The Village Sun | November 2023 by thevillagesun.com

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The buzz on new Gansevoort park, p. 9

November 2023

Volume 2 | Issue 2

TheVillageSun.com

Way to glow! Giant illuminated puppets made their way along Sixth Avenue at the 50th annual Village Halloween Parade. For more photos, see

Page 5

Photo by Q. Sakamaki

War and (pleas for) Peace

Since the 10/7 Hamas surprise terrorist attack on Israel, Washington Square Park has seen protests and counterprotests by pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian supporters. For related coverage, see

Pages 6, 7 & 14

Photo by Bill Weinberg

Photo by Erika Sumner

Triangle Fire Memorial finally dedicated, p. 10

p. p. 102

The Village Sun • November 2023

Lori Kleinman, garden leader, killed by SUV BY THE VILLAGE SUN

araine “Lori” Kleinman, 76, the treasurer of the Jefferson Market Garden, was fatally struck by an SUV in front of her building on Oct. 3 and suffered severe head injuries. She died at Bellevue Hospital the following day. Kleinman’s wife, Robin Felsher, also a Jefferson Market Garden board member, said Kleinman was returning home with food for dinner when she was hit around 6:30 p.m. by a black SUV turning left from W. 10th Street onto Greenwich Avenue. She was knocked to the roadbed, where she began to bleed heavily from her head from the blunt-force trauma of being struck. Felsher said Kleinman was crossing with the light — just steps away from the front door of her building, the Saint Germain co-op, at 33 Greenwich Ave. — when she was struck. Police did not immediately provide information on Kleinman being struck by a motor vehicle at the location or the fact that she died or if the driver would face any charges. However, Felsher said she had seen the police report and that the driver was interviewed at the scene. A day after this article’s publication online on thevillagesun.com, the police press department issued a report to the media that said, in part, “…

[I]nvestigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad determined that a 2023 Chevrolet Suburban, operated by a 56-yearold female, was attempting a left turn onto northbound Greenwich Avenue from eastbound 10th Street, when the female pedestrian was crossing east to west in the vicinity of the north crosswalk within that intersection, and was struck by the front of the vehicle. The vehicle operator remained at the scene and was not injured. There are no arrests, and the investigation remains ongoing.” Felsher also later added that she saw video of Kleinbaum being hit. “She was blindsided,” she said. A local police source said this kind of investigation typically takes time to conclude. Kleinman’s building is located kitty-corner to her beloved Jefferson Market Garden. Elizabeth Butson, the garden’s chairperson, called Kleinman “a loved, key board member of the garden.” “We are in shock and sorrow,” Butson said. Another friend, who asked not to be identified, called Kleinman’s sudden death on the street “devastating.” Lori Kleinman grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Roslyn High School, on Long Island, in 1965. She and her wife, Robin Felsher, were married for 12 years but were together for 23.

Lori, who was married to her wife, who deeply loved her, for 12 years, was the brightest light that one could ever imagine. Everyone that knew her feels the same way. Her wife feels that Lori was the greatest blessing and gift that she ever received. Lori had the rare gift of being unflappable, grounded and non-judgemental. She had a career in heading up paper manufacturing in some of the largest publishing houses and ultimately ended up working for multiple nonprofits before retiring. Lori served as treasurer on both her co-op board and the board of the Jefferson Market Garden. She is remembered by her wife, Robin, her niece, Tammy, and nephew, Greg, her great-nieces, Alaina, Alison, Erika, Melissa and Rebecca, and her greatgreat-nieces and great-great-nephews, Olivia, Mia, Mason, Loren, Owen and Nicholas, as well her friends near and far. She will be greatly missed. A graveside service was held at Kensico, in Westchester, New York, on Sun, Oct. 8. Lori Kleinman. Felsher is advocating to the city, local politiAfter her wife’s death, Felsher issued the fol- cians and Community Board 2 for the corner to lowing statement: be co-named for Kleinman and also for a proper Laraine was a beloved wife, friend, sister, aunt, traffic light to be installed at the intersection, to great-aunt and great-great-aunt. She enjoyed help avoid similar tragedies from happening in gathering with friends and family, cooking for her the future. loved ones, singing show tunes and living life to the fullest every day. Check thevillagesun.com for more on this story.

OMG! Wrong-way e-biker fractures rev’s leg BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

n Oct. 22, Micah Bucey was installed as senior minister at Judson Memorial Church. He was easy to spot — not just because he wore a purple plaid suit (plaid is one of his trademarks), but because he was the guy on crutches. It was the first time Bucey had stepped outside his East Side apartment in two weeks. The last time he had, he was violently blindsided by a man riding an electric bicycle the wrong way down the service road that encircles Stuyvesant Town. The collision left Bucey, 43, with a tibial plateau fracture — a serious and debilitating injury. He was rushed to the emergency room, and six days later had surgery. The recovery period is two months. Despite being on prescription painkillers, he’s been in a lot of pain. The incident happened Tues., Oct. 3, around 12:15 p.m. The progressive faith leader had just left the Stuyvesant Town apartment he shares with his husband for his crosstown walk to Judson Church, on Washington Square South. Striding toward First Avenue, he had crossed the complex’s service road, which runs northbound there, then noticed someone he knew and turned back to say hi. “I stepped one foot into the service road,” he said, “and was immediately hit.” The cyclist came from behind him, to his left. The impact sent the unsuspecting reverend to the ground. Gathering his wits, he saw the cyclist had been riding a Zoomo e-bike, making

Micah Bucey was on crutches at his installation as Judson Church’s senior minister. Photo by The Village Sun

him initially think he was a deliveryperson. But the biker — who was in his late 20s and did not leave the scene — was apparently not a deliveryman and told him he leases the ride. The cyclist urged Bucey not to try to get up and called 911 for an ambulance. He left his card with Bucey, who has since spoken to him on the phone. “I’m just so glad that I didn’t fall and hit

my head and get more seriously injured,” he “The expense of this is going to be a hinreflected. drance to me,” Bucey said, though adding, “It’s Bucey, who has been at Judson since 2010, not disastrous to me. The city is full of people was named the historic Greenwich Village for who this would be disastrous.” Baptist church’s senior minister on June 1. As for the cyclist, Bucey said, “He leases As for how fast the cyclist was going, Bucey the bike from Zoomo. He has no license to said, “Fast enough to break my tibia.” ride it, and he has no insurance.” Zoomo bikes typically weigh around 55 So, the biker — though seemingly clearly pounds — twice as heavy as pedal-powered at fault — will not be defraying Bucey’s medbikes — and can reach up to 40 miles per hour. ical costs. Bucey was left with a nearly one-quarter“I love the idea of turning New York into inch fracture down his tibia (the leg bone be- a city where life is not dominated by cars — low the knee), as well as a depression in the but not with no accountability,” Bucey said. part of the tibia where it connects to the knee. “If we’re going to have these [e-bikes] on the “The surgeon said there was a lot of dam- streets, we’ve got to make sure that the moage,” he noted. torists on them need to appreciate the gravity The man of faith said he has learned that that they have heavier, faster vehicles. I think while tibial plateau fractures make up just 1 requiring licenses and for there to be some percent of orthopedic surgeries each year, they kind of insurance would at least make people are quite common in people hit by cars and bi- think twice about not following traffic laws cycles — since it’s where a car bumper or bike and about maybe not having an e-bike versus tire usually hits pedestrians. a bicycle.” As he continues to recover, among the Bucey initially wore an immobilizer to keep his leg straight during his recovery. But things he misses most is his walk to Judson. he had it off by the time of his installation as But he will be laid up for two months — and senior minister. his leg really hurts. “I love walking in the city,” he said. “It’s like “It has completely disrupted my life, my a 25-minute walk [to Judson]. It’s kind of the husband’s life,” he said of the injury. His mother has come to New York City perfect walk. I am really sad that I can’t walk. from Ohio and is currently living with them to It’s really painful — and I’m pretty nervous, help during Bucey’s recovery process. too. I’m still a bit shaken — just by its hap“I’m hobbled,” the pastor said. “It is very, pening.” very painful.” The injury is also causing another kind of For a report on Bucey’s installation as Judson pain — namely, in the preacher’s pocket. senior minister, check thevillagesun.com.

The Village Sun • November 2023

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The Village Sun • November 2023

‘Tech Hub’ touted as diversity uploader BY THE VILLAGE SUN

Publisher & Editor in Chief Lincoln Anderson

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ayor Adams on Nov. 1 presided over the opening of Civic Hall at Union Square, a new tech and digital hub (a.k.a. the “Tech Hub”) training New Yorkers for jobs in the city’s tech sector. The facility, located in Zero Irving — otherwise known as 124 E. 14th St. — aims to “create an inclusive talent pipeline for family-sustaining jobs” in tech. Adams was joined at the ceremony by Andrew Kimball, the president and C.E.O. of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, who shepherded the project to completion. Kimball said the goal of Civic Hall is “to build an equitable and more inclusive economy.” New York City has 350,000 people working in the tech sector, the world’s second-largest tech workforce, he noted. However, the E.D.C. honcho added that, while nearly 21 percent of the Big Apple’s tech economy is comprised of Black and Hispanic workers, there is still farther to go, in terms of the industry reflecting the city’s true diversity. The goal ultimately is to see the tech center’s trainees go on to become entrepreneurs and business owners. “Civic Hall,” Kimball said, “will insure that all New Yorkers can receive the resources they need to overcome systematic barriers and achieve their full potential and seize opportunities presented by tech.” The new building is 270,000 square feet, of which 90,000 is Civic Hall, with the rest of the space set aside for tech companies, plus a large, public food court. Mayor Adams, in his remarks, said Civic Hall will allow underrepresented New Yorkers to bring their special skills to the fore — and will also attract talent from around the globe. “This moment is going to compel us to bring our culture, our ways of doing things, the diversity,” he said. “It’s going to allow us to come in a space and cross-pollinate not only ideas how to solve global problems, but how do we once again start to communicate to each other as human beings. “Because if you have companies and problem solvers and the people look the same, talk the same, walk the same, eat the same food and listen to the same music and do the same things, you are not being a leader of today and of tomorrow,” he noted. “Leaders of today and tomorrow must have the diversity of cultures to solve a problem. You can’t be a MetroCard

Cutting the ribbon at Civic Hall, from left, Andrew Kimball, E.D.C. C.E.O.; Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer; Mayor Adams; Andrew Rasiej, founder and C.E.O. of Civic Hall; Jennifer Falk, former director of the Union Square Partnership BID; and Councilmember Carlina Rivera. Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

problem solver in a passport universe. “I’m excited about Civic Hall, and it falls in line with this working people agenda that we are talking about: everyday New Yorkers having an opportunity to appreciate and enjoy this amazing city,” he said. Among the local politicians at the ribbon-cutting were Councilmember Carlina Rivera, Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Councilmember Gale Brewer. Rivera championed the Tech Hub early on when she first ran for office, especially valuing it for the leg up it could provide to residents of her East Side district to get

jobs in a growing industry. However, her support for the massive-sized project led to a rift with Andrew Berman, the head of Village Preservation. The preservationist felt Rivera’s O.K. for an upzoning for the site should be conditioned on the city doing a protective rezoning for the surrounding area, to keep more construction for new tech businesses at bay. While the Tech Hub project received a zoning variance to allow a bigger building than normal to be constructed, Village Preservation’s proposed protective rezoning for the rest of the neighborhood never was approved.

Got a hot news tip or story idea? news@thevillagesun.com or (212) 682-9227

ens of thousands of monsters, zombies, ghosts, ghouls, cartoon characters and more turned Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village and Chelsea into a real “Thriller,” as usual, for the annual Village Halloween Parade. The parade’s organizers claimed 2 million people attended the annual extravaganza.

