Tribeca Trib May 2012 by Carl Glassman

5 9 37

T RIBECATRIB

South Street Seaport is rife with vendor disputes

Race to grow grass on Washington Market Park lawn

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Tribeca and its denizens star in a new novel, ‘Triburbia’

THE

Vol. 18 No. 9

www.tribecatrib.com

MAY 2012

A DOWNTOWN PASSION FOR INTERNATIONAL DANCE

CARL GLASSMAN

[PAGE 22]

Tango dancers Ana Padron and Diego Blanco perform last month with the Mariela Franganillo Company at Pace University’s Schimmel Center for the Arts.

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

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VIEWS

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

TRIBECA TRIB

THE

VOLUME 18 ISSUE 9 MAY 2012

Winner National Newspaper Association First Place, Feature Photo, 2011 Second Place, Local News Coverage, 2011 First Place, Breaking News Story, 2010 First Place, Arts Coverage, 2010 First Place, Best Photo Essay, 2010 New York Press Association First Place, Sports Action Photo, 2012 Second Place, Special Section, 2012 First Place, Education Coverage, 2011 First Place, Photographic Excellence, 2011 Second Place, News Story, 2011

Publishers A PRIL K ORAL AND C ARL G LASSMAN Editor C ARL G LASSMAN

Associate Editor J ESSICA T ERRELL

Editorial Assistant E LIZABETH M ILLER

Contributors O LIVER E. A LLEN J ULIET HINDELL FAITH PARIS J IM S TRATTON A LLAN TANNENBAUM Copy Editor J ESSICA R AIMI

Advertising Director D ANA S EMAN The Tribeca Trib

Published monthly (except Aug.) by The Tribeca Trib, Inc. 401 Broadway, 5th fl. New York, N.Y. 10013 212-219-9709 editor@tribecatrib.com Subscriptions : $50 for 11 issues The Trib welcomes letters. When necessary, we edit them for length and clarity.

Finn Square needs gardeners and more

To the Editor: The Friends of Finn Square came together in 1998 to care for the garden at Finn Square, the traffic triangle by the Franklin Street subway entrance on West Broadway. For 14 years, this small group of local residents has planted flowers and shrubs, pruned bushes and trees, and arranged for the loan of sculptures in this one-tenth-acre oasis of green in our increasingly built-up neighborhood. Passersby regularly pause at the garden to tell us they appreciate our work. Our neighbors and our local businesses respond generously to our appeals for funds. Nonetheless, this spring the park needs more than a smile or a good wish, or even a check. We have water. We have irrigation. We have funding. We have our nonprofit status. But we need volunteers. We need you. Do you have time to spare? Do you enjoy gardening? Do you like planning events? We need you to step forward now, this spring, in order to fill the place of Friends of Finn Square directors who will be moving away from the neighborhood later this summer. We need new volunteers to keep the triangle in bloom. If you’d like to help out, please call or write to the Friends of Finn Square c/o Jessica Raimi at 212-966-8917 or jraimi@earthlink.net and we’ll tell you more. With thanks to all our neighbors for their past and future support, The Friends of Finn Square Max Blagg, Anna Cox-Yongue Judy Duffy, Barbara Fultz, Jessica Raimi, Bill Watson

TRIBECA A PICTORIAL HISTORY

BY OLIVER E. ALLEN

Preview it at TRIBECAPICTORIALHISTORY.COM

Trib is judged one of best community papers in the state

The Tribeca Trib received six awards in the New York Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, handed out last month at the association’s annual convention in Saratoga Springs. Among the honors was a third place for overall excellence in the highest circulation category, and first place for sports action photography, by Trib editor Carl Glassman, of play at a ping pong club in Tribeca. The paper also received a second place award for its special September 11 anniversary issue. “Kudos to your entire staff for a well planned, well designed and top notch editorial content…” the judges wrote. Glassman took third place for his picture story on strip poker as performance art in the windows of Art in General. Both the paper’s coverage of education and its website received honorable mentions. In the IPPIES awards, a separate competition for ethnic and community media sponsored by CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism, Glassman’s ping pong picture took second place for sports action.

Carl Glassman’s photo of a player at the New York Table Tennis Foundation took first place for sports action in an annual competition by the New York Press Association.

To the Editor: Forty years ago, when I moved into the Southbridge Towers cooperative, I was comforted to know that this Mitchell-Lama co-op was protected from the ups and downs of the real estate market, and thought we had a safety net. That safety net is now being threatened and torn to give way to speculation that promises great wealth. That prospect is especially troubling today in the face of the downside of the economy around us. Our ability to stay afloat is being tested, while greed is twisting our thinking! We must not listen to the urgings of those who are planning to move away and to avoid paying the increased maintenance fees and other expected costs. Geraldine Lipschutz

To the Editor: Re: the article “WTC Security Plan Called Too Extreme” in the April Trib. Checkpoints, closed streets, and restricted access are exactly what Lower Manhattan residents lived with after 9/11. We were promised our neighborhood would be restored to “normalcy,” but apparently not. The NYPD have proposed their requirements, but has anyone “reverse engineered” them? Have they been asked why a checkpoint is at a location, and what happens if it is moved, or consolidated with another one nearby? The police will get what they want; however, many times when matters are discussed openly from all perspectives in the form of questions previously unasked, and suggestions not made before, a more common ground often results. John Brindisi

Safety net threatened Future WTC security needs public input for Southbridge co-op

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MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

New Pier 17 Mall Plan May Sail On Through BY JESSICA TERRELL

With its sleek glass walls and cobblestone walkways, Howard Hughes Corp.’s design for a modern new Pier 17 mall in the South Street Seaport won much praise from members of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission last month. But could a swanky design be enough to attract New Yorkers to a new version of what has, so far, been a commercially disappointing shopping destination that almost exclusively drawstourists? Of that, commissioners viewing the plans sounded less certain. “What is being proposed, with respect to the new structure, is more appropriate to the pier than the [current] building,” Commissioner Margery Perlmutter told representatives from Howard Hughes Corp. and their designer, SHoP Architects. “Having said that, I am still very frightened about the idea of a shopping mall in New York City. We don’t do shopping malls.” “It was suggested that the Pier 17 mall has failed because the public got weary of festival marketplaces. Yet this is still a mall. It is still shopping,” Commissioner Frederick Bland said. “Does this work? Do people shop on piers?” Howard Hughes Corp., which took over the Pier 17 development from General Growth Properties, is banking that the answer will be yes. “I think that by opening the building, by making it connect to the public spaces, it will radically change the way people use the area,” architect Gregg Pasquarelli told the commissioners. The long-anticipated redevelopment project would strip away much of the current mall building, using existing steel as the skeleton for a new glasswalled structure featuring three levels of

retail. The developers argue that their building’s sweeping river views, along with additional public space and a performance venue and lawn on the roof, will help draw locals. The open-air ground floor of the new building would be lined with cobblestones to create a street ambience, Pasquarelli said. Glass doors could be lowered during cold months to provide shelter without obstructing river views. The artificial beach on the north side of the pier—currently part of Beekman Beer Garden—would become a public space with cobblestones, wooden glider

CARL GLASSMAN

Left: Rendering of proposed Pier 17 mall, which would include three levels of retail shopping and a rooftop theater and lawn. Above: Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Robert Tierney examines model of the proposed glass-encased mall at Pier 17 last month.

“seems to me to be a reasonable trade.” Pasquarelli said designers are looking at Tanglewood, the outdoor performing arts center in the Berkshires, as a model for a possible music venue on the structure’s roof. They are currently exploring how they would soundproof such a venue from the nearby FDR Drive. A building at the base of the mall, now occupied by Pizzeria Uno, could be turned into a farmers’ market, the architect said. “This is a vast improvement over what is there now,” Wally Dimson, president of the board of the nearby residential complex Southbridge Towers, testified after viewing the designs. “The [current] access to Pier 17 is quite poor.” But Dimson also joined Community SHOP ARCHITECTS

seats and picnic benches. Although they did not take a vote on the project, the commissioners appeared to favor both the demolition of the current 1980s mall structure and the design for the new building, which the Howard Hughes Corp. hopes to open in 2015. “I believe there is substantial support for the design,” Commission Chair Robert Tierney said. “The South Street Seaport is there because of buildings that are much, much older,” Bland said. He called the current structure a “laudable building” that “isn’t representative of the buildings that made the Seaport a historic district.” Replacing the current structure with one that “evokes” a pier building, he said,

Board 1—which had voted to support the new designs in March—in voicing concern about the lack of a master plan for the rest of the Seaport area controlled by Hughes Corp. “A master plan should be in place, and the historic district really should be extended,” Dimson said. Christopher Curry, the Howard Hughes Corp. executive in charge of development, has said that the corporation has a non-binding letter of intent from the city’s Economic Development Corp. that gives it the right to develop the nearby Tin Building in the future. But, for now, he said, the company plans to focus only on Pier 17. “Our project right now does not include the Tin Building at all,” Curry told the LPC. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 42)

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THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

Seaport Rife with Vendor Disputes

Hughes Corp., Seaport Museum and city at center of conflict over who can sell and where

BY JESSICA TERRELL Standing idly inside her gift shop near Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport, Maya Golan watched as groups of tourists streamed past, bypassing her shop and heading for a long line of discount T-shirt vendors nearby. “They don’t even notice the stores,” Golan said, shaking her head. “They just walk by.” The recycled crafts store Golan manages, SOVL, is one of a dozen shops that opened last month in neat peak-roofed kiosks constructed by their landlord, Howard Hughes Corp. The company erected the kiosks after successfully asserting its commercial rights to this short stretch beneath the FDR Drive. The goal was to clear the area of city-licensed vendors who are allowed to set up for free on public property. But that doesn’t help shops like SOVL, which shell out $5,000 a month to the Hughes Corp. for their small booths. Other vendors, operating rent free, are as close as 30 feet away. “It’s kind of unfair that some would have to pay a large sum of money, and others would have to pay nothing,” Golan said, nodding toward the vendors selling $4 t-shirts and $5 hats. “They can sell things cheaper because they don’t pay rent.” On Hughes Corp.’s property, which has been carefully marked with a painted yellow line and half dozen metal barriers, a sanctioned Seaport vendor hawks cold sodas for $2.50. Less than 20 feet away, a hot dog stand sells the same beverage for $1.50. “They are selling hats and T-shirts and tchotchkes off of card tables and it’s just a disaster,” Michael Piazzola, a Hughes Corp. senior manager, told Community Board 1’s Seaport Committee last month. Indeed, the Hughes Corp. kiosks tend to sell more sophisticated goods (their tshirts are in the $25 range), including shawls, artwork and jewelry. The vendors on the other side of the yellow line, some of whom have set up under the FDR Drive for as long as eight years, insist that they are on public property, and fully within their rights to be there. “They harasses us, they take our pictures and say this is their property. But it’s not theirs. This is a public space,” said a t-shirt vendor who did not want to be identified. “Sometimes they make us move. Because they have the power. They are rich. We are poor people.” Meanwhile, the South Street Seaport Museum believes the area occupied by the t-shirt vendors is theirs, and they, too, want the vendors gone, although they say it is for different reasons. “The number of vendors makes it impossible to simultaneously view the

Board 1, which is urging the EDC to step up its efforts to resolve the issue. The board passed a resolution last month, calling on the EDC to provide the museum with documents that would enable the cultural institution to enforce its property line. The museum might then be able to create revenue by placing vendors of its own in the space, CB1 suggested. Most t-shirt vendors did not want to be interviewed, but one gave a different reason for slow business on their side of the yellow line. “The barricades are killing all those people’s business,” he said, referring to the metal barriers that block the path of tourists after they disembark from the numerous buses that stop along South Street. (In addition to the barriers one recent Saturday afternoon, two garbage dumpsters and several large trucks made the area even less accessible and inviting.) Danny Pitran, whose company owns the SOVL kiosk, is enraged by the barriers.

“I’m working so hard and

giving them the rent,” complained a vendor who has only a handful of sales a day. “That means I’m working for them.”

PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

Top: Adriana Alicea, a SOVL salesperson, waits for customers on a recent Saturday. Above: Looking north, t-shirt vendors sell their goods on what they insist is public property beneath the FDR Drive. The yellow line, at right, marks the area that to the north is leased by Howard Hughes Corp. Kiosks, rented out by Hughes, occupy that area.

historic vessels on Pier 16 and the historic buildings,” Seaport Museum President Susan Henshaw Jones said in a written statement to the Trib. “The tableau is confusing and unattractive.” But the museum can’t prove the property is theirs. Its lease, which has been modified numerous times in the past three decades, has never included a metes and bounds, a survey that measures the angles, distances and directions of a property line. “Since there’s no metes and bounds, or nobody is really able to find one for

the museum, we can’t have a survey done,” Seaport Museum General Manager Jerry Gallagher told the Seaport Committee last month. “We can’t do a map to present to the police to say, ‘This is museum property, can you enforce it so that the vendors don’t set up shop here?’” The Seaport area is owned by the city and leased out by the Economic Development Corp. An EDC spokesman would say only that the agency was “working with the museum.” That’s not enough for Community

“Every day, we move them and the security comes out and yells at us. They say if it’s not there then all of those street vendors are going to come here. But that’s not going to happen.” “There’s no reason for the barriers to be here,” he added. “In retail it’s the smallest thing that makes the biggest difference.” Complaints about Howard Hughes go beyond barriers and disputes over property. Mune Gurung sells handmade goods from Nepal in her kiosk, Karma Crafts. She said that she has gone with other kiosk operators to the leasing office with a variety of complaints. Gurung is especially bitter that too little outside lighting was provided for the kiosks to be seen in the early evening. “By seven, it’s so dark, people don’t want to walk by these shops,” said Gurung, who has installed extra lighting inside her store, at her own expense. Requests by the vendors for a rent reduction were refused, she said. “I’m working so hard and giving them the rent,” Gurung said, complaining of poor sales. “That means I’m working for them. Not for myself.” In response to the Trib’s query about vendor complaints, Michael Piazzola of the Howard Hughes Corp. said in a statement, “The Seaport’s specialty retail tenants are our partners and we will continue working together to make this whole season successful.”

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Condo Project Gets Luckier on Third Try BY JESSICA TERRELL It was a compromise that took three trips to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), but in the end all parties seemed pleased. Preservation advocates will get to see the 144-yearold facade of a two-story building at 52 Lispenard St. kept intact, and in turn

Bland’s comments at the April 17 meeting were a far cry from the damning views of the committee two months earlier, when commissioners voted unanimously against a proposal to demolish the facade of 52 Lispenard and replace it with a five-story grey terracotta building topped with a two-story penthouse that also spanned 54 Lispenard St. “If [52 Lispenard] were demolished, if it vanished tomorrow, we would be looking for something that was a quality piece of architecture, which this is not,” Commissioner Diana Chapin had said of the previous design. Community Board 1, which has a policy against approving two-story additions in the HisJESSICA TERRELL toric District, also rejected that Architect James Schelkle shows the penthouse plan. first design. developers will be able to build a twoSchelkle returned to the LPC— story penthouse in the Historic District. though not to CB1’s Landmarks ComThe building is part of a single two- mittee—in March and April with a buildbuilding condo project at 52-54 ing that preserved the facade of 52 LisLispenard. penard St. The new design adds three LPC Commissioner Frederick Bland stories to the two-story 52 Lispenard. called the design, by architect James Built in 1868 as a five-story building, Schelkle, a worthy addition to Down- the top three floors of 52 Lispenard were town’s “family” of cast iron buildings. demolished after a fire in the 1930s, “It rises phoenix-like from the ashes of making what remained a little anomaly the building below,” he said. on the block. Fifty-four Lispenard, built

LEFT: STUDIO JS2 ABOVE: CARL GLASSMAN

in the same year as its neighbor, is in bad shape and will be fully restored as part of the development plan. A two-story penthouse addition will still span both buildings, but will be set back at 54 Lispenard and will use different materials for the facade above each building to give the appearance of separate structures. Above 52 Lispenard, the material will be a painted steel like the facade below, while the facade above 54 Lispenard will be clad in zinc. “Our goal was to maintain the dis-

Left: Rendering of the latest design for 52-54 Lispenard Street. The plan was approved last month by the city. Above: The two buildings as they look today.

tinct identities of each building and reduce visibility,” Schelkle said. The LPC unanimously approved the designs, on the condition that the penthouse’s second story be set back so it can’t be seen from the street. CB1 Landmarks Committee Chair Roger Byrom said he was disappointed that the developers did not return to the community board, but noted that the new designs appear to respond to most of their requests. “These are good modifications,” he said.

