WestView
The New Voice of the West Village
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 6
Complimentary Copy
June 2011
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Editorial
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As healthcare juggernaut NS-LIJ stresses its $110 million walk-in, walk-out health clinic plan as the only viable solution for the West Village – residents remind them that we already have the hospital we want. By George Capsis It was expected that the nearly packed auditorium of P.S. 41 was collectively out to eviscerate the executives of North Shore-LIJ Health System at the Community Board 2 meeting on the evening of May 31. Instead, it was vigorous NS-LIJ supportive applause that was heard from seemingly strategically spotted audience members. Among those that took to the microphone to speak in favor of the plan was a medical union executive, who read a statement prepared for him. An obvious set up. NS-LIJ even had the chutzpah to prepare a huge expensive color poster set up on an easel emblazoned with the phony Westside Healthcare Coalition (WHC) they had concocted. WHC Chairman,
former Mayor Ed Koch, had e-mailed West Villagers two weeks earlier urging them to show up to the hearing and support the WHC plan. But neither Koch, nor any of our current politicians, showed for the event – they never do. Koch even had Rudin Management Company (who are busy working on condo plans for the remainder of the St. Vincent’s site) to provide WestView with answers to our questions about information discrepancies in the e-mail invitation he had apparently sent to residents. Michael Dowling, NS-LIJ president and CEO – who had spent 12 years in Albany working in the Cuomo administration, including seven years as the state director of Health, Education and Human Services – got up and gave a glowing portrait of his organization. It is one of
“NO. I WILL NOT STOP.”: George Capsis, WestView Publisher, speaking at the rally held to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the closing of St. Vincent’s. Photo by Maggie Berkvist.
the very few financially successful hospitals in the country, he said. “We have 15 hospitals…9,000 physicians…We are the largest hospital in New York.” And he repeated their desire to come to Manhattan.
(They took over the financially defunct Lenox Hill Hospital last year.) The audience listened quietly until Dowling announced, “I personally do not continued on page 3
ROARING TWENTIES: Dry Agents Seize Alcohol in Barrels, Stored in Perfume Establishment at Hudson and 11th Street, 1922. From the Collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
REMEMBERING YESTERDAY: Dedication of the Washington Arch, April 5, 1892. From the Collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
Village’s Past, Present and Future The Village has transformed over the centuries from farmland to row houses to tenements to luxury condominiums — but how does a district that has long celebrated newcomers and defiant outsiders balance old and new? WestView readers are invited to join historians, planners and community leaders for an evening of discussion about our important section of New York City and what its future might hold on Wednesday, June 8, 2011, at 6.30 p.m at the Museum
of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street. Titled, “Greenwich Village: Past, Present, and Future,” the discussion, led by Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, is part of an ongoing Urban Forum series called New York Neighborhoods: Preservation and Development. Tickets are just $6 when you mention WestView, but reservations are required. Call 917-4923395, or e-mail programs@mcny.org.
Upper East Side: 325,000 people = SIX Hospitals Lower West Side: 385,000 people = ZERO Hospitals See page 9
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WestView Published by WestView, Inc. by and for the residents of the West Village.
WestViews Why I Won’t Give Up A letter from the publisher, George Capsis.
Publisher Executive Editor George Capsis Chief Financial Officer Peter White Managing Editor Romy Ranalli Copy Editor Bonnie Rosenstock Designer Yodit Tesfaye Walker Picture Editors Maggie Berkvist, Adam Schartoff Events Editor/Designer Stephanie Phelan Cartoonists & Illustrators Dick Sebastian, Lee Lorenz Contributors Jen Benepe Maggie Berkvist Andrew Berman Jennifer Davis Jeyandini Fernando Jim Fouratt George Goss Tracey Harden Dr. David Kaufman Yetta Kurland Angela Manno Keith Michael Michael D. Minichiello Stephanie Phelan David A. Porat Barbara Riddle-Dvorak Chris Sherman Kitty Sorrell Henry Stern Henry J. Stern
Distribution Manager George Goss
Photographer Maggie Berkvist
We endeavor to publish all letters received including those we disagree with. The opinions put forth by contributors to WestView do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or editor. WestView welcomes your correspondence, comments, and corrections: editor@westviewnews.org www.westviewnews.org
“You are doing too much St. Vincent’s. People want to read a general interest paper. They will stop reading WestView.” With increasing frequency, I have been hearing complaints like this. At my age, I have disciplined myself to listen, just listen. If you offer no resistance, people stumble on, looking in vain for seemingly rational arguments for an emotional prejudice. Sure, it is unprecedented that even a small local newspaper should do three, four and even ten articles on one subject, issue after issue. But allowing a 25-year-old, 340-bed hospital building (the Coleman Building) to be turned into luxury condominiums for profit makes no sense to me. None. I am outraged how two billion-dollar corporations are paying one of the most amoral political PR agencies hundreds of thousands of dollars to lie and deceive this community, bureaucrats and even our elected officials. I feel revulsion at the image of Rudin’s chief operating officer and executive vice president John Gilbert, visiting his former boss Ed Koch (who is living in a rent-stabilized apartment in a Rudin building) and offering the former mayor the results of a phony mailing to convince him to be the
public face of a front group. It is a group created by none other than the developers themselves to trick the community into believing a walk-in clinic will save their life when they have a heart attack. I ask my critics to imagine my experience when my wife, at 4 a.m. on a freezing winter night, discovered, while on blood thinners, that her bleeding nose would not stop flowing. Then, with fear in her eyes, we walked to the St. Vincent’s emergency room. Yesterday, a neighbor and friend thanked me for my St. Vincent’s coverage. “My son’s life was saved in the St. Vincent’s emergency room,” she declared. No. I will not stop. Every name that is sent to us is one name that the Rudin family cannot claim for their fraudulent campaign. To join the growing list asking the Rudin real estate family to give back our hospital in exchange for the remaining St. Vincent’s buildings email us at stories@ westviewnews.org. I thank the following readers for their support of our efforts: Marie & Alexander Warren, Lois Sperakis, Mary Mastrogiovanni, Charles Baker, Joan Klyhn, Gustavo Perez, Sharon Leo, Judith Eisenberg, Pamela L. La Bonne, Peter and Ginette Saadeh, MD, Joseph M.
Misiti, Tim Ferguson, Vince Martin, Joan Hall, Pudino. “A fully-fledged hospital in the Village!” —Dawn Echevez “St. Vincent’s ER saved my father’s life!” —Nancy Fisher “Strictly, we live in Greenwich Village and not in the West Village. Still, we felt safe with St. Vincent’s around the corner.” —Jack Berk “We’re with you. Thanks for your efforts.” —Michael Rampello “Keep fighting.” —Jimmy Hedge “Keep up the good work!” —Peter Alson “Thank you for your persistence. Without it, and the support of all our neighbors, we can’t push back the Rudin/NS-LIJ steamroller heading our way. We must return a hospital to the West Village with a Level One trauma center. There is simply no other option to address the needs - and rights - of our community. In solidarity.” —Vicki Polon, President, West Tenth Block Association. WestView is put together by your West Village neighbors each month. To support our efforts with your time or generous donation, please contact me. George Capsis Publisher 69 Charles Street New York, N.Y. 10014 Telephone: 212-924-5718 editor@westviewnews.org
June 2011 WestView 3
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see a hospital being built here.” With this, the audience broke into one exclamation of protest. “Boo, Boo.” Dowling tried to recover. “I understand. I am giving you my personal opinion. It is not going to happen, given the current financial situation of the state and given the current financial situation [of the economy].” He then observed correctly, “I don’t think that will make you happy.” No, it does not. Attorney Yetta Kurland used her allotted two minutes at the microphone to ask
the audience if they knew who had made the following statement: “The lack of a world-class hospital will not only jeopardize the West Side population, but also threaten New York’s future competitiveness as a city.” She told us it was Bill Rudin, being quoted in The Times in 2008, while pushing to demolish the O’Toole Building and replace it with a new $700 million hospital. Former St. Vincent’s nurse Eileen Dunn cataloged the failures of exurban clinics similar to the one being proposed by NS-LIJ. She then went back more than a year to when Mount Sinai was ready to take over St. Vincent’s and it needed only a “yes” from then state health commis-
sioner, the late Dr. Richard Daines. Dunn announced that she had reliable information that it was not, in fact, Daines who had said “no” – the decision was made by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. I began my speech by recalling that three of my children graduated from P.S. 41 in the very same auditorium we were in now (sweet memories). I then recounted how one bitter February night, my wife Maggie, with a stent to her heart and on blood thinners, began to bleed from her nose and it just would not stop, and for the first time in my fiftyyear marriage I saw fear in my wife’s eyes. We dressed and walked to the emergency room of St. Vincent’s and Maggie was suc-
cessfully treated. I continued, “We have heard, several times, from Mr. Dowling, that they will never build a hospital in this community. ‘Face it – nobody has the money,’ they say. He said that it would cost $80 million. But wait a second. When you leave this auditorium, go west to 7th Avenue. You will see a 25-year-old hospital sitting there, it’s massive. “Just one year ago it was an emergency room and a 340-bed hospital!” Turning to Michael Dowling, I shouted, “TAKE THAT $100 MILLION DOLLARS AND OPEN IT!” And then the audience began to repeat – “Open it! Open it! Open it!”
Natural Gas, Not-so-Natural Disaster There’s a proposal to run a high-pressure gas pipeline into the West Village. Here’s the rundown, and a petition to register your opinion. By Jennifer Davis Spectra Energy is currently pushing for approval of a proposed 30- to 42-inch highpressure gas pipeline, known as The NJNY Expansion Project. Construction could begin as early as next year with plans to run the pipeline through Linden, Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken and Staten Island before it enters Manhattan at Gansevoort and West Streets. In September, 2010 in suburban San Bruno, CA, a faulty weld in a pipeline slightly smaller than the one proposed for our neighborhood, running at partial pressure, caused a fiery explosion that blew a crater four stories deep and caused eight deaths. Many San Bruno residents had not been aware that a pipeline existed near their homes. The same situation may exist here. Despite Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s pledge to inform residents of the proposed pipeline, few seem to know about it. Pipelines are dangerous. A CBS News investigation in April reported that in 2010, there were at least 6,500 spills, leaks, fires or explosions nationwide at wells and pipelines. In that report, oil and gas safety expert Mike Sawyer said, “Sometimes every couple of hours there’s a new incident.” Most “incidents” occur in lightly populated areas and go unreported by the media. Carl Weimer, executive director of the advocacy group Pipeline Safety Trust says, “Every nine or ten days, on average, someone ends up dead or in the hospital from these pipelines.” Some of the causes for pipeline catastrophes include human error during construction, maintenance or excavation, lack of maintenance, corrosion, natural disasters and terrorism. This pipeline will carry Marcellus Shale gas to New York — gas that is extracted using the controversial method known as
“fracking.” In this process, millions of gallons of water, along with a mix of chemicals, many of them toxic or carcinogenic, are forced miles underground into shale formations containing trapped methane. This pressure fractures the shale to release methane. A majority of the methane and the now toxic, often radioactive water (known as “frack fluid” or “flowback water”) is then collected. Excess methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is “flared” (burned off ) directly into the atmosphere. The uncollected frack fluid is left underground, where it has the potential to migrate towards aquifers. The 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary, “Gasland,” demonstrates how some residents in areas where drilling has occurred can set their tap water on fire. Mayor Bloomberg has declared fracking unsafe for our watershed, which supplies pure, unfiltered drinking water to over 15 million people. However, Bloomberg has simultaneously created a mandate to convert city power plants, buses and boilers (with ConEd incentives) to methane under the premise that natural gas is “clean.” Even calling it “natural” implies wholesomeness. However, the carbon footprint of fracked gas is larger than that of both coal and oil if it is examined from extraction through combustion. A paper published by Cornell University in 2010 states, “The footprint for shale gas is greater than that for conventional gas or oil when viewed on any time horizon, but particularly so over 20 years. Compared to coal, the footprint of shale gas is at least 20% greater and perhaps more than twice as great on the 20year horizon.” The pipeline is being touted as a way to “energy independence.” According to Spectra, only 20% of the pipeline’s capacity is currently contracted, leading to speculation that the true goal is actually foreign
GET THE FRACK OUT OF MY NEIGHBORHOOD: This photograph shows the extrapolated fire radius of a proposed 30-inch gas pipeline that is proposed to enter the West Village at Gansevoort Street.
