DOWNTOWN EXPERSS

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downtown ®

VOLUME 24, NUMBER 19

JAPANESE TWIST ON GREEK CLASSIC, PG. 25

express THE NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN

SEPTEMBER 21 - 27, 2011

City Council wants cancer added to Zadroga law

Downtown Express photo by John Bayles

Rob Diaz, who has been serving up cannoli at the Feast of San Gennaro for 32 years, serves another pastry and puts another smile on a customer’s face.

BY ALINE REYNOLDS Cancer is still not covered under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, per a decision by the law’s health program administrator, Dr. John Howard. In July Dr. Howard determined there was insufficient evidence linking the disease to exposure to Ground Zero toxins. City politicians are now urging Dr. Howard to reconsider his decision based on a recent scientific study that suggests such a link indeed exists. On Mon., Sept. 19, the City Council’s Committee on Civil Service and Labor voted unanimously in favor of a resolution calling on Dr. Howard and

his team to review a 9/11 cancer study published in the Sept. 3 edition of The Lancet medical journal as soon as possible rather than wait a year as planned. The resolution, which follows a Congressional petition also requesting Dr. Howard’s immediate review of the data in the Lancet study, is scheduled to go before the full City Council on Wed., Sept. 21. “New persuasive evidence has been compiled [indicating that] first responders who were at ground zero are getting cancer at a much higher rate than ones who weren’t,” said Council Member and Committee Chair James Sanders, Jr. Scientific data reveals

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Two booths at San Gennaro serve food, with a side of history BY JOHN BAYLES If there’s one booth at the Feast of San Gennaro that needs no name, no sign on the front, no marketing material whatsoever, it’s the booth on the southeast corner of Spring and Mulberry Streets. What it sells and what graces its display counter is enough to make any passerby stop on a dime: fresh baked cannoli. The booth has been at the same location for 32 years. It’s one of the oldest booths that still takes part in the feast and was started by the Rimesso family. It continues to remain “in the family” to this day, run by Nancy Rimesso and Rob Diaz. While much has changed since the feast started 85 years ago,

there is at least one constant. “This is the original cannoli,” said Diaz on Monday evening. “It’s still the feast’s best seller. They’ll invent a new one, but they can’t reinvent the original.” Across the street from the Rimesso’s booth is Chachi’s Hot Sausages. Like the Rimesso operation, the Chachi booth has remained, since 1975, at the same location and is still “all in the family.” Before it became known as Chachi’s, it was simply known as the best sausage the feast had to offer. Joe Lacorazza is currently running the booth. But, like his neighbor across the street, he never really had a choice; it was a family duty. The name came

as a result of Joe’s older brother’s striking resemblance to Scott Baio, who played Chachi in the old sitcom “Happy Days.” Joe’s father lived above Rocky’s on the corner of Spring and Mulberry and his mother lived one block north at 278 Mulberry. The way Joe’s mother, Louise, tells it, the Monsignor from the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Mulberry Street came to her father and uncle one day, back when the church still allowed gambling and when beer and wine were sold at almost every booth. At that time, the block in front of old St. Patrick’s had no streetlights, and they needed some

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Downtown Express photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Folk singer Tom Chapin headlines “Harmony on the Hudson.” Turn to page 16


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Two San Gennaro booths have history as a side dish Continued from page 1 local parishioners to set up booths and drive traffic toward the cathedral. Louise’s father and uncle did not own a restaurant, but the Monsignor knew they had a knack for cooking sausage and peppers. Chachi’s has no storefront. They participate in the feast every year because it’s a family tradition. As Louise told the story of how things used to be, with bandstands blasting Italian music on every corner and gambling at the local cathedrals, she pointed to a group of older men on the corner behind the Chachi’s booth. “I went to kindergarten with those guys,” said Louise. “This is our family reunion.” Louise’s son Joe echoed the sentiment. “I’ve always looked at it as a reason to get together, beyond just funerals and weddings,” said Joe. For Joe the family aspect behind the Feast of San Gennaro has taken on even more significance. It was in 2005 when he met his wife right in front of his family’s booth. She hailed from Las Vegas and was visiting a friend in the city. “She told her friend she was upset because she was missing the San Gennaro Feast in Vegas,” recalled Joe.” Her friend told her she was crazy… that New York had the best San Gennaro fest in the country.” Joe politely asked his future wife to take a

walk when he finished up at the booth, and the rest is, well, history. The two were married just over a year ago in Las Vegas. On the cover of their thank you cards was an image depicting the streets signs from the corner where the two met, Spring and Mulberry. Both booths are still participating in the Feast of San Gennaro for the same reason: it’s a family tradition. The most common comment concerning his booth today, said Diaz, is, “It’s a slice of Heaven in a shell.” Like any small business, a testament to its success are the number of repeat customers. For the Rimesso booth, the same principle applies. “We have repeat customers every year,” said Diaz. “People have been coming to this booth for 30 years, from Seattle, from Boston, from all over.” What is different, said Diaz, are the hours. “Back then, the booths were making money until 4 a.m.” Diaz recalled. Earlier this year there was a short-lived movement that jeopardized the future of one of the country’s oldest street festivals. Local businesses complained that the long hours and the length of the fest in general, a full 11 days, resulted in a loss of profits. The result was shortening the feast on weekdays by an hour and on weekends by 30 minutes. That outcome however did not seem to interfere with the feast’s popularity on its opening weekend.

Downtown Express photo by John Bayles

Joe Lacorazza of Chachi’s Hot Sausages, lives in Las Vegas but treks to N.Y.C. each year to make sure his “family tradition” lives on.

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NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-9, 12-19

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OWNTOWN DIGEST

CEREMONY FOR 9/11 FIRST RESPONDERS The National Sept. 11 Memorial hosted a wreath-laying ceremony on Tues., Sept. 20 to honor the fallen 9/11 first responders. The ceremony marks the first of seven “first responder days” for members of 9/11 first responder agencies and their families as a tribute to the 441 responders whose names are inscribed on the memorial’s bronze panels. Among those that attended the ceremony were 9/11 Memorial Chair, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, F.D.N.Y. Commissioner Salvatore Cassano, N.Y.P.D. Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Port Authority Police Superintendent Michael Fedorko and 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels.

INAUGURAL HARBOR SCHOOL REGATTA On Thurs., Oct. 6, the New York Harbor School will host its annual Harbor School Regatta on Governors Island. The inaugural event will feature an afternoon of America’s “Cup 12 meter” and “J24” racing as fans cheer on sailors from luxury spectator boats in the harbor with commentary from MSNBC’s Willie Geist. It is also the opening event for the fifth annual New York Classic week in New York Harbor, a Manhattan Sailing Club regatta. Afterward, sailors and spectators will convene at Water Taxi Beach on Governors Island for a post-regatta cocktail bash and awards ceremony, replete with cocktails, oysters and Brooklyn Brewery beer. The events’ proceeds will benefit the students of New

EDITORIAL PAGES . . . . . . . . . . 10-11 ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 - 25

York Harbor School as they pursue higher education, with 100 percent of the funds raised going to the Harbor School’s college scholarship fund. For event prices and other information, call (212) 458-0800 or visit http://harborschoolregatta. eventbrite.com/.

GOUVERNEUR CELEBRATED 126TH ANNIVERSARY Gouverneur Healthcare Services celebrated its 126th anniversary and honored Healthfirst President and Chief Executive Officer Pat Wang, Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association President Jack Eng and State Senator Daniel Squadron for “their public service and ability to develop innovative programs to meet constituent needs.” The 12th annual gala was held at Jing Fong Restaurant in Chinatown on Wed., Sept. 14. “Healthfirst’s mission is to ensure the highest level of quality and customer satisfaction to the individuals and families in the communities we serve, and to do so in a way that respects their cultural origins and needs,” said Wang in a written statement. “It is my honor and privilege to be recognized by Gouverneur Healthcare Services, our essential and respected partner, at this annual gala.” “It’s wonderful to celebrate Gouverneur’s 126 years of serving New York — and I’m honored to be recognized as we continue to work together to meet the needs of this community,” said Squadron.

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C.B. 1 EE TING S

A schedule of this week’s upcoming Community Board 1 committee meetings is below. Unless otherwise noted, all committee meetings are held at the board office, located at 49-51 Chambers St., room 709 at 6 p.m. ON WED., SEPT. 21: The Tribeca Committee will have a special follow-up meeting. ON THURS., SEPT. 22: The Nominating Committee will meet. ON MON., SEPT. 26: The Housing Committee will meet. ON TUES., SEPT. 27: The full board will have its monthly meeting in the community room of Southbridge Towers (90 Beekman St.)

Small businesses ask City Council for help BY ALINE REYNOLDS Though Lower Manhattan is ranked as the fourth largest commercial district in the country, the neighborhood’s small businesses struggled substantially following 9/11 and the ensuing recession. Such was the message relayed by several business owners at a City Council hearing on Downtown small businesses held on Thursday, Sept. 15. Prior to 9/11, Lower Manhattan was home to about 8,300 companies and was arguably the most famous business district in the world, noted Councilmember Margaret Chin. The 9/11 attacks damaged or destroyed 14 million square feet of office space, eliminated 650,000 jobs and disrupted or closed nearly 18,000 businesses, according to the City Council. More than 700 businesses were displaced in the former World Trade Center alone, and some 3,400 small firms in the immediate vicinity of Ground Zero lost a total of $795 million. “In many of these communities, including Chinatown, the negative effects of continuing street closures and loss of tourism are still felt today,” said Chin. “For many of these owners, recovery has not been so easy, and coming [to today’s hearing] meant taking time off from work or even closing shop for the morning.” Such was the case for Doug Smith,

whose art management and framing business, “World Trade Art Gallery,” was closed for six months following 9/11. In order to keep the business alive, Smith now works six days a week and has cut his staff from seven employees to three. The business was hit hard in 2002, when customers had to pass two security checkpoints just to be able to access the store, Smith recalled. Although a $40,000 grant from the N.Y.C. Department of Small Business Services helped Smith’s company weather the tough times, it didn’t keep revenues from slumping by 50 percent since 2000. “The numbers for 15 years before 9/11 were great. We call it the good old days,” said Smith. “We haven’t even considered opening other shops in 10 years, whereas it was normal practice [before] to open shops every few years and sell them.” Finding out about available grants and loans, Smith said, has been half the challenge. “It sounds so simple… but it’s not easy to know where to go,” said Smith. “The huge thing is getting the word out to individual businesses.” U.S. Telecom, a Downtown-based computer consulting firm, has also been on a

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Photo courtesy of Assemblyman Sheldon Silver’s office

Ribbon cutting marks new era for Gouverneur Hospital On Monday, Sept. 19, elected officials joined executives from Gouverneur Hospital to officially open the hospital’s new Center for Community Health and Wellness and The Residence at Gouverneur Court, at 227 Madison St. It marked the end of a roughly $2 million expansion and renovation project primarily funded by the N.Y.C. Health and Hospitals Corporation.