Satur Saturday, day, M May ay 12, 2012 | 10 AM – N Noon oon | Wall Wall Str Street eet Park Park a – BETWEEN WATER STREETS BETWEEN W ATER AND SOU SOUTH S TREETS –

The Downtown Alliance invites you to Spring Community Day, a day to spruce up Wall Street Park and enjoy family-friendly activities. Bring family and friends and volunteer to keep your community clean, enjoy light snacks, and meet your neighbors. To stay up-to-date on all Lower Manhattan events, scan the 2-D bar code, visit www.DowntownNY.com or download our Downtown NY iPhone App from the App Store.

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84 Thomas Street, 4th Floor | $10,500 per month Old school charm with renovated kitchen and baths. 3 interior rooms (currently used as sleeping areas) two large living dining room areas. North/South exposure. Great light. Web# 1467746. Sonia Stock, SVP 973.229.8557

25 Murray Street, 8C | $975,000 | Unbelievable sunsets and western skyline views from this 1 bedroom, 1.5 bath in the heart of TriBeCa. Top-of-the-line kitchen, hardwood floors and plenty of closets. Web# 1453562. Joseph Altman 646.734.9581

Brooklyn Heights | $1,999,000 | Spacious 5 bedroom apartment in the most prestigious full-service co-op in historic Brooklyn Heights. This is a prewar home, which offers old world charm, and a spectacular prime location. Web# 1432905. Edward Poplawski, VP 917.327.2233

EUROPE IN GRAMERCY

GREAT TRIBECA RENTAL

2 BEDROOM, 2 BATH LOFT RENTAL

133 East 15th Street | $3,750 per month | Don’t miss out on this 1 bedroom, 1.5 bath duplex with wood burning fireplace, W/D in unit, hardwood floors, renovated open kitchen with stainless steel appliances. Great location. Web# 1467943. Jacqueline Roth, VP 212.233.3340

138 Duane Street, 3N | $8,200 per month | Approximately 1,600 sf of pure Tribeca loft, high ceilings, cast iron columns, beautiful hardwood floors, massive light from huge windows. Super location. Web# 1446213. Sonia Stock, SVP 973.229.8557

156 Franklin Street, 5th Floor | $8,300 per month 1,700 sf, 2 bedroom, 2 bath loft beauty with greatest southern facing window in Tribeca. Red brick, antique fixtures, renovated kitchen and baths. Great co-op in prime location. Web# 1426633. Sonia Stock, SVP 973.229.8557

ASKELLIMAN.COM

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Featured Sale

Breathtaking Elegance! 16 JAY STREET Sublime full-floor loft stunningly renovated throughout with texture and grace. Double-wide great room preserves character of this classic loft with cast-iron pillars. Walls of spalted maple, a kitchen that would make a chef cheer. Lavish master bedroom suite encompassed with over-sized windows, stunning white Thassos marble with inset jade covers counter and soaking tub, lush shower. Home office looks out onto private planting terrace which stretches across the rear of the apartment. Three additional bedrooms are adjacent to large play/family room, one with en-suite full bath and connected Â˝ bathroom. Amazingly quiet home in boutique, six-unit condominium nestled in discrete one-block-long, cobble-stone street in prime TriBeCa, convenient to all shopping, parks, transportation. $7,000,000 I Web #1471043

Breathes With Light!

Making a Difference

Ruth Hardinger, EVP 212-965-6018

C. Michael Norton, EVP 917-701-5723

Kathrin Marx 718-809-2935

Felicity Siegel 646-943-1212

Prudential Douglas Elliman 90 Hudson Street, NYC 10013

20 NORTH MOORE STREET Four exposures bathe this extraordinary loft with glorious light all day! Rooftop, sky and city views! Voluminous great room comfortably holds living/dining areas. Perfect custom Bulthaup kitchen with stainless steel counter, marble island. Currently 2 bedrooms + sleep area/office, 2 bathrooms, flexibility to add 3rd bedroom. Elegant master bedroom suite, sizeable limestone covered bathroom with soaking tub. CAC. Tenant in place. Welcoming home in a sought after coop on prime North Moore St. $3,300,000 I Web #1448807

For further information and additional listings, please go to: http://www.elliman.com/team/the-hardinger-norton-group/detail/98

ÂŠ 2009. An independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. is a service mark of Prudential Insurance Company of America. Equal Housing Opportunity. All materials presented are intended for information purposes only. While this information is believed to be correct, it is presented subject to errors, omissions, changes or withdrawal notice. All property listings are approximate.

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

Race to Grow Grass on a Tribeca Lawn BY CARL GLASSMAN Promising patches of green were sprouting from the otherwise barren lawn of Washington Market Park late last month. Hopes are that it will fill out in time for the Downtown Symphony’s Opera in the Park performance of “Don Giovanni” on May 20. But grass-growing has long been a challenge in the heavily used park and this season’s attempt is an especially bold one. Last month, the park’s crew dug up the entire lawn, dumped new topsoil on it, then seeded the lawn via lawn sprinklers. “We’re going to have the deepest till and the most organic soil we can bring in, up to eight inches deep,” said a sweaty Chris McCarthy, the park’s head gardener, during a break from smoothing out the new soil. “That will fertilize [the soil] to keep it healthy and, hopefully, dear God, we’ll have lawn throughout the next winter.” Later that day, McCarthy mixed a 300-gallon concoction of hydroseed—a combination of water, grass seed, biodegradable cellulose and fertilizer, plus a pigeon deterrent. He stirred it into a machine that pumped the mixture through a hose to the sprinklers. “Hopefully, we’ll get a healthier, softer lawn that people can lie down on and kids can play and roughhouse in without getting hurt,” he said. “But it absolutely has to open for the symphony

CARL GLASSMAN

Above: Chris McCarthy evens out topsoil in Washington Market Park. Right: He stirs hydroseed into a machine that will spray the concoction onto the lawn.

orchestra.” It was a major manpower effort by 25 men in the Parks Department’s Lower Manhattan district. It was not, however, the plan this spring for returning grass to the park.

This is a rendering of a possible renovation.

Imagination!

11 JAY STREET

Nestled in prime historic Heart of TriBeCa – unique 1st floor/lower level 4,100 SF condo duplex loft on cobblestone street! Now is retail and office use but can convert as-of-right to a stunning residential maisonette home with enormous kitchen, bedrooms, and abundant space to live in as you need — Or delightful live/work space — Or keep its retail use, offices, or other C-6 zoning uses. Its possibilities are tremendous! $2,600,000 I Web #1308472

Ruth Hardinger, EVP 212-965-6018

Prudential Douglas Elliman 90 Hudson Street NYC 10013

C. Michael Norton, EVP 917-701-5723

For further information and additional listings, please go to: http://www.elliman.com/team/the -hardinger-norton-group/detail/98

© 2009. An independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. is a service mark of Prudential Insurance Company of America. Equal Housing Opportunity. All materials presented are intended for information purposes only. While this information is believed to be correct, it is presented subject to errors, omissions, changes or withdrawal notice. All property listings are approximate.

Back in November, Friends of Washington Market Park was named the recipient of a $100,000 Community Enhancement Grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. The

money was meant to pay for sod that would be laid down at the beginning of April. But the money has yet to come through, said Pam Frederick, president of the Friends group. The Parks Department recommended the alternate spray method to get a lawn growing fast—within four to six weeks Normally, the lawn is seeded in the fall and—much to the displeasure of kids and caregivers—most of the spring. It does not reopen until around Memorial Day. Last spring was the first time that sod had been used “We didn’t do seeding, thinking we would be sodding in the spring,” Frederick said. “That was the point of the sod, to not have to close the lawn all winter.” Whether a lush, green lawn will be ready for the concert remains to be seen. Pigeons began feasting on the hydroseed almost as soon as it was dry. But if it is a success, the method could save the park some $30,000, the cost of sod for just one season. (According to McCarthy, the hydroseed and equipment to spread it cost about $1,000.) And it will mean a lawn that can be closed for a shorter time. Frederick said she’ll be happy if the cheaper method yields a good crop of grass and is used in the future. “Our $100,000 grant will go a lot further,” she mused. “We could pay for grass for 100 years.”

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

21 20

26 28

4 1

nd you thought the Taste of Tribeca was just about food. To the more than two dozen volunteers in charge of the event, the fundraiser for Tribeca’s P.S. 234 and P.S. 150, taking place May 19 with 75 restaurants, is a dizzying array of details that the happy taster, nibbling on his pulled pork sandwich or crabcake slider, won’t see. From clean linens to corporate sponsorship, these volunteers make it happen. “Everyone brings their own talent to the table,” said Taste co-chair Naomi Daniels. “Then all the pieces become a whole.” For tickets, go to tasteoftribeca.com.

1 CO-CHAIR (P.S. 150) Hope Flamm oversees committees in charge of the website, design and signs, ticketing, grounds, linens, merchandising and purchasing. 2 CO-CHAIR (P.S. 234) Faith Paris looks after all matters involving restaurants, permits, photography, press/public relations, ads, events, wine and entertainment. 3 CO-CHAIR (P.S. 234) Naomi Daniels has oversight over committees handling corporate sponsorship, volunteers, Kid’s Zone, postering, VIP tables, financials and thank yous. 4 CO-HEAD OF VIP PREMIUM TABLES Caroline Sommers oversees the committee that finds goodies for special premium bags and makes sure tables and patrons in the VIP area have everything they need. 5 CO-HEAD OF VIP PREMIUM TABLES Danielle Reilly See #4. 6 HEAD OF VOLUNTEERS (P.S. 150) Roya Baharai organizes the hundreds of volunteers, including students from both schools and Stuyvesant High School who are runners for restaurants and VIP tables, set up and take down the event and more. The heads of volunteers make sure every area is fully staffed. 7 HEAD OF VOLUNTEERS (P.S. 234) Wendy Prince See #6. 8 HEAD OF SIGNS Kathryn Gordon works with the design team to create signs with each restaurant’s logo and the name of its dish to display the day of the event. She also creates the Restaurant Board that tracks restaurants’ participation and sits in front of each school. 9 TICKETING (CO-HEAD) Rachel Moskowitz organizes advance and day-of ticket sales online and in the neighborhood, including operating ticket selling tables leading up to the event, overseeing sales the day-of and finding volunteers to sell tickets before and during the event.

CARL GLASSMAN

The Many Faces of

Behind the scenes, they bring the mammoth food event to life 10 CO-HEAD OF TICKETING Catherine Park See #9. 11 ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR Jodi Tan oversees paperwork and important documents, manages internal communications among committee heads, keeps updated lists and watches over all deadlines. 12 EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER Wendy Chapman, a former co-chair, serves on the Taste of Tribeca Board as a troubleshooter who helps provide solutions for any issues that arise. She also helps ensure that Taste of Tribeca posters are displayed around the neighborhood. 13 HEAD OF WEBSITE Gildren Alejandro works with her team to update the site with information on new restaurants, special promotions, press coverage and events. 14 HEAD OF CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP Sally Ware oversees all corporate sponsors, contacting previous sponsors and looking for new ones. Their sizable donations help pay for the event. 15 HEAD OF PERMITS Sue Rodney makes sure permits are in place, months before the event. 16 HEAD OF LINENS COMMITTEE Lisa Davis is in charge of the committee that ensures that every restaurant has a

tablecloth on the day of the event. 17 HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER Robert Ripps, who has been Taste’s resident photographer for years, will retire from that job after this year. 18 PHOTOGRAPHER Jack Berman documents all Taste events along with Robert Ripps. He will take over the job next year. 19 HEAD OF THANK YOU COMMITTEE April Uchitel oversees putting together over 100 thank you packages—including student artwork—to all the restaurants and sponsors who contribute to the event. 20 HEAD OF GROUNDS COMMITTEE Philip Rosenzweig prepares the site for waste disposal the day of the event and manages waste removal. He works out the logistics for this about a month ahead. 21 GROUNDS COMMITTEE Alexandra Tekerian works with Philip Rosenzweig. See #20. 22 HEAD OF RESTAURANT COMMITTEE Eve Bianco’s committee gears up in January to invite area restaurants to participate. She oversees Health Department permits and assists with day-of restaurant placement, helping with all their requests. 23 HEAD OF KID’S ZONE Susie Smith works with Shannon Burkett,

researching new activities for kids and negotiating with vendors. They oversee the volunteers who help the younger kids. 24 HEAD OF DESIGN Don Zinzell designs poster, tickets, merchandise and ads, starting early in the year to develop ideas for the current design. 25 HEAD OF SPECIAL EVENTS AND PR Jimmy Carbone works with restaurants to organize mini-events in advance of Taste to generate awareness of the big event. He also works with Taste’s PR agency. 26 TREASURER Pat Goss (shown here is wife Kristen Shepherd) works on budgets, record-keeping and day-of money collection. 27 TICKETING (CO-HEAD for PS. 150) Carol Rotko See #9. 28 HEAD OF MERCHANDISING Pixie Yates oversees the ordering of t-shirts, bags, hats and other merchandise sold at the event, working closely with the design team to match designs with the inventory. 29 RESTAURANT COMMITTEE Claude Arpels will take over the committee next year and now works with Eve Bianco to learn the ropes. 30 GENERAL ‘DAY OF’ VOLUNTEER Robert Starling, a floating volunteer, works where he is needed the day of the event.

