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VOLUME 29, NUMBER 10

Ferry dust New service will harm Downtown’s air quality BY YANNIC RACK The new citywide ferry service set to launch next year will significantly increase air pollution at docks along the East River, according to an environmental report released by the city — especially in Lower Manhattan, where air quality is already poor. Nitrogen dioxide emissions from ferry engines could exceed air pollution standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency at 12 docking sites, shows a draft environmental impact statement published by the Economic Development Corporation last month. “The operation of the proposed CFS could potentially result in significant adverse impacts on air quality in some locations,” according to the report, which is available on the agency’s website. “The City has assessed potential mitigation options aimed at reducing NO2 emissions from CFS vessels, and determined that … it will not be possible to fully mitigate the potential significant impacts identified by the time of the anticipated launch in 2017.” At the existing ferry terminal at Pier 11 on Wall Street, nitrogen dioxide levels are already high, but could reach almost six times the EPA standard for open spaces, and one-and-a-half times the national standard for residential areas, according to the report, which notes that the pollutants could also spread to residential and commercial buildings located further inland. Short-term nitrogen dioxide exposure has been linked to respiratory illness in healthy and asthmatic people, according to the EPA. An EDC spokesperson said this week that the additional pollutants would not negatively impact the city as a whole because the new transit system would lower emissions from other modes of transportation. “While any new mass transit will result in some emissions, we’re proud to be using the most environmentally friendly technology available for the types of vessels needed,” said EDC spokesman Ian Fried. “Through transit alternatives like Citywide Ferry Service … we’re also helping get more New ferry Continued on page 16

MAY 19 – JUNE 1, 2016

Arcade games Water St. arcade architect slams city plan to give public space to landlords

Photos by Yannick Rack

Downtown Alliance president Jessica Lappin (inset) wants to allow developers to put retail space into Water Street’s “uninviting and underutilized” public arcades (left) in exchange for sprucing up the area’s equally bleak public plazas (right), but the plan by the architect of some to the affected buildings at a hearing on the measure on May 17.

BY YANNIC RACK This time it was personal. In the second Council hearing on the Downtown Alliance’s increasingly controversial plan to rezone Water St. so building owners can fill in their public arcades with profitable retail, opponents found an ally in one of the architects who actually designed many of the covered walkways decades ago. Richard Roth Jr., who as a principal at Emery Roth & Sons designed 10 of the buildings that are set to be rezoned, added his

objections to the proposal to privatize the public spaces during a hearing by the Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises on May 17. “The public was given the arcade and plaza space, in exchange for which developers received significant additional bonus [floor area ratio] to build these buildings to the max,” said Roth, who now lives in Florida and sent his testimony to be read aloud at the hearing by his daughter. “So how can the city possibly ask the public to give it back to developers? This is a ter-

1 M e t r o t e c h • N YC 112 0 1 • C o p y r i g h t © 2 0 16 N YC C o mm u n i t y M e d i a , L L C

rible and unfair proposal.” The hearing marked the second opportunity for members of the public to comment on the proposed zoning text amendment, which would allow the owners of almost two dozen office buildings along Water St. between Whitehall and Fulton Sts. to build out 110,000 square feet of covered walkways with lucrative ground-floor retail in return for fixing up the area’s public plazas. Both the plazas and the arcades arcades Continued on page 19

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DowntownExpress.com

ZERO TOLERANCE IN TRIBECA Not even a Tribeca bar can open up in Tribeca anymore. Beloved local dive bar Raccoon Lodge, which has stood on Warren St. for more than three decades, is closing in June — displaced by an upcoming luxury high-rise. Now a former manager of the bar, Derek Michalak, and two longtime patrons want to open a spinoff called The Lodge less than two blocks away, at 20 Warren St. — but it might be last call for their ambitions, after they were shut down by Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee last week, at a meeting that saw an outpouring of opposition from local residents. Richard Yellen, a lawyer and

one of the partners in the venture, tried to sway the crowd of locals by highlighting that the new bar would employ most of the Racoon Lodge’s bartenders, and that it would aspire to live up the old dive’s reputation as a good neighbor and a “cultural institution” in the neighborhood. “There’s few places like this left in Tribeca,” Yellen said. “It’s an institution and it should be continued.” But the residents would have none of it — pointing out that unlike the Raccoon Lodge’s longtime location, their block between Church St. and Broadway was a quiet side street with less foot traffic, but lots of families and small children — and arguing that putting a lounge there would be as bad for the bar as it would be for the neighbors. “We’re doing you a favor — location is key and this one is a dud,” said Seth Haber, who lives next door and brought his sevenyear-old son to the meeting. “We cannot live like that, it’s just unacceptable. This is a familyoriented block,” said another resident.

A FISH “ I FEEL LIKE

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May 19 - June 1, 2016

Shedding light Downtown’s most notorious sidewalk shed may soon be coming down from 45 John St. BY COLIN MIXSON Financial District residents living in the shadow of a long abandoned John St. building, which is enveloped by Lower Manhattan’s longest-standing and most reviled sidewalk shed, were elated to discover that the neglected property is back on the market. Signage posted last week on the façade of 45 John St. advertised retail space available to lease, and neighbors are optimistic that new tenants will come and drive off the drug addicts and vagrants that have roosted for nearly a decade beneath the edifice’s hated scaffolding. “I think people are more optimistic now than ever and as hopeful as ever that it gets done as soon as possible,” said John St. resident Patrick Kennell. The property at 45 John St. has a long and troubled history going back to the financial crisis in 2008, when thenowner 45 John St. LLC failed to keep up its mortgage payments, and its German

lender, Bayerische Landesbank, moved to foreclose in 2009, according to court documents. Before that, however, the developer had been in the process of renovating the property and erected a sidewalk shed in 2007, which has marred the block and vexed neighbors ever since, despite virtually no work occurring to justify its existence for nearly a decade. Rather that sheltering passerby from construction debris as a developer built the planned high-end condos, the sidewalk shed ended up instead providing less luxurious accommodations for vagrants and drug addicts, according to long-suffering neighbors. One woman told Downtown Express she was horrified at one point to see cardboard signs erected by the shed’s indigent squatters advertising lewd and disgusting acts in exchange for cash. “They’re putting out signs that read, ‘Want to see two bums f---? $20,’ and ‘Want to see a bum eat s---? $20,’” said

Photo by Andrea Kanter

The eight-year-old sidewalk shed on John St. is home to a chronic homeless encampment, where vagrants set up furniture and cardboard shanties beneath the relative sanctuary the shed provides.

Andrea Kanter. who lives on John St. with her husband and two children, aged 4 and 6. “I’m a businesswoman. I’m all for entrepreneurial behavior, but let’s do it in good taste.” Following the financial crash and foreclosure, 45 John St. languished as the owner tied the building up in court

with a series of failed appeals that dragged on for five years, while renovation work had ground to a halt. Despite that, the Dept. of Buildings continued to rubber-stamp annual renewals for the scaffolding permits, turning the shed shed Continued on page 27

