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B.P.C. AUTHORITY CHAIRMAN RESIGNS VOLUME 24, NUMBER 51 MAY 16-29, 2012

Downtown Express photo by ALINE REYNOLDS

South Street Seaport Museum volunteer Linda Beal showcases a marlinspike, a maritime instrument used to sever ship rope knots, following the first public sail of the Pioneer’s 2012 season.

Revamped Pioneer sets sail for New York Harbor B Y A L I NE R E Y N O LD S lear blue skies set a jovial tone Saturday for a host of Downtown residents and tourists looking to get out into New York Harbor.

A revamped 1885 sailing vessel was prepared to help them fulfill that mission.

The Pioneer, a two-masted, engine-powered schooner operated by the South Street

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Seaport Museum, embarked on its first public sail of the 2012 season on May 12. The boat had been inactive in 2011, when the museum was on the brink of closing.

The 102-foot-long vessel, the Seaport Museum’s only active sailing boat, recently returned to Pier 16 after undergoing a month of routine maintenance work at a ship yard in Staten Island. The upgrades, amounting to $65,000, included a new transmission

B Y TERESE LOEB KREUZER n May 9, William C. Thompson Jr., chairman of the Battery Park City Authority, sent a letter to New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo tendering his resignation effective Friday, May 11. Thompson had been chairman of the B.P.C.A. since March 2010, when he was appointed by former Gov. David Paterson.

In his letter, Thompson gave no reason for his resignation. However, he has declared his candidacy for mayor of New York City — an office that he narrowly lost in 2009 to Michael Bloomberg — and he said in a phone interview that he was leaving the B.P.C.A. to devote more time to his campaign.

“I had contemplated resigning for awhile and I felt that this was an appropriate time,” Thompson said.

“I think we’d gotten a number of things in place over the last few months, and I wanted to make sure that things were in a good way before we leave.”

Thompson added, “I think things are in a very positive place right now.”

In resigning, Thompson effusively praised the B.P.C.A., a New York State public benefit corporation that administers Battery Park City, a community he referred to as a blueprint for urban development.

Enumerating the accomplishments under his administration, Thompson mentioned the installation of artificial turf on the B.P.C. ball fields, the repaving of Murray

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Continued on page 18

system, a repainting and an inspection of its masts by the U.S. Coast Guard. The vessel also received a ballast — a stabilizing weight composed of lead — taken from the yacht of the late, renowned aviator, Amelia Earhart.

Fittingly named, the Pioneer paved the way for the charter schooner business in the 1970s, when it was donated to the museum Continued on page 21

515 C A N A L STREET • N YC 10013 • C OPYRIG H T © 2012 COMMU N ITY M ED IA , LLC

THE FLEA HAS BATS. TURN TO PAGE 25.

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May 16-29, 2012

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W.T.C. sphere vetoed for 9/11 Memorial Plaza B Y AL IN E REYNOLDS hough officials have yet to announce the new home for the Fritz Koenig sphere sculpture, one thing’s fairly certain: It’s not going back to where it once stood at the World Trade Center site.

That’s what National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum President Joe Daniels conveyed to members of Community Board 1 at the board’s World Trade Center Redevelopment Committee meeting on May 14.

The reason behind this? The sphere, which was moved from Ground Zero to Battery Park after surviving the Sept. 11 attacks, was never part of architect Michael Arad’s design of the 9/11 Memorial. It once stood in Austin J. Tobin Plaza, a portion of which was situated on what is now the 9/11 Memorial Plaza.

“We fully, 100 percent support the sphere being kept outside in a way the public can experience whenever they want to, but it’s not going to be incorporated in the eight-acre Memorial Plaza,” said Daniels.

The sphere, reportedly the last remaining intact artifact of the former W.T.C., was supposed to be hauled away to Hanger 17 at John F. Kennedy Airport by April 30, according to the Battery Conservancy.

But that deadline came and went without a haul truck or an announcement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the sphere’s owner.

On May 11, the Port Authority released a statement saying it has settled on a new temporary home for the 25-foot-tall bronze sculpture, to be announced later in the week.

Neither the temporary home nor the new deadline for the sphere’s departure from Battery Park was disclosed by press time on May 15. According to previous reports, Port Authority officials had been considering relocating the sphere to the new Liberty Park — located next to the World Trade Center, its original home.

“We have worked tirelessly to find a new, accessible public space for this important symbol of hope amid devastation,” said Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye. “We

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believe this sculpture should continue to reside in a location where New Yorkers and people from around the region, nation and the world can view this important reminder of survival and resilience.”

Meanwhile, 9/11 families and Downtown residents are up in arms about the sphere’s absence from the W.T.C. and, specifically, from the 9/11 Memorial Plaza.

Jeff Mihok, a history teacher who resides in Battery Park City, said the sphere “would be a great counterpoint to the thought-out nature of the rest of the Memorial…to have something shockingly not neat and clean.”

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he noted, was not a “neat and clean” event.

“It seems very crisp and…a little antiseptic,” said Mihok of the 9/11 Memorial Plaza.

“It shouldn’t be a neat and clean experience to go visit where [the attacks] occurred.”

As previously reported by the Downtown Express, Michael Burke, whose firefighter son died on 9/11, started a petition toward the cause of relocating the sphere to the W.T.C. As of May 14, he had collected more than 7,200 signatures.

“Putting the sphere anywhere else denies its meaning and…betrays the innocents who perished on 9/11,” said Burke.

Burke felt particularly dismayed by Daniels’s statement, since he and other 9/11 families were told by a Port Authority engineer last December that the Memorial was structurally fit to support the 45,000-pound, 25-foot-tall sculpture.

Burke also voiced his opposition to Liberty Plaza as the sphere’s future home, saying it will only exacerbate the security barrier and congestion problems that the locals are bemoaning.

“I would just ask to keep 9/11 all in one place, where it belongs,” he said. “I think that works for everybody.”

T.J. Gilmartin, a 9/11 first responder who also attended the committee meeting, stressed that the 9/11 Memorial Plaza concrete could physically support the structure.

“I’ve been in high-rise construction for 31 years doing concrete,” he said. “You could put 100 of those spheres on that memorial.”

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May 16-29, 2012

NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-9, 12-21 EDITORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11 YOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23-25, 27 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 WORLD TRADE CENTER ‘SPIRE’ CLAD IN CONTROVERSY Is One W.T.C. slated to have bragging rights as the tallest structure in America, or is it going to be toppled over because of a technicality? That’s what the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, an international non-profit that arbitrates building heights, is musing over, according to the NY Times.

The original design featured a sculptural enclosure over the mast, which was to increase the 1,368-foot structure into a symbolic 1,776 feet, making it taller than the Willis Tower (what used to be known as the Sears Tower) and the Trump International Hotel and Tower, both located in Chicago, currently numbers one and two, respectively.

It all depends on whether or not the Council (based in Chicago) counts the mast as a functional antenna or a nonfunctional spire. Without its cladding — a fiberglass and steel enclosure, dubbed a randome — the 400-foot pole is just a metal stick poking through the stratosphere.

The decision to unclad the cladding was made in October and confirmed in January by Douglas Durst, the chairman of the Durst Organization, who is developing the long-anticipated skyscraper with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Eliminating the cladding will chop nearly $20 million off the construction costs. But the real deal-breaker for the randome was its maintenance at

a quarter-mile high.

As quoted in the Times, David M. Childs, the chief architect of One W.T.C., said “Eliminating this integral part of the building’s design and leaving an exposed antenna and equipment is unfortunate. We stand ready to work with the port on an alternate design that will still mark the 1 World Trade Center’s place in New York City’s skyline.�

9/11 MEMORIAL REACHES NEW VISITORS MILESTONE As of May 14, the National Sept. 11 Memorial had hosted approximately 2.5 million visitors since its opening on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 (245 days prior), according to Memorial President Joe Daniels.

Daniels also announced the Memorial’s extended spring hours (from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. daily) and the good news that, of the thousands of daily Memorial visitors, less than 10 percent of them have arrived as part of tour groups so far this year, amounting to an average of fewer than seven buses per day. “The success of the Memorial is a clear indication that the public’s will to commemorate is as strong as ever,� said Daniels, “and that we remain steadfast in our collective promise to never forget the men, women and children who were taken from us too soon on 9/11.�

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., MAY 16: The Housing Committee will meet.

ON THURS., MAY 17: The Quality of Life Committee will meet.

ON MON., MAY 21: The Nominating Committee will meet.

ON TUES., MAY 22: The full board will meet at Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Richard Harris Terrace (199 Chambers St., between the West Side Highway and Greenwich Street)

ON WED., MAY 23: The State Liquor Authority task force will meet.

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May 16-29, 2012

STABBED IN ARGUMENT Police responded to a call in front of 33 Gold St. around 3:30 a.m. Fri., May 11, where they found a woman with bloodstained clothes sobbing over a man who had been stabbed in the chest. The woman, Yekatrina Pupepa, 22, was charged with attempted murder of her boyfriend, Alec Katsnelson, 22, during an argument in the Gold St. apartment where they had been living since November. Katsnelson was taken to Bellevue in stable condition.

Pupepa, an immigrant from Latvia, first told police the victim grabbed a knife from her hand and stabbed himself by accident.

After surgery, the victim told police that Pupepa came at him with two knives and stabbed him with one of them. She then helped him down to the street where he collapsed. The couple fought frequently and at one point Katsnelson was arrested and spent a weekend in jail. In addition to attempted murder, Pupepa was charged with assault and criminal weapon possession.

women, approached their latest victim, 62, at Doyers St. and Bowery at noon on April 30 and told her she had an evil spirit and needed her jewelry to be blessed. They approached an 85-year-old victim at 9 a.m. April 25 in front of 193 Eldridge St. and fled with her jewelry, which they said they would bless. At 11 a.m. on April 18, they fled with the jewelry that they offered to bless for a 63-year-old victim at an unidentified Chinatown location.

Three suspects, described as Asian women in their 40s, also told an 81-year-old victim at 9:15 a.m. on April 4 that they needed her property to remove bad luck from it and at 9:30 a.m. on March 29 they asked another victim, whose age was not disclosed, for her property to remove evil spirits.

Anyone with information on the suspects should phone the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS or online at www. nypdcrimestoppers.comon by texting 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

EVIL SPIRIT SCAMS

D.A. DISMISSES GROPE CHARGES

Fifth Precinct detectives are looking for two or three women who have been victimizing elderly Asian women in Chinatown by offering to remove evil spirits and bad luck from their jewelry and money and then stealing it from them.

Two scammers, described only as Asian

The Manhattan District Attorney’s offices on Monday dismissed charges against Karl Vanderwoude, arrested April 14 and charged with groping four women in Lower Manhattan, the Village and the Upper East Side over the previous two months. “The

defendant is not the person who committed these acts,� Assistant District Attorney Kevin Rooney told Judge Erica Edwards.

Investigators for the D.A. discovered that Vanderwoude had valid alibis for when the incidents occurred at the Chambers St. subway station on March 30, at King and Varick Sts. on Feb. 26, on Second Ave. near E. 67th St. on Feb. 27 and on E. 62nd St. near Park Ave. on Feb. 26. Witnesses misidentified Vanderwoude in a line-up.

A Dutch native who works for a financial firm, Vanderwoude conducts Bible study in his Park Slope apartment. “I still love New York,� Vanderwoude told reporters.

RAPE AND POT

SHOPLIFTER VIOLENCE An employee of the Real Deal discount store, 59 John St., saw a suspect stuffing 15 packages of soap in a bag around 3 p.m. Sun., May 13 and tried to stop the suspect when he left the store without paying. The suspect sprayed a burning liquid in the employee’s eyes, dropped the bag and fled, police said. The employee returned the bag to the store and then went to Downtown Hospital to be treated.