From left to right: City Councilmember Margaret Chin; State Senator Daniel Squadron; Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez; Mendel Hagler, executive director of Gouverneur Healthcare Services; Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver; Pun Yin, Feng Shui consultant for Gouverneur; City Councilmember Daniel Garodnick; Eddie Chiu; Paul T. Williams, executive director of the New York State Dormitory Authority.


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southwest corner of Gold and Platt Sts around 8:30 a.m. Fri., Sept 2 returned to the spot two days later and found it was gone.

POLICE BLOTTER

Construction site theft

Security employees discovered the theft after looking at a surveillance tape four hour later.

Phone snatch A woman, 23, told police that she was walking on Walker Street near Sixth Avenue. on her way home around 2 a.m. Sat., Sept. 17, when a strange man asked her where she was going and then snatched her iPhone from her hand and fled.

Teens arrested Police arrested two 15-year-old boys for snatching an iPod Touch phone from a 13-year-old Brooklyn boy on a train entering the Bowling Green subway station at 3:55 p.m. Mon., Sept. 19. The suspects Isaiah Grant, and Donyel Roognarine, were identified by the victim and charged with larceny.

Bicycle stolen A Brooklyn man, 39, locked his Silver Tek 2 bicycle to a scaffold near Bridge and State Streets around 3:30 p.m. Sat., Sept. 17, took a walk in Battery Park, went for a coffee at Starbucks and returned a half hour later to find the cycle, the lock and his helmet had been stolen.

Secret vice? Two men entered the Victoria’s Secret shop at 591 Broadway around 4:38 p.m. Wed., Sept. 14, and made off with 60 pink negligees without paying for them, police said.

A stainless steel gutter valued at $5,000 that was in front of a construction site at 57 Reade St. at 7:30 a.m. Thurs., Sept. 15, was gone 20 minutes later, police said.

Manslaughter sentence Adam Greenberg, who pleaded guilty to driving into two motorcyclists, killing one of them and seriously injuring the other near the Staten Island Ferry in July 2008, was sentenced to six years in prison Fri., Sept. 16. Greenberg faced up to 25 years in prison but prosecutors had to offer a lesser plea because evidence in the case was inadvertently destroyed after Greenberg’s car was impounded. Greenberg, 34, was high on PCP when he passed a parked bus near the terminal and rear-ended the bikers.

Soho grab bag A woman was sitting at a café table in front of Aurora bar, 510 Broome St. at W. Broadway around 9:10 p.m. Fri., Sept. 16, when a stranger grabbed her bag from the bench beside her and fled. She lost two wallets and credit cards, which were in the bag.

Motorcycles stolen A Richmond, Va., visitor, 53, parked his 2007 Suzuki motorcycle on the northeast corner of Church and Fulton Sts. around 6 p.m. Fri., Sept. 16 and discovered two hours later that someone had stolen it. A man who parked his 2009 Piagg motorcycle on the

Ask money for ‘return’ Police arrested Herbert Harris, 35, in front of the Museum of the American Indian in the Customs House on Bowling Green last week for trying to extort $300 from a woman who had lost a bag with her laptop computer. Harris phoned the victim Tues., Sept. 13, telling her he would return it for $300. Police made the rendezvous on Wed., Sept. 14, and arrested the suspect. Police recovered the bag and the computer later at the home of Harris’ brother. Harris was charged with possession of stolen property and attempted larceny.

Police cadet fatal Sherman Abrams, 28, who entered the N.Y.P.D. Police Academy in July, collapsed after completing a run with his academy class inside the East River Park between 14th and Houston Sts. on Mon., Sept. 12. He suffered chest pains and lost consciousness around 5 p.m. He was taken to Beth Israel Hospital where he was declared dead. He had served as a Corrections officer for four years before entering the Police Academy.

— Alber t Amateau

Thefts at B.P.C. Day Nursery have residents worried BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER For 25 years, the Battery Park City Day Nursery has been at the corner of Rector Place and South End Avenue. This year it became a crime scene — not once, but three times between May and September. Denise Cordivano, who heads the school, remembers that when she and her partner, Karen Klomp, bought it from founder Joy McCormick 15 years ago, “the front door was locked but the classroom doors that lead back to apartments [at 1 Rector Park, which is connected to the nursery] were never locked. Karen and I started locking them when we bought the school but Joy never used to lock the doors. I remember that a parent had left a stroller one night in front of the school and we thought, ‘oh, they forgot it. They’ll come back and pick it up.’ The next morning it was still there in the same place. That would never happen now.” Julius Shulman, MD

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In May, a side door to the school was left slightly ajar because a class had gone across to the park for a few minutes. A man came in through the door and started rummaging through a teacher’s purse. “Another teacher happened to walk in and saw him,” said Cordivano, “and he ran out the door, but he took the teacher’s wallet.” Cordivano said the man ran across the Rector Place bridge and was never caught. Later the teacher’s credit cards were used in Brooklyn. The most recent thefts occurred over Labor Day weekend. Early on Sunday evening, Cordivano stopped by the school to bring in some supplies. “All the doors were locked,” Cordivano recalled. “Everything looked fine at first.” But then she noticed some things that “didn’t look right. In one classroom, baby wipes

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and diapers were strewn on the carpet and I thought that was odd, but I thought maybe [some of the teachers] were sorting out a cabinet and didn’t quite get it finished and they’re going to come back.” Cordivano had administrative work to do in the office. “It was about 10:30 at night when I happened to notice that one of our laptop computers, instead of being put in the storage area where we keep them during the breaks was down here in my office,” she said. “So I carried it to where the rest of them should have been and I noticed that there were about four of them that were gone including the Director of Education’s laptop.” Cordivano thought that maybe the director had taken the computers home with her for some reason. It was too late to call and ask, so she continued working until around one o’clock in the morning. “I left my briefcase here in the office,” she said, “and locked everything up and left. My briefcase had a digital camera in it that I had just bought to replace one that had broken in a classroom. I came back on Monday — Labor Day — at about noon. It was really bothering me about the computers.” Cordivano went back upstairs to look in the place where the computers were kept. Now she found that all them were gone and when she came back downstairs, she discovered that her briefcase was open and the digital camera was also missing. She called the police. “They determined that someone had climbed over our backyard wall,” Cordivano recounted. “There have been construction workers in there recently, remodeling our backyard and they figured that one of the sliding doors wasn’t completely locked and they had jarred it enough to open it. We have some bolts on the doors now so that you’d have to break the glass to break them open.” Cordivano noted that a lot of people are currently mov-

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P.S. 234 waitlisted students get good, timely news BY ALINE REYNOLDS A group of parents breathed a sigh of relief when they found out days, and in some cases, even hours, before the start of the new school year that their child was going to be able to attend a neighborhood school. Thrity-eight prospective kindergarteners previously on P.S. 234’s waitlist were either offered a seat at the public school or at another Downtown elementary school, according to P.S. 234 Parent Coordinator Magda Lenski. Spots at the neighborhood schools became available, Lenski explained, because many of the families made alternate plans over the summer, namely choosing private schools or gifted-and-talented programs. Earlier this year, the waitlisted families at P.S. 234 were petitioning against the N.Y.C. Department of Education’s original decision to offer their children seats at P.S. 130, a public school in Chinatown, that many deemed too far way. “It’s very good news for everybody,” said Lenski of the results. “I think the families are very glad they’re [staying] in the neighborhood instead of having to travel across town with a five-year-old.” D.O.E. Spokesperson Frank Thomas said in a statement that seats at the Downtown schools opened up “as part of the normal process, and we are happy most parents got their preferred outcome.” “When students are waitlisted,” Thomas

continued, “we are obligated to provide them alternate offers, as we did in this case.” The 11 children that now remain on P.S. 234’s waitlist will be offered spots at the school through mid-fall, if and when there are additional openings, Lenski noted. Otherwise, Lenski said, the waitlisted youths will get priority in the school’s first grade class next year over youngsters new to the neighborhood. Marc Siden, who lives a block away from P.S. 234, said he was “elated” when notified that his daughter, Riley, was accepted to the school. Siden previously thought he would be sending Riley to P.S. 130, where he feared she would have a difficult time adjusting. “Although she would have been fine after a while, it would have been that much more traumatic for her to start at a school where she didn’t know anybody,” said Siden, noting his daughter already had friends in the neighborhood. Besides being able to accompany her to and from school every day, “It was very comforting to see her rejoin a lot of her friends [at P.S. 234],” said Siden. “We felt very lucky.” The accommodation of P.S. 234’s waitlisted children, in turn, allowed P.S. 130 Principal Lily Woo to accept all 17 siblings of students in the Chinatown school’s upper grades. None of P.S. 234’s waitlisted children ended up accepting their offer at P.S. 130 once they were given the option to attend a

school closer to home, the principal noted. “I’m glad it worked out the way it did, but I think the whole system… caused a lot of anxiety for parents,” said Woo.

‘I’m glad it worked out the way it did, but I think the whole system… caused a lot of anxiety for parents.’ Lily Woo P.S. 130 Principal

While she is still welcoming in newcomers, Woo said she is reluctant to take in kindergarteners who have already accepted seats at other public schools. “I’m not a believer in taking children out of a school if they’re already settled there,” Woo said. “We don’t want to be perceived as taking [in] children for the sake of filling classes.” P.S. 130 parents were equally pleased with the outcome, including Civic Center neighborhood resident Ed Lam, whose fiveyear-old daughter, Alisen, was offered a spot

the day before the start of the school year. “We were ecstatic – we dropped everything and we ran to the school,” said Lam. Lam said he had never anticipated a problem with sending Alisen to P.S. 130, since his older son, Adrien, is enrolled there. “[The D.O.E.] shouldn’t be able to override their policies to accommodate another group of families [over siblings],” said Lam. Had Alisen not gotten a seat at P.S. 130, Lam was going to home-school her, since P.S. 1, the family’s zoned school isn’t as highly ranked, and Transfiguration Lower School, a local private school, was at capacity. Now that two of his children attend P.S. 130, Lam said, he’ll be able to make it to the school’s family events more easily. “Having [my] four children go to four different schools would have been very, very difficult if not impossible,” remarked Lam. “We have to go in three different directions as is [to drop them off and pick them up].” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver released a statement saying he was thrilled to hear that the kindergarteners waitlisted at P.S. 234 were appropriately accommodated. “It is vitally important for children, especially those in elementary school, to be as close to home as possible,” said Silver. “For that reason, I will continue advocating for more schools in Lower Manhattan, so that families in our community continue to have access to high-quality educational opportunities.”

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Wed. Evening Sept. 28, 6:40 PM Thurs. & Fri., Sept.29 & 30 Mornings 10:30 AM

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Assemblyman Shelly Silver If you need assistance, please contact my office at (212) 312-1420 or email silver@assembly.state.ny.us.