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Local leaders demanding that city fund massive study of area’s unique issues BY COLIN MIXSON Being the fastest growing neighborhood of the greatest city in the world can be difficult for a part of town that took shape nearly 200 years before anyone even came up with the idea of a Manhattan street grid — and Downtowners are heading to City Hall next week to demand the Council finally acknowledge that fact. The narrow, chock-a-block, 300-yearold street network of New York’s oldest neighborhood was designed for horses, buggies, and the occasional wheelbarrow, not the thousands of cars, box trucks, double-decker tour busses, and garbage haulers that now ply its slender lanes, and for more than a decade, Community Board 1 has asked the city to fund a comprehensive study of the many interconnected logistical challenges unique to Downtown. But though the city has addressed specific problems caused by the essentially medieval Downtown streetscape, it has failed to attack the systemic problems in a holistic manner that takes into account how they overlap and complicate each other. Now, both Community Board 1 and the newly formed Financial District Neighborhood Association are gearing up to petition City Hall to include money in next year’s budget to fund studies aimed at addressing the myriad obstacles that the 21st century holds for a 17th century neighborhood. “No agency or entity has proposed anything to address the changing needs for CB1, to address the continuing intensifying vehicular and pedestrian flow on our narrow streets and cluttered sidewalks,” said CB1 chairwoman Catherine McVay Hughes. “A comprehensive study and implemented plan could address major quality of life issues.” Reps for the community board and neighborhood association will appear before the Council at the executive budget hearings on May 24, where they’ll present their case for funding a Department of Transportation feasibility study. Ever since the terrorist attacks on DowntownExpress.com

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9/11, and the reconstruction and safety measures that followed, CB1 included funding for traffic studies in its yearly budget requests, according to the board’s director of planning and land use, Diana Switaj. But those requests have gone unheeded, and since then, the area has seen massive residential and hotel construction, with the Financial District in particular becoming the fastest growing neighborhood in the city. Next Tuesday’s hearing will be the first time in recent memory that representatives of the board have appeared before city council in person with a budget proposal, and they hope to hammer home the fact that Downtown’s traffic problems can no longer be ignored. “By appearing at the budget hearing, we’re saying we’ve made these requests for years and we’re drawing attention to the fact that our needs haven’t been met,” said Switaj. Both CB1 and the Financial District Neighborhood Association’s presentations will be informed by Make Way for Lower Manhattan, a detailed examination of the challenges unique to Downtown commissioned by the engineering firm Burohappold. Downtown study Continued on page 27

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Tasty Tribeca Food fest returning for 22nd year to fund public school art programs BY YANNIC RACK If you really need an excuse to gorge yourself on delectable treats from some of the city’s top eateries and sample local craft beers and ciders at the 22ndannual Taste of Tribeca — then do it for the children. Proceeds from the May 21 outdoor food fest go to fund arts and enrichment programs at local public schools PS 150 and PS 234, but the foodie fund-raiser is also a chance to taste your way through more than 65 of the neighborhood’s top restaurants, according to one of the organizers. “It’s a great opportunity for anyone to come and sample the neighborhood — you pay 45 bucks and you get to try food from so many restaurants,” said Taste of Tribeca co-chair Claude Arpels, who has helped organize the event for the past six years. “It would certainly cost you a lot more to go and eat a full meal at every one.” The festival was first put on in 1994, and many of the original participating restaurants are still involved, including such Tribeca institutions as The Odeon, Bubby’s, and Duane Park Patisserie, whose owner and head chef said she thinks the festival is a great deal — not least because her own son benefitted from the food-funded arts program at PS 234. “It’s terrific. It pays for music, it pays for library sciences, it pays for a part-time art teacher — it’s great,” said Madeline Lanciani, who added that she will once again serve a special treat for

the event that isn’t even for sale in her store. “I actually make a taste that I don’t sell in the store — it’s warm molten chocolate cake with warm chocolate sauce.” Lanciani expects to serve around 900 of the exclusive treats on the day of the event, and predicted they’ll go fast. “It’s an item that has to be made, baked and served immediately. People like something fresh out of the oven,” she said. There’s also a slate of new eateries participating for the first time this year, including Australian restaurant Two Hands, Mexican cantina Rosa Mexicano, Korean barbecue spot Gunbae, and ice cream parlor Blue Marble. All restaurants commit to providing at least 700 “tastes” for the event free of charge, but Lanciani says the effort and cost is well worth the exposure. “We sign on to provide x amount of tastes, but many of us provide more. When people buy tickets, you don’t want to disappoint them!” she said. “I would probably sell this dessert for $8 apiece — you do the math, eight times 900. But it’s so worth it.” Arpels, who attended his first Taste of Tribeca when he moved to the neighborhood in the mid-Nineties, said his own brainchild, a popular beer and cider tour put on for the first time last year, would also return this time around. “One of the new elements that I added myself is this beer and cider tour that we launched last year,” he said.

Photo by Shintaro Ueyama

The popular Taste of Tribeca school fund-raiser returns to Duane St. between Greenwich and Hudson Sts. on Saturday May 21 for its 22nd year.

May 19 - June 1, 2016

Photo by Shintaro Ueyama

Participating Tribeca restaurants provide “tastes” from their menus, and a $45 ticket includes six tastes, as well as one beverage and two tastes from the beer tour.

“That was a huge success — we had five bars from the neighborhood, and we got five local brewers and cider makers to donate kegs. This year we’ve got ten venues and we have 14 producers who donated products. So every venue is going to have one local beer, and some will also pour local cider — all very artisanal producers. A lot of them are from the city, and I think we have every borough represented.” For the younger denizens of the neighborhood, there will also be a family-friendly Kids’ Zone, with face painting, a clown, and martial arts demonstrations, plus a Sports Zone for the older kids. As every year, City Winery is providing an entertainment stage, where kids from the Church Street School for Music and Art and the TriBattery Pops community band will serenade foodies at the event. Proceeds raised by Taste of Tribeca provide music instruction for students at PS 234, which uses the money to buy instruments and hire specialized instructors. Last year, for example, the school had five different music teachers teaching vocal music, the recorder, brass, strings, woodwinds, and percus-

sion, all paid for by the festival. At PS 150, the festival also funds a range of programs, including modern and ballroom dance instruction, chess lessons, storytelling workshops, museum collaborations, and arts support for teachers. Amazingly, Arpels says that after all these years, many long-time locals are still unaware of the festival’s history as a school fund-raiser, which he ascribes to the event’s neighborly character. “To this day, a lot of people — including some parents at the schools — don’t realize it’s a school fund-raiser, because it comes off as such a community event,” he said. “It’s not just about getting people to taste the food,” added Lanciani. “It’s about the fact that, in any community, you can make a difference if you decide to.” Taste of Tribeca takes place rain or shine on Saturday May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Duane St. between Greenwich and Hudson Sts.. One ticket includes six tastes from participating restaurants, as well as one beverage and two tastes from the beer tour. Tickets available at tasteoftribeca.com — $45 ahead of time, $55 on the day of the event. DowntownExpress.com

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DowntownExpress.com

May 19 - June 1, 2016

Hello, sailors!

America’s Cup yacht racing comes to Battery Park City’s North Cove Marina

America’s Cup racing excitement returned to New York for the first time since 1920 on May 7–8, as six superfast sailboats literally flew across the lower Hudson River off Battery Park City in a series of races, wowing droves of spectators at the North Cove Marina and along the Battery Park Esplanade. Unfortunately, wind conditions were too light on the first day, and the boats — which feature a special high-tech mainsail that is more akin to an airplane wing — barely moved. But Sunday was very gusty, and the boats were literally levitating. Once the vessels really get going, they rise up off their two catamaran hulls and slice through the water on only three small hydrofoils, with just a few fin points in the water. At one point on Sunday, the crowd gasped as a boat for a moment was zooming along while teetering on just one hydrofoil. The announcer had warned over the P.A. system that they might well

see some capsizing in the Hudson’s unpredictable and strong winds. Although the U.S. is the reigning America’s Cup champion, New Zealand won last weekend’s competition, earning points toward next year’s final America’s Cup competition — plus some Louis Vuitton bags. The luxury-goods giant is sponsoring the racing series. Each boat also has its own corporate sponsor — America’s is Oracle, England is Land Rover, New Zealand is Emirates. Japan, Sweden and France rounded out the field. Although the Kiwis won the luggage this time, the teams will face off for the ultimate prize — the coveted cup — in Bermuda next May and June. From 1870 through 1920, America’s Cup racing took place in New York. In 1930, the competition moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where it remained until the U.S. finally lost the cup in 1983. — Lincoln Anderson

CELEBRATING

Photos by Milo Hess

(Above) At top speed, the boats’ hulls rise out of the water and slice through the waves on hydrofoils. (Right) Team USA didn’t win the race, but did provide a winning moment of drama by nearly capsizing in a gust of wind.