Photos by Milo Hess and Q. Sakamaki

The Village Sun • November 2023

Halloween Parade was a boo-tiful thing

The Village Sun • November 2023

After Hamas attack, Palestinians slam Israel

Palestinians protested in Times Square and East Midtown on Oct. 13.

Photos by Q. Sakamaki

She led the crowd in chants of “Free! Free Palestine!” “No justice! No peace!” and alestinians and their supporters took to also “From the river to the sea, Palestine will Manhattan’s streets on Fri., Oct. 13 — be free!” the same day a Hamas leader had called for The latter is a common Palestinian proa global Day of Jihad. test slogan, but according to the Anti-DefThe marchers started at Baruch College amation League, “negates” Israel’s right to and headed to Times Square, where they exist. were met by a smaller group of Jewish counThe Village Sun asked protesters their terprotesters, then made their way to East thoughts on the savage Hamas terrorist atMidtown, toward the Israeli Consulate. tack a week earlier, which intentionally tarPolice penned in the protesters along geted civilians — killing 1,400 people. More Second Avenue near the consulate, not let- than 260 carefree young revelers partying ting them cross 42nd Street. At the column’s at a Sukkot holiday rave were slaughtered. head, a fiery young woman sporting a black More than 220 Israelis were taken hostage. headscarf angrily shouted into an electric Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli’s prime bullhorn about “Zionists” while peering up minister, was quoted as saying, “We saw at the building a half-block to the north. boys and girls bound, who were shot in the BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

head. Men and women burned alive. Young women who were raped and slaughtered. Soldiers who were beheaded.” Marchers, though, responded in terms of equivalency — that Palestinians, too, have been and are suffering violence due to Israel. They cited the bombing of Gaza — the start of Israel’s response to the terrorist attack — in which thousands have since been killed, according to Hamas. A young woman wearing a red head scarf thought carefully before responding. “I have sympathy for any living person who lost their life,” she said. “Every innocent life lost is wrong.” A cardiologist, she declined to give her name. “Every day I save lives,” the woman said. “I don’t look at the race or ethnicity of the people I treat.” She criticized U.S. military aid to Israel

— more than $3 billion in 2021. The region’s only democratic nation, Israel is vastly outnumbered in population by its neighboring Arab countries, some of whom are hostile to the small Jewish state’s very right to exist. According to news reports, around 60 people were arrested in connection with the march, mostly given summonses for disorderly conduct. Q. Sakamaki, who photographed the protest and is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, has interviewed Mahmoud Al-Zahar — a co-founder of Hamas and its No. 2 leader in Gaza — several times, most recently in 2014. The award-winning, conflict-zone photographer was stunned at the brutality of Hamas’s attack. “I was shocked,” he said, “in terms of [murdering] children…purposely. I think he’s never doing this level of violence. “Both sides must follow international law,” Sakamaki stressed, “or many people [will be] killed — thousands, thousands of civilians.” The Day of Jihad caused at least one Downtown residential building to take precautions. The property manager for Georgetown Plaza, the high-rise “condop” at Eighth Street and Broadway, notified residents the evening before that the place would “lock down,” if needed. The Middle Eastern crisis caused the East Village’s Middle Collegiate Church to postpone a “Reckoning With Peter Stuyvesant” event planned two days later at the Stuyvesant statue in Gramercy’s Stuyvesant Park. The protest was to have called out the New Amsterdam director-general’s leading role in colonial slavery. “We pray for peace and safety for our Jewish and Palestinian neighbors in the region,” Reverend Jacqui Lewis and the Middle Church Reparations Task Force wrote in a message to their e-mail list. “We stand on the side of love, liberation and justice. We stand against the violence Peter Stuyvesant enacted on African, Indigenous and Jewish people. We stand against violence in all forms that humans who are in pain enact on one another.”

and kidnappings, Israel has been bombing Gaza in retaliation, and launching a pair of shoes, a red rose and a “KID- ground invasion to eradicate the terrorist NAPPED” poster — one set for each group. missing person — were laid on the sidewalk For its part, Hamas claims more than across from the United Nations on Tues., four or five times that amount of PalestinOct. 24, as Jews called on the intergovern- ians have been killed by Israeli bombing. mental organization to help work to bring As for the “KIDNAPPED” posters that home the Gaza captives. have sprung up all over town, they are remAs of The Village Sun’s press time, iniscent of the “MISSING” posters that Hamas has released only four of around 220 were plastered around New York City in the civilians that its fighters kidnapped during a wake of the 9/11 attack, when people were bloody, surprise terrorist attack on southern still desperately searching for loved ones lost Israel that has been dubbed 10/7 — Israel’s in the Lower Manhattan disaster. equivalent of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the In a cold-hearted move, though, some World Trade Center. Palestinian supporters — including at least A field of “KIDNAPPED” posters and shoes left across from the United Nations. Photos by Q. Sakamaki The kidnapping victims span all ages, several New York University students both ranging from babies and young children on and off campus have been caught ripping up to grandmothers and grandfathers in down or defacing the current posters. their 80s. The poster effort is being led by a group A total of 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, called Hostages and Missing Families were slaughtered in the bloodbath. Foundation New York (#BringThemHomResponding to the Hamas massacre eNow, #KidnappedFromIsrael). BY THE VILLAGE SUN

The Village Sun • November 2023

‘Bring them home alive’: Rally for hostages

Rudy Chen stood next to a poster of his son Itay Chen, 19, who was kidnapped by the terrorists on Oct. 7.

The Village Sun • November 2023

What’s the span plan, Stan? Bridge brainstorm BY THE VILLAGE SUN

illed as an East Village/Lower East Side Access Study, a meeting was held at the Lower Eastside Girls Club on Thurs., Oct. 26 to gather community input for construction of new bridges to East River Park as part of the ongoing East Side Coastal Resiliency project. Attendees were presented with large maps, along with post-its and magic markers to write suggestions to stick on them. All design plans for the bridges and surrounding areas so far, though, are “speculative,” the meeting was told. However, some ideas were put out there. One was to turn E. Sixth Street near Avenue D into a cul-de-sac — instead of connecting to the F.D.R. service road — with a bridge across the F.D.R. Drive to the park. There was some support voiced for taking away some of the current parking — or “car storage,” as bike advocates like to say — in the area, which is filled with New York City Housing Authority developments. Although there were bike activists at the meeting — plus a dog-run founder and former City Council candidate Allie Ryan — not many NYCHA residents Allie Ryan, fourth from left, and other meeting participants discussed ideas for new bridges over the F.D.R. Drive. Photo by East Village by Bike / @chrisRyanAction / Twitter and Instagram made it.

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beach! With oysters! No, it’s not Cape Cod — but Gansevoort Peninsula, hard by the whooshing traffic of the West Side Highway. And it’s more than just a beach and oysters — it’s also a soccer field, a sizable grass lawn, a boat launch, dog runs, a picnic area, a natural marshland and more. … You could say this park is multitasking. The beautiful new public space by the West Village and Meatpacking District in Hudson River Park officially opened Oct. 2. The new 5.5-acre park — between Gansevoort and Little W. 12th Streets, opposite the Whitney Museum — boasts the much-hyped “beach” — a large, flat sandy area on its southern Surf’s up! But Gansevoort Peninsula, with its new beach, has been raised above the side, sporting umbrellas, blue Adirondack-style flood zone. Photos by The Village Sun chairs and a water mister. This beach, though, does not stretch down into the Hudson River, marsh was still covered by a lattice of criss- million in the project — covering most of its but is for sunbathing and relaxing. crossed fishing line sporting small, sparkling cost. Instead there is a concrete ramp angling Giving remarks, Deputy Mayor Meera foil tags (perhaps to keep birds away as plants down to the water meant — not for bathers — Joshi noted her son is fortunate to have been took root), the dog runs were not finished and but for launching small, non-motorized boats, able to enjoy the now quarter-century-old neither was the restrooms building. The playlike kayaks. Posted signs warn of dangerous curHudson River Park. ing fields were not open yet, either. rents and say no swimming or fishing are allowed. “The park is part of his life,” she said. The Gansevoort project — led by the HudThe beach offers a sweeping southern vista Noreen Doyle, the president and C.E.O. of son River Park Trust, with design by Field of the Lower Manhattan skyline, the harbor and the Hudson River Park Trust, called the new Operations — cost $73 million. Planning and the Statue of Liberty. Closer at hand is “Day’s park a dream’s fulfillment. End,” the 2021 sculpture by David Hammons, creating the park took four years, including two “Twenty-five years ago, Hudson River Park years of construction. commissioned by the Whitney, tracing the outA community-driven charrette process in was a big dream, and Gansevoort was an even lines of a pier that once sat off the peninsula. 2019 helped hash out the park’s division of bigger one,” she said. “Converting this former active and passive recreation space, plus envi- Sanitation facility into the sparkling public ronmental features. Key stakeholders included open space it is today has been a decades-long Downtown’s youth sports leagues, representing endeavor.” The Trust is a joint state-city authority. The thousands of families whose children use Hudson River Park’s big Pier 40 courtyard sports park — stretching between Chambers and 57th Streets — is a mix of city-owned and field, but which always need more field space. Notably gone from the design is the city’s state-owned land. Thanking Mayor Adams, plan to activate a decommissioned marine Doyle noted that while Gansevoort Peninsula waste-transfer station that formerly sat on is state-owned land, the city funded its redevelGansevoort’s west side. opment into a park. As part of the project, Gansevoort PeninSusan Kent, the Community Board 2 sula’s height was raised, putting it safely above chairperson, called the peninsula’s design “a Councilmember Erik Bottcher — with his the flood zone. The rest of Hudson River Park, victory for collaborative process.” favorite local newspaper — toured the though, is a “wash-through” park, meaning “Years of effort have resulted in a unique new peninsular park, as the Gansevoort it’s still subject to flooding. The Army Corps public space with a host of features that reflect fireboat put on a water show. of Engineers is currently proposing building a a willingness to accept input from many voices concrete wall along the park’s eastern edge to and perspectives,” she said. Among the peninsula’s other features are, prevent inland flooding — though many local Five other former C.B. 2 chairpersons also in its middle, a huge real-grass lawn, plus a stakeholders oppose that blunt design. attended — Jeannine Kiely, Carter Booth, Dasprawling, artificial-turf “U13” sports field (the “This collaboration between New York City vid Gruber, Tobi Bergman and state Senator size for league games for players under age 13); and State will benefit everyone who visits here Brad Hoylman-Sigal — not surprising given on its western edge, picnic tables and seating; on the shore of the Hudson,” Governor Ho- what a big issue Hudson River Park’s developon its northern edge, a calisthenics workout chul said at the ribbon-cutting. “And it checks ment is for the community. area, two dog runs (one for large, another for a lot of boxes, from climate change mitigation “I don’t think it could have been done betsmall dogs) and a saltwater marsh zone; and, to competition on the ball fields, from a stroll ter,” Bergman said of the new park. on its eastern side, a small building with public with your pup to sitting on the beach.” The peninsula also will be connected to the restrooms and a concession stand. In addition, Mayor Adams did not attend but issued a inland community through what’s being dubbed a boardwalk wends through a pine grove in the statement. “Gansevoort Landing,” a new crosswalk. park’s middle before opening up majestically “Gansevoort Peninsula is a true green space The Fire Department’s Marine Company onto the park’s western riverfront esplanade. for the 21st century,” he said, “incorporating 1 is still housed at the peninsula’s northwest Also, 20 million juvenile oysters have been innovative design and helping to prepare the corner. seeded around the land projection. West Side of Manhattan for climate change.” Another feature of Gansevoort Peninsula is At the opening ceremony, the saltwater He noted the city invested more than $70 that, unlike Hudson River Park’s many rehabil-

Pollinators made a beeline for the park’s flowers on opening day.