SEEK CHINATOWN BURGLAR Police are looking for a suspect who stole two laptops, an iPad and an iPhone on March 30 from an office on the fifth floor of 59 E. Broadway. The suspect, whose image was caught on surveillance tape, also entered an office on the sixth floor of 98 E. Broadway at 11:50 p.m. March 28 but fled empty-handed when an alarm went off.

The same suspect entered a Baxter St. building on the afternoon of April 19, made his way to a fifth-floor apartment and fled

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GARAGE ROBBER A man walked into the Empire Parking Garage at 90 Laight St. at 3:15 p.m. Sun., May 6, held a knife to the attendant, stole an undisclosed sum of cash and drove off with it in a car that he stole from the garage, police said.

Ramon Fernandez, 43, was charged with getting a 14-year-old girl drunk around 8:30 p.m.

Sat., April 26 and sexually attacking her in the Baruch Houses building where he lives, police said. The suspect was arrested a few hours later in his apartment where he was in possession of an undisclosed quantity of marijuana.

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with a 32-inch flat screen television through the lobby of the building and out the front door. He was described as being in his late 20s with short black hair, 5â&#x20AC;&#x2122;9â&#x20AC;? and 195 pounds, last seen wearing a white Yankee jersey, blue jeans and a black backpack with orange stripes.

STANDING ON LINE A Great Neck, LI, man, 55, told police he was standing on line for coffee in Starbucks at 10 Hanover Sq. around 8:30 a.m. Tues., May 8 when he checked the laptop bag he was carrying and discovered that the computer had been stolen from it. The victim was sure he was not bumped or jostled at the time.

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No guarantee: None of the State of New York, its agencies, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), The Vanguard Group, Inc., Upromise Investments, Inc., nor any of their applicable afďŹ liates insures accounts or guarantees the principal deposited therein or any investment returns on any account or investment portfolio.

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5

May 16-29, 2012

Locals rail against financially tardy Holiday Inn developer B Y Z A C H W ILL IA MS he future of the world’s tallest Holiday Inn sprouting in Lower Manhattan remains up in the air, but the past is hard to escape for developer McSam Downtown LLC. The Downtown Express has found that McSam currently owes the city at least $180,000 in outstanding property taxes and fines on the project site located at 99 Washington St., the future site of the hotel. While no accidents have been recorded at the site, some local residents are demanding renewed scrutiny of the developer, who is seeking to increase the planned height of the building from 43 stories to over 50 stories if the city grants the developer new permits.

An April 2 notice from the city Department of Finance (D.O.F.) stated that the company was in default of an agreement previously reached on the outstanding taxes.

While the D.O.F. has not taken any punitive action against McSam, the company recently resumed payments on its own volition, according to Pat Jones, an attorney for McSam. It has taken about seven years for the Holiday Inn project to reach its current stage, but the project will likely not meet its spring 2013 deadline for completion, the attorney noted.

As the developer seeks to finalize designs, tackle tax problems with the city and resolve the outstanding fines, McSam will also have to deal with local residents, who charge the company with neglecting the impact of the construction on the neighborhood. The residents also claim that their safety at the northeast corner of Washington and Rector Streets, which is blocked by the construction, is in jeopardy, since people have to step onto the street to pass by.

“The people who are building on that site have numerous violations all over the city that are unresolved,” said Esther Regelson, who lives near the building site. “Should we not have concerns about this? And why are they unresolved?”

Regelson added, rhetorically, “How can they continue to build on 99 Washington Street when they have tons of violations all over the city?”

Community Board 1 will examine issues surrounding the project at its May 17 Quality of Life committee meeting.

Jones said that he will be in attendance.

C.B. 1 Chair Julie Menin said that the Financial District is especially sensitive about building safety given the neighborhood’s proximity to the World Trade Center, and that locals are especially concerned about the developer’s plans to increase the height of the building given the revelations

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Downtown Express photo by ZACH WILLIAMS

The Downtown Holiday Inn (corner building, right) is plagued by delays and a developer in default.

Continued on page 17

Chen suicide contributes to military anti-bullying bill B Y A L I N E R E Y N O LD S hinatown soldier Danny Chen’s suicide last October has contributed to the writing of legislation that would more stringently enforce anti-bullying in the armed forces.

The Service Member Anti-Hazing Act, which U.S. Representative Nydia Velazquez is introducing to Congress this week, would require all branches of the U.S. military to more effectively combat hazing through targeted policies and training.

The federal bill comes on the heels of 301 U.S. soldiers’ suicides last year alone and a total of 1,100 soldiers’ suicides during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, according to Velazquez.

The bill’s direct impetus, however, was the March 22 congressional hearing at which military officials revealed that the military

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lacks a systematic means of tracking hazing — commonly defined as persecution or harassment with meaningless, difficult or humiliating tasks.

“After listening to the answers to my own questions, I wasn’t satisfied that the Department of Defense and the military were doing enough to prevent future hazing incidents,” Velazquez said at a press conference held at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (C.C.B.A.) offices in Chinatown.

“We cannot bring Danny Chen back,” she said, “but we can try to find some good in this tragedy by preventing future hazing incidents, and this is exactly what we’re pursuing by introducing this legislation.”

Under the law, hazing awareness would be integrated into all soldiers’ training regimen, and each military branch would have

to create and implement rules to curb the misbehavior when it occurs. The law would also require the military to collect data on the number of reported hazing incidents and profile information on the individuals involved.

Military officials would also have to assess whether corrective action was taken.

The U.S. secretary of defense would report these findings to Congress on an annual basis, according to Velazquez.

The legislation also calls on each military branch to set up an anonymous hotline for soldiers victimized by hazing, so that they’re not intimidated from seeking help.

The law would also enable harassed service personnel to be transferred out of their units more quickly, “so they may get out of a bad situation before a tragedy happens,” Velazquez said.

The legislation would also mandate a

hazing oversight panel to review, monitor and make recommendations about the issue.

The panel would comprise the secretary of defense, the heads of each branch of the military and outside stakeholders, including women’s, ethnic and minority advocacy organizations.

Finally, the law directs the defense secretary to implement a diversity training program, in which all members of the military would have to regularly participate.

Liz OuYang, executive director of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA-NY), a lead advocate in the Chen case, sung the bill’s praises, saying hazing and the lack of accountability for it poisons America’s national security.

“It leads to divisiveness, lowers soldiers’ Continued on page 20

6

May 16-29, 2012

Hearing the call for help B Y Z A CH W IL L IA MS inging in the ears is not always a cause for much concern, but it underscores the need to pay attention.

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month, and one non-profit organization in Lower Manhattan kicked it off on April 26 by sounding the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. As technology improves and medical researchers gain new understanding of hearing impediments, the Center for Hearing and Communication (C.H.C.) is striving to

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reach out to local residents of all ages, particularly this month.

Approximately 38 million Americans suffer from hearing impairments — approximately 40 percent of which go undiagnosed, especially among the elderly, C.H.C. data shows. One in three people over the age of 65 years old experience hearing loss; that rate increases to two out of three among seniors 75 or older.

A wide variety of hearing impediments can be overcome with proper treatment, but only if those afflicted are aware of treatment options, according to C.H.C.

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

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

Downtown Express photo by ZACH WILLIAMS

Center for Hearing and Communications patient Vijay Shah consults an audiologist.

experts. While ringing in the ears is one example of a warning sign of hearing loss, often it is only with a hearing screening that problems are detected.

C.H.C. aims to lower the volume of cases among local residents through free hearing screenings, free caption phones and educational programs offered throughout the month.

Early diagnosis is crucial to ensuring that treatment can be most effective, yet many people push it off because of economic and social concerns, according to C.H.C. Executive Director Laurie Hanin.

“There is definitely still a stigma about hearing loss that there isn’t about eyeglasses,” said Hanin. “People deny that they have a hearing loss problem.

Typically, people wait about seven years until they think they have hearing loss and do something about it.”

A lack of understanding about hearing loss and its ramifications also contributes to the number of undiagnosed cases, she noted.

Deafness is commonly known as an inability to hear sounds. Hearing loss, meanwhile, can take many forms, includ-

ing a diminished ability of people to discriminate between sounds. Both can contribute to depression and cognitive decline among the elderly, according to recent research. Technology has kept pace with the increased scientific understanding, said Hanin, a trained audiologist.

“In the last maybe five to ten years, there has been a tremendous increase in technology such that hearing devices work far better than they used to,” she said.

The free caption phone, for example, dramatically cuts down on the inaccuracy that afflicted prior models, in part because a human transcriber works on the line.

Slick hearing aids enable Terrence Williams, 45, to scarcely skip a beat nowadays in his work as assistant director of C.H.C.’s technology department. Regular screenings are necessary in order to diagnose hearing impairments that often go unnoticed, he said.

Williams, who had trouble hearing early on, didn’t attend to his affliction until age 35, when he discovered he had highfrequency hearing loss. The impairment Continued on page 20

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May 16-29, 2012

Three city buildings deemed unsuitable for public school

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very poor condition,” she explained.

But to the committee’s dismay, Ward conveyed that opening a school at one of the three locations isn’t in the cards.

The city Department of Education’s School Construction Authority evaluated the three sites and “really felt all three buildings were not suitable for schools,” she said.

In a written quote, the D.O.E. countered locals’ call for the siting of new schools, insisting that it is “on track to meet the growing demand for school seats in Lower Manhattan” by opening the 700-seat Peck Slip School.

While C.B. 1 has a 60-day window to formally comment on the city’s plan for the buildings, board members are already raising questions and concerns. Catherine McVay Hughes, the board’s vice chair, emphasized the need for a new school, despite the city’s claims.

“If this becomes a residential building, where the families are going to be living, it’s going to increase the overcrowding in our schools already,” said Hughes. “If you are going to build more residential…the infrastructure has to be in place.”

Adam Malitz, a lifelong resident of Independence Plaza North (I.P.N.), one of Downtown’s original affordable housing developments, asserted that Downtown has a “serious shortage” of affordable housing units.

“I don’t mean rent-stabilized where it starts at $4,000 a month,” he said. “I mean, we’re looking at section eight tenants [and] at people who can move in at

Trinity Wall Street

SUNDAY, MAY 20, 10am Virtual Pilgrimages: The Holy Land of Paul and John Ethos of Pilgrimage: Green Pilgrimages.

Led by Dr. Deirdre Good, General Theological Seminary.

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THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2-6pm Open Labyrinth Walk Open to all for walking, prayer, and meditation.

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SUNDAY, MAY 20, 3pm The Children’s Garden Party Check the progress of seeds planted and work on an art project.

All families welcome.

Trinity Churchyard

FRIDAY, MAY 18, 6pm Family Friday Pizza and Movie Night This month’s movie is Disney’s Pocahontas.

Charlotte’s Place

an actual middle-class rate.”

Committee chair Jeff Galloway agreed, arguing that Downtown is becoming less and less diverse. “We’re not saying we don’t like wealthy people moving in and doing whatever they want to do,” he said, “but we don’t want this to be just like a sliver of the Upper East Side.”

Malitz went on to ask why the city didn’t

Let’s do something together

THURSDAY, MAY 17, 12:05pm Ascension Day Eucharist Celebrating the Feast of the Ascension.

Guest preacher: Stephen K. Green, Minister of State for Trade and Investment, United Kingdom.

Trinity Church

FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1pm and THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1pm Concerts at One Ensemble ACJW Trinity Church

Downtown Express photo by ALINE REYNOLDS

City officials deem 346 Broadway unfit for a school.

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 6pm Wall Street Dialogues: Bill McKibben An ongoing series of conversations on the moral and ethical issues raised by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Trinity Church

require prospective developers to include public infrastructure in their proposals, which are due

by July. Ward replied saying that the city has to generate “significant” revenue in order to finance the relocation of the panoply of agencies and therefore didn’t want to make the Request for Proposals (R.F.P.) restrictive.