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September 21 - 27, 2011

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Working group working on safety solutions for dangerous Delancey

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BY KHIARA ORTIZ A group of elected officials, city agencies, community leaders and advocates joined up in state Senator Daniel Squadron’s to form the Delancey St. Safety Working Group in response to a number of accidents that, according to them, have made Delancey the “deadliest” street in New York. A fatal accident at the end of August after a cyclist ran a red light and was crushed under the tire of a cement truck, along with the fact that the Lower East Side has nine out of the 33 most dangerous intersections for cyclists in the city, has prompted planning to improve the safety of bike traffic flowing onto and off of the Williamsburg Bridge. “Last month’s tragic death of cyclist Jeffrey Axelrod was the latest painful reminder of the dangerous conditions that plague Delancey St. on the Lower East Side,” said Borough President Scott Stringer “The number of fatalities this year alone demand action,” said Councilmember Margaret Chin. “It is time to make Delancey safe for everyone who uses it.” Countdown clock installations at the intersections along Delancey St. by the Department of Transportation were a first step to increase safety measures. The depart-

ment also is building a curved, stainless steel fence at the bridge’s Manhattan end with 3-foot-tall concrete walls bordering the median. But bike activists and other cyclists, in general, say the new D.O.T. structures will cause more problems than they solve. “For too long, Delancey has been the scene of far too many tragedies,” said Squadron. “Our working group is a much-needed step toward ending the cycle of danger. I’m confident that, together, we can find the shortterm and long-term solutions to ensure a safe Delancey St. for all types of users.” The Working Group also includes representatives of Community Board 3 and the Lower East Side Business Improvement District. Bill di Paola, founder of the pro-cycling and environmental group Time’s Up!, has something different in mind for facilitating bike traffic off the bridge. Along with Time’s Up! members and architect Josh Manes, di Paola designed a ramp that would start at about 75 feet up the bridge and connect to a path on the south side of Delancey St. that would run for several blocks west as a parkway. However, D.O.T spokesperson Montgomery Dean said there are no plans at this time to consider alternative designs.

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September 21 - 27, 2011

D.I.D. takes District Leader slots BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER The Democratic primary election on Sept. 13 pitted district leader candidates endorsed by the Downtown Independent Democrats against the candidates of the Lower Manhattan Democrats. All of the D.I.D. candidates won by big margins. In the 64th Assembly District, Part C, Paul Newell, the incumbent, and Jenifer Rajkumar, a newcomer, defeated Jeff Galloway and incumbent Linda Belfer. Newell received 68 percent of the votes cast and Rajkumr received 70 percent. In the 66th Assembly District, Part B, D.I.D. candidate John Scott defeated incumbent David Reck, garnering 76 percent of the vote. Jean Grillo, a D.I.D. candidate, ran unopposed. The L.M.D. split from the D.I.D. two years ago. The races for district leaders were the first with L.M.D.-sponsored candidates. “I’m delighted that the hard work and past performance of our current district leaders along with the hard work and fresh ideas of our new district leaders candidates were rewarded by the voters,� said Grillo. “D.I.D. is now a very different club — younger, more passionate, more diverse than ever. I can’t wait to work with old friends and new friends to continue to do great things for our downtown community.� Voter turnout for the election was low. Only 1,400 people voted in the Reck versus Scott race. Approximately 1,200 people voted in the 64th A.D., Part C. “These are very important races and it’s unfortunate that such a small percentage of registered voters actually turn out,� said Robin Forst, acting president of the L.M.D. The position of district leader is unpaid,

but is influential in bringing the concerns of local residents to the attention of elected officials at state and national levels. David Reck had represented the 66th A.D., Part B for eight years. The district includes the northern part of Battery Park City, Tribeca, SoHo, NoHo, parts of Greenwich Village, the East Village and Civic Center. Linda Belfer had represented the 64th Assembly District, Part C for almost 20 years. The district includes parts of the Lower East Side and the East Village as well as Battery Park City. The districts were created many years ago, spanning non-contiguous neighborhoods with varying concerns. In the wake of the most recent census, they will be reconfigured. “We’re so gerrymandered, and this is why Paul {Newell} pushes for redistricting reform,� said Jeanne Wilcke, president of the D.I.D. “It really does divide districts up and they’re not cohesive, and that sometimes can be very unfair.� Jeff Galloway was of the same opinion. “The Lower Manhattan portion of Part C cannot elect its own District Leader without finding someone who can win, or at least command a substantial percentage of votes in Village View [in the East Village],� said Galloway. “These two sections of Part C have little in common with one another and are not even contiguous. I know there is a complicated history to this, but I think it’s time to rethink the boundaries of the A.D. 64. We should have districts that make sense, so that when the voters vote, they can vote for someone who can reasonably address their local needs.�

Tribeca shuts down before 4 a.m. BY ALINE REYNOLDS Four a.m. closing times for new restaurants weren’t going to pass muster at last Wednesday’s Community Board 1 Tribeca Committee meeting, no matter how appealing the proposals. Fearful of late-night disruptions to their peace and quiet, Tribeca residents spoke out against a couple of State Liquor Authority license applications by restaurateurs who requested 4 a.m. weekend closures. The committee members followed suit by voting down the proposed late night closings. “We’ve really tried at this Community Board to make a decision that, on these small, narrow side streets, we limit these hours,� said Jean Grillo, a public member of the committee. “Coming here and asking for a 4 [a.m. closure] is just not applicable to the community we’re trying to build,� said Grillo to entrepreneurs Caspar Ouvaroff and Chris Miller. The two men are opening a new restaurant at 54-56 Warren St. later this fall and were instantly shot down when they requested a 4 a.m. closing time for Friday and Saturday nights. The owners said they plan to have the same track record as the restaurant, Lafayette Grill and Bar, which has managed to be a good neighbor despite having late weekend hours for the last 15 years.

“We’re not interested in trying to get a rowdy sports crowd,� Ouvaroff assured the committee. “That’s not in any way, shape or form what we’re looking for.� Nevertheless, the committee would only approve a 2 a.m. weekend closure with an option to increase their hours once the owners established a good rapport with the neighborhood. A 4 a.m. closing time is out of the question, according to Karen Stamm, a public member of the committee who lives at 366 Broadway, a residential building on the other side of Cortlandt Alley from the future grill. “There is no way that something that essentially looks like a sports bar can be [open that late],� Stamm said. “We all have to get to sleep.� Ouvaroff and Miller seemed to take the committee’s decision in stride. Their goal, Ouvaroff said, is to create a “harmonious� relationship with the neighboring community. “We wouldn’t be defined by a 4 a.m. liquor license,� said Ouvaroff following the committee meeting. “We’re going to make the community board’s recommendation work for us and the restaurant.�

Continued on page 9

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. r r r r r r r r r r

Normal and High Risk Obstetrical Care Complete Well Woman Care Diagnosis and Treatment of Gynecologic Conditions Laparoscopic Surgery Osteoporosis Detection and Treatment Urogynecology (female urology) Cord Blood Banking Cervical Cancer Vaccination Menopausal Management Contraception

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downtown express

September 21 - 27, 2011

8

Food, memories merge in new cookbook

How a child learns to learn will impact his or her life forever. Progressive Education for Two-Year-Olds – 8th Grade

Open House | City and Country Wednesday, November 9, 2011 from 6-8pm Please visit www.cityandcountry.org for information and application materials. 146 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011 Tel: 212.242.7802

Let’s do something together

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1pm Concerts at One Molly Carr, viola Trinity Church

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2pm Sunday Recital/Lecture Cellist Louise Dubin performs. Charlotte’s Place

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 10am-3pm Spa for the Soul: The Becoming Whole Workshop Share stories and create movement and dance. Led by Risa Jaroslow. $25 includes a light lunch. Register at christianformation@trinitywallstreet.org or 1.800.457.0224. 74 Trinity Place, 2nd Fl, Parish Hall

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1pm Bach at One The Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra present a weekly service of J.S. Bach’s music, accompanied by poetry readings. St. Paul’s Chapel

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 10am Practicing the Presence of God: Through Peace & Reconciliation A 12-part series that explores how to feel God’s love in the thick of a complex world. This week: The Rev. John Dear, S.J. 74 Trinity Place, 2nd Fl, Parish Hall

All Are Welcome All events are free, unless noted. 212.602.0800

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 6pm Sing! Songs in a Sacred Space Sing fun and easy songs with others. All ages welcome and no singing experience required. This month’s theme: Autumn in New York. St. Paul’s Chapel TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 6-7:30pm O God My Heart is Ready To Be Free: Buddhist Meditations Explore aspects of being ready to serve God and one another. This week: Ralph De La Rosa, meditation instructor. 74 Trinity Pl, 2nd Fl, Parlor

But the fourth generation didn’t want to go into the business, so in 2004, it was sold and Hersch, who had worked in the business with the rest of her family, found herself with some free time on her hands. “I wanted to do something I would be good at it and make a difference,” Hersch remarked. “My family supported the Museum of Jewish Heritage. I love to cook and I love to write and I love to speak to people and I had a great respect for the museum.” So the idea for the cookbook was born. Hersh said that she wanted the cookbook to be one that people could really use, but many of the survivors were imprecise in their descriptions of how they prepared the dishes they passed on to her. “It was my job to take the recipes and test them and add measurements and try them and tweak them and eventually come up with something that you could replicate,” recalled Hersch. In some cases, the author enlisted the help of professional chefs such as Mark Bittman, the Capsouto brothers (of Capsouto Frères), Faye Levy and Michael Solomonov

Continued on page 15

trinitywallstreet.org

worship SUNDAY, 8am and 10am St. Paul’s Chapel An energetic celebration of Communion in the round. 8pm Compline, music, and prayers SUNDAY, 9am and 11:15am Trinity Church Preaching and Eucharist in the best Anglican/Episcopal tradition. Sunday school and child care available. MONDAY – FRIDAY, 12:05pm Trinity Church Holy Eucharist MONDAY – FRIDAY, 5:15pm All Saints’ Chapel, in Trinity Church Evening Prayer, Evensong (Thurs.) Watch online webcast

Leah Reddy

Trinity Wall Street

BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER “Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival” published by the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City is more than just a cookbook. It’s a treasury of stories from 80 Holocaust survivors and their families recounting where they came from, what and whom they lost and how they created new lives in the United States. Many of them came to this country with little else but remembered recipes or with memories of food that they had eaten before the world of their childhood was destroyed. In January 2008, June Feiss Hersh, who had never before written a cookbook, came up with the idea of compiling the recipes and stories and publishing the book as a fundraiser for the museum. The museum said yes. “Recipes Remembered” was released in May 2011. It is now in its third printing. It is illustrated with family photographs from the survivors and with photos of artifacts from the museum. The book came about “organically” said Hersch. For three generations, her family had been in the lighting business. “We were one of the largest lighting companies in the world,” Hersch said.

Education for children, youth, and adults begins this Sunday at Trinity Church.

