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YOUR WEEKLY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CHELSEA, HUDSON YARDS & HELL’S KITCHEN

Photo by Yannic Rack

Tom’s Trees has been a Ninth Ave. mainstay of Chelsea for decades, during the window of opportunity from Thanksgiving through Christmas.

Urban Jungle as Winter Forest, When Tree Vendors Descend BY YANNIC RACK Every year around Thanksgiving, a special group of visitors from as far away as Alaska descends on New York City. They make their temporary homes on sidewalks, to ring in the beginning of the holiday season and peddle one of its essential ingredients: the Christmas tree. “As soon as you walk in, you smell oranges. And if

you walk in from that side, it smells like pines,” said Azamat Doszhan, 24, a first-time tree vendor who usually organizes concerts for a living. This season he mans a Hell’s Kitchen tree stand next to DeWitt Clinton Park (on 11th Ave., btw. W. 53rd & W. 54th Sts.). Fraser firs are lined up on one end, Balsam firs on the other — each variety with its own signature smell.

“I’m not selling trees, I’m selling experience,” said Doszhan, who had just sold his first fir of the day on a recent sunny Tuesday morning. Doszhan lives in Brooklyn, which makes him stand out in a business that mainly attracts workers from far away, like Vermont or Quebec.

Continued on page 9 VOLUME VOLUME 07, ISSUE 07, ISSUE 42 | 22 DECEMBER | JULY 17 16 - 23, 22, 2015

Photo by Bill Westmoreland, graphic by Todd Johnson

L to R: Jim Caruso, Billy Stritch and Klea Blackhurst have perfected the cabaret recipe to make you merry and bright.

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

THE GREENWICH VILLAGE CAROLING WALK

Photo by Suzanne Blakely

All roads lead back to Judson Memorial Church, when groups return from the Greenwich Village Caroling Walk.

HO HO TO GO: HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES

It’s off the grid and back in time, for this holiday tradition that invites you to sing and stroll through the narrow, often winding, streets of a neighborhood full of Dickensian charm and a history all its own. Members of the West Village Chorale will lead several groups along routes, while singing seasonal carols and songs. All roads lead back to where it began — for refreshments, conviviality, and more singing at Judson Memorial Church. Can’t quite recall all of the words? Songbooks will be provided! Free (donations accepted). Sat., Dec. 19. Gather at 4:30 p.m., in the Meeting Room of Judson Memorial Church (55 Washington Square South, at Thompson St.). Visit westvillagechorale.org or call 212-517-1776.

A SWINGING BIRLDAND CHRISTMAS

Courtesy Chelsea Market

Color Collage is among the local music acts set to fill the decked halls of Chelsea Market with music, for Dec. 19’s Holiday Spectacular.

December 17 - 23, 2015

Stuffed like a Yuletide stocking with the evergreen gift of top-notch talent, this old-fashioned Christmas show for our brave new world has earned its reputation as a Manhattan popular standard. Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch amaze, charm and engage with their awesome cabaret superpowers: tugging at the heart, bouncing jokes off one another, and ripping the roof off the joint in a single vocal bound. With Stritch at the piano, Steve Doyle on bass and Daniel Glass on drums, the swinging arrangements of seasonal favorites recall the very best of classic holiday TV variety specials (think Judy Garland, Andy Williams). The music is hot, the cast is cool, and the determination to

entertain is as pure as the driven snow. Mon., Dec. 21 through Fri., Dec. 25. All shows at 6 p.m., except the 7 p.m. Mon. show. At Birdland (315 W. 44th St., btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.). For reservations ($30 cover, $10 food/drink minimum), visit BirdlandJazz.com or call 212-581-3080. “A Swinging Birdland Christmas” is available on iTunes, and on CD via the Birdland website.

ST. CLEMENT’S LITURGY There’s no shame in having a blue Christmas, but you don’t have to go it alone — because you’re not. Seek and find strength in numbers, at this service dedicated to acknowledging that the holiday season can be less than merry and bright. It features a liturgy of healing and comfort, and mental health professionals will be present. Sun., Dec. 20 at St. Clement’s (423 W. 46th St., btw. Ninth & 10th Aves.). Join then on Christmas Eve, for caroling and readings (7:30 p.m.) and a Candlelight Communion Service at 9 p.m. Call 212246-7277 or visit stclementsnyc.org.

CHELSEA MARKET’S HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR Paper Garden Records and Chelsea Market, the team behind the monthly Chelsea Nights live music series, team up for this holiday concert. The lineup of NYC talent filling the Market’s decked-out evergreen forest-inspired interior includes Salt Cathedral, The City and Horses, vocalist and guitarist Isaac Gillespie’s The Due Diligence, Dear Georgina, and “electronic doo-wop” artist Shane Conerty’s Color Collage. Free. Sat., Dec. 19, 2–7 p.m. at Chelsea Market (75 Ninth Ave., at W. 16th St.). .com

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December 17 - 23, 2015

Effort Stalls in Limiting After-Hours Work

Design by Zach Williams

Late night construction continues to proliferate on the West Side of Manhattan, where the city Department of Buildings allows work at all hours of the day and night throughout Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen.