The Village Sun • November 2023

Gansevoort Peninsula park opens on Hudson: Sand, sunbathing, sports, scenic vistas and more itated former shipping piers, it’s not a pier but actual land — or rather, landfill. Manhattan’s Lower West Side once extended out to a 13th Avenue: The city sold underwater lots to New Yorkers and the river was filled in by dumping trash and ash from chimneys and cooking. But with Chelsea Piers’ construction and the advent of larger ships, the landfill was cut back to the present shoreline. Gansevoort Peninsula, though, was left because, before refrigerated supermarkets, it was a thriving outdoor market.

Sharon Woolums, a public member of the C.B. 2 Parks Committee, dipped her toes in the river at the “get-down” on Gansevoort’s southern side. As well as a launch for small boats, it’s a spot where people can sit and enjoy the river view.

Later, Gansevoort was converted into an incinerator plant — the Gansevoort Destructor. Eventually, the city stopped burning trash, yet still used the incinerator building and peninsula for parking Department of Sanitation garbage trucks. Filing a lawsuit, the advocacy group Friends of Hudson River Park helped force Sanitation off the peninsula. In 2018, the garage building was demolished, following its twin smokestacks, which were razed a decade before. To create the park on Gansevoort, the soil needed to be remediated, which involved removing its top layer, installing a barrier to ensure any residual toxins were contained, and then adding new soil on top. Touring the new park after the press ribbon-cutting, Councilmember Erik Bottcher called it “just awesome.” “One of the great things here is that they accommodated both active and passive uses,” he said. “To think, later today there are going to be people here with beach towels.”

The Village Sun • November 2023

‘A tangible site for memory and action’: Triangle Fire Memorial is finally dedicated BY LINCOLN ANDERSON AND PHILIP MAIER

t noon on Oct. 11, a Fire Department ladder truck stood parked outside New York University’s Brown Building, a block east of Washington Square Park. The ladder was extended up to the building’s sixth floor. That was as high as fire ladders went back in 1911, when 146 garment workers, mostly young immigrant women in their teens and 20s, perished in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Today, more than 100 years later, it remains America’s deadliest workplace accident. On this day, American red-white-andblue bunting hung from windows on the building’s ninth floor. The fire was sparked, it’s believed, by a tossed match or cigarette butt on the eighth floor — and it engulfed the eighth, ninth and 10th floors. But it was mostly the workers on the ninth floor who died. Fleeing the raging blaze, many leapt to their death on the street below. The occasion for the fire truck — and for the hundreds of people who thronged the intersection at Washington Place and Greene Street — was the dedication of a long-delayed memorial to the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Among them were 125 family members of the victims. The crowd’s numbers were also swelled by many proud union members. The memorial — which rings the building’s base and will eventually include a metal “ribbon” running up its corner — was conceived and executed by The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. The group’s board of advisers includes victims’ family members and union members, among others. The project was on track to move forward when the COVID pandemic struck, setting it back a few years. The plan is for the metal ribbon up the building’s side to be installed before March 25, the 112th anniversary of the tragic fire. Governor Hochul was among the speaker’s at the dedication ceremony. She proudly

them was Deborah Gardner from Brooklyn. She said her grandmother, Nettie Gruber — then a 17-year-old immigrant from Odessa — somehow managed to survive the horrific inferno. “All she would say is a young man let her and her sister out,” she said. “But she never wanted to tell what happened. She never wanted to talk about it.” After the disaster, her grandmother continued in the garment industry. “She made clothes for me as a little girl,” she recalled. Gardner, who is a historian, echoed Su and Hochul in noting that the fire changed the course of America — and the world. “Frances Perkins saw this,” she said. “She said, ‘This was the day the New Deal was born.’ We got Social Security, unemployment insurA boy and mother were overcome by emotion at the Triangle Fire Memorial’s dedicaance… .” tion. The memorial features a black stoneglass ledge from which the victims’ names Though he is not a Triangle descendant, are reflected from light streaming through a lattice above. Historic quotations are also Kevin Baker, a bestselling author, is on the coetched into the ledge, including one by Police Captain Dominick Henry, who recalled alition’s board. One of his novels, “Dreamland,” “a scene I hope I never see again. Dozens of girls were hanging from the ledges. Others, climaxes at the Triangle Fire. He wrote the intheir dresses on fire, were leaping from the windows.” Photos by Philip Maier scription that’s on the memorial — in English, Italian and Yiddish. On Oct. 11, after the cerMary Anne Trasciatti, president of The emony, Baker was handing out the coalition’s cited her family’s working-class roots. “My grandfather worked at the burn- Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, said commemorative booklet. ing-hot coke ovens at the Bethlehem Steel the memorial finally represents “a tangible site plant,” she said. for collective memory and collective action” in “These were little girls, young people,” she the fight for “fair wages, decent benefits and said of the Triangle victims. “We say, Never safe working conditions” She praised Triangle Fire descendants — again.” Hochul noted that the young working her family lost a member in the conflagration women at that doomed factory made “shirts — for their financial support and volunteer effor the wealthy to wear in the parks and on forts: “Their memory has been an inspiration Sunday.” and their pain has been an invaluable force in The governor drew a parallel with the mas- making this dream a reality,” she said. sive wave of immigrants who continue to pour “Last but not least, let’s hear it for the across the U.S. southern border, many of them SAG/AFTRA, UAW…union members on making their way to New York City in search strike,” she declared, “and for those struggling of economic opportunity. to unionize at Starbucks, Amazon, Trad“They are here to work,” she said, before re- er Joe’s and other nonunion workplaces. We peating, “Let them work! Let them work! Let stand with you in solidarity!” them work! … We need them!” Also among the speakers was Julie Su, New York is the birthplace of the world- acting U.S. secretary of labor. Su noted how wide labor-rights movement, she noted. Frances Perkins personally witnessed the Greenwich Village disaster in 1911, before Rose Oringer, 19, the great-aunt of phoeventually going on to become secretary of la- tographer Philip Maier, was one of the bor under F.D.R., during which she developed fire’s 146 victims. For more the Social Security program, fought for the minimum wage and against child labor. “One hundred forty-six people died in the Su said that, like F.D.R., Joe Biden is a space of about 15 minutes,” he related. “The “transformational president” on labor issues. She building was fireproofed — it still stands — said “Union Joe” is “the most pro-worker, most but not everything in it. The owner used to pro-union president in our nation’s history.” have regular fires at the end of the year, to get The acting secretary recalled how one of rid of their leftover lawn — fabric was called the Triangle victims gave a speech — that no ‘lawn’ — and charge their insurance. one could hear — before jumping to her death. “What they think is one of the cutters “If only we had heard the striking workers dropped a cigarette butt into one of the fabric and local stories now when they were marching in the streets years piles,” he explained. “They used to lock all of before,” she said, “when they were demanding the doors and make the women walk through better wages and safe working conditions.” one door, so they wouldn’t steal any fabric.” TheVillageSun.com After the ceremony, people lined up to look more closely at the memorial. Among Continued on p. 11

BREAKING

NEWS

Corky Lee was known for always “being everywhere” and covering all kinds of news and he unveiling of Corky Lee Way on Sun., cultural events, so everyone was always curious Oct. 22, brought hundreds of people to where he was at any given moment. The corner of Mott and Mosco Streets was Mosco Street, just east of Columbus Park. The street co-naming honors the legacy of where Lee held his final public exhibit of his Lee, a fighting activist photographer and be- work. It was an open-air show in a newsstand loved figure and mentor in New York City’s — whose owner let him use it — a few months AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) com- before the photographer died. Lee, who grew up in Queens, was known munity and beyond. for capturing the vibrant stories and diversity of the Asian American community through his lens. A gentle soul with a fierce passion to communicate through his images, he held the wry title of the “Undisputed Unofficial Asian American Photographer Laureate.” Among his most famous projects was reshooting the famous “Golden Spike” photo in Utah — this time, though, with descendants of the hard-working Chinese laborers who laid track for the first transcontinental railroad but were excluded from the original photo. The effort to install the co-naming sign was led by the Corky Lee Way Street Co-Naming Committee, which includes members of local BY THE VILLAGE SUN

The Village Sun • November 2023

Corky Lee Way sign is unveiled in Chinatown

John Lee, Corky Lee’s brother, right, proudly received one of the honorary co-naming signs for him to keep.

Lee died Jan. 27, 2021, from COVID. He was 73. Councilmember Christopher Marte was given the honor of unveiling the sign. But because the pull rope to remove the coverCouncilmember Christopher Marte had to climb the light pole — as Corky Lee would often do to get photos — to unveil the sign. Photos by David Mulkins ing failed, he had to climb up the light pole and use someone’s cane to take it off. Luckily, Marte is also tall. Everyone said it was fitting, chapters of OCA (previously known as Or- more than 20 letters of support from combecause Lee had regularly climbed light poles ganization of Chinese Americans), Chinese munity leaders and AAPI-centered organizain pursuit of photographs. Adoptee Alliance and Think!Chinatown. tions, and received support from Community The event also featured a Chinatown block Over a period of more than a year and a Board 3, the City Council and Mayor Eric party, a walking exhibition of Corky Lee’s half, the committee worked to petition and Adams. iconic photographs and film screenings featur- Karen Zhou, Corky Lee’s partner — stand- advocate for the street co-naming. They gathThe Corky Lee Way co-naming was pasing Lee. There were also free “Where’s Corky” ing in front of a photo of Lee — gave re- ered more than 1,000 signatures from com- sed in an omnibus street co-naming bill and stickers designed by artist George Hirose; marks at the unveiling. munity members and supporters nationwide, signed off on by the mayor this past July.

Triangle Fire Memorial is finally dedicated Continued from p. 10

On March 25, 1911, as Baker explained, everyone got out safely from the 10th floor, almost everyone got out from the eighth floor, but almost everyone on the ninth floor died because the doors were locked. “Joseph Zitto, the elevator operator, was the hero,” he said. “Joseph Zitto kept going back up until there were too many bodies on top of the car.” Presciently and tragically, the Jewish Daily Forward on Jan. 10, 1910, wrote: “The ‘Triangle’ company… . With blood this name will be written in the history of the American workers’ movement, and with feeling will this history recall the names of the strikers of this shop — of the crusaders.”