TRINITY CHURCH Broadway at Wall Street ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL Broadway and Fulton Street CHARLOTTE’S PLACE 109 Greenwich St, btwn Rector & Carlisle The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, Rector The Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, Vicar

an Episcopal parish in the city of New York


downtown express

9

September 21 - 27, 2011

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We educate students to:

Tribeca shuts down before 4 a.m. Continued from page 7 Entrepreneur Michael Hynes was practically booed out of the room when proposing to open a three-floor, Irish-themed restaurant at 116 Duane St. His proposal was opposed altogether, despite his promise to satisfy nearby residents’ noise concerns by, for example, soundproofing the space’s ceilings and floors. “I know what it is to operate a restaurant and bar in a residential district,� Hynes told the committee, citing years of experience owning and operating other venues around the city. Marc Chapman, a lawyer representing the building’s landlord, backed up Hynes’s proposal, saying the owner is “committed to working with the landlord and investing in the [business] as well as the community.� The committee nevertheless voted unanimously against recommending S.L.A. approval for the restaurant. “Just because an enterprise will be profitable and employ a lot of people, doesn’t mean this is necessarily the right location,� said Committee Chair Paul Viggiano in summarizing the committee’s objections. The residential side of the street isn’t an appropriate location for the restaurant, according to Jean Grillo, who lives on the second floor of 116 Duane St. The ground-floor space, she noted, has been vacant for almost two years. “The foot isn’t going to fit into the shoe

you’re going to wear,� Grillo said to Hynes. “I’ve been on the Tribeca Committee for many years and have heard every explanation of soundproofing and deadening, and I can tell you that there’s nothing that’ll prevent the noise that you’re talking about.� The traffic obstruction caused by fire trucks that line Duane Street, Grillo noted, has had a negative impact on previous restaurants on the block. “We’ve already had several restaurants attempt to get started on this block and fail,� said Grillo. “And, once they fail, they go immediately to party mode.� The 4 a.m. closing time, in particular, is “a big problem,� echoed Roanne Kolvenbach, who lives at 74 Reade St. “I got kids waking up in the morning.� Property owners and businesses on the block are equally opposed to having a new neighboring restaurant — several of whom have written to C.B. 1 claiming it would cause additional traffic on an already-crowded street. “This block is thriving as a quiet commercial block with several other high-tech stores that depend on easy access,� wrote Abraham Harari, owner of Capital Audio Electronics situated at 120 Duane St. “A restaurant and / or bar at this site would only cause additional traffic and slow down all other existing business activities.� Discouraged by the negative feedback, Hynes said he would probably scout out another location for the restaurant.

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September 21 - 27, 2011

10

EDITORIAL Tradition reigns supreme

PUBLISHER & EDITOR John W. Sutter

Last February a movement to shorten the 85-year-old Feast of San Gennaro, both in terms of geography and in term of hours of operation, became a flashpoint of debate. The opponents of the street festival, which began as a one-day, religious-based event centered on Mulberry St. between Grand and Hester Sts. and has turned into an 11-day-festival stretching from Houston St. to Canal St., voiced their concern that the event had become a hindrance to the neighborhood. The Feast draws over one million spectators a year and is one of the most well-known street fairs in the entire country. In the end both sides agreed to shorten the hours of the Feast on weekdays by one hour and on weekends by 30 minutes. By our own observance of the Feast on its opening weekend, the crowd appeared to be just as jubilant, just as large, and just as hungry as any year prior. While there is no questioning the enormousness of the event, there is also no questioning the fact that it still serves a vital purpose. It continues to be a source of pleasure for those who walk down Mulberry Street, devouring cannoli and hot sausages along the way and stopping to take pictures to preserve the moment. True, there might be more tourists than locals and Little Italy is not as big as it once was, but there are people that once lived in the neighborhood, who have moved to New Jersey or even farther, who continue to come back year after year. For them it is more than a feast or a street fair, it is a tradition.

ASSOCIATE EDITOR John Bayles ARTS EDITOR Scott Stiffler REPORTERS Aline Reynolds Albert Amateau Lincoln Anderson SR. V.P. OF SALES AND MARKETING Francesco Regini ADVERTISING SALES Allison Greaker Karen Kossman Ellyn Rothstein Michael Slagle Julio Tumbaco RETAIL AD MANAGER Colin Gregory BUSINESS MANAGER / CONTROLLER Vera Musa ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Troy Masters ART DIRECTOR Mark Hasselberger

A healthy foot forward

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jamie Paakkonen CONTRIBUTORS Terese Loeb Kreuzer • David Stanke • Jerry Tallmer PHOTOGRAPHERS Milo Hess • Jefferson Siegel • Terese Loeb Kreuzer

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Lower Manhattan residents, workers and students have certainly felt the loss of St. Vincent’s Hospital since its closure in spring 2010, leaving the lower west side of Manhattan with a huge hole in its capacity to serve its population. Gouverneur Healthcare Services, the largest municipal freestanding health care clinic in the city, is helping to fill the gap in care with an improved and spruced-up ambulatory care center. Its building at 227 Madison St. on the Lower East Side, which was originally designed as a hospital, is being transformed into a sprawling, state-of-the-art facility, where physicians will be able to perform surgeries, colonoscopies and CAT scans. The health care center, which celebrated the opening of the first renovated floor on Mon., Sept. 19, is also in the process of expanding its nursing department by 40 percent. Eventually, Gouverneur might even have a dialysis center. New York Downtown Hospital has made its own new contribution to area health care by opening a 10,000-square-foot wellness and prevention center on Gold Street last May. The new facility has state-of-the-art medical equipment including echocardiography and mammography machines and boasts the capacity of treating up to 2,500 patients per year. While some Lower Manhattan residents and workers object to the free-standing emergency room scheduled to open at the site of St. Vincent’s in fall of 2013, pending approvals, we believe it is a critical step in the right direction in terms of offering acute medical care to the growing population of Lower Manhattan. It is estimated that when it opens it will receive 30-35,000 visits per year, and after five years of operation it will treat more than 80,000 patients annually. We acknowledge, however, that these facilities can’t completely fill the gap of a full-service hospital Lower Manhattan residents so desperately want and need. But the recent opening up of the facilities at Gouverneur and New York Downtown Hospital, go a long way towards meeting the health care needs and the growing population of Lower Manhattan.

downtown express

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Don’t let Chinatown B.I.D. “clean up” $$$ To the Editor: Re: Support the Chinatown B.I.D. (Downtown Express editorial, July 20) and This B.I.D. could be BAD (Downtown Express letter to the editor, Sept. 14) The Chinatown B.I.D.’s motto is “Let us help ourselves.” We think: Yes, they want to help themselves — to our money — in the form of tax assessments on properties and fees for businesses. The result will be higher rents, as well as higher costs for goods and services for the residents, shoppers, and visitors. Affordable groceries will be a thing of the past for those living under the poverty line in Chinatown. Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation spent over $5 million in taxpayer-funded Lower Manhattan Development Corporation grants with the concept that clean streets was the way to rebuild Chinatown after 9/11. However, the continuous storefront vacancies in the core of Chinatown are evidence that extra sanitation did not help Chinatown’s recovery. There are no numbers to show that the spent grant money yielded any gains in the Chinatown economy. Yet, Chinatown Partnership L.D.C. wants to reincarnate itself as the Chinatown B.I.D. to continue to “clean up” with the formation of a permanent, annual, spending-our-tax-money bureaucracy; despite the real possibility of becoming a catalyst for foreclosures, business casualties, and unemployment in Chinatown during very tough economic times. This scenario will open the floodgates for real estate developers to take over in a community that has spawned generations of small, unique and culturally diverse businesses for those who live, work and shop there. What has made Chinatown a major tourist attraction is the affordability of many of their meals, foods, goods and services in a concentrated, easily walkable area. Some sections even appear to be transplanted in whole from Asia. The additional burden of the B.I.D. tax will bring about the replacement of Chinatown’s eclectic, unusual and authentic ambiance with a big-box store environment. In the fine print, the B.I.D. could borrow money once formed — then, to satisfy the debt, revise the budget itemizations or forego non-debt service expenditures. The B.I.D. can raise the yearly assessment as high as 20 percent of the owner’s property taxes, and the cost for B.I.D. improvements can go up to $6.5 million! Many properties in Chinatown are small and family-owned. There is reason to be skeptical when told that these stated provisions won’t be likely because the City Council would have to vote on it. For example, based on the law, our mayor was limited to two terms, but after much

debate, the City Council ended up voting to permit a third term for Mayor Bloomberg! There are ample reasons not to trust the Chinatown B.I.D. promoters. They skewed data claiming overwhelming support (it turned out to be 550 out of 2300). They ignored the community board’s resolution to remove Columbus Park from the B.I.D., thereby leaving open the possibility of the use of public space for private ventures in the future. Their website has Chinese translation, but they deliberately did not translate into Chinese any information about how to go about objecting to the B.I.D. They orchestrated a lockout of the objecting property owners at the critical May 26 finance committee hearing. Our Councilmember, Margaret Chin, held a Town Hall for the SoHo B.I.D. but did not bother to schedule one for Chinatown. In spite of all these obstacles, the Chinatown B.I.D. got the most verified, notarized objections ever filed against a B.I.D. in NYC. The Chinatown B.I.D. is a BAD idea and not in the best interest of the public. It will be a bureaucracy that will further the political and economic gain of a few under the pretense of “cleaning up”. Anna Goldstein

Echoing the self-serving To the Editor: Micah Halpern’s “Talking Point” piece in the Sept. 7-13 issue echoes the self-serving, jingoistic line promoted by President Bush after 9/11, that the “terrorists hate us because of our freedom.” There is no excuse for the horrific, evil acts of the 9/11 terrorists, but it can’t be denied that many of the world’s people — in the Middle East and the southern countries of the American continent, in particular — have justified anger toward the U.S. Our nation has meddled in the affairs of these sovereign nations for many years, instigating and / or enabling the overthrow of democratically-elected leaders in Iran, Chile, Haiti, and many others; supporting non-democratic, often repressive regimes such as in Egypt and in Saudi Arabia; using those regimes to torture those we have “detained.” In general, the U.S. has behaved like an arrogant bully, shaping the planet according to our own desires. Americans do love the concepts of “freedom and democracy,” but our actions too often contradict these fine sentiments. U.S. actions since 9/11 have definitely not made us safer: they have eroded our freedoms here at home and serously harmed our reputation in the rest of the world, and invading Iraq has contributed greatly to the precarious state of our economy.