BY ZACH WILLIAMS After-hours construction reached new heights in 2015, as real estate developers doubled down on city permits allowing work outside of regular weekday hours. The city Department of Buildings (DOB) approved twice as many exemptions — known as After Hours Variances — to the city noise code this year, for developers who claim working off-hours would promote public safety or mitigate undue financial hardship. A

bit of paperwork and filing fees secured more than 3,150 variances in Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen in the first 11 months of 2015, compared to about 4,400 in the previous three years combined. This increase also occurred throughout the borough and across the city. According to the DOB, developers in Manhattan received more than 32,513 variances, following about 44,000 from 2012 to 2014. Citywide, the numbers this year are only 10,000 shy of the approximately 64,000 variances issued during that

same period, according to department records. On the West Side of Manhattan, residents have complained that construction noise disrupts the flow of daily life. There are the booms of heavy equipment moving into place, and the crackling of debris being removed mixing with the racket from power tools. Residents said that complaints to elected officials or via 311 resulted in little change to a status quo that pits their desire for peace and quiet against the progress of projects costing tens of millions of dollars. A core group of applicants dominate the process. Just two percent of developers accounted for a quarter of all variances issued in Manhattan from 2012 to 2015, according to department records obtained earlier this year through a Freedom of Information Law request filed by Chelsea Now. The $50 million conversion of the Walker Tower (210 W. 18th St., btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.), for example, received 122 variances from 2012 to 2013. “It was absolutely terrible,” nearby resident Marcelo Sorino told Chelsea Now in April. “Saturdays, Sundays, mornings, afternoons. The worst was taking all of the metal out of the building. They had the big, huge, 40-foot dumpsters. They’d just throw the metal in there day and night.” DOB Commissioner Rick Chandler defended the use of the variances in September, telling Chelsea Now that the department trusts the rationales offered by

Continued on page 14

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The Heart of Rock and Soul is Still Beating BY DUSICA SUE MALESEIVC In the early â€™90s, a group of ambitious men went into Rock and Soul, an iconic record and DJ equipment store, looking to gain some exposure for their music. â€œThey asked my mom to sell their records,â€? Sharon Bechor, the current owner, recalled. They were mainstream unknowns â€” but Shirley Bechor told them she would take the records on consignment and pay them for what was sold, Sharon Bechor told Chelsea Now at a recent interview at the store at 10 W. 37th St. (btw. Fifth & Sixth Aves. Visit rockandsoul.com). â€œThey sold a lot of records,â€? she said. â€œAnd it turns out that was the Wu-Tang Clan. We have a shout out on Method Manâ€™s album, on Wu-Tangâ€™s album, and on a lot of hip-hop albums. Actually, itâ€™s pretty cool.â€? Members of the Wu-Tang Clan are not the only famous artists to give Rock and Soul their business, since it opened in the â€™70s. DJ

Photos by Dusica Sue Malesevic

Loyal customers have followed Rock and Soul to its new location on W. 37th St.

Premier, Kool DJ Red Alert, DJ AM, as well as Mark and Samantha Ronson have frequented the store looking for equipment and records for their sets, Bechor said. One could say that DJs saved the soul of the store. Originally a record and consumer

electronics store, Bechorâ€™s parents opened Rock and Soul in 1975 at 462 Seventh Ave. (at W. 35th St.). â€œAt that time, there were a lot of electronic stores on Seventh Avenue,â€? Bechor said. â€œThey sold a lot of records. At that time, it was probably a little bit more blue

Owner Sharon Bechor, whose parents opened Rock and Soul in the â€™70s, shows off some artwork that adorns the wall.

collar.â€? Her parents kept their spheres of influence at the store separate: Bechorâ€™s mom ran the record department, and her father, Joseph, ran the electronics department.

Continued on page 17

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December 17 - 23, 2015

Rhymes With Crazy THE WEST SIDE’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

PUBLISHER

Jennifer Goodstein

EDITOR Scott Stiffler

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Sean Egan

ART DIRECTOR Michael Shirey

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Rhiannon Hsu Chris Ortiz

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Stephanie Buhmann Sean Egan Michael Lydon Dusica Sue Malesevic Winnie McCroy Puma Perl Yannic Rack Paul Schindler Trav S.D. Eileen Stukane Zach Williams

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Songs The Immigrants Taught Us BY LENORE SKENAZY Yiddish is the language that used to work like magic for the Jews of Europe. You could be from Russia, Romania, or France, and even if you couldn’t understand a lick of each other’s official languages, you could almost certainly speak the Jewish language of Yiddish, and all talk together. Or sing. Coming this Dec. 24–29 you can do (or attempt) both, at the first annual Yiddish New York Festival, sponsored by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, on the Lower East Side. But those activities are also what the Jews who survived the Holocaust were asked to do in the lobby of an Upper West Side hotel in 1948: talk and sing. Sing your hearts out. The man requesting this was Ben Stonehill, the owner of a flooring company in Sunnyside, Queens. He had heard that Jewish refugees were being temporarily housed at the Marseilles Hotel on 103rd Street, and wanted to save their songs that came from a world literally gone up in smoke. So he schlepped into Manhattan with the best sound equipment he could find: a big, bulky wire recorder. He set himself up in the lobby, which was teeming with Jews only recently arrived from Europe. “Sing,” he told them in the Yiddish he, too, had grown up speaking. “Sing whatever you’d like.” Those are the recordings socio-musicologist Miriam Isaacs will play at the Festival on Dec. 24. — and then she will teach some of those songs to the audience. “Stonehill’s recordings are a kind of time capsule,” says Isaacs, herself born in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany. “It’s a snapshot taken only a short time after liberation, before pres-

