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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933

October 9, 2014 • $1.00 Volume 84 • Number 19

Pier 40 ‘secret M.O.U.’ at long last is released, but heavily redacted BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

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PIER 40 M.O.U., continued on p. 10

On a sad note, P.S. 41 cuts its music classes and talented teacher BY CLARISSA-JAN LIM

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.S. 41, the West Village’s highly sought-after elementary school, has let go its longtime music teacher, Eve Zanni, following the elimination of its in-school music classes. The decision was made in part due to the Department

PHOTO BY ZACH WILLIAMS

or a while, five months at least, it ranked among the great mysteries. Right up there with: How did they build Stonehenge? Where did they bury Jimmy Hoffa? And...why does that kooky guy dance around in a diaper in Union

Square anyway? The mystery is now over — well, make that...sort of. Last week, in response to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request by The Villager, the Empire State Development Corporation e-mailed the newspaper a copy of the so-called “secret M.O.U.” that

Mayor de Blasio approving a bill — co-sponsored by Councilmember Margaret Chin, left — to boost fines for tenant harassment

of Education budget changes affecting the number of classes, and a host of other “realities,” according to parent coordinator Michelle Farinet. The change in the number of classes resulted in insufficient “non-classroom time” (classes outside the mandatP.S. 41 MUSIC, continued on p. 8

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Mayor signs bill doubling fines for harassing tenants

BY ZACH WILLIAMS

B

y the end of the year, New Yorkers will be able to browse a new online listing of the city’s most notorious landlords. Mayor de Blasio signed into law on Sept. 30 changes to the city administrative code that will increase fines on landlords found guilty of harassment, as well as mandate that the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development

publicly expose them on its Web site. Landlords found guilty of tenant harassment “by a court of competent jurisdiction” will now face a maximum fine of $10,000 per residential unit, up from $5,000 previously. Those found guilty more than once during a five-year period will receive a minimum fine of $2,000 per residential unit — again, twice the previous level. Their names will appear on the new online list, as

will the associated building address. Such publicity will help deter building owners from illegally pressuring tenants, especially vulnerable senior and immigrant populations, said Councilmember Margaret Chin, who co-sponsored the legislation with colleague Jumaane Williams, of Brooklyn. “We want to send a stronger message because tenant TENANTS, continued on p. 7

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ron. Doing a preview article on Tuesday, The New York Times reported that de Blasio’s new “park equity plan” would see the city pour $130 million into 35 “tattered parks and playgrounds” in low-income neighborhoods across the city. That amount represents $80 million that former Mayor Mike Bloomberg added on top of the Parks Department’s capital budget, plus an additional $50 million now tossed in by de Blasio. Squadron’s bill would have seen conservancies with operating budgets of $5 million or more be forced to dedicate 20 percent of their budget to neighborhood parks. But some feared that mandate would “scare off” the conservancies’ big-bucks donors. The Daily News’s article on Wednesday basically reported the same thing as the Times — that the city would be kicking in the extra $130K in taxpayer funds for beleaguered parks, but added that de Blasio “expects the conservancies to voluntarily donate money toward helping the whole system.” The article’s headline, though, was a bit more forceful: “Bill to parks: Share the green.” The Times article meanwhile lumped the Lower East Side’s Luther Gulick Park in among the “tattered parks” that would stand to gain some of the extra green. Hmm...as we reported earlier this year, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver netted $2.5 million for the park, which is one of 63 green spots statewide that will share $67 million in state Department of Transportation funds earmarked for park enhancements. Oh well, bring it on!

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State Senator Daniel Squadron at the opening of a rooftop garden for East Village public schools, in October 2012. Squadron, who was rumored to possibly be in line for Parks Department commissioner under Mayor de Blasio at one point, has earned high environmental rankings.

CAJOLING CONSERVANCIES: Mayor Bill de Blasio announcement Tuesday on park funding got spun differently depending on which daily paper — or, more specifically, which paper’s headline — you read. At issue was just how hard the mayor would push the city’s larger park conservancies to help out underfunded small parks. Of course, the idea for the big conservancies — like the Central Park Conservancy and Prospect Park Alliance — to help out smaller parks was originally proposed by state Senator Daniel Squad-

GARDENERS’ HOPED-FOR GUEST: On another green-space issue, we heard that Elizabeth St. Garden advocates were eagerly hoping that park advocate Squadron would attend their swank fundraiser a few weeks ago atop the Nolitan Hotel, on Kenmare St. David Gruber, Community Board 2 chairperson, had tipped us off beforehand that word was that Squadron might well show up. Jeannine Kiely, a leading member of the garden, told us they were indeed hoping Squadron would be there — but, in the end, he was a no-show. “I think he wanted to come,” Gruber told us this week. “I mean, these guys are scheduled up. He’s running for re-election. He’s in campaign mode.” A Squadron staffer basically told us the story was pretty simple, that Squadron didn’t go to the garden fundraiser. Period. O.K.? ... But, we asked, does Squadron support preserving the entire Elizabeth St. Garden as permanent open space — as C.B. 2 emphatically does — or does he back Councilmember Margaret Chin and the city’s plan to fill much of the garden with affordable housing, in an effort to make up for the failure to achieve 100 percent affordable housing at the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area project, which is located all the way over on the Lower East Side — in another community board district, no less? Again, the staffer said, Squadron didn’t attend the garden group’s benefit. ... In case anyone has forgotten, two years ago, as we reported, Squadron earned a rating of 81 from Albany-based nonprofit E.P.L. / Environmental Advocates, the highest score of any state senator, for environmental bills he had introduced. As for the Nolitan garden benefit, Kiely said, it was a tremendous success, exceeding their fundraising goal of $10,000 by nearly 50 percent, with more than 100 supporters enjoying a beautiful first night of fall on the hotel’s rooftop. The garden’s next big event is its Second Annual Harvest Fundraiser, on Sat., Oct. 25 (rain date Sun., Oct. 26).

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Developers just keep on bowling over the Village BY YANNIC RACK

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PHOTO BY YANNIC RACK

n yet another “strike” for developers, a new luxury high-rise in the Village will be replacing the East Coast’s longest continuously operating bowling alley, a neighborhood fixture since 1938. Billy Macklowe, the owner of 110 University Place, filed plans to demolish the building and erect a 23-story apartment building two weeks ago. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation had tried to make him consider an approach more in keeping with the surrounding neighborhood. “We’re going to closely scrutinize any plans that have been submitted, to make sure that they are legal in all respects,” said Andrew Berman, G.V.S.H.P. executive director. “We’re also hopeful that this is just a preliminary filing on Mr. Macklowe’s part and that he will be willing to reconsider if he moves ahead.” Berman has repeatedly reached out to Macklowe and has also urged Councilmember Rosie Mendez to contact the developer. He said Macklowe recently agreed to meet with Mendez, who has expressed concerns similar to Berman’s that the planned 308-foot-tall building doesn’t fit into the neighborhood.

The former Bowlmoor bowling alley building on University Place will be razed for a 23-story high-rise.

In a letter in March, Berman wrote that the project would “completely shatter the scale and character of this neighborhood, standing out like a sore thumb.” He urged Macklowe to go with a so-called “Quality Housing Program” approach instead, which would complement the surrounding streetscape with contextual, turn-ofthe-century masonry architecture. The pins stopped falling at

Bowlmor Union Square, the historic bowling alley, on July 8, when the place’s lease expired. The alley was housed in the existing four-story building, which it shared with a parking garage, for 76 years. A statement on Bowlmor’s Web site claims that the bowling alley served “millions of guests — from former U.S. presidents, athletes, musicians and Hollywood stars to tourists and

of course our bedrock clientele, New Yorkers.” Berman said that even though this project could not be prevented, G.V.S.H.P. would keep fighting to ward off similar projects in the future. The society certainly won’t have to look very far. Right now, there are three similar high-end developments on the same block, at 12 E. 13th St., 17 E. 12th St. and 61 Fifth Ave., according to real estate Web site New York Yimby. None are quite as large as 110 University Place, though, which Berman said owes its size to a quirk of the zoning rules in the area. “What it does is, it basically creates sort of a pyramid that rises up from the site, that defines an envelope that you can build within,” he said. “So, the bigger the site is, the higher up the pyramid goes,” he explained. “This site is so large compared to any other development site that moved ahead in this neighborhood. That’s why there’s an ability to build a much taller building than we’ve ever seen built in this area. And that’s why we think the zoning is not a good kind of zoning and why we want to see a change.” The application for the new building calls for 52 units, on average around 2,000 square feet in size.

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October 9, 2014

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Queens freak over Facebook real name policy Named best weekly newspaper in New York State in 2001, 2004 and 2005 by New York Press Association PUBLISHER JENNIFER GOODSTEIN

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The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for others errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue. Published by NYC Community Media, LLC One Metrotech North 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 Phone: (718) 260-2500 • Fax: (212) 229-2790 On-line: www.thevillager.com E-mail: news@thevillager.com © 2012 NYC Community Media, LLC

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acebook recently announced that it would re-evaluate its name policy to suit the needs of users with stage names, such as drag queens. However, exactly how the name policy will change remains unclear. Since September, the social network site has actively enforced its “real” name policy for drag queens, in particular, advising them to identify themselves by their legal names or their profiles would be shutdown. Facebook’s announcement comes in reaction to widespread discontent spearheaded by Sister Roma, a popular drag queen in San Francisco, and her fellow queens. Over the last few weeks, this frustration among drag queens has spread from coast to coast. There are drag queens who have gone as far as boycotting Facebook and joining Ello, a social network site in beta testing. Some have even incorporated the name policy controversy into their performances. The Frisco queens have led the movement against Facebook and have started a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #mynameis. However, in New York City, the cross-dressing entertainers have not been so publicly outspoken, but they are no less upset. Some queens say that they have been singled out in contrast to other groups who also use stage names. “I tried to sign on and got a message that this account does not exist,” said Pattaya Hart, a New York City drag queen who performs at Boots N Saddle, the popular Christopher St. drag queen venue. After a show, she advised three prospective clients to direct message her on Facebook, but more than two weeks later, Hart has never received the messages. “I tried to make a new account, but I got a message that said this name looks like it does not match your ID,” Hart said. Hart has since switched to using her drag name in parentheses next to her male name and has changed the profile picture on this account to a photo as Pattaya, so there are no mistakes. Like Hart, Fifi DuBois reported receiving a notification from Facebook about a week and a half ago telling her to change her name or her account would be terminated. DuBois, a drag queen who works nights at Boots N Saddle, changed her profile to her male name, but worries that this will affect her interactions with fans. “They are different businesses,” DuBois explained. “As a boy, I am a dancer and choreographer and that is its own business, and a drag queen is a different business.” Among the many issues the queens face is the reality that most of them have other full-time jobs. The worlds

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IRA BLUTREICH TEQUILA MINSKY JEFFERSON SIEGEL JERRY TALLMER

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Fifi DuBois wants friends — not fans — on Facebook.

Pattaya Hart was recently informed her Facebook profile does not exist.

of corporate America and drag are not always meant to intersect. In 34 states, an employer can legally fire someone based on their gender identity. However, New York is not one of those states. “It’s like separation of church and state — separation of career and performing,” said M’Lady Uppercrust, a drag queen who performs at Boots N Saddle on Friday nights. Facebook advised the queens to create their own pages for fans to like. While DuBois also has a fan page now, it’s not the same. “I have 300 likes on my page, but 3,000 friends on my profile,” said DuBois. “It’s not as easy to communicate with the ‘like page’ because it is not as personal.” The fan page is too formal of an interaction for fans, added Hedda Lettuce, the famous New York-based drag

queen and self-proclaimed “Queen of Green.” “People don’t want to be considered a fan,” Lettuce said. “They want to be considered a friend even if they don’t know me.” The problem for the drag queens is that when users like a page, it doesn’t mean the activity on that page will regularly show up in their newsfeed. The owner of the page must pay Facebook to be sponsored for exposure. “They are trying to make money rather than a community,” Lettuce explained. “It has lost its central purpose of trying to bring people together. Drag queens are a central part of the gay community.” Lettuce worries that Facebook doesn’t understand the gay community, and that the company’s policy impacts the business of drag queens who rely on social media for promoting shows. “We are having to change the way we see ourselves on Facebook,” explained Jizzabella, another Big Apple-based drag queen. “They are saying what you are doing is not right — but it’s no one’s right to tell you that you can’t see yourself the way you are.” The name policy controversy led to a nationwide petition, as well as an open letter informing Facebook that its name policy is unfair and impacts the people who need two identities for legitimate reasons, such as those who are performers, members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community or abuse survivors. The flap raised the question: Why focus on the queens? Facebook said someone reported hundreds of drag queens using the site, but that Facebook didn’t notice the pattern among the several hundred thousand reports each week, according to a statement on the site released by Chris Cox, Facebook’s chief production officer. Facebook explained that their intention was to not single out one group or community and that the policy was in effect to protect the most vulnerable on the Internet, according to Cox’s statement. However, Facebook, indicating it did not understand the broad effects of this policy, has since apologized, but has not determined how exactly or when the problem will be solved. Facebook could not be reached for comment. Chris Wood is co-founder of the L.G.B.T. Technology Partnership, an organization that seeks to represent the interests of the L.G.B.T. community regarding technology and communication. He said the name policy debate transcends the queens’ concerns. “The drag community has definitely been impacted,” Wood said. “But the issue is far and beyond — with women, transgender, gay, lesbian individuals who may not to want to be ‘out.’ ” Others have noted that political activists and dissidents in repressive countries also have good reason not to use their real names on Facebook. TheVillager.com


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October 9, 2014

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PHOTO BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

At Tuesday’s presentation, a representative of an app for veterinarians explained the wonders of Watson.