“Developers that respond to city R.F.P. are very well aware they need to propose something the community would respect,” Ward added.

However, Brian Cook, director of land use for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, stressed the importance of spelling out the community’s needs in the R.F.P. Stringer wrote letters to city officials in January underscoring the need for public facilities in the buildings.

“I haven’t seen many developers come and propose a public school unless it’s required or physically asked for by the city,” said Cook. “If it’s not in the R.F.P., I don’t think it’s likely.”

For years, C.B. 1 chair Julie Menin has been pushing for a revision to the city charter to oblige developers to incorporate public infrastructure in their buildings proposals.

“We can’t continue to build thousands of new residential units Downtown without building the proper amount of school seats and affordable housing,” she said. “If there was legislation that mandated these types of standards, we wouldn’t be in this problem.”

Local stakeholders are scheduled to meet with Stringer on Thurs., May 17 to discuss the community’s needs with respect to the disposition of the city-owned properties.

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TRINITY CHURCH Broadway at Wall Street 74 Trinity Place is located in the office building behind Trinity Church.

The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper

B Y A L I N E R E Y N O LD S ocal residents are on edge about the city’s disposition of three of its Downtown buildings, worrying that the neighborhood might not get enough bang for its buck in terms of public benefits.

New public school seats and affordable apartments are musts for the buildings once they are acquired by private developers, members of Community Board 1’s Planning and Community Infrastructure Committee told city official Theresa Ward at its May meeting.

Ward, chief asset management officer for the city Department of Citywide Administrative Services, appeared before the committee to present the Civic Center Plan, a three-year initiative that involves consolidating close to 20 city agencies into unused, newly furnished office space in the Municipal Building (at 1 Centre St.) and elsewhere.

The board’s demand for public amenities corresponds specifically with the city’s forthcoming sale of 22 Reade St. and 49-51 Chambers St., which currently house C.B. 1 offices and the Department of City Planning among other government agencies. The disposition of the third site at 346 Broadway was already approved in the late 1990s and will be sold in conjunction with the other two buildings, according to Ward.

The plan promises to save the city some $100 million over the next 20 years. “We learned the city has more office space than it needs, and much of it is underutilized and in

Trinity is a proud sponsor of the Downtown Little League.

ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL Broadway and Fulton Street CHARLOTTE’S PLACE 107 Greenwich St, btwn Rector & Carlisle

All Are Welcome All events are free, unless noted.

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

an Episcopal parish in the city of New York

8

May 16-29, 2012

Harbor School and Léman Prep seek more students B Y T E RE SE L O E B K R E U Z E R wo local schools with disparate facilities and missions have one thing in common: they’re both on the hunt for more students.

Representatives from the New York Harbor School and Léman Manhattan Preparatory School came before Community Board 1’s Youth & Education Committee on May 8 to discuss expansion goals and plans.

The schools could not be more different. The New York Harbor School, a public high school on Governors Island, is a career and technical education high school that was started in Bushwick, Brooklyn in 2003. The school moved to Governors Island in 2010, where it occupies one building set amid the island’s 172 acres. Léman is a private school, grades nursery to 12, with well-appointed facilities at two Lower Manhattan campuses.

For all but the youngest children, tuition at the school is $36,400 a year.

The Harbor School, which now has 425 students, has plans to physically grow and is also entertaining the possibility of doubling in enrollment.

“With 425 students, it’s hard to offer six career and technical education programs and a program for an [Advanced Placement] class,” said Murray Fisher, the school’s co-founder. “You can’t do a

T

real ocean engineering program in a small classroom.”

It is a Title I school, meaning that it serves an economically disadvantaged student body and receives supplementary funding from the federal government.

More than 70 percent of its students qualify for free or subsidized lunches.

“Students travel from all over the city to come to us,” said Fisher. “Our entering freshman class has students from 60 zip codes.”

However, while some Harbor School students are from Chinatown and the Lower East Side, only a small fraction of the total student body comes from Lower Manhattan. Fisher said he would like to see more of them.

With the help of the City Council and private donations, the Harbor School recently completed a $4 million capital campaign to create a marine science and technology center in a renovated building on Governors Island. Four of the school’s six core programs will be run out of the center once it is completed in early 2013.

“Once this is built,” Fisher said, “there will be nothing like it in the city in terms of giving New York City public school kids access to the water so that they can learn skills and be trained in fields where there are jobs.”

Though the Harbor School is subject to budget limitations that affect all schools in the city public school system, the school still manages to provide afterschool and summer programs for its students with funds it raises on its own.

Unlike the Harbor School, the Léman Manhattan Preparatory School is awash in facilities. Between its 41 Broad St. campus for lower school youngsters and its 1 Morris St. campus for students 5th grade and up, it has two swimming pools, two full-size gyms and a 109-seat theater.

The school, which currently has an enrollment of 500 students, has the space to accommodate up to 1,500 pupils.

Léman Manhattan would need more students than it now has in order to be profitable for its investors, Meritas and Sterling Partners.

Last spring, Meritas, an international network of schools, bought what is now Léman Manhattan from Claremont, which had opened in 2005 with 54 students in kindergarten through 5th grade. With four headmasters in six years, Claremont ran into administrative and financial difficulties.

Claremont was a for-profit entity as is Meritas, which is owned by Sterling Partners, a private equity firm with offices in Baltimore, Chicago and Miami.

More than three-quarters of Léman’s current students live in Lower Manhattan.

The rest are from Upper Manhattan, Jersey City and parts of Brooklyn.

The school was recently accredited to teach 12th grade, making next year’s 12th graders the first graduating class.

The upper school leases four floors of a landmarked building built by the Cunard steamship line on lower Broadway, but it is only occupying three of them at the moment. The remaining floor is meant to accommodate additional students down the line.

As part of what Gerard Widder, Léman’s managing director, called the school’s “corporate responsibility,” Léman makes its underutilized facilities available to other organizations pro bono. The New York Stock Exchange is in discussions with the school about using Léman’s classrooms this summer for a six-week program for teachers who come to New York City to learn about financial markets. Also beginning this summer, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council will be using the ballroom at 41 Broad St. as rehearsal space for River to River Festival events.

And, starting in September, Harbor School students have tentative plans to take scuba diving lessons in one of Léman’s pools.

May 16-29, 2012

Residential could save Pier 40, new study finds B Y L I N CO L N A ND E R S O N For those who don’t mind the sound of baseballs pinging off aluminum bats or the occasional home run shot plopping into their bubbling deck-top jacuzzis, Pier 40 could be the Lower West Side’s new residential hot spot.

That is, if one study’s options for possible uses of the decaying pier becomes a reality.

A recently completed analysis of the 14.5-acre West Houston Street pier was presented late last month to a task force, whose mission is to improve the economic viability of the cash-strapped Hudson River Park. Housing especially piqued the interest of task force members and the Hudson River Park Trust (H.R.P.T.), the state-city authority charged with building and operating the five-mile-long park.

The massive Pier 40 is crumbling and requires some $100 million in repairs.

The six-figure, confidential study was commissioned by three local youth sports organizations that heavily use Pier 40’s sports fields: Downtown United Soccer Club, Pier, Park and Playground Association (P3) and Greenwich Village Little League.

Of the combinations of proposed uses, the report found that building 600,000 square feet of rental apartments, amounting to about 600 apartments, plus a 150room hotel would generate the most revenue for the park and have the least impact in terms of vehicular traffic.

Pier 40 wouldn’t be in demand for office space, the study concluded, since the site is relatively remote from public transportation and is perched next to the busy West Side Highway.

According to Arthur Schwartz, a leading member of the task force, all of the study’s proposals would preserve at least half of the pier’s footprint as open space — as required by the Hudson River Park Act, the park’s governing legislation dating back to 1998.

The housing would have to be rental, because the Trust isn’t allowed to sell property. Rents would reportedly be highend — around $7,500 per month.

Manhattan Youth Director Bob Townley, who saw the presentation, said the residential option featured massing studies with several 15-story towers or one 30-story tower. The lower of the two heights would be in line with Morton Square, a large, 15-story residential development that’s near the pier.

The residential-hotel scenario would also come with parking, but it would have fewer spaces than the 1,400 lots the pier currently offers.

Not surprisingly, the study also found that, compared to other uses, retail and entertainment would generate the largest number of visitor trips to the pier.

In addition to the different models’ revenue-generating potential, the study also scrutinized traffic impacts on the West

Side Highway, as well traffic crossing the bike path, which runs parallel to the pier.

POLS REACT TO THE STUDY The idea of the G.O.P.-led NYS Senate rejecting a plan to build market-rate housing in the park — or anywhere, for that matter — doesn’t seem likely. But State Senator Daniel Squadron, whose district encompasses Pier 40, says he has traditionally been against such an idea.

“I’ve long been opposed to housing in a park to fund a park,” Squadron said.

“Whatever the conclusion, this is the time for creative thinking to ensure the longterm viability of Hudson River Park.”

Assembly Member Deborah Glick is also wary of residential use of Pier 40.

A skeptical-sounding Glick told Community Media she’s concerned H.R.P.T. is trying to “frighten and stampede” people into accepting residential use on the West Houston Street pier. The park may well need some emergency repairs, she said, but this is just a case of real estate developers trying to make a grab for Pier 40 while the grabbing’s still good during Mayor Bloomberg’s final years in office.

HEARING MANDATE UP FOR DEBATE The Assembly Member stressed that, in her understanding, amending legislation so as to introduce major changes to the pier requires a public hearing. To allow residential and hotel use on Pier 40, the language of the 1998 H.R.P. Act would have to be modified.

“The Trust has painted a dramatic picture of the pier falling into the water, although it turns out that wouldn’t happen for years to come,” Glick said. “My concern is that they’re asking for dramatic changes but don’t seem to have any plans for public hearings — and the legislation requires significant changes to be vetted through the public, not just a task force of 25 or 30 people.”

But Schwartz e-mailed the relevant section of the H.R.P. Act, which states that a public hearing with 30 days’ advance public notice is only necessary in the event that a significant change (technically termed “significant action”) is proposed for the park.

The law also requires various government entities as well as Manhattan Community Boards 1, 2 and 4 to weigh in on the decision within a 60-day period following the notice of the proposed action.

Countering Glick’s claims, Schwartz said, “I don’t think a request for legislation is a ‘significant action’ under the law.”

Lee Alman, another Trust spokesperson, also said the state legislature is entitled to make changes to the H.R.P. Act without the need of a “significant action hearing.”

Continued on page 19

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May 16-29, 2012

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Pier 40: Hold a hearing first WE SUPPORT THE EFFORTS

of the Hudson River Park Trust and its community task force to try to look “outside the box” and examine all ideas for Pier 40 and the entire five-mile-long Lower West Side waterfront park.

The Trust has been sounding the alarm about the perilous state of Pier 40 for a while now. The park is facing an escalating financial deficit that threatens the Trust’s ability to complete the park’s construction and even properly to maintain what has already been built.

In a worst-case scenario, sections of the Houston Street pier’s roof could start collapsing in the next few years, and the 14.5-acre pier could be shut down completely. In addition, 70 percent of Pier 54 has recently been put off-limits due to deteriorated pilings.

Meanwhile, the Trust, due to a lack of state and city funding, is being forced to spend from its reserve fund and will soon be running at a deficit.

In short, the Trust needs a use on Pier 40 that will generate at least $10 million in annual revenue for the park, in addition to a developer who will commit to fixing the pier’s roof and pilings — at a total cost of $100 million.

The main issue is that, when the Hudson River Park Act was written in 1998, there was a fear that the waterfront park would be commercially developed and overwhelmed. As

a result, the Act includes restrictions against development such as residential housing, hotels and office uses.