Continued on page 11


downtown express

September 21 - 27, 2011

11

ON THE SPOT WITH CATHERINE McVAY HUGHES BY ALINE REYNOLDS Community Board 1 Vice Chair Catherine McVay Hughes is a newly appointed member of the World Trade Center Health Program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee, charged with reviewing scientific and medical data in order to recommend additonal illnesses to be covered under the 9/11 Heatlh and Compensation Act. McVay Hughes reflects on the 10th anniversary weekend of 9/11, discusses the objectives of the committee and talks about traffic and construction Downtown. How do you think things went Downtown on the weekend of the anniversary of 9/11? What was the most poignant part for you? It seemed to go very well. There was minimal impact on the [Lower Manhattan] community, except in the immediate area. On Sunday, we had dinner at our friends’ apartment on Liberty Street, which overlooks the W.T.C. site. They live right next to the [F.D.N.Y. Ten] firehouse, so we could hear the firefighters’ bagpipe performance and watched the procession from the window. We recalled having been exiled from our homes for some time after 9/11 and reflected over the past decade. It was very special. Was it difficult to navigate the area on the day of the anniversary? Yes. We understand the precautions that are taken, but we all look forward to the day

when these checkpoints and barricades will no longer be necessary and when we can walk freely through the W.T.C site and around the perimeter. My friends were in the lockdown zone, so we had to go through several checkpoints to visit them on the anniversary weekend. We almost didn’t get through.

cate for the passage of a law that required lead testing in young children on a State-wide basis. I am also an engineer by training: after college, I worked in the construction field for several years, where I learned about dust suppression on construction sites.

How often will the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee meet? What do you hope to accomplish as a member of the group?

I know you’re a big fan of the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center. What has the agency helped to achieve thus far, and which project(s) are you anxious to see completed?

The committee will meet several times a year in New York City, as I understand. The first [meeting] will be in November. I would expect that information would be distributed prior to the meetings so that we could be as prepared as possible. My personal goal is to represent the surrounding community as best as I can. I would like to have the opportunity to look at all the data so that intelligent decisions can be made, such as some forms of cancer being added to the list of illnesses covered by the law.

The thing that we’re most proud of, which the L.M.C.C.C. helped with, is keeping Vesey Street between Church Street and West Broadway open to pedestrian traffic. Everybody rallied together to make that happen. Keeping Broadway south of Vesey Street accessible to all vehicles was also a big win for the community in partnership with the City Department of Transportation. We now look forward to the completion of West Street, so we can cross at street grade and no longer have to walk up the stairs of the Vesey Street pedestrian bridge.

What makes you qualified to be on the committee? I fall under the category of “eligiblecertified survivors.” As a resident who has lived through the rebuilding of our community for the last decade, I can bring the first-hand experience that someone else may not be familiar with. I have participated

Catherine McVay Hughes

in lung studies several times at the W.T.C. Center of Excellence at Bellevue Hospital. And, like many other residents Downtown, I have reactive airway disease (R.A.D.) and a heightened sensitivity to dust. What professional experience do you bring to the table? I worked at the New York Public Interest Research Group for 10 years. One of the projects I spent a lot of time on was lead poisoning prevention and safe construction in public schools. I co-authored a book called “Get the Lead Out,” the first handbook on childhood lead poisoning prevention, and I helped advo-

Are there certain highly congested street(s) that you try to avoid altogether when walking around Downtown? The corner of Church and Vesey Streets has more pedestrian traffic than any other corner in the City, including Times Square. At peak rush hour, I’ll try to find an alternate path.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from page 10 No, it seems like Mr. Halpern has not yet awakened to the new reality: The “War on Terror” will not save us. We must abandon our strong-arm tactics and learn to become a more responsible member of the world community. Patricia Dillon

Tracing the cause of 9/11 To the editor: Re: One W.T.C.’s many meanings, some visible and some not (Downtown Express article, Aug. 31) Aline Reynolds’s article on the World Trade Center, about its “many meanings and the symbolism and sustainability that define the building,” just tells readers its shape, structure and design and fails to give any historical and political context to the tragedy. Al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, from a wealthy Saudi family, resented the U.S. military in Saudi Arabia as well as U.S. support for Israel. When the Soviet presence in

Afghanistan after its revolution, Osama and the Taliban were supplied stringer missiles, rockets and other weapons as well as intelligence by the C.I.A. This was done in 1980, when Carter sent his national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski to the Afghan-Pakistan border. The U.S. made it possible for Al Qaeda and the Taliban to spread enormous violence and death first in Afghanistan, then at the W.T.C. This disastrous U.S. foreign policy started by Jimmy Carter through the two Bushes, and Obama. Dave Silver

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

Villager photo by Tequila Minsky

Bush Svengali Karl Rove was spotted on the Hudson River esplanade among the cyclists, dog walkers, tourists and Ground Zero visitors, around 9:30 a.m. on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. One dog walker mumbled, “Back to the scene of his crime,” as Rove walked by with his phone to his ear.


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Downtown Express photos by Milo Hess

New street crossing signs needed Maybe the City should install new street crossing signs in Lower Manhattan. Based on the pictures above, taken over the weekend at the intersection of Spring Street and Lafayette Street in SoHo (left) and on Franklin Street in Tribeca (right), we suggest “Art Crossing” and “Balloon Crossing.”

S EAPORT R EPORT BY JANEL BLADOW Summer’s over. School’s back. Leaves are dropping. Fall’s nipping. There’s a crisp breeze in the air. And the party continues… COP OUT… Saturday gazillions of N.Y.P.D. officers surrounded Chase Bank down in the Financial District. Internet rumors abounded of a major rally against bankers. Nada happened, but believe me, the sea of blue would have prevented even Hurricane Irene; should’ve thought of that a few weeks ago. CHANGES... Samsara is to open on Oct. 3 with a tapas-style menu. The space, which has been under construction for almost a year, looks stylish with a long bar and banquette under a wall sculpture of living plants. Lei closed last month but is expected to reopen soon as a comfort food, homeytype place. FULL ALERT… Seems as if the area has become host to an unsavory element. Last week, Downtown Express Police Blotter reported four crimes committed in our ‘hood, a purse snatching on Dover Street, a wallet snatching at the No. 2 William and Fulton Street subway, a face

RAT PATROL PART 4… Business owners and residents alike in the Seaport area have remarked that the horrid, black boxes seem to be working with fewer sightings of the gray vermin except late, late at night. So the second question is: do you look down when walking along Dover Street in the evening to avoid stepping on a rat, or should your peripheral vision be on the lookout for a purse-snatcher?

pick up, mostly because they don’t see where pooches are peeing and pooping because the run is so big and has so many nooks and crannies, and the N.Y.C. Economic Development Corp., which is responsible for keeping the run it built clean, has dropped the ball. On Saturday, owners were fuming. The run was locked all day. A notice said it was closed for cleaning for two hours at two different times of the day, both Saturday and Sunday. However, even the guard assigned to open the park was given orders not to, and was upset that residents were going to call him the “bad guy.” He told SR that he was there all day and no one came to clean even though it was midday. A couple of guys jumped the fence, hoisted their dogs and kids over, and played inside. One told SR, “I heard dogs got sick. But it’s Saturday. The run should be open. Climb over the fence.”

BAD DOG PARK… Apparently the fabulous new dog run on the East River Parkway at Wall Street has become a breeding ground for a canine version of “Contagion.” Reports surfaced of at least three dogs becoming seriously ill, suffering diarrhea and vomiting. Dog owners claim that there is no hose to clean up the messes, that some owners don’t

GOODBYE TO A DEAR FRIEND… On Wednesday, Sept. 7, I along with a few other Seaport and Southbridge residents and other friends and family gathered at Trinity Church on Broadway to say goodbye to a wonderful, charming man. Beresford Ethelbert Sealy, born March 1, 1927, passed away on August 29, at Downtown Hospital.

bashing at Maguire’s Bar on Cliff Street, and a car theft of a 2011 Hundai in broad daylight (between 10 and 11am no less) on Peck Slip. The question is: who needs a new Hundai on a Thursday morning? In addition, Water Street neighbors report seeing and hearing a cat burglar at a neighbor’s window by the Dover Street. garden. The culprit was scared off. Be on your toes kids.

He had only been ill the last several months and the toll it took on him saddened everyone around him. Many knew him as Barry: his Seaport family, his companion of more than 25 years, Dorothy Wadsley who passed away nearly two years ago, her daughter Patricia and her family Tony and Anna Louise Dalo, as well as his many co-workers and business friends. But to his Brooklyn family and his nephew Keith Oliver, he was always “Uncle Fred.” In Keith’s heartfelt eulogy he talked about the last walk he took with his uncle around Southbridge, sitting on a bench discussing science then heading to the courts where his uncle saw many an old friend one last time. I knew him as Barry. He was always the consummate gentleman and stylishly dressed, charming and a delight to have a drink with at two of his favorite neighborhood places, The Bridge Cafe and TJ Byrne’s. His parents came to Brooklyn from Barbados and Barry studied science at City College. He became a city health inspector and then an independent health consultant to some of the city’s finest restaurants. He and Dottie loved to travel and visited many, many countries and continents. Together they lived a full and charmed life.


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New cookbook Continued from page 8 to recreate recipes from vague memories of a beloved dish. Then, said Hersh, “Every single person had to approve any changes. They had to approve every word in their story and the recipes.” Hersch noted that she did most of the test cooking in her New York City apartment kitchen, which she said was ample. “They had space back then,” Hersch said of her sources, “but the kitchens were not sophisticated. Most of these women had a wooden spoon. Anything more than that was sophisticated.” Hersh noted differences in the recipes depending on their origin. “For one year we ate like Polish peasants,” said Hersh, recalling how her family dined on what she was testing at the time. “They ate cabbage, celeriac and cheap cuts of meat that you had to braise for days. The Hungarians and Germans added lots of butter and spices.” The book also contains recipes such as “arroz con pollo” that would not be considered strictly Jewish. “We’ve been thrown out of some of the best countries in the world,” Hersh commented. “I have a survivor who lived on spaghetti and tomato sauce.” This woman, Sonya Oshman, who was born in Poland and who remembered eating “a lot of spaghetti” in a displaced persons

Photo courtesy of Caroline Earp

In May, author June Hersh welcomed contributors to her book, “Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival,” to a festive launch party at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

camp in Italy, tells her story in the book followed by a recipe re-created by professional contributor, Mark Strausman. “Some of the stories made me cry, but many of them made me smile,” said Hersh. “What the human spirit can endure is remarkable.” All of the money generated from sales of the book is going to the museum. “I think the book will sell for years and years,” said Hersh. “These people’s stories are incredible. Unfortunately they’re not going to be here forever.” “Recipes Remembered” is available from the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s Pickman Shop and also from www.amazon.com.

Crime at B.P.C. Day Nursery Continued from page 4 ing into 1 Rector Park and there are moving vans behind the building all the time but neither she nor the police know who was responsible for the thefts. “It was somebody definitely who had been in the building before because of where the laptops were and where they had to go to get the laptops,” Cordivano said. “They say locks only keep the honest people out. How much do we do without going completely crazy? Where do I draw the line between spending money on security and spending money on teachers and things for the kids?” The incidents inside the school are not unprecedented. Cordivano said that the mother of one of the children had a cellphone stolen from her outside the school around a year ago when a man knocked it out of her hand and ran off with it. She also said that a homeless man was hanging around a Battery Park City playground and followed a woman and her three-year-old son — a Battery Park City Day Nursery student — to their apartment, where the doorman turned him away. The mother reported the incident to the police but no one was caught.