Watson presumes it will help power startups

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BM unveiled its Watson supercomputing system, in its new group headquarters at 51 Astor Place, on Tuesday. The corporate giant has leased 120,000 square feet on 13 floors in the gleaming, freshly constructed building, which was built on a Cooper Unionowned site. IBM hopes the spot will now become the epicenter of New York’s growing “Silicon Alley.” According to IBM, Watson — fueled by $1 billion

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New law will double fines for tenant harassment TENANTS, continued from p. 1

harassment is happening every day in my district and in the city,” Chin said in an interview. De Blasio said H.P.D. demonstrated a commitment to addressing tenant concerns during his tenure as public advocate, when he compiled a Worst Landlords Watchlist. A department spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment. “There are a lot of good landlords out there. But the ones who don’t do the right thing need to feel consequences,” the mayor said before signing the bill into law. The measure passed the City Council on Sept. 23 unanimously, 49 to 0. The Rent Stabilization Association, which represents building owners, and the Real Estate Board of New York did not respond to requests for comment. Another bill signed into law Sept. 30 requires H.P.D. to compile a housing information guide. Building owners will have to publicly post notice of the guide as well. Among the issues to be included in the guide are owners’ responsibilities, housing discrimination, eviction levels, heat, hot water and repairs, as well as rental assistance for elderly and disabled tenants. The Lower East Side, Chinatown

proceedings, low buyout offers, poor building services and the denial of lease renewals to target elderly immigrants in the Chinatown area. But in Housing Court, it’s the landlord who more often prevails. Since 2008, when a law allowing tenants to sue over harassment was passed, landlords were found guilty of the charge only 45 times among roughly 3,600 cases, The New York Times reported on Sept. 30. However, settlements were reached in 810 of those cases, the Times noted. Williams said the new law’s passage marks a “turning point” for New York City tenants.

“It’s not easy to fight and win in court,” Chin said. “It’s important for tenants to see they have a fighting chance.” The increased fines will go into effect 180 days from the bill’s signing into law on Sept. 30. The requirement for an offenders list will go into effect 90 days from Sept. 30. Some tenant activists dismissed the new law, saying the fines — albeit now doubled — are merely the “cost of doing business” for landlords. However, Jaron Benjamin, head of Met Council on Housing, said for many landlords, especially smaller ones, these penalties will indeed sting.

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, PURSUANTTO LAW, that the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 at 2:00 P.M. at 66 John Street, 11th floor, on a petition for 11 CARMINE TACOS LLC to continue to maintain, and operate an unenclosed sidewalk cafe at 11 CARMINE STREET in the Borough of Manhattan for a term of four years. REQUESTS FOR COPIES OFTHE REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSEDTO: DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, ATTN: FOIL OFFICER, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004. Vil: 10/09 - 10/16/2014

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and the East Village are home to numerous tenants who have alleged harassment from landlords coveting their longtime apartments. With market-rate rents continuing to rise, there is plenty of incentive for landlords to use nefarious tactics to replace rent-regulated tenants with more profitable neighborhood newcomers, housing activists say. Tenants in these neighborhoods say landlords berate them, seeking to prove their primary residence is elsewhere. Tenants say building owners withhold needed apartment repairs for them, while conducting extensive renovations elsewhere inside the buildings, often making living conditions unbearable. As all this is going on, sometimes, landlords jack up their buyout offers from four to six figures, showing how badly they want the in-place tenants out. State officials have taken action of their own in recent months. An investigation by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman into the business practices of Steven Croman remains ongoing. Meanwhile, as The Villager previously reported, Governor Cuomo issued a subpoena on Aug. 20 to Marolda Properties amid allegations that the company is using eviction

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On sad note, P.S. 41 cuts popular music teacher P.S. 41 MUSIC, continued from p. 1

PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEEL

ed curriculum, such as dance and music), said Farinet, and the school had to ax one full-time cluster position. “The cluster music position was eliminated,” Farinet stressed, “not the music program.” She said that although the music position was cut, the school still incorporates music in its regular classes. “Forty-one is a very, very arts-oriented school,” she said of the W. 11th St. school. “Art is integrated, along with music and dance, all throughout the curriculum. We have teachers who play the piano or guitar and integrate music [in their teaching],” she said. “When we’re looking at the school size and what we can offer for the day, we would not cut our great appreciation and feeling that music is really important to the children’s education and daily lives.” P.S. 41 also provides a $400 afterschool music program, though Farinet said that it was not presented as an alternative or a replacement. P.S. 41 has always offered afterschool programs, and this one in particular was already being offered before the elimination of the music class, she noted. “We’d love to have everything all the time,” said Farinet, of the subject

Eve Zanni’s cover photo from her 2008 “Mermaids” album.

offerings at P.S. 41, “but that wasn’t going to be the reality.” In an interesting side note, Jazz musician and Grammy award-winner Wynton Marsalis has a child enrolled in the school. The decision to cut Zanni and the music class she taught was made at the close of the 2013-14 school year by the school’s administration, and parents were alerted of it in August. Parents are not consulted on matters of employment. In the letter that was sent to parents informing them of the decision, Farinet wrote: “Coming into this year and coming from an extremely complicat-

ed and myriad set of factors involving scheduling, school numbers, staffing situations and many other things, one full-time cluster position had to be eliminated. This had nothing to do with our rezoning (as there seems to be somewhat of a fallacy about that.)” However, sources told The Villager that D.O.E.’s rezoning cut down student enrollment, and consequently the school budget. Parent Julia Karow, whose son has graduated from P.S. 41 but whose daughter still goes there, said the unexpected news left her wondering what it would mean for the music offerings at the school this year. “The school’s doing a lot to try to replace what Eve used to do, but obviously there’s no more in-school music classes,” she said. However, the school has come up with a new chorus and school band, Rhythm Cats, in place of Zanni’s Groove Cats. Both the chorus and band are free of charge. Zanni was beloved by parents and students alike. Her classes spanned an array of genres, cultures and historical events. Karow credited her with instilling an appreciation for jazz in her son, who is now a member of the jazz band at his middle school. “We loved her,” Karow said. “She

was a great teacher and very kind to the kids.” She later added in an e-mail that besides the surprise of Zanni’s abrupt termination, she felt that neither the parents nor the students could give the veteran music teacher an appropriate sendoff. “None of us had an opportunity to express our gratitude for all she has done, and to properly say goodbye,” Karow said. “I very much hope there will be an opportunity to do so.” A 30-year Village resident, Zanni lives in the Westbeth artists complex, at West and Bethune Sts. She declined to comment for this article. As well as being a beloved music teacher in her former day job, Zanni is an accomplished jazz singer. Her original arrangements embrace classic jazz, Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and Middle Eastern rhythms. Zanni leads two ensembles of her own — Jazzmundo and The Sweethots — and has performed with many jazz greats. She is a regular performer at the annual Lester Young Memorial Celebration, held at St. Peter’s Church in New York City. Her original composition “Gypsy Wave Dance” was selected as a feature on “Tennjazz,” available on Imaginary Records.

What’s your charitable dream? When Harry met Sarah,

he was a taxi driver who “never had a nickel.” Sarah, a passenger in his cab, was a nurse who listened to patients’ stock tips and invested. They had a storybook marriage. Sarah set aside money to take care of Harry. After their deaths, the remaining money started the Sarah and Harry Rogers Fund in The New York Community Trust to maintain parks and protect the City’s air and water. We continue to make grants in their names.

$

8

$861,000

Market value of the fund (as of March 2014)

$1,521,000

Questions about your giving? We have answers. Contact our counsel, Jane Wilton, at (212) 686-2563 or janewilton@nyct-cfi.org October 9, 2014

of gi vi ng

$712,000

90

rs

Prospect Park photo by Michael Pick / Creative Commons

$ Rogers Fund, established in 1994 with

Grants given from the fund to nonprofits, to date

$

ye

a

TheVillager.com


PHOTOS BY JONATHAN MCPHAIL PHOTOGRAPHY

Oktober partiers do their ‘wurst’ at Zum’s fest Zum Schneider — the Avenue C Bavarian bierhaus and restaurant — held a traditional Oktoberfest last Friday to Sunday on E. 23rd St. along the river. Dubbed “Munich on the East River,” it was billed as New York’s largest Oktoberfest ever. The action — including near-constant hefting aloft of huge beer steins for toasts, chants, songs...well, just about anything — happened under a 1,000-person-capacity tent in the Solar One space, as well as outdoors, which even sported a carousel. Washed down by all that beer, there was roasted chicken, grilled jumbo mackerel, potato salad and bratwurst. Sylvester Schneider, above left, the owner of the 14-year-old East Village restaurant, said, “The intention was to create an atmosphere that comes as close as possible to a traditional Munich Oktoberfest on the ‘wiesn,’ ” as in “fairground.” Tickets ranged from $25 to $100. Guests got to walk away with a free gift — what else? — an enormous stein.

Jefferson Market Garden presents Greenwich Avenue at Sixth Avenue

A Children’s Garden of Music

Two Free Concerts for Children (ages 5 and up) The Borough of Manhattan Community College Faculty Ensemble Howard Meltzer, BMCC Musical Director / Diane Dowling, Narrator

Sunday, October 12, 2014, 2:00 pm

BMCC Woodwind Quintet performs Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, and excerpts from Gabriel Fauré’s Dolly Suite.

Sunday, October 19, 2014, 2:00 pm

BMCC Brass Ensemble will present Gwyneth Walker's The Race, a retelling of Aesop's Tortoise and the Hare, and popular tunes including Robert Nagel's This Old Man March and Beatles songs.

Visit us on the web at: jeffersonmarketgarden.org

Special thanks to

TheVillager.com

for their generous support.

October 9, 2014

9


Pier 40 ‘secret M.O.U.,’ redacted, is released PIER 40 M.O.U., continued from p. 1

no one had seen — the memorandum of understanding between the Cuomo administration, the Hudson River Park Trust and Atlas Capital Group. The conditional agreement outlines a proposed scheme under which the Trust would sell unused development rights from Pier 40 to Atlas for its redevelopment of the St. John’s Center site on the other side of the West Side Highway. Word of the existence of the “secret M.O.U.” was first uttered in May by an E.S.D.C. official who blurted it out at meeting at Borough President Gale Brewer’s office. Local politicians, having heard growing rumblings that the governor was supporting a General Project Plan involving Pier 40 and the St. John’s Center, had called the meeting, seeking more information. Galling the politicians, just the day before, a New York Times article had indicated that Cuomo was indeed potentially considering a G.P.P. Whereas a G.P.P. would place the project firmly under the state’s control, local elected officials stressed they wanted to see a city-led Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for any project involving Pier 40 and the St. John’s Center. A ULURP includes more public review than a G.P.P., they argued, plus, importantly, would empower the City Council to modify the plan with binding changes. Following local politicians’ united uproar, E.S.D.C. backed off, saying the process would now be what it called an “expedited ULURP.” Long eyed as a development site, the St. John’s Center property stretches from Clarkson St. southward about 850 feet, ranging from about 220 to 280 feet wide, bounded by West and Washington Sts. The property is currently covered by a three-block-long, four-story-high commercial building, dating from the 1930s, when it was constructed as a terminal for the High Line. The agreed-upon price for Atlas to buy Pier 40 unused development rights was a very large sum, reportedly $100 million — though the actual figure, like much else, was redacted from the document provided to The Villager. Indeed, the agreement released in response to the newspaper’s FOIL has large sections blacked-out, leaving key questions about the M.O.U. unanswered. The agreement is about 10 pages long. Labeled “Exhibit C,” an attached “city support letter,” from former Deputy Mayor Robert Steel to Kenneth Adams, president of E.S.D.C., is dated Dec. 24, 2013, from the last days of Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s third and final term. However, the M.O.U.’s first sentence states the M.O.U. itself was “dated this __ day of February 2014,”

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October 9, 2014

Page 2 from the agreement between E.S.D.C., the Hudson River Park Trust and Atlas Capital Group, showing large sections that were redacted by E.S.D.C. before the agency released it to The Villager.