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

City Options Panned for Kids on Waitlists

BY CARL GLASSMAN As they struggle to find seats for dozens of Downtown children on kindergarten waitlists, Department of Education officials revealed their options. According to parents and community representatives, none of those plans make the grade. The DOE’s Drew Patterson, who met last month with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force, said the city is considering either sending the children to P.S. 1, a school in Chinatown that Tribeca parents rejected during the most recent school rezoning hearings, or adding classes to P.S. 276 or P.S. 379. The notion of squeezing the waitlisted children—predicted by the DOE to be 40 to 45 by the fall—into either of those schools was roundly denounced by many in the group. “The creation of more kindergarten classes at Spruce or 276 is really unconscionable, considering that they are trying to size down instead of sizing up,” Paul Hovitz, Community Board 1's Youth and Education Committee chair, told Patterson. Adding a section of kindergartners to the Spruce Street School, Patterson said, would mean no 6th grade in the school in 2015, the year that Spruce Street’s middle school is to open. P.S. 276 Principal Terri Ruyter said that putting another class of kindergart-

CARL GLASSMAN

In 2009, when P.S. 276 and P.S. 397 began in Tweed Courthouse, large rooms were split in two. School advocates say the same could be done again to provide additional school seats.

ners into her school would take away classrooms for 5th graders in 2013. Or, if extra room is found by eliminating prekindergarten in the school, she said, there could be more than 31 students in each 1st grade class during the 2013-14 school year. “That is exacerbated in a 2014-15 school year, where we are short even more classes,” she said. Parents at her school, she said, are now worried that their 5th graders will be bused to another school to make room for additional kindergartners, an idea that

was floated several years ago by the DOE for P.S. 89. While Patterson promised that the school’s 8th grade was safe at the school he did not comment on the fears of ending the 5th grade. Last month, Community Board 1 passed a resolution calling on the DOE to open additional rooms in P.S. 276, P.S. 379 and P.S. 89 by moving their prekindergarten classes—five in all—to Tweed Courthouse, the temporary site of the Peck Slip School beginning this fall. They insist that the number of class-

rooms at Tweed can be doubled by erecting dividers in the four 2,500-square-foot rooms, much as P.S. 276 and P.S. 397 had done when they occupied the ground-floor space. “Tweed was awesome and there’s no reason not to split the classrooms,” said Tammy Meltzer, a CB1 member and P.S. 276 parent. “The sound level was fine, the education was amazing, it taught community compromise and patience.” Eric Greenleaf, a P.S. 234 parent and author of demographic studies on the school population boom, said that births in Lower Manhattan increased by 43 percent between 2006 and 2010, creating an even more pressing need for school seats in the next few years. “Talking about a little bit of space here and there isn’t going to do it,” said Greenleaf. “What’s needed is not just one but two more new schools.” At a meeting of the Community Education Council on April 25, Patterson gave a rundown of the numbers of children on waitlists in Downtown schools. He said that P.S. 234 had deceased to 25 and the Peck Slip School to three. But two of the school’s lists had grown. P.S. 89, at 21, has three more children and P.S. 276 was up by five to 29. “We expect the waitlists to be dynamic,” he said, adding that the next change comes at the end of May with acceptance to “gifted and talented” programs.

The New

TRIBECA

‘Best for Brunch’

NY TIMES ** (Two Stars) MICHELIN * (One Star)

10 Diners’ Choice Winners Restaurant Name

Price

Norma’s at Le Parker Meridien

Midtown West | American

Sarabeth’s TriBeCa

TriBeCa - Downtown | American

Peacock Alley

$$$$

Midtown East | Contemporary American

Cupping Room Cafe

SoHo | Comfort Food

Hype Lounge

$$$

East Village | American

Sarabeth’s Central Park South

Midtown West | American

Sarabeth’s West

Upper West Side | American

“Marc Forgione is rustic and urban at once, a loft that might be in a Hudson River mill town. Service is warm and practiced, the food about three times better then it needs to be” - Sam Sifton NY Times Monday – Saturday DINNER 5:30pm – 11:00pm Sunday BRUNCH @ 11:30am, followed by SUPPER @ 5pm (3 courses $44)

Restaurant Marc Forgione 134 Reade Street, btw Hudson & Greenwich 212.941.9401

Sarabeth’s East

Upper East Side | American

Poco

Lower East Side | Tapas / Small Plates

Essex

Lower East Side | Fusion / Eclectic

If you like us for Brunch you’ll love us for Dinner marcforgione.com

339 Greenwich Street | New York, New York 10013 Special Events: Call Mini 212.966.0421

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Scaffold Collapses as It’s Constructed A sidewalk shed collapsed April 26 as it was being erected on the Franklin Street side of 366 Broadway in Tribeca. Three workers were hurt, none seriously, according to a Fire Department spokesman. “They had the scaffold backed up with some temporary diagonals that somehow didn’t hold," said an architect who lives in the building and asked not to be identified. “It just came down like a stack of cards.” “I heard it crash and looked out the window. It seemed [a worker’s legs] were trapped under the scaffolding but he was moving his arms,” said another resident, who also asked not to be identified. The Department of Buildings issued a violation to the contractor, Spring Scaffolding, LLC, for “failing to safeguard all persons and property,” said DOB spokeswoman Ryan FitzGibbon. The company did not return a call for comment. By the end of the day the structure’s remains had been removed. A shed on the building’s Broadway side remained in use. The shed frame, about a story high when it collapsed, was being erected to begin routine maintenance required by the city, according to residents.

tastes good

girello is open for lunch and dinner Now delivering in Tribeca next to Walker’s

11 varick street 212.941.0109 • 212.941.0110

CARL GLASSMAN

Left: A worker lies injured following the collapse of a sidewalk shed being erected at 366 Broadway. Top: One of three injured workers is carried to a waiting ambulance. Above:. Following the accident, a worker removes the structure.

girello JONATHAN LEVINE

CARL GLASSMAN

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

TRIBECA TOWNHOUSE LOFT TriBeCa Exclusive No expense spared in this stunning 3,800SF duplex maisonette loft located on a quiet cobblestone block in North TriBeCa. Sprawling home features a dramatic living/dining room with soaring ceilings, wide-plank Chevron ffloors, loors, m edia room, room, llibrary, ibrary, 2 kkitchens, media bedrooms, edrooms, itchens, 4 b 3.5 baths plus doors onto an enormous outdoor space. Additional amenities include CAC, W/D, and a custom custom aaudio/visual udio/visual ssystem ystem p utting aallll llights, ights, and putting shades and music at the touch of your fingertips! Triple mint! Web#2333739 $5,999,999. Triple

PRIME PENTHOUSE LOFT SoHo Exclusive Entertain on the enormous private terrace of this stunning architect-designed triplex penthouse loft featuring a sun-drenched living/dining room with wood-burning fireplace, state-of-the-art chef’s room, 3.5 3.5 baths baths plus plus chef’s kitchen, kitchen, 4 bedrooms, bedrooms, media media room, historic views overlooking SoHo and the city beyond. Absolutely gorgeous! Web#2264803 eb#2264803 $10.5M.

LUXURY-IN-THE-SKY LUXUR Y-IN-THE-SKY TrriBeCa Exclusive Enjoy brilliant light and mesmerizing city views from every room in this spectacular high floor 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath duplex condominium located in a full-service doorman building with gym, sky-lit pool, and on-site parking. Stunning home in triple mint condition! Web#2252977 $6.25M.

PENTHOUSE JEWEL TriBeCa Exclusive This sparkling duplex penthouse condo is wrapped in glass and features a sun-blasted living/dining room with high ceilings, a wood burning chef’s fireplace, gorgeous chef’ s kitchen, 3-4 bedrooms plus 2 enormous terraces offering the ultimate indoor/ outdoor lifestyle. 24-hour doorman, gym and private storage! Web#1998587 $5.95M.

THE DIETZ LANTERN BUILDING TriBeCa Exclusive This sprawling 2,700SF 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath corner loft is bathed in natural light and features barrel vaulted ceilings, a wood-burning fireplace plus open views from 12 oversized windows. Relaxed luxury in historic 24-hour doorman building! Web#2333837 $4.85M.

SPECTACULAR PECT TACULAR SOHO LOFT SPECT SoHo Exclusive This 3,600SF loft is renovated to perfection and features a 50-foot wide living/dining room with 11’ ceilings, classic columns, state-of-art kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths plus historic views from a wall of mahogany-framed windows. Absolutely stunning! Web#1996098 $4.5M.

53 NORTH NORTH MOORE STREET TriBeCa Exclusive Sprawling 2,436SF condo loft in prime 24-hour doorman building. 11’ ceilings, cook’s kitchen, 2 bedrooms, library plus office. Luxury living on TriBeCa’s most sought-after block! Web#1666140 $3.35M .

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Halstead Property, LLC We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.

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MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Matt Abramcyk, 33, owns four Tribeca establishments: Warren 77, Smith & Mills, Tiny’s and Super Linda. Recently, he applied for a liquor license for a fish restaurant he hoped to open at North Moore and Greenwich streets, a deal that he now calls “complicated” and not expected to happen. Abramcyk rose to prominence during his proprietorship of the popular but troubled Beatrice Inn, shuttered by the city in 2009. Abramcyk lives in Tribeca with his wife, Nadine Ferber, and their sevenmonth-old daughter, Zoe Lee. Last month, he spoke to Trib editor Carl Glassman.

hen I was growing up, my family lived in a small apartment and I shared a room with my brother. It wasn’t that small, but I never had any privacy. Friends could never come over and hang out. We could never, like, look at nudie magazines and stuff together. So I always went out. You know, you find yourself when you’re in a club meeting people or dancing, or when you go to a restaurant and have a great sandwich. These places are like my little dreams of what New York is—little places where you can find yourself—or hide if you want to—and always feel comfortable. I’m a big Woody Allen fan. I love his casual way of using New York as the backdrop for his life. I always thought, what a lucky guy. What a fabulously, incredibly pleasant way to wake up and spend your days. So maybe I learned something from that and brought it to my own life. I always equated food with pleasure. Whenever I was really f----d up or upset in my life, I would go to a great New York pizzeria like Mimi’s on 84th Street or a beautiful market like EAT on Madison Avenue as a kid, or as an adult, Dean & DeLuca on Broadway. It’s like a beautiful offering that’s therapeutic no matter how much you spend. I would walk into these places and feel more peaceful and then restored. I never thought I would be doing this stuff. I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I went to business school, which was somewhat detestable in its uniformity though I learned a lot about businessmen. Then I worked for really smart people in the financial world but I always gained a lot of weight at every new job, drank a lot and was really unhappy. I got fired from basically every job I ever had. My first real job after college, I worked for a strategic consulting group but I just couldn’t focus. I had to data crunch, data mine, data clean, data report. Then I got fired from my next two jobs in finance. I didn’t get fired from my college internships because they knew they could get rid of me, I think. Over time I realized that I always wanted to own a business and that obviously my dad could help me get into a store, as opposed to a computer-based construct. He’s been a real estate broker for 35 years in Tribeca and the Financial

WHO IS MATT ABRAMCYK?

CARL GLASSMAN

Matt Abramcyk in Smith & Mills, his bar-restaurant on North Moore Street in Tribeca.

The man who has opened four venues in Tribeca in five years talks about what lies behind the drive. District. My dad is sort of a poet writer guy; he never really wanted to be in business. He just wanted to support his family. Basically, he taught me real estate and real world dynamics. He helped me get Beatrice Inn, Warren 77, the Smith & Mills space, the Super Linda space, the Tiny’s space. Without him I would have never occupied a single one of those places. My dad would work nine to five and then go home. For me it was more like, well, let’s not do a nine to five. Let’s maybe work yourself crazy to the bone but really I have to love it. One of the reasons I love the restaurant business is that I love individuality. I love characters, I love people who are just kind of strange, who have their own way of looking at the world, whether they’re famous athletes or artists or weird kids just breaking out of their shell. It’s so exciting to enjoy the people around you and I have the luxury of doing that every day.

Beatrice Inn was a different story. It took a lot out of me. I was fighting with everybody. It was bad karma. Every day I would be in the lawyer’s office, the Buildings Department, the mayor’s office, the neighbors, buying people expensive apartment renovations, paying lawyers tens of thousands of dollars. I didn’t go to bed until the Beatrice doorman rang my phone. It was an iPhone ring to the sound of a dog barking. So for three years I couldn’t go to sleep before about 5 a.m. at earliest. And then, when it got shut down, after I had been working 100 hours a week, it was like this void. And I had this anxiety that I never had before. It was the strangest, craziest thing. For a long time I’d have panic attacks at random times. I thought I was having heart attacks. I couldn’t breathe. It was just awful and I ended up in a hospital emergency room at one point while I was on vacation. After we opened up Warren 77 in Tribeca, I realized that work didn’t have

“My inspiration starts with an idea that is based on some romanticized memory or notion or imagined setting...”

to be that way. And it was really kind of lovely to find that out. There’s nothing that I’m doing that’s so great. I’m not saving lives or finding a cure for anything, but it’s important for people to be able to leave their homes or work and go somewhere where they feel comfortable, that was built for them, a place that has a terrific drink or a great spaghetti or serves whatever kind of food you love to eat. A place that has restorative abilities. It’s a tremendously interesting journey to try to develop a concept that doesn’t exist in New York per se. My inspiration starts with an idea that’s based on some romanticized memory or notion or imagined setting. I want each restaurant to speak to its own concept. I would still like to open a fish restaurant. But if and when I do, it will likely be my last restaurant in Tribeca. I don’t want to do things that are repetitive. When I see one of my restaurants crowded, when I see different groups of people getting on well and not just trying to get drunk or having happy-hour-type revelry or late-night madness, it’s tremendously satisfying. It’s a wonderful feeling. Until recently, until I had a baby, it was unrivaled. It’s still very special.

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

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MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

PETER FIELD PECK

TURETT COLLABORATIVE ARCHITECTS

PETER FIELD PECK

Far left: Rendering of proposed 11-15 Leonard St. Left: Eric Bogosian criticizes the building. Above: The development team, from left, developer Steven Schnall, consultant Brooke Shafran, architect Simeon Seigel, developer Romy Goldman and architect Wayne Turett.

Leonard St. Project Meets Opposition

BY JESS TERRELL What the developers of a new residential building at 11-15 Leonard Street see as a “modern approach” to Tribeca’s 19th-century architecture, neighbors are calling too big, too bulky, and out of place. More than a dozen nearby residents crowded into a meeting of Community Board 1’s Landmarks Committee last month to oppose the proposed sevenstory building topped by a two-story penthouse. Architect Wayne Turett said the building “takes its cues from the various loading docks and awnings throughout the district.” As Turett described it, the facade would be made of channel glass broken up by metal frames, with the entire building wrapped in a steel frame. “Our goal was to build a building that was contextual, whether it was old or new,” said the developer, Steven Schnall, who plans to live with his family in a 6,000-square-foot “maisonette” on the first two floors. “It was important to us to develop something that was not fake historic-looking.” Schnall is known for the mansion-sized residence he built for his family—and later sold—at North Moore Street and West Broadway. The committee, which acts in an advisory role to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, unanimously rejected the proposed design. Turett said

rejecting two-story penthouses within the historic district. “As you can see, we have a number of issues,” Byrom said. “Most people have an issue with the height. I think we all have an issue with the street level.” At 116 feet, the Garages now occupy the site at 11-15 Leonard Street. project is much taller he was hopeful it would be received than several of the surrounding buildmore favorably by the commission, ings. The design also calls for four which is expected to see it this month. garages, which did not sit favorably with From top to bottom, residents and the committee. community board members found fault “We’ve approved private garages with the building. before, but just one,” committee member “What I am looking at is a mini mod- Marc Ameruso said. “Having this many ernist skyscraper,” Hudson Street resi- is kind of the death of street life.” dent Eric Bogosian said. “This gray, “I like the street front element,” said modern thing…it’s very out of character Bruce Ehrmann, the committee co-chair. with the neighborhood.” “I think it’s dynamic, and at least on the “This is not in context with the envi- street front, is being contextual without ronment,” said Chris Ahearn of 155 being slavish.” However, Ehrmann said, Franklin St., which overlooks the lot now the framing devices on other parts of the occupied by two one-story garages built exterior look “almost like an appliqué.” in the 1920s. “With this design, the pent“I am trying to like it,” committee house looks like a battleship command- member Vera Sung said. “Maybe if there ing across Tribeca.” was a warmer gray tone it would make it Last month, 115 people signed an more inviting.” online petition against the project. Schnall said he wasn’t surprised by Roger Byrom, the committee’s chair, the reactions, because he and Turett had told Schnall that the board has a policy of met previously with neighbors to show

them their plans. “Neighbors are oftentimes opposed to new buildings going up and [affecting] the light they’ve been accustomed to for decades,” Schnall said. “It’s an unfortunate part of progress.” Howard Goldman, an attorney hired by the residents of several nearby buildings, sent a letter to Byrom and CB1, urging the committee to reject the application. The letter notes previously approved development projects in the historic district that were built lower. “The LPC precedents make it perfectly clear that the proposed development, at 116 feet, is not appropriate,” the letter states. A previously approved design for the site, Goldman wrote, was limited to 90 feet. Turett and Schnall said they were “blindsided” by the letter, which they received only the night before. “We had no intention of mounting a campaign of letter-gathering,” said Turett. Schnall did collect 18 letters of support from other neighbors in a day, and presented them to the committee. Neighbor Mark Tabashnick acknowledged that the current garages on the lot “are pretty dismal,” and said that anything would be an improvement. “I just want a reasonable attempt here to create a development that looks good,” Tabashnick said, “and that’s right for the neighborhood.”