export, not energy independence. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review found foreign companies investing heavily in Marcellus drilling projects while making plans for facilities to ship liquefied natural gas overseas. Says Pittsburgh Councilman Doug Shields, “They’re going to come in, extract all this stuff for next to nothing, and make global profits off it. This is beads for Manhattan, in a global sense.” Spectra is operating through its subsidiaries as Texas Eastern Transmission, LP and Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC. Should this 30-inch-high-pressure pipeline be allowed to endanger the historic West Village? This pipeline has the potential to eradicate many blocks of highly trafficked tourist areas and irreplaceable buildings, art and infrastructure. It would be just a few blocks from The Standard and Gansevoort hotels, the High Line, the Whitney Museum currently under con-
struction, and the many stores, restaurants, homes and schools that pack this corner of the Village. Should a pipeline breach happen, casualties would be multiplied by the lack of a nearby emergency care facility due to the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital. The death toll could be staggering, the monetary loss in billions. There are alternatives. According to a recent Stanford University study, by aggressively implementing currently available technologies, the city could be powered with truly clean renewable resources by 2030. Only a lack of political will stands in our way. What New Yorker would choose spending on potentially harmful infrastructure to benefit major corporations over investing in clean, renewable technology if they knew they had a choice? To sign a petition against the NJ-NY Expansion Project, go to change.org. The petition is titled “Stop the Pipeline!”
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4 WestView June 2011 Editorial
What Do You Do If You Can’t Run An Ad in The Times? Perseverance paid off when the country’s most influential newsmakers published the results of a medical research study that proves the Rudin real estate family’s healthcare solution is wrong. By George Capsis It hit me hard that WestView had no chance going up against one of the most ruthless political PR firms in the city. SKDKnickerbocker was funded by tens of thousands of dollars from the Rudin Management Company and North ShoreLong Island Jewish Health System. They could, as they did with bemused snickers, create a phony grassroots organization and mail out phony reply cards to fool West Villagers into thinking that a walk-in, walk-out clinic was a replacement for an emergency room, where your chest could be cut open to fix an artery blockage to your heart. They could, and did, get an appearance before the editorial committees of The New York Times and business journal Crain’s to make a case for this same walk-in, walk-out band-aid facility — and argued that only two or three people come in each day with a heart attack or stroke, and they can always pick up the phone and call 911 to take these very few to a for-real emergency room. OK, so a few will die waiting for the ambulance or in traffic — but hey, that’s business. WestView is one small voice, and they are billion-dollar corporations who pay the best liars for the best lies to get what they want. I needed to get to The New York Times. So I e-mailed and telephoned Anemona Hartocollis, who has been doing articles on the demise of St. Vincent’s without success. As she told me later, she was in Greece for Easter. So, as both a stockholder and a member of the press, I went on Wednesday, April 27, to The New York Times stockholder meeting. With not too many stockholders and only me and the Wall Street Journal as press, I had a nice seat down front and two copies of the annual report. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., the paper’s publisher and chairman, took the podium and acknowledged with a downward glance the attendance of his father, Arthur “Punch” Sulzberger, who sat rigid and expressionless in a wheelchair, and as I learned from Google later, had suffered a stroke and shared my age. The theme of Sulzberger’s talk was the
movement to becoming an on-line publication, how they were getting advertisers, that they were able to get readers to pay to read the electronic version and debt was down to only half a billion. I thought how nuts it was for me to believe that if The Times is struggling to survive, how could I get advertisers and subscribers to keep one small local paper going. But then again, maybe enough people will e-mail me $12 to learn how small men who inherited big money are willing to trade your life for 300 luxury condominiums. Sulzberger opened the meeting to questions. I stiffly made my way to the microphone behind several other speakers, who had complained about their inadequate Times pension plans and the lack of dividends. So he had an arched, fretful guarded look on his face as I started to speak. “My name is George Capsis, and I am the publisher and executive editor of WestView. WestView is the newspaper of the West Village. On the morning of April 7, I received a reply card from the Westside Healthcare Coalition quoting The New York Times. “The quote was on the front of this reply card.” I held up the card. “It says, in effect, that a clinic, in the former Maritime Union Building, will provide a 24-hour emergency care and ambulatory surgery. According to Dr. David Kaufman, who spent 30 years at St. Vincent’s, this statement is not true. “It was lifted from an article written on March 31, by a New York Times writer. In that article she fairly quoted Dr. Kaufman, but in the direct mail piece there was no reference to Dr. Kaufman. “This direct mail piece was created by a public relations agency. The agency is SKDKnickerbocker.” At this point Sulzberger gave a smile of recognition. I continued. “I see a smile here — this is a very powerful PR agency. Mayor Bloomberg retained them when his image was waning during the last election. Bloomberg gave them $16.5 million to reverse his negative image. “For the last six months, Rudin, the developer trying to purchase the 11 St. Vincent’s buildings, has retained this PR
BANG: Right on the front cover of the fraudulent, six-panel-color mailer, sent by SKDKnickerbocker/Rudin, the familiar and venerable logo of The New York Times, is plastered in an attempt to give validity to the North Shore-LIJ walk-in clinic proposed for the decaying, asbestos-lined, rat infested O’Toole Building.
agency. I went to the offices of the Westside Healthcare Coalition only to discover it was the office of the PR firm. “John J. Gilbert, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Rudin Company, used to work for former mayor Ed Koch during his administration. “When I questioned the validity of their phony coalition, I received an e-mail from them with a statement by the former mayor that he was the chairman of the Westside Healthcare Coalition. “I have phoned and e-mailed Ms. Hartocollis, who has been following St. Vincent’s for The Times, but she has yet to respond. “What I am here for today is to elicit the help of The Times to expose a practice, which is very prevalent today. It is called astroturfing; that is, creating a phony grassroots organization to achieve the ends of a paid sponsor. This organization has no members and has no validity trading on my name, the name of my paper or the name of Dr. Kaufman’s coalition.” A seemingly relieved Sulzberger followed quickly. “A few rows back is Bill Schmidt, our deputy managing editor,” he said. “And if you can give him the information, we can take it from there.” As the meeting ended, Schmidt made his way to my seat, and I offered him the last issue of WestView. We have had a very responsive exchange of e-mails. But on May 1, The Times published a half-page color advertisement from the North Shore-LIJ home care net-
work offering home care in Manhattan. I bet that cost a lot. Just like the Rudin’s phony mailing campaign. The mailer billboards The Times quote, “The plan would provide 24-hour emergency care and ambulatory surgery.” But the rest of the quoted Times’ sentence is not seen, of course. It finished, “…but not the urgent services of a full hospital.” Ambulatory surgery means you have to walk in, be operated on and walk out —it means no beds. Try that with open-heart surgery. So how, I asked myself, do you fight two multi-billion-dollar corporations, who can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to employ one of the most ruthless and amoral political PR agencies in the city to lie and lie expensively in color brochures with postage paid reply cards when you are just one small monthly community newspaper? You get The New York Times to tell the truth. My plea to Times CEO Arthur Sulzberger paid off on May 18. An article, “Fewer Emergency Rooms Available as Need Rises,” by Roni Carin Rabin, reported on a recent study by the American Medical Association and featured comments by Dr. David Kaufman.
You can read Dr. Kaufman’s comments to The Times, and how this important study backs what we have been saying since this Urgent Care Center charade began, on the next page.
June 2011 WestView 5
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Emergency Room Study Proves Rudin Wrong By George Capsis And now, in talking about the proposed North Shore-LIJ walk-in, walk-out clinic, we have The New York Times: “Neighborhood advocates have expressed concern that the free-standing emergency room will not be able to deliver adequate care without the backing of a full-service acute-care hospital.” — The New York Times, May 17, 2011, page 13. The article is one of many published across America examining the alarming results of a study published in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association on the loss of city emergency rooms as financially troubled hospitals close. But with no insurance, more and more “urban poor” are using emergency rooms; use is up 35 percent. “Emergency rooms at commercially operated hospitals and those with low profit margins were almost twice as likely as other hospitals to close,” Dr. Renee Y. Hsia, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and the lead author of the study, told The Times. “So-called safety-net hospitals that serve disproportionate numbers of Medicaid patients and hospitals serving a large share of the poor were 40 percent more likely to close,” explained Dr. Hsia to Times reporter Roni Carin Rabin. It was the commitment of the Sisters of Charity, who ran our own shuttered St. Vincent’s to “serve the poor,” that accelerated its bankruptcy. As the ambulance attendant who carted me to Beth Israel emergency room just several weeks ago said, “Rich people go to good hospitals – poor people to the others. St. Vincent’s took everybody.” As we have reported on several occasions, The Times explained how seven New York City hospital emergency rooms have closed since 2008. There were three closures in 2008, two the next year and two more last year, with St. Vincent’s first and then North General Hospital in Harlem. There had been 60,000 emergency visits
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during St. Vincent’s final year of operation. The Times said North General’s ER had recorded 36,000 annual visits. Dr. Hsia argues, “Market forces play a larger role in the distribution and availability of care. We can’t expect the market to allocate critical resources like these in an equitable way.” With inevitable cutbacks in Medicare this year, we can expect even more people in emergency rooms. New healthcare laws are set to make more people eligible for Medicaid. But not all doctors accept Medicaid payments, forcing recipients to emergency rooms, which are required by law to treat everyone. Dr. Sandra M. Schneider, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, told The Times, “There’s a concern that there will be nowhere for them to go.” Dr. David Kaufman has shared the same message in this paper before. Dr. Kaufman told The Times that it was taking patients who would have sought care at St. Vincent’s longer to get to nearby hospitals in New York City traffic. “They’re waiting many, many hours to be seen and managed. And if they require admission, they have to wait another 12 to 24 hours because there are no beds.” Bill Rudin feels that, by offering $260 million, he has the right to take our hospital and convert it into luxury condominiums, whose tenants will go uptown by private ambulance to New York Presbyterian. But if you have a gripping pain in your chest and make the mistake of going to the North Shore-LIJ in-and-out clinic, you will need to call 911. And depending on traffic, you may not make it.