meaning under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, during the transition phase at City Hall. No dates are penciled in anywhere on the document, though, to indicate when the signatures were actually made. As The Villager previously reported, the discussions leading up to the agreement’s crafting were ongoing under Bloomberg. As for Adams, he has led E.S.D.C. — the state’s development agency — since 2011, and so has spanned Bloomberg to de Blasio. The M.O.U. is signed by Adams; Madelyn Wils, president of the Hudson River Park Trust; and Andrew Cohen and Jeffrey Goldberger, Atlas’s founding partners. Atlas is referred to in the document as “SJ Owner LLC, Delaware limited liability company, having an office at c/o Atlas Capital Group, 505 Fifth Ave.” (In fact, Atlas is a part owner of the St. John’s Center, along with Westbrook Partners and Fortress Investment Group. Mike Novogratz, a principal in Fortress, was a former director of the Trust and is currently chairperson of Friends of Hudson River Park, the Trust’s private fundraising wing.) The M.O.U. states on its first page, “Pier 40 needs structural improvement that would require substantial

funding that neither H.R.P.T., E.S.D.C. nor the State of New York can currently provide.” Under the proposed plan, those “substantial funding” needs of the 14acre W. Houston St. pier were to have been met through the development rights sale, which would be permissible under last year’s park legislation, which was passed — again, secretively, without public notice or review — in the final hours of the state legislative session. The M.O.U. states upfront that the St. John’s development project would be subject to environmental analyses under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), including an environmental impact statement (E.I.S.) — plus would be done under a G.P.P. led by E.S.D.C. These studies and the G.P.P. “would facilitate a mixed-use development site,” the M.O.U. states, referring to a mix of residential units, plus likely commercial space and possibly at least one hotel. The project was to be built with an “override” of certain provisions of the city’s Zoning Resolution, according to the document. However, a section subheaded “Pier 40 Funding” — which would confirm whether the agreed-to sale price was,

in fact, $100 million — is redacted. Under the park legislation passed in Albany last year, any revenue from the sale of Pier 40’s development rights is mandated to be funneled back into the crumbling Lower West Side pier for its repair and maintenance. Another section of the M.O.U., subheaded “Proposed Development Plan for the Development Site,” was also heavily redacted by E.S.D.C., so that specifics about exactly what would be built on the St. John’s site are not viewable. “The Proposed Development Plan would set out the proposed uses for the Development Site and include a set of design guidelines for the Proposed Project, mutually satisfactory to E.S.D.C. and S.J.,” the M.O.U. states. “These guidelines would be developed prior to the completion of the draft E.I.S. and adoption of the draft G.P.P., through discussions among the Parties and with elected officials and through the community consultation process outlined below. The Proposed Project Documents would include a requirement for a satisfactory labor peace agreement with respect to any hotel agreement.” More than half a page is blacked out in a section subheaded “Zoning Overrides.” These proposed zoning overrides, the M.O.U. says, would be “subject to changes resulting from, among other things, consultation among the Parties, with the City, Department of City Planning, elected officials and with stakeholders through the community consultation process, the draft E.I.S. public hearing and comment process...the G.P.P. process, including...a public hearing and subsequent period for comment on the adopted G.P.P., further revision of the G.P.P., if necessary, in response to public comments...and approval review by P.A.C.B. (Public Authorities Control Board).” The P.A.C.B. killed Bloomberg’s West Side stadium plan in 2005. Subheaded “Community Engagement,” a full page of the M.O.U. is taken up describing a multistep “community consultation process” that S.J. (Atlas), in signing the document, agreed to engage in. Under this process, Atlas would first request that Community Board 2 create “a designated task force” to participate in meetings regarding the project’s design “and other related issues.” Beginning with the “issuance of a notice of scoping for an E.I.S.,” this task force would then begin meetings with Atlas. These meetings would continue for a 60-day period “and would occur as frequently as reasonably practical under the circumstances.” PIER 40 M.O.U., continued on p. 16 TheVillager.com


POLICE BLOTTER Cost got caught Police caught Cost, the notorious New York City graffiti street tagger, putting his name on a scaffolding in front of 237 W. 13th St. at about 3:30 a.m. on Sun., Oct. 5. He was found to be in possession of “graffiti instruments,” according to police. They charged Cost, real name Adam Cole, 45, with making graffiti, a misdemeanor. From the early 1980s to mid-1990s, Cost covered the city with his copious wheatpaste stickers — often stuck on street-crossing signals — sprayed tags and larger paint-roller pieces, as could be seen on walls in Chelsea along the High Line. He collaborated with another New York graffiti artist, Revs. After getting arrested tagging a mailbox in 1995, Cost hung up his tagging tools, but since 2010 he has been making a comeback.

Karavas kase Just after midnight on Sun., Oct. 5,

a 28-year-old woman asked a teenager to watch her purse while she went to talk with somebody else at Karavas Pizza ’N’ Pita, at 108 Seventh Ave. South at Christopher St. When the older woman returned, the purse was gone, along with its caretaker. A police officer, though, observed the younger woman fleeing the location with a purse in hand. Upon investigation, police found the victim’s debit card, cell phone and cash in the bag. Felder Daishawn, 18, was charged with grand larceny. A search upon arrest also turned up a razor blade in Daishawn’s own purse, police said.

‘Picture-whipped’ A man, 22, suffered cuts and bruises to his head, face and back after being attacked on the sidewalk across from 848 Washington St., near Little W. 12th St., last weekend, according to police. Police said that at about 3:05 a.m. on Sat., Oct. 4, Caleb Garcia, 19, allegedly punched and kicked the man multiple

times. Another man, Jack Welles, 20, then allegedly smacked the victim’s head multiple times with a camera. Welles and Garcia were both arrested and face felony assault charges. The attack’s motive was not immediately provided by police.

Hits E.V. bank Police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a suspect wanted in a robbery of the Chase bank at 130 Second Ave., at St. Mark’s Place. Police said that, on Sat., Oct. 4, at 2:35 p.m., the suspect entered the East Village branch and handed a teller a note claiming to have a gun and demanding money. The teller complied and the suspect fled with $1,080. The robber is described as a white male (possibly albino), five feet 10 inches tall, mid-to-late 20s, with light-colored hair and a medium build. He was last seen wearing a black-and-gray jacket, dark-rimmed glasses, black sneakers and a red bandana around his neck.

A surveillance image of the alleged bank robber.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department’s Crime Stoppers Hotline, at 800-577-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Web site, WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS. COM, or texting to 274637(CRIMES), then entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

Zach Williams

Robert Sporter, MD Adult and Pediatric Allergist / Immunologist Has joined Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy Specialists

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Tel: 212-679-3499

Call Us Today, See Us Today! TheVillager.com

October 9, 2014

11


PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY

Pets of pious blessed at St. Anthony of Padua Early Sunday afternoon, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, a crew of canines and a couple cats in carriers were brought to the W. Houston St. garden side of St. Anthony’s Church, on Sullivan St., to be blessed. Father Joe, above left, conducted the ceremony and prayers, then he and Brother Courtland spritzed holy water on the pets, then, to top it all off, gave out medals.

12

October 9, 2014

TheVillager.com


Board 3 focuses on rats, ramps and river tolls BY LESLEY SUSSMAN

C

ommunity Board 3 is working to help rid the East Village of rats — or, maybe more realistically speaking, at least sharply reduce their numbers. Susan Stetzer, the board’s district manager, announced at the Sept. 23 full-board meeting, that C.B. 3 will be participating in a Department of Health-sponsored pilot project to help deal with the neighborhood’s rampant rodent problem. “This will be a very intensive intervention, in which every single private and city-owned property in the pilot project area will be inspected for rat infestations,” she explained. The pilot-project area is bounded by the east side of Avenue A and the west side of Avenues B and C from E. Seventh St. down to Houston St., plus the area between Houston and First Sts. from Avenue A to Second Ave. Stetzer added, however, that there would be “no

fines or enforcement attached to this pilot project.” A D.O.H. spokesperson said the agency “will target ideal rat environments” that promote large numbers of the critters and allow for fast reproduction, as well as rats that have been “resistant to previous pest-control efforts.” The process will include additional inspections of city-owned property by block-level surveys; treatment of the city-owned property by D.O.H. staff; and case management, in which D.O.H. will provide walkthroughs, thoroughly inspect, and work with owners and residents on any possible rat problems around shelters, vacant lots and the like. The initiative will have three case managers. They will be making appointments with property owners and residents, trying to get access to rear yards, arranging for meetings with block associations, businesses, restaurants, community gardeners and other stakeholders. For each impacted area, the agency will offer free training to affected groups, such as businesses and

community garden organizations. On another matter, C.B. 3 also approved a resolution calling for all streets in its district to have curb cuts that will enable residents who use wheelchairs, walkers and other mobility aids, plus people with vision impairments, to more easily maneuver along the sidewalks. The board’s resolution said that, currently, many of the area’s sidewalks are “too dangerous for use by persons with disabilities.” In addition, the board decided to delay a vote on a resolution in support of adding tolls on East River bridge crossings, under which the revenue would go toward transportation infrastructure improvements. A number of board members said more information was needed about the potential impact such increased tolls would have on small businesses in areas like Chinatown, and how adding tolls would affect businesses and quality of life in communities located near the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, on both sides of the river.

V.I.D. rejects a redistricting ballot initiative BY TONY HOFFMANN

A

t its September general meeting, the Village Independent Democrats political club voted unanimously against a proposed amendment to the New York State Constitution that would revise the state’s redistricting procedures. The amendment, known as Proposition 1, will be on the ballot in the Nov. 4 general election. It calls for the establishment of an independent redistricting commission every 10 years beginning in 2020 that would draw new legislative lines in accordance with established principles and subject to legislative enactment. The amendment was drafted to take the drawing of electoral and legislative districts out of the hands of legislators. The V.I.D. vote came after presentations by Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause N.Y. (but who was not speaking on behalf of Common Cause), and Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union N.Y.C., and a spirited discussion among the club’s membership. Lerner opposed the amendment while Dadey, an author of it, spoke in favor. Dadey emphasized that the amendment would end partisan gerrymandering, protect communities of interest, create more compact districts, and remove the redistricting power from the Legislature. Lerner rebutted Dadey’s arguments, stating that the process, ultimately, would still be in the Legislature’s hands, was too complicated to know if it would work, gave a veto power to Republicans and, most important, would be virtually impossible to change since it would be embedded in the state constitution. Lerner felt the redistricting amendment was too weak and complex to risk making it a permanent part of the political landscape. Dadey countered that we shouldn’t make the perfect the enemy of the good. “The club agreed that the current system of redistricting is subject to political abuse and has led to gerrymandering,” said Ed Yutkowitz, V.I.D. campaign chairperson. “But the changes promised by Proposition 1 are fraught with uncertainty, and its TheVillager.com

confusing language could lead to far greater, and more permanent, problems.” The vote opposing the redistricting amendment was unanimous.

The redistricting forum was one of a series of programs that V.I.D. presents throughout the year on issues of concern to the public. V.I.D. was founded in 1957 and is one of the oldest Reform Democratic clubs in New York City and the first in Greenwich Village. The club works for the election of progressive public and party officials, and works with other community groups to shape a progressive agenda for the Village, the city and the state. Hoffmann is president, Village Independent Democrats

Cop’s ‘L’ of a save

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PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

No net? No worries at Passannante Playground This pair came prepared for a game of tennis recently at Passannante Playground, toting along their own net to the Sixth Ave. and Houston St. athletic hot spot.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Glick gets Albany To The Editor: Re “Game on! Meadows ‘kicks off’ his campaign against Glick” (news article, Oct. 2): Did I miss something? What does Mr. Meadows do for a living? Meadows saying he wants “to look beyond the old guard — and [Assembly Speaker] Shelly Silver” might sound radical, but only superficially to those who do not know Albany and power and understand who gets money back to New

EVAN FORSCH

York City and Lower Manhattan from Albany’s coffers. Nobody does more for the city than Assembly Speaker Silver...nobody. Glick is smart and experienced...and funny... and she is doing the right thing by New York City to work closely with Silver. Martha Danziger Editor’s note: Meadows works in property management.