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THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

POLICE BEAT

REPORTED FROM THE 1ST PRECINCT

55 BROAD

April 2...1:30 p.m. A pickpocket stole a wallet out of a woman’s purse while she was having lunch, and made a $900 charge on her credit card at Macy’s.

8 MAIDEN LANE April 2...10:20 p.m. A driver double-parked his dump truck and left it running with the flashers on while he went into a store. While he was inside, a thief drove off with it.

CHURCH & READE April 3...5 p.m. A thief stole a bag from the cab of a truck while the vehicle’s owner was working in the back of the truck. WHITEHALL & CHURCH April 7...4 a.m. Police arrested a man selling a stolen iPhone, as well as the man buying it. 89 SOUTH

April 14...12:50 a.m. A thief snatched a woman’s purse while the woman and her co-worker were dancing at a bar.

WALL & NASSAU April 16...9:50 p.m. A man shouting at passersby resisted arrest, flailing his arms when police officers tried to put him in handcuffs. An officer was injured in the incident, and the shouter was charged with assaulting a police officer.

1 WHITEHALL April 18...5 p.m. A woman was using the bathroom at the ferry terminal when someone reached into her stall and snatched her purse off a hook on the inside of the door. 125 BROAD

April 20...9 a.m. Thieves stole a $10,000 Kawasaki motorcycle that was parked on the street.

160 WATER

April 20 11 a.m. A man locked his wallet in a locker at New York Sports Club. While he was

exercising, a thief broke the locker handle and made off with his credit cards and $100 in Polish currency.

30 WALL

April 20...4:15 p.m. A woman placed her cell phone and wallet in a locker at New York Sports Club. When she came back, the lock had been broken and her property stolen.

49 BEEKMAN

April 21...8:40 a.m. A thief made off with a backpack containing a passport, iPod, iPhone, sneakers, and 18 Bruce Springsteen concert tickets. The bag was in a parked car that had been left unlocked.

17 JOHN

April 21...11 p.m. While a woman played pool at the Irish American Pub, a thief stole the wallet from her purse.

BRIDGE & WHITEHALL April 22...6:30 a.m. A subway passenger fell asleep on the Manhattan-bound R train, and was awakened by two passengers at the Whitehall station after a thief snatched an iPhone from the man’s lap and fled the train.

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April 24...8 p.m. A thief broke into a spy shop and made off with a laptop, 10 keychain cameras, $30 in cash, a hard drive, and a slew of cameras disguised as pens, lighters, alarm clocks, watches and a button. Despite the numerous cameras sold in the shop, there was no surveillance camera recording the incident.

VARICK & CANAL April 25...6:55 a.m. A thief snatched an iPad from a woman’s hands and fled.

FULTON & NASSAU April 25...8:38 p.m. A passenger on a northbound N train was playing on her iPhone when a man snatched it and jumped off the train at Fulton Street.

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Many League Parents Cheer New View BY CARL GLASSMAN Watching Little League play on the Battery Park City ball fields will never be the same. Last month the Downtown Little League opened its official season, and with it the terrace above the dugouts where parents watch the games. Must watch the games, that is. For the first time in the league’s nearly 20-year history, moms and dads cannot pepper coaches with unsolicited advice, hurl invective at umpires from close range, or offer consoling words to their little batters after strikeouts. The elevated terrace, extending along the west side of the fields, is outfitted with a single row of benches above each of the two reconfigured diamonds. But most viewers stand at the railing to watch the game. Though some parents needed to get used to the forced distance from the players, most of those interviewed sang the praises of the terrace viewing, which overlooks spanking new dugouts and pristine fields of artificial turf. “I love it,” said James Turner, watching his son James playing on the field for the Pilots. “It’s a little antiseptic up here, but I can live with that.” “Actually I can see the game better,” said Claire Bacon, whose 7-year-old son, Atticus, was on the field for the Phillies. “It’s a bird’s-eye view.” Bill Martino, the Downtown Little

Above: Parents watch a game from their new viewing area. Right: Former Yankee star Willie Randolph makes appearance at opening day ceremony.

League president, praised the freshly minted, $4 million fields and the new way of watching games. “I love it that our players get to be only with their teammates and coaches and not have their parents and siblings on top of them, sneaking them a bagel or

a doughnut,” he said. Martino and other parents said that safety was an important benefit of the new viewing area, especially for the sake PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

of little brothers and sisters who had to be watched when families were at field level. "Younger siblings can’t go on the field during a game or practice," Martino said, "and they never should have.” (The rules will be different for the Downtown Soccer League. According to League President Bill Bialosky, parents will be allowed to stand on the sidelines during games.) Some parents, who preferred to sit, said that the railing prevented them from seeing the action. And there were those who said they wanted to be closer to their kids, especially the younger ones. “Normally, most of the league games, you’re sitting in bleachers right behind the dugout. I miss that a lot,” said Joe Hornback, who praised the new field but not the terrace. “Keeping parents off the fields,” he added. “I don’t really get that.” “With young kids you don’t have to be 10 feet up and 20 feet back when you’re watching a six-, seven- or eightyear-old playing on the field,” said Tom Gallagher, a 12-year coaching veteran and the father of four boys who have played in the league. “You can be on the field. That’s where the excitement is.” But Lisa Grossbaum, looking content as she watched her son Hudson below, said she had no problem with the separation. “We cut the umbilical cord seven years ago,” she said.

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THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

Gatsby Garden Party

The spring fundraiser for the Spruce Street Schoo, P.S. 397, is a Fitgeraldinspired auction, with a night of food, drink and dancing. It takes place May 16, 6 to 10 p.m. on the school’s rooftop. For tickets, go to sprucestreetnyc.org.

Tastes Before the Taste

Can’t wait for Taste of Tribeca on May 19? Here are two fun ways to get a head start and further support P.S. 234 and P.S. 150. On Thursday, May 10, 7 to 10 p.m., a seven-course wine-pairing dinner ($150) is served at Sarabeth’s and includes a Taste of Tribeca ticket. For reservations call 212-966-0421. Then there is a cocktail party with appetizers ($80) at Macao Trading Company, on Tuesday, May 15, 6 to 9 p.m. Price includes a Taste ticket. Reservations at tasteoftribeca.com.

Residents Honored

Downtown residents Elizabeth Williams and Marshal Coleman will be the honorees at this year’s Downtown Community Awards, an annual benefit dinner for Manhattan Youth, held at the Downtown Community Center, 120 Warren St., on Thursday, May 17. Tickets start at $50. The fundraiser begins at 6:30 and features music, dancing and a buffet dinner. Tickets at manhattanyouth.org.

Walking Tour

Battery Park City resident and “Big Apple Greeter” Betty Heller will lead a free walking tour sponsored by the Municipal Art Society. Learn about the major role Battery Park played in the city’s history and the origins of Battery Park City. May 5, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Meet on the steps of the American Indian Museum, 1 Bowling Green. Information on more walks at mas.org.

Artists’ Money Advice

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council is offering a free six-week course on the basics of money management for artists in all disciplines. Registration for Basic Finance for Artists is open until May 14 at lmcc.net.

Fun by the River

Pier 25’s second season of Friday Night Youth Volleyball for boys and girls, grades 6 to 12, kicks off on Friday, May 18. Register at manhattanyouth.org. The pier is also open for mini golf, $4 for kids 13 and under and $5 for all others. This season the pier features a new snack bar.

Le Cinéma

The classic French film “The Red Balloon” is coming to the Canal Park Playhouse for a three-weekend engagement on Saturdays and Sundays from May 19 to June 3. The film shows three times a day; tickets are $7. Information: canalparkplayhouse.com.

Kitchen Memories

Top Chef judge Gail Simmons, New York Times food writer Melissa Clark and GQ’s Alan Richman will discuss how childhood memories and Jewish culture inspire them in their kitchens at a special Mother’s Day panel on Sunday, May 13, at 2:30 p.m. at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place. Tickets for “Like Mama Used to Make” are $10, $7 for seniors and students. Information at mjhnyc.org or 646-4374202.

County Cottages

Country Living is bringing three small cottages to the World Financial Center, where they can be toured from May 17 to 23 as part of the magazine’s “House of the Year” installation. The project benefits the training and placement organization Nontraditional Employment for Women. For information go to artsworldfinancialcenter.com.

As You Like It

The all-female classical theater company The Queen’s Company, will stage Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” whose action has been transported to South America following a violent coup. Performances are from May 4 to 20 at Walkerspace, 46 Walker St. Tickets are $18; “two for one” on Wednesdays. For tickets go to QueensCompany.org or SmartTix.

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MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Community Board

The following is a partial list of the board’s agendas. For updates, go to the CB 1 website. Meetings start at 6 p.m. and are held at 49– 51 Chambers St., Rm. 709, unless otherwise noted. Call 212-442-5050 to confirm dates. An ID is needed to enter the building.

5/1 BATTERY PARK CITY – 6PM

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license for Sentry Conference and Events Centers – Resolution • 170 John St., request for reconsideration of application for restaurant liquor license for TBD • Proposal to expand pedestrian space around Bowling Green Park and along BroadwayWhitehall Corridor by NYC Department of Transportation Lower Manhattan Commissioner’s Office • 2 Gold St., application for City Planning Commission Chair’s certification pursuant to Section 37-73 of the New York City Zoning Resolution to allow an Open Air Café within an Urban Plaza - Resolution The following notices have been received for renewal, upgrade or transfer of wine and beer or liquor licenses (partial): • Peter Minuit Plaza, application for renewal of restaurant wine and beer license for Merchants Market • 3 Hanover Square, application for renewal of restaurant liquor license for Joseph’s • 101 Maiden Lane, application for transfer of wine and beer license for Goodburger • 108 John St., application for renewal of restaurant liquor license for Café Sage

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Youth & Education Committees – 5:30 PM Including Schools in New Development Projects – Discussion • Youth & Education Committee – 6 PM Church Street School’s Newest Program for Teens – Presentation by Betsy Kerlin, Director of Development and Programs • Léman Manhattan Preparatory School – Introduction and Presentation by Leadership Team • Update on Youth Sports and Recreation by Community Board Member Mark Costello High-Stakes Testing – Resolution by Public Member Tina Schiller

5/9 TRIBECA 415 Greenwich St., application for a City Planning Commission Chair’s certification of a minor modification of the applicable rooftop open space equivalent provisions of the Zoning Resolution – Resolution • 145 West Broadway, renewal application for a sidewalk café license for The Odeon –

• 179 West Broadway, renewal application for

Resolution

a sidewalk café license for Landmarc – Resolution • 345 Greenwich St., application for a sidewalk café for Viet Cafe • 78 Reade St., application for a restaurant liquor license for TBD – Resolution • 276 Canal St., application for a tavern liquor license for Tribeca Blue Hotel – Resolution • 275 Greenwich St., application for a restaurant liquor license for Chipoltle Mexican Grill – Resolution • 279 Church St., application for a restaurant liquor license for Paolo Meregalli – PVF Inc. – Resolution The following notices have been received for renewal, upgrade or transfer of wine and beer or liquor licenses: • 10 Reade St. renewal application for a restaurant liquor license for Albella • 57 Murray St. renewal application for a tavern liquor license for Uncle Mike’s • 190A Duane St., renewal application for a restaurant liquor license for Roc • 273 Church St. renewal application for a tavern liquor license for Souths Restaurant • 187 Church St., renewal application for a restaurant liquor license for Yawa . • 323 Greenwich Street, renewal application for restaurant liquor license for Gigino Trattoria • 409 Greenwich St., renewal application for restaurant liquor license for Wolfgang’s • 28 Water St., application for flagpole –

5/10 LANDMARKS

• 169 Hudson St., application for rooftop

Resolution

• 100 Broadway, application for storefront infill

extension - Resolution

• 405 Broadway, application for Signage

– Resolution

Master Plan – Resolution

5/14 COMBINED WTC REDEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AND ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT TASK FORCE - 6 PM Location: NYS Assembly Hearing Room 250 Broadway, 19th Floor Combined WTC Redevelopment and Arts & Entertainment Task Force Update by Joe Daniels, President and CEO, National September 11 Memorial & Museum (Invited); Performing Arts Center WTC Redevelopment Committee MTA update

5/15 SEAPORT/CIVIC CENTER COMMITTEE

• New Amsterdam Market Presentation • 146 Beekman St., renewal application for a

sidewalk café license for Fresh Salt – Resolution The following notices have been received for renewal, upgrade or transfer of wine and beer or liquor licenses: • 225 Front St., renewal application for restaurant liquor license for Barbarini

5/17 QUALITY OF LIFE Update by Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center (LMCCC) – Presentation by Robin Forst, Director of Government and Community Relations • Regulation of Intercity Buses – Discussion with Representatives from Speaker Silver, Senator Squadron, and Council Member Chin • Car Accident on Beekman Street on April 17 – Discussion and Update from Manhattan DA’s Office • Waterfront Revitalization Program Pres-

5/21 WATERFRONT

entation by Department of City Planning Resolution • Public Safety on the Waterfront - Discussion

5/22 CB MONTHLY MEETING – 6 PM Location: Dance New Amsterdam 280 Broadway, 2nd Floor (entrance at 53 Chambers Street and Elk Street)

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

Private Parking Proposal Debated at CB1

BY JESSICA TERRELL This is a city where private parking spaces are at least as valuable, per square foot, as the condos to which they belong. So it’s no mystery why the developers of a yet-to-be-constructed building on White Street want to triple the number that zoning allows. Less clear, however, is whether such a privilege is good or bad for the neighborhood. That’s the question that Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee has struggled with—and changed its collective mind over—during the past two months. The planned building, at 84-86 White Street, would have 33 units and, by law, could have seven parking spaces. Appearing before the committee in March and April, Seth Wright, of the planning consulting firm Philip Habib Associates, said the unnamed developers want to increase the number to 22. “We want to meet the demand of the building, and not add more cars to the neighborhood’s already highly utilized parking spaces,” Wright said. At the first meeting, board member Mark Costello led the opposition. “The building is a pretty big building, and it will have a pretty big presence in our little area,” Costello told Wright, adding that the extra parking spots would only have a “fractional impact” on reducing street parking demand. “By giving these residents their own

CARL GLASSMAN

Seth Wright presents a developer’s request for more parking spaces at 84-86 White Street.

parking spots, it means they’re not out on the street,” countered committee member Paul Cantor. “So those of us who may want to park on the street can do so.” The committee voted down the proposal, but the building planners asked to return in April to pitch it again. In a close vote on April 11, the committee recommended approving all 22 parking spaces. It was later overwhelmingly approved by the full board. “I suspect that whatever we do, the license will be granted [by the city],” said committee co-chair Michael Con-

nolly, who voted yes on the proposal both times. “I think there is a benefit to the community in making sure it is not [turned into] a commercial garage.” The developers sent a lengthy memo to the board, arguing that their plan would be a benefit to the neighborhood. “If they don’t allow parking for the residents, the problem is taken from the building onto the street,” said the project’s architect, Manuel Glas. Wright said most of the residents of the new building would likely own cars—.66 cars per person to be exact, ac-

cording to census data that he cited for people earning over $150,000 a year. “We are asking for an additional 15 spots to not impact the area’s public parking facilities,” he said, adding that a total of 22 spots for the building’s 33 units would meet that demand exactly. The building is being developed on a site that formerly was a 57-space public parking lot. Costello, the most vocal opponent of the request, was not present for the second vote. “When [developers] come to us to talk about something that will add a great deal of value to a project, we should be entitled to say, ‘What are you doing for us?’” Costello said at the March meeting. “I just don’t see what is good [in the proposal] for regular people.” Other committee members expressed concern that the extra parking in such a large development would set a bad precedent. They also questioned whether the added private space would really create more street parking. “It’s not necessarily freeing up spaces on the street, because there are no spaces on the street,” committee member Jeff Ehrlich said. Even if the private parking spaces don’t ease the dearth of street parking, there is still good reason to support it, said Cantor, who voted for the project both times. “They will pay for it in higher taxes,” he said.

