The local paper for the Upper West Side POETIC LANDSCAPES ◄ CITY ARTS, P.12
WEEK OF FEB - MAR FEBRUARY
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THE MANHATTAN MONEY GAME
INSIDE
POLITICS
The most recent FEC filings reveal which Democratic presidential candidates New Yorkers are opening their wallets for BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM
Bruce Stark, Ellen Gabe-Stark and Steven Stark with Bru, the store’s mascot. Photo: Courtesy of Beacon Paint & Hardware
IT’S ALL OVER NOW FOR BEACON PAINT NEIGHBORHOOD
After 120 years, another landmark Upper West Side business succumbs to Amazon and the big box stores
In the 2020 Democratic primary race, Manhattan residents are putting their money on the moderate mayor of a city one-sixteenth the population of their New York City borough. A review of the February 3 filings with the Federal Elections Commission, the most recent available, showed that Pete Buttigieg has been the top recipient of local political contributions so far in 2020. Open Secrets, a website maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group that tracks political contributions using data from the FEC, ranked the top 10 recipients of political donations of $200 or more in each zip code in the country. In each of the zip codes that comprise the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Chelsea and Downtown neigh-
PLASTIC PUZZLER How to make sense of the new bag ban. p. 2
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg in NYC on June 28, 2019. Photo: Chuck Kennedy / Pete for America, via flickr
borhoods, Buttigieg was a top 10 recipient. The former South Bend mayor’s biggest show of support came from the 10011 zip code in Chelsea with $465,273. The Upper West Side — including zip codes 10023, 10024 — has shelled out a total of $963,781 so
far. On the Upper East Side, Buttigieg consistently received six-figure contributions from zip codes in the neighborhood. Residents of zip codes Downtown gave the least to Buttigieg, but political spending in the neighborhood was lower across the board compared to zip codes farther uptown. The downtown zip code that gave the 38-year-old the most was 10013 with $224,397 in contributions. He was the only candidate to be listed as a top-10 recipient in each zip code.
BY JASON COHEN
Beacon Paint & Hardware was a staple on the Upper West Side for more than a century. Sadly, on Monday, Feb. 17, it closed its doors for good. From 1900 to 1940, Beacon Paint was located on the west side of Amsterdam Avenue between 77th and 78th Streets. It moved to its current location at 371 Amsterdam in 1940,
Money for Moderates Manhattan residents look to be giving the most to moderate candidates, as former Vice President Joe Biden was also consistently a top-10 Elizabeth Warren rally in Washington Square Park, Sept. 16, 2019. Photo: Terry Ballard, via flickr
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Sara Lind wants to change the makeup of the New York City Council, p. 5
FIRE SAFETY FOR SENIORS
An UES tragedy highlights a risk that increases with age. p.7
THE RISING STARS OF ‘WEST SIDE STORY’
Meet three members of the new revival’s diverse cast. p. 15
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THE GOAT VOTE And the winner is...
chair of the City Ydanis Rodriguez, committee, Council’s transportation street s afety on speaks at a rally for steps of City Hall legislation on the McCarten/NYC May 8. Photo: John Council
IS VISION ZERO WORKING? SAFETY
has seen a surge Five years in, NYC and uctuating in cyclist deaths – and motorist numbers of pedestrian fatalities BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM
year that saw 299 In 2014, after a traffic-related incipeople killed in Mayor Bill de Bladents in the city, eliminate all traffic sio set out to
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A HAPPY AUGUST TRADITION store” “Pop-up department an NYPD judge recommend at City Hall after Photography Office holds a press conference Appleton/Mayoral Mayor Bill de Blasio 2019. Photo: Michael Friday, August 2,
firing Officer Daniel
Pantaleo on
THE BILLY AND GILLY SHOW
A free ready for helps families get school. p. 5
WOODSTOCK SOJOURN
day of peace, Kamala HarJon Friedman on a 8 Warren, Cory Booker, and Bernie love and music. p. debates,” longris, Amy Klobuchar for the September Pete strategist George Sanders, South Bend Mayor time Democratic doesn’t have former Texas Rep. Artz says. “De Blasioare way down Buttigieg and both Beto O’Rourke. the donors, and close, but none of A few others are in the polls.” Hank Sheinde Blasio or GilliPolitical consultant that either them are named kopf says it’s “50-50” “Any- brand. returned reBY STUART MARQUES will make the next round: Neither campaign but they’re not quests for comment. thing can happen, agree that Warde Blasio faced to qualify.” Pundits generally When Mayor Bill held off the more Gillibrand – likely a minimum of SURVIVNG YOUR Candidates need to ren and Sanderson the first night. off with Sen. Kirsten Democratic presi- 130,000 unique donors and have SUMMER COLD moderate field and eight other seasonal in four qualigot high marks on – on July 31, it How to deal with thefeel worse Booker and Yang at least 2 percent and dential hopefuls the last Billy hit candidates have the second night, but Biden virus that makes usp. 2 a might have marked presidential fying polls. Eight polls. the assured in and are still ahead at the than a winter bug. hit those marks 12 Harris are and Gilly Show largely igin Houston on Sept. De Blasio and Gillibrand debates. ei- spot onstage Presiawful tough for are former Vice 7 “It’s going to be and and 13. They Senators Elizabeth CONTINUED ON PAGE get the donors dent Joe Biden, ther of them to needed to qualify polling numbers”
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FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
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PLASTIC PUZZLER ENVIRONMENT
emptions ranging from bags for “bulk items” (i.e. fruits and veggies) to take-out food from restaurants and delis. You can see the entire noton-our-radar list online at w w w. d e c . n y. g o v /c h e m i c a l / 117781.html What to use instead? The rules say paper bags for groceries are Aokay. They even allow cities to charge you 5 cents per bag which New York will do except for folks shopping with SNAP (food stamps) or WIC (the food supplement program for women and infants). But surprise! So far paper manufacturers haven’t been able to produce enough paper bags to take up the slack, leaving key retailers such as Gristedes and D’Agostino complaining that they haven’t got what they need. Not to worry: You’re allowed to bring along any single-use plastic bags you socked away before the ban.
How to make sense of the new bag ban BY CAROL ANN RINZLER
On Sunday, March 1, New York joins California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Vermont and a handful of cities and towns including Albuquerque and Chicago to ban single-use plastic bags. That’s good for the planet, but it comes with three questions for consumers: ■ What’s a single use plastic bag? ■ What can I use instead? ■ Is it safe? First, a single-use bag is just what it sounds like: A bag used once and then discarded. The list includes everything from your zip-lock sandwich bag to the plastic covering over your dry cleaning. But the real target of the new regulations is the supermarket shopping bag, so when the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation issued final rules last week, it came with a long list of ex-
Safety and Shopping Or you can simply switch to a reuseable carry-all. How safe that is depends on how careful you are. As
WHERE TO GET YOUR DSNY TOTE BAG Contact your community board, State Senator, Assembly Member or Council Member or go to www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/ dsnyevents to order a bag or see a list of events where bags will be available. Image from State of New York. Photo via @NYGov on Twitter
every savvy shopper knows, raw meat, fish and poultry may be contaminated with less-than-pleasant microbes such as Salmonella bacteria inactivated when the food is thoroughly cooked. But the (permissible) plastic packaging for these foods often leaks and may contaminate other foods, your refrigerator, your hands, your kitchen counter, and that reuseable bag in which you haul them home. To reduce the risk of food-borne disease, DEC says put these packages into one of the small plastic bags which you will still find hanging next to the refrigerated case, keep that bag separate from other stuff in your shopping cart, use a separate carry-all to carry it home,
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
Dillahunty vs D’Souza
SUNDAY, MARCH 1ST, 7PM The Town Hall | 123 W. 43rd St. | 212-997-1003 | thetownhall.org Enjoy a two-philosopher throwdown, toe to toe without moderator tempering. Trump superfan Dinesh D’Souza will test his wits against atheist and skeptic Matt Dillahunty—who got the best of anti-PC advocate Jordan Peterson in Toronto ($31-$85).