Would stick with Glick To The Editor: Re “Game on! Meadows ‘kicks off’ his campaign against Glick” (news article, Oct. 2): I don’t understand politics, but I like Glick. I’ve watched her at Community Board 2 meetings. I admire and trust her more than any of the other politicians. I live adjacent to her district, not in it, so I can’t give her my vote, but I hope that she wins. Minerva Durham

How do candidates roll? To The Editor: Re “Game on! Meadows ‘kicks off’ his campaign against Glick” (news article, Oct. 2): Will either candidate work with Speaker Silver to pass legislation that will allow the city to defend itself against the epidemic of rogue bicycle riding? Two people have died in Central Park Since August. Others are functioning with severe brain trauma. Myriad have been hit and close calls are a daily threat. It’s time the tail stopped wagging the dog and LETTERS, continued on p. 16

14

October 9, 2014

TheVillager.com


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Why Pink Matters FROM THE PUBLISHER

terrible disease Thanks to the support of our advertisers, our on sufferers and media group is donating $7,500 — and will protheir loved ones vide free promotional services — to the Amerunderstands the ican Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against BY JENNIFER GOODSTEIN urgent need to Breast Cancer” campaign (makingstrides.acsevents.org), whose annual October walk at locafind a cure. ctober is Breast Cancer Awareness Month The good news tions in each of the five boroughs raised nearly and a time for all of us to redouble our efis that better ear- $6 million last year to help battle the disease. forts to eradicate the second-leading killer Community News Group was proud to partly detection and of women in the United States. treatment thera- ner with Maimonides Medical Center, EastchesWhen my husband and I bought NYC Commupies are boosting ter Center for Cancer Care, Aviator Sports and nity Media in 2012 and, in June of this year, added Events Center, Coney Island Hospital, Estée survival rates. the Brooklyn-based Community News Group to We are pleased Lauder Companies, Flushing Hospital Mediour media company, we realized we were taking to note that some cal Center, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, on a big responsibility. Our publications reach of the best work Queens County Savings Bank, Winthrop UniBY JENNIFER GOODSTEIN more than a million New Yorkers each week, ofagainst breast versity Hospital, and all of last week’s advertisfering us a broad platform that numbers from the American The Cancer Society arerecognizing sobering: O c to t osupport b e r i causes s ers in honoring and the Pink Ribbon cancer is being Mo can impact our readersB and r e a swider t C a communities. ncer done in the met- campaign founded by the Estée Lauder Compaloo My husband and I are also a family that lives and Awareness Month ropolitan area. nies, now recognized as a worldwide symbol of fam works in New York City, we are to Our medical institutions are pushing the limits of breast health. andand a time forcommitted all me o f u s t owe r eserve. d o u - Our comgiving back to the communities We hope our Roughly embrace of430 the pink message will possibility with their surgical excellence, playing On bleCancer our efAwareness forts to pany’s support for Breast Month pivotal roles in discovering the genes that cause encourage our men readers to lose turn to their families will hea eradicate the secis just one step toward meeting that goal. ask if lives they have breast cancer, leading to surgical techniques that and friends andtheir to been screened or fert killer and famiLike most people, weond-leading have had friends offer to go with them for this critical, life-saving are now treatment gold standards. breast cancer One inAteight women level, is diagnosed o f w oincluding m e n i n tahclose e ly who have battled cancer, friend The the grassroots a groundswell of com- examination. United this year. withmunity breastsupport cancer in their lifetime. who has survived three boutsStates. with breast cancer. opt is financing critical breast cancer When myhas husband andthe I bought Anyone who watched impact of this studies with innovative fundraisers around town. Goodstein is president, Community News Group

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‘Secret M.O.U.’ sees light LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PIER 40 M.O.U., continued from p. 10

Also within this period, the task force would make a recommendation on the proposed St. John’s project at a C.B. 2 full-board meeting, and C.B. 2 “would have the opportunity to vote and issue a recommendation to E.S.D.C.” Submitted as support for the M.O.U. is former Deputy Mayor Steel’s Dec. 13, 2013, letter to E.S.D.C.’s Adams. Steel writes that the Trust — of which he was at the time board vice chairperson — had determined that the park needs “in excess of $50 million to achieve a state of good repair.” Steel further writes that the Trust’s “mission” is for the park to be “financially self-sustaining on an operating basis,” but that this is being seriously hampered by the decaying condition of Pier 40 — which is a designated revenue-generating, commercial node for the 5-mile-long waterfront park. Steel goes on to indicate that the city would support a G.P.P., if done right. “We understand that you are considering a General Project Plan with regard to Pier 40 and the St. John’s site — a program intended to allow for additional density on the St. John’s site,” Steel writes, “combined with investments in Pier 40’s infrastructure and contributions to the Trust’s annual operating budget. If a G.P.P. were planned consistent with City interests and concerns, and developed with outreach to and input from affected stakeholders, this would complement our current work on the development-rights transfer program; it could also provide, potentially, a faster path to generating new private investment for immediately needed Pier 40 repairs.” Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, has been a leading critic of the park development-rights legislation. The Villager shared the redacted M.O.U. with him and asked him for comment. “It’s deeply disturbing to read the document and to see how far along this was,” he replied after having given it a read-through. “It’s certainly a good thing that this is not happening, but of course there still is the possibility of many other bad things happening with Pier 40 and the St. John’s site.” The parts of the M.O.U. that were redacted “were significant and what most people would be most interested in knowing,” he noted. (According to one source, though, it’s standard operating procedure for E.S.D.C. to redact “all business terms.” The source explained, “The explanation or excuse for that is that people will not do business with them if they release anything that could be proprietary.”) As for a ULURP versus a G.P.P., and the community review process described in the M.O.U., Berman said,

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October 9, 2014

“We always knew that a G.P.P. would include some sort of public review. But there wouldn’t be any public role in the decision-making process. That was what was so frightening — the G.P.P. would ultimately be decided by the ‘Three Men in a Room’ in Albany,” he said, referring to the governor, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the leadership of the state Senate. Regarding the “zoning override” mentioned in the document, Berman said, “Presumably, if they were overriding the zoning, it would be to do something that is larger than what existing zoning allows — not smaller. What’s allowed now is huge.” Assemblymember Deborah Glick said she accepts at face value that the St. John’s proposed G.P.P. plan is dead because Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter, the governor’s local point person on the project, told Glick and her fellow local politicians this at one of the borough president’s task force meetings on the issue. As for the M.O.U. having been created without local politicians’ knowledge, both Glick and Assemblymember Richard Gottfried previously told The Villager that Reiter told them sometimes some things need to be done quietly — or nothing would ever get done. Glick stressed that she had no knowledge of the M.O.U.’s existence prior to when it erupted in May. “As far as knowing that there was an M.O.U. being written, being signed — absolutely not,” she said. “The first that anyone knew there was an M.O.U. was at the meeting at the Borough President’s Office. An E.S.D.C. representative said, ‘Well, we signed an M.O.U. in December.’ There was a collective, ‘What?’ Tobi Bergman is chairperson of C.B. 2’s Land Use Committee and one of three candidates running for board chairperson in next month’s election. He is also a member of the Pier 40 Champions group, which has worked hard to find a way to safeguard the pier and ensure it continues as a youth sports mecca into the future. In late 2012, the Champions even drafted a design plan for two luxury high-rise towers to be located in the park, just east of the pier, whose revenue would finance Pier 40’s repair. But their plan lacked political support, particularly from Glick, in whose district the pier is located. The Villager forwarded the redacted M.O.U. to Bergman and asked him for comment. He said, in one regard, the M.O.U. on the now-defunct St. John’s G.P.P. proposal did offer a positive. “I know people were concerned about a G.P.P. and getting the state involved. And I’m not entitled to an opinion because I have no experience with G.P.P.’s,” he said. “But the community process promised in this document actually appears to exceed anything we usually get in a ULURP.”

LETTERS, continued from p. 14

a responsible bike culture was established. Enforcement is the backbone of a responsible bike culture. Transportation Alternatives was given the keys to the Department of Transportation by the former mayor. It’s time that public safety and pedestrians are given priority. Where do the candidates stand? Jack Brown

Berman be praised! To The Editor: Re “An object lesson in lack of government oversight” (talking point, by Andrew Berman, Oct. 2): Thank the Lord for Andrew Berman, who always tells it like it is! Sylvia Rackow

It works, if you work at To The Editor: Re “Task force finished, work remains on new school” (news article, Oct. 2): I have been humbled and proud, thankful and furious, over these seven years. But mostly I have been grateful for the literally thousands of community members who have kept the faith, even when we were told, five years ago, “75 Morton is dead in the water.” To me, our great new middle school is a small example of a larger truth — evident in marriage equality, dramatic reductions in cigarette smoking, no cars zipping through Washington Square — that community advocacy can produce social change, if people are willing to spend years at it. Next: no fracking, fair funding of campaigns, a living wage. ... It all seems possible, if we keep at it. Keen Berger Berger was chairperson, 75 Morton Task Force

Great day in the park To The Editor: Re “Kids learn to be easy riders” (news article, Oct. 2):

Thanks for the great photos and coverage, Villager! In addition to those mentioned in the article, I’d like to mention Jeannine Kiely, Jeff McMillan and Coral Dawson, who were so helpful in making this event a success! Also, Cecelia and Jon, the volunteer trainers from Bike New York, were so kind to extend their time so more kids could be trained. Our anticipated attendance based on pre-registration was 25, but we ended up with 31 kids in the park! The Bike New York volunteers just kept on smiling and working with each child. Bike New York normally requires that each child bring a bicycle and helmet. But we wanted to serve more children, so I borrowed two small bicycles for kids without ones to share. Some of the kids, however, were too big for those bikes. So I ran out and bought a flame-orange two-wheeler that looked like a hot rod, just the right size for those kids, and a helmet to match. Our bike-modification team raced like a pit crew to assemble it from the box, and it was quickly ready to roll! One of the parents liked the bike for her son and reimbursed me for it. I gave the helmet to a boy named Dilan because he was so willing to share and take a shorter turn so more kids could use the bike. Mercer Playground was the perfect site for this event. It is safely fenced, level and long, giving kids the chance to gain their balance on a straightaway before attempting the challenge of turning. After the New York Police Department’s Operation Safe Child with the big rock wall in May and this event in September, it is obvious that Mercer Playground uniquely offers the right size and configuration for a variety of programming. It was a beautiful day in a community park with happy smiles all around! Terri Cude E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 1 Metrotech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY, NY 11201. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.

TheVillager.com


An evolution of tolerance, with lapses along the way MTWorks’ latest a tale of ‘human beings struggling with being human’

THEATER SWEET, SWEET SPIRIT A Manhattan Theatre Works Production Written by Carol Carpenter PHOTO BY JEFFREY HORNSTEIN

Directed by Joan Kane October 10–25 At The Theater at the 14th Street Y 344 E. 14th St. (at First Ave.) Tickets: $18 | $15 for students $12 for seniors Visit mtworks.org/sweetspirit

L to R: Carol Hickey as Jennifer, David Stallings as Kendall, Kathleen O’Neill as Nanna Jo, Dino Petrera as Tyler, Deanna McGovern as Suzanne and Gary Hilborn as Jimmy.

BY MARTIN DENTON

I

’s late afternoon in a cheerful house in the American Southwest. A woman in her 60s is on her way out to do some errands when her son, Jimmy, runs in unexpectedly. Jimmy’s 15-year-old son Tyler has been taken to the hospital…because Jimmy beat him — senselessly, mercilessly. “There was a man older than me in his bed,” Jimmy tells his mother. “The man was naked…” So begins the harrowing first scene of Carol Carpenter’s intense, incisive, sad and thought-provoking new play “Sweet, Sweet Spirit.” It’s being presented by Manhattan Theatre Works (MTWorks) at The Theater at the 14th Street Y in Manhattan. Joan Kane is the director and the cast includes MTWorks artistic director David Stallings along with Carol Hickey, Gary TheVillager.com

Hilborn, Deanna McGovern, Dino Petrera and Kathleen O’Neill. I almost never go to play readings, but I did attend one for “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” — this past winter, after one of those awful Polar Vortex storms that we kept having. Stallings and his co-artistic director Antonio Minino invited me to attend and then lead a talkback with the playwright, director and cast, as part of their company’s NewBorn Festival, which is a laboratory for new works development. I was thrilled to witness this remarkable play, then still in gestation and nearly ready for the world to meet. As “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” approaches its official world premiere, I can say with complete conviction that this is a truly exciting, significant, gripping drama. It deserves a lot of attention and a huge audience. Carpenter is tackling some thorny topics here. “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” is,

on its surface, a play about gay bashing and child abuse — but it’s really an exploration of a family being pulled apart by a catastrophic event; or rather, one that is taken to the breaking point by a cataclysm that, as we get to know them, seems inevitable. Tyler’s “difference” — acknowledged but generally not named by his family members — affects each of the members of this traditional Southern Christian family in divergent ways. For Tyler’s dad, as we’ve seen, there is rage and recrimination. For his grandma, there’s a kind of a test: Can the unconditional love she feels for her grandson overtake the teachings of the church that she’s cherished and hung onto all her life? For his aunt, there’s simply a strong feeling of obligation, battling with her own other priorities. And for his mom, Suzanne, there is — reflected in Tyler’s flamboyant personality — an opportunity for escape and self-actualization.

Beyond these family members, Carol introduces us to another important figure in Tyler’s life — his music teacher, Kendall. He is gay and has lived in this same small town since he was a boy. Through him, we gauge just how much attitudes toward gay people have (or haven’t) changed in a generation. Such an evolution of tolerance is just one aspect of the valuable mission pursued by MTWorks. (Their official mission statement reads: “Dedicated to discovering new plays that challenge our perception of diversity (ethnic, economic, geographic, gender, sexuality or creed).”) Co-artistic directors Stallings and Minino champion acceptance and mutual understanding in all their plays, from their recent hit “Dark Water” (written by Stallings himself, and a SPIRIT, continued on p.21 October 9, 2014

17


Just Do Art COURTESY BOND STREET EUTERPEAN SINGING SOCIETY

ILLUSTRATION BY ED STECKLEY

Sweet imagination: The cupcake-dispensing ATM’s creator, Ed Steckley, will be one of the many illustrators at the Crazy 8 Cartoon Festival.