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6 WestView May 2011
Bellevue Doc Blasts Free-Standing ERs Dr. Lewis Goldfrank says that facilities like the one proposed for our neighborhood don’t give patients what they need, and can even put their lives at risk. A recent story on WNYC had an unexpected message from the head of one of the busiest hospital emergency rooms in the country. Bellevue head of emergency, Dr. Lewis Goldfrank, was featured in a report on how the comprehensive care center destined to replace St. Vincent’s, was part of a larger healthcare debate. Dr. Goldfrank’s strong statement against the emergency care solution that North Shore-LIJ are trying to convince us is in the community’s best interest, proved, as WNYC reporter Fred Mogul exclaimed, “That the skeptics aren’t just West Village hard-liners pining for a new St. Vincent’s.” Mogul said, “Dr. Lewis Goldfrank, the head of emergency medicine, said a freestanding ER doesn’t give patients what they need – and could dupe them into coming to the wrong place.” Dr Goldfrank has run the Bellevue ER for more than 30 years. “If someone’s got pain of the abdomen, it might just be a bad sausage, he told WNYC. “On the other hand, it could be a ruptured aortic aneurysm. “The patient is not supposed to know the difference; we’re supposed to know the difference. And that needs some testing, and
NEW ALLY: Dr. Lewis Goldfrank, the head of Emergency Medicine at Bellevue Hospital, says that free-standing emergency departments can dupe patients into coming to the wrong facility.
it needs some rapid action to do the things that have to be done. You need to be in a place where there’s an operating room.” The story also explored an aspect of the Urgent Care Center solution that WestView has been worried about since the plan was first announced. If someone is having a heart attack, stroke
or suffering a serious trauma injury – is getting them from the center to a real emergency room going to waste precious time? Goldfrank said transferring can mean losing precious minutes. Meanwhile, North Shore-LIJ, insist that transfering patients would not occur very often.
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J. Carleton Wiggins (1848-1932) Guy C. Wiggins (1883-1962) Guy A. Wiggins (1920- )
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“Silvery Days, November,” Guy C. Wiggins (1883-1962) Oil on canvas, 25.4 x 30
They believe 94 percent of patients presenting at the center will not be sick enough to require hospital admission. The WNYC report raised a very valid point about people being forced to head to an ER because of a lack of access to primary care and the discussions over how best to serve a community’s needs. Goldfrank told WNYC, “The proposed new ER at the old St. Vincent’s site is creating more demand for the wrong kind of healthcare. If people try to run more emergency departments, you’ll attract more people there, because, in theory, it’ll be faster and get people things for immediate gratification,” he said. “Emergency departments are a second choice for everyone. Everyone should have a first choice, which is a primary care doctor, who can say, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow morning,’ or ‘I can assure you, it’s not a critical problem.” But what about the almost 13,500 who presented to St. Vincent’s Hospital in its last year of operation who were sick enough to be admitted immediately? The total number of people seen by St. Vincents ER in 2009 was just over 60,000. Half of those people are probably now going to Beth Israel, and the increase in numbers to Bellevue show the other half are probably heading there. Patients’ numbers at Bellevue ER have jumped from 80,000 a year to about 110,000 since St. Vincent’s closed.
“The Sheep Cove” J. Carleton Wiggins (1848-1932) Oil on canvas, 13 x 16
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“The New York Stock Exchange” Guy A. Wiggins, (1920- ) Oil on canvas, 24 x 22
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June 2011 WestView 7
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Of Politicians and Principles NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has said that he supports our efforts to bring a real hospital to our community. That’s good, because he will soon rule on the Rudin/North Shore-LIJ “stand-alone” emergency department. Here’s how you can show your support. By Yetta G. Kurland The proposed replacement of St. Vincent’s Hospital with luxury condominiums and an all-hours health clinic is part of a dangerous pattern of rationing healthcare according to wealth and geography. But the plan is not a done deal. The hospital’s new owner, real estate juggernaut Rudin Management Company, with its healthcare partner, North ShoreLIJ Health System, must yet go through a long process. At every turn, the Coalition for a New Village Hospital will demand, cajole, persuade and pressure for a better solution. A solution that recognizes the long term needs of this community and city. The next step in this process requires the Rudin plan to go before New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. Luckily, Schneiderman has made very clear that he supports our community’s efforts for a hospital. Last year, just before becoming Attorney General, while still a state senator, he said, “Unless a 24-hour acute care hospital with
an emergency room opens in this neighborhood, entire communities of New Yorkers will go without the adequate health services they deserve. The bottom line is, the west Side of Manhattan both deserves and needs an acute care hospital with an emergency room. Anything and everything should be done to make certain that becomes a reality.” That is the kind of bold stance that New York needs from our leaders. Now it is up to us to support Schneiderman in making his principled position a reality. Please sign the petition to Attorney General Schneiderman to use the power of his office to reject the dangerous Rudin plan. You can access the petition online at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/NewVillage-Hospital-Schneiderman/ Last month, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a report on the state of emergency medicine in America. (See story page 5.) That report concluded that emergency rooms were closing at an alarming rate, and that those serving the urban middle class and poor were most at risk. As the New York City establishment
PROMISES, PROMISES: Will Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, shown at right with Governor Andrew Cuomo, stand by his preelection commitment?
watches this slow-motion health disaster unfold, the need for emergency rooms is increasing. Under the Affordable Care Act, millions more Americans will get access to health insurance over the next four years and, therefore, the demand will continue to increase. Regrettably, those arguing for limited access may include the Health Commissioner of the State of New York, who has remained sphinx-like as his constituents, the people of the Lower West Side, have seen St. Vincent’s evaporate before their unbelieving eyes. The rationale appears to be that the concerns of investors and creditors must be put before the healthcare of entire diverse communities. This is not only unjust; it is
penny-wise and pound-foolish. The demand for a hospital on the Lower West Side is so apparent and so large that there is little question of the economic viability of a 200-plus-bed hospital in the area. The ripple effects of a hospital are more vastly superior for the economy of New York City than residential development. Hospitals create good jobs – the kind that can never be outsourced abroad – and a healthier and more productive community. And where better to build such a facility than on the site of the former St. Vincent’s? Costs for refurbishing an existing facility are approximately 20 cents on the dollar of building a new facility. A full-service hospital could be built in the Coleman Building for only a fractional increase in the projected cost of the Rudin/North Shore-LIJ phony “stand-alone” department. The short-term demands of real estate developers and political elites are attempting to trump the health of our community, and it is not always easy for elected officials to stand up for what is right. Pressure from powerful real estate interests can make such principles hard to fulfill. As our community unites, we can strengthen the resolve of those with power and win a hospital for our community.
Yetta G. Kurland is an attorney and cofounder of the Coalition for a New Village Hospital.
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8 WestView June 2011
‘Woodman, Spare that Tree!’ A neighbor laments the impending loss of a venerable crabapple tree at the center of St. Luke’s garden that is about to become firewood. By Angela Manno The sign at the opening to St. Luke in the Fields meditation garden on Hudson and Barrow hit me hard, announcing that the venerable crabapple tree at its center must go. It said the tree was planted over 60 years ago, in the 1950s, and half its limbs had been removed. Many branches had to be pruned, reducing its blossoms, and the tree is nearing the end of its lifespan. But I thought, “So what?” I’ve cultivated fruit trees and know felling a tree of this kind is a judgment call. Older trees can last for many years beyond their expected lifetime. And it is precisely because of their age that they give so much pleasure and nourishment. To my mind, and to many others whom I interviewed in the garden, the meditation garden will be irrevocably scarred with the cutting down of this central feature — a landmark in itself at 60 years old (and a youngster at that, compared to the other landmarks in the West Village), shelter to Mourning Doves, Robins, Grackles, pi-
geons, Warblers, Sparrows, squirrels, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Chickadees, Cardinals and Blue Jays, not to mention the provider of shade and solace and beauty for us humans in the middle of the bustling Village. St. Luke’s explains that the center of the Barrow Street garden will be reconfigured and a Yellowwood will replace the crabapple tree. “The garden’s center will become a new area, for quiet reflection, with more seating and new plantings.” An old-growth tree cannot be quantified. While to some it’s a liability, to others it’s an irreplaceable asset. (In fact, I’ve offered St. Luke’s money not to cut down this dear friend.) Professionals regard the felling of such trees as needed “improvements” — even stewardship — while others see it as devastation. As an important community resource, there should be a conversation about this. And what is the price tag for these improvements? $30,000. That could feed a lot of people, provide seed money for an important new program, buy a lot of
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QUIET REFLECTION: On a late spring day the threatened crabapple spreads shade in the center of the garden at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields at Hudson and Barrow Streets. The garden will soon undergo a $30,000 renovation. Photo by Maggie Berkvist.
books. Where are our priorities in a time of so much real need? Instead of destroying it, this venerable
old tree ought to be protected as a community landmark, and the money better spent somewhere else.
June 2011 WestView 9
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Westside Health Fix Needs Uptown Shift By Dr. David Kaufman The Upper East Side and East Harlem have a population of 325,286 – about 60,000 fewer people than here on the Lower West Side. What do all those people do for healthcare? What are the hospital and emergency room resources in their community? Hold onto your hats and try not to have heart attack as you read these statistics: ■ New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center – 867 beds and a full-service emergency room. ■ Mt. Sinai Hospital — 1,171 beds and a full-service emergency room. ■ Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center – 437 beds and a full-service emergency room. ■ Metropolitan Hospital – 341 beds and a full-service emergency room ■ Hospital for Special Surgery – 172 beds and limited emergency services. ■ Lenox Hill Hospital, North ShoreLIJ’s latest acquisition – 652 beds and a full-service emergency room. That’s 3,940 beds for 325,286 people, or one bed per 82 persons and includes FIVE full-service emergency rooms with all the bells and whistles - all the medical and surgical backup required to do the job right. What do WE have? NOTHING. We have zero beds for 385,000 people, or close to a million, if you include the commuters and tourists that come through each day. In some circles, that would be called criminal policy and planning. I suspect most developing countries have better bed ratios than zero per 385,000. How do you explain the decision by city and state officials, the guardians of your health and mine – the Department of Health – to leave all 385,000 of us with NO hospital, NO Emergency Room and NO critical services, while five miles north of here there are 4,000 beds for 60,000 fewer people? We are up against a government mindset that insists New York State has too many hospital beds and that the only way to solve our financial healthcare problems is to close beds and hospitals. Let’s just assume that the New York State Department of Health (DOH) and the so-called healthcare experts are correct. How do they implement this decision, how do they get rid of beds? It’s a fair question and one would think that experts like these would approach the challenge rationally and carefully. But the utterly astonishing fact is, they do not. They give no thought to the distribution of beds – all they care about is shutting them down. Community needs, bed per person ratios, socioeconomic issues are all irrelevant. Community Board 2’s Brad Hoylman (who is running unopposed for chair in next month’s election) says the only solu-
“IT’S CRIMINAL”: Former St. Vincent’s physician, Dr. David Kaufman, speaking at the rally held to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the closing of St. Vincent’s. Photo by Maggie Berkvist.