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Scuttled!

Longtime marina tenants claiming new management is sinking their businesses

BY COLIN MIXSON Locals worried last year, when the longtime operator of Battery Park City’s North Cove Marina was ousted in favor of two large, politically connected corporations, that the local sailboat docks would lose their community feel. And judging by the experience of the owners of two historic sailboats long docked at the marina, it appears those fears have been realized. The two nearly century-old vessels, the Shearwater and Ventura, and their owners have faced the swift and unforeseen consequences of the abrupt change in management soon after the Battery Park City Authority — whose board is controlled by Gov. Cuomo — handed control of the marina to Brookfield Properties and subcontractor Island Global Yachting — two companies with close ties to the governor. Local leaders fear that the pricing and policy changes imposed by the new operators aim to drive out these cherished, floating landmarks and turn the publicly owned marina from a community amenity into an exclusive dock for the mega yachts of the very rich. “Having those historic ships that offer access to the water and the harbor at affordable prices is absolutely within the mission and the spirit of the North Cove Marina,” said Anthony Notaro, chairman of Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee. “Locking it up and using it as an expensive dock for super yachts is absolutely not what this community wants, nor was it the intent of that marina.” The hardship set in for Tom Berton and Patrick “Captain Pat” Harris, who command the Shearwater and Ventura respectively, immediately after the contract to manage North Cove Marina changed hands from former operator Commodore Michael Fortenbaugh to Brookfield and IGY early last year. The first effect was a steep increase in their docking fees. Docking at North Cove now costs them twice as much as before the handover, forcing both of them to shave two months off their sailing season, during which they offer locals and tourists cruises up and down the Hudson and out into the bay. And since the boat owners can only broker leases in yearly increments, DowntownExpress.com

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Photo courtesy of Patrick Harris

The Ventura is one of two historic sailboats docked at North Cove Marina that have suffered due to policy changes and price increases following a change in management that saw Brookfield Properties take over as operator in 2015.

there’s nothing to prevent Brookfield and the BPCA from charging even higher fees in the coming years, according to Harris. “This management company raised my rent 100 percent, just like that, and there are no controls that prevent them from doing the same thing next year,” he said. Worse yet, the rent hike came with new restrictions on the boats’ operations. Not long after the takeover, IGY employees suddenly demanded that Berton and Harris clear out their brochure stands and the signage directing patrons to the vessels, citing BPCA rules requiring boat owners to seek permission before putting up signage. But Fortenbaugh had always granted that permission with little fuss, Berton said, and IGY had initially said the signage was fine. Berton said they never got any explanation of why the permission was revoked without warning, why all of their subsequent applications to repost their signage have been denied, or what they could do to make their signage acceptable. The sudden move left the captains scratching their head as to what benefit the lack of signage provides the new operators — but they know it certainly

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Thatâ€™s the ticket! Former rivals in CB1 chair race join unity slate BY COLIN MIXSON Paul Hovitz, a one-time contender in the upcoming race to replace Catherine McVay Hughes as head of Community Board 1, announced his decision to drop out of the hotly anticipated contest this week, opting instead to run for vice chairman on a unity ticket with his former opponent, Anthony Notaro. Both Hovitz and Notaro said that, after discussions with fellow board members, they made the decision mutually with the boardâ€™s best interests in mind. One insider, however, suggested a slightly different thought process â€” Hovitz realized that serving as board chairman is the pits. â€œThe question isnâ€™t why would Paul step down â€” itâ€™s why would he run?â€? said CB1 member Tom Goodkind. â€œJust remember, thereâ€™s no pay, youâ€™re always being criticized, the workâ€™s never ending, and the boardâ€™s just advisory. Itâ€™s awful. Who would want that?â€? Prior to Hovitz entering the race for chair, Notaro was running unopposed â€” just as Hughes had for two consecutive elections before deciding to step down, which she announced in April. When Hovitz tossed his hat in the ring as well, he said that one of his main reasons was to give the board a semblance of choice regarding who would take the reigns. â€œI think that nobody should really run unopposed unless theyâ€™re John F. Kennedy, or someone like that,â€? Hovitz said after announcing his candidacy. But when explaining his decision to drop out of the race, Hovitz cited Notaroâ€™s experience dealing with major DowntownExpress.com

issues facing the board â€” such as storm resiliency â€” which his erstwhile rival gained during his years serving as vicechairman, which is considered by many on the board as a training ground for the top slot. â€œAnthony has been the vice-chair, I think that the perception is such that he will go forward,â€? said Hovitz. As chairman of CB1â€™s Battery Park City Committee, Notaro is an expert on issues affecting the boardâ€™s western territory, while Hovitz â€” who serves on the South Street Seaport Committee â€” is equally well versed with the boardâ€™s eastern affairs. Hovitz is also the cochair of the CB1 Youth and Education Committee, so he is up to speed on the areaâ€™s ongoing battle for additional school seats. Given that the chairman and vicechair traditionally work very closely, the duo is expected to make an effective team, according board members polled by the Downtown Express. But Goodkind said he still feels that yet another uncontested race for chairman â€” the third consecutive election with only one candidate â€” is a missed opportunity for the board to reexamine its priorities. â€œWith Paul no longer running, a noncontested election is great for Anthony, but itâ€™s terrible for the board,â€? said Goodkind. Goodkind said a contested race gives board members the opportunity to shape the new chairâ€™s mandate, with members offering their support to the various candidates in exchange for pledges to pursue action on certain unity ticket Continued on page 17

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After initially challenging Anthony Notaro, left, in the race for chairman of CB1, Paul Hovitz, right, has opted to run for vice-chairman with Notaroâ€™s support.

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scorned scooners Continued from page 9

doesn’t do the boats’ patrons any good. Berton says he has accidently left customers stranded on the docks because they couldn’t find his classic schooner in time for cast off. “People sailing with us because it’s a special occasion, and it’s so disheartening to leave someone on the dock who saved up their money for 10 years and this is the thing they were looking forward to most, to sail out to the Statue of Liberty on a beautiful old schooner, and they got lost,” said Berton. “The stories continue and they’re heartbreaking.” Another new restriction scuttling their boat business is stricter enforcement of the marina’s hours of operation. In previous years, the North Cove was host to several party boats, whose boisterous clientele would disembark in the wee hours, causing a racket and disturbing locals. Aiming to stem the rising tide of complaints from BPC residents, the BPCA imposed a policy years ago forbidding vessels from sailing in or out after midnight and before 8 a.m. But under Fortenbaugh, that restriction wasn’t applied to the Shearwater or Venutra, according to Berton, because the commodore knew their boats’ late night and early morning cruises generally catered to hobbyist astronomers, weddings, and worshippers willing to book passage for sun-rise prayer services — a far cry from the liquor-fueled booze-cruises the regulation was intended to limit. “We’re understandable. We don’t want party boats coming back with music banging, but we’re not that,” Berton said. “So there shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all solution.” The hours of operation have since been relaxed, with arrivals or departures permitted before 1 a.m. and after 6 a.m., but the party boats have all fled, leaving only the Shearwater, the Venutra, and their decidedly non-rowdy patrons still subject to the rigid policy. Harris, along with many others in the community who were outraged by Fortenbaugh’s ouster, see the new policies and rent hikes as part of a wider, more sinister agenda of evicting anything at the marina that’s not a mega yacht for the benefit of Cuomo’s campaign donors. Brookfield and its various subsidiaries donated more than $170,000 to Cuomo’s re-election campaign in 2014, the year before the governor’s handpicked board awarded the marina contract to the property developer. Andrew Farkas, founder of Island Global Yachting, was also a top fund-raiser for the governor, and his company has a reputation for favoring mega yachts at