Similarly, the Trust isn’t allowed to borrow money, so bonding isn’t permitted. And the 30-year lease term for Pier 40 isn’t long enough to make a project there financially feasible for a developer.

Modifying the H.R.P. Act may well be necessary. The park is now 70 percent built, so restrictive protections against commercial development that seemed essential 14 years ago can perhaps be amended, now that the fear of an entirely commercialized waterfront is no longer a possibility.

That said, there’s still a process for major changes to the park. Assembly Member Deborah Glick, for one, is taking a cautious and skeptical approach and fears the Trust is trying to “stampede and frighten everyone” into accepting residential use. Under the H.R.P. Act, she says, a public hearing must be held, and stakeholders must be given 30 days’ notice followed by 30 days for public input.

The Trust, for its part, counters that changing the park’s legislation in order to allow for longer leases and bonding authority, or residential or hotel use on Pier 40, doesn’t require such a hearing. According to the Trust, a full-bore public hearing would only be nec-

essary if the legislation were changed and the Trust subsequently decided to act on one of the new provisions — such as moving to issue a Request for Proposals (R.F.P.) to developers for housing on Pier 40.

The Trust is very much interested in changing the Act in order to open up Hudson River Park to a potentially wider variety of uses that could help generate income for this beloved park, which is required to be financially selfsustaining.

We believe it’s a good idea, and one that may ultimately save the park from failing.

But laws exist precisely to protect the things we do want: the waterfront views, the ball fields and our sense of peaceful enjoyment, among other things. And laws also exist to protect against things we don’t want: uses that would impact the park too heavily or change its fundamental character.

When the Act was being debated in 1998, some waterfront activists raised a cry that the Trust would be an “unaccountable authority.”

The Trust has a very compelling case to make on the changes that are necessary to create a viable and sustainable park. It needs to make its case forcefully and let the public have its say.

We agree with Glick. The changes proposed are significant and need more public review, rather than less. A hearing should be held.

Letters to the Editor BRING THE FRITZ KOENIG SPHERE HOME To the Editor: Re “W.T.C. sphere vetoed for 9/11 Memorial Plaza” (news article, May 16): The piece of sculptural art (and piece of our history) that has become known as “the Sphere” should be placed permanently at the new World Trade Center site. This unique piece of art was an inspiring part of our city before the 9/11 attacks that it ultimately survived. Clearly, it should assume the same position now.

I also am not opposed to a restoration of the sculpture so that it could be seen in its original state.

It’s appropriate to remove the scars left by the acts of terrorists.

However, as an artist who experienced the 9/11 attacks first-hand, I find it to be totally inappropriate to consider removing this highly symbolic piece of art to a remote hanger.

Frankly, I find the idea to be abhorrent. I hope more creative and reverent minds prevail and that the sculpture is simply allowed to go home.

Lawrence White

‘NO’ TO HOUSING ON PIER 40 To the Editor: Re “Residential could save Pier 40, new study finds” (news article, May 16):

That anyone in these neighborhoods — Tribeca, the Village, Soho and the entire Lower West Side — would give their trust to hotel and luxury real estate developers, and expect them to do what they say they are going to do with Pier 40, is beyond my comprehension. They will creep and creep and add more as they go, build against their promise and then say, “We can’t take it down, it’s already up.”

The machinery is already in place, and if it is not stopped, the story 10 years from now will be that the youth sports organizations sealed their own fate with their own study. It will end up being luxury high-rises. The self-entitled residents will complain about the fields and get what they want:

no more sports or noise after a certain hour and private security that will tighten down all entrances, preventing a multicultural group of youth from using the fields. Worse, they will presume over time that they alone are allowed use of the waterfront, and will begin to seal off and privatize public space.

After all of the fighting to protect this pier, this is a massive giveaway in the making, to the same old gang.

If the park is to remain a park, it needs a nonhousing partner. This would be like building condos in Central Park, and at taxpayer expense, if the Hudson River Trust Act is changed.

On the other hand, Major League Soccer is a

partner perfectly consistent with Pier 40’s current use, and it would be far easier with them to strike the type of deal that can be counted on to create and retain open space in the long term.

Patrick Shields E-mail letters, not longer than 300 words in length, to aline@downtownexpress.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to Downtown Express, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. Downtown Express reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel.

Downtown Express does not publish anonymous letters.

11

May 16-29, 2012

Talking Point

Keep child care alive B Y MARGARET S. CHIN

LAST WEEK, OVER A THOUSAND students, parents, educators and advocates crammed into the auditorium at P.S. 124, The Yung Wing School, in Chinatown.

Outside, a line of parents and children boasting handmade signs stretched the length of Division Street. For two hours, they addressed the crowd about how important after-school programs are to them.

Early this month, Mayor Mike Bloomberg released his executive budget, which calls for $170 million in cuts to children’s services, including after-school programs, child care centers and an educational initiative for young children known as Head Start.

These proposed cuts are some of the deepest and most debilitating ones our city has ever seen.

New York City has lost 61 percent of its city-subsidized child care and after-school program seats in the last five years. The mayor seeks to reduce the number from 2009’s 137,225 after-school and day care program seats to 53,315 starting next fall.

Overall, more than 47,000 children will lose access to programs that allow working parents to keep their jobs, support their families and contribute to our local economy.

Last year, the City Council worked to restore more than $100 million in cuts to youth and child services, which retained funding for after-school programs at I.S. 289 and P.S. 130 as well as daycare services at Chung Pak Day Care Center in Chinatown. Now, the mayor seeks to undo the Council’s financial restorations to Out of School Time (O.S.T.) and Early Learn programs, including Head Start and ACSsubsidized child care services.

Notebook

It’s a dog’s life B Y JANEL BLADOW

IT’S AN URBAN JUNGLE OUT THERE.

Sirens and horns. Street cart smells.

Hundreds of people, cars, trucks, pigeons and squirrels moving in all directions.

It’s overwhelming…and stressful. And not just for us humans.

What is a poor city dog to do?

He (or she) takes a breather by spending the day at the spa, hitting the run or kicking back at the city’s only canine nightclub with a couple of pals and a bottle of Sauvignon Bark.

Yep, the Downtown pup leads quite the doggie dog’s life.

The Fetch Club, which opened a yearand-a-half ago in 13,000-square-feet of space on two levels at 85 South St., is a bone-a-fide hit, with both four- and

This year’s cuts to after-school and daycare will have a disproportionate impact on Lower Manhattan because of the administration’s division of the city into “targeted” and “non-targeted” zip codes based on youth poverty levels, English Language Learners and eligibility for subsidized child care. Under the current system, programs in “non-targeted” zip codes — including 10005, 10006, 10007, and 10013 — are least likely to receive funding, even if they primarily serve low-income individuals. This reduces service in middle-income neighborhoods and fails to take into account the needs of working families. Thousands of middle-class and single parents rely on after-school and daycare programs to make ends meet.

Cutting programs based on zip code — rather than considering the income of families whose children are enrolled in the program — adversely affects the neediest families in our community. The method fails to take into account that pockets of poverty exist in mixed-income neighborhoods.

Lower Manhattan alone is home to more than 35,000 public housing residents and culturally and linguistically isolated populations.

Due to such draconian cuts in the mayor’s executive budget — O.S.T. alone is underfunded by nearly $20 million — even targeted zip codes in Lower Manhattan face extreme service cuts. Inexplicably, almost all of the programs to be cut this year have long histories of full enrollment and have demonstrated the demand for their services.

Overall, we stand to lose 70 percent of city-subsidized after-school programs operating south of Houston Street, including programs at P.S. 2, P.S. 20, P.S.

two-legged residents of the South Street Seaport and the Financial District. Pooch parents love it, because they know their furry loved one is well looked after and is having the time of his life.

The dogs love it because, well, there’s no place like it in the city.

The idea came to Fetch Club co-founder Janna Lee when she was looking for a place to leave her Husky while out of town.

“Choices were limited, and so was the space,” she said. “And I would come home from work tired and he’d want to play.

“City dogs get bored and feel neglected.

That’s not fair,” Lee mused. “They need a place to stretch, play and relax.”

My 21-month old Australian ShepherdBlue Healer mix gave two paws up this week after a busy day at the club. Tonto Two Toes arrived and was warmly greeted

by Lee’s business partner Peter Balestrieri and Assistant Operations Manager Fatima Perrone, who led him through the tantalizing array of foods, treats and toys in the boutique to check him in.

124, P.S. 142, P.S. 137, P.S./I.S. 140 and M345. Both I.S 289 and P.S. 130 were awarded funds for after-school next year; however, it remains unclear if the awards will be enough for the programs to maintain their current level of service. These programs are operated by such institutions as Henry Street Settlement, University Settlement and Chinese American Planning Council, which have aided our community for decades. All of these sites provided linguistically and culturally appropriate services to low-income and working families.

This year’s proposed cuts to Head Start and child care programs are also based on a needs assessment by zip code. Mayor Bloomberg claims that the new Early Learn program will enhance the quality of Head Start and day care programs for children in New York. However, this new and improved Early Learn model will serve nearly 16,000 fewer children than ever before.

In Lower Manhattan, we will lose nearly 500 day care slots in neighborhood centers that serve a majority of Lower Manhattan residents. Day care centers such as Action for Progress and BMCCC Early Childhood Center will be forced to close their doors, in addition to Chung Pak, Little Star, Garment Industry Day Care and C.P.C. Jacob Riis Child Care Center — four sites operated by the Chinese American Planning Council.

If these cuts are allowed to continue, it is not only the children that will suffer.

When families lose access to child care, they are forced to leave their children home alone, quit their jobs or find alternative options. As we have seen over and over again, when funding for child care services is cut, unlicensed and illegitimate networks of care fill the gap. This is not only danger-

ous for our children — it is damaging to our communities.

Mayor Bloomberg has defended his budget by asserting that it doesn’t impose any new taxes on New Yorkers — but this is misleading. Each child care slot or after-school program seat that is lost represents an added financial and emotional burden for families in New York City. The methodical stripping away of city services is an added tax on New Yorkers: Families in our community cannot afford to pay upwards of $100 per child per week for private child care arrangements, nor should they have to.

Over the next two months, the City Council will negotiate with the Bloomberg administration, and cuts to after-school and child care are certain to play a central role. There are options out there that could reverse these cuts and actually expand afterschool and child care programs rather than dismantle them. As your City Council representative, I will continue to fight against cuts to children’s services while advocating progressive revenue options — such as closing loopholes in business taxes and ending subsidies to major banks — that could generate revenue to be reinvested into our community.

It is important for all Lower Manhattan residents to make their voices heard during these negotiations. You can help by calling 311 to complain about cuts in your neighborhood or write to Mayor Bloomberg asking for a full restoration of the programs. I hope to see you at our rallies, press conferences and budget hearings in the weeks ahead.

Margaret S. Chin is Council Member of District 1, representing Lower Manhattan

Downtown Express photo by JANEL BLADOW

The space is clean and fresh-smelling.

You’d never know that more than 50 dogs were on the other side of the glass partition if you couldn’t see them jumping and wrestling in the different dog play areas.

The air is constantly cleaned by two industrial air purification systems with charcoal and HEPA filters. And you won’t find a mop anywhere: a central wet-dry vacuum system cleans and flushes the floors.

“I put in the same water filtration system I have in my house,” said Balestrieri proudly. “All water goes through an ionization system.”

First up was a little playtime in a run with his good pal pup, Daisy. Up and down the long, clean white run, the two raced, chasing balls and all kinds of rubber toys tossed by junior manager and trainer David Hernandez.

Following his vigorous workout, Tonto sniffed his “byes” to Daisy and headed off

Tonto knocks back a few licks in the super cool canine nightclub at Fetch Club.