sures to Americanize and forget what had happened.” Some of the songs date from before the war. They come from the Yiddish theater, or synagogue. But believe it or not, there are also some that are positively bawdy. “A lot involve rabbis or rabbis’ wives,” said Isaacs, laughing. “I’m not a psychologist, but I guess these boys who were studying in the yeshivas [religious schools] were so protected from sex, who do they [see] who’s a female at all?” Only the rabbi’s wife. So there’s a song, for instance, about how her “apron goes higher” — that is, she’s pregnant. Except, being yeshiva boys, they could never say that. Other songs mention delicious pastries that make it clear that pastry is not what they’re singing about at all. But of course there are also the heart-wrenching songs, including some composed in the concentration camps to remember and tell what happened there — if the singers survived. And there are many songs from after the war about never being able to go home again. “Where Shall I Go?” is one. “Pack Up,” another. And then there are the songs just trying to make sense of the world — “songs philosophizing about the brevity of life, questioning God,” says Isaacs. She grew up hearing some of these. “My mother was a survivor who had been in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck [concentration camps]. She never talked about it, but she did sing while she was doing housework, and there were some songs that I’d never heard elsewhere.” One of these was “God in His Judgment Is Right.” Isaacs’ father did not agree that God

could possibly have approved the Holocaust. “So my parents used to quarrel in a good-hearted way over theological issues,” Isaacs recalls. “And my mom would say, ‘Well, you just have to have faith in God.’ And she’d sing that song.” It was a song Isaacs had never heard again — until she heard it on a Ben Stonehill recording from the Hotel Marseilles. The recordings are not pristine, but that’s part of their moment-in-amber magic. In the background horns honk, people call out lyrics when someone forgets a line, and babies cry. There are lots and lots of babies crying, because after the war, many of the survivors were young. Their parents and grandparents had been killed, and some of their children, too. They wanted to create new life. That is why many of the Stonehill recordings are simply love songs. “Singing is restorative,” says Isaacs. “The survivors who made it through the war were not treated to therapy. They were as traumatized as human beings can get. But remarkably and wonderfully, music is very healing, and this gave them an opportunity to express what they had been through and to meet people of the opposite sex.” Amazingly, life goes on. Thanks to Ben Stonehill, it is also frozen forever. For more information on Yiddish New York, please go to yiddishnewyork.com. Lenore Skenazy is a keynote speaker who authored the book, and founded the blog, Free-Range Kids (freerangekids. com).

Happy Holidays from

Chelsea Now is published weekly by NYC Community Media

LLC, One Metrotech North, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201. (212) 229-1890. Annual subscription by mail in Manhattan and Brooklyn $75. The entire contents of newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2015 NYC Community Media LLC, Postmaster: Send address changes to Chelsea Now, One Metrotech North, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

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not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for other errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue.

December 17 - 23, 2015

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POLICE BLOTTER ASSAULT: Passenger had plenty of fight, and bite An intoxicated Connecticut resident lacked patience as he made his way to Grand Central Station on Thurs., Dec. 10. He hailed a cab a few minutes before midnight, and grew agitated when the vehicle got stuck in traffic at the intersection of 10th Ave. and W. 33rd St. The 35-year-old man got out of the cab, grabbed the driver and threw him to the ground — where the 46-year-old Brooklyn resident received a knuckle sandwich. A New Jersey man tried to help the driver, but the perpetrator bit him on the wrist in front of two other witnesses. Police say the perpetrator had plenty of fight left when they arrived, flailing his arms and resisting arrest. The perpetrator did not make his train — but he did get a complimentary ride to the 10th Precinct, where he was arrested for two charges of misdemeanor assault.

PETIT LARCENY: $600 Phone grab I A fight broke out on Sat., Dec. 12, inside a fourth-floor apartment on the 400 block of W. 41st St. (btw. 10th & Dyer Aves.). A Bronx resident attempted to break up the ruckus at about 11:30 p.m. and dropped his Samsung Note 4 cell phone onto the floor. An unknown man took the phone. The $600 device and the suspect have yet to be found.

GRAND LARCENY: $600 Phone grab II Opportunity presented itself to an unknown man who spotted a woman holding an iPhone on Sun., Dec. 13. She was waiting for a bus on the 600 block of W. 34th Sts. (btw. 12th & 11th Aves.), with her phone in hand at 1:20 p.m., when the thief suddenly snatched it right out of her hand and fled on foot. A police report did not include a description of the suspect, who remains at large with the woman’s $600 cell phone.

