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Honoring our heroes
CityREVIEW NewRochelle May 27 & June 3, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 13 | www.cityreviewnr.com
2 CVS stores fined for obstructed emergency exits
The third annual Matsuri Japan Cultural Festival opens with the hosts leading the crowd in radio exercises, raijo taiso in Japanese. Meaning festival in Japanese, the matsuri drew hundreds of revelers from Harrison and neighboring communities on Sunday, May 22 at Ma Riis Park. For coverage, see page 6. Photo/Sibylla Chipaziwa
New Rochelle Opera to perform ‘Il Travatore’ The New Rochelle Opera, Weschester’s longest running opera company, will present its first ever staged production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Il Travatore” from June 23 through June 26 in the Frank J. Auriana Theatre at the Ursuline School, located at 1345 North Ave. in New Rochelle. Company co-founder and artistic director Camille Coppola will direct the local premiere, with orchestra and chorus conducted by Gregory Ortega. The production will feature the use of English supertitles to translate the Italian text. Coppola has directed all of the productions for the past 30
seasons and has been instrumental in assisting young opera singers in their careers, several of whom are currently performing leading and comprimario roles at the Metropolitan Opera. Gregory Ortega is celebrating his 20th year with the New Rochelle Opera. He has studied music at Hunter College, and has conducted for most of the small major opera houses in New York City and Boston, including the Bel Canto Opera, for which he conducted two U.S. premieres, Rossini’s “La Pietra del Paragone” and Glinka’s “A Life for the Tsar.” The cast on Thursday, June 23
and Saturday, June 25 evenings are: Noah Baetge (Manrico), Sara Beth Pearson (Leonora), Gustavo Ahualli (Di Luna), Erica L. Koehring (Azucena), Hyong Sik-jo (Ferrando), Kristen Behrmann (Inez) and David Gordon (Ruiz). The evening of Friday, June 24 and afternoon of Sunday, June 26 cast includes: Michael Morrow (Manrico), Joanna Parisi (Leonora), Peter Hak-joon Kim (Di Luna), Edith Dowd (Azucena), John Dominick III (Ferrando), Barbee Monk (Inez) and David Gordon (Ruiz). Performances on June 23, 24 and 25 are at 8 p.m., and June 26 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $38
for general admission, and $35 for seniors and students. A discounted ticket price of $30 is being offered for all tickets to the Thursday, June 23 performance, only if reserved and paid for in advance. Tickets purchased at the door on Thursday will be full price. To purchase advance tickets, visit nropera.org, or send a check payable to New Rochelle Opera Inc., to P.O. Box 55, New Rochelle, NY 10804. To receive tickets by mail, please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Group rates are available for 10 people or more. For more information, call 576-1617. (Submitted)
Responding to complaints, inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, found access to emergency exits at two New Rochelle CVS stores blocked by merchandise, boxes and other objects. As a result, OSHA recently cited the retailer for two repeated violations of workplace safety standards and proposing a total of $88,000 in fines. “Blocked or obstructed exits are dangerous. They can prevent workers from leaving their store swiftly and safely in a fire or other emergency. This is an easily preventable hazard that we encounter all too frequently in retail stores,” said Diana Cortez, OSHA’s area director in Tarrytown. In New Rochelle, the exit door in the receiving and stock room at the 16 Weyman Ave. store was blocked by containers of merchandise, boxes and carts, and the exit route was obstructed by boxes and crates stored in aisles. The stock room exit route at the 625 North Ave. store was blocked by boxes and totes filled with merchandise. Between 2010 and 2016, OSHA had cited CVS stores in Brooklyn, Garden City, Ozone Park and Troy, New York, and Bridgeport and Orange, Connecticut, for similar hazards. “Particularly disturbing is the recurring nature of this hazard. This is not the first time OSHA has cited CVS stores for obstructed exit routes, but it should
be the last. CVS needs to take effective action to eliminate and prevent this hazard at all its locations for the safety and wellbeing of its employees,” Cortez said. CVS Health, based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, is the largest pharmacy health care provider in the U.S., with 9,600 pharmacy stores and more than 243,000 employees in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. It has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Tarrytown area office at 524-7510. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit osha.gov. (Submitted)
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