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MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

SOUTH ASIAN COMPETITION Last month nine dance troupes, most from American universities, performed colorful and highly energetic South Asian dances of a variety of genres, from traditional to Bollywood to hip hop, in the Best of the the Best competition at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. To be invited to enter, the groups had to be first-place winners in a previous competition. The troupe from the University of California at Los Angeles was named the overall winner.

very culture expresses itself through movement and if ever there was a time to sample that international palette of dance it was last month, on the stages of Lower Manhattan. From the intimate second-floor setting of the Arab cultural center Alwan for the Arts on Beaver Street to the packed auditorium of the Tribeca Performing Arts Center and its South Asian dance competition, international travel meant walking a mere few blocks. At center stage could be seen the sensuality of tango’s entwined couples or the unity of the Native American circle dance, inviting everyone to join in. And everyone, it seems, did join in for a Bollywood dance party at the Winter Garden. There is a Hopi Indian saying: “To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak.” Many hearts, Indian and otherwise, spoke last month in Lower Manhattan. Watch for the video at tribecatrib.com.

FAUJ from Boston

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Bollywood came to the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden on April 24 and hundreds got into the act. Led by instructors from dhoonyaDANCE, the crowd of novice dancers was accompanied by Bollywood movies and video clips shown on the Winter Garden big “media wall” screen. The free dance party was hosted by DJ Rekha, who spun the tunes.

Raas from the University of California at Riverside

NATIVE AMERICAN POW WOW

Michael Taylor performs a hoop dance, one of many Indian dances at a free “social” held at the Museum of the American Indian on April 21. The pow wow was presented by the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, a group founded by 10 Native American New Yorkers nearly 50 years ago that now holds a pow wow around the city each month.

A smorgasbord of cultural delights descended on Lower Manhattan last month. s ARGENTINEAN TANGO AT PACE UNIVERSITY s EGYPTIAN CANE DANCE Karim Nagi performs “War with Souls,” a southern Egyptian dance and one of more than a dozen pieces he performed last month at Alwan for the Arts, the Arab cultural center on Beaver Street. The dance was one of 13 pieces performed by Nagi in which he not only danced but played a tabla (drum), finger cymbals, lute and tambourine.

Mayte Valdes and Leonardo Sardella with the Mariela Franganillo Company tangoed last month in the company’s two sold-out performances of “Tango Connection: Love Stories” at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts. The show explored in dance the private relationships of four couples followed by their public appearance at a “milonga,” a social dance.

PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

FAUJ from Boston

s EGYPTIAN CANE DANCE Karim Nagi performs “War with Souls,” a southern Egyptian dance and one of more than a dozen pieces he performed last month at Alwan for the Arts, the Arab cultural center on Beaver Street. The dance was one of 13 pieces performed by Nagi in which he not only danced but played a tabla (drum), finger cymbals, lute and tambourine.

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

Zor from the University of California at San Diego

s BOLLYWOOD IN THE WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER

WORLD OF DANCE

DOWNTOWN’S

NATIVE AMERICAN POW WOW

smorgasbord of cultural delights descended on Lower Manhattan last month. s ARGENTINEAN TANGO AT PACE UNIVERSITY Mayte Valdes and Leonardo Sardella with the Mariela Franganillo Company tangoed last month in the company’s two sold-out performances of “Tango Connection: Love Stories” at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts. The show explored in dance the private relationships of four couples followed by their public appearance at a “milonga,” a social dance.

PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

Tokyo Bay

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB Thinking of entertaining or just dining out? Come join us at Ecco Restaurant! Serving Tribeca for almost three decades has earned us our reputation for being consistently one of the finest eateries in the neighborhood.

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THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

Blame the City for Too-Tall Building Projects One person’s light and air can be another person’s oppressive shadow. In terms of our city’s zoning, this may be true even when both people are looking at the same thing. This contradiction hangs over a project proposed for Leonard Street, where multiple penthouses are planned to sit atop a new seven-story building between West Broadway JIM and Hudson STRATTON’S Street (see page 16). Neighbors insist it is too tall for our historic district compared to the buildings around it. Still it is as-of-right in the eyes of the City Planning CITY Commission CHARRETTE (CPC). This the month, Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is expected to weigh in on its appropriateness to the neighborhood. As the one member of the community most associated with the 1996 “contextual” zoning that governs Tribeca, I must side with my neighbors who oppose the project. The proposed building is not “contextual” to Tribeca. To my mind, the current CPC has intruded itself into the zoning in such a way as to force con-

tentious issues between developers, the community, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission. And they have done this in a way not envisioned when the zoning was created. In other words, throw your brickbats at City Planning, neighbors, not just at the developer. In terms of transparency, I must admit that the view from my own loft window would be one of those obscured by the project. On the other hand, project architect Wayne Turett is a longtime neighbor and friend. Neither of these facts is a factor in my opinion. The C6-2A zoning was originally

dard F.A.R. for C6-2A was six. We also agreed that in an historic area like ours, new buildings should retain the character of the 19th-century buildings that surrounded them. That included matching building-heights with adjacent existing buildings. This became mandated by the eventual zoning regulation. The Planning Commission that approved it did not consist of landmarks enthusiasts and anti-development flowerchildren. Its chair at the time was Joe Rose, himself a major New York City developer. The Commission in that day recognized that the city would be advantaged

What has tiptoed into Tribeca’s “contextual” zoning since it was passed is a Catch 22 called “light and air,” requiring residential developments to have rear yards. proposed to me privately by CPC Manhattan planner Bob Flahive in 1996, after negotiations over my own very different zoning proposal that had been supported by Community Board 1. Key to my support for the C6-2A was its contextual nature. Among CPC concessions was that we retain the previous bulk limit of a “five-F.A.R.” (Floor Area Ratio: the floor area of the building limited by five times the building’s lot size.) The stan-

by a Tribeca that retained its 19th-century aura and silhouette. The unprecedented success of Tribeca in the years since show they were right. What has tiptoed into our “contextual” zoning since then, however, is a Catch 22 called “light and air.” Major residential developments require rear yards, so there will be enough space between buildings to get light and air to everyone’s window.

Because of its lot configuration, the Leonard Street development has been mandated by the current CPC to have not just one but three 30-foot rear yards just for that purpose. The Tribeca loft building in which I’ve lived happily since 1974 has only 10 feet to the building lot-line. So also do nearly all 19th-century buildings in Tribeca. The five- and six-story buildings that are typical of our historic district are therefore close to the F.A.R. of Five that our C6-2A zoning represents. The problem on Leonard Street is simple math. Keep the allowable bulk of the building constant (F.A.R. of five), while turning floor area into a rear yard, and the building must get taller. No way around it. This 30-foot rear-yard Catch 22 was not a plan of the original zoning. It forces a building to rise higher and pits development rights against landmarking. But the bean-counters of present-day planning have decided that the arbitrary burden of a light-and-air requirement should supersede everything else. It becomes a covert way to undermine landmarking, Cut the Leonard Street rear yards in half, and those awkward, objectionable penthouses would disappear. Building height drops, and the project becomes contextual. And we would not be having this conversation.

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MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

At the Masonic Hall that stood on Broadway, near Duane Street, Fanny Wright spoke out for the rights of women, “humbugged from their cradles.”

The Rabble-Rouser OLIVER E. ALLEN he Freemasons were a proud and respectable bunch in the city in the early part of the 19th century—their membership included many of New York’s leading families—and they were happy to allow community groups of every sort to use their principal meeting house, the Gothic-style Masonic Hall on Broadway near Duane Street, which was dedicated in 1827. So they were taken aback in 1829 when a young Englishwoman named Frances (Fanny) Wright used the hall to give voice to some radical ideas that shook the building to its foundations. Born in Scotland in 1795 and orphaned at the age of three, Fanny was raised by relatives who were steeped in progressive ideas. After coming to the U.S. in the early 1820s she became a friend of the Welsh reformer Robert Owen and visited his Indiana socialist community, New Harmony, which

emboldened her to start her own community, Neshoba, in Tennessee, where she planned to work for the emancipation of slaves and for sexual freedom. The community failed, but by 1829 she was known to be controversial. She began the first of her Masonic Hall talks by attacking evangelical clergymen for their efforts to preserve an unjust status quo—they worked on “the minds of weak and deluded women” who had been “humbugged from their cradles.” Denouncing conventional domesticity, she astonished her audience by demanding sexual equality for women. Sexual passion, she proclaimed, was “the noblest of the human passions,” yet “ignorant laws, ignorant prejudices, ignorant codes of morals condemn one portion of the female sex to vicious excess, another to vicious restraint, and all to defenseless helplessness and slavery, and generally the whole of the male sex to debasing licentiousness, if not to loathsome brutality…. Fathers and hus-

bands! Do you not see how, in the mental bondage of your wives and fair companions, ye yourselves are bound?” She also attacked the education system and said the government should provide free schooling for all, including the poor, slaves and women, a radical notion at the time. Wright’s audience was delighted and applauded exuberantly, and each lecture was packed—one enthusiast was the young Walter (later Walt) Whitman. She was called “the female Tom Paine.” But the city’s upper crust was beginning to feel she had gone too far. Newspapers attacked her, and at one point a barrel full of oil of turpentine was set afire at the Masonic Hall’s doorway. Emboldened, Wright bought an old church on the Bowery, renamed it the Hall of Science, stocked it with books and pamphlets and offered free lectures on every imaginable subject. It was immediately popular and remained so. Fanny Wright never regained her

initial citywide popularity, however. When in 1836 she attempted to give a new series of talks at the Masonic Hall, the reception was far different from what it had been in 1829. As one historian has put it, maddened males “drove Wright from the stage with hisses, pounding of canes, stink bombs, and a ‘volley of expressions of the most vulgar and indecent kind.’” Indeed, she soon found the doors of every major public hall in New York City shut against her. Undaunted, she continued to speak out whenever she could, although in 1852 she suffered an accident that cut short her turbulent life. Fanny Wright’s influence over radical politics nevertheless remained strong for the rest of the 19th century and beyond. And in reading about her one can readily feel that if she were alive in this election year her views would merit near-acceptance and she would feel right at home.

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

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MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

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THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

KIDS

A program for everyone in BPC’s parks

Five Downtown parks say,

Hello, Spring

with planting, music, and even a little petting zoo

GREENWICH STREET Help beautify the garden plots along Greenwich Street, buy a flower and have a cupcake during “Freshen up Greenwich Street Day” on Sunday, May 6, 10 am–2 pm. Meet at Harrison and Greenwich Sts. Sponsored by the Friends of Greenwich Street.

May Is a Merry Month

It all starts happening in May in Battery Park City’s parks. For children of all ages—as well as adults—there is a program to fit everyone’s interest. The activities below are free (unless otherwise indicated). Go to bpcparks.org for details; to register, call 212-267-9700 x366 or email emccarthy@bpc parks.org.

Preschoolers

PRESCHOOL ART Projects with paper, clay, wood and paint. Led by an artist and teacher. Thursdays, 10:30 pm-noon. Begins 5/3. Rockefeller Park PRESCHOOL PLAY Interactive play on the lawn for toddlers with their parents and caregivers. Toys, books and play equipment provided. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, 10 amnoon. Begins 5/1. Wagner Park WEDNESDAYS IN TEARDROP PARK Games and arts and crafts. For age 5 and up. Wednesdays, 3:30-5:30 pm. Begins 5/2. Teardrop Park YOUNG SPROUTS GARDENING Introduction to organic gardening for 3to 5-year-olds with accompanying adult. Space is limited. First come, first served. Tuesdays, 3:15-3:45 pm. Begins 5/1. Rockefeller Park Childrens Garden

Older Kids

ART + GAMES Art and lawn games. For ages 5 and older. Thursdays, 3:30-5:30 pm. Begins

5/3. Rockefeller Park BASKETBALL FOR AGE 5-6 Basketball with adjustable-height hoops. Mondays, begins 5/7, and Fridays, begins 5/4, 3:30-4:30 pm, Rockefeller Park BASKETBALL FOR AGE 7 AND UP Adjustable height hoops for kids of all sizes, plus fun drills to improve skills. Mondays, begins 5/7 and Fridays, begins 5/4, 4:30-5:30 pm, Rockefeller Park EXPLORERS CLUB Explore the natural world of plants, weather and indigenous animals in the park. For 1st to 3rd graders. $90. Registration required. Begins Monday, 5/7, 4-5:30 pm, 6 River Terrace GARDENING CLUB Soil preparation, planting flowers and vegetables, watering, weeding and composting. For ages 6-10. $120 per 2-month cycle. Registration required. Begins 5/1, Tuesdays, 4-5 pm. Rockefeller Park SOCCER Learn to pass and shoot and improve skills. Close-toed shoes required. For age 5-7: Begins 5/1. Tuesdays, 3:30-4:15 pm. Rockefeller Park. For age 8-11: 4:305:30 pm. Rockefeller Park. WIFFLE BALL Close-toed shoes required. For age 5-7: Begins 5/1.Tuesdays, 3:30-4:15 pm.

Rockefeller Park. For age 8-11: 4:305:30 pm. Rockefeller Park.

BOGARDUS GARDEN AND PLAZA This garden triangle and car-free plaza is celebrating with food, music and more. Plant bulbs in the garden, hear the TriBattery Pops, see Children’s Tumbling stiltwalkers, make Mother’s Day cards and decorate cookies. Sat., May 12, 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bogardus Garden and Plaza (at Hudson at Reade Sts.). Sponsored by the Friends of Bogardus Garden.