GRAND LARCENY: Rental car nightmare Security cameras were no help for an out-of-towner who left her rental car at a parking garage located at 515

December 17 - 23, 2015

Ninth Ave. (btw. W. 38th & W. 39th Sts.). She realized she lost her receipt as she walked back to the garage at about 5 p.m. on Sun., Dec. 13. An employee confirmed her worst fear when he informed the 47-year-old woman that someone else claimed the vehicle by showing the receipt. The whereabouts of the 2015 silver Kia Soul remain unknown, according to a police report.

HARASSMENT: Protective pop barred from premises The father of a recently-fi red employee approached his former Harvard Protection Services colleagues inside Chelsea Market (75 Ninth Ave., btw. W. 16th & W. 17th Sts.) on Fri., Dec. 11. Police say the man entered the location at about 7:30 a.m. and began threatening two security personnel with violence. They informed the man that he would not be allowed back inside the premises. Police did not arrest the suspect.

INVESTIGATION: Fire goes postal The United States Postal Service waited two months before informing the NYPD of an Oct. 12 fire at a facility located at 201 11th Ave. (btw. W. 24th & W. 26th Sts.). The cause of the incident remains under investigation. Six vehicles were damaged, according to a police report made on Dec. 13.

—ZACH WILLIAMS

THE 10th PRECINCT Located at 230 W. 20th St. (btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.). Commander: Deputy Inspector Michele Irizarry. Main number: 212-741-8211. Community Affairs: 212-741-8226. Crime Prevention: 212-741-8226. Domestic Violence: 212-7418216. Youth Officer: 212-7418211. Auxiliary Coordinator: 212-924-3377. Detective Squad: 212-741-8245. The Community Council meets on the last Wed. of the month, 7 p.m., at the 10th Precinct or other locations to be announced. The next meeting is Dec. 30.

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Taking Up Temporary Residence, for Trees and Tradition

Photos by Yannic Rack

Azamat Doszhan was bargaining with a couple over the price of their Christmas tree in front of his stand on 11th Ave.

Continued from page 1 “I’ve had at least seven people ask me if I’m from Canada,” he said with roll of the eyes. Two blocks over, on Eighth Ave. between W. 50th and W. 51st Sts., those customers will find what they’re looking for: Helene, 44, who hails from Montreal. “It’s a tradition,” she said, when asked why the owner of her stand hires Canadians instead of locals — her partner, who was on break, is a friend of Helene’s from back home. “Sixty years ago, French Canadians came to New York to sell their trees,” she explained in her slightly broken English. “New Yorkers expect it, so now if you talk to many tree sellers, they are French Canadian.” Helene, who didn’t want to give her last name, said she regularly works 16-hour shifts, since there are only two vendors and the stand is open 24 hours, like most in the city. Here, at the border of bustling Midtown, business doesn’t pick up until late in the day. “With this work you must be strong, because it’s very hard,” she said, adding that she earns money as a metal worker back home. “I work hard all year long, so it’s not changing for me. But the difference here is I sleep in my van.” Like Doszhan, she is a newcomer to the business, which has a long and curious history in the city. Americans started filling their living rooms with evergreens in the late 19th century, and it didn’t take long before hundreds of thousands of trees were being shipped into New York City every year. .com

But most of today’s tree vendors would be out of work if not for a special vending rule introduced in 1938. That year, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia forced street vendors to obtain scarcely issued licenses, which resulted in the disappearance of the popular tree peddlers from New York’s streets and squares. When the people protested, the City Council introduced a seasonal exception for “coniferous trees” sold on sidewalks, which were henceforth freely accessible to vendors so long as the adjoining building and business owners didn’t object. This still holds today, although a few large distributors compete for leases in the most coveted parks and squares, which are awarded by the Parks department. “Everybody fights for their space. This year we lost Tribeca,” Doszhan said, adding that the owner of his stand operates locations from The Battery to Bay Ridge. Tom Gilmartin, 62, has run Tom’s Trees on Ninth Ave. between W. 21st and W. 22nd Sts. for two decades. When he started out, the stand sat on a corner lot across the street until the location was snatched away one year by the Chelsea Garden Center. “We had a tree war for seven years,” Gilmartin said. “I sold cheap trees, they sold expensive trees.” Nowadays his prices reach $700 for a mighty 14-footer, although he’s only ever sold three of them in all the years he’s been in Chelsea. Gilmartin makes the annual trip to the city with his wife Michele and 12-year-old son Rory — all the way from their home on the Kenai Peninsula in Southern Alaska. For the month from Thanksgiving to Christmas, they shower in a hostel,

Many tree vendors, like Helene from Montreal, come from far away for the seasonal work on New York’s sidewalks.

subsist on takeout (that part shouldn’t raise any eyebrows with New Yorkers), and take turns sleeping in a red-andgreen camper hitched up to their truck, which is parked right next to the stand on Ninth Ave. “It’s a hard job,” Gilmartin said. “I’ve been coming here 19 years, you know what I know about New York? This

block. I never leave.” The family sells hundreds of trees each season, but the price is a grueling schedule. Gilmartin and his wife usually work 12 hours every day, although Rory has been helping out with deliveries this year, pocketing his own share of tips.