Gregory Zuckerman on “The Unlikely Story of How Jim Simons Solved the Market”
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4TH, 6PM Fordham University | 140 W. 62nd St. | 212-636-6000 | moaf.org Get the real story of the man who “launched the quant revolution” and became the greatest money maker in U.S. history from a Wall Street Journal veteran ($25; first 100 attendees get the book).
Just Announced | Robert Reich Presents “The System”
TUESDAY, MARCH 31ST, 7:30PM St. Joseph’s College | 245 Clinton Ave. | 718-940-5300 | greenlightbookstore.com Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich presents The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It. He’s joined by Anand Giridharadas (Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World) to ask how we “demand that democracy works for the majority once again” ($27, includes book).
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
wash and dry that reuseable bag, and never, ever use it for anything else. And don’t panic. Transition can be challenging, and with this one, you can practically guarantee there will be fine-tuning. Last week, a broad coalition of bodega owners, supermarket works, plastic and paper bag manufacturers asked to postpone the ban. So far, the answer has been a resounding “no,” but tomorrow is another day. Meanwhile, as the great French playwright and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere told us just about 400 years ago, “The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.” Onward.
Friday February 28, at noon Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright’s office 1485 York Avenue Saturday February 29, 11 a.m.1 p.m. Council Member Margaret Chin & DSNY 175 Clinton Street (corner Clinton & Grand Streets) Sunday March 1, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Council Member Keith Powers Morton Williams Supermarket 1066 Third Avenue Saturday March 7, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Council Member Helen Rosenthal Plaza at 96th and Broadway, near the 1/2/3 subway station.
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG BOYFRIEND ARRESTED
STATS FOR THE WEEK
A young woman’s boyfriend was arrested after he allegedly assaulted her in a vicious attack. Police said that at 1:45 a.m. on Monday, February 10, a 27-year-old man choked his 20-year-old girlfriend and slammed her head against a wall inside the Douglass Houses at 865 Columbus Ave. at West 103rd St., causing substantial pain to her neck and head. The victim later told police that her boyfriend had been intoxicated at the time of the assault. Torino Washington was arrested and charged with strangulation, criminal mischief and trespass.
Reported crimes from the 20th precinct for the week ending Feb 16
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2020
2019 % Change
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0 0
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0 1
0 0
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1 3
2 4
-50.0 -25.0
11 6
7 6
57.1 0.0
Grand Larceny
10 12
2 6
400.0 100.0
21 95
16 56
31.3 69.6
Grand Larceny Auto
0
0
n/a
0
1
Robbery Felony Assault Burglary
Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr
he’d been stabbed he ran into a nearby CVS pharmacy at 540 Amsterdam Ave., where he called 911. The victim was transported to Saint Luke’s Hospital for treatment. Police couldn’t find his assailants in the area.
A SNAPCHAT CONNECTION Yet another teenager was mugged by three suspects the same day. Police reported that at 10:50 p.m. on Monday, February 10, a 16-year-old male was walking to a train station when three men pushed him against a wall in front of 70 West 95th St. near Columbus Ave. at gunpoint. The first suspect, known to the victim as
something
have
Do
2020
Rape
you You’d
us to
look
Kyle, displayed a black firearm and said, “Empty your pocket!” The second suspect grabbed the victim’s backpack, and then all three fled westbound on West 85th St. The victim sustained no injuries. He also later told police that all the suspects are known to him on Snapchat. The items stolen included a black backpack, wallet, Dell laptop, charger, and pocketknife, totaling $1,160.
argument inside the Douglass Houses at 845 Columbus Ave. at West 103rd St. when an 18-year-old woman came in with a knife, cut him and started punching him. Tajhanay Wallace was later arrested and charged with assault.
SHOPLIFTING TURNS VIOLENT
PEACEMAKER CUT WITH KNIFE
Yet another shoplifting suspect attacked a store employee. Police said that at 10:48 p.m. on Thursday, February 13, a 63-year-old woman
Police stated that at 5:49 p.m. on Wednesday, February 12, a 25-yearold man was trying to stop an
?
into
Police said that at 4:50 p.m. on Monday, February 10, a 16-year-old male was leaving 589 Amsterdam Ave. near West 89th St. when he was approached by three individuals, two of them men. One of the suspects, wearing a black mask, punched the victim in the face with a closed fist. The second suspect then stabbed the victim in his back with a knife, causing a laceration and puncture wound. The third suspect punched the victim as well before all three fled. When the victim realized
Year to Date
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entered the 7-Eleven store at 2567 Broadway between West 96th St. and West 97th St., took some merchandise and tried to leave the store without paying for the items. When a male store employee tried to stop her, she hit him with a closed fist, causing pain and an abrasion to his face. Sharon Green was later arrested and charged with robbery. The items stolen included Twizzlers candy, AA batteries, a toothbrush and Reese’s candy, totaling $60.
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FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
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Drawing Board
Useful Contacts
BY SUSAN FAIOLA
POLICE NYPD 20th Precinct
120 W. 82nd St.
NYPD 24th Precinct
151 W. 100th St.
212-580-6411 212-678-1811
NYPD Midtown North Precinct
306 W. 54th St.
212-767-8400
FDNY Engine 76/Ladder 22
145 W. 100th St.
311
FDNY Engine 40/Ladder 35
W.66th &Amsterdam
311
FDNY Engine 74
120 W. 83rd St.
311
Ladder 25 Fire House
205 W. 77th St.
311
FIRE
CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Helen Rosenthal
563 Columbus Ave.
212-873-0282
Councilmember Mark Levine
500 West 141st St.
212-928-6814
State Sen. Brad Hoylman
322 Eighth Ave. #1700
212-633-8052
State Sen. Jose M. Serrano
1916 Park Ave. #202
212-828-5829
STATE LEGISLATORS
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal 230 W. 72nd St. #2F
212-873-6368
Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell 245 W. 104th St.
212-866-3970
COMMUNITY BOARD 7
250 W. 87th St. #2
212-362-4008
LIBRARIES St. Agnes
444 Amsterdam Ave.
Bloomingdale
150 W. 100th St.
212-222-8030
212-621-0619
Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center
917-275-6975
HOSPITALS Mt. Sinai – West
1000 10th Ave.
Mt. Sinai - St. Luke’s
1111 Amsterdam Ave.
212-523-4000 212-523-5898
CON ED
4 Irving Place
212-460-4600
US Post Office
215 W. 104th St.
212-662-0355
US Post Office
700 Columbus Ave.
212-866-1981
US Post Office
127 W. 83rd St.
212-873-3991
US Post Office
178 Columbus Ave.
212-362-1697
POST OFFICES
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POLITICS IS WOMEN’S WORK ELECTIONS
Sara Lind wants to change the makeup of the New York City Council, so she’s running for a seat and encouraging other women to do the same BY JASON COHEN
Though she has only lived in New York City for six years, Sara Lind has immersed herself in her Upper West Side community and is hoping to bring change at a higher level. Lind, 38, born and raised in Wisconsin, is the co-secretary of Community Board 7. An attorney by trade, she feels more empowered helping people and making change at the ground level. “I spent a lot of time help-
ing people one at a time and I realized that I’m more of a big picture thinker,” Lind said. “I always felt out of place in Wisconsin.” When she realized there would be only five women on the city council in 2021, Lind felt the urgency to throw her hat in the ring and run for the District 6 seat. In fact, she is the executive director for 21 in ’21, an organization focused on electing at least 21 women to the council in 2021. Long determined to increase the representation of women in government, Lind worked on the Clinton campaign in 2016 and has helped direct several local campaigns, such as Dawn Smalls’ run for public advocate last year. She is the Manhattan borough director for Amplify
Her, a group that promotes women candidates for elected office in New York. And she volunteers for Goddard Riverside and the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, is on the school leadership team for PS 166 and is a board member of her local Democratic club.