Adults

DRAWING IN THE PARK Sketch and paint the Hudson River and parks with an artist. Materials provided. Saturdays, 10 am-noon. Begins 5/5. South Cove ELEMENTS OF NATURE DRAWING Draw in the gardens with an artist. Materials provided. Wednesdays, 11:30 am-1:30 pm. Begins 5/2. Wagner Park FIGURE AL FRESCO Figure drawing outdoors with a clothed model. Taught by an artist. Materials provided. Wednesdays, 2:30-4:30 pm. Begins 5/2. Wagner Park GARDEN TOURS Tours with a horticulturist. Learn about the park’s innovations in organic gardening. Teardrop Park: Meet at the Rock Wall. Mon., 5/7, 12:30 pm, Teardrop Park. Wagner Park: Meet at the brick pavilion. Wed., 5/16, June 13, 11am TAI CHI Learn the ancient Chinese martial art. No experience necessary. Registration required. Fridays, 8:30-9:30 am. Begins 5/4. Esplanade Plaza

All Ages

BIRD WATCHING Learn about birds that nest and rest in the park. Led by a birder and naturalist. Novice and experienced birders are welcome. Binoculars and field guides available. Sat., 5/12, 11 am, Wagner Park GO FISH Join experienced anglers for catch-andrelease fishing and learn about life in the Hudson River. Art projects and performance by bluegrass and rock group, Hub Hollow (at 12:30 pm). Sat., 5/12, 10 am2 pm, Wagner Park STORIES FOR ALL AGES Musical storytelling duo Play Me a Story performs a fable about a man who catches a fish who grants his wishes. Sat., 5/19, 11 am, Teardrop Park SUNSET SINGING CIRCLE Rounds and folk songs. No experience necessary. All ages welcome. Led by folksinger Terre Roche. Fridays, 5/4, 78:30 pm, Wagner Park

DUANE PARK The park’s annual Celebrate Spring Day takes place on Sat., May 12, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Kids can pot a plant for Mom and visit a petting zoo. There will also be apples and cider for all. Guitarist Wilson Montouri will perform. Sponsored by the Friends of Duane Park. WALL STREET PARK Spring Community Day is an annual Wall Street Park event (the park is between South and Water streets) in which many volunteers spruce up the islands of flowers along Wall Street and enjoy family activities. Sat., May 12, 10 am–12 pm. Sponsored by the Alliance for Downtown New York. WASHINGTON MARKET PARK Every year on It’s My Park Day, children of all ages don garden gloves and under the guidance of the park’s gardener, plant impatiens and marigolds, as well such as spring bulbs. Bring gloves and trowels if you have them. Sat., May 19, from 10–11 a.m. Sponsored by the Friends of Washington Market Park.

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

HI TECH HEBREW SCHOOL A REFRESHING JEWISH EDUCATION COMING SEPTEMBER 2012

Featuring: An innovative multi-sensory approach to learning enhanced by interactive technology with an outstanding Judaic & Hebrew language program Information Session 2012/2013 Monday I May 7 I 8 PM Chabad of Tribeca/SoHo I 100 Reade St. www.chabadoftribeca.com I 212-566-6764

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

KIDS

PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

In Stitches

Top left: Eleanor Grant threads a needle. Left: Azalea Danes has plenty of buttons to choose from for her design. Above: Fun and laughter is a big part of the girls’ time together in Mary Jaeger’s studio. From left, Azalea Danes, Macy Berry and Edith Liben.

It’s all work and giggles for Tribeca Girl Scouts learning Japanese textile art

BY APRIL KORAL turns trying it on, giggling all the while. hat’s in a mere piece of cloth? To Nearby, Macy Berry, 9, tied her cloth Girl Scout Troop 3052, it could be around her neck. “I’m flying,” she said, then anything. A little cover for their wrapping it tightly around herself, she sashayed bed, a beach dress, a wall hanging. A sarong. about. “Now it’s a ballroom dress,” she Last month was the troop’s third and last explained. class on shibori, a Japanese style of tie-dyeing, “I learned how to sew when I was two, beheld in the Tribeca studio cause my father is a of textile designer Mary fashion designer,” AzaJaeger. As each of the lea Danes, 9, said as she girls admired their cloth, adroitly attached a butdyed the week before, ton. Jaeger showed them how Her father, Robert to embellish their creDanes, who was assistations. ing Jaeger that day, Jaeger, who has a spehelped Edith, who decidcial interest in Japanese ed to turn her cloth into textile design, also tried a poncho and add a zipto imbue them with an per. “Do you want the appreciation for the art. zipper to open or stay Edith Liben applies a zipper to her material. She held up an old closed?” he asked. “I kimono she had refurbished, running her findon’t know,” she said. “I’m afraid that later in gers over its ancient stitches. “Take a closer my life I might want to change it.” look at this,” she said, enthusiastically. “It was Danes, who specializes in evening gowns, literally falling apart!” advised Dina Re, 12, to pick an accessory color A few took a closer look. “Wow. That’s that was “interesting.” cool.” “Can I use a contrasting color?” she asked But how to keep one’s mind on Japanese “No,” said Danes, shaking his head. “Might textile arts when all around them, from floor to muddy it.” ceiling, were shelves stuffed with bolts of Jaeger, who has taught textile design to colcloth, boxes of doodads everywhere, clothing lege students, said that these girls had ended up samples and mannequins squeezed together. teaching her an important lesson. “I had to Edith Liben, 10, Jaeger’s daughter, found a learn to step back,” she said, “and not teach so child’s kimono and she and her friends took much. To just let it be.”

Top: Mary Jaeger talks to Sarah Brice (left) and Dina Re about their project. Above: Robert Danes helps Eleanor Grant with sewing.

KIDS CALENDAR

32 ARTS, CRAFTS & PLAY ART OF THE PLAINS: LEDGERS Kids learn about Native American ledger art, followed by a ledger art-making activity. Free. Mondays–Saturdays, 10 am. MAKE A PAPER PARFLECHE Make and decorate a “suitcase of the Plains” with an artist. Free. Wednesdays, 2 pm. MAKE A CORNHUSK DOLL Learn about these Native American dolls and make one. Free. Thursdays, 2 pm. NATIVE AMERICAN CRAFTS Craft activity for kids, related to a museum exhibit. Ages 6 and up. Free. Thursdays, 4 pm. National Museum of the American Indian, 1 Bowling Green, nmai.si.edu. SEAPORT HISTORY Visit the museum’s exhibits, learn about Seaport history and do a related craft project. Ages 6–9, with accompanying adult. Registration required. $15. Sat, 5/12 & 5/26, 10:30 am. South Street Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton St., seany.org. MAKE A MOTHER’S DAY CARD Create an architecture-themed card for mom. Registration required. $5. Sat, 5/12, 11:45 am. PAPER TOWERS Learn about famous newspaper buildings at the turn of the 20th century and do a related project. Ages 8–13. Registration required. $5. Sat, 5/26, 11:45 am. Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl., skyscraper.org.

pm. National Museum of the American Indian, 1 Bowling Green, nmai.si.edu.

POCAHONTAS Showing of the classic children’s film accompanied by pizza. Free. Friday, May 18, at 6 p.m. Charlotte’s Place, 109 Greenwich St., trinitywallstreet.org.

MIL’S THRILLS Ukulele lullabies and interactive songs about moms. $15; free under 2. Sun, 5/13, 11 am. THE DEEDLE DEEDLE DEES Educational rock with songs about science and history. $15; free under 2. Sun, 5/20, 11 am. 92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org.

FILM NATIVE AMERICAN CHILDREN’S FILMS Free. Daily, 10:30 am, 1 & 3 pm. National Museum of the American Indian, 1 Bowling Green, nmai.si.edu.

SCIENCE & NATURE EARTH SCIENCE Demonstrations about bugs, weather, ocean life and more. Ages 5–12. Registration required. Free. Tuesdays, 4 pm. SOUNDS LIKE SCIENCE Interactive show that explores how sound is made and how we hear it. Ages 5–12. Free. Thu, 5/10, 3:30 pm. LIVING IN SPACE Participate in a mock space mission and dress up like an astronaut. Ages 5–12. Free. Thu, 5/24, 4 pm. BPC Library, 175 N. End Ave., nypl.org.

MUSIC ASTROGRASS FOR KIDS Bluegrass, sing-alongs and dance contests. $15; free under 2. Sun, 5/6 11 am.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS STUDIO TOURS Visit a studio that produces kids’ films and TV fare. Reservations are required.

DANCE CHINESE DANCE AND CULTURE For all ages. Free. Wed, 5/9, 5:30 pm. New Amterdam Library, 9 Murray St., nypl.org.

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

$10. Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11 am & 4 pm. Little Airplane Studio, 207 Front St., littleairplane.com. ON THE PLATE! Learn the basics of cooking, including baking, chopping, grilling and melting. Ages 12–18. Free. Thu, 5/3, 4 pm. BPC Library, 175 N. End Ave., nypl.org. FEDERAL HALL OPEN HOUSE Tours and historical reenactments at the site of Washington’s inauguration. Free. Sat, 5/5 & Sun, 5/6, 9 am–5 pm. Federal Hall, 26 Wall St., nyharborparks.org. HUDSON RIVER PAGEANT Music, dancing, nature demonstrations and a parade of giant puppets. Free. Sat, 5/12, 1–4 pm. Go to earthcelebrations.com for events schedule. ARCTIC BLAST FESTIVAL A celebration of the native peoples of the Arctic region with traditional music and dance, plus workshops to make an Eskimo yo-yo, a story knife and snow goggles. Free. Sat, 5/19 & Sun, 5/20, 12–5

STORIES & POETRY BABY STORYTIME Stories, songs and rhymes. For ages 0–18 months. Registration required. Free. Mondays (except 5/28), 9:30 am; Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:30 am. BPC Library, 175 N. End Ave.; Thu, 5/3 & 5/10, 10:30 am. READING ALOUD Stories for 3–5-year-olds. Free. Mondays (except 5/28), 4 pm. BPC Library, 175 N. End Ave.; Mondays, 4 pm. TODDLER STORYTIME Interactive stories, songs, finger puppet plays and more. For ages 18–36 months. Registration required. Free. Wednesdays, 10:30 am. BPC Library, 175 N. End Ave.; Thu, 5/17 & 5/24, 10:30 am. New Amsterdam Library, 9 Murray St., nypl.org. TINY POETS TIME Poetry reading for toddlers. Free. Thursdays, 10 am. Poets House, 10 River Terrace, poetshouse.org. CHILDREN’S STORYTIME An hour of stories for all ages. Free. Saturdays, 11 am. SUJEAN RIM Author reads from her book “Birdie’s Big-Girl Shoes.” Free. Sat, 5/12, 11 am. Barnes & Noble, 97 Warren St., bn.com. SPRING STORIES Short Native American stories about springtime, then a cornhusk dragonflymaking craft activity. Free. Sat, 5/12, 1 pm. National Museum of the American Indian, 1 Bowling Green, nmai.si.edu. PERFORMANCES SPRING BLOSSOMING Poetry reading and theatrical performances for children. Free. Sat, 5/5, 11 am. Poets House, 10 River Terrace, poetshouse.org. SKIPPYJON JONES Musical based on the book by Judy Schachner. $25. Sun, 6/3, 3 pm. Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., tribecapac.org.

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THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

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MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

New P.S. 150 Room Is Music to Ears and Eyes

BY CARL GLASSMAN If you want some insight into why P.S. 150 needed a new music room, ask music teacher Tony Kunin, the man who knew the old one better than anyone. “It was a drab environment,” said Kunin, a nine-year veteran at the school. “It seeps into your soul after awhile.” As drab, cluttered, and short on floor and storage space as the previous room had been, the brightly colored green, yellow and baby blue one, officially opened last month, could not be more of an improvement. “The colors and the stage and the curtains are just fantastic,” said Kunin. “And we can add movement to our music where we couldn’t before.” With 830 square feet to move around in, that’s 40 percent more than before. Every other month the school has a “town hall” meeting in which all 185 children in the small school attend. “It’s unbelievable,” said Principal Maggie Siena. “We had the whole school in there and there was room for three more classes.” Along with a stage and its sunny yellow curtain, the room is equipped with a whiteboard, for music theory instruction, that opens to reveal a mirror—used only for dance classes. “Because it’s elementary school you

can’t have mirrors out all the time,” Siena said. “It’s too distracting.” Luckily for the school, Cory and Bill Sharples, principals of SHoP Architects, are parents at the Tribeca school. Their firm donated the architecture and interior design services. Still, the room cost “upwards” of $400,000 in public funds, Siena said. Most came from the office of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. But when the project went over budget, Councilwoman Margaret Chin chipped in with the rest. Because it was decided that all the materials should be environmentally “sustainable and non-off-gassing,” as Siena put it, they had to be specially ordered. That made the job much more expensive and longer to complete. “It took forever,” the principal said. But the kids say they see the difference. “I think it’s the best room in the whole school,” said fifth grader Damarys Ortiz, “because it’s big and the old one was too squashed. There wasn’t a lot of space and it was dusty.” Siena, who will be leaving the school next year to head the Peck Slip School, summed it up a little differently. “It does do something to a person to be in a beautiful, clean place,” she said, “compared to being in a really dumpy one.”

PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

Principal Maggie Siena on the room’s new stage. Top: Suzanne Amidzich leads ballroom dance class. Other classes include keyboard, recorders, choral singing, eurhythmics and music theory.

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THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

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ARTS, ETC.

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

Tribeca Denizens Star in New Novel BY JULIET HINDELL If Karl Taro Greenfeld’s lightly veiled fictional portrait of Tribeca is true, the neighborhood is not so different from any affluent suburb, with its preoccupations with schools, parenthood, promiscuity and real estate. Except maybe just a little worse. In his new novel, “Triburbia,” Greenfeld explores life in Tribeca from the point of view of a young father. He and his fellow characters will have some real Tribecans buzzing about the true identity of those men, women and children behaving badly, undermining, deceiving and bullying each other in their quest to get ahead. Greenfeld landed in Tribeca with his wife and two daughters in 2004 after a stint in Hong Kong as Time magazine’s Asia editor, where he wrote an award-winning book on SARS, the epidemic that terrified the former British colony in 2004. “Triburbia” is Greenfeld’s seventh book but his first full-blown foray into fiction and a far cry from his others, including “Speed Tribes,” his 1994 account of motorbike gangs in Japan, and “Boy Alone,” a 2009 memoir about growing up with his profoundly autistic younger brother. “Triburbia” revolves around the lives of a group of men who meet each morning for coffee after dropping their children off at P.S. 234—just as Greenfeld used to do. The group has already been the subject of a play and a New York Times feature a few years ago. “We’d go to Gee Whiz, we’d go to Socrates, sometimes Odeon,” Greenfeld recalled in an interview. “I always found the schoolyard at P.S. 234 a very pleasant way to start my day. It was what I saw as the identity of this community.” But the real action unfolds in the adult playground below Canal and swirls around the lives of a sound engineer, a sculptor, a playwright, a film producer, a

Karl Taro Greenfeld

memoirist, a photographer, a puppeteer, a contractor, and their children, wives, girlfriends and, of course, babysitters. “I don’t think it’s a flattering portrayal of Tribeca but ultimately the perception of this place remains pretty glamorous,” said Greenfeld over coffee at City Hall restaurant. “There’s all this dark stuff that people are doing and all these ways people are screwing each other over. There’s a “real housewives” quality to it that I hope makes it commercially viable.” It may also set off a hundred parlor discussions about whom he is really writing about. Greenfield insists that the characters, though based on his observations of the neighborhood, are entirely fabricated. But tell that to the restaurateurs, real estate agents, and yes, babysitters, who may have a bone or two to pick with him. Really, he insists, it’s not you. The book, divided into a series of stories about individuals connected by their

neighborhood, was inspired by Sherwood Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio,” a 1919 portrait of small town life. But just as Winesburg’s idyllic Main Street of picket fences and clapboard houses hid the darker side of Victorian America, Tribeca’s painfully hip lifestyles mask a profound anxiety that is eating away at the perpetually insecure—and thin— denizens of the area. “Whenever you decide you’re going to do a careful anthropological charting of a segment of a community, which is what I was trying to do with ‘Triburbia,’ you’re going to try to get down to what is the basic self-interest motivating the people who live here,” Greenfeld said. “There’s an inherent cynicism about people and families. That’s what was great about ‘Winesburg, Ohio.’ It showed the dark, seething anger and jealousy. I think I’m just being realistic about what really motivates people.” Greenfeld says the Tribeca of “Triburbia” is a portrait of a moment in time, the final year of the Bush era, the economy floundering and property prices about to plunge. The characters are not

CARL GLASSMAN

only obsessing about their relationships and their families but about their economic prospects. Each chapter is named after a nonexistent building on a real Tribeca street and there is a map that shows where the action takes place. There is much that will be familiar to local residents, such as a chef who colonizes an intersection of West Broadway with restaurants and the squeezing out of original artist settlers by rising property prices. But Greenfeld thinks the stories could have been set in Beverly Hills or Notting Hill. “It’s of intense local interest to people in Tribeca but I think there’s a universal curiosity about what happens in places like Tribeca because Tribeca has become synonymous with a certain kind of wealth or creative upper class.” “Despite all the artistic pretension of these people,” the author noted, “we are every bit as caught up in this American class consciousness and Bush-era wealth aggregation, as people who live in a nice suburb of, say, Houston. We just happen to live in a place that looks a little bit gritty and artistic.”