May 19 - June 1, 2016

the marinas it manages. “Brookfield is draconian and they don’t give a damn,” Harris said. “They would probably like to fill that marina up with mega yachts.” Berton, however, sees no malice in the heavy-handed enforcement — only a new operator trying to tow the line, afraid to be seen as defying the authority. “I don’t see anybody in the direct management of the marina that’s trying to harm me,” said the captain of the Shearwater. “They’re just unwilling to jeopardize their contract by doing something that angers the authority.” Berton also pointed out that attempts to fill the marina with mega yachts is nothing new. Mega yachts are a lucrative source of revenue for the marina, and Fortenbaugh was just as eager to fill out a vacant dock space with one luxury cruiser or another. But Butron said that difference was that Fortenbaugh recognized the difference between the sailing ships and the hated party boats, and understood the value of hosting historic sailboats at the marina, and so spared them the heavyhanded policing intended to fend off the booze-cruise menace. “[Fortenbaugh] wasn’t going to kick the two of us out,” said Berton. “He wanted the super yachts, and we had to move out of his way when someone fancy was coming in — he’s a business man, and he’s driven — but at the same time, he new that we mattered to the community, and he didn’t want to do anything to us, because it wasn’t going to help him.” Berton and Harris came to a recent meeting of Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee to plead their case, and requested a resolution, essentially reassuring the BPCA that locals won’t jump down the authority’s neck if it allows signage and late-night stargazing cruises. “I’m trying to prove to the board and the BPCA that, in fact, we have community support,” said Berton. “The truth is, you need to catch the tide when you need to catch the tide, or you need to get a wedding at sunrise, and the community has no opposition to it, so what would the opposition be?” The committee voted to support the vessels, and, in return, the BPCA has pledged to look into the concerns expressed by Berton, Harris, and the community, according to an authority spokesman. “We value the Battery Park City Committee’s input, are mindful of specific issues regarding the Shearwater and Ventura, and are actively working with Brookfield and IGY to review these concerns in full,” the spokesman said.

Photo by John Bentham

The Ventura was among the many vessels that helped evacuate thousands of New Yorkers stranded in Lower Manhattan following the terrorist attacks of 9-11, seen here commemorated by the Towers of Light in the background.

The Shearwater and Ventura are steeped in New York City history and lore. The Ventura, the older of the pair, is a 70-foot wooden schooner commissioned in 1919 by George Fisher Baker, the founder of the country’s first national bank — we call it Citigroup these days — as his personal pleasure yacht. He frequently sailed out into Long Island Sound on duck-hunting expeditions with wealthy New York City industrialists, and at least one famed American author. F. Scott Fitzgerald is thought to have made mention of the craft — and Baker’s daughter, Daisy — in his chef d’oeuvre, “The Great Gatsby.” The Shearwater is an 82-foot Newport-style schooner that first touched water in 1929. Originally the property of NYC magnate Charles E. Dunlap, the Shearwater has seen various uses over the past century, including as part of a US Coast Guard picket patrolling domestic shorelines during the Second World War, and as a floating test lab for the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Environmental Medicine.

The vessels themselves are precious and irreplaceable, and their origins are acutely intertwined. The Ventura was designed by famed naval architect Nathanael G. Herreshoff, and exists as one of the few remaining products of his flare for marine engineering that’s still fit to sail. Herreshoff’s partner Theodore Donald Wells designed the Shearwater. More recently, both captains assisted with the evacuation of Downtown following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with Berton shuttling survivors off the island on a dingy, while Harris piloted the Ventura itself, ushering terrified community members and commuters onto his deck and whisking away from the carnage and debris. The mega yachts docked at the marina, on the other hand, didn’t lift a finger — or a sail — according to Harris. “On 9/11 and during the northeast blackout, I was taking people out, and not one of those mega yachts moved unless to beat feat out of there,” said Harris. “They never lifted a finger.” DowntownExpress.com

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C om m uni t y con f ab

State Sen. Daniel Squadron hosted his eighth-annual Community Convention on May 15, which drew local leaders â€” including Congressman Jerrold Nadler, at the podium â€” along with hundreds of Downtowners to discuss issues ranging from streets and transportation, to housing affordability and ethics reform in Albany. City Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg keynoted the confab â€” also attended by city Comptroller Scott Stringer and Borough President Gale Brewer â€” before residents broke up into interest groups to discuss ideas for community improvement. Squadron said he will use feedback from the meet to help shape his legislative priorities throughout the year.

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Police pursue pervy parolee Cops identify man accused of public lewdness in Fidi subways BY YANNIC RACK A pervy parolee is on the run from police after he allegedly flashed and masturbated in front of five women on the subway in the course of one month — mostly striking in the Financial District, cops say. Kenneth Wiley, 33, on parole after serving two prison stints for drug convictions, is accused of masturbating in front of four women and exposing himself to a fifth in Manhattan, according to police. The flasher police identified as Wiley first aroused suspicion after he asked for directions and then masturbated under his sweatshirt in front of a 27-year-old woman riding the F train at 1 a.m. on Monday March 28, before leaving the train at W. 47th St., police say. He struck again on Friday April 1, when a 23-year-old woman spotted him masturbating on a northbound 1 train around 8:25 a.m. and then getting out

at the Greenwich and Rector St. station, according to police. On Friday April 29, police say the same man again masturbated in front of a 40-year-old woman sitting across from him on a southbound E train around 5:35 p.m., then left the train with the witness at the Chambers St. stop. It seems he got right on the next train, however, since a 23-year-old woman told police that she was approached by Wiley just five minutes later on another southbound E, where he asked her a question and then exposed himself before getting out at the Canal St. stop, cops say. The next day around 1 a.m. he masturbated in front of another 30-year-old woman riding a southbound N train, before getting out at the Cortlandt St. stop, according to police. Wiley is described as about 6-feettall, 195lbs, with short, black hair, and brown eyes. He also has a tattoo with the word “Browns” on his hand

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By LENORE SKENAZY When he was 19, Richard Slavin, a nice Jewish boy from the suburbs of Chicago, went backpacking in Europe for two months. “Hey,” I told him. “I have a son about to do the same thing.” “But,” Slavin added with a twinkle, “I never came back!” With that he gave a hearty laugh — as jolly a sound as the ice cream man’s bell. Pure joy. He could laugh now because at 60-something and bald, he is no longer the wandering hippie of 1970. In fact, he is no longer even Richard Slavin. Today he is Radhanath Swami, one of the most prominent leaders of the Hare Krishnas. The swami was dressed in coral-colored robes, as well as a coral sweatshirt that he took off in the warm corporate office. His assistant jumped up to fold it for him, but the swami — spiritual leader to millions — nonchalantly did it himself. This is not a guy who lives a Kardashian life. He’s a monk. He sleeps on the floor. He rises at 4 every morning for chanting and meditation — and breakfast isn’t until 9! So how does a suburban American kid end up living in India, leading a congregation that feeds 300,000 impoverished children a day, along with running a hospital, an orphanage, a handful of eco-villages, and about a dozen schools for the very poor? And by the way, in between all these India duties, the swami travels the world to lecture at campuses across the states — including Google’s and