Rather than the workers being remem- received 180 proposals from around the world, Suzanne Pred Bass, a coalition board bered because of bloody anti-union violence, which then went through a juried selection member, had two great-aunts who were workthey are remembered for being victims of a process. ing at the Triangle Factory that fateful day, Beyond the completion of the memorial, Rosie and Katie Weiner. Katie made a harrowfire that changed the course of American labor and political history. the coalition intends to remain active — both ing escape, grabbing onto the elevator cable on The Remember the Triangle Fire Coali- to plan the annual remembrance and to raise the final car down. But Rosie perished in the tion has raised funds toward the memorial’s public awareness about the fire and its con- flames. $2.4 million cost. The group was founded in tinuing relevance for worker rights and work“People want to recognize the significance 2008 to educate the public about the fire and place safety. of Triangle,” she said. “Young people, imcreate a permanent memorial to the workers An unsung hero is Michael Hirsch, a migrants and women in so many places are who perished that day. The memorial was dogged investigator who worked relentlessly affected by this event, which resonates tofunded through grants and by donors, unions to contact the descendants prior to the fire’s day. The same issues of workplace justice and and the fashion industry. 100th anniversary and identify the burial loca- equality are present. People know the tragedy In 2018, under Governor Cuomo, New tion of some of the victims. Hirsch contacted and what it spawned. The memorial speaks to York State provided a $1.5 million grant for photographer Philip Maier, one of the writers the distance we have come and where we still the memorial. The memorial’s design, by Rich- of this article, and his family to confirm that need to go. ard Joon and Uri Wegman, was chosen after they were related to Rose Oringer, Maier’s “May their memories be a blessing. May an international competition. The coalition great-aunt, who died at 19. their souls rest in peace.” 11

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

ach of the new licensed pot shops in the Downtown Manhattan area has its own personality and niche. Union Square Travel Agency, which opened in February as one of the state’s first legal dispensaries, combines a stylish interior, along with an emphasis on education about the various properties and possibilities of cannabis, plus an impressively wide variety of products. It’s a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color)-founded company. They’re partnering with the Doe Fund, which gets 51 percent of the place’s profits for use for transitional and permanent housing, as well as employment and support services for formerly homeless and incarcerated persons. “We believe legal cannabis has the power Union Square Travel Agency recently relocated to the prime corner of 13th Street and USQTA to reverse the damage caused by the war on Broadway. drugs,” says a statement on the company’s There are a lot of reasons why locals including stylish, colored-glass water pipes Web site. USQTA also hires the formerly incarcer- looking for cannabis products would want — are tastefully displayed in cases along the ated and cannabis “legacy” operators — as in to shop at USQTA. For starters, all of its wall and on tables running down the midpeople who worked in the pot business be- products are tested and safe, as opposed to dle of the store. In New York State, weed shops cannot let customers sample the fore legalization — plus carries L.G.B.T.Q.-, some fly-by-night, illegal pot place. The in-store experience is also inviting. product — smell or hold the flower, for BIPOC- and women-owned product brands. Arana Hankin-Biggers, the company’s The interior of USQTA, at 835 Broadway, at example — and packages must president and co-founder, has a background the corner of 13th Street, has a sleek and remain sealed until purin real estate. She said the store syncs with clean, futuristic design, with subdued light- chased; as a result, some the area’s tradition of cannabis culture and ing, almost like something out of the classic of the displays show individual pre-rolls, creativity. (The store shuns use of the word sci-fi movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” USQTA actually first opened in anoth- for example, outside “marijuana,” feeling, like some others, that it er space next door, but in August reopened of their packaging, has a racial history.)

or the knowledge that terpenes — the tiny, translucent globs on pot leaves — also contribute to the effect. Basically, there are more than a half-dozen different categories of pot displayed in the Flower Lounge, each with a distinct name describing its main effect or use: Sleep, Daydream, Balance, Chill, Focus, Create and Energize. Each category includes a sample of the specific plant behind a window, plus some infused “rocks” in cups with small, clear, removable domes, which shoppers can lift off to sniff to see if they like the various strains’ aromas. Of course, just as you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge pot by its smell alone: Fragrant pot does not necessarily mean a good high, whereas awful-smelling weed could be great. The precise strain in each category could change from week to week, since the store is constantly getting in new product. The store’s most popular cannabis categories, per the Flower Lounge, are Sleep, Chill and Energize, according to Jill Conforti, USQTA’s marketing manager, who recently gave The Village Sun a tour of the store. She said the Flower Lounge and the shop’s budtenders are all about “education” — with a special focus on helping inexperienced pot smokers — or at least ones not familiar with the dispensary experience — find the right product for them. “The biggest issue is education of New York City consumers who haven’t been to a dispensary beh ll t fore,” Conforti explained. e m ns That “schooling” can be as You ca basic or as deep as the customer is interested in going. As the “budtenders” section on the USQTA Web site states: “You might know the difference between Indica and Sativa, but do you know what your preferred terpene profile is? Can you tell the difference between a Linalool and a Limonene? Whether all of this is making sense to you or none of it is, our in-store budtenders are here to help both beginners and experts alike. “They receive 40 hours of cannabis classroom training and ongoing weekly education to be able to match you with the right cannabis experience. So if you need a little guidance while getting started or you want to nerd out, think of our budtenders as your highly attuned sherpas, ready to guide you through your cannabis journey.” As Conforti explained it — and as outlined on helpful information panels and Venn diagrams on the walls inside USQTA — there is an “entourage effect,” in which the numerous cannabinoids, terpenes and e

erc

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dise.

The Village Sun • November 2023

What a trip: Union Square Travel Agency

A customer consults with a budtender.

“Union Square and Greenwich Village have a historical connection to cannabis culture and have been a backdrop for cannabis advocacy and events,” she said. “The neighborhood embraces alternative lifestyles, artistic expression and progressive values, all of which align with our mission and the team here at Union Square Travel Agency. We’re thrilled to be a part of this community’s storied history.” Paul Yau, the company’s other co-founder and C.E.O., comes from the financial field.

Jill Conforti, USQTA marketing manager, explains the concept behind the store’s Flower Lounge.

at the prime corner spot, which, as well as to give shoppers a better idea of the offerbeing a better location, is larger. They are ings. keeping the other space, though, and plan to Beyond its classy, welcoming and profesuse it for events. sional vibe, another thing that sets USQTA As for the shopping experience, it’s con- apart is what you’ll find in the rear of the venient, unpressurized. No one is pushing a space. Dubbed the Flower Lounge, it’s a hard sale — customers can browse at their room where consumers can learn about and own speed. find just the right strain of pot for them and Shoppers can conveniently make their for what they want to achieve from their orders on touch screens located through- experience. This goes beyond the simple out the space. The products — from pre- indica (relaxing) versus sativa (energizing) rolls, gummies and vapes to cannabis gear, split that most pot users are familiar with —

for the touch screens people use to peruse and pay for their orders. And certain credit card companies won’t work with the store — though others will. USQTA and all cannabis businesses are frequently flagged on social media due to federal regulations. Basically, under law, 90 percent of viewers of any adfg um vertising the store mie does must be at least s a nd edibles. age 21. Nevertheless, Union Square Travel Agency is reportedly doing well, actually very well. They must be doing something right. The store’s hours are 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekdays and until midnight Friday through Sunday. They also deliver. yo U r ra S QTA ea has an extensiv

other compounds in cannabis flower combine and overlap to produce the effects special to each strain. This is where the USQTA budtenders’ knowledge can come into play, helping customers find the perfect product for their needs. There are up to 100 cannabinoids in a pot plant, and it’s still an evolving science, with more still to be learned. In another interesting mixture, you can also buy THC-infused espresso beans and drops. What unifies all the products, though, is that the cannabis is all grown in New York State. Conforti is part of the wave of young entrepreneurs who are forging careers in the new legal weed industry here. She became familiar with the pot scene while in college in Colorado, where it was already legalized. A marketing major, after graduating, she spent five years working at a series of cannabis-related companies, including LeafLink, Shift Cannabis and Green Dream Cannabis. After legalization, in turn, hit here, she struck out for New York. Yet, there are also challenges to working in this new industry, as Conforti tells it — namely, because the federal government has not yet legalized reefer. This means that, for example, a special software product is needed

For more information about Union Square Travel Agency, visit their Web site, unionsquaretravelagency.com.

The Village Sun • November 2023

cannabis shop mixes quality, variety, education

Shoppers use touch screens to peruse products and make purchases.

Photos by The Village Sun

‘Coss is the story’: Conbud opens on Delancey BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

nother new licensed cannabis store has opened — where else? — in Downtown Manhattan, the area currently sporting the highest concentration of officially sanctioned weed outlets in the entire state. More specifically, on the Lower East Side, at 85 Delancey St., at the corner of Orchard Street, where Conbud, a collaboration between Coss Marte and two partners — one of them his cousin Junior — held its grand opening on Oct. 19. Each of New York’s new licensed marijuana shops — there are around 11 in the city out of 24 in the whole state — has its own special character. In the case of Conbud, the personal story of Marte, 37, is front and center. Simply put, the native Lower East Sider used to be a drug kingpin here, on his home turf. “My story is about growing up on the Lower East Side, getting locked up on the Lower East Side,” he said. “None of these other businesses have that connection to the community — all within a five-block radius.” He is clear on why he did it. His family, coming from the Dominican Republic, like many immigrants, struggled to make ends meet in a new and harsh land. He didn’t want to be poor. He started as a young teen selling small amounts of pot in Sara Roosevelt Park. It was easy to turn a quick profit. Soon he was selling out of the Chinese Hispanic Grocery, at Eldridge and Broome Streets, hiding his drugs in the shelves as the woman behind the register would berate him. A veteran dealer retired and gave Marte his spot, and suddenly, Marte said, “I was rich.” The story goes that by age 19, he was making $2 million a year “hustling” — selling pot and other drugs. But the cops

Driving around delivering to all his clients — he had thousands of numbers on multiple flip phones before the era of smart phones — he put on a lot of weight. He was able to drop the pounds through an improvised calisthenics routine, developing it while in a tiny cell in solitary confinement. Once out, he launched a bootcamp fitness program, eventually dubbing it Conbody. Conbud actually is in the same building as Conbody: The gym is on the second floor and the new cannabis place right below it. It’s a prime corner on Delancey Street, which, Marte notes, is “like the Main Street” of the Lower East Side. “A lot of them came down” from the gym to support the store and make a purchase, he said on opening night. The first thing you see upon entering is an illuminated wall of photos of celebrities, all arrested for weed at some point — from Bob Marley, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney and David Bowie to Paris Hilton, Woody Harrelson, Snoop Dogg and Macaulay Culkin. In their middle is a police mugshot of Marte. Some of the merch is displayed in plastic crates — like the ones Marte sat on back when he was hustling on the corner. A Conbud ashtray with Coss Marte’s mugshot. Photo by The Village Sun Conbud has a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary, or CAURD, license for applicants with marijuana convichad his number. He was arrested and did prison time. tions. During his first bust — at age 13 for selling a couple of Annette Fernandez, who was at the bash, hopes to open nickel bags of weed in the park — his little brother, Chris- a licensed dispensary in Washington Heights. She called topher Marte, was walking with him. The future city coun- Marte a role model for so-called “legacy” pot operators. cilmember was distraught to see his big brother tackled and “Coss is the story,” she said. “To me, he’s the blueprint.” handcuffed right in front of him. On his last stint in lockup, Coss Marte realized he had For more photos from Conbud’s opening, check thevillagto change — not only his life but also his body. esun.com. 13

The Village Sun • November 2023

EDITORIAL

Can we get along?