Continued on page 13

JACOB A. RIIS Revealing New York’s Other Half

“HEART-RENDING RETROSPECTIVE” – The New York Times

Inequality remains a fact of life in America. A century later, this New York master’s photos still explode with outrage.

MCNY.ORG 1220 FIFTH AVE AT 103RD ST

December 17 - 23, 2015

Let’s Get This Party Started: BY CARLYE WAXMAN-HUSSERL RDN, CDN Popular appetizers around the holidays include pigs in a blanket, fried mozzarella sticks, fried zucchini, meatballs, and all manner of chips and dips. By the time you sit down for dinner, you already feel like a stuffed mushroom! Your guests may appreciate (and they can sure use) a few healthy yet delicious treats. Yes, it’s easy to buy pre-prepared hors d’oeuvres…but how about pairing that with healthy, homemade treats?

Photos by Carlye Waxman-Husserl

Just stick a fancy toothpick on top, then serve eggplant and tofu meatballs with hot marinara.

TOFU AND EGGPLANT “MEATBALLS” At 35 calories per meatball, you can have quite a few! INGREDIENTS: 1 medium-sized eggplant 1/2 tbsp oil 2 cloves of garlic 1 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 5 dashes of fresh thyme 1/4 cup chopped parsley 1 large egg 1/2 block of tofu DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Slice eggplant in half, then in half again. Cut into very small pieces (skin on). Heat a medium saucepan, add oil and eggplant and cook for about 2 minutes. Add about a 1/4–1/2 cup of water, and continue to cook until it softens (about 10 minutes altogether). Meanwhile, place tofu on a plate and squeeze out all the water (best to do this with a paper towel on top, then use a heavy pan and let it sit for a half hour). Use a potato masher to mash tofu until it is crumbled well (the more you press, the better that texture gets). Once eggplant is cooked, transfer to a food processor and pulse a few times until it is slightly chunky. Add to bowl with the tofu, crushed chopped garlic, panko, beaten egg, and seasonings. Line a large baking sheet with tin foil and coat with cooking spray. Using a big spoon or your hands, mix the mixture together until well combined. Form into small (or big!) meatballs, and place on the baking sheet. Spray cooking spray on top and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Turn over midway through, so both sides get browned. Serve with some hot marinara. NUTRITION INFORMATION: For larger (12) meatballs: 70 calories, 4g protein, 10g carbs, 2g fiber. For smaller (24) meatballs: 35 calories, 2g protein, 5g carbs, 1g fiber.

December 17 - 23, 2015

Make sure you save vegetable sushi for the end, and enjoy rolling up with your guests.

Serve artichoke dip with some b hot Italian bread.

VEGETABLE “SUSHI”

LOW-CALORIE, LOW-CARB CRE

These are fun (and therapeutic!) to make. I suggest saving this for when guests arrive. After serving a glass of wine, teach them how to roll these.

This healthy twist on Olive Gar one (1/4 cup) serving at a time.

INGREDIENTS: 2 large green zucchini 2 large carrots, or buy 1–2 bags of petite baby carrots 1 bunch of cilantro 1–2 avocados, ripe Hummus DIRECTIONS: Peel zucchini with a large peeler to get large strips. Do not salt these as they may shrink. Cut carrots into matchsticks (or buy mini carrots). Wash cilantro and peel off a few leaves for each “sushi.” Slice avocado into small chunks and sprinkle with salt. Spread out the cucumber, and use a butter knife to evenly spread hummus from side to side. At the end of one side, stick on the avocado chunk, then cilantro, then carrot. Roll all the way and stand upright. Serve with some hummus as a dip on the side. NUTRITION INFORMATION: Each bite = 25–30 calories, 1g protein, 1g carbs, 0g fiber.

INGREDIENTS: 1 package of frozen spinach, tha 1 can of quartered artichoke hea 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream 8 oz low-fat cream cheese, soften 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (get so 1 garlic clove, chopped 2 tbsp oregano and parsley 1 tsp crushed red pepper Salt and pepper to taste (about 1 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. C Add to a casserole dish coated with crumbs on top and add a bit more P until brown on top (you can broil for

NUTRITION INFORMATION: 130 calories, 7g protein, 9g carb .com

: Healthy Holiday Appetizers

Your vegetarian friends will thank you for serving cauliflower buffalo wings.

CAULIFLOWER BUFFALO “WINGS” Make hummus festive by adding chopped red peppers and some green parsley on top at the end.

baked tortilla chips or a hunk of

LIGHT ROASTED RED PEPPER HUMMUS

EAMY ARTICHOKE DIP

The secret to making this healthier is cutting out all that oil. Serving: 2 tbsp.

rden’s recipe saves you 325 calories,

awed arts, drained

ned omething fancy, flavor is key here)

INGREDIENTS: 1 can of Goya low sodium chickpeas 1–2 tbsp Roland Tahini (yes, this brand matters) 1/4 tsp salt 2–4 tbsp water 1 tbsp lemon juice (or juice half a small lemon) 1 red pepper 1 tbsp olive oil 1 bunch of chopped parsley

Combine all but panko and mix well. h cooking spray. Sprinkle the panko Parmesan. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or or the last minute or two).