tion is for an institution to come forward and publicly embrace the idea that they could buy the Coleman Building and build a Level 1 Trauma Center. In an e-mail Hoylman said, “Some institution needs to raise their hand and go on record saying they could do it. So far, it’s been radio silence from them, which leads the policymakers, in my opinion, to believe it’s not feasible.” But as we have heard many times, and as has been confirmed independently by multiple sources, including NS-LIJ Senior Vice President Jeffrey Kraut, Mt. Sinai Hospital was ready, willing and able to step forward and take over St. Vincent’s while it was still open! They understood the need, saw the value, believed after hundreds of hours of due diligence, that old St. Vincent’s buildings were still viable and were convinced it was a financially viable project. This plan was absolutely blocked by the late Dr. Richard F. Daines, the former state health commissioner, and the DOH. We now are beginning to hear rumors that the command came from Mayor Michael Bloomberg himself! We have also heard that NYU Langone Medical Center was interested, but was told by the DOH to back off. Why? How can a hospital step forward unless the DOH indicates their willingness to support a new facility, or unless the politicians have the courage and force to persuade the DOH to do the right thing? Over the last 12 months, the 61,394 peo-
ple previously cared for in the St. Vincent’s emergency room have had to travel one to five miles through traffic in trips lasting 20 to 60 minutes to get emergency services. In 2009, 13,572 people were so sick, so acutely ill, that they required immediate admission to St. Vincent’s for treatment of their heart attacks, strokes, pneumonias, perforated organs, injuries, etc. What has happened to those patients over the last 52 weeks? Does anyone really know? How many people never made it to an ER? How many suffered in pain while waiting for care? How many had more damage to their hearts or brains because of delays in transportation, triage and management? How many died? These are not rhetorical, melodramatic questions. These are life and death questions, and the lack of answers, the utter disregard of these facts, puts my life and yours in danger every day. Our politicians - Cuomo, Bloomberg, Duane, Gottfried and Quinn – those we elected to be responsible for our community’s health and welfare – don’t have any of those answers. Their statistics machine is broken, their multi-million-dollar PR operations are eerily silent. No answers. Nothing. Instead of answers, they insult us by offering an “urgent” care center, calling it an “Emergency Room.” Yet it will be unable to treat strokes, heart attacks, category one trauma, etc., and they insist we are lucky to even get this because it is better than nothing.
Our elected officials have a lot of power – they just have to decide to use it. The DOH should not be dictating to the elected officials, whose job it is to thoughtfully and diligently do the right thing for the health and welfare of their constituents. The other common response to our arguments for a hospital is the question, “Where will the money come from?” The American Medical Centers can, and do, easily go to the bond markets for funding at extremely favorable rates, and they have billions in the bank (NYU $2 billion, NS-LIJ $2 billion). Furthermore, the state has the funds from HEAL (Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers Capital Grant Program) that at last count was about $680 million and earmarked for hospitals. But again, no financing will come forward, or can be raised, unless it is clear that the DOH and politicians support this need for a hospital. It is sadly ironic that the DOH will, however, bend all the rules, try to change all the regulations and 911 procedures in order to let North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System establish this pathetic substitute for a hospital and emergency room. NS-LIJ has been offered the O’Toole Building by the Bankruptcy Court for free. Last year, NS-LIJ took over Lenox Hill Hospital in a community that, as I have just described, is practically drowning in beds. Lenox Hill, even with the marketing might and deep pockets of NS-LIJ, will be hard-pressed to compete with the likes of Sinai, Sloan, HSS and NYU. But, here, in the West Village, is a huge empty hospital campus and all around us are 385,000 patients – customers – with no hospital, no services, and we are desperate for help. So I say to NS-LIJ, come on down. Move the entire Lenox Hill Hospital Downtown. Bring the doctors, bring the nurses, the support staff, the beds, the fancy equipment, bring it all, and we will fill your beds. We’ll even be getting a lot of our great St. Vincent’s docs back since Lenox Hill recruited so many of them. In exchange, let the Rudins move Uptown to build their condos. Talk about prime real estate, we’re talking 76th and Park Avenue; it doesn’t get much better than that. And if NS-LIJ doesn’t need the entire St. Vincent’s campus, well, they can throw the Rudins a building or two to develop down here. Nobody loses a job, businesses would reopen in this ghost town, and we, the people, get our healthcare crisis resolved with the opening of new world-class, fullservice hospital and emergency room. Think of the good will generated, think of the fundraising opportunities, imagine the restoration of healthcare for 385,000 people. Everybody wins, nobody loses.
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10 WestView June 2011
The Supersizing of Chelsea Market Neighbors protest a plan to add an office tower and hotel atop the local landmark and tourist attraction. By Jeyandini Fernando Chelsea residents have vowed to fight a plan to add two tall towers above Chelsea Market, that would see a 12-story hotel and eight stories of office space built on top of the local landmark and tourist attraction. The building was bought by developer Jamestown Properties for $225 million earlier this year after they sold a nearby building on Eighth Avenue to Google for $1.9 billion. Jamestown owns One Times Square in addition to a stack of buildings across the country. Save Chelsea, a community-based organization dedicated to protecting the residential character of the neighborhood, has been organizing residents against the proposal. Lesley Doyel, the group’s copresident, told The New York Times that the New York City Department of City Planning was forced to release details of the plan after her group lodged a request under the freedom of information laws. The preservation group handed out flyers against the plan at a recent Community
Board 4 meeting. The group has been backed by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), who joined Save Chelsea in a presentation to Community Board 4 on June 1. Andrew Berman, GVSHP executive director, said The Chelsea Market complex consisted of several buildings constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco). Berman said GVSHP was able to get the complex listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places in 2007, as part of the Gansevoort Market Historic District, but the city, after initially indicating an interest in including it in the Historic District, excluded it in 2003. “This leaves the complex vulnerable to alteration, large additions, or even demolition,” Berman said. “The current zoning does not allow any additional construction on the site, but a new owner, Jamestown Properties, has expressed a desire to rezone the site to allow a commercial tower to be erected over the 10th Avenue end of the complex and a hotel at the 9th Avenue end.”
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BOUTIQUE HOTEL: Neighbors are saying “NO” to a 12-story addition.
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According to The Times, the proposed 12-story boutique hotel would be built above the Buddakan Restaurant on 9th Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets. A 250,000-square-foot glass office building would face 10th Avenue. Friends of the High Line, the non-profit devoted to building and maintaining the iconic park near the market, has come out in favor of the plan. The Georgia-based Jamestown Properties has promised the High Line $17 million if the plan goes ahead. The plan requires a change in the city’s zoning so it can be included in the Special West Chelsea District. Jamestown’s donation to the High Line would include a large mezzanine space, a freight elevator, access to a basement storage warehouse and building toilets. The park currently runs through the Meat-
packing District and will eventually run through Chelsea. Outside the market, shoppers had mixed views. David Lee Benson, who is raising his three girls in the neighborhood he grew up in, said the plan annoyed him. “Change is a great thing, but some things should just be left alone,” he said. He was surprised by the lack of community consideration. “If they want to drastically change our neighborhood, they should at least let us know, give us a chance to be involved.” “I really don’t think it’s that big a deal,” said Alaina Houghton, 26, a Chelsea resident for the past five years. “Times are changing and if it will bring more opportunities during this recession, I’m all for it.” Over three thousand people currently work in the food outlets, retail centers, offices and television production companies, including Oxygen and the Food Network in the area. The rezoning can only be enacted following a recommendation by the Borough President, and if approved by the City Council and the City Planning Commission.
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June 2011 WestView 11
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Then & Now
PIONEERING SPIRIT: A Jessie Tarbox Beals photo of Polly’s Restaurant, which she marketed as a postcard with one of her verses included, c.1910. Photograph by Jessie Tarbox Beals, Museum of the City of New York.
Jessie Tarbox Beals This pioneering female photojournalist gave us a lens onto our neighborhood during the first decades of the 20th century. By Maggie Berkvist IT HAD AN INDOMITABLE SOUND TO IT, and the name seems to have been a perfect fit for the determined woman to whom it belonged, an intrepid pioneer in the field of photojournalism in the early years of the 20th century. Though not exactly a household name today, when the photo collection at the Museum of the City of New York was digitized recently, it included a sizable portfolio of Jessie Tarbox Beals’ lively pictures of people and scenes in the West Village, two of which have already provided installments for this column – The Greenwich Village Theatre in March, and in April The Lair of Clivette at 1 Sheridan Square. While not a native Villager, like many other outsiders, Beals enjoyed the neighborhood’s Bohemian characters and lifestyle. To judge from her many pictures of the creative entrepreneurs of West 4th Street, they became her particular favorites. Born in 1870, Jessie Richmond Tarbox was originally from Hamilton, Ontario. At 17 she earned a teaching certificate, left Canada to join her older brother in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, and took her first job, in a one-room schoolhouse. Within a year she had won a primitive
camera in a local contest, and within two more had found her true vocation: she discovered she was earning more money from photographing local people and events than from teaching. In 1897, she married Alfred Tennyson Beals, a machinist, and in 1899, after one of her photographs was published in the Boston Post, they decided to establish a photography partnership. Jessie took the pictures, and Alfred was in charge of developing and printing. In 1900, her name appeared for the first time on photos in a Vermont paper – the first woman photojournalist to have a credit line! Although Alfred took a regular job in Buffalo the next year, Jessie stayed with her photography, eventually landing a position at the Buffalo Inquirer. They sent her off to shoot the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis – the first woman to be given a press photographer’s credentials. And with Alfred in the dark room again, she missed no opportunity to hustle additional assignments wherever she could find them. Despite her heavy press camera, she climbed a 20-foot ladder and eventually went up in a balloon to get better views of the air show and winning a gold medal for her aerial photography. A veritable energizer bunny, she expand-
ed her technical knowledge and accepted every kind of assignment: news events, portraiture, celebrities and politicians, including President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1905, the Beals moved to Greenwich Village. Although Alfred was apparently never totally at home in the unconventional neighborhood (and it was rumored that the daughter Jessie gave birth to in 1911 was not his child), they continued to live here together until 1917 when she finally left him, moved in with a friend and rented a studio in Sheridan Square. She changed addresses at frequent intervals and continued to explore additional career possibilities. She started to write poetry and to market a line of postcards of her Village scenes that included a few lines of light verse. She also took up landscape photography, and in 1928 moved to California, planning to photograph wealthy estates of friends in the Hollywood area. Unfortunately, the stock market crash a year later put an abrupt end to her project, and after shuttling between Chicago and New York for a year or two, Beals and her daughter finally settled down on West 11th Street. By then the Depression and her failing health were making it harder for her to earn a living, but she continued to sell her garden photographs to magazines and newspapers right up until her death in 1942. The New York Times obit said, “No difficulty in the way of getting a photograph ever deterred her from making the attempt to obtain it...Mrs. Beals’ dauntless courage and indomitable good cheer, up to the very
Then: (Above) Beals in the doorway of her Village Art Gallery in Sheridan Square, c.1917. Photographs by Jessie Tarbox Beals, Museum of the City of New York. NOW: (Below) The same location is the exit to Gristedes Supermarket, 2011. Photo by Maggie Berkvist.
end, won the admiration of all those who knew her.” The credit line on photographs regularly illustrating the paper’s garden columns was: “Jessie Tarbox Beals.”