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

CRAZY 8 CARTOON FESTIVAL on EIGHTH STREET

Close off the block, put up a screen, show some classic and cutting-edge cartoons and everybody will be happy

The scary good Bond Street Euterpean Singing Society pipes up, at their “Chant Macabre” concert (Oct. 17 at Merchant’s House Museum).

— but the Crazy 8 Cartoon Festival has broader ambitions. Awaken your inner illustrator, by strolling a single block of West Eighth Street and taking part in every comic-and-cartoon-art-themed activity this (first annual!) event has to offer: 8 hours of animation, 8 hours of comic and cartoon art shows from seasoned pros, 8 hours of family art

Win a Pair of Tickets to

VILLAGE JAZZ ALIVE play when The Ann Hampton Two hands would be more Callaway Trio performs (witty than enough in most towns, between-song banter includbut it won’t get the job done ed in price of admission). if you want to count the numThe winner of our ber of Village jazz venues offerGIVEAWAY will receive ing classic, contemporary and two tickets, compliments cutting-edge music until the of this newspaper and the wee small hours of the morning. A half-decade ago, the Photo by Bill Westmoreland Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce. To Greenwich Village-Chelsea enter, send an email to Jazz@TheVillager. Chamber of Commerce began to recognize iconic jazz artists by hosting Village com, along with your phone number Jazz Alive. This swanky, swinging, fall (only enter once, please). A winner will destination event pays tribute to singers, be selected at random, and contacted by phone on Oct. 20. If you want to guaranmusicians, and composers who contribtee attendance, visit bit.ly/VillageJazzAlive, ute to Greenwich Village’s enduring music where your purchase of VIP tickets will culture. include a meet and greet reception with This year, Ann Hampton Callaway Ann and a signed CD. Regular admission joins the ranks of past honorees Odetta, Art D’Lugoff, Randy Weston and Arturo includes free drinks, appetizers and a performance by the Trio. The event takes Sandoval. Admired throughout the world place on Wed., Oct. 22, 7–9 p.m. at the as a singer, composer, arranger, lyricist, Metropolitan Room (34 W. 22nd St., btw. producer and educator, Callaway’s distinct voice and impressive range will be on dis- Fifth & Sixth Aves.).

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October 9, 2014

projects, cartoon-ified $8 adult cocktails, super high-end (and super real) cartoon tattoos for $8, and an 8-minute street parade! In a bold break from the “8” theme, the festival lasts 14 hours — during which four gigantic original wall murals will be created. Free. From 10 a.m. to Midnight on Sat., Oct. 18, on the block of W. Eighth St. (btw. Fifth & Sixth Aves.). Visit crazy8cartoonfestival.com for schedule and event info. Also visit villagealliance.org for info or the event’s sponsor.

CHANT MACABRE: SONGS FROM THE CRYPT

From the stunning Greek revival parlor to the modest fourth floor Irish servants’ quarters to their extensive collection of clothing, housewares and furnishings used by the Tredwell family over the course of nearly a century, it’s easy to sing the praises of the Merchant’s House Museum — NYC’s only family home preserved intact from the mid-1800s era. Not so easy to sing are the vocal pyrotechnics of The Bond Street Euterpean Singing Society. This foursome with fearsome pipes will soon return to the abnormally paranormal Merchant’s House, for “Chant Macabre: Songs From the Crypt.” It’s their annual program of ghoulish music by 19th-century composers Schubert, Carl Loewe, Schumann, MacDowell, Liszt, Debussy, Mussorgsky, Massenet, Saint-Saëns, and Strauss — as well as somewhat lighter (yet fittingly dark-themed) ballads and vaudeville selections from the same period. They’re all performed in the aforementioned Victorian parlor — where museumgoers have reported phantom notes from the non-functioning piano and snoring from an

unoccupied sofa (past BSESS audiences have sworn they saw a ghostly concertgoer dressed in period attire). This event always sells out (proceeds benefit the Museum), so reservations are strongly recommended. Call 212777-1089 or visit merchantshouse. org — where you’ll find info on other “spirited” October events, including their spine-tingling late-month Ghost Tours and an Oct. 21 Ghost Hunting 101 lecture by frequent Merchant’s House paranormal investigator Dan Sturges. “Chant Macabre” happens Fri., Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. at Merchant’s House Museum (29 E. Fourth St., btw. Lafayette & Bowery). Tickets are $25, $15 for Museum members.

HIGH LINE OPEN STUDIOS

Apple picking is fine, but what you take home can only be fun to look at for a short period of time before it all goes bad. Our idea of a fall weekend tradition is the High Line Open Studios tour. Dozens of West Chelsea-based artists will make their workplaces accessible to art lovers, enthusiasts, collectors, curators and dealers (with great deals on long-lasting work that’s suitable for framing, or already framed!). Fri., Oct. 17 from 6–8 p.m. and Sat./ Sun., Oct. 18/19 from 12–6 p.m. On event days, a greeter at the West Chelsea Art Building (508/526 W. 26th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.) will provide a map (also available in the lobby of Westbeth Artists Housing, 55 Bethune St., and at participating sponsors’ locations). Visit highlineopenstudios.org for a downloadable version of the map along with artist and sponsor info.

THE BAD THEATER FEST

We’re betting — and really, really hoping — that bad is just another name for good, when it comes to the short plays, comedy shows, dance, puppet theater and films presented by edition #3 of the annual Bad Theater Fest. Weird, wonderful and eccentric are words used by organizers to describe the 50-plus works. Based on our quick scan of the lineup, we’re inclined to agree. “Golden Lear” is Shakespeare’s gloomy and lengthy “King Lear” finally done right: performed in 30 minutes by TV’s iconic Golden Girls. “Everybody Dies” is demented monologist Jason Blanche’s confession of his crippling fear that his status as an only child will one day take him back to Boston, to serve as primary caretaker for JUST DO ART, continued on p.19 TheVillager.com


Just Do Art

PHOTO BY JAQUELINE E. FOUASNON

PHOTO BY SCOTTO MYCKLEBUST

Enter with curiosity, exit with art — when you take the High Line Open Studios tour (Oct. 17-19). Seen here, the studio of Rodney Durso.

his “overwhelming mother.” Stand-up comic Tabitha Vidaurri’s “Write if You Get Work” dissects every day job she’s had over the last eight years. Three best friends give equal attention to the absurd and scatological, in the scripted humor of “The Rolling Scones Sketch Show.” Banished to the basement and forced to collaborate on a lowly advice column, four once-powerful women plot to get their old mega-media jobs back, in “Dear Penelope.” Oh, the horror! “Cat” is an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway atrocity, with one man doing all of the singing, dancing and feline pelvic thrusting. In addition to dozens of other shows, bad art will grace (or curse?) the lobby, and there will be a Bad Costume Contest and Halloween Party on Oct. 31. The fest returns in mid-2015, with an allfilm format.

Two-hour blocks of multiple performances at 7, 9 & 11 p.m. on Fri., Oct. 17, 24, 30. Also at 5, 7, 9 & 11 p.m. on Sat., Oct. 18, 25 & Nov. 1. Best/Worst of Fest performances on Sun. Nov. 2 at 7 & 9 p.m. At Chelsea’s newly-opened Treehouse Theater (2nd floor of 154 W. 29th St., btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves). For tickets ($15) and schedule, visit badtheaterfest.com. Twitter@badtheaterfest and on Facebook at facebook.com/BadTheaterFest. For venue info: treehousetheaternyc.com.

THE CHELSEA FILM FESTIAL

Now an annual fall event, the Chelsea Film Festival (CFF) supports the work of emerging, risk-taking filmmakers whose documentaries, shorts, and feature-length passion projects deserve big screens and wide audiences. International in scope (a dozen countries are represented), the festival’s commitment to empowerment is also hyper-local. As a non-profit cultural organization, CFF provides free arts

classes to Chelsea youth, year-round. From India, “Blemished Light” opens the festival, with filmmaker Raj Amit Kumar in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. The crime drama takes place in both NYC and New Delhi (“archetypal cities of economic and patriarchal control”), where four characters must perpetrate violence or fight it, in the name of freedom. “Let’s Dance” is South Korean filmmaker Seyong Jo’s documentary about the social uproar following a 2009 whistle-blowing incident in which obstetricians named colleagues who were performing surgical abortions. “A Quintet” has young filmmakers from Germany, the United States, Italy, the Balkans and Turkey meet in Berlin, then return home to create their segments based on what they’ve discovered about each other. Oct. 16–19 at the SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd St., btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.) and The New School University Center

South Korean director Seyong Jo’s “Let’s Dance” screens at Oct. 16-19’s Chelsea Film Festival.

COURTESY OF SEYONG JO &THE CHELSEA FILM FESTIVAL

JUST DO ART, continued from p. 18

This Bad Theater Fest penguin mascot symbolizes good (although not always clean) fun. It all goes down Oct. 17-Nov. 2.

(65 Fifth Ave., corner of 14th St.). Visit chelseafilm.org for screening schedule, film synopsis & clips, and ticket purchase. Individual tickets are $13 ($8 for students/seniors), with festival passes at $91 for the general public and $56 for students/seniors). Follow the fest on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube & other social media.

Theater for the New City • 155 1st Avenue at E. 10th St. Reservations & Info (212) 254-1109 For more info, please visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net

TNC’S ANNUAL VILLAGE

HALLOWEEN COSTUME BALL Friday, October 31st

EXTREME WHETHER By: Karen Malpede

October 9-28

Come see and be seen and Celebrate the Night of Nights! Costume Parade & Live Bands | Miracles & Monsters HOT FOOD & HOT ENTERTAINMENT

Bandstage on E. 10th St. at 4:30PM DOORS OPEN 7:30 PM ALL TICKETS, $20!

Thursday - Saturday at 7:30 PM Sunday at 3 PM TICKETS: $18 Students/Snrs: $10 Group tix(9 or more people,$15 per person)

Gertrude Stein’s

SIX PASSIONATE WOMEN

TENDER BUTTONS Objects. Rooms. Food. A spectacle in 3 parts

October 9-19

Thursday - Saturday 8pm, Sunday 3pm Tickets: $15 Students/Snrs $12

Written By: MARIO FRATTI

Directed By: STEPHAN MORROW

October 9 - October 26 Thursday - Saturday at 8pm Sunday at 3pm

All Seats $12 Students & Seniors $10 TNC’s Programs are funded in part by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts

TheVillager.com

October 9, 2014

19


Theseus rides the bull Mark Dendy journeys through a mythical Jungian underworld BY BRIAN McCORMICK

T

THEATER LABYRINTH Presented by Mark Dendy Projects Written & Directed by Mark Dendy Through October 26 Wed.–Sat. at 8 p.m. Sundays at 5 p.m. At Abrons Arts Center MARISA @ROCKPAPER

here have been many versions of the myth of Theseus, founder-king of Athens and, like Jesus, the son of two possible fathers and one mother. In Mark Dendy’s new dance-play “Labyrinth,” the artist draws inspiration from Mary Renault’s 1958 bildungsroman “The King Must Die” and weaves in his own personal historical fiction. For Dendy, who said he has “been to hell in the last 10 years,” the project has become the vehicle for overcoming his own demons. In Dendy’s “Labyrinth,” we meet Theseus in midlife, as an artist who makes abstract pieces in public spaces on his way uptown to choreograph a dance for the Rockettes. (Dendy has done both.) Artistically conflicted and aided by a mix of anti-anxiety meds and alcohol, he has a nervous breakdown in Times Square and ends up at Bellevue as Superstorm Sandy is approaching. As the storm rages, he finds tranquility within.

The non-linear labyrinth is inhabited by various characters drawn from the Jungian realm of Dendy’s real-life therapy — each representing a different facet of

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October 9, 2014

Tickets: $25 Visit abronsartcenter.com or call 212352-3101

Heather Christian, Stephen Donovan, and Matthew Hardy in Mark Dendy’s “Labyrinth,” a tragicomic, autobiographically-inspired retelling of the Theseus myth.

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Theseus’ character. There’s a bartender, a nightclub singer, a shadow self, a soldier, a goddess, a whore, and Barbara Stanwyck in a dream. The cast of four collaborators — Dendy, Heather Christian, Stephen Donovan, and Matthew Hardy — all play multiple characters, live and via video, and also perform the sound and music live. Dendy plays the hero, the racist and homophobic father, the heroine prostitute Hannah, and the child. Standing in for Ariadne, Hannah gives Theseus string, but instead of a sword under a rock he finds a TV remote, which allows him to get messages from her. Instead of a Minotaur, he must face a mechanical bull. But the themes of recovery, renewal, and redemption remain central. In the end, he has ridden out the storm, conquered the father, and dealt with his fears. “When this has come forward before in therapy,” Dendy told our sister publication Gay City News, “it’s come with anguish, tears, and shaking. It’s hard to share one on one. Here I am being my father. How can I do this in front of everyone? But talking about it now is easy because we’re enacting it.” Dendy’s last dance project, “Ritual Cyclical,” was a “big, site-specific, ritual, architectural dance for 80” at Lincoln Center Out of Doors. “Labyrinth,” which has been in development for three years, is “dramaturgical, mythological, and personal,” he said.

