., btw. Broome & Delancey Sts.). Hours of oper-ation: Tues.-Sat., 11am-6pm; Sun., 12-5pm. Call 212-966-3411 or email [email protected]. To access selected works online,

Van Ouwerkerk guides our gaze inwardContinued from page 30

© Jo Ellen Van Ouwerkerk; courtesy of Woodward Gallery, NYC

“Women In Piles Of Wood Waiting To Burn” (2010; acrylic on canvas. Framed: 48.8 x 38.8 inches; 123.8 x 98.4 cm).

© Jo Ellen Van Ouwerkerk; courtesy of Woodward Gallery, NYC

“Chinese Fingernails” (2001; Iris Print on Somerset Velvet 100% Rag paper; Paper size: 30 x 16 3/4 inches; Custom aluminum homemade frame).

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We are the 21st century preparatory school located in Manhattan’s most historic neighborhood.

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We are the 21st century preparatory most historic neighborhood.

We teach students to be nimble, cou

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Now accepting applications for 2012Contact Janet Barrett, Director of [email protected]. www

Lower School Open House, 41 BrOctober 20 & 25, 6-8 pm

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