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12 WestView June 2011
Street Fight Over Bikes By Jen Benepe The collision between bike users and pedestrians is a two-way street. Here in the West Village residents regularly complain about bikers whizzing up the bike lane beside Hudson River Park, totally ignoring the ‘pedestrians crossing’ warnings. On the other hand, another resident, a cyclist, sported cuts and bruises from swerving to avoid a pedestrian who stepped into the bike lane without looking. Controversy over bike lanes in New York City has slowed their development to a crawl, with progress now marred by lawsuits and public badgering. The scuffle over the new Prospect Park bike lane in Brooklyn this spring said it all. Installed last year, the two-way, protected bike lane, with cars parked on the outside of the lane, afforded even children a safe place to ride. But it also attracted a lawsuit against the city by a group called Seniors for Safety. Elected officials have approached the issue like ionized lightning. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz — who presides over the borough with the city’s historically highest bicycle fatality rate — said that he prefers the unprotected bike lanes where cars park on the curb. This arrangement allows for the possibility of cyclists being doored by parkers and squashed by passing drivers all at once. Many cyclists have been stewing in anger after receiving $270 tickets for running red lights in Central Park at the crack of dawn, when not even a turtle was crossing the road from Strawberry Fields to The Lake. The heat has been building for Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s commissioner of the Department of Transportation (DOT). Things got so bad that Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently appointed one of his deputies, Howard Wolfson, to bolster the city’s bicycle efforts with a stronger PR campaign. Aimed at cyclists, it is called, “Don’t be a Jerk” and features TV spots with celebrities — including John Leguizamo, Pauline Porizkova and Mario Batali — acting as ill-mannered cyclists. “As our streets have become safer and as more New Yorkers take to two wheels, bike riders need to adopt a street code,” said Sadik-Khan in a statement. “To put it a little more bluntly, don’t be a jerk.” However, the slowdown in bike lane construction could cause more accidents and deaths before the issues are resolved. A 2005 study conducted by DOT found that out of a total of 226 cyclist fatalities in the five boroughs between 1993 and 2003, only one occurred in a marked bike lane. Nearly all cyclist fatalities, or 92 percent, were the result of a crash with an automobile. Steve Hindy, who publicly supports DOT’s campaign, lost his son, Sam, in 2007, when he was struck by a car while cycling across the Manhattan Bridge. “I
CYCLING CHAOS: Among the many problems with cycling in New York City is cyclists getting the jump on red lights.
bet you I could walk out on my block right now, and I would see cyclists going the wrong way or on the sidewalk,” said Hindy, who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “I guess [the campaign] is a good start, but I haven’t seen anything targeting taxi users, pedestrians and motorists,” said Peter Engel, the communications coordinator for the Five Borough Bike Club, a recreational group in New York City. “Wrong-way riding probably does more to stir up the rest of the community against cyclists than anything else,” said Jon Hill, who lives in Hell’s Kitchen and has been riding to work since 1994. Even so, Hill believes that cyclists should be able to stop at a red light followed by cautious crossing if done properly. Some cyclists complain that unfinished bike lanes are more dangerous than none at all. Even where bike lanes exist, they abruptly begin and end like roads to nowhere. Using the DOT’s published NYC bike map — and not including the Greenways that run along the perimeters of Manhattan or the roadway inside Central Park— there are only a handful of very short, protected bike lanes in Manhattan, most of them below 42nd Street. Out of the 250 miles of bike lanes that have been built since 2005, about eight
miles, or 3.2 percent are protected lanes traveling north and south. The longest protected bike lane stretches along First Avenue and is no more than two and a half miles long. Protected bike lanes have parked cars on the outside of the lane and bollards to prevent motorists from entering them. According to DOT, of the total 900 miles of planned protected (green) and unprotected (red and orange) bike lanes that have been proposed, only 23 percent have been completed so far. But as the campaign aimed at cyclists gets underway, drivers (including NYPD) park their cars for hours in the few existing bike lanes, while pedestrians walk blindly into the streets, and taxi riders open their doors without looking, with little enforcement to stop them. On a recent day, this reporter counted more than 60 cars parked in lanes meant for cyclists in a three-mile span, and more than ten of those vehicles belonged to the New York Police Department. “The NYPD has created very serious safety problems for cyclists, greatly jeopardizing them by forcing them to weave in and out of bike lanes to avoid blockages due to motor vehicles. The NYPD has thus been negating much of the progress made by DOT’s program of vastly expand-
ing the bike lane network, “ said Prof. John Pucher, a transportation expert at Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. “When roads are dangerous, cyclists often begin riding on the sidewalk,” Pucher said. In addition, the same cops have seemingly turned a blind eye to the growing use of illegal electric bikes, usually ridden by restaurant delivery people. “I see delivery guys every single day going up [a hill in my neighborhood] on electric bikes,” said Liz, a member of the New York Cycle Club who lives on the Upper East Side and who asked that we only use her first name. Electric assist bicycles and other vehicles like them (such as dirt bikes) are illegal on any street other than a private driveway, but their number appears to be growing. The NYPD declined to respond to questions about the number of electric bikes being used in the city, and whether the users are being ticketed. The situation is confusing even for the authorities. The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) website says that electric bicycles cannot be used on any street or highway. However, a spokesperson for the department said that if an electric bike is being pedaled, technically it is not illegal to use it.
June 2011 WestView 13
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IN THE WAY: A lack of parking space for bicycles, resulting in bikes being chained together in sidewalk clusters.
Indeed, the existence of electric bikes is somewhat of a Catch-22, according to DMV spokesman Nick Cantiello. He pointed out that the law forbids their registration, yet as vehicles, they must be registered in order to be used. New York City could technically supersede or further clarify state law, but it hasn’t, and Title 19, Chapter 1, Subchapter 3, and paragraph 19-176.2 of the city’s administrative code explicitly says that electrically powered vehicles that are propelled without pedaling and are not registerable by the state are not legal in the city. The administrative code also defines electric bicycles as moving over 15 mph, and says that the use of such a vehicle can result in a $500 fine, impoundment of the vehicle and a traffic violation.
An electric bike can move faster than 25 mph without pedaling, but it is silent. “I don’t think electric bikes are safe. It is hard to judge whether on average they are ridden at a faster speed, but they are bigger and heavier, which makes them less safe even at the same speed,” wrote another New York City cyclist, who asked not to be identified. Ed Pino, a resident of Forest Hills, Queens, estimated that there are 300 to 400 electric bikes being used in his neighborhood, primarily by restaurant delivery people, with many of them being ridden the wrong way and on sidewalks. Standing at the corner of 79th Street and Columbus Avenue on May 19, this reporter observed ten bicycle deliverymen passing in a three-minute period. Of the
DEBATE: The city’s bike lane roll-out is being slowed down by lawsuits and public badgering. All photos, taken during rush hour on Bleecker Street, by Maggie Berkvist.
ten, three were riding electric bikes. One jumped the curb at about 25 mph and rode on the sidewalk halfway down the block to his destination. Yet the police department would not comment on how many tickets are being given out; why their numbers are growing so rapidly; why the users are getting away with riding them at high speeds; and why their bikes have not been impounded. The city’s campaign is unlikely to change behavior in a meaningful way, said many of the cyclists interviewed. Why? Wrong audience, wrong medium. “Most of the offenders are restaurant delivery guys, most of whom aren’t English-speakers and probably aren’t sitting at home watching NY-1,” said Liz, the New York Cycle Club member. “The other repeat offenders are, hon-
Editorial
Good Ideas Need an Open Mind By George Capsis While reading about the new pop-up cafes in front of restaurants designed to replace the space perpetually occupied by parked cars, I thought —why not a pop-up garden? Who said it was a law that people could park their cars in the street and move spewing carbon monoxide in weekly musical chairs to let the sweeper pass (if he comes at all)—and then sit for an hour with the engine and AC running waiting for the ticket cop until they are “legal”? The pop-up restaurant comes via Europe and San Francisco and requires the
restaurant to apply for a permit and install the planters, chairs and tables. People buy and pay for their food in the restaurant and then go out to sit in the outdoor cafe. With West Village restaurants suffering from a 30 percent drop in business since the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital, the pop up cafe is a great, cheap way to add space. Pop-up cafes are projected at costing $10,000 or less, but it’s up to the owners to decide what they want to spend. So why not pop-up gardens? Just seasonal planters to break up the phalanx of resting steel. They could be planted by block associations, businesses or any sponsoring organization or individual.
POP-UPS: The city’s first pop-up cafe, on Pearl Street last year. Now let’s make something as simple as a pop-up garden a reality too.
I e-mailed my idea to Community Board 2 chair Jo Hamilton, Brad Hoylman and my friend Shirley Secunda, chair of CB 2’s Traffic &Transportation Committee, and
estly, jerks who don’t care if they’re being called jerks.” Still, many of the cyclists interviewed said they were responding to the new campaign by stopping at more red lights and by trying to be respectful. However, many said they still feel the bigger threat to their safety (and that of everyone else) is not the bicyclist, but the motorist. Many wonder why more attention isn’t being paid to their behavior. Gordon Haber, another member of the New York Cycle Club, said the DOT campaign sends the wrong message. “The last thing I need as a cyclist surrounded by motor vehicles is a possible public perception of ‘cyclist equals jerk.’ As a cyclist, my life depends on the respect of motorists, not their derision.”
they all seem to think it’s a great idea. But now the bureaucracy: The idea has to be voted “yes” by a block association, then sent to CB 2, who would send it down to Shirley’s committee, who have to vote it up to the full CB 2 meeting, who then have to approve it and then send it to the Department of Transportation, who need to say “yes” and write some regulations and offer the city for the first time in history the ability to punch a hole in a line of parked cars to plant something green. But my block association would not even let it go to vote. “We do not have the money. Who is going to water it?” When I offered to open a vein and sign in blood that my association need never apply for a permit—we just need to get it signed into regulation, they repeated, “We don’t have the money. Who is going to water it?”
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14 WestView June 2011
Village Merriment
27 Downing Street
Spring is soon to welcome summer as the West Village comes alive with street fairs, parades and the simple pleasure of enjoying the outdoors. Photos by Maggie Berkvist
T his American Round Arch style building was designed in 1893 by Alfred Zucker as a stable with apartment. Constructed for Helen C. Juilliard it was one of many stables that were constructed on Downing Street during the 19th century (1893). In 1920, Charles E. Miller was hired to redesign the stable for use as a bottling plant with meeting room and apartment on the second and third story for Louis Barbieri who operated the Pioneer Bottling Co. on the premises until the 1950s. In 1924, the rear extension was replaced and the following year the garage door was enlarged and a new girder installed in the opening. In 1961, the second story was converted into a second apartment. It is currently a two-family residence with professional offices on the ground floor. Delivered vacant, approximately 5,094 Square feet.