n 1991, after a group of Los Angeles police were acquitted in the brutal beatdown of Rodney King, six days of riots broke out, resulting in 63 deaths, fires and billions in property damage. King himself pleaded for the violence to stop, saying, “Can we all get along?… We gotta. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. … Let’s try to beat it, you know. Let’s try to work it out.” Since the barbaric 10/7 terrorist massacre in Israel by Hamas, followed, in turn, by Israel’s military retaliation, the heated rhetoric we’ve seen here in New York City, the unapologetic tearing down of “KIDNAPPED” posters and the spike in overt anti-Semitism have all been deeply disturbing. Like Rodney King said, “We’re all stuck here for a while.” We’re all on this planet together, in this city, for just a short while. We must “all get along.” Right now, though, the heat and passions are high. The Israel-Palestinian conflict has deep roots and a complicated history. Anti-Semitism is the world’s oldest hatred. Israel was born out of that hatred, out of the Holocaust. Meanwhile, Palestinians suffer in Gaza and now grievously under Israel’s military retaliation, which the Jewish state feels it must do to defend itself against another bloody incursion. Meanwhile, 220 hostages are still held captive. Here in New York, specifically in the Village, we can all make efforts to turn down the temperature. For example, why did protesting, pro-Palestinian students at Cooper Union recently feel the need to pound at length on the doors and windows of a school library inside which a group of Jewish students were gathered? And the ripping down of the “KIDNAPPED” posters is not only censorship — it’s simply heartless and cold. The president of the New York University Law School Student Bar Association, for one, was caught defacing some of the posters, after previously blaming Israel for the Hamas slaughter. N.Y.U. says it “remains troubled” by the student’s “continued refusal to acknowledge the reprehensibility of Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel.” The Tisch family, big N.Y.U. donors, projected the “KIDNAPPED” posters at huge size on Bobst Library — these ones couldn’t be torn down. In short, many New Yorkers are deeply concerned about the level of vitriol they are seeing — especially from the younger generation. The young are always the most passionate among us, in every way. However, in the current climate — post-Occupy and post-George Floyd protests, flooded by social media algorithms — many young people, especially in our colleges, are showing a new “ferocity” against Israel, as one writer put it, that most of us have never seen in our lifetime. The youth are the heirs of our earth. To see some of them so full of hate truly hurts the soul. In short, many Jewish New Yorkers are frightened. History has shown how things can flip in an instant. A people that has historically been persecuted over and over again is now on edge once again. Some cannot help but think of 1930s Germany. Chris Wray, the F.B.I. director, recently noted that since 10/7, anti-Semitism nationwide has spiked to “historic levels.” While Jews make up just 2.4 percent of the American public, they are victims of 60 percent of all religious-based hate crimes, he noted. There’s an eerie parallel to the spike in anti-Asian sentiment during COVID. Let’s try to turn down the heat and try to understand one another without prejudice. Don’t let the war in the Middle East make us fight and hate one another here. As Rodney King asked, “Can we all get along?” 14 Yes, we can — but we must try.

hats, and a wooden cart selling goods months ago, I was reading on a Sixth on the corner of Mulberry and Grand. Avenue park bench by a sidewalk. It He was a super of three buildings and was a beautiful day — the novelist fixed the boilers to keep the commu- actually instructed the reader to reA soaring tribute nity warm. lax, and I obliged by stretching my He lived there from the 1930s till legs. To The Editor: “Why would you do that!” a surRe “Dennis Edge, 85, ‘Birdman’ of 2010, when he retired and passed away in Italy. But I can assure you, Tony was prised delivery biker screamed as he Tompkins Square” (obituary, October): Little Italy. sped across the sidewalk, swerving to Thank you for this lovely appreSo, if you feel Vinny the Peanut Man miss me. “I have no insurance!” he adciation of Dennis Edge’s life. I’ve been a fan of his remarkable photos should be honored, ask the old-timers monished me. I am still stunned. No pedestrifor many years and am so grateful he about Anthony “Tony” Longordo, who lived to see them in print in a book truly loved Mulberry and Grand Street an — or reader on a park bench — should have to navigate speeding vefor others to marvel at. The story of more than anyone. hicular traffic on a sidewalk. 108 species of birds in one small oaJosephine Marino sis in our urban environment is also Phyllis Eckhaus remarkable and a living argument for maintaining and fighting for every Good idea, by George Fancy medical site community garden that developers are trying to snatch up. To The Editor: Re “Bike activist to roll out an- To The Editor: Re “Mount Sinai reviews its plan Phyllis Kittler ti-moped campaign” (news article, Octo close Beth Israel Hospital ‘in comtober): ing years’” (news article, October): No sign for Tony? Thank you, Mr. Bliss. We at EVSA People can blame Medicare or (E-Vehicle Safety Alliance) agree and Medicaid, but just go take a look To The Editor: also have been fighting for Mayor Ad“C.B. 2 O.K.’s ‘Vinny Peanuts’ cor- ams to take action and control illegal at Beth Israel (Mount Sinai) at 10 ner co-naming” (news article, October): moped and e-vehicle riding. I was hit Union Square West, with its five-stoIf there was anyone well-known who by a reckless moped rider outside Lin- ry atrium and grand piano to keep all lived on Mulberry and Grand, it was coln Center and suffered a serious brain the terminal people complacent. When you are there, you’re supAnthony “Tony” Longordo. He took trauma, leaving me semi-paralyzed on posed to take a card (with an eleccare of the Stabile Bank on the corner. my right side. Thank you for your work tronic chip), so the ceiling trackers He worked in Ferrara bakery back as a to get the mayor’s attention! always know your whereabouts. If young man in the ’50s. He made the “S” you’re in the bathroom, they will cookies and the torrone in the basement Pam Greitzer- Manasse know. This stuff is not cheap. on Mulberry before it was even made at

LETTERS

Ferrara on Grand Street. He worked every Feast of San Gennaro back in the ’50s and even greased the greased pole the men would climb. He opened a small cafe on Mulberry Street and even had “The Godfather” filmed there. He had a novelty shop on Mulberry selling Italian T-shirts, mugs,

Cyclists on sidewalk

To The Editor: Re “Cars, illegal mopeds are the real threat — not bikes” (talking point, by Gersh Kuntzman): Bikers biking on the sidewalks are a terrifying menace. A couple of

Catharine Ragatoli The Village Sun welcomes readers’ letters of up to 250 words. Letters are subject to editing for length, clarity, grammar and factual accuracy. Anonymous letters will not be run in the print edition. Send letters to news@thevillagesun.com.

Halloween dogs have their day Go, Dog. Go! … Despite almost being canceled this year, the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade dug itself out of a predicament and pulled off another day of tail-wagging, whisker-licking fun. The 33rd annual East Village canine costumed convention saw nearly 15,000 people and 600 dogs turn out on Oct. 21 — and at least one cat, who probably wasn’t thrilled to be there. The cost of putting on the popular pup-apalooza had ballooned, due to street-closure permit fees and more. But, just like Scooby-Doo in “Hassle in the Castle,” Get Joy, a dog-wellness start-up, leaped in to help save the day. This year’s event used the Avenue B Open Street as a parade Best in Show went to Pookah, a Pomeranian, as Winnie the Pookah in a honey pot, with owners Tigger and Piglet. Photo by Milo Hess route.

TALKING POINT BY MARCELLA DURAND

n art installation, “Joined an Avalanche, Never to be Alone Again,” opened on Oct. 4 at the foot of the temporary Corlears Hook Park bridge. The piece features gravel, corrugated steel, core samples, repurposed fencing from the F.D.R. Drive — and asphalt. A low-tide wave made of 100 percent recycled asphalt is one part of the temporary art installation at East River Park funded by the city’s Department of Design and Construction and the Department of Cultural Affairs and costing $40,000. At a recent walk-through, the D.D.C. public artist in residence, Carlos Irijalba, ex-

A concrete barrier topped by reclaimed F.D.R. Drive fencing is also part of the art project. Despite the structure’s daunting presence — nature still finds a way to survive.

plained that the asphalt is “green,” meaning it is recycled from street-repaving operations. But to those who walked by while this work was being installed, it smelled anything but — yet another pollutant added to a stark landscape that has been stripped of its greenery, leaving only fencing, steel and gravel — and asphalt, lots of it. For a community missing its park, grieving the loss of hundreds of mature trees and open green spaces filled with memories of picnics, music, games and simple relaxation, we are given art that is essentially indistinguishable from the East Side Coastal Resiliency construction site. This artist describes another part of the piece as “a sprawling geotechnical core sam-

The Village Sun • November 2023

New sculpture adds to East River Park dystopia

who created a collaborative dance of poetry atop the massive Fresh Kills garbage dump in Staten Island; the Smokehouse Associates and William T. Williams, who painted powerful abstract murals in Harlem. From our own neighborhood, the Lower East Side, the marvelous Eileen Myles has tirelessly written incredible poetry and essays driving home the loss of this park. Native activist/artist Emily Johnson recently led a powerful, tragic performance along the fences next to the destruction of East River Park. So many more artists have worked diligently and with vision to understand the Part of Carlos Irijalba’s public artwork in East River Park — a blob of asphalt meant to communities in which they were working resemble water seeping into the park. Photos by Pat Arnow and the ecologies of the landscape about them. ple sculpture.” The structure behind it is You remember artists like Agnes Denes, Instead, we got…asphalt, fencing and the temporary bridge from Corlears Hook who planted a wheat field in view of the gravel. More of it. Park to the ferry landing and the remnant of World Trade Center; Cecilia Vicuña, who shoreline that’s still accessible. traced the fall of milk along the West Side Durand is a poet and author of, most reThe third part of the installation, repur- Highway to see where water goes when it cently, “Rays of the Shadow” and “Le Jardin posed fencing, blends into all of the other drains into the river; Kathy Westwater, de M.” fencing, keeping us from what used to be public green space; the smell of its asphalt blends into the daily smell of dust, exhaust and endless construction materials; its gravel is just another stretch of gravel along what used to be grassy lawns and bushes alive with pollinators. Its title is displayed on a construction billboard and has no connection to anything. The repurposed fence used to run alongside the F.D.R. but was removed for construction of the giant E.S.C.R. levee, in what is left of the southern section of East River Park. The installation of this work required trucking in yet more construction materials, “harvested from the city’s infrastructure,” releasing more pollutants and carbon into an area already overloaded with pollutants and carbon, and dumping asphalt onto one of the last remaining bits of the East River Park’s esplanade. The asphalt is meant to look like a wave. It is unsealed and unpainted, a wavelike pile of loose asphalt that is already disintegrating into an estuary that is expected to keep accepting all of the environmental insults we pour into it. The detritus of this piece may eventually be found in our lungs, in fish and bird stomachs, and at the bottom of the estuary and, eventually, the ocean. Artist Irijalba writes, mistakenly, that his three-part piece “makes visible how New York City is building resiliency into its survival, looking decades and centuries into the future.” And yet, if you question this art piece, you’re told you don’t understand “art.” Because you only live here, in a community famous for its artists, poets, dancers and musicians. Because maybe you’re an artist yourself who has seen — or even created yourself — so many magnificent pieces that make you more aware of the brilliant possibilities of art when it is organic to the com- Another section of the public artwork, near the temporary bridge to the ferry at Corlears Hook, is comprised of core samples taken for the resiliency project. munity and the landscape. 15

The Village Sun • November 2023

Jeanette Peoples, 81, ‘Granny’ of E. 11th St. OBITUARIES BY CHRIS RYAN

eanette Peoples, who died Oct. 1 at age 81, was a fixture on her block of E. 11th Street between Avenues B and C. She sat daily on a folding chair in front of her building, keeping a watchful eye on the local kids who played on the sidewalk.

Neighbors left votive candles outside Peoples’ building.

Jeanette Peoples was a beloved presence on her block. Photos by East Village by Bike / @ ChrisRyanAction / Twitter and Instagram

Remembering “Granny” at a memorial gathering for her where she used to sit in her chair.

Bernice Goldstein Grayson, 96, Mother Trucker Funky No. 1 cologne, which she sells in her office… .” memorial service for Bernice “I believe that people who are movGoldstein Grayson was held at St. ing like to see pretty girls on the job,” John’s in the Village church, at 218 W. she was quoted as saying. “It can help 11th St., on Sat., Oct. 7. make what might otherwise be a very Grayson, who died June 5 at age hectic day become more pleasant. 96, founded Mother Truckers movers “We’re feminine — not feminists,” around 1969. Based at 110 MacDou- she explained to the Times. “Whenevgal St., the company used women as its er I go along on one of the jobs, I try drivers and as some of its movers. to dress very elegantly, complete with a According to a 1970 article in The floppy hat and French perfume.” New York Times, Grayson, who at the A native New Yorker, she got into time went by Crabtree, the name of the moving business when she and her her ex-husband, was “a former mod- husband, an English immigrant, bought el, primitive dancer and concocter of a truck in 1954 for $150. In 1961 they BY THE VILLAGE SUN

divorced. She stayed in moving, and a few years later, started up Mother Truckers. One of her drivers, Carrie Payne, a recently graduated psychology major, told the Times the work offered an education about human nature. “I learn more about people in this job than I would if I were actually practicing psychology,” she said. “And besides, this whole moving thing is a trip.” The St. John’s memorial was packed — mostly by people who had not known Grayson personally. But everyone was moved by her inspiring Bernice Goldstein Grayson. life story.