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover a red pepper in foil and bake for about 30 minutes in the oven. Take it out and let it cool. Cut in half, remove seeds and the skin on the outer portion of the pepper. Reserve half of the red pepper to chop up as a garnish. In a food processor add all liquid and solid ingredients together. Process until very smooth. If the mixture is still too thick, add a bit more water. Add some chopped parsley and red pepper at the end to make it festive!

bs, 3g fber.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: 48 calories, 1.6g protein, 7g carbs, 0g fiber.

1/4 tsp each)

.com

For the vegetarians at your party who can’t participate in the chicken wing experience. Serves 12. INGREDIENTS: 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets, washed and dried well 1 cup of flour 1 cup of skim milk Seasoning (see directions) 1 cup of buffalo sauce of choice (Pick the lowest calorie one. I happen to like Archie Moore’s.) 1 tsp oil DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large tossing bowl, combine milk and flour and stir well. Add whatever seasonings you prefer at this point. I added salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix the cauliflower in the large bowl with flour mixture. Spread out in a casserole dish and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Take out the dish. Combine the buffalo sauce and oil together in a smaller bowl and pour over the cauliflower. Place back into oven for about 8 minutes. Serve with celery sticks and low-fat bleu cheese dressing. NUTRITION INFORMATION: 74 calories, 3g protein, 12g carbs, 1g fiber.

Carlye Waxman-Husserl is a Registered Dietitian and weight loss expert. For more tips and recipes, visit sweetnutritionnyc.com or follow her on twitter @Sweet_Nutrition. December 17 - 23, 2015

A Year of Billion-Dollar Deals at Hudson Yards Christmas Services at the Christmas Church Thursday, 12/17

Thursday, 12/24 Christmas Eve

Chelsea Community Sing Handel’s Messiah – Part 1. All ages & voices! 7pm at St. Peter’s Chelsea

Sunday, 12/20

5:30pm Children & Family Service 10pm Carols 10:30pm The Mass of Christmas

9am Children & Family Service 10am Lessons & Carols 6pm Evening Prayer

Friday, 12/25 Christmas Day

10am Choral Eucharist

Sunday, 12/27

Sunday, 1/3/2016

Second Sunday of Christmas 9am Children & Family Service 10am Holy Communion 6pm Evening Prayer

Sunday, 1/24/2016

Episcopal Visitation by Bishop Andrew Dietsche 9am Children & Family Service 10am Holy Communion 6pm Evening Prayer

First Sunday of Christmas 9am Children & Family Service 10am Holy Communion 6pm Evening Prayer

St Peter’s Episcopal Church

346 W. 20th St. (btwn 8th & 9th Aves.) 212.929.2390 | stpeterschelsea.org

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December 17 - 23, 2015

BY YANNIC RACK As the third year of construction at Hudson Yards comes to a close, the developers of the sprawling complex have inked deals for a whopping $5 billion in construction financing for the first phase of the project. Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group, which are partnering on the development, announced last week that they secured the funding for their 90-story flagship office tower, 30 Hudson Yards, as well as the adjacent food and retail mall, the one million-square-foot Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards. The news came only days after the announcement of another deal for $1.3 billion in funding for the site’s first residential tower (15 Hudson Yards) and also concurred with the last commercial tenant signing on to fill the remaining space at 30 Hudson Yards. “These transactions represent a tremendous inflection point for Hudson Yards, and the continued transformation of the west side,” Jeff T. Blau, CEO of Related Companies, said in a statement. In fact, the financing package marks one of the largest capital raises for a real estate project in the country since the 2008 downturn, according to The Wall Street Journal. “The depth of commitment from our global roster of lenders, investors and tenants evidences not only the strength of Related and Oxford, but reflects the confidence in our collective vision for Hudson Yards as the new heart of New York,” said Blau. Thirty Hudson Yards is now the site’s first building to be fully committed, with Wells Fargo Securities joining Time Warner Inc. and private equity firm KKR in the tower once it opens in 2019. Currently under construction, it will also sport the city’s highest outdoor observation deck, and provide a direct connection to the new No. 7 subway extension that opened across the street this summer. The subway stop and the concurrent unveiling of the nearby Hudson Park and Boulevard in September were the latest visible signs of progress on this portion of the far West Side, where the opening of the High Line has greatly spurred development over the last few years. The northern section

Image courtesy Related-Oxford

The three-building centerpiece being built at the eastern end of the new neighborhood includes The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards, framed by two office towers, 30 (left) and 10 Hudson Yards.

of the elevated park even wraps around Hudson Yards, which roughly spans the area from W. 30th to W. 34th Sts. (btw. 10th Ave. & the Hudson River). The first office tower of this brand new destination (10 Hudson Yards) is months away from opening, and the developers predict that by 2025 more than 125,000 visitors, workers and residents will fill the neighborhood every day. “We are one step closer to seeing the Hudson Yards community come alive,” Blake Hutcheson, CEO of Oxford Properties Group, said in a statement. The project is being developed in two phases, and will eventually encompass 17 million square feet of commercial and residential space, more than 100 shops and restaurants, approximately 5,000 residences, a cultural and performance space, 14 acres of public open space, as well as a new 750-seat public school and a hotel. .com

Photos by Yannic Rack

Christmas wreaths were displayed on the fence at DeWitt Clinton Park.