“Labyrinth,” like much of Dendy’s work, doesn’t fit neatly into any particular genre. He draws from cabaret, nightclub, theater, character portraiture, musicals, and experimental forms. “It’s a total genre fuck,” he exclaimed. “The dancing is used as psychological embellishment. There’s a lot of stylization, abstraction, and gesture.” Autobiographies can be painful for authors as well as their other interested parties. But in writing them, new lessons and personal insights can be gleaned. For Dendy, there have been revelations. “When you come from abuse, dysfunction, and alcoholism,” he said, “you learn to set self yourself aside, apart. You show an outward front. You analyze everything. Why am I a victim? How can I get love and attention? There’s the possibility for the gift of the vigilance of an artist, if you can overcome the trauma. You can develop powerful tools for dealing with the world.” For Dendy, who has been through his own real life dark journey, this project has been a spiritual endeavor. He is not trying to alienate people, but to get them to relate. And the gift of redemption far outweighs any guilt he has in exposing anyone’s secrets. “That’s what the perpetrator wants,” he affirmed. “If people don’t like what you write, tell them they should have behaved differently.” TheVillager.com


Karen Finley’s feel-good AIDS rage Decades of distance can’t scatter what’s ‘Written in Sand’ THEATER WRITTEN IN SAND Written & Performed by Karen Finley With Paul Nebenzahl Through October 23 PHOTO BY CONNOR JOHNSON

Thursdays, 8 p.m. At Baruch Performing Arts Center Enter on 25th St., Btw. Lexington & Third Aves. $30 general admission $20 for students/seniors, at the box office Reservations: 212-352-3101 or SpinCycleNYC.com

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

F

rom the lobby greeter’s gentle disclaimer to the nervous pre-show audience chatter, there was no shortage of gallows humor surrounding the notion of spending an intense Thursday night at a show about close friends lost to AIDS — as if calling out the evening’s downbeat nature would take some of the sting away. It didn’t, of course, but one aside from the artist managed to take viewers from tissues to chuckles by casting herself as more ambitious than altruistic: “Karen and Her Dead Friends, Symphony

Space, 2016,” she said, imagining an alternately titled “Written in Sand” as a commercial triumph. It wasn’t to be, though, since this bit of wishful thinking happened after a technical glitch. Bells and cello music from an iPad failed to arrive on cue, plunging the show into notready-for-Symphony-Space territory and earning an ad-lib from author/ performer Karen Finley that spoke volumes: “We had a bit of a malfunction, but my emotions are still here.” Maybe, she proposed, her dead friends were making their presence known by denying the use of contemporary technology. If there were any ghostly AIDS casualties in atten-

dance, seeing that iPad must have been an insulting reminder of all the things they should still be around for, and taking full advantage of. Comprised exclusively of performance pieces and writings on AIDS created by Finley between 1983 and 1994 — many performed publicly for the first time — “Written in Sand” is set firmly in a time when effective HIV treatment, marriage equality, transgender people on TV, and PrEP regimens were as inconceivable as the notion of a phone that fits in the palm of your hand and responds to touch. That alone is enough to make both performer and audience angry — but the evening’s real source of rage,

which starts on boil and never allows itself to simmer, flows from the lack of compassion afforded to those who received the grim diagnosis and didn’t survive. Whether cursing an ambulance worker clueless about an unhooked IV drip or picturing an urban AIDS sufferer forced to spend his final days back home, desexualized, in a bedroom whose cowboy wallpaper hasn’t changed since adolescence, “Written in Sand” always seems on the verge of collapsing under the weight of its indignities. It never quite gets to that point, though. Interludes originally written or performed by musicians who died of AIDS (nicely played on piano, harmonica, and flute by Paul Nebenzahl) keep that avalanche of grief at bay. “Hello Mother” and “The Black Sheep” bookend the show. The former is a series of pleas that has an increasingly hoarse and exhausted Finley placing ineffective phone calls to family members of the sick as well as the medical and political establishment, all of whom keep their distance out of ignorance or convenience. The latter has her reaching out to someone about to slip away, willing to touch them and thumping her fist against her chest until the heartbeat sound stops and the stage goes dark. That isn’t anywhere near as grim as it sounds. In fact, the combination of all this rage, reflection and regret sends you out of the theater more exhilarated than defeated — and yes, even able to feel good about grieving.

‘Sweet, Sweet Spirit’ is gripping drama with intelligence and wit SPIRIT, continued from p. 17

recent winner of the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding New Full-Length Script) to 2010’s “Providence” by Cody Daigle (a wise and beautiful play about two men — one gay, one straight — who form a bond after a disaster strikes) to Carol Carpenter’s earlier provocative comedy “Good Lonely People,” in which a prodigal (lesbian) daughter returns to her conservative hometown on the eve of Obama’s first election. These plays — and others, featured in Indie Theater Now’s MTWorks Play Collection (indietheaternow.com/Collection/Index/mtworks) — delve into social, political, economic, and sexual TheVillager.com

identity issues with intelligence and wit. But down deep, all of them — in common with “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” — are tales of human beings struggling with being human. Stallings and Minino and their family of artists, including Carpenter and director Joan Kane, are creating theater that reminds us that our ability to love and care for one another is the most important quality any of us can ever possess. As for the playwright herself, well, I am going to let Carpenter handle the introduction. “Carol Carpenter was raised Southern Baptist, came out of the closet at 18, and grew up in the trans-Pecos oil and ranching plains of New Mexico — where the Bible Belt, the Mexican border, the oil business, the West Texas

cowboy, and the poor collide to form a landscape of conflict. It is about this world that Carpenter writes.” Carpenter told me, “I love working with MTWorks because they get my work. Part of this, I think, is due to the reality that artistic director David Stallings is a gay man from conservative Texas. We both attended the same small liberal arts college in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which brought young creatives from little conservative towns across the Southwest together. We were forged in some similar fires.” I love that MTWorks is spotlighting Carpenter ’s work yet again this fall with their production of “Sweet, Sweet Spirit.” New York City theater people sometimes forget that great work originates beyond the Hudson.

Kudos to Stallings and Minino for calling attention to a playwright who hails from far-away-seeming Madrid, New Mexico. And kudos, too, for giving over their fall production to a woman playwright AND a woman director. Carpenter and Kane are a powerhouse team, as I can attest from viewing their work separately and together. I’m excited to see their newest collaboration hit 14th Street this month! Martin Denton is the founder and curator of Indie Theater Now, a digital library of more than 1,000 new play scripts from the world of indie theater that also houses commentary and features about contemporary American plays and playwrights. Visit indietheaternow.com. October 9, 2014

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NOTICE OF FORMATION OF AOK HOLDINGS LLC Articles of Organization filed with the Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/10/14. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of any process to the LLC, 505 W. 54th NY 10019. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF AOK TURF LLC Articles of Organization filed with the Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/10/14. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of any process to the LLC, 505 W. 54th St., Apt. 817, New York, NY10019. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014 LOT 112 LLC a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 9/15/14. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to The LLC, 112 W. 20th St., 7th Fl., NY, NY 10011. General Purposes. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014 ELYSE C. DUBIN MD PLLC, A DOMESTIC PLLC a domestic PLLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 8/26/14. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the PLLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Dr. Elsye Dubin, MD, 134 Spring St., NY, NY 10012. Purpose: Medicine. 10/09 - 11/13/2014 PROFESSIONAL LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY NOTICE OF FORMATION OF A PROFESSIONAL SERVICE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (PLLC) NAME: SHEMTOV UROLOGY LLC Articles of Organization filed by the Department of State of New York on: 09/15/2014. Office location: County of New York. Purpose: Medicine. Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) designated as agent of PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: 524 East 72nd Street, Apt. 38C, New York, NY 10021 Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF KCMO SERVICES LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/19/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Missouri (MO) on 09/23/02. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 2001 Shawnee Mission Pkwy, Mission Woods, Kansas 66205. Address to be maintained in MO: Attn: SMF Registered Services, Inc., 1201 Walnut St., Ste. 2900, Kansas City, MO 64106. Arts of Org. filed with the MO Secy. of State, 600 West Main St., Jefferson City, MO 65101. Purpose: any lawful activities. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014

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NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BLACKSTONE SENFINA ASSOCIATES L.L.C. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/29/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/20/14. Princ. office of LLC: 345 Park Ave., 28th Fl., NY, NY 10154. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. The regd. agent of the company upon whom and at which process against the company can be served is Peter Koffler, 345 Park Ave., 28th Fl., NY, NY 10154. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BLACKSTONE SENFINA ADVISORS L.L.C. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/29/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/20/14. Princ. office of LLC: 345 Park Ave., 28th Fl., NY, NY 10154. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. The regd. agent of the company upon whom and at which process against the company can be served is Peter Koffler, 345 Park Ave., 28th Fl., NY, NY 10154. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 11TH AVENUE DEVELOPMENT LLC Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 9/22/14. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o Third Palm Capital LLC, 501 Richardson St., Ste. C, Simpsonville, SC 29681, principal business address. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF 12W21 LH LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/02/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/02/08. Princ. office of LLC: 30 W. 26th St., 8th Fl., NY, NY 10010-2011. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, c/o Meringoff Properties, Inc. at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., #3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014

October 9, 2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF THEE OCCASION BY LEIDA MARIE, LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 08/26/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: Thee Occasion by Leida Marie, LLC, 1825 Madison Ave. #9F, New York, NY 10035. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity. Vil: 10/09 -11/13/2014 ASB PROPERTIES (USA) LLC Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/22/14. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Socrates Scott L. Nicholas, Esq., 100 Wall Street, 23rd Floor, New York, New York 10005. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Vil: 10/09 -11/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 33 NINTH COMMERCIAL LLC Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 9/18/2014. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Midtown Equities LLC, 141 5th Ave., 2nd Fl., NY, NY 10010, principal business address. Term: until 1/1/2080. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 10/09 -11/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF PCDC HEALTH OPPORTUNITIES FUND X LLC Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 6/13/14. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Primary Care Development Corp., 45 Broadway, Ste. 530, NY, NY 10006, principal business address. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SCHUETTE ESQ. SERVICES PLLC Arts. of Org. filed w/ Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/29/14. Office location: NY Cty. SSNY designated as agt of PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to: 124 E84th St. #7C, NY, NY 10028. Purpose: practice the profession of law. Vil: 10/09 - 11/13/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF 537 GREENWICH OWNER LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 4/16/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 11/7/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011. DE address of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 147 WEST 75TH STREET LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/23/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 153 W. 75th St., NY, NY 10023. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF AW 8 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/17/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Office of Lawrence E. Fabian, Esq., 437 5th Avenue, Ste. 801, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 246 WEST 16TH STREET LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/17/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Office of Lawrence E. Fabian, Esq., 437 5th Avenue, Ste. 801, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 151 WEST 75TH STREET LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/23/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 153 W. 75th St., NY, NY 10023. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF ROSSER CAPITAL PARTNERS GP (CPS), LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/22/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/10/14. Princ. office of LLC: 45 E. Putnam Ave., #109, Greenwich, CT 06830. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 421 WEST 21ST STREET LLC Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 7/2/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 825 3rd Ave., Fl 37, NY, NY 10022. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014

372 CPW LLC, A DOMESTIC LLC filed with the SSNY on 9/10/14. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Phyllis Marie Kamysek, 305 Broadway, Ste. 1201, NY, NY 10007-1135. General Purposes. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF VIVINT SOLAR FUND X PROJECT COMPANY, LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/29/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 4931 N. 300 W., Provo, UT 84604. LLC formed in DE on 6/20/14. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF VIVINT SOLAR FUND XI PROJECT COMPANY, LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/29/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 4931 N. 300 W., Provo, UT 84604. LLC formed in DE on 6/20/14. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF ENERFIELDS AMERICA, LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 06/20/14. p Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: Enerfields America LLC, 108E 96th Street Apt. 17D, New York, NY 10128. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity. Vil: 10/02 -11/06/2014 NOTICE OF CONVERSION OF 205 WEST 20TH ASSOCIATES, A PARTNERSHIP, TO 205 WEST 20TH ASSOCIATES, LLC Certificate filed with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) on 5/11/06. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o Ed Dulchin, 170 7th Ave., NY, NY 10011. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF HQ ENERGY TRADING LLC Articles of Org. filed with Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/24/2014. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 75 Carriage Road, Wilton, CT 06897. Purpose: Any lawful activity. The LLC is to be managed by one or more managers. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 5th AVENUE COSMETIC PLASTIC SURGERY PLLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/17/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 800-A Fifth Ave., Street Level, NY, NY 10021. Purpose: practice the profession of medicine. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF VIVINT SOLAR FUND XII PROJECT COMPANY, LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/29/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 4931 N. 300 W., Provo, UT 84604. LLC formed in DE on 6/20/14. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 10/02 - 11/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF GUARD HILL PARTNERS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/11/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Andrews Kurth LLP, 450 Lexington Ave., 15th Fl., NY, NY 10017. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF IM NYC BROOME LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/4/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Abitbol & Cherry, LLP, 545 Fifth Avenue, Ste. 640, NY, NY 10017. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF HVPG WIH PRESERVATION LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/12/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Hudson Valley Property Group, 394 Broadway, Ste. 405, NY, NY 10013. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF 50 CLINTON MEZZ LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/12/14.Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/08/14. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process toc/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400,Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of DE, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose:Any lawful activity. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 201 ROCK ROAD, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/12/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: c/o Gilbert C. Hoover, IV, The Shubert Organization, Inc., 234 W. 44th St., NY, NY 10036. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF QUAL. OF 55W46 CONDO OWNER LLC Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 8/8/14. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 8/7/14. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to NRAI, 111 Eighth Ave., NY, NY 10011, the Reg. Agt. upon whom proc. may be served. DE off. addr.: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF 388 BRIDGE SPONSOR LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/03/13.Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 05/15/13. Princ. office of LLC: c/o The Stahl Organization, 277 Park Ave., 47th Fl., NY, NY 10172. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC,2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Real estate. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF MUSCLE MATRIX SOLUTIONS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/17/14.Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 228 Park Ave. South, #46893, NY, NY 10003-1502. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014