Continued on page 17

12

May 16-29, 2012

Pols come to aid of I.P.N. tenants; demand reversal of court ruling B Y J O H N B AY L E S he Appellate Court got it wrong,” said Ed Rosner, vice president of the Independence Plaza North (I.P.N.) Tenants Association, at 80 North Moore St. “It makes no sense. By virtue of that decision, no resident is safe.”

Rosner, who is also co-chair of the MitchellLama Residents Coalition, was referring to the April 3 Appellate Division of the NYS Supreme Court ruling in favor of I.P.N. landlord Laurence Gluck.

The decision states that if a landlord receiving J-51 benefits, a tax break related to the renovation of apartments, decides to “retroactively” repay the tax, the affected apartments would no longer be rent-stabilized. In exchange for the tax exemption, building owners must provide certain benefits to their tenants, such as rent stabilization. Gluck had been receiving the tax abatements dating back to 1998.

According to the latest ruling, I.P.N. apartments are not rent-stabilized. The complex was already taken out of the Mitchell-Lama program — a separate state program that subsidizes middle-income families — in the mid-2000s.

Local politicians banded together in front of Independence Plaza North in Tribeca on May 3 to decry what they deem a “critical blow” to the future of affordable housing in New York City.

“Simply put, without affordability at I.P.N., our community would not be what it is today,” said NYS Sen. Daniel Squadron. “J-51 is not just meant to provide a tax break — it’s meant

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to ensure the kind of affordability and stability that I.P.N. has long provided and that makes New York the vibrant and diverse place it is today.”

Squadron stressed the need for a Court of Appeals hearing, which is critical for not only I.P.N. residents but for the tens of thousands of other affordable housing dwellers potentially affected by the ruling.

Indeed, an initial assessment found that the ruling would impact at least 4,140 apartments in 25 different developments throughout the city, according to legislators.

U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler said the city is faced with an affordable housing crisis, making it all the more crucial that developments such as I.P.N. remain affordable to lowand moderate-income families.

“The J-51 program has been a vital tool for maintaining affordability throughout the city and must be preserved,” asserted Nadler.

“Moreover, owners who accepted tax breaks in exchange for a commitment to affordability should not now be given the opportunity to renege on that commitment.”

When Nadler was a state legislator, he was one of the sponsors of J-51, recalled Rosner, who is confident that the NYS Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, will ultimately side with I.P.N. “He knows its intent,” said Rosner.

“He and other elected officials, as well as Community Board 1, are preparing to file [opposing testimony to the Court of Appeals]

Downtown Express photo by ALINE REYNOLDS

Flanked by locals and fellow politicians, U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler discusses the importance of preserving affordable housing at Independence Plaza North (I.P.N.).

to overturn this outrageous decision.”

C.B. 1 Chair Julie Menin also expressed her disappointment with the decision and voiced concern that arbitrary rent increases could lead to eviction of long-time residents.

“Keeping affordable housing in our district is a vitally important priority for us,” she said.

The April ruling upheld a decision by a federal court judge almost a year ago, saying Gluck did not break the law when he deregulated I.P.N. and removed it from Mitchell-Lama while

simultaneously receiving J-51 tax credits.

I.P.N.’s Tenants Association thought they had won the battle against Stellar Management, the company where Gluck serves as chief executive officer, when in August 2010, NYS Supreme Court Judge Marci Friedman ruled that the 1,328 units had been illegally deregulated because it received J-51 benefits both before and after exiting from Mitchell-Lama.

Further, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development did not change the status when it permitted the landlord to “pay back” the post-exit tax benefits.

However, Gluck appealed that ruling on the basis that the city Department of Finance was responsible for the mistake that led to the J-51 tax credits being issued after the building had been removed from the Mitchell-Lama program.

He repaid the amount resulting from the J-51 tax credits, including interest, dating back to summer 2004.

Rosner and others are awaiting permission to file their appeal. But meanwhile, “We can’t expect tenants to move onto a park bench,” he said. “Between food and shelter, you are getting down to the basics.”

“Why do we continue to allow rich people to break the laws?” chimed in Vickie Green, a 36-year tenant at I.P.N., who is living on social security. “We want to see justice done.”

— Additional reporting

by Bonnie Rosenstock

13

May 16-29, 2012

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May 16-29, 2012

B Y TERESE LOEB KREUZER

COUNTRY LIVING HOMES ON THE W.F.C. PLAZA: For the second year, Country Living’s “House of the Year” is back on the World Financial Center Plaza overlooking North Cove Marina.

This year, the magazine, dedicated to “the charm of easy living,” is presenting three 250-square-foot cottages that could provide homeowners with much-needed extra space without the cost of major construction. One of the cottages has been outfitted as a guest bedroom, another, as an outdoor kitchen, and the third as an entrepreneur’s studio.

Country Living editors worked with guest designers and experts to decorate the cottages. Even apartment dwellers without yards may get some ideas for how to make the most of small spaces.

Top Chef Masters winner Marcus Samuelsson, owner of the Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem, had a hand in the kitchen design. The guest bedroom was outfitted by designer Thomas Paul and Kreis Beall, owner of the sybaritic Blackberry Farm in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Designer Barbara Kurgan worked on the studio with the assistance of Stephen Loidolt and Shauna Alterio, owners of Philadelphia-based Forage Bow Ties (a source for handcrafted neckwear) and the lifestyle brand Something’s Hiding in Here.

For each visitor to the exhibit, Country Living will make a donation to an organization called Nontraditional Employment for Women that trains and places women in the skilled construction, utility and maintenance trades that have traditionally been closed to them. Some of these women have been adding the finishing

Downtown Express photos by TERESE LOEB KREUZER

Over the weekend of May 11, three 250-square-foot cottages were erected on the World Financial Center plaza facing North Cove Marina. Designated “2012 House of the Year” by Country Living magazine, “Room to Spare” cottages have been outfitted as a guest bedroom, an outdoor kitchen and an entrepreneur’s studio.

touches to the cottages.

Admission to the exhibit is free. It’s open from May 17 to May 23, Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday and Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

HARRY’S

ITALIAN

OPENS:

Harry’s Italian, the last of the food emporia to open on what has become Battery Park City’s “restaurant row,” has been serving lunch and dinner in Goldman Sachs alley since May 7. Things were quiet on the first day according to manager Peter Messinis, but have been bustling ever since.

Restaurateur Peter Poulakakos and pizza chef Nick Angelis are behind the

venture, their fourth pizza bar and the third outpost of the “Harry’s Italian” brand.

Harry’s Italian opened without a liquor license. In the meantime, patrons have been walking across the alley to Vintry Fine Wines, another Poulakakos enterprise, to buy wine to imbibe with their meals. When the expected liquor license arrives shortly, wine will be available by the glass or by the bottle.

The menu features pizzas and calzones, a variety of pastas priced from $11 to $13 at lunch (with somewhat higher prices at dinner) and Italian specialties, such as chicken and veal Marsala, chicken and veal saltimbocca and shrimp oreganato.

Delivery and takeout are available throughout the Downtown area, and brunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays.

Harry’s Italian Pizza Bar is located at 225 Murray St. and Vesey St. The hours are Mondays to Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. and Sundays, 11 a.m. to midnight. The phone number is (212) 608-1007.

LIBRARY MISHAP: On Thursday, May 10, a two-year-old boy fell from the second-floor balcony of the Battery Park City branch library at 175 North End Ave. and was taken to the hospital for evaluation and treatment. He has since been released.

The balcony is edged by a clear, glass-like barrier around three-and-a-half-feet high.

It appears that the child managed to slip around a column and through a small opening between the barrier and the wall that has since been closed with wooden braces.

The library is continuing to investigate the accident.

Harry’s Italian eatery opened at 225 Murray St. in Goldman Sachs alley on Monday, May 7, the last of the food emporia to open on what has become Battery Park City’s “restaurant row.”

B.P.C. PARKS CONSERVANCY’S PROGRAMS: The Battery Park City

Parks Conservancy’s summer programs are in full swing, and this week, that means literally full swing. On Saturday, May 19 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Conservancy will stage the first of this season’s family dances with the Calpulli Mexican Dance Company.

Family dances are for everyone, with or without partners — and with or without families. Dance leaders demonstrate the steps and everyone is invited to join in. No one is judging! Some people would rather just watch and enjoy the music, and that’s fine, too.

Calpulli presents traditional regional dances of Mexico accompanied by coastal Mexican rhythms, Aztec drums, Mariachi music and singing. It has performed at Carnegie Hall and has an annual season at Queens Theatre in the Park.

Most family dances are held on Esplanade Plaza, just south of North Cove Marina, and like most Battery Park City Parks Conservancy programs, are free.

Upcoming family dances include the Swedish Midsummer Festival on June 22 (in Wagner Park because it is a prodigious event with a Maypole, crafts, food and revelers, who come from as far away as Minnesota to participate), a Brazilian family dance on July 14 and a Greek family dance on Aug. 11.

On the morning of May 19, people with kids (or people without them who like to hear stories) can stop by Teardrop Park at 11 a.m. for the interactive musical, “Play Me a Story,” performed by Maya Blank and Uri Shalin with a lot of audience participation. Children are invited to sing, dance and act out parts of the story.

A hat-making workshop will follow the storytelling.

To comment on Battery Park City Beat or to suggest article ideas, email TereseLoeb@mac.com

May 16-29, 2012

15

Hudson River pageant showcases costumes, talent

T

he 315-mile-long le-lon ng Hudson River er harbors somee interesting creatures as it flows from Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains to the he Atlantic Ocean, butt none as dazzling ass those who camee to o honor it on May 12 in n the annual Hudson Rive River er Pageant.

In a swirl of imaginamag a ina-tive costumes and d vi vvivid vid colors, participants pa paradaraded along the waterfront ater erfrontt in Battery Park City and Greenwich Village, e, stopsto topping every few blocks ocks fo forr dancing, music and nd poet-

ry readings. At the Christopher C was an oyster Street pier, there wa planting ceremony and dance.

At Charles Street, fish were released into the river. The parade ended at Horatio with a boat Street wit and harmonic dance an chant concert.

T h e pageant is an amalgamation of o exuberant artistic a invention and rituals, a music and mu incantations incc in borrowed from borro many The ny cultures. cu community and scientific groups who study and tend

Downtown Express photos by TERESE LOEB KREUZER

the river and its inhabitants exhorted the audience to be aware of how politics and economics have affected the river and to be its voice when needed.

Pageant director Felicia Young founded the not-for-profit Earth Celebrations in 1991 to engage artists and the arts in the service of ecological awareness. She first staged the Hudson River Pageant in 2009 to call

attention to the native species and habitats of the Hudson River and to address climate change.

In preparing costumes and puppets for the pageant, Young and her team hold workshops for adults and also work with students who will be the stewards of the river in the future. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Terese Loeb Kreuzer

16

May 16-29, 2012

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May 16-29, 2012

Hotel dev in the weeds Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a dogâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life Continued from page 5

of the overdue payments. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When the developer [previously] came to the community board, this information was not known,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And now we are aware of it and we are very concerned about it, and that is why we scheduled this meeting.â&#x20AC;?

According to the city Department of Buildings (D.O.B.), properties owned by the developer have racked up dozens of building violations throughout the city. That said, Jones noted the violations count is typical for a company as large as McSam. Asked about the residentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; concerns, he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think the [D.O.B. records] say McSam is a normal developer.â&#x20AC;?

As evidence of how common building violations are in New York City, Jones referred to the D.O.B. website, which lists 40 alleged building violations at 37 Chambers St. According to the site, 49-51 Chambers St., the building that houses C.B. 1 headquarters, has five violations of its own.

In recent years, McSam, founded by hotel magnate Sam Chang, has built a name for itself in Lower Manhattan by bringing budget hotel services to a market previously known for hosting mostly upscale accommodations.