Developer removes garden fence, ducks fines BY PHYLLIS ECKHAUS

eal estate developer David Marom is a sore loser. As thevillagesun.com recently reported, Justice Andrea Masley of New York State Supreme Court ruled against Marom on Sept. 30, requiring him to remove his encroaching fence from the Lower East Side’s Children’s Magical Garden or face $1,000-a-day fines. Marom was also ordered to protect the mulberry tree central to the garden’s ecosystem and to pay arborist 16 fees estimated at more than $46,000.

On Oct. 13, one day before the court-im- get a permit from the Parks Department. posed deadline, Marom had his workers reGarden President Kate Temple-West move part of the fence. said she confronted Marom directly about But he spent days in the garden before- the trash pile, accusing him of building a hand, according to gardeners. And, contrary “rat palace.” He did not respond. to the court order, Marom reportedly had Garden volunteers cleaned up what they his workers dig new holes and erect a new could of Marom’s mess. The rolled-up fence fence pole; left piles of wood, cement, fenc- and wood are still lying on the ground, iming and other debris piled up next to the pacting the mulberry’s roots, they charged. garden’s beloved mulberry tree; explicitly inTemple-West told The Village Sun that structed his staff not to remove cement and the garden will soon return to court to hold rubble dug into the ground around the tree; Marom accountable. and announced that he would be returning Still, she counts the developer’s recent to reinstall new fencing as soon as could grudging action as a big win, noting that af-

ter 10 years of litigation, “a large section of the fence is down and our precious mulberry tree has some room to breathe.” In 2014, Marom paid more than $3 million for a portion of the garden where title was even then in dispute. In a separate case with a different judge, the garden and Marom are litigating who owns that plot. Under the legal doctrine of “adverse possession,” the garden group contends the garden is the owner by virtue of 10 years of continuous and conspicuous occupation. Temple-West declared, “We will continue to fight until we get the whole garden back.”

The Village Sun • November 2023

ARTS

& ENTERTAINMENT

Playwright Samuel Harps recalled how he and late actor Ron Cephas Jones found their way to Nuyorican Poets Cafe and were nurtured there. Photos by Rachel de Aragon

Pianist Eric Lewis (ELew) took the audience on a sonic journey from Texas blues to Senegal circle music.

Last Banana at Nuyorican Poets Cafe BY RACHEL de ARAGON

uyorican Poets Cafe has been a hot spot for fostering talent — in poetry, theater and jazz. Many well-known names have passed through its doors. Many come back to pay homage to this extraordinary, homey , cozy Lower East Side venue. On Oct. 7 there, at the 20-year anniversary of Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz, the room was filled with the spirits of nights long past as fans, young and old, gathered to toast the future with the joy of words and music. Banana Puddin’ Jazz, an evening hosted every month by Neal, is a jam to which he invites the well-known — and yet-to-be known. The ongoing event was the brainchild of the Adelco Award-winning actor and director, who, after portraying the legendary Thelonius Monk in Laurence Holder’s play “Monk,” became a jazz devotee and promoter. The banana pudding itself is a treat created by Neal, too, which, like the music, is always sweet, rich and plentiful. Patience Higgins of the Sugar Hill Quartet and four decades of playing with some of jazz’s greats led us off on the sax with Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud.” The man put Monk in the room. By the time the last notes

of the piece had settled on the audience, it was clear — this was going to be an exuberant musical ride. Richard Clements on piano and Taro Okamoto on the drums wove the percussion playfully into a dance with Higgins’s drive. Greg Maker on bass added to the effortless, energetic pace. This evening was especially dedicated to the Emmy Award-winning actor Ron Cephas Jones, who passed away earlier this year. Jones began his career at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in 1985 in the play “Don’t Explain,” about the life of Lee Morgan, directed by Rome Neal. The playwright, Samuel Harps, was in the house and stepped up to the mic to say a few words, and tell the story of how he and Jones had found their way to the Nuyorican so many years ago. It was a tribute not only to the Nuyorican, but to the importance of nurturing talent and the role that the poets cafe has always played. Neal recited a piece from “Don’t Explain” in which Lee Morgan is reflecting on the music and early death of trumpeter Clifford Brown. The evening honored the greats of the past with every note. However, the present is tomorrow’s past and the future is now. Mimi Block, a very

young new talent to come out of the Barry As the evening was coming to an end, Harris mentorship, gave us jazz violin and Neal sang Barry Harris’s song “Sometimes sang “Blow Wind Blow.” Today Seems Like Yesterday.” But the eveWhen Pianist Eric Lewis a.k.a. ELew sat ning would not end: The ever-dynamic Anhimself comfortably at the piano and told us toinette Montague got the “Good Times with cheerful eloquence how his composition Rolling,” and Eric Frazier finished off the would bring us from Texas blues through night with “Route 66.” rock and and wrap up with Senegalese circle For those wanting more jazz, on Oct. 26, music, the audience was expecting something the Nuyorican hosted Jazz-gria, a sangria extraordinary. Yes, he is, and he had us all on evening of Latin jazz. our feet! And so, the 20-year-run of Banana PudCaridad de la Luz, executive director of din’ evenings at Nuyorican has come to a trithe Nuyorican Poets Cafe and a poet and actor umphant close. a.k.a. La Bruja, took the stage and read “MinOctober’s calendar was filled with excitgus,” riveting the audience with an awesome ing anniversary events because Halloween, poem by Ron Cephas Jones about the bassist. on Oct. 31, was the 50th anniversary of the She was accompanied by Maker on bass. cafe! It was also the last event at the NuyoriLet’s refresh with some banana puddin’ — can for the next few years. and tonight, fried fish salad and rice, too! The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is closing for A new band was next — Chez Lewis at the next three years for renovation, reconthe piano, Stanley Banks on bass and Phil struction and rebirth — or what the NuyYoung on drums filled the room with an up- oriquenos are calling Nuyoriconstruction! beat energy. Rome gave us “Here’s to Life!” But fear not! The talented executive board Singer Ron Fulton performed “You and staff have a trick up their sleeves — a treat Belong To Him” — and Neal joined for a for all of you. The cafe’s great events will be held duet on “I Want to Talk About You,” bring- at different venues throughout the neighboring to the stage radio host Jeanne Parnell hood and the energy and joy will keep circulatof WHCR 90.3 FM, who holds down the ing for the trio of years while the reconstruction goes on. Keep up with it all at nuyorican.org. channel’s 8 a.m. slot.

The Village Sun • November 2023

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Lights, camera, theater!

How videos are keeping shows alive BY CLAUDE SOLNIK

acob Maximillian Baron, a videographer who specializes in events and performances, moved around the stage at Theater for the New City recently before a show. A few members of the cast of “A Stitch in Time” sang a song, while he aimed his Canon 80D at the singers, getting images from various angles. He would later take that close-up footage and combine it with video shot during the show to create a video of the play that would mix cinematography with a reproduction of a performance. While theater is by its nature ephemeral, shooting videos of shows has become one way to create a permanent or at least a lasting record. Broadway HD provides videos of Broadway shows. And filmed versions of shows such as “Chicago,” “Les Misérables” and “Hamilton” have become hits. A film adaptation of “Rent” also helped popularize that play. But even smaller productions seek to capture whatever lightning is caught in the bottle on stage. “It’s more or less difficult to shoot a video of a play depending on your access to the show and the performers,” Baron said as he discussed shooting videos of theater. “The more rehearsals or performances you can attend, the more coverage you can get.”

A Theater for the New City production captured on film by the videographer.

“There are no do-overs with live performances and there are moments of magic that can happen,” Baron added. “You want to make sure you have the camera on. And when mistakes happen, you want to make sure you have footage from another day.” He has shot corporate conferences, footage of camps and workshops, networking events, birthday parties, weddings and music videos for Wikka, otherwise known as Alexia delGiudice, as well as theater. “The whole point of being a videographer is being adaptable,” he said. Shooting video of theater is an art form in its own right. Sometimes Baron, for instance, shoots during dress and tech rehearsals, mixing that footage with the live show. “Multiple angles make it more of a film than just a taping,” he said of filming without an audience. “That’s why you need as many days as possible. You get to know the show and fun things you can do with it.” He likes to get time on the stage, while the show is being performed, although not with an audience. “That’s almost treating it like a film adaptation,” Baron said. “That makes it engaging as a film, as opposed to footage of a show.” Jacob Maximillian Baron at work videoing Baron went to Oberlin College for cina show. ema studies, where he also directed theater, which he believes gives him an important While videographers may not typically head start in shooting performances. “Having worked on shows helps me a lot be considered part of the theater team, the reality is they can be an important part of it to know not only the language of the stage for shows at TNC or elsewhere. A live per- and what to look for,” he said. “It helped me formance has the excitement of the moment, know as a director of a theater performance but also the risk of either being a good night exactly what I wanted to have noticed in the show.” or one that’s less compelling.

He said there are some well-filmed versions of musicals, including Spike Lee’s filming of “Passing Strange,” as well as “American Utopia,” David Byrne’s show, and “Hamilton.” “It showed you can make a film of a show and have it be engaging and more than a taping,” he said of “Hamilton.” Baron said he started doing videoing on stage, without an audience, after seeing the film version of “Hamilton,” including angles other than the audience’s gaze. “With a show, if you don’t have a ton of time to cover it, you don’t have leverage for missed sections,” he explained. “The most difficult part is getting that continuous, unbroken footage.” Baron doesn’t believe you can film a show with just a single camera. He sets up one camera for a wide or master shot from the back, so you see everything happening in the show. “I also set up a camera closer to the stage, to the side, that I move around more and get more creative with and get more detailed coverage,” he said. The camera to the stage’s side provides a more cinematic take, including close-ups and movement, providing active shots to create a video for the cast, crew and posterity, as well as a means to pitch the show to others. “When a show is over, whether you filmed it or not, that version is gone,” Baron said. “It’s a beautiful experience to see live theater, but a video solves the issue of impermanence. “No one can fully recreate the live theater experience. Through my work, I can create the most vivid and accurate memory of that experience as possible.”