‘We regularly assure ourselves that affluence does not define us...’

Excerpt from Chapter 1 of “Triburbia” by Karl Taro Greenfeld

Here’s what’s wrong with us: there’s nothing at stake. That makes us oversensitive to minor transgressions, prone to disproportionate responses, quick to counterattack. We are a prosperous community. Our lofts and apartments are worth millions. Our wives vestigially beautiful. Our renovations as vast and grand in scale as the construction of ocean liners, yet we regularly assure ourselves that our affluence does not define us. We are better than that. Measure us by the books on our shelves, the paintings on our walls, the songs in our iTunes playlists, our children in their secure little school. We live in smug certainty that our taste is impeccable, our politics correct, our sense of outrage at the current regime totally warranted. Our neighborhood was settled by artists so long ago the story feels apocryphal. For almost as soon as the larger world became

aware of Tribeca, in rushed developers and syndicators and builders and realtors and the name turned into a synonym for a kind of urban living: a little edgy, perhaps, but ultimately safer and richer even than Scarsdale. A certain type of family arrived, drawn by that safety and the faux-bohemianism of Downtown, driving out the actual bohemians. And now, we faux-bohemians find ourselves facing the onslaught of those who don’t even pretend to give a shit about books or theater. We are cosseted, a warm little precinct, connected to the rest of the city, but for all our interaction with it, it feels as if there are drawbridges that keep out the would-be brigands and freebooters..... I see my friends across the street, fellow fathers in their late thirties, prosperous to different degrees, professionals in the arts. There is the sculptor, the playwright, the film producer, the mem-

oirist, the photographer, even the “contractor”—our local thug— most of them ostensibly artists but actually businessmen. They believe their awareness of their own hypocrisies keeps them from being hypocrites. I’m not an artist qua artist, as they are. But most days I join them and we make our way in twos and threes to a steak house recently taken to serving breakfast. We convene in a large round booth, ordering coffee, eggs, toast, Cream of Wheat. We spread out newspapers and discuss films, television, political candidates, sports. You know what this bantering conversation is like. We tell ourselves that our palaver is wittier, cleverer than most, unique somehow. We are artists, writers, professional hipsters of one sort or another, and so we must be funnier than you. But then we would think that, wouldn’t we? We are here, in this privileged canton, in this prosperous city, in this gilded era, so why shouldn’t we be confident that our banter surpasses yours?

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

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YOU BETTER SIT DOWN: TALES FROM MY PARENTS’ DIVORCE Written by JENNIFER R. MORRIS, MATTHEW MAHER, CAITLIN MILLER, ROBBIE COLLIER SUBLETT, ANNE KAUFFMAN and JANICE PARAN A co-production with THE CIVILIANS Directed by ANNE KAUFFMAN Featuring: MATTHEW MAHER, CAITLIN MILLER, JENNIFER R. MORRIS and ROBBIE COLLIER SUBLETT NOW thru MAY 6 ONLY! Tues.- Sat. @ 7pm / Sat. & Sun. @ 3pm Tickets are $35 / Tuesday evenings are Pay What You Can

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THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

ARTS, ETC.

Gruber worked for Harold Ickes, the Secretary of Interior, during the war. He asked her to escort 1,000 concentration camp survivors aboard an army transport boat from Italy to the United States. When she boarded the boat, many of the men were still in their striped concentration camp clothing.

Retrospective of a Veteran Journalist

BY APRIL KORAL then a part of the world little known to Photographer and journalist Ruth Westerners. Fortuitously, she bought a Gruber, who documented an important camera for the trip, and never stopped chapter in the exodus of World War II photographing. refugees, will turn “I knew I had 100 this year. In to take pictures. her honor the Soho There were no Photo Gallery on other photograWhite Street is phers around and I mounting an loved it.” exhibit of her phoThe images on tos this month. display at Soho Seated in her Photo cover the Central Park West years 1944 to apartment, where 1947. Gruber had a she has lived for particular interest over half a century, in the fate of the Gruber recalled the Jews of Eastern wanderlust that Europe and the sent her hitchhikbirth of the State of ing from her home Israel. Her parents in Williamsburg, were German JewBrooklyn, to the ish refugees; the University of Wisfamily members consin in Madison, who remained bethen on to the Unihind were killed by versity of Cologne, the Nazis. CARL GLASSMAN at age 20, where in Ruth Gruber holds her photo in Life magaAs an assistant 1932 she became zine of refugees on the Runnymede Park. to Harold L. Ickes, the world’s youngest Ph.D. the Secretary of the Interior during the “I wanted to see the whole world,” war years, Gruber was sent to Italy to she said of her youthful exit from escort 1,000 refugees from Italy whom Brooklyn. “I felt like they were squeez- President Roosevelt had agreed to let ing me in Williamsburg.” into the U.S. The images in the show of Gruber began her career began as a men some still wearing their striped concorrespondent for the New York Herald centration camp clothing are riveting. Tribune, traveling to the Soviet Arctic, Gruber’s most famous photos are

Above: The hold of the Runnymede Park, where 1,500 refugees were held by the British. Left: Jews at the Rothschild Hospital in Vienna that became a displaced persons camp after the war.

those that tell the story of the Eastern European Jews who survived the war and tried to go to Palestine, then under British rule. She was the only American journalist allowed onto the Runnymede Park, one of three British prison ships. that would take 4,500 Holocaust survivors from the famous Exodus, which was barred from entering the port of Haifa. On that day, she took the picture of refugees turned prisoners beneath the

Union Jack on which they had painted a swastika. “I felt it was the most important banner I’d ever seen in my life,” Gruber said. “They were so courageous.” She was not lacking in that quality either. “As I left the ship, a British consul general demanded my camera and film,” she recalled in her memoir, “Witness.” “I turned and walked away.” Gruber will be at the gallery on Thursday, May 24, at 6:30 p.m. for a screening of the film about her, “Ahead of Time,” and to sign her book, “Witness.” Photographs as Witness, 1944-1947, May 2–June 2. Wed–Sun, 1–6 p.m. Soho Photo, 15 White St., sohophoto.com.

Live Music Thursday & Saturday Nights

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LISTINGS

40 DANCE g

American Ballet Theatre Studio Company A dozen young dancers aged 16 to

20 perform classical pieces. Fri, 5/4, 7:30 pm. $35–$40. Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, 3 Spruce St., pace.edu/schimmel.

EXHIBITIONS g

Liberty Uncrated: Hidden Treasures from the Collections Selected items from the museum’s collection, including art, historical souvenirs and toys, many of which have never before been exhibited. To Mon, 5/28. $13; $10 seniors, $5 ages 4–12; free under 4. Daily, 8:30 am–6:15 pm. Ellis Island Museum, ferry leaves from Battery Park, nps.org/elis.

Tue–Sat, 9 am–4 pm. African Burial Ground Center and National Monument, 290 Broadway, africanburialground.gov.

State of Israel. Wed, 5/16, 6 pm. $10; $7 students, seniors. Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., mjhnyc.org.

Dialogue in the Dark Experience the New

York City environment, including getting on and off a subway and crossing the street at Times Square, relying only on guides for the blind and visually impaired. Ongoing. $23.50; $20.50 children, students; $21.50 seniors. 11 Fulton St., dialoguenyc.com. g

Soul Seekers: Interpreting the Icon A reconsideration of the form, status and rele-

The World of Nat King Cole Documentary

on the jazz musician. Fri, 5/25, 6:30 pm. Free. Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., tribecapac.org.

GALLERIES g Carolina Sardi and John Ensor Subsance and Form. Abstract works. To Wed, 5/2. fLUX Works by three artists using graphite and metal

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB Steven Amedee Gallery, 41 N. Moore St., stevenamedee.com. g Thomas Lail The World We Have Lost. Xerography paintings, works on paper and concrete sculptures exploring history and political thought. To Sat, 5/19. Silence Group show curated by Jaanika Peerna. Thu, 5/24–Thu, 7/5. Opening reception: Thu, 5/24, 6 pm. Tue–Sat, 11 am–6 pm. Masters & Pelavin, 13 Jay St., masterspelavin.com. g

Burton Machen Urban Evolution: Portraits Project. Photographs of well-known figures that

g Time Exposures: Picturing a History of Isleta Pueblo in the 19th Century Eighty

photographs by prominent Western photographers and artists of the Isleta Indian Reservation. To Sun, 6/10. Small Spirits Dolls from more than 100 Native cultures throughout the Western hemisphere. To Thu, 7/19.

IndiVisible: African–Native American Lives in the Americas Panel display that outlines the seldom-viewed history and complex lives of people of dual African American and Native American ancestry. To Fri, 8/31. Admission is free. Fri–Wed, 10 am–5 pm; Thu, 10 am–8 pm. National Museum of the American Indian, 1 Bowling Green, nmai.si.edu. g News Paper Spires: From Park Row to Times Square A look at some of New York

City’s first skyscrapers built as headquarters for the New York Times, the Tribune and the World. To Sun, 7/15. $5; $2.50 students, seniors. Wed– Sun, 12–6 pm. Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl., skyscraper.org. g

Let My People Go! The Soviet Jewry Movement, 1967–1989 Exhibition from the Musuem of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv about the Soviet Jews who wanted to emigrate but were denied the right to leave. To Sun, 8/5. Filming the Camps Footage from noted filmmakers of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. To Sun, 10/14. Emma Lazarus: Poet of Exiles Rare artifacts about the poet/writer/immigrant advocate, the importance of religious freedom and struggles immigrants past and present face. To December. $10; $7 seniors; $5 students; free under 12. Free Wed, 4–8 pm. Sun–Tue, Thu 10 am–5:45 pm; Wed 10 am–8 pm; Fri 10 am–5 pm. Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., mjhnyc.org. g

America Through a Chinese Lens

Photographs by Chinese and Chinese-American photographers depicting America through their point of view. June 4, 1989: Media and

Mobilization Beyond Tiananmen Square Media coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests from Asian-American and Chinese-language periodicals. To Mon, 9/10. $7; $4 students, seniors, free for children under 12 and on Thursdays. Mon and Fri 11 am–5 pm, Thu, 11 am–9 pm, Sat & Sun 10 am–5 pm. Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., mocanyc.org. g

Andrew Carnegie: Forging Philanthropy

Display on Carnegie’s life and work, with a spotlight on his love of Scotland, his business life and his philanthropic activities. To October.

Checks and Balances: Presidents and American Finance Financial challenges faced by American presidents both in the Oval Office and in their personal lives. To November. Tue– Sat, 10 am–4 pm. Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall St., moaf.org. g

African Burial Ground The story of the free

and enslaved men, women and children who lived and were buried Downtown. Ongoing. Free.

That lovably tasteless classic “There’s Something About Mary” with Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz and Matt Dillon will play at 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., on June 1, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at 92ytribeca.org.

vance of iconography through a collection of works by contemporary artists and designers. Opens Thu, 5/10. Mon–Fri, 9 am–5:30 pm; Sat– Sun, 9 am–3:45 pm. The Trinity Museum, Broadway at Wall St., trinitywallstreet.org.

FILM g

Selection of upcoming films: Untamed Heart A doomed romance takes place between

a woman with terrible taste in men and a diner chore-boy. Fri, 5/4, 8 pm. $13. Favela on Blast Documentary about the stories of sex, love, poverty and pride in Rio’s favelas. Thu, 5/10, 7 pm. $12. Super Troopers Cult classic comedy about confiscated-pot-smoking Vermont state police. Sat, 5/12, 8 pm. $12. To Live and Die in L.A. A loose-cannon Fed working in gritty 1980s Los Angeles. Sat, 5/26, 9:30 pm. $10. Foreign Letters Two lonely, homesick immigrant girls find friendship in one another. Wed, 5/30, 7 pm. $12. See website for more films. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org. g

The Gate of Heavenly Peace Documentary about the turbulent weeks of the 1989 protests in China, including portaits of both the government and activists in Tiananmen Square. Registration required. Sun, 5/6, 1 pm. $7; $4 students, seniors; Free under 12. Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., mocanyc.org.

Exodus Paul Newman stars in Otto Preminger’s film about the 1947 voyage of the Palestine-bound ship and the founding of the

in sculptures and wall pieces. To Sat, 5/5. Mon– Fri 11 am–6 pm; Sat 12–6 pm; Sun 12–5 pm. Cheryl Hazan Mosaic Studio, 35 N. Moore St., cherylhazan.com. g

Post Contemporary Art Works by nine

artists that explore the fleeting nature and illusion of time. To Wed, 5/2. Viewing by appointment. Salomon Arts Gallery, 83 Leonard St, salomonarts.com. g Caroline Cox ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky. Two juxtaposing installations, one made of white vegetable packaging on a black background and another of orange and blue acrylic balls. To Mon, 5/7. The Clocktower, 108 Leonard St., 13th Fl., artonair.org. g Katharine Harvey Chandelier. Thousands of plastic containers are strung together to form an enormous symbol of luxury and opulence, to call attention to the glut of plastic in consumerism. To Fri, 5/11. World Financial Center Winter Garden, worldfinancialcenter.com. g Consent Exploration of the public and private relationships Americans have with pornography, through video-recorded interviews with people who consume the product. To Sat, 5/12. apexart, 291 Church St., apexart.org. g Sylvan Lionni Lost in America. Photographs of everyday objects. To Sat, 5/12. Kansas, 59 Franklin St., kansasgallery.com. g Kevin McDermott Landscapes & Portraits. Prints of nature. To Mon, 5/14. Mon–Fri, 11 am– 7 pm; Sat, 11 am–6 pm and by appointment.

had been posted outside, then defaced by the general public. To Sat, 5/19. Hionas Gallery, 89 Franklin St., hionasgallery.com. g

Summer Selections Group Show. To Fri, 6/15. Tue–Fri, 11 am–5 pm. Art Projects International, 434 Greenwich St., artprojects.com.