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June 2011 WestView 15
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WINGING IT: For sale, wings at the Christopher Street Fair.
HAPPY FEET: The Happy Dance troupe contributed to the festivities at the Hudson River Pageant.
THEIR BIG DAY: The younger generation celebrated the Royal Wedding in Jackson Square.
BENCHED: Chatting under the trees in Abingdon Square.
SPLISH-SPLASH: There was quite a bit of rain, which some people enjoyed!
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June 2011 WestView 17
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The Cards Say ‘Trouble’ For Accused Fortune Taker One of the West Village’s fortune tellers has been arrested while on the run and captured in Mystic, CT – of all places. Sylvia Mitchell worked at Zena Clairvoyant, where a customer has accused her of stealing $9,000. The prominent two-story store on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Bleecker Streets, features marble steps and a shiny glass counter embossed with the name Zena, who, according to old news stories, is the woman who owns the building. Zena, a glamorous blonde woman, told WestView she worked at the store by appointment only but would not speak to us about Mitchell’s arrest…nor did she say whether she saw it coming. The store is one of the most prominent fortune tellers in the Village and according to a “menu,” offers palm reading and tarot. Mitchell is also the subject of a $75,000 lawsuit by a woman who says the 36-yearold mother of three stole cash and a credit card, which she used to go on a shopping spree at a local Ralph Lauren store. The woman said she visited Zena Clairvoyant while she was going through a hard time and was vulnerable. Meanwhile, a Florida woman has accused her of refusing to return $23,000 Mitchell encouraged her to
RICH PICKINGS: Price lists at the front of the store. Photos by Maggie Berkvist.
hand over as an “exercise to help her get over her attachment to money.” The women say Mitchell asked them to put money in a jar to help cleanse them and then took the jars away, promising to return them later.
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18 WestView June 2011
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By Henry J. Stern We turn today to one of New York State’s oldest oxymorons: Albany ethics. The legislature, having exhausted itself by adopting a budget on time, appears to be coasting toward a proposed June 20 adjournment. That would leave about three weeks for actions of substance. In the hopper are bills to limit increases in the property tax, to legalize gay marriage, to redraw the boundaries of congressional and legislative district lines, and to require the disclosure of legislators’ clients and earnings, in addition to their state salaries. Several hundred matters of local importance also await action by the two houses. One important proposal is in limbo. Governor Andrew Cuomo has sent an ethics package to the Senate and the Assembly, and is speaking up for it on a statewide tour. We quote from his statement: “New York State government used to be a symbol of integrity and performance, but we have lost that standard. To clean up the government and restore trust with New Yorkers, we need to pass a new ethics law that mandates transparency and full disclosure as well as a law that calls for a real independent monitor. “Among many reforms, the Governor’s ethics reform agenda would: ■ Require disclosure of clients doing business with the state that are represented by legislators before the state and disclosure of how much they get paid. ■ Require the creation of an independent body to provide oversight and enforcement of ethics rules because, as we have seen in the past, self-policing does not work. ■ Require lobbyists to disclose any business relationship with legislators in excess of $1,000. ■ Strip pensions from those public officials convicted of a felony related to the abuse of their official duties.” The legislators have reacted to these proposals as an intrusion of roaches would to a can of Raid, or, if you prefer to avoid product placement, as Dracula would to a crucifix. The current pretext for Speaker Silver’s opposition to ethics reform is that creating an independent body to enforce ethics rules would interfere with the Assembly’s exclusive authority to discipline its members, thereby violating the principle of separation of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. This excuse is comparable to the Senate’s belated discovery, after all the Republicans signed pledges to support an independent redistricting commission, that such a panel could only be created by an amendment to the State Constitution which takes two years to adopt, and therefore, could not take effect until after the 2020 census. These “reasons” are so spurious as to be amusing, were it not for the fact that those who offer them dominate their legislative bodies, and, in any event, are acting in the interest of their members, who also desire to avoid detection of and prosecution for conflicts of interest that may be engendered by their extracurricular activities. They do not want to go without the undisclosed loose change that they may pick up either for their acts or their failure to act, depending on the needs of the client. Some of our Solons are versatile; one could even say subtle. Many of them are hungry. There are also principled and honest elected officials
in the legislature, most of whom have little or no power. If they speak too loudly, they risk decapitation by their masters. But to be fair, it is only when a politician attains authority on his own that his ethical standards may truly be tested. Most never reach that stage, and their principal vice turns out to be remaining silent in the face of outrage. They feel that, by keeping quiet, they will advance to positions where they will be able to use their influence in the public interest. “As luck would have it” (Rule 17-A), the few salmon who swim that far upstream forget the high principles they espoused as Alevin, Fry, Parr and Smolt (that is, the four stages of salmon, from newly hatched to big enough to plunge into the ocean.) Around the state, the media are getting sick and tired of the legislature’s evasion, procrastination and rationalization. Bill Hammond of the Daily News expresses his disgust at the situation in a column called “Your Outcries, Their Deaf Ears. The Public’s Priorities Couldn’t Be Clearer; Albany’s Arrogance Couldn’t Be More Profound.” Hammond asks, rhetorically, “How much louder do the people of New York have to scream before the legislature starts listening? “The people overwhelmingly elected Gov. Cuomo with a mandate to fundamentally change how their infamously dysfunctional state government does business. The people overwhelmingly back Cuomo’s top two priorities - cleaning up Albany sleaze and stemming relentless property tax hikes - as repeatedly documented by opinion polls. “Yet the elected officials who supposedly represent those people stymie and stall, balk and bluster - and accomplish nothing. They’re hunkered down in the Capitol bubble, deaf to their constituents’ unmistakable outcry for reform.” Hammond’s powerful column makes enormous sense to us. This month, The Utica Observer-Dispatch editorial page articulated similar frustrations, as did The Albany Times Union. A 2011 report, written for the Brennan Center for Justice by Lawrence Norden, Kelly Williams and John Travis and entitled, “Meaningful ethics reform for the ‘new’ Albany,” encapsulates the long-ignored complaints of New York State’s good government groups. It includes a list of the 14 members of the legislature who have been indicted, convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes in the last decade. Those of you looking for fresh scandal may be disappointed by this article. The leaders of the Senate and Assembly, reflecting the fears and feelings of many of the members, support unlimited outside income for themselves, even though the handsome but undisclosed legal fees they demand and receive for their representation of clients doing business with the state are in fact often rewards for their political influence and access. In the interest of your health, however, we advise you not to stand on one leg until the legislators succumb to the pangs of conscience, if any. Your interest in these matters is idealistic and intellectual. Theirs is personal. You vote once or twice a year, depending on primaries. They vote hundreds of times on bills, and there is a reason for each vote they cast: it can be the merits of an issue, submission to a leader, ignorance, naiveté or selfinterest. Motives vary with each vote and each legislator. The aggregate is an unwholesome brew.
June 2011 WestView 19
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West Village Original: Vija Vetra This month’s West Village Original is dancer Vija Vetra, born in Riga, Latvia in 1923, and a Westbeth resident since 1970. Still vital and performing, Vetra has travelled the world as a solo dancer specializing in various styles, from modern to Indian. Since 1990, she has returned every year to her native country to teach master classes at the National Theatre, receiving from the government the Award of Three Stars, their highest civilian honor. By Michael D. Minichiello When Vija Vetra was growing up, music and dance were inextricably woven together. “Since I can remember, whenever I heard music I reacted to it with dance and movement. Music is very potent in my life, and I always liked to move to it. The first instrument I danced to was the guitar because my father played it.” It was after seeing a local production of “Swan Lake” that she decided she wanted to study dance professionally. But her family was against it. “So I ran away to Vienna to live with my aunt,” she says. “I was 16.
“I still love the Village much more than I do New York proper. When I go to Midtown, I don’t feel like I’m home. But once I get off a bus in the Village, I do. It’s the best neighborhood in New York.” She also didn’t want me to become a dancer, so I had everyone against me. I knew what I wanted, though. I knew it was my destiny. You either know it or you don’t.” Vetra did indeed study dance in Vienna. However, World War II began and the intervening years were a struggle for her and her family. When the war ended, Vetra emigrated to Australia with her sister, mother and aunt. She lived there for 16 years, opening her own studio, starting her own dance group and even having her own television program. “I was very well known in Australia,” she recalls. In 1964, she was invited for a coast-to-coast dance tour of America and Canada. “I danced in 36 cities,” she says. “Then I was asked to be on the faculty at Carnegie Hall, so I never returned to Australia. I opened my first studio in New York on Sixth Avenue and my second in Westbeth in 1970, where I still live.” What does it feel like for her to dance? “It’s very special,” Vetra says. “It’s a feeling of not being the everyday person that I am, but that I connect with something
higher above me. The best way to put it is I am not a pedestrian anymore, but I grow wings and I fly.” She feels strongly that dance has a healing power as well. “Any art form can be therapy,” she says. “But dance has healing power not only for the one who dances but also for the one who looks at it. That, too, is very important. And I’m not talking about much of what happens now in dance, which is deranged art. That does not heal!” she says emphatically. “But a certain way of dance, a certain way of art which uplifts you, that heals. There’s a big difference!” As a resident of the West Village for over four decades, Vetra misses the “intimate” nature of what the Village used to be. “Bleecker Street has changed so much,” she laments. “It had these nice little boutiques, very nice restaurants and mom and pop shops. Now it’s become so commercial, with high-fashion boutiques that can be found anywhere.” However, she feels it remains the place to be if you live in New York. “I still love the Village much more than I do New York proper. When I go to Midtown, I don’t feel like I’m home. But once I get off a bus in the Village, I do. It’s the best neighborhood in New York.” Vetra is particularly delighted with Hudson River Park. “It’s a wonderful place now,” she says enthusiastically. “I remember when it was those terrible wharfs. We went there on Sundays anyway, but it was very dangerous. Now what they’ve done on the riverside is fantastic! I really feel like I’m on the Riviera when I go there. It’s a great gift to the Village.” The garden in St. Luke’s is also one of her favorite spots to relax and meditate. And, finally, there are her trees. “I love all those blooming white trees on our streets in spring,” she says. “I have a favorite one on Tenth Street and when I stand under it, I ask it to bless me. It’s wonderful to have so many trees in the Village. I borrow strength from them. In fact, the river, St. Luke’s and my blooming trees are the places where I get in touch not only with nature but also with myself. After all, I’m part of nature as well, am I not?”
‘I GROW WINGS AND FLY’: Vija Vetra describes what it feels like to dance. “I connect with something higher above me,” she says. Photo by Jeremy Grayson.