Harvard’s — talking about things like spirituality and stress. “I have to admit to them that swamis have as much stress as them,” he chuckled. “It’s just a matter of how you deal with it.” The trek from footloose teen to spiritual leader is what his first book, “The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami” was about. His latest book, “The Journey Within: Exploring the Path of Bhakti,” is about the spiritual lessons he learned along the way. The lessons did not come easily. After he landed in Europe, Slavin hitchhiked across the continent in search of truth. “I was going to cathedrals and synagogues to study, because I really believed in the unity of all religions,” he recalls. He studied Islam in Turkey and Iran. By the time he got to India to study the religions there, “I became a very serious ascetic. I would never sleep inside any building, because I considered that too luxurious. So I slept under trees, or in caves.” Now, readers, here I must confess something: This man grew up one suburb way from mine. He went to my rival high school and is just about 10 years older. When we discussed our favorite childhood haunts, he recalled the local pancake house and summers on Lake Michigan. The point is, he comes from a background very famil-

iar to me. But … most of us did not go off and sleep in caves. How did his parents react? When he finally returned to America for the first time, he says, “It was a culture shock for me and a culture shock for them. My father and brother came to meet me at the airport. The only luggage I had was a begging bowl. They didn’t know what to think. But we adjusted to each other in a very sweet and wonderful way.” That’s probably because the swami was not the caricature that many of us have of the Hare Krishnas — lost souls in loose robes chanting in the streets and offering flowers. Cult members. “In every religion there’s wacky people,” the swami said matter-of-factly. Because the Hare Krishna religion was first established in America in 1966, right around the time of the counter-culture, the two got entwined in the public mind. Lost souls did join. So what? Hare Krishna is an ancient Indian religion that says we are all one — humans, animals, all of us here on earth. And when we chant the name of Krishna — God — we get closer and closer to realizing that connectedness. That doesn’t sound any dippier than going to church or temple. And if it makes people ready to build schools, respect nature, and provide for the very poor, more power to it — and the former Richard Slavin. (But if my son is reading this, please note: Do not stay away for 40 years!) Lenore Skenazy is a keynote speaker and author and founder of the book and blog Free-Range Kids

hood residents), was key to getting the right kind of treatment. Ms. Hovitz is so right that with PTSD “the earlier you can intervene, the better.” But we would also point out to all those still suffering from the disaster that it is never too late to get your life back. The World Trade Center Health Program offers a variety of mental health treatment modalities, including cognitive behavioral therapy — the type of therapy that helped the young author conquer her PTSD. The program, created by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, also offers expert care at no out-ofpocket cost for other 9/11 mental health conditions, like depression and

anxiety, as well as a long list of physical health impacts linked to the disaster. Our grass-roots group, 9/11 Environmental Action, stands ready to help link affected residents with the WTC Health Program. For young people who are off to college, the program now includes a Nationwide Provider Network, so WTC healthcare is available anywhere in America. For more information, please go to our website, 911ea.org. We eagerly await the release of “After 9/11” which looks to be an eloquent and inspiring road map to resilience. Kimberly Flynn Director 9/11 Environmental Action

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May 19 - June 1, 2016

Letters

To the Editor, We congratulate Ms. Helaina Hovitz (“From horror to hope: Memoir chronicles young girl’s recovery from 9/11 trauma” online, May 2, 2016)on her extraordinary courage, talent, and desire to help others by sharing her journey “from horror to hope” in her soon-tobe-published memoir “After 9/11.” Her story of childhood safety shattered by the 9/11 attacks is both harrowing and healing. Among the challenges she describes was that the care provided to her for the emotional trauma she suffered on 9/11 was not appropriate. The right diagnosis, 9/11-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (in her case, and for so many other neighbor-

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“No one here is doing us a favor — we are doing them a favor. So I’m not sold were originally created by developers on this at the moment.” in a swap with the city to allow greater Tuesday’s follow-up hearing was held height for their office towers. in part to give opponents, whose ranks But Roth, like many local residents have been growing in recent weeks, and community advocates, said he additional time to voice their concerns. doesn’t feel the deal — which could Some critics say the Alliance, which provide an annual windfall of millions has been working on the plan for nearly of dollars to the landlords — is a fair eight years, should have involved the exchange. community more in its initial planning. “I think this proposal is a giveaway “The Alliance has done a terrible, ter— the buildings get extra space and the rible job at explaining this ... it’s essencommunity gets nothing for it,” Roth tially a $250 million land grab,” Roger told Downtown Express by phone after Byrom, the chairman of Community the hearing. “It’s just wrong.” Board 1’s Landmarks Committee, told Roth added that the arcades also the councilmembers. “Ask them to go serve a practical purpose, even though back to the drawing board, involve the the Downtown Alliance, which is community and the residents in a disspearheading the project together with cussion about what’s right. Don’t push the city’s Dept. of City Planning and it through right now.” Economic Development Corporation, Some public-space advocates warned claims the covered walkways are dark that the text amendment could create a and uninviting. dangerous precedent jeopardizing simi“The arcades were included as a lar public spaces across the city. design feature that gave a bonus,” said “The infill for private retail use is Roth. “Arcades are wonderful — in unprecedented and should be rejected,” said Brian Nesin, founder of Friends of Privately Owned Public Space. “Giving away public space sets a terrible precedent ... even if this is an exchange, it becomes a disincentive to other owners to upgrade their POPS on their own.” Critics also doubted that the plaza improvements would measure up to the value of the retail infill. City Planning officials say the required Photo by Bill Egbert improvements would The owners of 100 Wall St. could realize a $6-million bring the 1960s-era plaannual windfall if they built out 2,518 square feet of ground-floor retail in the building’s public arcades, zas into compliance with new standards instituted as the Alliance’s zoning plan would allow. in 2007 and 2009 that require more plantings snow, in rain, you can walk underneath and greenery, among other changes. them. They’re taking them away, and The measure also has its supporters they’ll just be lost.” — including the Municipal Art Society, Councilmembers, who will vote the American Institute of Architects, on the proposal in the coming weeks, the Design Trust for Public Space and already grilled the plan’s architects at the Old Seaport Alliance, who agree a previous hearing earlier this month, with the Downtown Alliance that the questioning the trade-off between giv- rezoning will enliven the sleepy corridor ing up the privately owned public spaces and make it more inviting to pedestrians (POPS) in return for an ill-defined pub- and small businesses. lic benefit. “As much as our neighborhood has “You want to give [these building changed in the last few years … unfortuowners] something, when they’ve done nately there is one place where we have absolutely nothing to give us. In fact, seen no change,” said Luis Vazquez, a we’ve already lost out by giving more local real estate broker and co-founder floor area for what’s supposed to be of the Financial District Neighborhood public plazas,” said Councilmember Association who was one of a handful Antonio Reynoso at the earlier hearing. of residents testifying in favor of the arcades Continued from page 1

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Port Authority

Tr ee o f li f e An icon of hope took root in Liberty Park this week when Port Authority workers planted a sapling bred from the horse chestnut tree in the city center of Amsterdam that was featured in Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl.” The original tree, which Frank could see from her single attic window and had inspired her during the two years her family hid from the Nazis, was toppled by a windstorm in 2010. But 11 saplings propagated in the months before its death were brought to the United States to be replanted as symbols of resilience in the face of adversity. Thanks to the Sapling Project, one of them will now overlook the 9/11 Memorial site and the new World Trade Center complex. “As long as this exists,” Frank wrote of the tree in her diary, “how can I be sad?”

proposal. “No one ever says, ‘Let’s take a walk down Water Street.’ Get the Financial District a Main Street that it can be proud of.” The proposal will now come back for discussion at least twice more, to be considered by the Land Use Committee and then the full City Council, which has to vote on it by mid-June. In the meantime, The Architect’s

Newspaper, a trade publication that opposes the measure, has launched a design charrette to solicit creative ways to use the arcades and plazas. The results of the competition, to be made available on the paper’s website, archpaper.com, will be presented to the Council next month.