Cordivano believes that the tourists now flooding the neighborhood from the nearby World Trade Center site are likely to bring more trouble in their wake. “Once you have tourists, then you have people looking to prey on the tourists,” she said. “There has to be more of a police presence and people lobbying for more of a police presence and just keeping their eyes open. I know that Battery Park City is still safer than some other parts of the city and so parents who are moving here from other areas may think this is so idyllic, which it is, but it isn’t quite the noncrime scene that we’ve seen in the past.” Despite the presence of hundreds of policemen at the World Trade Center site, their focus is on those 16 acres and not on Battery Park City. The First Precinct is responsible for law enforcement in Battery Park City. Anthony Notaro, who heads the First Precinct Community Council, which is the liaison between the community and the N.Y.P.D., suggested that people who are concerned about crime in Battery Park City attend the First Precinct Community Council’s meetings on the last Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. They are held at the precinct headquarters at 16 Ericsson Place. The next one is on Sept. 29.

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BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER BLOCK PARTY: The 10th Annual Battery Park City Block Party that took place on Saturday, Sept. 17 was not just another neighborhood fest. “Much like our first block party [in September 2002], it was a reminder of our strength as a community, our rebirth and our resilience,” said Rosalie Joseph, who has been one of the principal organizers of the block party since its inception. The first block party brought residents, workers and business owners back together after the neighborhood was decimated by the World Trade Center attack next door. They embraced and helped each other. “Out of this grew our slogan, “Battery Park City, Best Small Town in the Big Apple,” said Joseph. At the Saturday block party, Battery Park City still felt like a small town with lots of

September 21 - 27, 2011

familiar faces, kids on the stage, singing and dancing, a pet parade, crafts projects for the children, local eateries selling, or in the case of SouthWest NY, giving away food, flea market tables, games and more. On this special occasion, businesses that were in Battery Park City 10 years ago and are still there were honored as were the educators who shepherded the children in their care through that awful day 10 years ago and who are still instructing Battery Park City’s youth. Residents such as Percy Corcoran, who worked tenaciously to get Battery Park City a library and a Greenmarket, were honored. Brookfield Properties, UNQLO, Milford Management and the Battery Park City Authority underwrote the cost of the block party. Anthony Notaro, who has co-chaired the last decade of block parties with Joseph said that, “This year was the most we ever spent because we had 22 awards to get,

Downtown Express photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

The 10th Annual Battery Park City Block Party on Saturday, Sept. 17, had added significance, as it fell on the weekend following the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

downtown express

Downtown Express photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Folk singer Tom Chapin will again perform at Harmony on the Hudson, the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy’s annual end-of-summer bash in Wagner Park, on Sunday, Sept. 25.

insurance, lots of rides, table and chair rental, advertising, printing, etc.” He estimated the cost at around $14,000. Traditionally, the B.P.C. block party ends with renditions of “New York, New York” and “Downtown.” The stage was crammed with adults and with children from Battery Park City’s New American Youth Ballet in their pink costumes. The singing was spirited, but the moment was also poignant. Joseph and Notaro have said they will step down from chairing the block party and whether anyone else can or will take the reins is uncertain. “Work for your community!” Joseph said to the audience, before the last song, which, unless someone steps up to take charge, might have been the last B.P.C. block party song ever. ASPHALT GREEN: At the B.P.C.A. board of directors meeting on Sept. 13, Carol Tweedy, executive director of Asphalt Green, described the enticing facilities and features of the Community Center on North End Avenue that will open in November under Asphalt Green’s management. A 25-yard, deep-water lap pool and warm water teaching and exercise pool are centerpieces. The Community Center will have swimming classes for children as young as six months, competitive swim teams and exercise classes for the elderly, said Tweedy. There will be a Triathlon Club and adult sport leagues in basketball, soccer and volleyball for men and women. Utilizing the Community Center’s professional kitchen, Asphalt Green will be working with Great Performances to teach about nutrition and to teach cooking skills to adults and children. Other partners will include the Church Street School of Music & Art, InShape Circus and the B.P.C. Parks

Conservancy. The B.P.C.A. is subsidizing the Community Center during the pre-opening period and for its first year. The contract, first negotiated in October 2009, was recently renegotiated to reduce the subsidy to around $500,000. “Asphalt Green will charge a membership fee and they will charge for classes and birthday parties and a whole host of other things that will be their revenue stream,” said B.P.C.A. President Gayle Horwitz. “We do believe that there will be revenue eventually and the revenue will be shared with the Authority and Asphalt Green.” However, B.P.C.A. chairman William Thompson, Jr. emphasized that, “This is looked at as providing services to the residents of this community and surrounding communities. We are not going to make a lot of money on this. That is not the anticipation.” Charter memberships are currently available at reduced rates. An adult membership, which will cost $105 a month with a $199 initiation fee closer to the opening date of the facility is currently $90 with no initiation fee, for instance. After the charter membership period, seniors can pay $94.50 a month, but other than that, there are no membership scholarships or subsidies. Memberships include access to the fitness center and member lap swims, open recreation hours in the pool and gymnasium and complimentary group and water exercise classes. However, there will be numerous programs that require additional fees. “In the first year, we expect memberships of nearly 1,500 families,” said Tweedy. She said that she anticipates the gross revenue to be” just a little under $5 million.”

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MTA riders now ‘On The Go’ BY JOSEPH M. CALISI The latest in commuter communication technology made its debut Monday, at the MTA’s Bowling Green station as part of a pilot project. “On the Go! Travel Station� is a new interactive kiosk that lets riders use touch-screen technology to access travel information. “On the Go� was developed by Cisco’s Interactive Services Solutions. It’s anticipated that the Travel Stations will generate significant advertising income, which would help to defray the costs of installation. From a technical standpoint, Cisco’s Interactive Services Solution is a flexible and scalable platform enabling digital interactions through rich media, live video, real-time information, and userfriendly management tools while leveraging the power of network connectivity. The interactive digital media could improve a passenger’s experience. The pilot is being funded by Cisco so the program isn’t costing the MTA any money during the test. It took a year and a half to develop “On the Go! Travel Station� as it took time to define the concepts with Cisco. The stainless steel enclosure and its components are durable, easy to keep clean and designed to withstand vandalism. Visually, the soft keys on the screen are large and easy to follow. Tom Prendergast, president of N.Y.C. Transit opened the ceremony by stating that the high-definition screens will eventually give information for all the MTA agencies and will include advertising space while generating much-needed revenue. The new system could make paper maps obsolete, as the digital version would be able to accommodate timely updates paper can’t. Carlos Dominguez of Cisco said, “It is a privilege and honor to participate in

Downtown Express photo by Joseph M. Calisi

On Monday at the Bowling Green Station, the MTA debuted its “On the Go! Travel Station,� which utilizes touchscreen technology.

the unveiling of ‘On The Go’ collaborative effort. This is really the future. We’re thrilled and excited about this.� In a prepared statement, Syed Hoda, general manager, Emerging Solutions Group Cisco said, “Cisco is pleased to collaborate with the MTA in bringing real-time information and interactive video content to transit passengers in New York City. Travelers can better plan their trips, gain more visibility into service changes and advisories, and obtain information on businesses and other locations in their local neighborhoods or as they explore the city. This pilot demonstration shows the potential for technology to connect, enhance and improve the quality of life for communities.� Depending on customer acceptance and success of the pilots, “On the Go!� may eventually be installed in stations throughout the system.

Hebrew School, bar and bat-mitzvah instruction, Tot-Shabbat Sing-a-Long Religious instruction, Adult Education, Family Shabbat, Lifecycle events

BPC Beat Continued from page 16 Asphalt Green’s sales office is at 211 North End Ave. BATTERY PARK CITY CALENDAR: Motorexpo is back this week at the World Financial Center with 20 exhibitors showing off their finest, flashiest and latest automobiles. Through Friday, Sept. 23, automotive buffs can swoon over offerings from the likes of Aston Martin, Cadillac, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz, among others. Motorexpo is free and is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 2 World Financial Center. “Harmony on the Hudson,� the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy’s end-of-thesummer-season music bash, takes place Sunday, Sept. 25 from noon to 6 p.m. in Wagner Park, with folk music, rhythm & blues, salsa, lawn games, art activities and food for sale. Folk singer Tom Chapin, who has been part of Harmony on the Hudson since it was first staged 10 years ago, will be back to headline the event.

Join us for the High Holidays @ the NY Marriott Downtown Hotel (85 West St) 2nd Floor Ballrooms Rabbi Matt Carl, officiating

Battery Park Synagogue SOCCER SEASON: Bill Bialosky, president of the Downtown Soccer League, had thought that the players would be testing the new artificial turf on the Battery Park City ball fields as of the weekend of Sept. 17, but as poet Robert Burns remarked, “The bestlaid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.� “The turf installation was at a weather-sensitive step in the procedure and it rained last week,� said Bialosky, “delaying the progress of the project. The B.P.C.A. expects that the Downtown Soccer League will be playing on the ball field by this weekend [Sept. 24]. In the interim, B.P.C.A. has allowed us to use the open field at Rockefeller Park until the ball field is ready.� Bialosky said, “We are anxiously watching the progress and are excited about opening the field this weekend.� (Weather forecast for this week? Fifty percent chance of rain Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.) To comment on Battery Park City Beat or to suggest article ideas, email TereseLoeb@ mac.com

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Promising to help small businesses Continued from page 3 downward slope since 9/11, according to Vice President Leah Berger. Flooding in the firm’s Warren Street offices in the fall of 2001 wrecked a lot of equipment that the company lacked insurance for. Revenues have been especially sliding since the recession hit in 2008, Berger said, and a grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation only helped the business stay afloat, not prosper. “The loss for us was very large, and it was all about survival,� said Berger. The NYC Business Solutions Center, a branch of the Department of Small Business Services that testified at the hearing, assured the public that help was on the way. The center’s Lower Manhattan branch, at 79 John St., served more than 3,600 business owners and entrepreneurs Downtown and citywide in 2010 and helped to launch an estimated 60 new businesses, secure existing businesses loans and facilitate pro-bono legal advice for dozens of entrepreneurs. Other city agencies offer companies incenctives packages. The NYC Economic Development Corporation’s Lower Manhattan Energy Program, for example, provides property owners south of Murray Street with a reduction in electricity, transportation and delivery costs of up to 45 percent. The program has benefited some 1,400 office tenants and has led to savings in the amount $26

million. Finding out and applying for grants, Berger echoed, has been an exhausting process. “We need a 3-1-1 to help the small businesses in the area,� said Berger. “If you closed up shop and [temporarily] left the area, it took a very long time for you to figure out where these grants are, where there is help available and whom you should speak to.� Councilwoman Diana Reyna, chair of the Council’s Committee on Small Business, assured that the government agencies want to be a partner, not a hindrance, in helping the businesses recover from hardships. “There seems to be this incentive to push in new businesses, rather than [ones to] help those that have experienced the worst and encourage them to continue to stay,� Reyna said after listening to some of the testimonies. “Perhaps more could be done for existing businesses.� Despite the various services available, certain entrepreneurial needs are not being met, Chin agreed. Besides better distribution of the grant and loan information, the government agencies could work to create a small business directory, promote local goods and coordinate small business showcases, noted Chin. “I look forward to continue working with small business owners to find out what I can do to help them in moving forward,� said Chin. “It may be ten years later, but we still have work to do.�

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City Council: Cancer link clear Continued from page 1 that city employees and residents present at the W.T.C. site on or shortly after 9/11 inhaled cancer-causing toxins such as benzene, dioxin, asbestos and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, according to the City Council resolution. The Lancet study, in particular, concludes that firefighters who partook in the recovery effort at Ground Zero were 19 percent more prone to develop cancer than those who didn’t. “I’m not a scientist,” Sanders said, “but that sounds like proof to me.” Community Board 1 Chair Julie Menin called the fact that the federal government would neither treat nor compensate 9/11 cancer victims, particularly since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assured Downtown residents and recovery workers that the air was safe to breathe in the days following 9/11, “unconscionable.” “In reliance of those words, we stayed… and some of us got sick with cancer,” Menin said. “For the government to even have a doubt of whether cancer should be covered is a slap in the face to our community.” The NYC Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, a union representing members of the Police Department, has identified approximately 300 cancer cases among NYPD officers who served as first responders alone

— two of which were cases of a rare anf fatal nasal cancer, according to Frank Tramontano, research director for the P.B.A. “While we have been assured that the release of a new study by Mt. Sinai is imminent, we must not delay the treatment of responders who suffer from W.T.C.-related cancers while the slow wheels of bureaucracy and science turn,” said Tramontano. “To wait for the conclusion of epidemiology studies, which can take up to 30 years, to prove this sufficiently to the scientific community, will result in a lost opportunity to treat those who are ill.” District Council 37, a union representing 9/11 first responders and area workers, also testified at the Sept. 19 hearing, stating its support of the City Council resolution and urging the W.T.C. Health Program’s newly formed Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee, charged with reviewing the scientific literature, to be convened at the “earliest possible date.” “Recently published evidence of an increased risk of cancers among firefighters who served at ground zero highlights the severity of W.T.C. toxins and contaminants exposures,” D.C. 37 said in a written statement. “On behalf of the 125,000 members of D.C. 37 and the 50,000 retirees, we urge the City Council to pass this pre-considered resolution and work with us to ensure that the needs of this population are met.”

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THE FIELD HOUSE AT CHELSEA PIERS The Little Athletes Program (for children 12 months to 5 years old) and the Youth Sports Development Program (for kids 5-16 years old) offer classes in soccer, gymnastics, rock climbing, baseball, basketball, flag football and dance. At Friday morning “Mandarin Classes” (10:30-11:30am), young ones ages 3-5 can start to develop an ear for the language through songs, games, art, movement and stories (parents or caregivers are asked to come along). All sports and classes begin during the week of Sept. 8-14 and end in the week of Jan. 16-22. For prices, or to enroll, call 212-336-6520 or visit chelseapiers.com/fh. New this year is the Field House’s “CP-After-3” after-school program for grades K-3. Staff will pick up children from school (P.S. 11, Corlears, P.S. 33 and others) to participate in sports classes, enjoy exciting projects and receive homework help. Choose two, three or five days per week — with parent pick-up from 5:45-6:15pm. For more info and pricing, call 212336-6500, ext. 6564. 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 typewriters and a card catalogue packed with poetic objects to trigger inspiration, 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. TRINITY CHURCH FAMILY FRIDAY Bring the whole family to Charlotte’s Place (109 Greenwich St.) for Trinity Church’s monthly “Family Friday Pizza and Movie Night.” No need to worry about dinner — pizza will be served. Family Fridays are free, and all are invited — 6-7:30pm, on the third Friday of the month. Look forward to “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” on Sept. 16. For info on this or other Charlotte’s Place events, visit trinitywallstreet.org, call 212-602-0800 or follow Charlotte’s place on Twitter (@charlottesplc) and Facebook (facebook.com/charlottesplacenyc). CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF THE ARTS Explore painting, collage and sculpture through self-guided arts projects at this museum dedicated to inspiring the artist within. Open art stations are ongo-

Photo by Gala Narezo

Dan Zanes and Friends. From left: Elena Moon Park, Colin Brooks, Sonia de los Santos, Dan Zanes, Saskia Lane.

DAN ZANES AND FRIENDS For quite some time now, Dan Zanes has been a major force in the realm of children’s music — but parents of a certain age still remember dancing to the beat of the tunes he played while a member of the 1980s group Del Fuegos. But this is 2011, folks, and the little ones only know (and care) about “Dan Zane and Friends.” This upcoming event helps NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts launch its popular Big Red Chair Family Series — a program of live performances for young people and families. Sun., Oct. 2, at 3pm. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at nyuskirball.org, or by phone at 212-352-3101. The show runs approximately 70 minutes and is appropriate for all ages. NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square. On September 27, just one week prior to this Big Red Chair Series show, Dan Zanes and Friends will release “Little Nut Tree” — their first family album in five years (and the followup to their 2007 Grammy-winner, “Catch That Train”). Special guests on the album include Andrew Bird, Sharon Jones and Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars. ing throughout the afternoon — giving children the opportunity to experiment 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., 10:45am12pm. 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 182 Lafayette St., btw. Broome and Grand Sts. Call 212- 274-0986 or visit cmany.org. For group tours, call 212-2740986, ext. 31. The Children’s Museum of the Arts will be open at a new location — 345 Hudson St., btw. King and Charlton Sts. — beginning October 1.

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HOW DID DINOSAURS GET SO HUGE? Walk inside the giant body of a 60-foot-long, 11-foot-tall Mamenchisaurus at this exhibit about some of the biggest creatures to ever roam the planet. Longnecked and long-tailed sauropods could grow to be 150 feet — but what made them so huge? “The Largest Dinosaurs” explores this question with up-close views of how the extinct giants moved, ate and breathed — and offers insight into why these functions are linked to the creatures’ size. At the end of the exhibit, learn how dinosaur fossils are discovered in an interactive replication of a dig site. Until Jan. 2, 2012. At the American Museum of Natural History (79th St. and Central Park West). Museum hours: 10am-5:45pm, daily. For museum and dino-exhibit admission: $25 for adults, $19 for seniors & students, $14.50 for children ages 2-12. Call 212-769-5100 or visit amnh.org.

JIM HENSON’S FANTASTIC WORLD Meet Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog and Bert & Ernie at an exhibit dedicated to creative genius Jim Henson — creator of The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock and Sesame Street. Puppets, drawings, storyboards, props and many other Henson artifacts are on display. Even more fantastic is the program of events. At family workshops (on Sept. 17 and 18, at 3pm) kids will learn the art of puppet making from professional puppeteer Noel MacNeal (ages 8 and up). At the Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave., Astoria). Until Jan. 16, 2012. Museum hours: Tues.-Thurs., 10:30am-5pm. Fri., 10:30am-8pm. Sat. & Sun., 10:30am-7pm. Admission: $10 adults, $7.50 college students and seniors, $5 children under 18 (free for members and children under three). Free admission for all on Fri., 4-8pm. For info and a full schedule of events, visit movingimage.us or call 718-777-6888. NEW YORK CITY FIRE MUSEUM Kids will learn about fire prevention and safety through group tours, led by former NYC firefighters. The program — which lasts approximately 75 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 Discovery Zone is an exhibit designed for ages 3-10. It’s divided into four areas (Police Academy, Park and Precinct, Emergency Services Unit, and a Multi-Purpose Area), each with interactive and imaginary play experiences for children to understand the role of police officers in our community — by, among other things, driving and taking care of a police car. For older children, there’s a crime scene observation activity that will challenge them to remember relevant parts of city street scenes, a physical challenge similar to those at the Police Academy and a model Emergency Services Unit vehicle where children can climb in, use the steering wheel and lights, hear radio calls with police codes and see some of the actual equipment carried by The Emergency Services Unit. At 100 Old Slip. 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 scott@ downtownexpress.com. 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 646452-2497.


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September 21 - 27, 2011

21

Dreams, Passions, and Naked Truths Movement vocabulary articulates Irish step dancing in Eriu Dance Company’s “NoÄ‹tĂşâ€?

DANCE ERIU DANCE COMPANY “NoctĂşâ€? Irish Repertory Theatre 132 W. 22nd St. Through Oct. 2 Mon. at 7pm, Tue.-Sat. at 8pm Wed., Sat., Sun. at 3pm $55-$65; irishrep.org Or 212-727-2737 BY GUS SOLOMONS JR. The small stage of the Irish Repertory Theatre seems an unlikely setting for a dance spectacle, but the Eriu Dance Company’s “NotĂş,â€? which opened there September 12 for a three-week run, worked surprisingly well. This production from Ireland, conceived and directed by Riverdance alumnus BreandĂĄn de Gallai, is an attempt to let us Principal dancers Callum Spencer, Peta Anderson and Nick O’Connell in BreandĂĄn de Gallai’s “NoctĂşâ€? at the Irish Repertory Theatre through October 2.

Continued on page 22

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downtown express

Not your Flatley’s Irish dance Continued from page 21

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“under the skin of those who perform in the dance worldâ€? to understand the passion that drives them. “NoÄ‹tĂşâ€? is informed by the backstories of the three principals in brief monologues presented in a confessional spot — a grid of light on one wall (Michael O’Connor’s lighting making the most of a limited stock of equipment). As with other popular folk forms like hip hop, “NoÄ‹tĂşâ€? turns Irish step dancing, popularized by Riverdance and then Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance,â€? into a movement vocabulary that can express a full range of emotion, not just virtuosic display. The intimacy of the theater suits the production, even though its small stage limits the amplitude of the high-legged prancing. Many of the big group formations face head-on, shoulder to shoulder, like canned sardines, but solos and smaller groups are more three-dimensional. The dancers stroll onstage in bright colored rehearsal clothes — shorts and tank tops or T-shirts — chatting with each other. They stretch their quads and hamstrings and do an aerobic warm-up class — there is, after all, a lot of jumping and hopping in Irish dance. Next, they strip off their practice togs and don black kilts and fitted tops (costumes by Nikki Connor), giving us tantalizing glimpses of their nicely toned physiques. They’re young, fresh-faced, and strong-legged. Oddly, considering their prowess in the Irish styles, only seven of the 16 dancers are natives of that country. The first big dance, “Senior Celli Invention,â€? crams all 16 onto the bite-size stage doing brisk, kaleidoscopic formations. Their close-order, unison precision is as impressive as the accuracy of the intricate, lightning-fast footwork. Strangely, they keep switching instantaneously from dour faces to beaming grins for no apparent reason, but with precision choreography. Emotions carom somewhat randomly in subsequent sections, too, from “Anxietyâ€? to “Violently Happyâ€? — danced to music by BjĂśrk. In “Shadow Dolls,â€? seven waifs in white tunics and masks dance as one. A repeated motif has them freeze momentarily on one foot and fix us with a menacing stare from their featureless faces. Then,

As with other popular folk forms like hip hop, ‘NoÄ‹tú’ turns Irish step dancing, popularized by Riverdance and then Michael Flatley’s ‘Lord of the Dance,’ into a movement vocabulary that can express a full range of emotion, not just virtuosic display.