Sebastian
www.westviewnews.org
20 WestView June 2011
Report from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
More Hurdles for NYU’s massive Expansion Plans By Andrew Berman NYU has just filed papers to begin the environmental impact review for its massive proposed 20-year expansion plan in the Village. The review is expected to take several months, until the end of the year, and will allow the public many opportunities to comment upon, and learn more about, the potential impact of NYU’s plans on the neighborhood. The public hearing and approval process for the actual plans is not expected to begin until next year. However, the environmental impact review just got a little more complicated for NYU. The New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has ruled that the entire Washington Square Village (WSV) complex, including its gardens, qualify for the State and National Register of Historic Places (SNR). NYU is seeking to build 2.5 million square feet of space in WSV and the neighboring Silver Towers complex as part of its 20-year expansion plan – that’s more than all the space in the entire Empire State Building. However, the SHPO ruling may impact those plans, as NYU is planning to use State Dormitory Authority funds for these developments. Now that WSV is eligible for the State and National Register of Historic Places (SNR), no state or federal money can be spent on any construction or demolition there unless it is reviewed by the SHPO. While the outcome of the review remains to be seen, the SHPO will generally seek to preserve the historically and architecturally significant features of SNR-eligible properties, and encourage the applicant to seek alternatives if they find the plans would negatively impact those features. GVSHP continues to urge that the university instead consider locations like the Financial District for its planned expansion. NYU is seeking to build two giant curv-
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ing towers in the middle of the WSV complex over the gardens the SHPO have just ruled SNR-eligible. Nearly all of NYU’s development plans in WSV and the Silver Towers superblocks also require largescale zoning changes needing the approval of the City Planning Commission and the City Council. While the SHPO ruling by no means guarantees that NYU’s plans cannot go forward or will be changed, it does give us greater leverage, and adds to the argument that NYU should be looking to other, more appropriate locations for its massive planned expansion.
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In 2008, GVSHP was able to help secure landmark designation for Silver Towers, and in 2009 we were able to get the complex ruled eligible for the SNR of Historic Places. That has already had an impact on NYU’s plans, as in late 2010, facing overwhelming opposition, NYU dropped plans to seek to add a 40-story tower to the complex, which would have required both NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission approval and State Historic Preservation Office review. In addition to the two giant curving towers in between Washington Square
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Village, NYU proposes to build a massive, one million-square-foot structure on the current site of the Coles Gym on Mercer Street between Houston and Bleecker Streets. The “Zipper Loft,” as NYU calls the proposed building, would have a series of towers, as tall as 300 feet, and would require the city to give NYU public land along Mercer Street currently occupied by a dog run and a children’s playground. In case you are trying to picture how much space one million square feet is, each of the three 300-foot-tall buildings of the adjacent Silver Towers complex are 227,000 square feet, thus making this one millionsquare-foot building NYU is seeking to add next door the equivalent of almost four and half more of these. NYU also proposes to allow the city to build a public school on the land currently occupied by the Morton Williams supermarket at the corner of Bleecker Street and LaGuardia Place, but NYU would then build a ten-story freshman dormitory on top of it! This is NYU’s promise of a “public school” for the neighborhood in return for their massive development project, though many believe this may never actually materialize, since it is dependent upon city funding and city approval for a grade school with an undergraduate dorm on top. NYU continues to refuse to consider the alternative of locating its expansion in the Financial District, where it would be welcomed by community leaders and contextual. NYU is currently conducting a legally mandated environmental review of their proposed zoning changes, and the public hearing and votes on the plan are expected to begin early next year.
Andrew Berman is Executive Director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, 232 East 11th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Telephone: 212-4759585. Visit www.gvshp.org.
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June 2011 WestView 21
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The Real Value of Your Home By Daniel Ian Smith People often renovate and redecorate their homes to maximize resale potential, but I believe true value comes when we get the most out of a home while we are living in it. On every project the client eventually asks me, “Well, what would you do?” And I always answer the same way — by reminding them that it’s their home, not mine. Of course, I offer my advice, but it comes from sizing up the clients and getting their space to work for them. The West Village presents a variety of challenging settings — from old, cramped walk-ups to ultra-modern lofts. As the owner of Village West Design, I’ve come to see that the problems are varied, but the solutions are always the same — add value to the space. We automatically think of value as monetary. However, our homes are central to our lives, and there is great value in the extent to which we can entertain, be productive, feel secure, get organized or just relax in them. Everyone’s first question is, “What’s interior architecture?” I explain that interior design and architecture must work in concert — one informs the other. Interior design teaches us about the end use of a room: How will it feel? Where’s all your furniture going? Architecture inspires us to think outside the box — to challenge existing conditions and even to challenge the client’s own self-assessment. Sometimes we have a vague notion that something is off, but we’re unable to put a finger on it. Most folks struggle to make good spatial decisions. When I come in with some perspective and an organized eye, we can turn the place
you tired of the welter of accumulation and need curatorial intervention? The aim is to create beautiful spaces that are warm, inviting and which increase property value. But the “enjoyment factor” is priceless.
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around…and it actually ends up feeling more like home — sort of “you,” only “better.” While some neighborhood buildings simply reflect the ego of the architect, I believe that a good designer will shine through even when the focus remains on the client. We invest a lot in our apartments, so they better meet our needs and suit our tastes. Our homes reflect who we are and where we want to go. But while the inhabitant defines value, a professional must first ask the right questions. Do you have a growing family, or are your kids grown and you wish to reclaim space? Is it finally time to get your own furniture, or have
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22 WestView June 2011
Just Because it’s June A walk through Hudson River Park leads to many encounters with baby birds — and their besotted parents.
FLY AWAY: Barn swallow.
STAY CLOSE: Mallard ducklings.
By Keith Michael I’m crouching behind Pier 54’s north wall. (No, I’m not still waiting for the arrival of the Titanic.) As I peer over, a fledgling barbershop quartet of Barn Swallows is sitting on a rail. Millie, my Pembroke Welsh Corgi, jumps up on my knee, nosing in on this odd peek-a-boo game. The birds seem blurry, not quite in the formal tail-coated attire of their natty parents. Hark, the tight harmony of the foursome crescendos — beaks skyward, throats open — and from
DEVOTED: Mourning Dove chicks are raised by both parents.
SONGBIRD: American Robin.
over the Hudson in swoops Mom (or Dad) with a fresh bug. Their nests were under the pier, so maybe Pier Swallows would be a more accurate name for this clan. After more catering from the besotted parents, and a few impatient sneezes from Millie: “Let’s head south.” I keep an eye out (and a short leash) for zealous bicyclists and joggers. Low tide. The hardscrabble beach at the sanitation pier is exposed. This year’s Canada Goose gosling is tottering among the green stuff on the rocks. How fast it’s
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grown since hatching out at the end of April. (Where DID its sneaky parents hide that nest?) Millie is staring down the gander. Are these the same parents that raised four goslings last summer? I loved following that chin-strapped family up and down the Hudson all through the season. And the duck families? Last month I was voyeur to a Gadwall pair doing their headbobbing courtship out on the river, so there might be a family on the way. Last summer the Mallards added four ducklings and the Gadwall pair, eight, to the local flotilla, so I’m still optimistic. The usual Morning Doves are waddling about the rocks south of the sanitation pier. And a sprinkling of Starlings are playing hide-and-seek among the stranded debris. I habitually scan Westbeth, across the street, for the telltale cornice blip of a Kestral or Peregrine Falcon. In the glare of the morning sun, only a silhouetted line of pigeon chess pieces are plotting their next moves. A baker’s dozen of Sparrows flutter along the handrail at the Pier 49 bow promenade. I’m fascinated how they feed their families with aquatic tidbits from the low-tide pilings. Is this a modern-day Galapagos moment worthy of Darwin’s attentions? Are these maritime “House Sparrows” evolving into a sub-species apart from their strictly seed-and-restaurant-pillaging brethren a few blocks away? Indeed, there are fledglings in the double digits on the exposed pilings right now. Better be sure those new flappers work! Further out, a few loafing young Herring Gulls are still learning the ropes of how to look like gulls. It intrigues me that it takes four years for these feisty scavengers to dress up like adults. These adolescents are really paint-by-number versions of their elders — a gray back-patch, brown and white wing checkerboards, “forgot to clean the brush” streaks on the white head, an India ink dipped bill — not yet donning the de rigueur gray and white morning suits of their parents.
SHY: Gray Cat Bird.
Millie SO wants to herd the lawn sprinklers. And is SO afraid to get wet. There’s a Robin’s egg-blue shell on the sidewalk. From where? Do the chicks run-runstopping on the lawn behind their Robinred-breasted parents remember what that first jump/crash out of the nest was like? Their fashionable spotted waistcoats seem curiously over-designed camouflage for the glowing green lawns of civilization. The soft mouse-gray of the toddler Starlings is so satisfying. Perhaps that calm color makes up for constantly nagging their parents like children in a supermarket with a snatched pack of candy in their hands. Somethings’s thwacking away in the pine. A scruffy baby bird. A Catbird? I haven’t heard any mewing in the past weeks and yet, here is a baby! Indeed, there’s Dad in his nifty black cap — sharing that hipster look with the Chickadees. Let’s make a quick jaunt down to (what I call) the detritus amphitheater south of Charles Street. A Mallard pair blends in with this morning’s poetic collection of flotsam and jetsam. HEY! I nearly missed them. Make way for the adorable jostling of their duckling tribe! Salutations! Enjoy your breakfast. “Millie, let’s go home and get ours.”
Two little black birds Sitting on the wall, One named Peter, The other named Paul. Fly away Peter, Fly away Paul. Come back Peter, Come back Paul.
June 2011 WestView 23
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Getting My Husband Out of the Closet By Chris Sherman My husband and I are fighting. He claims I have acquired too many clothes. He must be upset about something from his outside world. This often happens. He comes home from work in knots and suddenly I’m a Collier brother, hoarding unconscionable amounts of photo frames or sofa pillows. He thrashes about the house, uncovering the most innocent of household objects (a lone soup ladle sitting benignly on the counter, for instance) and yelling for all the neighbors to hear. “How can you live like this! I can’t even move around in here with all this clutter!” I believe therapists call this “displacement of anger,” otherwise known as “taking it out on me.” I’m in the bedroom pairing socks when he starts. “Have you ever noticed that you have more clothing than I do?” I have, but I play dumb. He flings my closet door open. “Look at all these sweaters. And blouses. And pants. How many pairs of black pants do you need? And they’re all the same!” Because of his current, fragile emotional state, I dare not explain to him the phenomenon of black pants. Black pants make you look thinner, and if you’re lucky enough to find a particular style that makes you look thinner still, you seek out and purchase every pair of a similar cut in various fabric
WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS: Until it comes to understanding the completely rational clothing needs of the opposite sex. Photo illustration by Maggie Berkvist.
weights, so as to be covered, so to speak, for all seasons. I think fast. “Most of those black pants were given to me as gifts. From nuns.” He turns his attention away from my wayward wardrobe to glare at me. I keep pairing those socks. “Look at all these clothes!” He is now rifling through the hangers like he’s conducting a drug bust. “Some of these still have tags on them!” “There’s a perfectly good explanation for that.” I hold up my head self-righteously. “I
am waiting until they fit me.” “What! You buy clothes that don’t fit you in hopes that if you leave them alone in a dark closet they will expand?” “No. And don’t be sarcastic. I happen to be on a diet (see May issue of WestView), and when I’m thinner those clothes are going to look great.” Or be out of style. Upon closer examination, he would also see that I have three different sizes hanging there. One size from before the pregnancies, the size I am currently in and one size for when I’m either retaining water or back
from vacation. That last size only comes in black and is comprised of considerable amounts of elastic. To the untrained eye, it appears I have an over-abundant wardrobe, when in actuality, each size is a mere miniwardrobe — hardly enough changes to get me through the week even. He marches over to his closet and swings the door open with a Vanna White, puzzle letter-turner sort of flourish. “Everything I own fits in this one little closet.” I peer in only to find the five shirts he has worn to work for the last 25 years — the classic, Oxford button-down shirt. There are five colors, one for every day: white, yellow, blue, blue-and-white-stripe and yellow-and-blue-stripe. Slacks are all the same style and fabric. Again, in five different colors: charcoal grey, medium gray, light gray, plain old gray gray and black. A few ties are slung over a hook in various patterns of burgundy and navy, and I spy a bicentennial Christmas tie from 1976 embroidered with tiny bald eagles holding sprigs of holly in their tiny beaks. No wonder Brooks Brothers is closing stores all over the northeast. Now he’s huffing and puffing all around the house, chastising me for every scarf and handbag. Does he really expect me to go to work, as he does, in the same five outfits every day? In fact, because of his little tantrum, I am now aware that he is operating his closet on a surplus. I could use some of that extra space. For my shoes.