May 19 - June 1, 2016

‘Golden’ ticket Museum of Jewish Heritage offers another shot to see hit revival of ‘The Golden Bride’ BY COLIN MIXSON Call it a revival of the revival. In December last year, the Museum of Jewish Heritage hosted the first fulltheater revival of the Yiddish operetta “The Golden Bride” for the first time since the once-hit production fell into obscurity after the Second World War. The response to the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene production was so overwhelming — and tickets for the brief run so hard to come by — that the museum and NYTF decided to bring the critically acclaimed show back in July to give audiences another chance. Last year’s revival of composer Joseph Rumshinsky’s Yiddish classic was made possible by the work of musicologist Michael Ochs, who labored for the better part of a decade recompiling the lost work after it slid into obscurity. Downtown’s Museum of Jewish Heritage is the ideal venue to restage the operetta, according to its chairman, because it brings a unique snapshot of early Jewish-American to an institution

dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Jewish experience. “The most interesting thing to me is it’s unchanged since it was first shown in 1923,” said museum chairman Bruce Ratner. “My father came to this country in 1920, so I said, ‘my God, this is how he would have perceived America.’ It depicts Jewish life in the old country and in this country. It’s an incredible slice of what life was like at the time.” “The Golden Bride” is kind of an early Jewish-American rom-com, which follows the heroine Godele from her whimsical — if impoverished — life in a Russian shtetl, to her immigration to the New World as a means of claiming a lavish inheritance bestowed by her estranged father. While America is predictably shown as a sort of Promised Land, Ratner said the production’s fond depiction of oldworld Russia, though common at the time, may surprise modern audiences. “Any immigrant would have seen America as the land of golden opportu-

Photo by Ben Moody

Cameron Johnson and Rachel Policar, at center, dazzled audiences and critics alike as Misha and Goldele in the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s revival of “The Golden Bride” last year at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The show was such a hit that the museum is bringing the production back for another run this summer.

nity, but Russia was also looked at as a possibly great place — an-up-and-coming country where everyone was treated equally,” he said. The play was a big hit when it premiered at Kessler’s Second Avenue Theater in 1923, selling out the venue’s 2,000 seats.

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But, after 25-years on the road, the production ultimately faded from the limelight, largely due to a dwindling familiarity with Yiddish among Jews who were more interested in integrating into mainstream American culture than passing on golden bride Continued on page 27

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‘Ships’ Puts the Wind Back in Seaport Museum’s Sails Exhibit beckons you to Manhattan’s tip

Courtesy South Street Seaport Museum

“Fulton Fish Market” (1933, Photographic print, 8 x 10 in.).

Courtesy South Street Seaport Museum Foundation

“Wavertree under sail” by Oswald Brett, 1969 (Crayon on paper, 9 ½ x 6 ¼ in.).

BY TRAV S.D. One seldom-observed outcome of natural disasters is that their repercussions can often last for years, long after the initial impact has left the headlines DowntownExpress.com

and the worst of the effects have faded from the forefront of the public consciousness. A case in point is the South Street Seaport Museum, one of New York City’s great cultural jewels, which

was slammed by Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012, and has remained mostly closed to the public ever since. Or rather, had been until the March 17 opening of its first exhibition since the disaster: “Street of Ships: The Port and Its People.” For nearly 300 years, from the early 17th century through the early 20th, the Manhattan neighborhood roughly bounded by Pearl Street and the East River was home to a thriving international port, characterized by docks crammed with sailing ships and nearby shops, warehouses, and offices to support the shipping industry. By the 1900s, steam replaced sail, ships grew larger, and only the port facilities on the Hudson River side could accommodate them. The South Street Seaport Museum was founded in 1967 to preserve and interpret the area’s his-

Courtesy South Street Seaport Museum

A ship’s figurehead by master carver Sal Polisi is one of the highlights of “Street of Ships: The Port and Its People,” on view through 2016.

SEAPORT continued on p. 22 May 19 - June 1, 2016

Courtesy South Street Seaport Museum

Barnacles still cling to the bell of the Lightship LV-78/ WAL-505, a fl oating lighthouse from 1904.

Courtesy South Street Seaport Museum Collection

“Coffee House Slip” by H. Fossette, circa 1850 (Engraving, 3 ¼ x 5 in.). SEAPORT continued from p. 21

tory. The Museum’s multi-facility complex comprises galleries, performance spaces, a working 19th century print shop, a maritime library, a craft center, and a fleet of historic vessels. When Hurricane Sandy struck, Lower Manhattan was one of the hardest hit areas in the city. “The water outside [the Museum] on Fulton Street reached a level of six feet,” says the Museum’s Executive Director, Captain Jonathan Boulware (Boulware is a bona fide certified sea captain, hence the honorific). “On the one hand, we were extremely lucky in that none of our collections were damaged, and damage to the galleries themselves was superfi-

cial. On the other hand, we were unlucky in that much of our infrastructure — things like electrics, and heating and cooling systems, and the escalators — were destroyed.” A combination of FEMA and New York State money helped to get their facilities back in shape, and now the fullyrestored first floor atrium of the Museum houses “Street of Ships: The Port and Its People.” This small-scale exhibition provides a sampler of art and artifacts related to the Seaport’s role in world history, and an update on the Museum’s efforts at restoration. Paintings, photographs, lithographic prints and objects related to the port’s maritime, architectural and commercial history are on view. Among the more impressive items are a ship’s

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figurehead by master carver Sal Polisi, several ship models, a very large lightship bell, and an actual ship’s dingy. My favorite section of the exhibition depicts innovators and entrepreneurs who led the way in helping New York achieve supremacy in a field long dominated by much older cities. Captain Peter Schermerhorn (1781-1852), founder of “New York’s First World Trade Center” is the man for whom Schermerhorn Row (the heart of the Museum itself) is named. Importer Abiel Abbot Low (1811-1893) was a pioneer in the China trade; the exhibition displays a 200-yearold porcelain punch bowl to illustrate the sort of items he brought to America. The Black Ball Line, founded by Quaker merchant Jeremiah Thompson (1734-1835), was path-breaking in operating the first regular trans-Atlantic packet service for both passengers and cargo. Israel Collins (1776-1831) and his son Edward Knight Collins (1802-1878, here represented by a wonderful Mathew Brady photograph) went the Black Ball Line one better by introducing steamships. Another section of the exhibition concentrates on Bowne & Company Stationers and Bowne Printers, an integral component of the Museum’s complex since the beginning. Several 19th century printing presses, and many examples of the printers’ art are on view. The cornerstone of the exhibition, and of the Museum’s current efforts in

general, is devoted to the restoration of the 1885 sailing ship Wavertree. Called the “flagship” of the Museum’s fleet (the South Street Seaport owns five historic vessels), the Wavertree was essentially undamaged by Sandy, but was nonetheless in need of restoration. Currently in dry dock at Staten Island, she is nearing the end of a 15-month, $13 million, city-funded preservation effort. She is slated to return to the Seaport in July of this year, where she will once again be a centerpiece of the Museum’s educational programs. The Peking, a 1911 German four-masted barque long popular with fans of the Seaport, was sold to the German Port Museum in Hamburg in November 2015. The South Street Seaport Museum has had to negotiate many a rogue wave over the years, including well-publicized financial problems, and the 1-2-3 punches of 9/11, the Great Recession and Hurricane Sandy. But it is one of New York City’s great cultural treasures. And for many aspects of New York’s art and history, it is, to this reviewer’s mind, the only game in town. “Street of Ships: The Port and Its People” is a timely reminder of this, and an eloquent case for why every New Yorker should support this museum. “Street of Ships: The Port and Its People” is on view through 2016, at the South Street Seaport Museum (12 Fulton St., btw. South & Water Sts.). Admission: free for Museum members, $12 for adults; $8 for seniors (65+), Merchant Mariners, Active Duty Military & students (valid ID); $6 for kids (ages 6–17), free for children ages 5 and under. Museum hours: Wed.-Sun., 11am–5pm. For info & tickets, visit southstreetseaportmuseum.org or call 212-748-8600. DowntownExpress.com