Tom Gilmartin, who comes to the city from Alaska every year to sell Christmas trees, was shaking out a fir on the sidewalk in front of his stand.

Every Year, Hard Work and Holiday Cheer Continued from page 9 Gilmartin, who is a commercial fisherman during the rest of the year, started the job when he was out of work one winter. His sister was operating a tree stand at Jane St. and Eighth Ave. back then, and today his brother-in-law still runs one in Greenwich Village. “We just started doing this job to write the trip off, drive down from Alaska and visit our relatives in New Jersey and in Tennessee,” he said. “After three or four years, we kinda got hooked on the tree stand.”

By now he feels like a permanent part of the community, albeit only for a few weeks every winter — a feeling familiar even to those who have only just started the job. “They’re very happy to see us,” said Helene, uptown on Eighth Ave. “People say, ‘Oh you are here, Christmas is here.’” As Gilmartin waited around in his overalls, many passers-by stopped to greet him and chat for a while — in his camper, he keeps a list with the names of those who have been coming for years. He also donates almost a dozen trees to neighborhood parks and institutions every year. “I know all the old-timers,” he said,

standing squarely on the sidewalk with his arms around a sturdy fir, shaking it from time to time to spread the evocative smell that would hopefully attract some new faces.

“Just asking people, ‘Hey, do you wanna buy a tree?’ doesn’t work. You don’t get any customers like that,” he said. “You have to stay here and make friends.”

Since he was one-year-old, Rory Gilmartin has spent every December of his life at his parents’ Christmas tree stand. .com

December 17 - 23, 2015

Variance Displeasure Consistent Among Residents, Electeds

Design by Zach Williams

Real estate developers and their contractors acquire permission for late work through a simple process that relies on good faith from applicants, and depends on resident complaints to catch violators.

Continued from page 4 applicants. Complaints from the public are the primary means by which the department moves against potential

abuse, he said in a Sept. 23 Chelsea Now report (“DOB Commish Commits to More Public Access”). In the first 11 months of 2015, the department revoked 128 variances across the city. Nine of them were in the

area of Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, and 101 more in other areas of the borough, according to the department. Residents’ complaints helped spur a legislative effort to curb the issuance of the variances, and ensure more transparency in the application process. The bill garnered 12 sponsors in the City Council in 2014. It included provisions limiting the variances to 8 p.m. on weekdays, 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturdays and a ban on Sundays. Recipients and the DOB would have to publicly disclose the rationale behind the variance, and email alerts would notify neighbors as to the location and hours of nearby work, according to the legislation. But the bill has never has gone further than mere introduction and referral to a committee. A representative of Councilmember Dan Garodnick referred Chelsea Now to fellow co-sponsor Councilmember Rosie Mendez, who said in a telephone interview that the effort remains ongoing. The current language of the bill — which did not appear in a Dec. 8 online search of outstanding council legislation — was too broad and requires revisions,

she said, echoing comments about the legislation she made in April and in autumn of 2014. Other issues in her district (Lower East Side/East Village) took precedence this year, she added. But a meeting with a representative of the Real Estate Board of New York is tentatively scheduled for this month, she said. Outstanding concerns include how new limits on after-hours work would affect schools and hospitals, and effects on the construction industry at-large. Eventually there will be a hearing before the council, but only after a new bill finds the balance necessary for passage, she said. “It makes no sense to pass legislation that doesn’t make sense, that would get appealed…so it is incumbent on us to really sit down and work on the language and get it right,” she said. “It seems to me that [the variances are] just getting rubber-stamped, and that’s the problem I have, and that’s the problem that we are having in this city. You know, there’s so much construction going on and no one is being told beforehand.”

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December 17 - 23, 2015

.com

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Who is Santa?

A critical analysis of the Rankin/Bass ‘Jolly Old Elf ’ BY MAX BURBANK Like many modern American Jews, I learned everything I know about Christmas straight from what seemed to be the most reliable source available: Rankin/Bass. Jesus aside (a footnote at best, having a non-speaking role in only one Rankin/Bass Special, the critically panned late-Animagic-era “Little Drummer Boy”), Christmas revolves around worship of the life and deeds of the man/god Santa. What do we know of this “Jolly Old Elf?” Is he a reliable vessel for our Children’s faith? What are his labor practices? If he and the Christ Child had a no-rules tables, chairs, and ladders cage match versus Superman and the Tooth Fairy, who would win? To come to a better understanding of Santa, I have decided to examine the Rankin/Bass Christmas works — not in the order they were created, but in the chronological order of their storylines. For purposes of this article, no reference will be made to the “crossover” work of the late “decadent period,” where Santa is, at best, peripheral (see the execrable “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year”).