But business has not always been kind to Chang, who has twice filed for bankruptcy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; most recently in 1996. He has also avoided

using union labor for constructing and staffing such hotels, which has been met by opposition from labor union leaders and local residents alike.

The 2008 downturn in the local real estate market hurt the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s balance sheet, and provoked it to sell off two-thirds of its properties and slash its staffing by 75 percent, according to Jones. The financial difficulties are also largely responsible for the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s failure to keep up with property taxes and fines from the city. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is true that, since 2008, a number of properties fell behind in taxes; but at the same time, the taxes werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t being paid [on time] â&#x20AC;&#x201D; neither were the mortgages, neither were the contractors and the other vendors,â&#x20AC;? said Jones, attributing the outstanding 99 Washington St. taxes to poor oversight within the company.

Jones added, â&#x20AC;&#x153;There just wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t money to go around.â&#x20AC;?

However, Josh Gold, director of political and strategic affairs for the New York Hotel Trades Council, which represents 30,000 hotel workers, said the issue is not about the economyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effect on business but about the character of McSam, who continues to evade its responsibilities to the community. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unpaid taxes and violations reinforce that this is a company that consistently cuts corners to the detriment of its employees, customers and city residents,â&#x20AC;? Gold said in an email.

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Continued from page 11

to the salon with groomer Jaclyn Gardner, who bathed, brushed and dried him, clipped his nails and trimmed his paws. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t skimp and only use the best quality natural shampoos that are sulfate free and smell good,â&#x20AC;?

Gardner said as she cuddled and reassured the T Man. Next, it was a quick, relaxing stop in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;doggie sauna,â&#x20AC;? a Japanese-designed dryer that gently blows cool, filtered air to deep dry his fur. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dogs who are afraid of the blow dryer enjoy this more,â&#x20AC;? Jaclyn added, tying a green camo-patterned scarf around his neck.

Looking to chill a bit more, Tonto strutted downstairs, past the gym-boasting doggy-sized treadmills and giant blue and red fitness stability balls â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which the dogs use to strengthen leg muscles â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to the relaxation room. There, he sat on the sheepskin-covered bamboo mat as the masseuse and dog-friendly sounds soothed his inner beast.

After a good rubdown and a few downward facing dogs, the animal was ready to party.

Off Tonto went to the exclusive, cavernous night club â&#x20AC;&#x201D; dimly lit with a gilt bone chandelier no less, for a little action. The room could easily awaken the disco in any dog: One wall is brightly painted with graffiti, while another is a mosaic of golden dog bones.

Sofas and chairs line the space, leaving the center open with plenty of room to get down. The hostess broke open Sauvignon Bark, their finest bottle of dog wine from Bark Vineyards, and a chicken and vegetable broth that was lick-a-licous. (Two other flavors are also sold in the boutique upstairs: Barkundy and Pinot Leasheo.)

Pampered and puckish, Tonto let out a howl. Sweet!

After a good rubdown and a few downward facing dogs, the animal was ready to party.

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May 16-29, 2012

Thompson sets sights on mayoral race Continued from page 1

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Street and the restoration of South Cove. He also cited the long-awaited community center featuring two swimming pools and gym on North End Avenue, in addition to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;transformationalâ&#x20AC;? renovation of Pier A. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very comfortable that these projects are moving forwardâ&#x20AC;Śquickly and that everybody will be very pleased when theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re done,â&#x20AC;? he said.

A former employee of the B.P.C.A. who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, was less laudatory of the Thompson regime, noting that both Pier A and the community center are overbudget and behind schedule.

The source attributed some of the problems to the precipitous layoffs of 19 people late last year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The whole of Lower Manhattan was waiting for Pier A, and they come in and lay off 19 people â&#x20AC;&#x201D; five of them directly involved with Pier A and the community center, both of which were going along swimmingly. Now, neither of those projects is done,â&#x20AC;? the source said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not only is neither project done, but all of the Board of Directors meetings are in executive session, and nobody knows whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going on.â&#x20AC;?

The former employee also observed that the CityTime scandal â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one of the largest mismanaged contracts that New York has ever had

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Horwitz worked under Thompson as deputy comptroller when Thompson served as New York City Comptroller from 2002 to 2009.

Subsequently, he brought Horwitz in to serve as B.P.C.A. president. Phyllis Taylor, the B.P.C.A.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chief administrative officer, executive vice president and general counsel, had also worked as deputy comptroller under Thompson. Anne Fenton, Horwitzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special assistant, had served as Thompsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spokesperson during his last mayoral campaign. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I leave behind a strong operation with an active board and solid management who, I have no doubt, will continue to build on the great success of the Authority,â&#x20AC;? Thompson said in his resignation letter.

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High-rises on the Hudson?

Let’s think this through Continued from page 9

Were the park legislation to be changed — say, to allow residential use — and the Trust actually decided to move forward on the idea of housing, then a hearing would be required, he said.

“Nevertheless,” Alman said, “the Trust has asked the Hudson River Park Advisory Council to hold a public meeting, in conjunction with the three community boards, to react to the recommendations of the task force.”

The meeting will be held on Thurs., May 31 at St. Paul’s Chapel (209 Broadway between Fulton and Vesey Sts.) at 7 p.m.

STADIUM STILL KICKING AROUND In mid-April, representatives of Major League Soccer gave the task force and Trust officials a presentation of the league’s proposal for a 25,000-seat stadium on Pier 40.

Schwartz said he may ask M.L.S. to give a presentation next month to the H.R.P. Advisory Council, which has a partial overlap with the task force in terms of its members.

The soccer stadium scenario wasn’t analyzed in the Pier 40 study, because M.L.S.’s pitch to the Trust and the task force came sometime after the study was already underway. But the impact of the stadium on Saturday evenings during soccer season would undoubtedly be off the charts.

While it’s unclear whether the soccer stadium has local support, it’s crystal clear

that it has political clout behind it. Emily Giske — vice chairperson of the New York State Democratic Committee and a close friend of NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn — is a lobbyist for the M.L.S. plan.

However, Schwartz assured he’s not being pushed to allow the soccer group to present to the H.R.P. Advisory Council.

“No one is pressuring me,” he stated.

PARK NEEDS FUNDING Hudson River Park as a whole is supposed to be self-financing, and Pier 40 has been generating about 40 percent of the park’s annual revenue. Yet city and state capital funding to complete the remaining 30 percent of the park’s construction has dwindled in recent years.

In short, the Trust needs an estimated $200 million to complete the park.

In modifying the H.R.P. Act, the Trust would like to be able to issue longer leases than are currently permitted under the law. Currently, it can only issue a 30-year lease for Pier 40, which isn’t long enough to make projects there viable for developers.

However, Albany’s legislative session ends in June, leaving a very narrow time frame if these changes are to be made this year. The Trust, reportedly, along with leading park advocates are eager to see the changes made during this session.

Glick — whose district contains Pier 40 — is a key player and would need to be won over if there are to be any legislative changes.

Downtown Express file photo

The Hudson River Park Trust plans to replace deteriorated concrete slabs on the northeastern section of Pier 40’s roof. The $6 million job should be starting soon. The pier needs a total of $100 million in repairs.

19

20

May 16-29, 2012

Helping the hard of hearing Continued from page 6

makes it difficult for him to pick up on high-pitched sounds like footsteps — even though sounds lower on the spectrum were relatively problem-free.

“People were constantly sneaking up on me,” he said.

“I was constantly being surprised that someone was right behind me.”

Services at the Center for Hearing and Communication are not limited to diagnosing hearing loss and providing assistive technology. The nonprofit also offers speech therapy, support groups, hearing aid repairs and English classes for nonnative speakers.

The C.H.C.’s holistic approach has many clients thankful, including Vijay Shah of Queens, who has utilized its services since 2006. Prior to receiving a

cochlear implant, a medical procedure that allows a hearing aid to bypass internally damaged areas of the ear, he had trouble hearing his wife and conducting daily business as usual.

The problem became so bad that Shah’s wife had to write down what she wanted to say to him.

All of that has since changed. With the help of the implant, daily conversation is no longer a challenge for him. But he remains vigilant in improving his condition, which is an ongoing process.

“The center is beautiful,” said Shah.

“They try to help you whenever they can.”

“The center is beautiful. They try to help you whenever they can.”

— Vijay Shah

Screenings at the C.H.C., located at 50 Broadway, are held by appointment every Wednesday from 12 until 2 p.m. and from 4 to 6 p.m. For more information, call the C.H.C. at 917-305-7700 or visit its website, www.chchearing.org.

Chen trials delayed Continued from page 5

morale and tarnishes the U.S.’s reputation for being a protector of equality and democracy,” she said. “We know that our military can do better, and I ask with the public to work with Congresswoman Velazquez and the Army to improve these measures.”

Speaking in Chinese, Su Zhen Chen, Chen’s mother, said she hopes the public will support Velazquez’s legislation, “so that this never happens again to another family.”

Army officials declined to comment on the legislation.

The bill was introduced to Congress the week of May 7. Passage of national laws such as this one can take anywhere from weeks to months. A Velazquez spokesperson wouldn’t comment on the time frame for the bill’s passage other than saying that it’s a “priority” for the congresswoman.

COURTS-MARTIAL DELAYED Also the week of May 7, army officials announced that the courts-martial of the eight soldiers purportedly involved in Chen’s death were set to begin Thurs., May 17.

But a week later, without a full expla-

nation, an Army spokesperson said they wouldn’t begin until August.

“One of the things that happens in a trial is that procedures change,” said the spokesperson. He wouldn’t comment further about the reasons for the date switch.

Asked if a new date had been decided on, the spokesperson said, “There isn’t a specific date that I’m aware of — they’re still working on it.”

Whenever the court-martial takes place, Staff Sergeant Blaine Dugas will be tried for dereliction of duty and making a false statement, among other violations of Army rules. He faces maximum punishment of eight-and-a-half years’ imprisonment, in addition to demotion of rank, forfeiture of pay and expulsion from the Army. The other soldiers’ trials have yet to be scheduled.

As previously reported by the Downtown Express, OCA-NY is organizing a cultural event set to take place on Thurs., May 24, at Pace High School (100 Hester St.) in honor of Danny Chen’s birthday. Featured artists will include R&B singer Taiyo Na, photographer Corky Lee and spoken-word artist Kris Lew, among others.

For more information, contact OCA-NY Executive Director Liz OuYang at oca-ny@ oca-ny.org.

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May 16-29, 2012

21

Pioneer back up and running Continued from page 1

by dock-builder Russell Grinnell. The vessel was originally built as a sand barge in Pennsylvania and later became an oil tanker before serving as a schooner.

“There’s something magical about her as a living piece of history,” said Jonathan Boulware, the museum’s waterfront director. “She’s still working for a living in the way that many sailing vessels worked for their livings in the waterways of the early U.S.” The Pioneer, which carries a maximum of 40 passengers at a time, will make weekly tours through October around the Lower Manhattan waterfront, the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn and New Jersey shores. It will also host outings for students from New York Harbor School and a host of other city schools, including P.S. 116 in Jamaica, Queens and the Buckley School on the Upper East Side.

Passengers and crewmen alike were bubbling over with excitement during the first sail.

“It’s fantastic — everybody’s very excited,” said Michael Cohen, the Pioneer’s relief captain for 25 years. “A year off [the vessel] is way too much.”

Cohen, who led a training session that morning comprised of fire drills

and other safety exercises for the volunteers, reviewed basic safety rules with the passengers before setting sail into the harbor.

The guests were asked to keep their feet on the deck at all times, refrain from climbing the rigging and avoid standing on the cabin tops.

While the lifelines can help with one’s balance while navigating the deck, they’re not built to prevent passengers from falling off the vessel, Cohen warned.