BY THE VILLAGE SUN

s part of her three-part “IHaveABody” East Village documentary project this summer and fall, on Aug. 13 Theresa Byrnes performed “Outline For a Tree” in East River Park. Byrnes stood from her wheelchair to stand with the trees and with the community of people who have been protesting the city’s ongoing East Side Coastal Resiliency project. If carried out to its end, E.S.C.R. will kill the park’s remaining 500 mature trees — bringing the total tree carnage to 1,000. The performance was in sympathy and compassion for the trees slated to be cut down and for those already lost in the two-phase project. Five assistants — Sylver Pondolfino, Adriana Gallo-Sanabria, Eric Rossi, Roberta Bennett and Karen Steedman — helped Byrnes stand up and strapped her to one of the park’s majestic 80-year-old London plane trees still standing despite the city’s ruthless chainsaws. At the same time, Sparrow, her son, took the microphone. “If you wrote an outline for a tree, of its essential role in creating and sustaining life — including absorbing floodwaters — we would certainly not cut them down but worship them,” the young boy read. “I bear witness to the destruction of New York City’s coastal ecosystem. “Hope is almost lost that we can save the trees, but we can hold New York City accountable for the destruction and ongoing systemic oppression of the original stewards of this land, the Lenape People. Let’s rejoice in the trees, tap into their strength and bear witness.” Byrnes — who has Friedeich’s ataxia, a

genetic neuromuscular condition — stood with the tree for 10 minutes. Her effort made the audience also feel the desire to stand amid the drone of a didgeridoo and the beat of a drum from musicians LLoyd Leary and Samora Fee. Suddenly, she gently fell to the right of the tree. After a minute, her assistants laid her down flat. Lucy Crowley covered Byrnes’s feet with earth and then painted trees up the performance artist’s legs. Sylver put green clay on his arms and face and then on Byrnes’s arms. Sparrow put white clay on her face and some on his own face. Lucy applied black charcoal to Byrnes’s white face and green arms with a twig. Roberta lit sage. Clay was offered to the audience to paint themselves with. Byrnes’s braids were tied to rope and then to the trees. The music intensified. The audience began to stomp and dance. One by one, her assistants lay down beside her. The audience followed and they all lay down together, bathed in the sound of the didgeridoo and drums. Finally the musicians also lay down. A tree branch fell gently from the tree to Byrnes’s right shoulder and cheek at the end of the performance, nudging her from her meditative state. “Outline For a Tree” was inspired by a dream in which Byrnes had trees painted up her legs, black and brown, with tall trunks and roots on her feet. “While stirring from the dream,” Byrnes said, “I thought, ‘These are my ancestors and I must not forget them.’” Australia native Byrnes’s park performance also commemorated the Bark Petitions of August 1963, the Yolngu Aboriginal people’s first formal attempt to have their land rights recognized by the Aus-

The artist’s son, Sparrow, covered her face with white clay.

The Village Sun • November 2023

Artist stands with East River Park’s trees

Theresa Byrnes stood against a London plane tree amid the meditative drone of Lloyd Leary’s didgeridoo. Photos by Paul DeRienzo

tralian parliament. Reverend Billy, who watched the East River Park performance said, “Theresa enters our neighborhood forest with her

intimacy, with her vulnerable self...dreams, paint, voice...the movement of her body, and a story to tell with her co-author, the trees. Earthalujah!”

The Village Sun • November 2023

Comings & Goings BY CAROLINE BENVENISTE

t was another busy month, with two large chains opening markets. Christopher Street is suddenly hot, and while there were not too many closings, one of them left us quite sad.

Top Openings: L’Industrie Pizzeria West Village — 10 Christopher St., between Bleecker and Bedford Streets This top-rated Williamsburg pizzeria opened a second location on Oct. 25 in the West Village. When I asked Massimo Laveglia, a Pistoia native and owner of L’Industrie, and Adam Saper, a partner (along with his brother Alex) in the new West Village location and also the managPhotos by Caroline Benveniste ing director and C.F.O. of Eataly, why they chose Tubular croissants at Unregular Bakery. the West Village, they said it was because it was one of the city’s most desirable neighborhoods. er with different-quality meats (choice, prime, also shop for high-quality Italian staples. Saper said that when they started searching for Wagyu, etc.) The cheese counter has some good a space about a year ago, they were interested in options, with certain cheeses aged in Wegmans Also Open: Target opened their Union Square store something that didn’t look new. And this space, cheese caves in Rochester, NY, and the deli counter was well-stocked with lots of imported (10 Union Square East, at 14th Street) on Tues., formerly a Rag & Bone location, does not, with salumi (“We don’t carry Boar’s Head,” one of the Oct. 17, with a ribbon-cutting by Mayor Adams. its exposed brick, tin ceiling and hardwood floor. In addition, they liked the vibe of Chris- employees told me). Given the meager super- The store replaces The Food Emporium, which topher Street better than Bleecker Street. I was market choices in the neighborhood, Wegmans closed in May 2021. It is a great place to buy lucky enough to taste a Margherita pizza which is a very welcome addition, but it will not replace cleaning products, toiletries and greeting cards. I watched Laveglia make. It had a thin crust my trips to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Little Ruby’s Cafe (225 W. Fourth Street, at Seventh Avenue South) finally opened in the old (rather than a puffy, Neapolitan-style one) and Westside Market. Roscioli — 43 MacDougal St. (at King Riviera Café location. The renovated multi-level once it was out of the oven, he topped it with space is large and lovely and the crowds arrived fresh chopped basil. It was quite delightful, and I Street) immediately. Talea Beer Co. West Village (102 look forward to trying some of the other highly Christopher St.) is a taproom for the brand, with praised varieties, such as burrata and pepperoni. 20 taps. Four of the beers are collaborations with Pizza is available by the slice or whole pie, and local businesses (Magnolia, Dante, The LGTwine and beer are for sale, as well. BQ+ Center and Don Angie (lasagna beer)). Wegmans — 770 Broadway, between Eighth Kebab Express Halal Grill (235 Bleecker St., Street and Wanamaker Place at Carmine Street) opened where Wolfnights After great anticipation lasting years, Wegused to be. In early October, Eater NY critic mans has finally opened near Astor Place in the Robert Sietsema wrote about it, saying, “Eastern old Kmart space. On opening day a line formed Mediterranean, Afghan and Indian influences… on Broadway. A TV reporter from “Good Day Meatballs at Roscioli. makes for some exceedingly pleasing flavor comNew York” stood outside interviewing custombinations.” Unregular Bakery (124 Fourth Ave., ers, and employees tried to get everyone to cheer. Roscioli, a Roman institution, first opened between 12th and 13th Streets) is a new projAbout 10 minutes before the opening, members of the press were allowed inside to hear the em- their underground tasting menu space in its Vil- ect from the folks at Unregular Pizza. Located ployees participate in the “Wegmans cheer.” Fi- lage location, but now the upstairs Alimentari à a couple of blocks south, where pizza spot Pie nally, the doors opened and people flooded in. La Carte is open, as well. A small number of res- by the Pound used to be, the pastries are exuAfter such a buildup, it was a little hard not to ervations are available, with preference given to berant and tempting. One of the more unusual feel a bit let down. The ground floor is prepared wine club members, and the rest of the tables are offerings is the K Bueno, a tube-shaped croissant food of all types: Asian hot food, Mediterranean, for walk-ins. The salumi and cheese plates, pastas with homemade “Kinder Bueno” cream. My fasushi, poke and more. The groceries are down- and other dishes, like meatballs on soft polenta, vorite Chinatown dim sum spot has opened a stairs, along with a large fish department, with are all authentic and delicious, and pair beautiful- location in the East Village: Dim Sum Go Go fish imported from Japan, and a butcher count- ly with the well-curated Italian wine list. You can East Village (221 First Ave., at 13th Street) is smaller than the original, which has been around for over 20 years, but just as delicious. The owners said that many of their customers live in the Village and this encouraged them to open the new spot. The ingredients are high quality, and the homemade ginger-scallion sauce should be used liberally.

20 Fresh fish at Wegmans.

Saddest Closing: Balkan StrEAT — 353 Sixth Ave., between Washington Place and W. Fourth Street. Suddenly, on Oct. 16, with no warning, the always excellent Balkan StrEAT shuttered. The restaurant, which opened in January, was praised by pretty much everyone (including Eater and

The New Yorker, which featured a rave review this past April). I was a huge fan and went there often for the homemade baked goods, such as boureks, strudels, jelly donuts and more. The boureks, in particular, were outstanding, made with hand-stretched phyllo dough. Owner William Djuric had brought over Milan Milijančević, a baker from Belgrade, to lead the pastry program, and he was able to make 50 boureks a day, a truly stunning feat. But, unfortunately, after returning from a trip to Serbia this summer, the baker was denied entry to the U.S., although he had a valid three-year visa. The restaurant hired a lawyer but, ultimately, they were not able to get the bourek maestro back. Milijančević had trained someone to make the phyllo, but the apprentice was not as fast. This, according to Djuric, combined with the labor-intensive menu, meant that in the end the model was just not viable. However, there is some potentially good news: The Balkan StrEAT team has not given up the space and they plan to open soon with a new concept and may be doing some pop-ups, as well. Also Closed: Cones, the ice cream store at Bleecker Street, which had the best Belgian chocolate ice cream, has closed after 25 years. Mexican restaurant La Loteria, which opened on Seventh Avenue South in 2006, is also gone. Some neighbors on Nextdoor reported that 45 Grove Street Laundromat, one of the last self-service laundromats, had closed. Shu Han Ju (Chinese) on Sixth Avenue and Galanga (Thai) on W. Fourth Street also appear shuttered. Coming Soon: Sappe will open in the cursed space at 240 W. 14th St. (between Seventh and Eighth Avenues). The location has housed a large number of restaurants in the last year, most of them Italian, with the last one being Lisabetta. There is reason to hope that Sappe will do well, though, as it is the sophomore restaurant from the owners of Soothr, the popular Thai spot that opened in the East Village in May 2020. Sappe means “to joyfully consume or partake in the objects or the experience.” The latest entrant to the handroll craze will be Sushiro The Handrolls Bar (168 Seventh Avenue South, near Perry Street). According to their liquor license application: “Eating one of our just-made hand rolls, with its crispy nori, warm rice and delectable ingredients, will refine what you think about sushi.” Jin Ramen Sushi will open at 49 E. Eighth St., at Greene Street. This restaurant is a chainlet with locations in Queens and Long Island. Ramen and sushi are on the menu. Another location of Insomnia Cookies is opening at 283 Bleecker St., at Jones Street, where Bantam Bagels used to be. With Insomnia’s arrival, it will be impossible to walk in that part of the West Village without encountering a cookie shop at every block (Chip City, Crumbl, Janie’s Life Changing Baked Goods). There’s a lot to keep track of! Help us out by writing to us to let us know what you’re seeing at vsuncandg@gmail.com.

BY EVERYNIGHT CHARLEY CRESPO

he Rolling Stones performed a secret invitation-only concert at Racket NYC in Chelsea to celebrate the next day’s release of “Hackney Diamonds,” the band’s first album of all-new material in 18 years. An all A-list event, attendees on Oct. 19 included Jimmy Fallon, Trevor Noah, Daniel Craig, Mary-Kate Olsen, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Chris Rock, Taylor Hill, Rachel Weisz, Christie Brinkley, Ed Burns, Keegan-Michael Key, Minka Kelly, Christy Turlington, Andrew Watt and more. Rumors of the concert began circulating earlier in the week. The rumors at the time said that the Rolling Stones had been rehearsing nine songs — seven new ones and two old. Another rumor circulated that former Stones bassist Bill Wyman, who plays on the new album, was flying into New York City for the concert, even though he has not been on an airplane in years. More than 100 fans gathered outside the venue, hoping for an opportunity to get in to see the legendary group. Fans began gathering on a standby line outside as early as 9:30 a.m. Reports by witnesses that 100

Keith Richards was enjoying the show.

wristbands were distributed at a pop-up event at 7:30 p.m. were somewhat inflated; the witnesses attested that, in fact, only 37 wristbands were awarded to fans who had waited all day at the pop-up. Superfans who have traveled all over the world to see the Rolling Stones in concert had no access to invitations. Reportedly, Doug Potach, who started the Shidoobee fan page, also did not receive invitations. Many of these fans were on the sidewalk outside Racket hoping for a miracle. This reporter also was unable to get inside. Near the venue’s entrance, a sign declared this would be a phone-free show. Invitees were asked to place their cell phones into a pouch that would be locked. The pouches were given back to the phones’ owners with instructions that they would be unlocked upon exit. Racket’s doors opened at 8 p.m., with DJ Questlove spinning. The Rolling Stones came on stage around 10 p.m. and performed four songs from the new album and three old songs — “Shattered,” “Angry,” “Whole Wide World,” “Tumbling Dice,” “Bite My Head Off,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Sweet Sounds of Heaven.” Lady Gaga joined the band on stage to perform the final song.