Struggling Retailers and the Homeless Lind told Straus News that while she loves the city, there are several issues she wants to see addressed. Whether it’s Book Culture or Beacon Paint and Hardware, stores on the UWS are closing at an alarming rate. With rising rents, property taxes and the minimum wage, Lind acknowledges that staying open is a challenge. She said the city council must
make it easier for store owners by supporting small businesses. “The bigger picture here is there’s a dramatic shift happening nationally and globally,” Lind said. “In some ways, we’re experiencing the local effects of that. I support the minimum wage, but we also have to realize the impact it’s having on our businesses.” Another big problem is homelessness, she said. There are different reasons for being homeless, whether it’s addiction, mental health or eviction. Lind stressed that there needs to be more affordable housing, not just high-priced high rises. Years ago, she noted, many people with mental health problems would have been institutionalized. That’s not the
Sara Lind, an attorney, wants the city council to do more to help support local businesses. Photo: Tall Paul Olkowski. Courtesy of Friends of Sara Lind
solution today, Lind said. Instead, the city must provide better mental health and addiction services.
Schools and Bail Reform Lind’s two children, ages 6 and 9, attend public school, but the candidate wants to
Sara Lind, co-secretary of Community Board 7, is also a board member of her local Democratic club. Photo: Tall Paul Olkowski. Courtesy of Friends of Sara Lind
ensure that all the schools in the district, Harlem and the UWS, receive the same support and resources. She also wants all schools to have guidance counselors and social workers on site. If they were in every school, she said, there might be less bullying and other problems. “The system isn’t working well for anyone,” Lind said. “These are things that should be baseline funded from the state.” Lind did not shy away from the highly controversial topic of bail reform. Cash bail was eliminated in 2020 for nonviolent offenders, but many people have been outraged after seeing alleged criminals arrested and released the same day. While she supports bail reform, Lind said it’s too early to tell if the new law is working. “We need to provide better support on the front end for people and better support for people who are coming out of jail or prison to help them reintegrate into the community.” Lind is ready for a new chapter in life, and the challenges that will surely come with it. She isn’t surprised there are so few women on the city council. “It’s a lot on the family,” she said. “Women are still expected to take up the burden of children and child rearing.” If Lind has anything to say about it, more of them will be expected to take up the burden of running New York as well.
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FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
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HAUNTED BY THE ‘70S VIEWPOINT
What is it about these days that has so many New Yorkers thinking about those days? BY MICHAEL ORESKES
Perhaps it’s nostalgia through a darkened lens, like Brits remembering the Blitz. That was a bad time, but we made it through, together. Or maybe it’s a communal PTSD, in which our collective conscience, the hive brain of the metropolis, is triggered by even a flicker of that fire last time. The siren in the night announcing that the Bronx is burning, again. Wherever it is coming from, there is no doubt that the Great City is experiencing a bout of reminiscence for a time when crime was rampant, challenges seemed existential and more than half the people of today’s city had yet to be born. The references are everywhere, in images as much as in words. Movie production designer Mark Frieberg conjured dystopia for “Joker” by recreating New York in the 1970s, with its “crime and corruption and a basic unraveling of the systems that run
us.” He trucked in trash to litter present day streets and when that wasn’t jarring enough, he built an anxiety prompting “Gotham Square” as a haven of sex, drugs and violence. This was no cartoon Gotham City. This was a recognizable and intentional echo of Travis Bickle’s New York. “The City is a character in the story,” Frieberg, born and raised in New York, told Indiewire.
The Risk of Slipping Back The main square of “Joker” vividly recreates the Times Square captured in two recent documentaries of New York, one by Oren Jacoby and the other by Alice Elliott. Both films are tales of recovery, of Phoenix rising. In Jacoby’s, the Broadway theatre staggers through the bad times and emerges more vibrant and creative than ever. In Elliott’s, the financial strain of near bankruptcy causes the city and real estate developers to invent something clever and new, a housing project for artists, Manhattan plaza. Perhaps these reminders of how bad it once was have heightened our sensitivity to the risk that we could be slipping back. The murder of
Tessa Majors on the edge of the Columbia campus was unavoidably seen in the context that measures of various crimes have been edging up (from historically low to nearly historical lows). “THEY’RE BAAACK!,” The Post exclaimed the other day. “Squeegee men from bad old days harassing NYC drivers.” The editors at the New York Post are master craftsmen of this fearful narrative. They regularly publish a small box with various columns that says simply: “Save our City.” It isn’t always clear who or what we are saving the city from, although the feckless mayor is a leading character. Yet the Post is not alone in expressing anxiety about a changing city. “I grew up in a different New York,” Ed Kosner, former editor of both Newsweek and the Daily News, writes in the new issue of Commentary, a magazine with unimpeachable credentials for both neoconservative thought and New York roots. It has been a very long time since a ten-year old Ed Kosner rode the subway by himself, a reflection of both a changing city and changing notions of raising kids. Kosner allows that life has always been fraught here:
Times Square Subway Station and Subway Graffiti, May 1973. Photo: Erik Calonius, via Wikimedia Commons.
Maybe the truth – if there is one truth – is not that New York has gotten worse but that New Yorkers are getting better. “Still, New Yorkers didn’t bargain for what they’re seeing these days. They don’t want the subways to break down so often or to spot a rat scurrying along with a pizza crust or to get slugged on the platform or shoved on the tracks by some mumbling paranoid nut. They don’t want to hurry under the construction platforms that leave the sidewalks permanently in gloom, and they don’t want pieces of buildings to fall on them or their grandchildren. They don’t want to be confronted by a phalanx of panhandlers on the prime shopping blocks of Fifth Avenue or groped by a moocher costumed as Captain America in Times Square. Or see men peeing on the sidewalk. The Manhattan skyline is now disfigured by the needle skyscrapers of Billionaires Row along 57th Street, moneylaundering machines full of unsold apartments or vacant pied-à-terre of Ukrainian oligarchs and Malaysian Midases.”
Perhaps the most famous headline of the 1970s, published on Oct. 30, 1975. Photo: Edward Stojakovic via flickr
A Great Experiment in Diversity Every word of this is fact, yet it somehow fails to capture the full story of a city that has grown by more than a million people since 1980, welcoming newcomers from around the country and around the world. With all its stress there must be something that attracts them? (In the past year or two the population growth appears to have stopped, perhaps even reversed. That decline of perhaps 80,000 could be a warning, although it pales to the 800,000 person decline across the 1970s.) The huge wealth that has clearly accumulated here in recent years is a challenge to our sense of equity, democratic fair play and even what it means to be New York. Why, New Yorkers are asking, was $25-billion dollars spent to build a suburban shopping mall and attendant office towers and glass draped apartments atop a rail yard? But this struggle with exaggerated wealth is, as they say, a good problem to have. Or at least a better problem than the days when real estate owners torched their own buildings because the insurance was a better deal than keeping the buildings. Maybe the truth – if there is one truth – is not that New York has gotten worse but
that New Yorkers are getting better. We represent one of the great experiments in diversity anywhere on earth. While this creates great frictions at times, it is also the root of a powerful empathy. Tessa Majors’ death was rightly seen as a terrible tragedy. But at the same time, New Yorkers were able to hold in their heads – or hearts – that it was also a great tragedy that the accused were middle school boys aged 13 and 14. We demand more from the city than we used to and put up with less. In 1961, it took Jane Jacobs and her shoe leather to discover that many New Yorkers were dissatisfied with supposedly beneficial housing that in fact cut them off from street life. But last year a single random gunshot and the power of social media was all a group of West Side Moms needed to mobilize for their right to safe access to public space One of the organizers, Elizabeth Carr, cut through the political debates and long-term statistical comparisons in explaining why the group moved so quickly against the return of what were once called “quality of life” crimes. “It’s not okay,” she said. Simple advice from a parent to her city.
FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
FIRE SAFETY FOR SENIORS AGING
An Upper East Side tragedy highlights a risk that increases with age
Nighttime fires are the ones we see with elder fatalities, because you’re disoriented, also because many times you could have medication that might induce more sedation than usual.” Chief Jim Manning, battalion commander of the FDNY 10th Battalion
Are you experiencing stress or anxiety? Our Behavioral Health clinic is the only one in the US designed for people dealing with the effects of vision loss on their emotional health. Our team is here to help people of all ages cope with:
BY JENNIFER DOHERTY
By the time firefighters had fought their way into Joel Beeler’s bedroom on the 25th floor of 351 East 84th St. just after 9 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, it was too late. The 76year-old was pronounced dead at the scene “with severe burns about his body,” according to the police report. The Fire Marshal’s investigation later determined the cause to be “accidental, smoking.” Beeler’s fate is all too common among seniors, according to data cited by the New York City Fire Department. People aged 65 years and older are more than twice as likely to die in a fire than the general population, while over half of all senior fire fatalities are linked to smoking or heating equipment. “Nighttime fires are the ones we see with elder fatalities, because you’re disoriented, also because many times you could have medication that might induce more sedation than usual,” says Chief Jim Manning, battalion commander of the FDNY 10th Battalion, whose initial first due response area runs from
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the East Side from the mid60s to 105th Street. To avoid nocturnal fire emergencies, Manning emphasizes the importance of preventative measures — including placing space heaters far away from flammable objects, keeping cooking appliances in good condition and not “being silly with storage.” “Sometimes people take the unusual tack to use their unused ovens/broilers as a storage option,” he says. Carrie Bradshaws take note: It’s a space-saving measure that can lead to trouble. “We get grease fires constantly,” Manning adds. “Not cleaning your broiler is a hazard.” In order to react quickly to a fire — at night or any time — preparation is key. “Have a plan of action. Plan ahead, and know the location of your fire escapes,” says Manning. He also highlights the importance of keeping these emergency exits accessible at all times: “We don’t encourage fire gates with keys. We’ve had instances where people have locked themselves into their own apartments.” Manning advises anyone
waking up to a fire emergency to remain as close to the ground as possible to avoid smoke inhalation while heading for an escape route. “The good air is down,” he explains. “If they know enough to stay down, they’re going to gain crucial seconds.” Landlords are required to provide working smoke alarms, but tenants are responsible for maintaining them, according to the ABCs of Housing. The FDNY’s website says: “NYC law requires landlords of homes to install smoke alarms outside of each sleeping room; they must be located within 15 feet of the entrance to the room. (Newer buildings must also have one within each sleeping room.) Smoke alarms are also required in basements.”
For New Yorkers in need of fire alarms, the Red Cross provides and installs smoke detectors free of charge through its Sound the Alarm initiative. Call (877) 733-2767 and select option 5 in the menu.
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Voices
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THE DEMOCRATS’ GIFT TO SNL PUBLIC EYE
Disintegration The debate disintegrated into hollering, hazing and hilarity. NBC News anchor Lester Holt closed the freaky first hour by quipping, in his understated and ironic way: “Everybody warmed up?” (That even topped the moment when Chuck Todd, another NBC questioner, asked Michael Bloomberg: “Should you exist?”) The hilarity ensued in the sheer theater of the absurd. Remember when former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, said to be worth roughly $52-to-60 billion, called out Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for having the wealth and inherent chutzpah to own three homes? One of the weirder moments was the spectacle of Elizabeth Warren raising her hand high – which made me think of Reese Wither-
ON THE TOWN
a #MeToo-type assault), and others that don’t (Tess and her dad, now out of prison for killing her mother).
BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL
BY JON FRIEDMAN
The Democratic presidential candidates debated one another last week in Las Vegas and often acted so boorish, childish and foolish that I could have sworn I was watching a white-collar version of World Wrestling Entertainment. One question stood out, of course: Who won? That’s easy – the cast and writers of Saturday Night Live. They could have literally jotted down notes, verbatim, and converted the dialogue into a cold-opening sketch. And I would be thrilled to see it. Wouldn’t you?
ON THE NEW YORK ROLLER COASTER
A shot from the SNL cold open after the New Hampshire Primary. Photo: Saturday Night Live via YouTube
spoon’s depiction of Tracy Flick in the film “Election” – to get the attention of the moderators. (Pretty soon, other candidates on stage started doing the same.)
absorbed. A possible Warren-Klobuchar team went nowhere. Mayor Pete kept hitting Klobuchar on her failure to identify the head of state of Mexico.
Lost in the Flood
The Big Loser(s)
The serious issues were discussed, of course, but were lost in the flood. All of the candidates had a lot to answer for. It comes down to this: You had enough material to love your favorite candidate even more, and eviscerate the one(s) you already hated. The smackdown began with a seeming alliance between Minnesota (”Minnesota Nice”) Senator Amy Klobuchar and Mayor Pete of South Bend, Ind. That dissolved like an ice cube on a city sidewalk on a very hot day. There was no illusion that Warren and Bloomberg were anything but foes. Biden, no longer the front runner and no longer the other candidates’ natural adversary, got off comparatively easy compared to the barrage of abuse Bloomberg
You know who was a big loser? I was. I missed watching the New York Rangers score five goals in the third period, to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks, 6-3. That must have been a great game! Who else lost? The Democratic Party, which looked ridiculous. In comparison, the quiet, calming version of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,“ which appeared in a commercial toward the end of the debate, seemed stunning for its inherent dignity. Oh yeah, right, Dignity was also a big loser. Maybe Dignity, in fact, was the biggest loser of all. As we went to press, the Democrats were getting ready to do it all again, in Charleston, South Carolina this time. Lorne Michaels has never had it so good.
“One day I was a grungy East Village NYU grad, and the next, a neo-geisha glam girl.” Like each of the four main characters in Brian Platzer’s new novel “The Body Politic,“ we all come to New York City with dreams of being other than what we are. That often happens; sometimes, the result doesn’t resemble the initial goal. The book follows the above quoted Angelica, her fiancé Tazio, his best friend David, and David’s wife Tess, and their collective relationship, which began post 9/11. The timely story is set right after the 2016 presidential election. (For those whose political credo is Vote Blue No Matter Who, there is an anti-Trump sentiment throughout that will have you wiping saliva off the pages.) Tazio, a once-upon-time Cooper Union-trained, art world prodigy is now a political consultant. The I’m With Her button he thought was a ticket to fame has been tossed, and his breakdown goes undetected, until one day he heads to DC for a visit and doesn’t return. Exotic Angelica is now a dentist who doesn’t seem to mind that she is no longer affianced because she was never sure Tazio wanted the kids she’d frozen her eggs to have. Angelica is envious of Tess who has two children, along with an unsatisfying career as a Broadway understudy. Caregiver is also on her CV now that Price Waterhouse strategist David is
“Learn to Code”
Photo via Amazon.com
housebound due to a brain injury from a ladder fall. How though, you might ask, can people divert so far from their original plans? Well, we all know someone like, for example, Tazio, who stumbles into an opportunity. He designed a poster for John Edwards’s campaign. (Hey, even brilliant painters need to pay the rent.) The late Elizabeth Edwards was so impressed she brought him on to design other promotional materials. He began sharing his branding opinions with her and next thing you know Tazio’s running the show. As for the other three, well, as they say: things happens. The book is divided into the four seasons. Each gives us glimpses into not only the friends’ present-day dramas over the course of the year, but their two-decade journey, as well as backgrounds. The quartet has been through a lot together — including but not limited to addiction interventions (Tazio has a drinking problem); betrayals (Tazio and Tess slept together); confrontations with closure (Angelica from
If you’ve spent the last 20 years in NYC, you will not only appreciate this book’s well-drawn characters, but the roller-coaster ride it takes you on that is emblematic of life here. When my children were little, I met lots of other moms who began their stories with: “Well, I came to New York to be an actress, but ...” There are others who started in one career, were laid off, and if they ever wanted to work again had to “learn to code” aka get trained in another type of job. I have seen the dissolution of marriages I would have bet the farm would never end, as well as people find love when they had all but given up. Penthouse dwellers had to downsize, while others moved into impressive apartments in areas of town they only fantasized about when they arrived. As for me, I thought I’d die writing advertising jingles that people hummed like pop songs. In the mid aughts, during a downturn, I wrote an essay for this very paper that launched a journalism career as well as two published novels. Go figure. As Platzer tells us: “Things change. Or at least circumstances do.” That’s why if you’re going to make it here, you have to roll with it. Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novels “Fat Chick” and “Back to Work She Goes.”