That’s No Lady

Bunny’s new Stonewall show is a tour de farce BY MICHAEL SHIREY

re you one of those queens troubled with the creeping (creepy?) heteronormativity of our community? Do you lay awake at night debating whether you are bisexual or simply bi-curious? Are you angered at how mainstream drag culture has become (I mean, #pursefirst from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is trending on social media right now)? Well hold on to your wig, girl, because Lady Bunny has just the thing for you. “Trans-Jester,” the Lady’s new stand-up show at the Stonewall Inn, promises to have the audience blushing one minute and busting their gut the next. “Welcome to Stonewall Inn — where they have been doing such a brisk business here that they have not had time to clean since the riots,” Bunny joked, poking fun — literally poking — at her chair’s ripped upholstery on the historic venue’s upstairs stage. The Lady’s words come from a place of love though, and she was quick to follow up with praise for the bar’s historical significance. “This dump is Ground Zero for LGBT rights in this country.” Bunny’s latest comedy showcase highlights her over-the-top sexual humor, laugh-out-loud song parodies (her cover of Adele’s “Hello,” told from the perspective of a hamster shoved up the Lady’s ass, had me crying), and trademark “Laugh-In” roast of everyone from Caitlyn Jenner (and the whole Kardashian Klan) to Bill Cosby and Donald Trump. Discussing Jenner and the high hopes for — and subsequent disappointment over — “I Am Cait,” Bunny said, “Honey, that show inspired me…to change the channel.” Bunny shares stories of her experience with the drag and transgender communities, her unapologetic use of the word “tranny,” and her concern about our country’s obsession with political correctness. And herein lies real point of the show. With “TransJester,” Bunny hopes to convince the audience to concern itself not so much with gender as with positive role models. Ya know, the role models who untuck a dildo from their dress midway through their act. “I am not going to tell anyone don’t experiment with gender,” Bunny continued, saying she was more

Photo by Michael Shirey

Lady Bunny at the historic Stonewall Inn (or is it the historic Lady Bunny at the Stonewall Inn?).

worried about the upcoming election and protecting the rights of our community than offending another “fag wearing lipstick” who doesn’t identify with the many letters of the “LGBT-whatever” community. “If you treat people with respect, labels don’t matter as much,” because “the same asshole who is going to bash a trans woman is going to bash this drag queen is going to bash an effeminate gay male,” Bunny said, reminding her audience, “Honey, I was around when the only letter in LGBT was G!” No one knows how long Bunny’s really been performing — believe me, if we don’t know, nobody does

— but the Lady is still sharp as a whip, and her words ring true now more than ever. So if you want to see a true New York legend, make your way down to Stonewall Inn, because — thank God — there is only one Lady Bunny Lady Bunny’s “Trans-Jester” is performed Mon.– Wed., through May 25; then, Mon.–Wed., June 6–29. All shows 7pm, at Stonewall Inn (53 Christopher St., btw. Seventh Ave. South & Waverly Pl.). For tickets ($19.99; $21.68 with online service fee), visit transjester.bpt.me.

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May 19 - June 1, 2016

Just Do Art BY SCOTT STIFFLER

ALBUM RELEASE SHOW: LIAM MCENEANEY’S “WORKING CLASS FANCY” In an era when the means to chime in on everything from food to relationships is as easy as accessing the keyboard on your phone, there’s still plenty of room — and, when done well, a pressing need — for the sharp observations and precise analysis of a road-tested stand-up comedian. Even in a profession whose ranks are swelled by idiosyncratic thinkers with a gift for gab and the ability to repeatedly nail the absurdity of everyday folly, Liam McEneaney is an odd duck; the rare bird who’s as much fun to listen to as he is to laugh at. This quality is on ample display throughout the NYC native’s latest comedy album, “Working Class Fancy” — whose 26 tracks address sad sack blue collar concerns like junk food and public transportation within an ever-shifting landscape of surreal storytelling. The result is material that’s meticulously constructed but free of pretention, and injected with a prime directive of human decency that repeatedly veers into the direction of the cheap laugh, then pivots to one of recognition. You may not inhabit the same beefy and bearded frame as McEneaney, but it’s easy to identify (or at least sympathize) with the constant insecurities, frequent befuddlement, and occasional rage of an aging, newly single guy taking an “honest look at where I am in life.” Released by the Comedy Dynamics label and available on multiple platforms as of May 20, “Working Class Fancy” is

a one-take, real-time set recorded in January of this year, before a sold-out crowd at Brooklyn’s Bell House. Much of the album finds the writer/performer in the crosshairs of his own social and cultural criticisms — as McEneaney witnesses a downscale holiday tableau at a 24-hour Dunkin’ Donuts located much too close to his apartment; advises a friend on how to propose marriage in a crack house; and tries in vain to grasp the mindset of anyone who’d stop short of finishing their cake (i.e., “the antidote to loneliness”). Just as his material about dating and breaking up doesn’t have a whiff of misogyny, the self-deprecating stuff is more about being cognizant of room for improvement rather than being helpless in the face of insurmountable flaws. Then there’s plenty of material that’s just plain left-field loopy, best exemplified by his weary, gravel-voiced crooning of an imagined Tom Waits song that crystalizes the essence of what it’s like to ride a bus in Hollywood. Like the cake McEneaney covets, it’s a layered treat you’ll find hard to resist. Free. Tues., May 24, 7pm at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe (126 Crosby St., btw. Prince & Houston Sts.). For artist info, visit heyitsliam. com, where you can access his popular “Tell Your Friends” podcast.

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May 19 - June 1, 2016

Photo by Mindy Tucker

Let there be cake: Liam McEneaney celebrates his new comedy album, May 24 at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe.

Courtesy the artist

Robin Kappy’s collection of subway commuter portraits is on display through June 5, at Chelsea Classical Studio.

Robin Kappy left that career to become a psychotherapist. Decades later, in the pursuit of fine art, the longtime Penn South resident brought with her a commercial advertiser’s quicksilver draftsmanship and an educated listener’s ability to capture the essence of her subject. “Between Stops: An Exhibition of Subway Portrait Sketches” is a contemplative collection of nearly 50 pencil drawings that were created, as the title suggests, while commuters waited for their next train. Seen mostly from the neck up, often with eyes closed and facing the ground, they don’t seem particularly concerned with the consequences of missing that next ride — nor does Kappy care to depict any elements of the hectic underground environment. “Between Stops,” then, becomes more about preserving a moment of transition than investigating the why or where of one’s final destination. Free. Opening reception Thurs., May 19, 6–9pm. Then, through June

4, by appointment and Saturday afternoons, at Chelsea Classical Studio (526 W. 26th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.; Suite #415). While at the gallery on Saturday afternoons during the exhibit, Kappy will be offering quick portrait sketches for sale, to those willing to pose. Visit robinkappy.blogspot. com and chelseaclassicalstudio.com.