The Village Sun • November 2023

Rolling Stones rock new album, go a bit Gaga

Mick Jagger and Lady Gaga performed during the Rolling Stones’ surprise set for “Hackney Diamonds” at Racket NYC on Oct. 19. Photos by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Set list Shattered Angry (live debut) Whole Wide World (live debut) Tumbling Dice Bite My Head Off (live debut) Jumpin’ Jack Flash

Encore Sweet Sounds of Heaven / with Lady Gaga (live debut) For more of Everynight Charley Crespo’s coverage of New York City’s music scene check out his The Manhattan Beat.

The Village Sun • November 2023

CLASSIFIEDS REAL ESTATE

TALKING POINT BY REVEREND BILLY

LAND FOR SALE

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Performance Space vs. Anarchy Row was walking toward Ninth Street and First Avenue to visit friends who are believers in the Earthchxrch, and who are artists in different ways. One of them, Johnny Grima, lives in an encampment of the unhoused called “Anarchy Row” on the sidewalk under the scaffolding on the northeast corner. Ten souls were there with Johnny, reclining in the afternoon sun with their makeshift chairs and tents, relaxing between N.Y.P.D. harassments, Eduardo strumming his guitar. Overhead they flew a banner of a sky with the words “DECRIMINALIZE OUR SURVIVAL” painted by the artist Savitri D. I offered to take them all to Mayfield Brooks’s performance “WAIL-FALL-WHALEFALL,” at P.S. 122, now called Performance Space (PS) New York. Mayfield’s ritual piece was on the fourth floor of the very building the anarchists were leaning up against with their camp. They looked at the former school building towering over them with some distrust. Johnny said, “I’ll go.” Around the corner, PS is a glassy, Brutalist expanse that makes everyone immediately far away from anyone else. It’s like a miniature Whitney. Two ticket-takers waved bravely from the far corner. They were tiny, trapped in the vast walls… We stood there for a moment, wondering about the emptiness. The architect is daring us to…to what? We walked out of Anarchy Row and into Mayfield Brook’s “WHALE.” It was singing as we entered, with underwater, echoey music and a pale blue fog with strong klieg lights beaming blue light: the beautiful, harrowing metaphor of the dead whale providing nourishment for living beings by its fall, and the gift of the wail of ancestors and the wail of remembering the pain and murder of slavery. Huge pillows were here and there, with prayerful meditators, one dancer kicking like a finned fish, and a gently giggling couple… . Johnny and I chose our two spots and I know my experience was quickly like a floating trance. The vapid art-world vibe of PS was forgotten, or you might say was drowned out by Mayfield’s leap — dive — of imagination. In my deepsea dreams I suddenly recalled performing in this room last summer, in “Exploring the Earth as Lover: Ecosex and the City,” the festival hosted by Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens. Our performance, The Church of Stop Shopping, followed Courtney Desiree Morris and Dragonfly Diva. So give the corporatized PS credit for curating that bodyful, gender-swerving weekend. Tree-hugging wasn’t the half of it. In my twisted, wailing daydream, I was replaying that EcoSextravaganza, only down here in this blue underworld.

Anarchy Row on E. Ninth Street. Choreographer and dancer Mayfield Brooks.

Now, as I type, it occurs to me that someone at PS invites artists and political uprisings against the corporatization of performance art, as if out of respect for PS’s beloved predecessor P.S. 122. The EcoSex Fest and this series, “Invisible Culture,” featuring Mayfield’s “WAIL-FALL-WHALE-FALL” take on the corporate architecture with the body’s love, border-crossing and the rights of all humans and all life. The body is holy. The Earth is teacher. That’s not what the architecture of this building says. “That was like being on mushrooms,” Johnny said. As I returned with Johnny to his open-air home on Ninth Street, Johnny’s friend Trip showed up, another believer from Earthchxrch. Forced to live outside, and finding this underused stretch of concrete under the roof of the scaffolding, a few feet from the crazy traffic of First Avenue. I was struck by the home of it, in the blankets and cardboard boxes of Anarchy Row. Here was an outpost of humanity, where people help each other for nothing and face the bad moods of cops and staring tourists. I said my goodbyes and walked Downtown one block to St. Mark’s, then turned east. Suddenly, I was deep in a street fair from Hell. St. Mark’s Place was turned into an occupation of public space of a very different kind. From First Avenue to Tompkins Square stretched a sea of

Photo by Alice O’Malley Photo by Nir Aireli

hundreds of white people drinking white wine. All the diners were identical, not just in skin color and clothing, but in the same fierce, generic happiness, a frat party for Google brats. I walked halfway down the street, weaving through the tables. Then, I stopped and began to slowly spin around and around, speeding up like a drunk dervish, confused by this crowd, drilling down into this metastasizing monoculture. I suddenly saw Helen Levitt’s children playing here, chalking the street. Sometimes this gentrification feels inevitable. But in the days when Charlie Parker and Bimbo Rivas and Allen Ginsberg lived here, the enemy was the empire-building 1950s of Joe McCarthy. Now it’s these unconscious super-consumers, looking like glossy ads for international brands. Hard to see the war mattering here. We will have to baptize them with humpback whales and Anarchy Row. On Nov. 1, Trip and Eduardo from Anarchy Row were arrested by the N.Y.P.D. Mayfield Brooks’s “Wail-Fall-Whale-Fall” continues through Nov. 5, a part of “Invisible Cultures” at Performance Space New York, at 150 First Ave., at E. Ninth Street. Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir hold forth Sundays at 3 p.m. at the Earthchxrch in Loisaida, 36 Avenue C. On Nov. 26 they open their annual run of shows in Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, at 425 Lafayette St. Shows are designed and directed by Savitri D.

BY THE VILLAGE SUN

fter being closed since the pandemic, the Houston Street Center has finally reopened its swimming pool and conference center. It’s big news since the city’s Parks Department currently operates only two recreation center pools south of 42nd Street. So the affordable pool at the Houston Street Center, at 273 Bowery, is a key community asset. It costs just $8 per ticket for adults to swim and $5 for kids 17 and under, as well as adults 60 and over. If you buy five or 15 tickets, the cost drops even more. Tickets are usually good for a one-hour slot or, more rarely, a 45-minute slot. Meanwhile, the center’s community conference center is also back in full swing, offering affordable space for meetings, events, creative rehearsals and indoor athletics. The center can accommodate up to 150 people in seated classrooms, plus more in one of the program’s two basketball courts. “If you can dream it, we can probably find a space for you to do it, at an affordable rate,” said Adam Blackman, director of the Houston Street Center, University Settlement.

University Settlement C.E.O. Melissa Aase and Houston Street Center Director Adam Blackman.

Melissa Aase, C.E.O. of University Settlement, said, “Every dollar we make in rental income is invested directly back into community services and programs at Houston Street Center — a social enterprise that directly supports children, youth, families and elders in our neighborhoods. We see sharing this facility with hundreds of community groups as part

Eva, who lives at Village View, at E. Fourth Street, loves the Houston Street Center.

to do. I needed exercise, and Houston Street Center was more affordable than other things in the area. I joined all types of classes, including swimming — I love the pool, and we’re so glad that it’s open again! I learned how to swim here. Our instructor was so encouraging. It took a lot of time, but the instructor was really patient. “Houston Street Center is like a big family. There are lots of things to enjoy here, and things to learn. We learn how to keep ourselves physically healthy, and mentally healthy, because we build up our relationships with each other. I’m so happy to be here!” University Settlement offers recreational swimming on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for all ages; children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Lap swimming, offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, is open to ages 12 and up. Houston Street Center and its pool are jointly operated by University Settlement and the Chinatown Y.

The Village Sun • November 2023

Everyone back in the Houston Center pool!

of our mission, and we want everyone to hear that we’re open for business!” Eva, a participant in the center’s programs, is among the many happy to see the place back open again. For more information, stop by 273 Bowery, “I’ve been coming to Houston Street Cen- Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or call ter for more than 10 years,” she said. “After I 212-475-5008 or e-mail houstonstreetcenter@ retired, I felt like I needed to find something universitysettlement.org.

Voice control despite Downtown limitations CITY DOG BY LYNN PACIFICO

tartled by a dog-versus-dog commotion, I saw a large black fluff run past me without an owner. I ran after it, about to grab it, when the owner nonchalantly appeared. Not saying anything then, I will here. If an unleashed dog isn’t under voice control, it can cost it its life. If an off-leash dog approaches an aggressive, leashed dog, it is unfair to the owner of the leashed dog and dangerous for both dogs and owners. Also, some people are fearful, making it inconsiderate to allow an untrained dog off-leash in Under voice control — ears up, listening! a crowded city. While Daisy Rosebud was being curbed, she saw a buddy. In her excitement, she leapt to JJ Walker Field with treats and a friend. sideways into the street. She was about to My friend took Harry to the opposite cortake another leap, putting her into oncom- ner from me. I called, “Harry, come!” Haring traffic. One “Daisy, stay!” and she froze. ry took off like a bolt of lightning, running Voice control kept her from getting run over. his heart out till he got to me. I gave him a Harry, friendly, intelligent and obedi- treat, petted him and told him what a good ence trained, had great “recall.” I unleashed dog he was. Then a friend called Harry from him at the bottom of Charles Lane. Just the opposite corner of the field. Harry ran then, we both noticed a cat at the top of to him and was rewarded. We did this six the lane. A “Harry, stay” command allowed times to begin Harry’s voice control. From me to leash him before he took off. Even then on, whenever I called Harry, he immewith well-trained dogs, you can’t count on diately ran to me. anything 100 percent; so my dogs are now In a healthy leader/follower relationalways leashed here, since it’s easy for a trag- ship, there are clearly defined boundaries. edy to occur in a flash with this amount of Through repetition, a dog knows what is extraffic. pected and how to behave. Dogs find secuThe first day I got Harry, who was wild rity in this. Basic obedience training needs from being kept on a short rope, we went consistency and earned trust.

no legal area to practice training creates training and recreation obstacles for the largest active single user group of parks — dog owners. Despite the lack of dog owner recreation areas still imposed upon us by our politicians and community board, we still must train our dogs. For instance, even though using a leash more than 6 feet long is illegal, and I cannot recommend it, I use a 30-foot leash for obedience practice at unbusy times in the Hudson River park. With new dogs or fostered dogs, I often hire trainers/consultants to keep me abreast of innovations as products and training hacks evolve. It is best to keep training sessions short for regular enrichment activities, Photo by Lynn Pacifico using positive techniques and high-value treats. If frustration comes up during trainThe photo illustrates three pups re- ing, then stop since one short burst of anger sponding to their owner’s voice. They had can wipe out months of training and you been playing with leashes on but nobody can’t take it back. I cannot overemphasize the benefits holding the leashes. Their expressions and abrupt turning to see what their leader of voice control since it makes life with a dog safer and easier, and responsible wanted demonstrate owner voice control. owners with well-behaved dogs are often The owner or owners of these dogs welcome socially. I hope that our commuearned their love and respect because they nity helps us find adequate, safe recreation took their responsibility seriously and trained their dogs. Yet, they let their dogs areas to support us in being responsible run illegally. Why would an obviously re- dog owners. When Harry passed, I received more than 60 letters of condolence sponsible citizen do that? It’s because of the frustration that so and vases of flowers appeared at my door. many Downtown dog owners live with on He was a great partner and canine good a daily basis, since there are no off-leash ar- citizen. eas here, like there are all over the city. Dog Pacifico is a fourth-generation Villager owners lost the use of JJ Walker’s multi-use field, which was our off-leash area. Having who loves dogs, nature and New York City. 23

The Village Sun • November 2023