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FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
MONEY GAME CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 recipient in these zip codes. Biden received contributions in the six figures from five of the Upper East Side zip codes, with the largest total coming from 10021, with $318,704. Biden also had a strong showing on the UWS , placing in the top 10 in two zip codes — 10024 and 10023 — with contributions of $254,777 and $253,641, respectively. In the Chelsea zip code of 10011, Biden received $130,188 in donations. He was least effective at fundraising Downtown, making the top 10 in just four of the eight zip codes. His largest total in the neighborhood came from 10013 with $108,301.
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The two women left in the race, Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, each made the top 10 in only five of the zip codes reviewed. Klobuchar, however, had the larger sum of contributions from these zip codes. The senator from Minnesota did her best fundraising on the Upper East Side, receiving contributions of $138,929 (10028), $144,421 (10128), and $93,888. On the west side, Klobuchar made the top 10 of one zip code — 10024 — but it was her largest total from any single zip code, with $193,107. Klobuchar did not make the top ten in either of the two Chelsea zip codes, and placed in the top ten in only one zip code Downtown, taking $11,050 from 10282. Residents both on the
Upper East Side and Downtown were not putting their money on Warren. The senator from Massachusetts made the top 10 in only one UES zip code — 10029, which is the zip code farthest north and covers part of East Harlem — where she collected $17,561 in contributions. She made the top 10 in two zip codes downtown, which together totaled $18,317. Warren fared better in Chelsea, receiving $158,881 from 10011. Her largest sum of total contributions in a single zip code came from the 10025 zip code on the Upper West Side, which covers 91st to 114th streets, cutting off just before Columbia University. There, she received $171,933 in contributions. The current front-runner for the nomination fared the worst in fundraising in Manhattan. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who, according to an NBC count, leads the race with 43 delegates, came in the top 10 in only four of the zip codes reviewed. The 78-year-old failed to crack the top 10 of either zip code in Chelsea, and managed to place in the top tier in only one Upper East Side zip code, where he received $22,209 in contributions from 10029. Sanders did better Downtown than both Warren and Klobuchar. He placed in the top 10 in 10038 and 10280, respectively receiving $19,158 and $7,349 from each. The senator from Vermont did his best fundraising in the 10029 Upper West Side zip code, bringing in $114,622 in contributions.
The candidates were all smiles before the fireworks started in Nevada last week. Photo: David Noonan via NBC News broadcast
Big Money on the UES The Upper East Side has been the leading neighborhood in all political contributions during the election cycle, including donations to candidates for office at all levels of government and political action committees. All of the contributions from each zip code on the east side total a whopping $29,352,641. Comparatively, the residents of an average individual zip code in the United States typically spend $53,884 during an election cycle. The Upper West Side
showed its commitment to the democratic process with its zip codes together contributing $15,173,774. Downtown and Chelsea were close in their total contributions, with the downtown zip codes edging out Chelsea $7,725,266 to $7,221,936. With the Democratic Primary still up for grabs, and a general election looming, Manhattan residents won’t be putting away their check books anytime soon.
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Calendar NYCNOW
Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com
EDITOR’S PICK
Thu 27 - Mon 2 WIDESPREAD PANIC: FIVE NIGHTS AT THE BEACON
What are your kids doing this summer?
Beacon Theater 2124 Broadway 8:00 p.m. $50 and up Building on a wide array of influences from the Beatles to jazz fusion, Widespread Panic has been performing to sold-out crowds for over 30 years. msg.com/beacon-theatre 866-858-0008
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Grimandi Art Gallery 988 Columbus Ave 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. $10 suggested donation Travel to the bottom of the ocean in this interactive digital exhibition and presentation of environmental art, featuring the work of artists from 19 countries. broadwaygreen.com 929-351-7934
W83 Ministry Center 150 West 83rd St 8:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. $25-60 A day of concerts, exhibitions, workshops, and competitions celebrating all things flute and featuring flutists Seth Morris, Stephanie Mortimore, Maron Khoury, and Koren McCaffrey of the Metropolitan Opera. nyfluteclub.org 646-430-5862
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center 144 West 65th St 1:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. $12-15 A Cape Verdean woman navigates her way through Lisbon, following the scanty physical traces her deceased husband left behind and discovering his secret, illicit life. A visually stunning work from Portuguese director Pedro Costa. filmlinc.org 212-875-5232
FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4,2020
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Museum of Art & Design 2 Columbus Circle 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. $614 Selected to represent significant developments in art jewelry since the midcentury, the featured pieces in this exhibit showcase jewelry artists for whom anything can serve as inspiration—from a material or found object to pressing social and political issues. madmuseum.org 212-299-7777
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FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
April Gornik’s 2019 painting, “Tropical Drift,“ is on view through March 28th at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea. Photo: Courtesy of Miles McEnery Gallery
POETIC LANDSCAPES WOMEN ARTISTS
Paintings by April Gornik – pictures of somewhere, anywhere, nowhere – reveal layers of meaning BY MARY GREGORY
Landscape has been a favorite subject of art for as long as there has been art. Little is more relatable to human beings than the world around us. Yet to see a landscape painting as reproduction of reality is to miss its greatest possibilities. Landscapes can be simultaneously natural, man-made, geographical, political, imagined, and conceptual. They are places filled with contrasts, about creation and destruction, place and time, the finite and infinite. “Landscapes,“ says artist April Gornik, “are natural metaphors.” Her wall-sized paintings and large charcoal drawings of oceans, mountains, forests and skies are on view through March 28th at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea. It’s taken three years for Gornik to prepare for the show, a journey that took the artist to realms both real and imagined. Her landscapes are seductive, and not what they seem to be. “That’s exactly right,“ she says. “I liken it to when you’re having a dream, and you know you’re someplace but something is a little off.
IF YOU GO WHAT: April Gornik WHERE: Miles McEnery Gallery 525 West 22nd Street WHEN: Through March 28th That conjures a different kind of dimensionality. And, like dreams, I think they should reside partly in your unconscious.”
‘A Commitment to Wildness’ Specificity is not one of Gornik’s goals. These are portraits of places laden with mystery and potential, pictures of somewhere, anywhere and nowhere. Travel, photographs, memories and imagination all go into the evocations of place that are then built in her Long Island studio. One thing you won’t find in Gornik’s paintings is people. That’s a careful decision because of what she wants to communicate. “I don’t want viewers to get a sense that they’re supposed to be a certain size in relation to the landscape. I want them to just sort of inhabit them however they enter them. That said, there is the kind of commitment to wildness and things outside of ourselves that I have,“ she says. “If someone takes them as a remark about the preciousness of wilderness, I’m perfectly happy with that, because you can’t say too much how important it is to preserve what is not human.” Contrasts of light and dark, flatness and depth, representation and artifice, create layers in the experi-
April Gornik, “Spring Light and Still Water,“ 2016, Oil on linen, 72 x 108 inches. Photo: Courtesy of Miles McEnery Gallery
ence of Gornik’s work. They’re more abstraction than realism, but constructed from recognizable elements. The way that slanting sunlight hits a field, a patchwork of cottony clouds, the gleam coming off the surface of still water – these are things we know, though we might not have known them this way. “Spring Light and Still Water” appears to be a sunny spot in the woods, but isn’t quite. It’s unnaturally silent. Rather than honey golden light, the yellow tones are tart, acidic. Gornik says, “The act of painting is the act of pulling up your subconscious into the present and working with it.”
mult, Gornik creates visions of tension and repose, kind of like the great breathing in and exhalation of nature, itself. “I think of paintings as living things that, once you put all this time and energy and effort, they actually generate all that back to the viewer, and there’s an interchange that happens. If you spend time with a painting, you’re enriched in a particularly human way…It bespeaks the otherness of the person that made it, so you’re reaching across to this other person. You’re reaching across a void, across a distance. So, it kind of reifies existential singularity and separateness, but it also makes this
Tension and Repose
Installation view, April Gornik at Miles McEnery Gallery. Photo: Courtesy of Miles McEnery Gallery
The paintings’ scale is critical. Standing in front Gornik’s landscapes is transportive, both perceptually and emotionally. Up close viewing might give the sense of being at the ocean’s edge. From a distance, there’s space, but also connection, recognition and yearning. Through diffuse areas of paint as well as muscular gestures, passages of density or voids, quietude or tu-
April Gornik, “Sea of Light and Dark,“ 2019, Oil on linen, 75 x 105 inches. Photo: Courtesy of Miles McEnery Gallery
connection. There’s an essential poignancy about that, and light and shadow, and transience. That, in a landscape, is all about that kind of reality. And it’s a fundamental part of our existence.”