Then came the captain’s instructions about using the below-deck toilet.

“The number one rule is that nothing goes in [the toilet] that you have not already eaten,” said Cohen.

Minutes later, the Pioneer motored out of Pier 16 and plowed through the deep water range. As the passengers admired the views of Lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge, Jim Bising and the other volunteers were busy refreshing their maritime skills (the bulk of the Seaport Museum’s volunteer program was suspended for six months last year).

Bising, a volunteer since the 1990s, was scrutinizing the mast boot, which he said needed to be replaced in order to prevent leaks into the storage space below deck.

He and co-volunteer Linda Beal made

plans to purchase cotton duck at a store on Canal Street following the sail, which they would use to hand-sew a new canvas cover to protect the Pioneer’s mast.

“It’s enjoyable, and it makes me feel that I’m doing something worthwhile,” said Bising of volunteering.

Volunteers were also helping to prepare for the schooner’s docking upon its return to Pier 16. The maneuver is so arduous that a former Pioneer captain used it as a good example of how to dock a vessel, according to volunteer Suzanne Semanson.

“Logistically, it’s a tight space to come into,” she said. “She has to spin almost 360 degrees on the spot to side up to be docked.”

Semanson, who joined the volunteer program in 2009, said being back on the Pioneer felt rejuvenating, particularly compared to “before, [when there was] this tense rift between the sailors and the administration.”

Volunteer Linda Beal also expressed excitement about being back on the schooner following the hiatus.

“It feels like a return to the Garden of Eden,” she said. “We are so blessed [to be] coming back to the people and this wonderful boat and the other boats as well.”

After the boat docked, passengers

climbed out of the vessel with smiles on their faces. Chinatown resident Julie Fredrickson said she didn’t even know sailing tours in the city existed.

“It’s pretty impressive,” she said. “I have poked around the Seaport as a tourist in my years living in New York, but I’ve never actually gone out on anything.”

Grand Street resident Chinh Nguyen said the sail offered the perfect snapshot of the Tri-State area to her two Vietnamese sisters, who were visiting New York for a week.

Nguyen said she much preferred being amid crew members than hoards of tourists. “Usually you don’t see the crew on the boat, but here you have the feeling that you’re with them,” she said.

“I totally preferred this [to a ferry],” chimed in Nguyen’s sister, Trang Dai Nguyen.

Having taken many photos, she said, “We wanted to see everything, and we wanted to keep it and save it for a lifetime.”

The Pioneer hosts tours Tuesdays through Fridays, 3-5 p.m., 7-9 p.m. and 9:30-11:30 pm.; and weekends, 1-3 p.m., 4-6 p.m., 7-9 p.m. as well as on Saturdays, 9:30-11:30 p.m. To purchase tickets for a sail on the schooner, visit www.nywatertaxi.com/tours/pioneer-tour.

22

May 16-29, 2012

EXPECT THE IMPOSSIBLE For one weekend only, Mark Nizer comes to Canal Park Playhouse armed with robots, flying lasers and outrageous juggling tricks. Audience members will be issued 3D glasses for this crazy combination of live performance and cutting edge technology at Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal St., btw. Greenwich and West Sts.). June 15-17.

Fri. at 7pm; Sat. at 1pm, 4pm & 7pm; and Sun. at 1pm & 4pm. For tickets ($20), call 866-811-4111 or visit canalparkplayhouse.com.

AMERICAN TAP DANCE FOUNDATION The Tap City Youth Ensemble and American Tap Dance Foundation present “Tap Attacks” — showcasing the best youth tap talent the city has to offer as part of their Outdoor Presentation series. 10:30-11:30am on Sat., May 19 and June 9 at Bleecker Playground; Sun., May 20 at Battery Park; and Sun., June 10 at Vesuvio Playground. Or, if you’d rather make some noise yourself, the American Tap Dance Center (154 Christopher St., #2B, btw. Greenwich & Washington Sts.) is offering children and teens a free introductory tap class. Sat., May 19 & June 9, 4:30-5:30pm. RSVP at 646-2309564. For more info, visit atdf.org.

HOUSE OF GHOSTLY HAUNTS Cardone The Magician’s spook show will continue to electrify audiences as Canal Park Playhouse once again extends its run, now through July 31. The vaudeville-style act fea-

tures razor swallowing and spirit conjuring — and ends in 10 minutes of complete darkness. Appropriate for ages 7 and up. Tuesdays, 7pm, at Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal St., btw. Greenwich & West Sts.).

For tickets ($20), call 866-811-4111 or visit canalparkplayhouse.com.

UP TO YOU TADA! Youth Theater presents this not so ordinary high school musical by Eric Rockwell and J o a n n e B o g a r t , d i r e c t e d b y J a n i n e N i n a Tr e v e n s .

Appropriate for ages 5 and up, it takes place in 1977 during Student Council elections at Hamilton High.

The narrator, Eric, is bullied because of rumors about his sexuality and soon learns who his real friends are.

At TADA! Youth Theater (15 W. 28th St., btw. Broadw a y & F i f t h Av e . ) . P e r f o r m a n c e s r u n e v e r y S a t . & Sun., through May 20, at 2pm & 4pm. For tickets ($15, $8 for children; premium tickets $25, $15 for children) and more info, visit tadatheater.com. Group rates and birthday party packages are also available.

Photo courtesy of Janus Films

Pascal Lamorisse as The Little Boy in “The Red Balloon.”

THE RED BALLOON CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF THE ARTS Every summer, CMA partners with Governor’s Island for their Free Art Island Outpost where kids ages 1-12 can do a variety of projects from craft stations to sound design.

Every Sat. & Sun., beginning May 28 from 11am-3pm at buildings 11 & 14 in Nolan Park. Explore painting, collage and sculpture through self-guided arts projects at this museum dedicated to inspiring the artist

Junior & Teen Sailing Camps These week-long programs inspire kids and develop self-confidence.

Each week includes lots of fresh air, sunshine and healthy activity.

Ages 8 to 18 Tuition ranges from $390 to $690 per week Full details & color pictures at www.sailmanhattan.com or call Manhattan Sailing School At 212-786-0400.

Canal Park Playhouse is screening Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 Academy Awardwinning short film about a boy named Pascal and the faithful balloon that follows him through Paris. A charming French classic with little dialogue and lots of within. Open art stations are ongoing throughout the afternoon — giving children the opportunity to experiment with materials such as paint, clay, fabric, paper and found objects. Regular museum hours: Mon. and Wed., 12-5pm; Thurs.-Fri., 12-6pm; Sat.-Sun., 10am6pm. Admission: $10; free for seniors and infants (0-12 months). Pay as you wish on Thurs., 4-6pm. At 103 Charlton St. (btw. Hudson and Greenwich Sts.).

Call 212-274-0986 or visit cmany.org. For group tours, call 212-274-0986, ext. 31.

POETS HOUSE T h e P o e t s H o u s e C h i l d r e n ’s R o o m 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, “ We e k l y P o e t r y R e a d i n g s ” o n S a t u r d a y s a t 1 1 a m .

Filled with poetry books, old-fashioned typewriters and a card catalogue packed with poetic objects to trigger inspiration, the Children’s Room is open Thurs.-Sat., 11am-5pm. Free admission. At 10 River Terrace. Call 212-431-7920 or visit poetshouse.org.

THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM The Skyscraper Museum’s “Saturday Family Program” series features workshops designed to introduce children and their families to the principles of architecture and engineering — through hands-on activities. On May 26, the new exhibit “News PAPER Spires” lets kids ages 8-13 create paper towers like those that housed the newspaper industry at the turn of the 20th century (as seen in Broadway’s “Newsies”). On June 9, the “Sidewalk Art” workshop will show kids how to sketch a blueprint of a building and then draw it on the sidewalk in chalk to create a unique skyline. All workshops take place from 10:30-11:45am, at The Skyscraper Museum (39 Battery Place). Registration required. Call 212945-6324 or e-mail education@skyscraper.org. Admission: $5 per child, free for members. Museum hours: Wed.-Sun., 12-6pm. Museum admission: $5, $2.50 for

heart, it will delight both children and adults. Screenings (34 minutes long) are at Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal St., btw.

Greenwich and West Sts.) from May 19 to June 3. Sat. & Sun., 10:30am, 1pm & 4pm.

For tickets ($7), call at 866-811-4111 or visit canalparkplayhouse.com. students/seniors. For info, call 212-945-6324, visit skyscraper.org or email education@skyscraper.org.

THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE MUSEUM The Junior Officers Discovery Zone is 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 play experiences designed to help children understand the role of police officers in our community. For older children, there’s a crime scene observation activity that challenges 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 in which they can hear radio calls with police codes and see some of the actual equipment carried by the vehicle.

At 100 Old Slip (btw. Front and South Sts.). For info, call 212-480-3100 or visit nycpm.org. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 10am-5pm and Sun., 12-5pm. Admission: $8 ($5 for students, seniors and children; free for children under 2).

THE 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 a guided tour of the museum’s first floor, classroom training and a simulated event in a mock apartment (where a firefighter shows how fires can start in different rooms in the home). Tours, for groups of 20 or more, are offered Tues.-Fri. at 10:30am, 11:30am and 12:30pm. Tickets are $3 for children and $5 per adult (for every 10 kids, admission is free for one adult).

The museum offers a $700 Junior Firefighter Birthday Party package, for 16 children, ages 3-6. They’ll be treated to story time, show and tell, a coloring activity, a scavenger hunt and the opportunity to speak to a real firefighter (a fire-themed birthday cake, juice boxes, favors and decorations are provided). At 278 Spring St. (btw. Varick and Hudson). For info, call 212691-1303 or visit nycfiremuseum.org.

May 16-29, 2012

23

Explicit and harrowing handshakes with death Ravenhill’s latest dives off the deep end pool (no water) Written by Mark Ravenhill Directed by Ianthe Demos Through May 26 At 9th Space, inside PS 122 (150 1st Ave., at 9th St.) Wed.-Sat. at 7:30pm; matinees, Sat. & Sun. at 2:30pm Additional performance, Tues., May 22 at 7:30pm For tickets ($25), visit 9thspace.org or call 212-352-3101 For info: oneyearlease.org

M

B Y J E RRY TA LL ME R ost plays in the English language have a certain formal structure. There are so many characters — anywhere from just one to, oh maybe 30 or 40. Each character has a name or a descriptive tag or both (Editor Webb — Candida, the minister’s wife — Young Abe Lincoln), and the words or thoughts or both are ascribed to one or another of these characters or, as it may be, more than one.

Not in the case of Mark Ravenhill.

Or at least not in the case of 46-yearold British playwright Mark Ravenhill’s passionate yet cynical “pool (no water),” which — lower case and all, but with five life-sized, flesh-and-blood actors articulating now this person, now that one, as if by roll of the dice (ah there, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!) — is receiving its New York premiere.

One might think that this strip tease, bare-bones aspect of a play gunning for public consumption might be for shock effect, and one might be right. The last time we had something of Ravenhill’s in these parts was 12 years ago at East 4th Street’s New York Theatre Workshop, and the work being shopped bore the in-your-face title, “Shopping and Fucking.”

To tell the truth, nothing that happened on stage with his “S&F” was — to my best memory — as inflammatory as that titular come-on. But then, a New York audience that had survived Michael McClure’s climactically explicit but beautiful 1965 “The Beard” — Billy the Kid pleasuring Jean Harlow — can survive anything.

Actually, at least in the reading of this

Photo by Scott J. Fetterman

Richard Saudek and friends navigate troubled waters.

new entry of Ravenhill’s, sex plays only a supporting role to Death here, and make that a capital D. Sex and Death, linked unwillingly.

Isn’t that what Freud and everybody since Freud has been telling us down through the decades?