THE 21ST ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS “Smorgasbord” doesn’t come even remotely close to describing the epic scope, creative depth, funky vibe, celebratory spirit and mind-expanding material swimming around the annual three-day mulligan stew that is the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts. Host venue Theater for the New City (TNC) chose this year’s theme — “Art Knows No Walls or Barriers” — not only as a cheeky bird-flip to anti-immi-

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gration fervor, but as a tribute to the neighborhood’s status as a place where energizing forces from Irving Berlin to The Ramones have created work that’s been exported to, and embraced by, all corners of the globe. For three days — and nights, and wee small hours of the morning — free reign will be given to dozens and dozens of local theater and dance companies, actors, singers, musicians, performers, poets, auteurs, painters, sculptors, filmmakers, and other unconventional entertainers who defy description (which is actually a pretty good blanket description of every act and action you’ll come across). Among those already booked: NYC cabaret darling KT Sullivan interprets the American Songbook; after a screening, “Manchurian Candidate” composer David Amram reminisces about the beat origins the 1959 film “Pull My Daisy,” which he scored; works by playwrights including Eduardo Machado, Lissa Moira, Barbara Kahn and Robert Homeyer; East Village-appropriate handmade clothing, arts and crafts from local vendors; a youth-focused program with talent from local schools; a poetry summit that’s less about slamming and more about jamming; an exhibit which fills the TNC lobby with painting, photography, sculpture, and collage work from local artists (opening reception May 25, 5:30– 8pm); and performances from Folksbiene National Yiddish Theater, Tammy Faye, bubble master John Grimaldi, comedian Reno, Chinese dance star Ashley Liang; four-octave phenom Phoebe Legere; folksinger/activist Judy Gorman; plus (and they really mean it) many, many more. Free. Fri., May 27, 6pm–2am; Sat., May 28, 12pm–2am; Sun., May 29, 6pm–1am. At, and around, Theater for the New City (155 First Ave., btw. E. Ninth & E. 10th Sts.). For the calendar of events, visit theaterforthenewcity. net or call 212-254-1109.

Photo courtesy TNC

Live rhythm performance troupe COBU, one of dozens of acts featured during May 27–29’s Lower East Side Festival of the Arts.

FORGIVENESS — PART I: FORGIVING THE PERSONAL Gurus, gods, mothers and memes recommend it as a key ingredient to enlightenment (to say nothing of a good night’s sleep) — but putting the trespasses of others behind you is easier said than done. This multimedia movement and music piece, by social impact arts organization B3W Performance Group, began during a seven-month period in 2015, when Artistic Director Emily Berry traveled the world to conduct community workshops based on the protoDowntownExpress.com

Courtesy the artists

B3W ponders forgiveness, in a new piece based on personal accounts.

cols of The Forgiveness Project, a secular organization which encourages forgiveness as a means to end cycles of conflict. Based on personal accounts documented by Berry, tenets from the Dalai Lama’s “The Wisdom of Forgiveness,” group discussions, improv, and journalism on the part of

the B3W collective, this performance will “unravel the consequences and the expressions of multiple viewpoints and stories of forgiving, providing the audience an opportunity to witness personal struggles and stories of forgiveness that will lay a path for both personal and societal healing.”

Fri., May 20 & Sat., May 21 at 7:30pm; Sun., May 22 at 3pm. At BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center (199 Chambers St., btw. Greenwich & West Sts.). For tickets ($25 general, $15 students/seniors), call 212-2201460 or visit tribecapac.org. Also visit b3w.org and theforgivenessproject.com. May 19 - June 1, 2016

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downtown study Continued from page 5

The study notes particular factors contributing to Downtownâ€™s traffic woes, including its explosive growth, which has doubled since the start of the millennium â€” both in terms of visitors, from 6.5 to 13 million, and residents, from 34,420 to nearly 70,000. The assessment highlights the narrow width of streets and sidewalks in Lower Manhattan â€” such as William St., with 14 feet of roadway flanked by 10-foot wide sidewalks â€” compared to roadways uptown, where avenues average at least 60 feet wide, with cross streets running about 30 feet, and both with 15-foot sidewalks. Make Way for Lower Manhattan also looks to cities in Europe and elsewhere with similarly medieval street layouts, such as London, Melbourne, and Barcelona, for ideas on ways to deal with traffic and municipal ser-

golden bride Continued from page 20

their old-world language to the next generation, according to Ochs. â€œIt was very popular and then after the 1940s the Yiddish theater pretty much died, because people didnâ€™t speak Yiddish anymore,â€? said Ochs. â€œThe Yiddish world was basically wiped out, and the Yiddish speaking people who came to America taught their children to speak English.â€? The operetta was all but forgotten until the mid-1980s when Ochs, then a music librarian at Harvardâ€™s Richard F. French Music Library, uncovered a partial manuscript containing a libretto and score for the forgotten

shed Continued from page 4

into a semipermanent fixture of the neighborhood. The parties finally agreed to settle in 2014, and late last year a new developer operating under a shell company called 45 John NY LLC bought the property at auction for % 48

vice challenges. In Barcelona, for instance, parking problems have been curtailed by limiting parking to residents, taxis, hotel guests, and emergency services at certain times, while traffic in the cityâ€™s iconic La Rambla boulevard is eased by limiting access to cars during specific hours. Londonâ€™s Oxford Street was similarly liberated from traffic by restricting access to red busses and % 48 black cabs only. Patrick Kennell, president of the Financial District Neighborhood Association, plans on pointing to the British capital as evidence that streetscapes like those found Downtown can be developed responsibly with smart policies. â€œSo what London does that I particularly have noticed is you never see trash anywhere on the sidewalks,â€? he said. â€œThe sidewalks are filled with people just like they are here, but you never see piles of garbage lying

around, you never see the garbage trucks coming around, that all happens while people are asleep. There are delivery zones, places where thereâ€™s no parking, because traffic needs to get through and the streets are fairly narrow.â€? Kennell contends that Downtownâ€™s various congestion woes create a domino affect contributing to a vicious cycle of diminishing quality of life, where traffic affects garbage pickup, which leaves piles of trash on the narrow sidewalks, which forces pedestrians to walk on the street, which in turn stalls traffic, and so on. Therefore, to alleviate Lower Manhattanâ€™s interlocking problems, the city needs to tackle Downtownâ€™s congestion issues as a whole, not one at a time. â€œThey city knows itâ€™s a problem, but theyâ€™ve tried to treat it by addressing single problems, pockets of areas,â€? he said. â€œThey havenâ€™t treated the whole thing.â€?

play in an archive in Harvardâ€™s Loeb Music Library. He translated a few pages of the manuscript for an event at the prestigious Ivy League school, and then quietly forgot about his findings for more than two decades. Ochs would ultimately come to reexamine the work and undertook the challenge of recompiling and translating the material, which would eventually lead to its revival at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Since its debut at the museum, â€œThe Golden Brideâ€? has been nominated for two Drama Desk awards for outstanding revival of a musical and outstanding director of a musical, the only off-Broadway produc-

tion in those categories. Despite all his hard work, Ochs can still hardly believe the productionâ€™s success. â€œIf you had told me a year ago that this would be up for two awards, I couldnâ€™t have believed you even in my wildest dreams,â€? he said. â€œThe Golden Brideâ€? by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, July 4â€“Aug. 28. For showtimes, see www.mjhnyc.org or www.nytf.org. Tickets are available by phone: 866â€“ 811â€“4111, $40, $30 MJH/NYTF Members, $35 Groups of 10 or more. For group sales, contact groupsales@ nytf.org or 212â€“213â€“2120 x204.

$73 million. With a new owner firmly in control of the property, and the signage advertising rentals, locals hope that more progress is on the horizon, including completion of the renovations leading to the propertyâ€™s residential units hitting the market â€” and the scaffolding finally coming down.

â€œI would infer that weâ€™re going to see activity in the residential space above, and I would suspect weâ€™re going to see that turning into rental apartments pretty soon,â€? said Kennell. Repeated calls to real estate agency Keller Williams, which is handling the retail leasing at 45 John St., were not returned.

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