Seeing Through the Artist’s Eyes Gornik’s thoughts on painting, like her paintings themselves, are poetic. And as with poetry, they reward time spent and reflection. She says that she’s creating them as objects of contemplation, leaving the viewer room to explore. Look at them and you may find presence and absence, stillness and life, vastness and smallness, painter and subject, and she hopes, yourself. “The nicest thing, and it’s happened to me a lot, is when people who have gotten to know my work will say ‘I saw one of your paintings when I was driving home last night or walking over a bridge.’ They’ll see through my eyes in some way, and they usually say it with a certain kind of enthusiasm and seem brightened by it. The way I see things helps them see things. I think that’s the greatest compliment.”
FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
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Neighborhood Scrapbook
Tired of Hunting for The West Side Spirit? Subscribe today to Westsider News of Your Neighborhood Bailee Moliere with mom Billie, dad Rudy and their surgeon, Raghav Murthy, MD, DABS, FACS, Assistant Director of the Pediatric Heart Transplantation Program at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. Photo courtesy of Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital
HUGS FOR THE YOUNGEST HEART PATIENTS On Wednesday, February 19, Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital hosted its 34th annual celebration of its youngest heart patients. The party affords an opportunity for families to reunite with the hospital’s Children’s Heart Center’s multidisciplinary team of surgeons, doctors, nurses and social workers, in a celebration of heart month “Since our first Valentine’s Day party in the 1980s, the field of pediatric cardiology has evolved and improved in significant ways, with greater success rates for pediatric heart surgeries and heart transplants, greater life expectancy, and overall quality of life for our very young patients,“ said Robert H. Pass, MD, Division Chief of Pediatric Cardiology and Director of Pediatric Electrophysiology at the Mount Sinai Health System. One family in attendance was the Molieres, parents of Bailee Moliere, who was born with a hole in her heart and operated on last February when she was just three months old. “She has a great heart now. She can run and play and grow just like her peers,” said Raghav Murthy, MD, DABS, FACS, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Assistant Director of the Pediatric Heart Transplantation Program. This was her first Valentine’s Day with a healthy heart. “Surgery was the scariest decision we ever had to make,“ said Bailee’s mom, Billie. “Before the surgery, Bailee was barely feeding because she was so easily winded. After the surgery, she started feeding and growing. She was like a different baby – the happiest, silliest, feistiest baby.”
Another happy participant was Gabriel Boxcell. Gabriel came to Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital when he was just two weeks old to have his first of two surgeries, both of which were performed by Mount Sinai’s world-renowned Peter Pastuszko, MD, Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Co-Director of the Children’s Heart Center at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. Gabriel was born with a very complex congenital heart condition. After his first surgery, Gabriel was monitored at home as part of Mount Sinai’s Infant Home Monitoring Program, which allows parents to track the patients’ heart rate, oxygen level, and weight at home with close follow-up with Mount Sinai’s pediatric cardiologists, surgeons, and physician assistants to help them get to their planned second surgery. Gabriel is about to turn eight months old and is doing well. “We are so proud of him!” says his proud mom, Abigail. “He is not just our baby. He is Mount Sinai’s baby.”
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FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
The Spirit|Westsider westsidespirit.com
REMEMBERING B. SMITH LIVES
Model turned lifestyle guru dies at 70 BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Model, restaurateur and lifestyle guru Barbara “B.” Smith died at her Long Island home, her family announced in a statement on social media. She was 70. Smith died Saturday evening after battling early onset Alzheimer’s disease, which she was diagnosed with in 2013. She and her husband, Dan Gasby, raised awareness of the disease, and particularly its impacts on the African-American community, following her diagnosis. “Heaven is shining even brighter now that it is graced with B.’s dazzling and unforgettable smile,“ Gasby said in a lengthy Facebook post honoring her life. Smith wrote three cookbooks, founded three successful restaurants and launched a nationally syndicated television show and a magazine. Her successful home products line was the first from a black woman to be sold at a nationwide retailer when it debuted in 2001 at Bed Bath & Beyond. In 1976, she became the second black model to be on the cover of Mademoiselle magazine, after Joli Jones in 1969. Some described Smith as a “black Martha Stewart,‘’ a comparison she said she didn’t mind though she believed the two lifestyle mavens were quite different.
FEBRUARY 13 - 19, 2020 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes 10019, 10023, 10024, 10025. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. Abitino’s Pizza
730 10th Ave
A
Cafe Metro
2062 Broadway
A
Champion Pizza Columbus
1000S 8th Ave
A
Lillie’s
249 W 49th St
A
Rise Bar
859 9th Ave
A
Russian Vodka Room
265 W 52nd St
A
Taladwat
714 9th Ave
A
Tavola Della Nonna
208 W 70th St
Not Yet Graded (25) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food contact surface not properly maintained. Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment.
IWantToBeRecycled.org
Photo via Amazon.com
“Martha Stewart has presented herself doing the things domestics and African Americans have done for years,‘’ she said in a 1997 interview with New York magazine. “We were always expected to redo the chairs and use everything in the garden. This is the legacy that I was left. Martha just got there first.`` In the same interview, Gasby said, “Martha is perfection and Barbara is passion.’’
“Before I Forget”
Photo via Amazon.com
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS
Smith began suffering from memory problems years before her diagnosis. She once froze for several seconds while being interviewed on the “Today Show,‘’ prompting a doctor’s visit that led to her diagnosis. A few months later, she wandered away and was missing in New York City for a day. In 2018, Gasby revealed that he was in a relationship with another woman while caring for his ailing wife, lead-
ing to harsh criticism from some of her fans. He fired back at critics with a Facebook post about the pain of living with Alzheimer’s in the family. “I love my wife but I can’t let her take away my life,‘’ he wrote. The couple co-authored a book, “Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, and Acceptance in Our fight Against Alzheimer’s,“ and have partnered with the Brain Health Registry. Smith, a native of Pennsylvania, began her career as a fashion model in Pittsburgh and went on to serve as a spokeswoman for Verizon, Colgate, Palmolive Oxy and McCormick’s Lawry seasonings. She hosted the nationally syndicated television show ``B. Smith with Style’’ for nearly a decade, which aired on NBC stations. Smith is survived by Gasby, whom she married in 1992, and her stepdaughter Dana Gasby.
FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
THE RISING STARS OF ‘WEST SIDE STORY’ BROADWAY
Meet three members of the new revival’s diverse cast BY MARK KENNEDY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The new revival of “West Side Story,‘’ which opened on Broadway on Feb. 20, makes history. The musical sees 33 young people making their Broadway debuts, a record. The show, loosely based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,“ chronicles the affair between two lovers caught in a violent gang world not of their making. The young diverse cast arrives at the Broadway Theatre from everywhere from Cuba to Massachusetts, representing halftime performers in the NBA, touring stage veterans and ballet dancers in Los Angeles. Here are three of their stories.
“West Side Story,“ Repeat Ilda Mason isn’t just making her Broadway debut this year. She’s also making her feature film debut. Both are in versions of “West Side Story.’’ “It’s insane,“ she acknowledges. The 30-year-old dancer from Panama City, Panama, auditioned for the Broadway musical during rehearsals for the Steven Spielberg-directed film version, which opens in December. “Both are completely different versions of the same story,‘’ she says. Mason has had a fascinating career so far. She won the Panamanian version of “Dancing With the Stars.’’ She performed “Legally Blonde’’ in China and toured the country with “On Your Feet!’’ and “Cinderella.’’ Now she’s a swing on Broadway, meaning she understudies five roles and is ready to go on in case of illness or vacation. “West Side Story’’ is a recurring theme in her life. She’s been in a production at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, and at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. “It’s important and it’s rele-
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The Spirit|Westsider westsidespirit.com
The cast of “West Side Story” at the Broadway Theatre. Photo: Jan Versweyveld
vant. It’s my story. I’m an immigrant,“ she says. “I’m happy to do a show that speaks my truth.’’ In the future, she’d like to do film and TV, drawn by the opportunity to do the impossible onscreen. “I want to go to space and I want to be with dinosaurs. Basically, I want to be in a Steven Spielberg movie.’’