DIRAN C AND SONS REALTY LLC Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/15/14. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom proces against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 589 Fifth Avenue, Suite 703, New York, NY 10017. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 21W20-3, LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 7/2/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to Kriss & Feuerstein, Att: Matthew Klein, Esq., 360 Lexington Ave., NY, NY 10017. Purpose: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 148 WEST 142 HOLDINGS LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 6/27/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to Bluestone Group,225 Broadway, NY, NY 10007. Purpose: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF QUAL. OF MQL DIVERSIFIED FUTURES PARTNERS L.P. Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 3/4/14. Office loc.: NY County. LP org. in DE 3/3/14. SSNY desig. as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to Att: Carlos Garcia, 215 Park Ave. S., NY, NY 10003. DE off. addr.: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Name/addr. of each gen. ptr. avail. at SSNY. Purp.: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF QUAL. OF 149 GERARD HOTEL, LLC Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 8/5/14. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 5/27/14. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to 220 Fifth Ave., 19th Fl., NY, NY 10001. DE off. addr.: NCR, 615 S. Dupont Hwy., Dover, DE 19901. Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE OF QUAL. OF 752 DEVELOPMENT FEE LLC, FILED UNDER THE ORIGINAL NAME OF 65 MADISON OWNER LLC Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 7/15/14. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 7/14/14. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to NRAI, 111 Eighth Ave., NY, NY 10011, the Reg. Agt. upon whom proc. may be served. DE off. addr.: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014

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NOTICE OF FORMATION OF HQ ENERGY TRADING, LLC Articles of Org. filed with Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/24/2014. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 75 Carriage Road, Wilton, CT 06897. Purpose: Any lawful activity. The LLC is to be managed by one or more managers. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF GENERATIONS PRODUCTIONS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/21/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 41 Great Jones St., 5th 10012. Purpose: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF CENSEO HEALTH LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/28/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/30/09. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: National Registered Agents, Inc., 111 Eighth Ave., NY, NY 10011, also the registered agent. Address to be maintained in DE: 1675 S State St., Ste. B, Dover, DE 19901. Arts of Org. filed with the DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF J R JEWELRY US , LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 07/09/2014. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: J R Jewelry US LLC, 70 west 36th Street, Floor 6th, New York, NY 10018. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF TS 509 W 34, L.L.C. Authority filed with Secy of State of NY on June 5, 2014. Office location: New York County. LLC formed in DE on 3/4/2014. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: National Registered Agents, Inc. 111 Eighth Avenue, 13th floor, New York, NY 10011. NRAI is the registered agent as well. Address required to be maintained in home jurisdiction: 160 Greentree Drive, Suite 101, Dover, DE 19904. Arts of Org filed with DE Secy of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., Federal & Duke of York Streets, P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014

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NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF NEW YORK 255 LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/27/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 1900 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19103. LLC formed in DE on 5/21/09. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF AMERICAN IMMIGRATION GROUPNYRC, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/08/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 230 Park Ave., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10023. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Real estate finance. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF BLUEROOKIE11B LLC Arts. of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/21/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Linda Plotnicki, Esq., Kaufman, Friedman, Plotnicki & Grun, LLP, 300 East 42nd St., NY, NY 10017, also the registered agent. Purpose: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF THE GOLDEN HINGE GROUP LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) 8/7/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to principal business address: P.O.BOX 751132, NY NY 11375. Purpose: any lawful act.2335391. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF S & C REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/12/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Moses & Singer LLP, Attn: Daniel S. Rubin, Esq., 405 Lexington Ave., NY, NY 10174-1299. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 RH 88, LLC a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 7/25/14. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process The LLC, c/o Robyn Heiberger, 240A E. 67th St., NY, NY 10065. General Purposes. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF 50 CLINTON PROPERTY OWNER LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/09/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/05/14. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of DE, Div. of Corps., State of DE, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF 491 CHELSEA APARTMENTS, LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/08/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in New Jersey (NJ) on 08/18/14. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the NJ addr. of the LLC, 44 Woodcrest Ave., Short Hills, NJ 07078. Arts. of Org. filed with NJ Dept. of the Treasury, Div. of Revenue and Enterprise Services, 33 W. State St., 5th Fl., Trenton, NJ 08646. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 127 ASSOCIATES LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/4/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, One Penn Plaza, Ste. 4000, NY, NY 10119. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF NH NEW YORK CITY LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 9/2/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in MI on 7/16/14. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. MI and principal business addr.: 14115 Farmington Rd., Livonia, MI 48154. Cert. of Org. filed with Director of Corporations, Securities & Commercial Licensing Bureau, PO Box 30004, Lansing, MI 48909. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF QUOGUE AVIATION II LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/20/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 8/18/14. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 50 W. 57th St., 15th Fl., NY, NY 10019, principal business address. DE address of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014

Notice of Qualification of Park Square Capital USA LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/19/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 299 Park Ave., 6th Fl., NY, NY 10171. LLC formed in DE on 8/14/14. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o National Registered Agents, Inc. (NRAI), 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: c/o NRAI, 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 2329 FIRST AVENUE LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 6/10/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, 632 Broadway, 7th Fl., NY, NY 10012. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 09/18 - 10/23/2014 Name of LLC: Boredom Therapy LLC Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State: 8/14/14. Office loc.: NY Co. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Asaf Katzir, 140 W. 70th St., #4R, NY, NY 10023, regd. agt. upon whom process may be served. Purpose: any lawful act. Vil: 09/11 - 10/16/2014 MAXDELIVERY 2, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/06/2014. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Gilbride, Tusa, Last & Spellane LLC Attn: JMW , 31 Brookside Drive, Greenwich, CT 06830. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Vil: 09/11 - 10/16/2014 PARACADEMIA LLC Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/01/14. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Milica Paranosic, 281 West 119th Street, #5A, New York, NY 10026. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Vil: 09/11 - 10/16/2014 Notice of Qualification of BMC Software Federal, LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/15/14. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 2101 CityWest Blvd., Houston, TX 77042. LLC formed in DE on 9/18/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 09/11 - 10/16/2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF FXFL LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 08/28/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: FXFL LLC 590 Madison Ave. Floor 25 New York NY 10022. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity. Vil: 09/11 - 10/16/2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SPIN CERAMICS USA LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/22/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: United Corporate Services, Inc., 10 Bank St., Ste. 560, White Plains, NY 10606, the registered agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 09/04 - 10/09/2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 1560 BROADWAY GFI, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/19/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, 125 Park Avenue, NY, NY 10017. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 09/11 - 10/16/2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF HIPPIE ROSE LLC Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/28/2014. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: United State Corporation Agents, Inc 7014 13th Ave, Ste 202 Brooklyn, NY 11228. The principal business address of the LLC is: 499 Fashion Avenue, 3rd Floor NY, NY 10018 Purpose: any lawful act or activity. Vil: 09/04- 10/09/2014

Notice of Qualification of The Line LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/15/14. NYS fict. name: The Line NY LLC. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 10/19/12. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to the principal business addr.: 3555 Timmons Lane, Ste. 800, Houston, TX 77027. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 09/11 - 10/16/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF JUSTICE: JUST US LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 08/14/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: JUSTICE: Just Us LLC, 45 Wall Street, Apt 2203, New York, NY 10005. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity. Vil: 090/04 - 10/09/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF BETSOLA LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/08/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Betsy Olum, 222 Park Ave. S., NY, NY 10003. Purpose: any lawful activities. Vil: 09/04 - 10/09/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SILKSTONE HOSPITALITY LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/20/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, 17 Orchard St., NY, NY 10002. Purpose: any lawful activity. Vil: 090/04 - 10/09/2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF DIANA ADAMS LAW & MEDIATION, PLLC a professional service limited liability company (PLLC). Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 08/05/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the PLLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the PLLC is to: Diana Adams Law & Mediation, PLLC, 48 Wall Street, 11th Floor, New York NY 10005. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity. Vil: 09/04 - 10/09/2014 IPPUDO KURO-OBI, LLC a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 8/8/14. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to The LLC, c/o R.O.S.E., 420 Lexington Ave., Ste. 2160, NY, NY 10170. General Purposes. Vil: 09/04 - 10/09/2014

Notice of Qualification of TICO Investment Vehicle V, LP Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 9/10/14. Office location: NY County. LP formed in DE on 8/19/14. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 590 Madison Ave., 35th Fl., NY, NY 10022, principal business address. DE address of LP: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Name/address of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Vil: 09/25 - 10/30/2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an on-premise license, #TBA has been applied for by Kale NYC LLC d/b/a Oficina Mille Miglia to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in an on premises establishment. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 371 Broome Street NY, NY 10013. Vil: 10/02 - 10/09/2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN a license, number 1281228 for on-premises Liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell liquor at retail in a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 7 Bryant Park a/k/a 1045 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10018 for on premises consumption. USHG 7 Bryant Park LLC Vil: 10/02 - 10/09/2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, number 1281298 for beer, wine, and liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer, wine, and liquor at retail in a restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 979 THIRD AVE, New York, NY 10022 for on premises consumption. Upper Story LLC d/b/a Upper Story by Charlie Palmer. Vil: 10/09 - 10/16/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF OO CONCEPT ARCHITECTURE PLLC Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/4/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to principal business address:1775 York Ave, #26E, NY NY 10128. Purpose: any lawful act. Vil: 10/09 -11/13/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BOUTWELL FAY LLP Notice of Registration (Foreign) filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/21/14. Office location: NY County. LLP formed in CA on 6/15/98. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLP to: Boutwell Fay LLP, 1 Park Plaza, Ste 600, Irvine, CA 92614. Principal business address: 40 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013. CA address of LLP: 1 Park Plaza, Ste 600, Irvine, CA 92614. Certificate of LLP filed with Secy of State of CA located in Sacramento CA. Purpose: any lawful act. 2330640. Vil: 09/04 - 10/09/2014

October 9, 2014

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Vegan queen’s eatery empire has roots in Chelsea FOOD BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC

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October 9, 2014

PHOTO BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC

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amela Elizabeth is one busy restaurateur. Last month alone, two new vegan restaurants — one fast-food and one an upscale sit-down — opened on the Upper West Side, expanding Elizabeth’s empire that began nine years ago in Chelsea. Elizabeth and her business partner, Ronen Seri, opened their first vegan eatery, Blossom Restaurant, on Ninth Ave. between W. 21st and W. 22nd Sts., on Oct. 22, 2005. Elizabeth remembered immediately the month, day and year for her first restaurant and the whirlwind that engulfed her. “Did we make the right decision? It is going to succeed? Are people really going to love the food?” said Elizabeth in an interview at her latest restaurant, Blossom on Columbus, at 507 Columbus Ave, between W. 84th and W. 85th Sts. Elizabeth and Seri ran a natural pet and supply store called The Barking Zoo in Chelsea, which they have sold. The Bronx native had been a vegetarian since she was 17 and then turned vegan. Her restaurant business all goes back to her concern about animals. “I just always wanted to do something to help animals or to bring an awareness to people that animals should be noticed and have feelings and should be treated right,” she said. “I thought of opening a very small vegan cafe — you know maybe just two or four tables.” Growing up, Elizabeth had no ambition to be a business owner. She was interested instead in acting and singing — especially opera, which she still sings. “Othello” is one of her favorite operas. But, back in 2005, there was such a dearth of options for vegans, especially when it came to high-end choices, and she wanted somehow to fill that void. She and Seri were scouting for space and happened upon a “For Rent” sign in a window on Ninth Ave., she recalled. At that time, it was an Italian restaurant, but it was dismal inside. The owner lived upstairs. “But you could see it had potential — it’s just an adorable little intimate townhouse,” she said. “That idea of a little cafe just turned into a restaurant because we found the space.” Blossom Restaurant opened three months later. “That was probably the craziest time of my life,” Elizabeth recalled. “I had no idea what I was getting into. The restaurant business has got to be one of the hardest in the world.”

Pamela Elizabeth’s concern for animals led her to become a vegan.