In “pool (no water),” there are two explicit and harrowing handshakes with death — one from impact of body on concrete where the water should be, the other, slower and crueler, by way of cancer — but the main intrusion of sex here is only via back references to the age of AIDS. (Dispatches from London tell us that the HIV-positive Ravenhill had a partner who died of AIDS.) This, then, is a play about Death and sex, to reverse the usual order — and envy and pandering and free-loading and flattery and ass-kissing and art world gamesmanship and phoniness and a great deal else of the kind that’s familiar to any and all who’ve ever been there or near there. I am led to think, not for the first time, of Paul Klee’s great etching of two honorable gentlemen bowing to one another, each trying to get his nose closer to the ground.

But let us be fair: “pool (no water)” is indeed also something of a white-hot 60-minute poem of illusion and disillusion in which the troubled and/or scornful voices, mainly female, shift from one nameless character — and one unidenti-

fied actor or actress — to another.

With one exception. One voice has a name. It is that of Sally, the adored and scorned Lady Bountiful, who built the pool for herself and her houseguests, but never got to use it because the cancer took her first.

The real-life individual who holds this whole complicated dramatic machinery together is the show’s director, an agreeably zaftig young woman named Ianthe (pronounced Yon-tee) Demos, the idealistic offspring of a Greek father who is a photographer and a Dutch mother who is merely “a wonder woman.”

The actors are all members of the One Year Lease Theatre Company — a GreekAustralian-New Zealand-U.S, combo founded and run by Demos, Nick Flint, Christina Bennett Lind, Richard Saudek, Christopher Baker and Estelle Bajou.

Demos has never met Ravenhill, has never talked with him — “but I fell in love with ‘pool (no water)’ at a reading of it in 2008, and have been pursuing the rights ever since.”

The only command of the absentee (but in Britain, very busy) playwright is, she says, that this is a play for four or more performers — “to indicate,” she supposes, “that it is never to be done as a monologue.”

How do you, as a director, know which actor or actress is to speak which part — that is to say, which words — at any

given time?

“Good question. Lots of trial and error. We have five actors, each of whom takes on the role of Sally at one time or another.”

Sounds like chaos.

“It is chaos, until we find the right one.”

The woman who dives in Sally’s pool is a central figure without a name. The other five people saw it happen — “and it’s how they handle this experience that makes it one long linear poem — one long story in time, transformed by each individual.”

Also, how they handle envy?

“Yeah, emotions we don’t often think about, like envy. But we all know them.”

Demos divides her life between northern Greece, London and Downtown New York — where, for Columbia Artists, she manages several dance groups.

“I say I’m Greek, but my home is New York right now.”

Is she at home with the Old Greeks — Sophocles, Euripides, that whole gang?

“Oh yes.” With a laugh: “I’ve done my share” — including direction of the tripartite “Oresteia” of Aeschylus for Crystal Field at Theater for the New City, almost directly across First Avenue from where someone, at 9th Space, through May 26, will be swan diving nightly into a cement-based pool with no…WHAT IS SHE…A POOL WITH NO…WHAT IS SHE DOING? WATCH OUT!!!

24

May 16-29, 2012

A ‘Caretaker’ of rare Pryce At BAM, the play that made Pinter…Pinter THE CARETAKER Written by Harold Pinter Directed by Christopher Morahan Through June 17 At BAM’s Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St. at Ashland Pl.) Tues.-Sat., at 7:30pm; Sat. at 2pm, Sun. at 3pm For tickets ($25-$100), visit bam.org or call 718-636-4100

P

B Y ANDY HUMM erhaps only Harold Pinter could enthrall $100-a-ticket patrons for two-and-a-half hours watching a depressive, a manic, and a psychotic homeless man interact in a shabby West London flat, but that’s what’s happening at BAM’s Harvey Theater through June 17. Boulevard comedy “The Caretaker” ain’t, though it provokes rueful laughter in abundance.

This is an exquisitely mounted and per-

formed production of Pinter’s breakthrough 1960 play that is helmed by Christopher Morahan, whose own directing goes back to that revolutionary decade and includes work for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court Theatre and a stint as associate director of the National Theatre under Sir Peter Hall.

Jonathan Pryce has been perfecting the role of the homeless Davies since 2009, when this version was created by Theatre Royal Bath Productions/Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. For his tour of the colonies –– Australia and America –– this year and his debut at BAM, Pryce is joined by Alan Cox as the laconic Aston, who invites Davies to share his room, and Alex Hassell as Aston’s tempestuous brother Mick, who owns the flat and pops in, out and off.

I’m generally not crazy about plays about crazy people. Willy Loman would have been more compelling to me as an average middle-class striver beaten down by the system than he is as a guy who hears voices and pathologically treats those around him like shit. Arthur Miller dresses up “Death of a Salesman” with sentiment and Big Themes.

A little over a decade later, Pinter achieved Continued on page 25

Photo by Richard Termine

Jonathan Pryce in Harold Pinter’s “The Caretaker” at BAM through June 17.

25

May 16-29, 2012

Pinter and (pause) Pryce Continued from page 24

commercial success with “Caretaker’s” clear-eyed stage rendering of Davies and Aston, who have been defeated before the play begins, and young Mick, who is functioning but running on fumes of delusion. Mick, in a sexy scary turn by Hassell, reminiscent of the young Rufus Sewell, also adds more than a touch of Pinterian menace that injects drama even — and perhaps especially — to the scenes he is not in. His recitation of how he’d like to fix up the place is a tour de force.

By not compromising this story of broken people with any uplift or Larger Meaning, Pinter is more successful in making us squirm over the ways these characters and their predicaments are reflected in our own lives.

It was called Theatre of the Absurd when it came out, but the absurdity it makes us think about is in ourselves, not the play.

The achievement of Morahan and his players is in making these out-there characters real, not “theatrical” in the pejorative sense. Pryce’s ability to stay inside the skin of mad and maddening Davies in his seemingly hopeless quest to survive with some dignity is a wonder.

Cox, memorable as the rejected suitor in the film “Mrs. Dalloway,” takes stillness and silence to a whole new level. But when he describes at length his defining encounter with the medical establishment as a boy, we’re riveted.

A caveat. The show worked better from the fifth row — unoccupied seats to which my eagle-eyed friend Jed and I were able to move after intermission — than from the 11th. Pryce’s uncompromising lower-class accent is more intelligible when you’re almost in the room with him. The theater skills of all hands, however, read right to the back of the house.

Triple Play(s)

Bats give wing to Flea Theater fest

P,A9 t o

LEARN

this summer . . .

Starting June 25th

Photo by Hunter Canning

Maren Langdon as Kay and Alex Herrald as Jerry, in “The Wundelsteipen” — part of The Flea Theater’s New Play Festival.

A

cast comprised of The Bats — The Flea Theater’s resident acting company — brings to life three world premieres, now playing in rotating repertory as part of the Flea’s New Play Festival.

Set in Soho (that other one, in London), Ed Hime’s black comedy “The Electric Lighthouse” concerns the city’s post-punk band and indie cinema culture.

“The Wundelsteipen (And Other Difficult Roles for Young People)” sees playwright Nick Jones reimagining the story of Salome as a Disneyesque fairy tale starring a talking vulture and a scorpion. Elsewhere in the work, a slave is tasked with giving Caligula his morning rise and shine…and two adolescent brothers are visited by a sex fairy from the Internet.

In “A Letter from Omdurman,” by Jeffrey M. Jones, true and invented stories are used to tell tales of three historical periods: the contemporary United States, OK Corral-era Tombstone, AZ and the Anglo-Sudanese War (which, as every schoolchild knows, which ended in the defeat of the Mahdi Army at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898).

Through Sun., May 27. Times vary. For tickets ($20), call 212-352-3101 or visit theflea.org (where you’ll also find a performance schedule). A Double Hitter pass for two shows is $30; New Play Festival Triple Hitter pass for all three shows, $45. Mimosa Matinees, Sat. & Sun. at noon, are $10 for a ticket & cocktail. At The Flea (41 White St., btw. Church & Broadway, three blocks south of Canal).

— Scott Stiffler

We at Church Street School for Music and Art believe that everyone has unique creative potential, and that the development of this creativity is essential to the health and happiness of the individual and the community.

Programs for students 16 months to adult Arts Medley ■ Arts Express ■ Creative Arts Workshop ■ Rock the House ■ NYC Art Adventure Camp ■ Private & Group Instrumental ■ Birthday Parties ■

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May 16-29, 2012

Just Do Art! B Y SCO T T S T IFF L E R

PHOTOGRAPHY: “HOLDOUTS” Populated by photos of Mom & Pop storefronts, David Monderer’s installation at Soho Photo Gallery aims to replicate the hustle and bustle of urban living — including, perhaps, the sound of a Duane Reade truck spewing fumes as it makes a bulk delivery to a shiny new franchise location that’s displaced a decades-old, immigrant-owned pharmacy.

“What might be gained in efficiency and convenience has unaccounted for social and cultural costs,” laments Monderer — who makes a case for his argument with poignant before and after photos of storefronts.

Included: how Famous Ray’s morphed into Famous Roio’s Pizza. The original, whose ghost image remains on the signage and the awning, speaks volumes about how quickly (and irreversibly) times change.

Through Sat., June 2, at Soho Photo Gallery (15 White St., btw. W. Broadway & Sixth Ave.). Hours: Wed.-Sun., 1-6pm. For info, visit sohophoto.com.

THEATER: THE BOWERY WARS, PART 2 A story of blossoming love between a boy and a girl caught in the middle of a West Side turf war? That urban interpretation of “Romeo & Juliet” is so 1950s. It’s about time for a Downtown take on this oft-told tale that

Photo by Ryan Gilliam

Doomed lovers at the gates: See “The Bowery Wars.”

Photo courtesy of the artist

Ghosts of Mom & Pop past: See “Holdouts.”

always seems to end with somebody ingesting poison, somebody getting stabby with a dagger and two gorgeous young corpses.

But before that grim ending, there’s plenty of compelling words and deeds — and in this version, rock music composed by Michael Hickey and performed by a company of 25

teen actors and musicians. Writer and director Ryan Gilliam’s script takes the audience to multiple outdoor sites as they witness this blend of history and fiction set in 1903 (when the Lower East Side was the most densely populated place on the face of the earth).

Against the backdrop of two rival gangs fight-

ing for control of the lucrative Bowery entertainment district, a young Italian and a young Russian Jew fall in love. Bring a hanky.

Through Sun., May 20, Sat. & Sun., 3:15pm. All performances are outdoors. Act I is performed as a 45-minute walking tour, which starts at 120 E. 2nd St. and ends at 19 E. 3rd St. Act II, seated, takes place outdoors, at 19 E. 3rd St.). For tickets ($15, $10 for students/seniors), visit downtownart.org

Health Plus and Amerigroup have become one health plan. ůů ŽĨ ŽƵƌ ŵĞŵďĞƌƐ ƐƟůů ŚĂǀĞ the same great products — they’re not changing.

But now they’re backed by a team that has more doctors, more hospitals and more choices than ever. HealthPlus Amerigroup:

ǁĞ͛ƌĞ ĞǀĞŶ ďĞƩĞƌ ƚŽŐĞƚŚĞƌ͘ HealthPlus Amerigroup is an HMO with a Medicare contract.

Managed Long-Term Care

Medicare

Y0005_12 HP Print File & Use 03/26/2012

New York has a great new team.

Questions? Visit healthplus.amerigroup.com.

28

May 16-29, 2012

GET IN ON THE NEW DOWNTOWN

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Condominium Residences from $495,000. Get in on it.

212.779.0225

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The complete offering terms are in an offering plan available from sponsor: File No. CD 06-0209. Sponsor: RDO 225 Rector Place, LLC.