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24 WestView June 2011
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The Salmagundi Club, the oldest art club in the U.S., will present “Wiggins, Wiggins, & Wiggins: Three Generations of American Art,” a rare multi-generational exhibition and sale bringing together the works of one of America’s great art families: J. Carleton Wiggins, Guy C. Wiggins and Guy Arthur Wiggins. Guy Arthur Wiggins (born 1920) is a painterly realist beloved for his New York scenes. In “Winter on Fifth Avenue,” “Winter Comes to Wall Street” and “Autumn at the Plaza Hotel” he paints his favorite motifs of famous buildings, busy streets, cafes and quiet parks. The lush vibrancy of his city and country capes reflects the family’s talent for painting en plein air, and his still lifes, like “A Summer Still Life,” are sought after by collectors for their lively, precise brushwork and colorism. His work is in many prominent collections internationally, such as the Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme; the Trenton Museum; and the New Britain Museum of American Art. His popular New York City scenes have been reproduced by Cartier for their holiday cards, and he is listed in “Who’s Who in American Art.” Guy C. Wiggins (1883-1962) has frequently been called “the last great American Impressionist.” He is most beloved for his many renditions of snow-filled cityscapes. His striking sense of line and composition of New York City’s urban landscape developed from architectural training that provided him with a special facility for rendering the diverse and beautiful façades of the city’s buildings and streets scenes. In 1907, he joined the Salmagundi Club, and in 1912, became the youngest artist exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art when his painting “The Metropolitan Tower” was purchased for the museum’s collection. Carleton Wiggins (1848-1932), the first generation to take up the profession of artist, served as Salmagundi president from 1911-1913. He was renowned for his dis-
tinctive pastoral landscapes and beautiful renderings of farm animals, such as sheep and cattle. The soft edges, subtle light and warm colors in “Watering Near the Farm” make this work exceptional. He was one of the original members of Connecticut’s Old Lyme Art Colony, and its most direct link to the French Barbizon painters that inspired what became a center of American Impressionism. “I’m delighted to share my family’s love of art and of New York City in this exhibition,” says Guy A. Wiggins, who will be a constant presence during the exhibit. With a shared legacy of playing a role in the history of American art, the Wiggins artists have been members of the Salmagundi Club from the time it was founded in 1871. “The Salmagundi Club has been home to my family for generations, and it is only fitting that our works be shown here together,” stated Wiggins. The works of all three artists are represented by the Joan Whalen Fine Art Gallery. For nearly 140 years, the Salmagundi Club has served as a center for fine arts and artists, conducting art exhibitions, art classes, demonstrations, art auctions, and hosting many other events. It’s the home venue for annual exhibitions of major art organizations, including the American Watercolor Society, the American Artists Professional League, Audubon Artists and the National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic. The Club is a leader in the renewal of representational and realist arts in the United States.
“Wiggins, Wiggins, & Wiggins: Three Generations of American Art,” at the Salmagundi Club, 47 Fifth Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets. On view from June 12 through July 1, Monday-Friday from 1-6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 1-5 p.m. without charge. Telephone: 212-255-7740. Or visit www.salmagundi.org.
June 2011 WestView 25
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New Cuba Next to Old Spain — on 14th Street! By David A. Porat Coppelia, a new brightly lit Cuban diner, opened recently on 14th Street on the north side close to 7th Avenue. On the same side of 14th, slightly hidden, but closer to 8th Avenue is La Nacional Tapas Bar, which has been there for years. Both are delicious destinations with an interesting history. In addition, the two restaurants are the less expensive cousins to higher-profile eateries, what I might say is “a deal.” Cuban food to my mind is akin to the New York Cuban-Chinese variety. But Coppelia is a new breed of Cuban cuisine — with a modern twist. It is the newest business from Julian Medina, whose original restaurant is Toloache in the Theatre District, a great place for “Nuevo Mexicano” food. More recently, he developed the Yerba Buena restaurants. (I reviewed the 1 Perry Street location in November 2009 WestView.) At Coppelia, you can taste the relationships — the food has both simplicity and sophistication. Pernil (roast pork) comes in a newfangled way or similar to the way it is served at Yerba Buena — pulled and mixed together with yucca, seasoned nicely and “decorated” with Chicharron, or fried pork fat. It would be hard for anybody not to like this dish although there are a few out there that to my surprise are funny about their pork! Ceviche Limeño was good and plentiful, but maybe a bit heavy on the lemon, giving it quite a bite. Chocolate (mole)-Chipotle Glazed Chicken Wings, accompanied by blue cheese and jicama (a
WHERE TRADITION LIVES: La Nacional Tapas Bar, housed in the Spanish Benevolent Society brownstone, is old school, and delicious. Photos by Maggie Berkvist.
MODERN TWIST: At Coppelia, a new Cuban diner on 14th Street, the food has simplicity and sophistication.
sweet-tasting root vegetable), were good although it ventured a bit further away from the focus. Creamy Cuban Coffee Braised Oxtail dressed on Fettuccini worked better and had a good flavor. Desserts come with the help of master pastry chef Pichet Ong and are satisfying — a good bit of dolce de leche and tres leche variations. The hardy slice of dolce de leche chocolate cake with house made ice cream was a stand out.
The restaurant is planning to be open 24 hours a day, but currently is open for lunch and dinner. I have enjoyed a few dinners there and look forward to it as a place that is handy at many times of the day, whether before an 11 a.m. hearty breakfast or a late night feeding in the wee hours. The place is attractive and the staff is personable and very accommodating. On a recent visit, the waiter recognized me from a previous visit and surprised me with a complimentary dessert; this made a great impression on me and is smart as a new business. La Nacional Tapas Bar is housed in the Spanish Benevolent Society brownstone, which has been there since 1868. It started as a place for Spanish immigrants and tourists to feel at home and was an anchor for what was “Little Spain” on 14th Street. The restaurant has a casual club-like atmo-
sphere; you can listen to the weather and sports in Madrid on the Spanish cable TV station going at the bar and for a brief time feel like you are quite far away. La Nacional is the original restaurant of Lolo Marso, who has gone on to create Socarrat Paella Bar, now with a second location on the Lower East Side. Socarrat has been on 19th Street for about two years and has been highly praised for its paella. The word “socarrat” refers to the celebrated crunchy rice around the inside perimeter of a thin metal paella pan baked for a fairly long time in a hot oven. This is not the soupy paella but the drier style, which I have enjoyed in Barcelona. Paella variations, including Fideua (thin noodles) and a variation with squid ink are available for a few dollars less than Uptown, and I think they are as authentic as it gets in Nueva York. There is a nice assortment of tapas, including Fried Chorizo and Patatas Bravas and well-coordinated Sangria making this into a casual, intimate Spanish fiesta. Take a small walk north, and you can enjoy Spanish food from either side of the Atlantic — without the West Village or Chelsea mark up!
Coppelia 207 West 14th Street Telephone: 212 858-5001 www.CoppeliaNYC.com La Nacional Tapas Bar 239 West 14th Street Telephone: 212-243-9308 www.lanacionaltapas.com
Documentary
Queen of the Meat Market By Jim Fouratt In 1985, a mad French “Queen” with a knack for quick comfort food and a flair for self-promotion, opened a diner in the Far West Village called Florent. The district at 6 a.m. was a real-time meat market with dozens of street level stalls with flesh hanging on large hooks and dripping pools of blood. At night, it became a John Rechy “City of Night” landscape populated with outof-town cars circling and cross-dressing “ladies of the night” negotiating. Leathered gay men in heat bounced in and out of notorious sex clubs like the Mindshaft and Anvil, and hetero S&M “freaks” flocked to Paddles. Florent became an instantly popular “breakfast hang” for the nightlife crowd, and during the day an artist, model and family eatery. Florent’s success foretold how the Meat Market would disappear via landmarking gentrification and morph into a high-rent, well-heeled retail, hotel and
restaurant “meet-market.” “Florent, Queen of the Meat Market” avoids the real estate politics except tangentially when it too fell victim to excessive rent increases. Instead, director David Sigal has made a cinematic valentine to Florent Morrellet, by fixating on a celebrity parade and a foodie fantasy. Morellet’s friends - millionaire fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg, art world royalty Christo and Jeanne-Claude or AIDS activist Sean Strub – share why Morrellet is the glue that held the restaurant together during the material ‘80s, the desperate AIDS- and recession-tinged early ‘90s and the later real estate boom of gentrification. Sigal focuses on how he sees Morrellet become a hero of the AIDS pandemic after seeing his friends and customers sick and dying. Morrellet refused to be closeted about his HIV status. His activism began with educating his customers about the dignity of dying. He even stuffed living wills into his menus. A genius of self-
MEATPACKING ORIGINAL: Restaurateur Florent Morrellet is the subject of a new documentary by director David Sigal.
promotion and restaurant management (a 23-year-run in a town where hot usually burns out in single digits), he met the recession challenge with a Bastille Day (French 4th of July on July 14)) celebration, taking it from a dance-in-drag-onthe-counter party, to a 10,000-strong block extravaganza. When rent hikes forced him to close, this mad queen role-modeled how to let go with celebration and moxie. “Florent” is about a particular community of people in New York and a Village
that has been real-estated out of existence. Sigal suggests how an outsider community and fierce entrepreneurial drive can inspire a Florent anywhere. I suspect like the resilient cockroach, Morrellet and his crowd of artists will pop up in some new location yet to be developed or gentrified. With a limited theatrical release, or for a dose of “Florent, Queen of the Meat Market” in your living room – or kitchen – download distribution begins June 1 on iTunes and other web film outlets.
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