High altitude Hamlet, at RMA (p. 27)
VOLUME 4, NUMBER 35
THE WEST SIDE’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
DECEMBER 28, 2011 - JANUARY 10, 2011
Old concerns regarding new Chelsea Market design BY SCOTT STIFFLER In March of this year, public reaction to Jamestown Properties’ desired vertical expansion of Chelsea Market (which requires a zoning variance) came in like a lion — when the project’s proposed height and aesthetics were both met with widespread disapproval. Any hopes for 2011 to go out like a lamb were dashed two weeks ago — when Chelsea
Watchman missed and remembered: Claude Rolls’ 22nd St. vigil was a blessing to many.
Mourning the ‘mayor of West 22nd Street’ BY BONNIE ROSENSTOCK Dubbed by residents as the “mayor” of West 22nd Street, Claude Rolls died on Wednesday, December 14 at the age of 78 of an apparent heart attack. He was found in his newly bought red van by his friend Kelvin Maharaj around 2:45pm. Efforts by the EMT to revive him were unsuccessful, as he had apparently succumbed sometime before. When Maharaj discovered Rolls, he was parked a short distance away from his usual spot on the block (a legal length from the hydrant next to Clement Clarke Moore Park), waiting for it to become free. He had just bought the used van that morning in Queens and called Maharaj to look at it when he got back. “When I spotted it, I went over,” said Maharaj. “Because it was new, people didn’t know it was his car.” Maharaj immediately called Russell
Orenstein, who lives at 479. “He said he wanted to die sitting in his car,” related Orenstein. “I saw Claude the night before he died, saying good-night to him as I did almost every night. And while I mourn his loss, I celebrate his life more. He left this earth on the block where he lived, where the people who cared for him could do for him in death what he did for us in life.” For more than four decades Rolls, who was African-American, had been part of the fabric of the block. He kept a watchful eye on young and old alike from his van, always parked in his designated place (between Ninth and Tenth Avenues). He was there from the crack of dawn until late at night. If and where he went home to sleep is unknown — although he had a storage facility for his tools. “He wouldn’t say where he lived,” said former daughter-in-law Charmaine Rolls, who was very close to him, and
is trying to track down his address through his P.O. Box. “He was a very private person and didn’t like to speak about himself. Nobody had an address for him, but you could always find him on West 22nd Street,” she said. Charmaine, who had known Rolls since she was 14 (when he lived on West 23rd Street with his dog Zipper) and was later married to his son Kevin, came up from Georgia to identify his body and have his remains cremated. She also saw the impromptu memorial of candles, flowers, cards and remembrances next to where he parked. The majority of his ashes will be interred at Calverton National Cemetery (a U.S. military cemetery on eastern Long Island). Rolls was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1958 and had burns on his ear from a helicopter crash that melted his helmet.
Now first published several significantly altered renderings and massing comparisons. Since then, many of the project’s most vocal critics have acknowledged the updated design does address concerns expressed to Jamestown since the initial March unveiling. The bulk has been redistributed, thus
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Recovery is priceless holiday gift for some BY HELAINA N. HOVITZ In the midst of another holiday season tarnished with entitlement and overindulgence, seven men stood in the chapel of a Lower Manhattan homeless shelter filled with hope and appreciation. On December 15, the graduates of the New York City Rescue Mission’s 12
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Step-Recovery Program celebrated their own Christmas miracle: a new beginning. The very first step was to get and stay sober in order to create a more manageable life. Upon graduation and having completed all 12
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EDITORIAL, LETTERS PAGE 8
THE YEAR IN PICTURES PAGE 13