Callum Spencer dances to hornpipes by Sean O’Brien, blasting from a boom box, while Nick O’Connell sits motionless in a downstage corner. The attempted “human interest� feels superfluous; in this case, wonderful dancing doesn’t need text to enhance its emotional impact. The crackerjack skill of the ensemble and its disarming charm drive the show. There are solos and a trio — including a brief pillow fight — for the three principals — Peta Anderson, ugly duckling turned swan; Spencer, the kid who’s taunted by rugby-playing mates for wanting to dance; and deer-in- the-headlights O’Connell, who speaks volumes with his tautly held trunk and spectacular legs. De Gallai’s eclectic musical taste ranges from traditional Irish music to Cake, Kate Bush, and Leonard Cohen. Traditional Irish steps fit the contemporary rhythms like a glove. And in the finale, the ensemble even takes on the “Infernal Dance� from Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird,� as well as pulsing, high-powered original music by Joe Csibi, with a pounding and ferocious tribal intensity that’s pretty irresistible.

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September 21 - 27, 2011

Just Do Art! cal comedy. The long title of that play is, in fact, a short way of saying the Futurists draw from the beginning career, and obscure writings, of a Broadway darling who was once “considered an experimental, Downtown playwright‌His plays defied the melodramatic conventions of the day and much of his work premiered with the Provincetown Players on MacDougall Street.â€? Welcome back! Through Oct. 1, 8pm, at The Kraine Theatre (85 E. 4th Street, btw. 2nd Ave. & Bowery). For tickets ($18, $12 for students), call 866-811-4111 or visit nynf.org.

COMPILED BY SCOTT STIFFLER

FAB! FESTIVAL An abbreviation for “Fourth Arts Blockâ€? or just a more efficient way to say “fabulous?â€? Why can’t it be a little bit of both? “FAB!â€? lives up to the promise of its name and then some, with their annual “FAB! Festivalâ€? — a daylong celebration of creative expression from the artistic entities that occupy Manhattan’s only official cultural district. In that one short block (East 4 Street, between Lafayette and Second Ave.), you’ll find a dozen theaters, eight dance/ rehearsal studios, three film editing suites and a large screening room. But they’re just getting started. Over the next two years, nearly 40,000 square feet of space on the block will be reclaimed for cultural use. Within 10 years, that number will climb to 145,000 square feet. At that point, they’ll probably have to add another day or two to this fab little fest. But for now, here’s a partial list of the dance, theater and music you’ll find on multiple stages: Once again, Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance opens the FAB! Festival fierce modern dance from choreographer Enrique Cruz DeJesus (accompanied by hot Latin beats and warm R&B rhythms from the elegantly funky SoulJaazz Band). On the Cabaret State, artists from Nuyorican Poets CafĂŠ offer the best of their spoken word, and an excerpt from the new play Felony in Blue. Other outdoor performers include Bang Dance, Dixon Place, Downtown Art, JT Lotus Dance Company, La MaMa, Li Chiao-Ping Dance, The Living Theatre, Metropolitan Playhouse, New York Neo-Futurists and Rod Rodgers Dance Company. At La MaMa E.T.C. — The Club, “Plays, Plays and More Plays!â€? delivers a glimpse of Off-Off Broadway, by way of a one-hour review of, well, plays, plays and more plays! Elsewhere indoors, “WOW! Wow Cabaretâ€? features performers from WOW CafĂŠ Theatre (the country’s oldest women and trans folks’ theater collective). To reserve a seat, visit fabnyc.fabfestival.org. At The New York Theatre Workshop rehearsal space, take part in the classes Introduction to Feldenkrais and Awareness

TENEMENT TALKS AT THE LOWER EAST SIDE TENEMENT MUSEUM

Photo by Jamie Newman Photography

Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance tears it up. See “FAB! Festival.�

Through Movement —taught by Annie Rudnick. Other classes include Hatha Yoga, Writing & Performing Your Story: An introduction in Neo-Futurism for Seniors. For info, visit fabnyc.fabfestival.org. On the street all afternoon: Materials For The Arts encourages you to create your own mixed medium art pieces — with reusable materials. For more info, mfta.org. “Get Your Pickle On!� is sponsored by The 4th Street Food Co-op and the Biocitizen school of environmental philosophy. Thrill to “spine-tingling high-wire lacto-acidophilus fermentation demonstrations,� then learn how to pickle the old fashioned way (in front of the 4th Street Food Co-op, 58 E. 4th St., btw. Bowery & 2nd Ave.). If eating without the act of creating is more your thing, stop by the Mexicue Food Truck, the artist-run food cart appropriately known as “The Cart,� as well as the vendor locations of Bugsella, The Chocolate Swirl, Granola Lab, MissWit, P&H Sodas, La Sirena, Vspot, and many more. “FAB! Festival is a free event. It takes place Sat., Sept. 24, 1-5pm (on E. 4 St., btw. Bowery & 2nd Ave.). For info, visit fabnyc.org.

THE COMPLETE & CONDENSED STAGE DIRECTIONS OF EUGENE O’NEILL, VOLUME I: EARLY AND LOST PLAYS Prolific enemies of the past who don’t spend a second resting on their laurels, the NY Neo-Futurists’ newest work takes the “eloquent yet obsessive and often controlling� stage directions from Eugene O’ Neill plays and turns them into fast-paced physi-

Like a cool breeze that comes with the change in seasons, we’ve come to anticipate the Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s “Tenement Talks� series with all the good things that happen when summer turns to fall. This imaginatively curated series of discussions and readings — meant to illuminate New York City’s culture, history and people — has returned after a July/August hiatus. Here’s what’s on the September calendar: Thurs., Sept. 22, 6:30pm: In conversation with Algonquin editor and publisher Elisabeth Scharlatt, Ilene Beckerman discusses her book “The Smartest Woman I Know.� It’s the story Gingy — a grand-

Continued on page 25

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downtown express

September 21 - 27, 2011

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September 21 - 27, 2011

Just Do Art! LI T A ZZ A J

Continued from page 23

MEDEA Japan Society launches its Fall 2011/ Spring 2012 Performing Arts Season with a North American premiere — the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center production of “Medea.” Satoshi Miyagi (celebrated Artistic Director of SPAC and successor to the legendary Tadashi Suzuki) brings the scale and visual scope of a kabuki play to the Euripides masterpiece by transforming it into a play-within-a play takes place in a traditional Japanese restaurant. As male members of the establishment call upon female waitresses for entertainment, late Meiji era gender-based tensions bubble to the surface. Live music as well as Miyagi’s signature bunraku puppet theater-inspired style (utilizing two actors per role — one to speak and one to move), puts a uniquely Japanese cultural spin on the classic Greek tragedy. Since its premiere in 1999, the production (featuring a cast of 19) has appeared in 20 cities and 11 countries. Performed in Japanese with English subtitles. Fri., Sept. 23 and Sat., Sept. 24 at 7:30pm. Sun., Sept. 25 at 5pm. At Japan Society (333 E. 47th St., btw. First and Second Aves.). For tickets ($32), call 212-832-1155 or visit japansociety.org. Also visit spac.or.jp.

Photo by Takuma Uchida

Micari, Kazunori Abe. See “Medea.”

to win, ArtQuilt Gallery•NYC has been making the case for quilting’s aesthetic and cultural credibility within the NYC art scene since its debut in April (with Daphne Taylor’s “Quilt Drawings”), Their current exhibit — Carol Taylor’s Explosions in Color” — opens the commercial gallery’s fall season with a collection of dynamic (at times, hypnotic) quilting and embroidery from artist Carol Taylor. The season continues of Nov. 15, with “Material Witnesses: New Work from the Manhattan Quilters Guild” — featuring 22 quilts by the 22 members of the 31-year-old NYCbased Manhattan Quilters Guild. But for now, the spotlight shines on Taylor. Catch “Explosions in Color” through Oct. 29, at The ArtQuilt Gallery•NYC (133 W. 25th St., btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.). Gallery Hours: Tues.-Sat., 11am-6pm (other times by appointment). For info, call 212-8079451 or visit artquiltgallerynyc.com.

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mother who dispensed unforgettable wisdom to Gingy and her sister, Tootsie, as well as to the customers at a stationery and magazine store. Those customers ranged from Irish nannies to Sara Delano Roosevelt to Marlene Dietrich. For info on the author, visit ilenebeckerman.com. Tues., Sept. 27, 6:30pm: Meet, greet, listen to and question author Sam Wasson. His “Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman” is an encyclopedic account of the making of 1961’s “Breakfast” — which, thanks to that little black dress, made Hepburn into an icon. For info on the author, visit samwasson.com. Wed., Sept. 28, 6:30pm: “Amore: The Story of Italian American Song” is Mark Rotella’s celebration of the “Italian decade” (the years after the World War II, but before the Beatles — when Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin and others dominated the charts. For info on the author, visit markrotella.com. All events take place at the Tenement Museum Visitor Center and Museum Shop (103 Orchard St., at Delancey). Admission is free, and seating is available on a firstcome, first-serve basis (purchase a copy of the featured book by calling 212-431-0233 ext. 259, and a seat is guaranteed). For info, tenement.org. For Twitter: twitter.com/tenementmuseum. Visit their blog: tenementmuseum.blogspot.com.

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Chabad of Wall Street NYC Welcomes you for

High Holiday Services at

150 Nassau Street, New York, NY,10038

Rosh Hashanah - Eve Wed, September 28th, 7:00 pm Rosh Hashanah - Day 1 Thu, September 29th, 10:00 am (Shofar – 12:30) Rosh Hashanah -Day 2 Fri, September 29th, 10:00 am (Shofar- 12:30)

R.S.V.P at

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Chabad of Wall Street, 139 Fulton St. # 202, NYC, 10038, 212-786-0068

ART: “EXPLOSIONS IN COLOR”

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September 21 - 27, 2011

26

TAKE PRIDE

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downtown express

THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION, PART TWO.

AVENUES NYC CAMPUS ON THE HIGH LINE

WWW.AVENUES.ORG


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