“My Theater” Working in the Broadway Theatre has a special meaning for Satori Folkes-Stone, a 23-year-old Los Angeles native. Her mom performed in the same theater. In the late 1970s, her mother, Neisha Folkes, was in productions of “The Wiz’’ and “Guys and Dolls’’ at the same venue that her daughter now enters eight times a week. “I remember when I got the show, she was like, ‘What theater are you in?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’ She said: ‘That’d be crazy if you were in my theater.’ Of course, she calls it ‘my theater,‘’’ Folkes-Stone says, laughing. “Now it’s my theater.’’ Folkes-Stone attended the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center at the University of Southern California. She taught “Annie’’ to children in China and performed in a production of “West Side Story’’ at school. She feared the worst when fellow students began announcing that they’d booked the Broadway revival of “West Side Story.’’ She heard
nothing all day from her agent and cried in the bathroom, thinking it was lost. During a break at a late-night rehearsal for a senior project, she checked her phone. Her agent had left a message. She had the gig in the end, playing Margarita. “West Side Story’’ is why she started dancing. The 1961 movie version inspired her the songs, the story, the way everyone danced. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to move like that. That’s my template.’ Now I’m here.’’ Broadway for her mom was just the beginning of a long career in the arts. She went on to be a principal dancer for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and choreographed for movies and TV. Dancing is in her daughter’s DNA. “We’re starting to live a very parallel life up to this point,‘’ says her daughter. “It’s up to me to decide where I’m going to deviate or what I’ll do the same.’’
auditions, just like that,‘’ he says. Now, at 18, he’s one of the youngest in the cast. He endured three rounds of callbacks in Florida, two more in New York that involved 12hour days and then one big, final one. “I was fortunate enough to
The local paper for the Upper West Side
rock that call-back and make it,‘’ Del Rosario says. His path has taken him from Florida to Tennessee and back again, studying ballet, theater and hip-hop. He even performed for three years in front of tens of thousands as part of the Memphis Grizzlies’ junior dance team. “I came out of the womb being blessed with an athletic but also artistic family,‘’ says Del Rosario, who is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent. He was first inspired to dance by the show “So You Think You Can Dance.’’ A hiphop and tap routine he saw really moved him. “I looked to my mom and I said, ‘I want to do that,‘’’ he says. Mom found him a weekly hip-hop and dance class and soon he was competing nationally. Later, mom and dad urged ballet training, but he resisted. “I didn’t want to be the guy doing ballet,“ he recalls. “I already had to deal with the stereotypes of a guy dancing. Now I have to tell people I’m in ballet class wearing tights? I didn’t want to do that.’’ He and his mom fought
It’s important and it’s relevant. It’s my story. I’m an immigrant. I’m happy to do a show that speaks my truth.’’ Ilda Mason
about it for a year, but he reluctantly went to ballet class. She would cry in her car every time she dropped him off. “Now I’m able to look at her and tell her, ‘Oh my gosh, I love you so much for doing that. Thank you so much,‘’’ he says. “I was so fortunate to benefit from that.’’ He was incredibly excited to land a role in “West Side Story’’ but two people may have been happier - mom and dad. “I think they were the only two people more ecstatic about this than I am just because they were with me every step of the way,“ he says.
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NBA to Broadway Israel Del Rosario was in a high school history class in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when he got a text from a friend telling him about the local “West Side Story’’ auditions. His hand immediately went up. He asked the teacher if he could use the restroom. It was a fib. “I called my mom and she picked me up and two hours later I was on the list for the
WestSideSpirit.com
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BEACON PAINT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 and in 1971 the business was sold to Mel Stark. Stark passed on the store to his three children, Bruce, Steven and Ellen Gabe-Stark, who became fulltime owners in 2005. An emotional Bruce Stark, 62, told Straus News that they simply could not keep up with Amazon and big box stores like Home Depot. They hung on as long as they could – Stark said his accountant thought they would close 10 years ago. But with a small staff and working seven days a week, enough was enough, he said. “I shed a lot of tears over it,” Stark said. “I find it hard to talk about now too.” While there was a GoFundMe page that raised near $5,000 last spring, it didn’t do the trick. Stark explained this light winter did not help – the store still has shovels and salt from winter 2018.
table acts the store was known for include donating the materials needed to clean graffiti off mailboxes and repaint them, giving hundreds of gallons of mismatched paint to non-profit organizations, and providing a “Bucket O’ Tools” to nearly every school in the neighborhood for their annual auctions. And for nearly 20 years, Beacon Paint has sponsored a walkathon to benefit various charities, including Guiding Eyes for the Blind, raising thousands of dollars over the years. “I love this community and the community loves me,” Stark said. “They would rather support the small guy than go to the big box stores.”
Recognized for Good Service
While Stark said he and his family never went looking for recognition, the store has been honored on more than one occasion. In 2008, it was New York Small Business of the Year, Paint Dealer Magazine’s North American Paint Dealer of the Year and a Forbes Enterprise Award; being named the number one hardware store on the West A Family Business Side. Also, in 2011, Beacon Paint was a winBruce and his siblings grew up in the busi- ner of a WESTY Award from the West Side ness. As a child, Bruce would come to work Spirit. with his dad on the weekends. He got his first But, the Stark family is ready for a new job at the age of 14 and never left. After chapter in their lives. They graduating from Roger Wilwill be going to work for liams University in Rhode IsJanovic Paints. Bruce will be land, he immediately came part of the management home to work at the store. team at their West 72nd His father taught him how Street store (between AmI wanted it to go on to fix things, how to treat sterdam & Columbus). Stepeople, be fair, respectful forever.” ven will be an outside and to always put customers Bruce Stark salesman and Ellen will be in first. “I loved every minute of their office. it,” Stark recalled. “He was a While he is devastated good teacher. He explained that they had to close, Stark to me why something was done like that.” is glad they were able to have such a powerOver the years, Beacon has been an inte- ful impact on the community. “I wanted it to gral part of the community. The Stark fam- go on forever,” Stark said. “I do have to be ily has seen three generations of customers proud of everything I’ve done.” come through their doors, and for that loy-
Beacon Paint & Hardware, a stalwart of the Upper West Side, has closed its doors after 120 years. Photo: Razi Syed
alty, they have given back. The many chari-
FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
The Spirit|Westsider westsidespirit.com
CUTTING SUPERTALLS DOWN TO SIZE DEVELOPMENT After the 200 Amsterdam ruling, Kallos focuses on the East Side’s Sutton Tower BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM
Politicians, community advocates and developers are looking to the future of Manhattan development following an unprecedented court ruling this month ordering the removal of 20 floors from a nearly finished Upper West Side tower. One lawmaker is already at work to use the decision to cut the height of another supertall across town. Council Member Ben Kallos, who represents part of Midtown and the Upper East Side, was one of the several elected officials who turned out to celebrate Judge Franc Perry’s decision to revoke the building permits for the 59story tower at 69th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Quickly, Kallos, who is running for Manhattan Borough President when Gale Brewer leaves the post in 2021, got his wheels turning and saw that Perry’s ruling opened a window to reargue the legality of the 847-foot Sutton Tower being constructed at 430 East 58th Street in his district. “In both cases, I think what we have in common is if you have a Department of Buildings and a city that is complicit in allowing people to break the law, whether or not people can profit off their crimes,” said Kallos. “What jurisprudence typically says is, no. If you do something wrong, you shouldn’t get to
Council Member Ben Kallos. Photo courtesy of NYC Council photographer WilliamAlatriste
If you do something wrong, you shouldn’t get to profit from it.” Council Member Ben Kallos
profit from it.” Both buildings were given the go ahead from the city’s DOB and Board of Standards and Appeals, the city agency responsible for reviewing land use determinations, despite legal challenges from the community. But the legal issues in these cases are not the same. In the case of 200 Amsterdam, Perry determined that the Department of Buildings erroneously gave the developers, SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan America, a permit to build on an illegal 39-sided zoning lot that used partial tax lots from several disconnected properties in order to build an exceptionally tall building in a neighborhood where 20-story buildings are the norm.