Santa’s near-pathological orphan’s need to establish a firm societal role (see “Batman”) is at last fulfilled when Mrs. Claus suggests restricting his serial breaking and entering to a single night each year: Christmas Eve, the “Holiest night of the year.”

THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS (1974)

Rankinbass.com

Immortal, and forever on your screen: This image of the restored stop-motion puppets used in 1964’s “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” is available as a free wallpaper, at rankinbass.com.

SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN (1970) Here we learn the root of Santa’s multiple issues: his abandonment as an infant. Raised by a foster family of Elves, he will suffer complex questions of identity throughout his life (see Cher, “Half-Breed”). In this light, the compulsive rejection of the rule of law (see “Burgermeister Meisterburger”) which lands him in jail is no surprise. Rather than serve his time and allow the possibility of rehabilitation, he instead turns to the Dark Arts (see “Winter Warlock”). A brief nod is given to Judeo-Christian Ethic when the Warlock loses his powers because he has become “good.” But by the end of the hour, his abilities have inexplicably returned. Santa, having dragged a local schoolteacher into his delusions of grandeur (see Sissy Spacek, “Badlands”), convinces her that he can see children at all times, and must judge them as “naughty” or “nice.” .com

Santa, in the grip of psychosomatic illness, cancels Christmas. Having achieved psychological domination of the world’s children, he now abandons them, symbolically becoming his own Parents on a scale befitting his megalomania (see Harry Chapin, “Cat’s In The Cradle”). His actions constitute a passive-aggressive punishment on all children for failure to “believe” in him. Only when fealty is established (as demonstrated by the bestowing of gifts upon Santa by what appear to be the animatronic robots from the “It’s a Small World” ride) can Christmas take place. Santa’s usurpation of the religious nature of the holiday (the concept that he has the authority to “cancel” the celebration of Christ’s Birth) is now complete. This episode’s overall darkness of tone (see “The Empire Strikes Back”) is mitigated slightly by the show-stopping and surprisingly inclusive “Heat Miser” and “Snow Miser” numbers.

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (1964)

Rankin/Bass, Wikia.com

In 1974’s “The Year Without a Santa Claus,” psychosomatic illness is the flimsy premise upon which Mr. Kringle abandons the world’s children.

With his common-law bride, Elf gang and geographically misplaced penguin sidekick (see “Bonnie and Clyde”), Santa goes on the lam — fleeing, quite literally, to the ends of the earth. Only the Burgermeister’s death avoids a Waco-

like siege at the North Pole. Over time, Santa’s cult of personality calcifies into a less reactionary, quasi-legitimate religion, which is certainly nicer for the Elves than the vat of grape Kool-Aid Mrs. Claus was almost certainly mixing up.

Santa’s power has begun the long, inescapable decline of all revolutions, a process graphically symbolized by his rapidly fluctuating weight — a sure indicator of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (see any movie featuring Eddie Murphy in an offensive fat suit). Abandoning the ideology of his youth, he becomes a primarily secular authority. Crabby, irritable, old, and above all, thin, he drifts easily to the role of supporting character. Voiced twice as a younger man by Mickey Rooney, the role is now taken up by Stan Francis — a virtual unknown whose vocal identity

Continued on page 16 December 17 - 23, 2015

Claus and Effect: The Rankin/Bass Santa Games,” forbidden to Rudolph (see “Schindler’s List”), whom Santa only accepts into the fold once a way to exploit his unique abilities has been discovered (see “X-Men”). Santa is again seen as willing, perhaps even eager, to “cancel” Christmas. His excuse this time is Weather, demonstrating that either his will or his magic have become weaker than the Oath of the United States Postal Service. Those who see Santa’s inclusion of the “Misfit Toys” as a sign of ethical growth will be dismayed to learn that Rankin/ Bass added this scene in 1965 after an intense write-in campaign (see “The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass” by Rick Goldschmidt — an actual book, and not just another lame “see” joke). The psychological import of Santa hot-rodding around the North Pole on an oversized Norelco electric shaver is really anybody’s guess, but was obviously disturbing enough to be cut from modern broadcasts. Rankin/Bass, Exploretalent.com

A geographically misplaced penguin sidekick isn’t the only fishy thing in 1970’s “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.”

Continued from page 15

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is further diluted by his double casting as the hybrid tyrant, King Moonracer. Santa’s management style can be seen in the brutal sweatshop mentality of the Toy Shop — which values only conformity, and is unable to embrace the diversity embodied in Hermey, an openly gay Elf. His social values are reflected in the neo-Teutonic “Reindeer

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS So who is this “Santa” (see “Easily Decipherable Anagram”)? Dominated by abandonment, his entire life is dedicated to being the “good father” to all humanity’s children — but in pursuit of this goal he becomes neurotic, domineering, hypochondriacal, exploitative, and increasingly powerless. Once immortal and near omnipotent, he is, in the end, distinctly human. I would invite readers to draw their own conclusions, but would at least suggest they exercise caution before allowing their children onto the old man’s lap.

WITH