Blossom Restaurant’s menu includes one of Elizabeth’s favorite dishes: port wine seitan with white mushrooms, tempura onion, garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. Although Elizabeth doesn’t drink alcohol, she loves the plate. Other customer favorites, she said, are the seitan scaloppini in a white wine, lemon and caper sauce; and the black-eyed pea cake, made with Yukon gold potatoes and black-eyed peas served with a chipotle aioli. After the success of Blossom Restaurant, Elizabeth and Seri quickly made the move to grow, opening Cafe Blossom two years later on the Upper West Side. It recently closed because of a lease issue. “It was a thriving business,” Elizabeth said. “Our customers were crying, it was really intense.” The newly opened Upper West Side location, on Columbus Ave., is not far from that closed restaurant, which was at 466 Columbus Ave. Next Cocoa V, a vegan chocolate and desert and wine bar, opened in 2009 on Ninth Ave. in Chelsea. But it has since closed. “I can’t even talk about Cocoa V,” said Elizabeth. “I loved Cocoa V so much. I still dream about that reopening and maybe it will one day.” Thinking that the Cocoa V space would serve better as a bakery, Elizabeth converted it into Blossom Bakery two years ago. There is a high demand for vegan baked goods, she said. As of now, however, that space is being used to fill wholesale orders and is not open to the public. “I go back and forth about moving our wholesale production out of that space and reopening as a full-fledged bakery,” she said. Whole Foods Markets throughout Manhattan — in Chelsea, Union Square and Columbus Circle — carry four of Elizabeth’s items: biscotti, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal harvest cookies. “They all do very well,” she said.

“We want to expand that line of baked goods.” A frozen vegan pot pie is also in the works and there is talk with Whole Foods of expanding to more stores — and perhaps even taking the products nationally. “That’s taking things to a whole other level,” said Elizabeth. “That’s very exciting to me because we’re going to be able to reach so many more people.” Seri and Elizabeth are co-owners of three restaurants, including Blossom on Carmine, at 41 Carmine St., in the West Village, which opened in April 2012. (Seri owns the vegan bistro V-Note, at 1522 First Ave., at E. 79th St., on the Upper East Side.) But in 2010, when Elizabeth opened her first quick-service Blossom du Jour (BDJ) in Chelsea also on Ninth Ave., she did it on her own. (It has since moved to W. 23rd St. between Seventh and Eighth Aves. Elizabeth wanted a larger, more centralized location.) Elizabeth has taken the American concept of food in a hurry and made it both healthy and vegan. “I’ve wanted for a long time to introduce vegan fast food,” she said. “I would look at Hale and Hearty and how they would have sandwiches and soups and salads, and I would think, ‘Why can’t this work with all the food options being vegan?’ Of course, it can.” A fourth BDJ opened on the Upper West Side on Amsterdam Ave. at W. 81st St. in September, and a fifth location is already on the horizon. “People want this food on the go — especially in cities,” she said. “They need the grab-and-go.” The slogan “Shrewd.Fast.Food.” came about because it’s “food for the discerning person,” she explained. “The person who wants to eat better for whatever reason. I don’t want to say anything about what other fast-food companies are doing, but we all know what the food is.” BDJ offers sandwiches, wraps, sal-

ads, desserts, smoothies and juices — all vegan, some also gluten-free. Two of the most popular items, according to Elizabeth, are the Midtown Melt — cajun spicy seitan with vegan cheese, agave, guacamole, lettuce and chipotle aioli — and The Skyscraper, a vegan burger with all the fixings. Elizabeth said she hopes to have 10 to 12 BDJs in New York City and then expand to college towns, where a lot of young people are vegetarian or, at least, open to the type of cuisine. At one time, proceeds from Cocoa V went to an animal rescue organization. Now, people who have a Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary card get 15 percent off at any Blossom establishment. Promotions are run at BDJ, where when a particular sandwich is purchased, a dollar will go to the farm. For a three-month promotion during the summer, $2,700 was donated the farm. Elizabeth lived in Chelsea for 17 years and only recently moved to the Upper West Side. “It’s probably the most grounded place in New York City. People are really down to earth,” she said of Chelsea, which she still considers her base. “It’s a different energy, and I think that the restaurant has benefited from that.” But it took a little time for the neighborhood to adjust, she recalled. “When we first opened, there was a little backlash there,” she recalled. “We’d get the person calling and saying, ‘Oh, can you deliver a steak to my address.’ Crazy stuff like that. It took awhile for people to get used to what we were doing.” It was a different time then and Elizabeth said she is aware how sensitive the subject of what people eat is. At Blossom, people are encouraged to fill out comment cards that ask whether they are vegan or vegetarian. Elizabeth said that they have found that 65 to 70 percent of their patrons are not vegans or vegetarians but people who eat meat. “We’re definitely a destination restaurant since we’re on Ninth Ave. — we’re not on Eighth, we’re not on Seventh, where it’s bustling,” she noted. The landscape has changed since the first Blossom Restaurant opened. Today there are many more vegan offerings. “Everyone recognizes the word ‘vegan’ today,” Elizabeth said. “They might not be vegan, but they know what that word means. That’s a tremendous step forward.” She attributes some of her success to the trend toward healthy eating and the team that she works with. She also credits her passion for what she does. “It just means the world to me to put this kind of food out there,” she said. “You can’t be afraid to try to move forward — that’s a big thing. You have to take risks.” TheVillager.com


Pier 40 players take their game to next level SPORTS BY BARRY FAGAN

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G.V.L.L. Upper Division players have a lot of space to work with at their home field at Pier 40 on the Lower West Side waterfront.

PHOTO BY TIM STEWART

TheVillager.com

PHOTO BY EDEN MILLER

elcome to real baseball. Greenwich Village Little League’s Upper Division fall season brings together teams from Greenwich Village, Downtown Little League and Peter Stuyvesant Little League, providing recreational baseball for neighborhoods from 59th St. to Battery Park City, east, west and in between. In the Upper Division, ages 13 to 16, it’s no longer the Little League-size field with a 46-foot pitcher’s mound and 60-foot base paths or Little League rules. The Upper Division is played on a full Major League Baseball-size field, with a pitcher’s mound 60 feet 6 inches from home plate, and 90-foot base paths, and brings a whole new level of play. In the fall season we don’t keep standings or have playoffs, but we do provide an opportunity for the returning Junior and Senior Division players to keep in shape for middle school and high school tryouts, and for the Majors Division (ages 10 to 12) players moving up to gain valuable experience on the big field. For the younger players, it’s likely the first time they’ve heard the real crack of the bat, as it’s wooden bats only and a world of difference that they’ve only dreamed of, until now. In the Upper Division, that extra 14 and a half feet between the mound and the batter doesn’t seem long. But what were 46-foot fastballs become softpitch batting practice for the older kids. The Upper Division is the first season where leading off base is allowed. If there’s a runner on, the pitcher better be pitching “from the stretch” or that runner is as sure as gone during a long windup. You want to test your pick-off move? Your first baseman had better be holding the runner on and be ready for the throw. What used to be a simple throw from the pitcher to the catcher has become a psychological battle of nerves. That 60-foot mound sounds like it might make it easier for the batter to gauge the pitch, yes? Nothing’s that simple. In the Upper Division, we play with wooden bats (like MLB). Those bats are heavy compared to the lightweight metal bats allowed in the Little League Majors. Getting around on a 6-foot-tall 16-year-old’s 70-mile-per-hour fastball is not so easy after all. And since the infield has also grown to the full 90foot base paths, there are no more infield singles, and those long fly balls to the outfield on the smaller field are now routine pop-ups to the shortstop. At least if the catcher drops strike three, you can take off up the baseline hoping to beat out the throw to first. And if you have the strength and skill to make contact and get a hit, those 90-foot bases are farther then they seem. You need to hustle on a shot to right, or even center field if you don’t want get thrown out at first from the outfield. Once on first, you look to the third base coach for the steal signal and take your lead, then your secondary lead, and if you got the sign, you put your head down and take off for second before the pitcher even releases the ball. Maybe you have some power and hit a long fly ball — forget about a triple or a homer if you have trouble with the 100-yard dash, since you’ll be pulling up at second winded. Well, at least nothing’s changed playing the field, right? Think again. Everybody’s thinking and everybody’s moving on every play. Nobody is standing

Once they make it to Pier 40, Junior and Senior Division batters have to catch up to 70-m.p.h. fastballs.

still or daydreaming in the outfield. Infielders are holding runners on base. Outfielders are backing up the throws. And on a grounder to third, A- Rod makes that throw to first look easy doesn’t he? It isn’t. In the Upper Division there’s no stigma attached to playing in the outfield. Good outfielders are essential for the win because these kids can hit. Infielders might stop hits, but in the Upper Division, outfielders stop runs and save games. If you happen to find yourself in the neighbor-

hood on a Saturday afternoon, stop by Pier 40, at W. Houston St., to watch a game. You’ll see that the older, returning players have baseball in their blood and are playing for their love of the game. You’ll see the younger kids getting broken in and the older kids teaching them the ropes. You’ll see a game of baseball the way it was meant to be played. Fagan is coordinator, 2014 Greenwich Village Little League Fall Ball Upper Division October 9, 2014

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October 9, 2014

TheVillager.com


PHOTO BY CLAYTON PATTERSON

INTRODUCING TEKSERVE EXPRESS Same Great Service. None of the Wait.

American author Alan Kaufman, right, and German actor Thomas Saracher, who read aloud from a book of Kaufman’s translated into German.

In a Hurry? Drop Your Mac Off in Just Minutes.

L.E.S. rocks the Sprach

We’ll Diagnose the Problem & Call You With the Details.

ustria’s Sprachsalz is an international festival geared mostly toward German-speaking readers and audiences. In total, 20 authors were invited to this year’s Sprachsalz, for an entire weekend, from Sept. 12 to 14, to give readings from their published books. The organizers are an experienced team of six people, some of them authors themselves: Magdalena Kauz, Heinz D. Heisl, Urs Heinz Aerni, Elias Schneitter, Max Hafele and Valerie Besl. A number of Americans that were invited to this year’s Sprachsalz came from the pool of winners from this summer’s Acker Awards, which were organized by Clayton Patterson, in New York, and Alan Kaufman, in San Francisco. The Villager was a sponsor

Pick it Up Once It’s Repaired.

A

of this year’s Ackers — which were held at Theatre 80 St. Mark’s — and produced a special booklet on the honorees. Kaufman was the conduit to the American authors at Sprachsalz, including Downtowners Ron Kolm, Patricia Smith and Steven Dalachinsky. Kaufman is the first author to have been invited twice to Sprachsalz. Sprachsalz translated his book “Jew Boy” into German, and he is on a book tour of Germany and Austria. Patterson was invited to show his biopic, “Captured,” and was one of the people who documented the festival. Patterson, the longtime Lower East Side documentarian, has said he plans to move at some point to Austria with artist Elsa Rensaa, his wife.

Jazmin: Marketer, Free Spirit, Tekserver

Austrian journalist Rolan Adrowitzer, left, at Sprachsalz with the Lower East Side’s Clayton Patterson, who Adrowitzer interviewed. TheVillager.com

119 West 23rd Street • 212.929.3645 • tekserve.com October 9, 2014

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$ 99

lb.

Subarashii Kudamono

lb.

Asian Pears

Ea.

128 oz. (Gallon)

Ea.

ShopRite Apple Cider

Ea.

BONUS SAVINGS CARD SUPER SPECIALS! Assorted Var. • 12-16 oz.

Duncan Hines Frosting

Assorted Var. • 19.4-21.41 oz.

Duncan Hines Decadent Cake Mix

Assorted Var. • 32 oz.

Progresso Chicken Broth Assorted Var. • 11-12.5 oz.

Nestlé Fun Size Chocolate

Assorted Var. • 48 oz.

Breyers Ice Cream

1 $ 89 3 $ 99 2 $ 99 3 $ 99 4 $ 99

Assorted Var. • 18-18.3 oz.

Duncan Hines Brownie Mix

Assorted Var. • 20-24 oz.

Dawn Liquid Dish Detergent

In Water • 5 oz.

Chicken of The Sea Chunk White Tuna

Assorted Var. • 50-60 oz.

Ajax Liquid Laundry Detergent

1%, 2%, Skim or Whole 32 oz. Quart

ShopRite Milk

2/ 5 $ 99 3 $ 2/ 3 $ 99 3 $ 2/ 3 $

Assorted Var. • 64 oz.

Langers Cranberry Juice Cocktail

Assorted Var. • 3 Pack • 6-9 oz.

Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn

Assorted Var. • 5.1-5.7 oz.

Knorr Rice Side Dishes

Assorted Var. • 8.1-24 oz.

Classico Sauces

Assorted Var. • 16 oz.

Friendship Sour Cream

1 $ 99 2 $ 99 4

$ 49

5 lb. Tote Bag

2 $ 99 2 $ 2/ 3 $ 99 2 $ 99 1 $ 49

At GRISTEDES, your opinions and suggestions count. If you have a complaint or problem, call our CONSUMER HOTLINE at 212-956-5770 ext. 1100, or e-mail us at customeradvocate@gristedes.com • Prices Effective 10/10–10/16/14 28

October 9, 2014

TheVillager.com


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