Complaints Were Ignored As for Sutton Tower, the East River 50s Association (ERFA) has been fighting the development since 2015. In Nov. 2017, the community advocacy group was successful in changing the zoning regulations of the neighborhood to bar supertall towers to be built in Sutton Place. A month late, however, the developer, Gamma Real Estate, appealed to the BSA for an exception to the new zoning law, and the board granted the project an exception and allowed them to be “grandfathered” in. ERFA argued that the developer had taken part in illegal after-hours construction work, Kallos said, but those complaints were ignored. “The court did not address our arguments of whether or not the after hours variances that were obtained, in my opinion, illegally and under false pretenses, or were valid and could be relied upon,” he said. The attorney representing
A rendering of an earlier proposal for the East 58th Street site that called for a 950-foot condominium development.
ERFA could not be reached by press time to discuss the details of the potential court filing. Kallos, though, is confident the decision will go the community’s way this time. The council member said he wished the 200 Amsterdam decision had come down sooner to prevent other supertall development on the East Side from going up, but wanted to be clear that he is for practical development in the city. “If you come into the neighborhood, and you build something that is similar to what’s already here — whether it’s 200 feet or even 300 feet or even 400 feet — no one is going to care,” Kallos said. “[We welcome it] if you’re a good neighbor, if you reach out to folks, you don’t do work after hours, and if it’s more housing — particularly housing that is affordable.” Building with the community is the way forward, Kallos said. And he warned developers who try to bend the rules for a profit. “If you’re a real estate developer, and you’re trying to get away with something that’s never been done before, and you’re trying to create a loophole, at least under my watch, you’re going to get caught and we’re going to do something about it.”
FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
The Spirit|Westsider westsidespirit.com
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FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
The Spirit|Westsider westsidespirit.com
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FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 4, 2020
‘MAKING GAY HISTORY’ ONSTAGE THEATER
Director and professor Joe Salvatore on bringing pre-Stonewall activists to life BY MARK NIMAR
Joe Salvatore is no Broadway baby. As a writer, director, and professor of educational theater at NYU Steinhardt, Salvatore has spent the past 25 years moving and challenging audiences with his thought-provoking works of theater. An off-Broadway Alliance Award nominee, Salvatore and his work has been featured in many important new outlets, such as The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, and The Hollywood Reporter. His latest endeavor is “Making Gay History: Before Stonewall,“ a stage adaptation of Eric Marcus’s podcast of the same name. The play presents portrayals of pre-Stonewall figures who helped advance the LGBT civil rights movement with their bold activism. The show’s main purpose is to educate audience members about important preStonewall LGBT activists who they may have not previously known about. We sat down with Salvatore last week to talk about intersectionality, documentary theater and the current political climate.
How did the idea for this project come about? Eric [Marcus] conducted these interviews with LGBTQ+ activists/allies in the late ‘80s. First they
Scene from “Making Gay History: Before Stonewall.” Photo: Joe Salvatore
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
“Making Gay History: Before Stonewall” will run from February 28th-March 8th at the Provincetown Playhouse. Tickets are available for purchase at: tickets.nyu.edu/events. became a book called “Making History” in 1992. Then, he re-published them again as oral histories in 2002 under the title “Making Gay History” with some rearranging. And then he donated the archive to the New York Public Library, thinking that he was finished. Then, in 2015, he was approached about turning it into a podcast series. And so they did that. It’s in its sixth season. It’s available online. It’s had three million downloads. It’s very popular. His advisory board started to talk about, “How could this become a piece of theater?” “The Laramie Project” is one of the most produced plays in high schools and colleges and universities around the country. And there was this idea that, “How could a play be created from this material that could be produced by high school students and colleges to help teach LGBTQ history?” Eric and I sat down for coffee two years ago, and decided that it would make sense to have a collaboration about turning this podcast into a play.
Politics and the LGBT experience are inevitably intertwined. How has the current political situation in the United States influenced the production of this piece? For a long time, there has been this notion of intersectionality and marginalized voices. And that primarily the narratives around LGBTQ+ history are often white men, sometimes white women, and where are the people of color, and where are the transgender individuals? Part of our goal in this project was to bring those voices that are in Eric’s archive forward. So that’s one thing, about representation. And for me, that’s political. Also, the Supreme Court has just heard a case about gay people being able to be fired from their jobs. If an employer decides they want to fire
From “Making Gay History: Before Stonewall.” Photo: Joe Salvatore
an LGBTQ person, the Supreme Court is going to issue a decision in June about whether that’s legal or not. One of the people in the play is Frank Kameny, who was fired by the federal government for being a homosexual in the 1950s. And so that is very present for me. That narrative must be in this play, so people don’t think that just because we have a gay man who’s an openly gay man running for president, or because we have marriage equality, that the work is done.
How have rehearsals been? What challenges have you faced in the rehearsal process? The company is fantastic. The actors are great, and the creative team/the designers are great. It’s a lot of moving parts. I’ve been very aware of my own position as a white cis male, making a work that is trying to present as many voices as possible in a really short period of time. I think ninety minutes is about the right length for an audience. So we’re trying to hover between ninety and a hundred minutes. There are more people who have not been included in the play than there are people who are included in the play. And so the weight of those decisions has weighed heavily on me. And I’ve found it hard, because I tried to be aware of my positionality through the process, and kind of checked for my blind spots as we’ve gone through. But ultimately I have to make decisions to get the play to go.
In this play, you have white, cisgendered actors sometimes playing different genders and characters of color. Is it appropriate for an actor to play a role outside of her gender/ethnicity? This is the question. I think the sweet spot is that no one is ever allowed to do a caricature. I don’t let anyone do a caricature. Every actor in the company is playing against type at least once, in some way. And that might be gender, that might be gender identity, that might be race and ethnicity. So if I am the actor, and I am about to take on a character that is very different than me, I may begin speaking as the character, and these glasses [that I’m wearing] are “my character,“ and as I begin speaking, you see me “go in.” And then as I finish, you see me [take off the glasses]. So it’s not like I go off stage and put my glasses on, and then I’m this person. There’s a conscious presentation of character. The audience is never meant to suspend their disbelief. The actor never goes away, so we know that the actor is playing a character. My job, and the vocal coach’s job, and the assistant director’s job, is to pay really close attention to how the actors are playing it, so it stays in that sweet spot at all times. So it’s different in that respect from a biopic. Like in “Milk,“ when Sean Penn becomes Harvey Milk in the biopic. The actors are very clearly presenting what they’ve discovered from this investigation. I’m not asking anyone to become this person; they’re presenting what they’ve found.
What do you hope people will take away from this performance after seeing it? I want an audience to experience this play, and leave the room wanting to investigate more of these people. Wanting them to say, “well I don’t know who Frank Kameny is, and he sounds like he did something pretty amazing, so I’m going to listen to the podcast to learn more.” Because the podcasts are like twenty to twenty-five minutes each. At most, a person gets six minutes in this play. There’s a lot more for people to know. I want people to understand that Stonewall happened, and obviously a lot of people were involved in Stonewall (Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera are two names that we know), and their contributions are incredibly important. There are also people who came before them, and their contributions are really important. The play for me is a catalyst for further investigation. It’s not an allencompassing, like “this is LGBTQ+ history.” It could never be. It’s a snap shot, or a series of snapshots, of people that made important contributions. And the goal is that the audience leaves, and does more investigation beyond that. This interview has been edited and condensed.
Know somebody who deserves their 15 Minutes of fame? Go to westsidespirit.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.
A B M I V J U H R R E A X Y F
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Q G V Z K S B T S E R A L X R
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Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9X9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3X3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.
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by Myles Mellor
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