Soledad Arias On Air. Text-based works of archival print on paper. To Fri, 6/22. Opening reception: Tue, 5/1, 6 pm. Tue–Sat, 11 am–7 pm; Sun by appointment. RH Gallery, 137 Duane St., rhgallery.com.

g Rob Carter Faith in a Seed. Miniature replicas of the houses that Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau and Sir John Bennet Lawes lived in. To Sat, 6/23. Tue–Sat, 12–6 pm. Art in General, 79 Walker St., artingeneral.org. g Jeremy G. Landau Skyline Sentinels: New York Water Towers. Panoramic photographs. To Fri, 6/29. Opening reception: Fri, 4/27, 6 pm. Warburg Realty, 100 Hudson St. g Mad About Art + Design Art exhibition of 16 artists and designers. To Tue, 9/4. McNeill Art Group, 143 Reade St., mcneillartgroup.com. g Ruth Gruber Photographs as Witness, 1944– 47. (See page 39.) R. Wayne Parsons Playing with Bones. David Monderer Holdouts. Wed, 5/2–Sat, 6/2. Opening reception: Thu, 5/3, 6 pm. Wed–Sun, 1–6 pm and by appointment. Soho Photo, 15 White St., sohophoto.com. g Open Studio Weekend More than 20 visual artists and writers in the LMCC Workspace

LISTINGS

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012 program share their works in progress. Registration required. Fri, 5/4, 7–9 pm; Sat, 5/5, 12–7 pm; Sun, 5/6, 12–5 pm. Workspace Studios, 125 Maiden Ln. ,14th fl., lmcc.net. g

Andrei Roiter Spherical sculptures. Sat,

5/5–Sat, 5/26. Tue–Sat, 11 am–6 pm. Jack Hanley Gallery, 136 Watts St., jackhanley.com. g 2012 MFA Exhibition Works by graduating MFA students. Tue, 5/15–Sat, 5/26. Tue–Sat, 2–8 pm; Sun, 11 am–5 pm. New York Academy of Art, 111 Franklin St., nyaa.edu.

MUSIC g

Justin Halpern “I Suck at Girls.” Tue, 5/15. All readings: 6 pm, free. Barnes & Noble, 97 Warren St., bn.com. g Ace Atkins “Robert B. Parker’s Lullaby” and “In Pursuit of Spenser.” Tue, 5/1, 6 pm. Chris Grabenstein “Fun House.” Wed, 5/2, 6 pm. Ed Lin “One Red Bastard.” Mon, 5/7, 6:30 pm. All readings are free. Mysterious Bookshop, 58 Warren St., mysteriousbookshop.com. g Edward Berenson “The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story.” Wed, 5/2. David Clay Large “Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror and Triumph at the Olympic Games.” Wed, 5/23. All

41 g

explores the Occupy Wall Street movement as perhaps one of the most significant since the Civil Rights and Anti-war movements of the 1950s and 1960s. Tue, 5/1, 2 pm. Free. Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall St. trinitywallstreet.org.

Previews of Gotham Volume II Author Mike Wallace looks at the downtown skyscraper surge of the 20th century and its cultural, technological and aesthetic ramifications. Sat, 5/5, 2 pm. Free. Federal Hall, 26 Wall St., nyharborparks.org.

Slideshows: Former Estates of New Jersey Preserved land and their histories. 5/1. Snug Harbor Chinese Scholars’ Garden. 5/8. Turkey 5/15. All talks: Tuesdays, 6 pm, $2. Tuesday Evening Hour, 49 Fulton St., tuesdayeveninghour.com. g

The Finance of Collecting Collectibles bro-

A Place Out of Time: Gregor von Rezzori’s Bukovina Trilogy Writers discuss

the Ukrainian novelist. Sun, 5/6, 1 pm. $15. Like Mama Used to Make A celebration of Mother’s Day with food writers who talk about Jewish food, home cooking and the influence of their own mothers on their culinary memories. Sun, 5/13, 2:30 pm. $10; $7 students, seniors.

Ensemble ACJW Chamber music by various

classical composers. Thu, 5/3 & 5/10, Fri, 5/18 & Thu, 5/24, 1 pm. Trinity Youth Chorus Performance of Vivaldi, Handel, Bach and more, accompanied by the InterSchools Concert Orchestra. Mon, 5/7, 7 pm. All concerts free. Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall St., trinitywallstreet.org. g Arlette Beauchamps Cotton Club singer performs opera, Broadway and American song book selections. Thu, 5/3, 7 pm. $20; free to students. Synagogue for the Arts, 49 White St., synagogueforthearts.org. g Selected musical performances: Amy Lynn & the Gunshow and Aabaraki Sixties pop, soul, neosoul and funk. Fri, 5/4, 9 pm. Free. Aaron Freeman Lead singer of Ween performs a trib-

ute to songwriter Rod McKuen. Wed, 5/9, 9 pm. $25. Chicha Libre Record release party for the Latin/psychedelic band. Sat, 5/19, 9 pm. $10. Underground Horns, Zongo Junction and PitchBlak Brass Band Horn-heavy funk and soul. Sat, 5/26, 9 pm. $10. See website for more concerts. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org. g Kammerraku String quartet performs chamber music on Japanese instruments. Sat, 5/5, 7:30 pm. Free. World Financial Center Winter Garden, worldfinancialcenter.com. g Chutzpah Fest Lineup of new Jewish indie musicians. Wed, 5/9, 7 pm. $15. Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., mjhnyc.org.

RACHEL ELKIND

The Hudson River Pageant, day of poetry, music, dance, history talks, oyster planting and fish releasing and a parade of giant puppets, is on Saturday, May 12 (rain date May 13) All events are free. For more information and a detailed schedule go to earthcelebrations.com.

Christian McBride, Michael Wolff Trio and Baby Jane Dexter Jazz. Thu, 5/10, 8 pm. $40; $37.50 students. Allan Harris and Somi Jazz vocalists perform the music of Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan. Fri, 5/11, 8:30 pm. $25; $15 students, seniors. Extravert’s Dreams Musical performance of songs that trigger nostalgia by Larisa Dolina. Sun, 5/20, 6 pm. $65–$150. Allan Harris Band and Jesse Jones Jr. Performance of Nat King Cole’s jazz pieces. Fri, 5/25, 8:30 pm. $25; $15 students, seniors. Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., tribecapac.org. g New York Choral Society Festival Italian and American choral pieces accompanied by piano. Sat, 5/19, 7:30 pm. $25–$50. Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, 3 Spruce St., pace.edu/schimmel. g

The Musical World of Ben Franklin Trio

performs pieces contemporary with Franklin’s adult life. $25; $15 students, seniors. Sun, 5/20, 4 pm. Fraunces Tavern Museum, 54 Pearl St., frauncestavernmuseum.org. g Mavrothi Kontanis and the Maeandros Ensemble Five-piece ensemble performs tradi-

tional and original Greek and Turkish music. Fri, 5/25, 9 pm. $20; $15 students, seniors. Alwan for the Arts, 16 Beaver St. 4th fl., alwanforthearts.org.

READINGS g Veronica Roth “Insurgent.” Tue, 5/1. Joe Bastianich “Restaurant Man.” Wed, 5/2. Lizz Weinstead “Lizz Free or Die.” Thu, 5/10.

readings: 7 pm; $10. Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., mjhnyc.org. g

Anna Solomon, Josh Rolnick and Christine Shutt Writers read their poetry and prose. Tue, 5/8, 7 pm. Free. Libertine Library at Gild Hall, 15 Gold St., penparentis.org. g

Samuel C. Florman “Good Guys, Wiseguys and Putting Up Buildings: A Life in Construction.” Wed, 5/23, 6:30 pm. Free. Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl., skyscraper.org. g Niall Ferguson “Civilization: The West and the Rest.” Tue, 5/29, 5:30 pm. $15. Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall St., moaf.org.

TALKS g People of the Plains Talk on the culture and history of Native Americans of the plains region. Mondays–Wednesdays, 10 am. Taino Culture Discussion of the Taino culture past and present, including traditional objects and their uses. Mondays, 2 pm. Moccasin-Making Demonstration Tuesdays, 2 pm. Beading Demonstration Thursdays, 5 pm. Indigenous Voices at the United Nations Discussion of current native issues at the U.N. today. Thu, 5/10, 6 pm. We Are Here! Artist Panel Native American artists discuss their works in a moderated panel. Thu, 5/31, 6 pm. All events: free. National Museum of the American Indian, 1 Bowling Green, nmai.si.edu. g

Occupy: The Next Steps Teach-in that

ker talks about the items that have passed through his hands and how to make informed collecting decisions. Wed, 5/2, 12:30 pm. $5.

The Transition from Open Outcry to Electronic Trading Discussion on why the transition happened and its effects on the energy market. Thu, 5/17, 12:30 pm. $5. Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall St., moaf.org. g

Where Is Photography? Talk on the con-

temporary role of photography in social movements in China and the U.S. Registration required. Wed, 5/2, 6:30 pm. $5. America Through a Chinese Lens Artists talk about photography, America and Chinese identity. Registration required. Thu, 5/24, 6:30 pm. Free. Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., mocanyc.org. g

Joan Richardson on Wallace Stevens

Author of a two-volume biography of the poet discusses his work. Thu, 5/3. Herbert Leibowitz on William Carlos Williams Talk on “Spring to All” and “Paterson.” Tue, 5/8.

Cornelius Eady on the Harlem Renaissance Poet discusses the diverse output of Harlem Renaissance writers from Langston Hughes to Countee Cullen. Tue, 5/15. Martin Espada on Puerto Rican Poetry Poet addresses the political poetic tradition from Julia de Burgos to Francisco Matos Paoli. Thu, 5/31. All talks: 7 pm; $10; $7 students, seniors. See website for more talks. Poets House, 10 River Terrace, poetshouse.org.

Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., mjhnyc.org. g

River Herring: Past, Present and Future?

Seminar on the scientific issues related to the environmental quality of the Hudson River. Tue, 5/8, 10:30 am. Hudson River Foundation, 17 Battery Pl., hudsonriver.org. g

Beyond Ideology: How Should We Feed Ourselves If We Care About Nature? Talk

on the challenges of feeding our rapidly growing global population. Tue, 5/8, 6:30 pm. $20; $10 students. Implications of a Data-Driven Built Environment Overview of new techologies used in the real estate industry to improve buildings. Wed, 5/30, 8 am–6 pm. $60; $55 students. See website to register and for more talks. New York Academy of Sciences, 250 Greenwich St., nyas.org. g Introduction to Chinese Dance Learn about Chinese history, culture, music and dance, and how traditional dances are used to express Chinese civilization and values. Wed, 5/9, 5:30 pm. Free. New Amsterdam Library, 9 Murray St., nypl.org. g

Selection of upcoming talks: Music and Cancer: A Prescription for Healing Oncologist and acclaimed musician explains how music can improve the quality of life of cancer patients. Wed, 5/9, 7:30 pm. $15. Hero Foods Local chef who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis talks about foods that boost the (CONTINUED ON PAGE 43)

MAY 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Pay-as-you-go Mailbox Rental

PIER 17 MALL PLAN (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4)

WE PACK & SHIP ANTIQUES, FURNITURE & ART! Domestic & International Complete line of boxes & moving/packaging supplies Parcels shipped via Air, Ground or International, using DHL, FedEx, UPS & Postal Service Ask about our freight service Pick-up and delivery of boxes (when available) Ask about our packaging Service & Moving Services Self-service Shredding • Copies • Fax Service Notary • Passport Photos

295 GREENWICH ST.

212.964.5528 mbetribeca.com Mon-Fri 8-7 Sat 10-5 Sun 11-4

WE DO PASSPORT PHOTOS!

SHOP ARCHITECTS

Rendering of the first floor of a proposed mall for Pier 17.

Another lingering question about the design is how interior advertising might change the appearance of the building’s glass exterior. The Landmarks commissioners asked Howard Hughes and its architects to address this concern before the company’s next appearance before the LPC. Curry has said his company will make advertising display guidelines part of the retail lease agreements. “We are going to have to dictate what can and can’t be done,” Curry said. “We will keep the original intent of the building intact.” If the Landmarks Commission approves the plans, it will be despite opposition from the Historic Districts Council (HDC) and several architects who spoke in opposition to the demolition of the

current Pier 17 building. “When an historic building in a district does not function the way its owners want it to, the building should not automatically be eyed for demolition,” the HDC said in written testimony to the commission. “It should be adapted and repurposed the way so many other buildings are in this district and around the city.” The current building, nearly 30 years old, was approved by the very same commission that now may recommend its demolition, the HDC noted. “We did look at the existing building and how we could use it to meet all the objectives we wanted to meet,” Curry said. “We decided the existing facility just had too many limitations to what we wanted to do.”

KINGS PHARMACY 5 Hudson St. 212-791-3100 (corner of Reade)

Free Pickup and Delivery of Prescriptions! • Open Mon–Fri 8–8 Sat 9–7 Sun 10–5 Computerized scanning for drug interactions • Custom flavoring for all liquid medication

Medela Breastfeeding Center and Rental Station We carry a full line of Medela breastpumps, parts, supplies and accessories. Rent by the day, week or month.

Visit us at our beautiful new sister store! Hudson Square Pharmacy

345 Hudson St. (corner of King St.) 212-289-1400

THE TRIBECA TRIB MAY 2012

LISTINGS

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41)

TRADITION. EXPRESSION. REFLECTION.

THIS IS

Jewish Culture Downtown

NOW ON STAGE

ON VIEW

Chutzpah Fest WED | MAY 9 | 7 P.M.

(Doors open at 6:30 P.M.)

This showcase, hosted by comedian Myq Kaplan (Last Comic Standing), welcomes a line-up of the best, new Jewish indie musicians, featuring Golden Bloom, Zack Borer, and Yael Kraus.

$15, $12 members Ticket price includes open bar.

Documenting how Hollywood directors John Ford, Samuel Fuller, and George Stevens filmed the concentration camps. mjhnyc.org/ftc

MOTHER’S DAY PROGAM

Like Mama Used To Make SUN | MAY 13 | 2:30 P.M. Gail Simmons, Top Chef; Melissa Clark, The New York Times; Alan Richman, GQ; and Gabriella Gershenson, Saveur, discuss Jewish foods and the influence of their own mothers in forming their culinary memories.

$10, $7 students/seniors, $5 members

Exodus

Learn about the poet who gave voice to the Statue of Liberty. mjhnyc.org/emma

(1960, 208 min.)

WED | MAY 16

Rendering of Paul McCarthy’s oversize ketchup bottle as it will look in the Public Art Fund outdoor exhibit, Common Ground, in City Hall Park. The show runs from May 24 to Nov. 30. immune system and ease pain. Fri, 5/11, 12 pm. $18. Summer Suds: A Craft Beer Tasting Learn about beer varieties that are most popular and appropriate for summertime. Thu, 5/17, 6:30 pm. $25. Highway Under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel Urban planner and historian discusses the economic factors and technological challenges that made the tunnel a reality. Mon, 5/21, 12 pm. $18. See website for more talks. 92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org. g

Influence and Legacy of Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan Panel discussion with two jazz singers. Fri, 5/11, 7 pm. Free. Collaborative Impressions: Possibilities, Process and Synergy in the Print Shop Artists and printers discuss the duplication of original work and the techniques and relationships needed to make it work. Wed, 5/16, 7 pm. $5. Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., tribecapac.org. g

Revisiting Vincent: The Legacy of the Vincent Chin Murder Trials 30 Years Later Talk with Judge Denny Chin. Registration required. Tue, 5/22, 5:30 pm. $20. New York Law School, 185 W. Broadway, mocanyc.org.

THEATER g

You Better Sit Down: Tales from My Parents’ Divorce Actors play out the roles in their parents’ real stories behind their divorces, proving how little we know about our own family members. To Sun, 5/6. $35. The Electric Lighthouse Three young people try to maintain their sense of self in the city. To Tue, 5/15. $20.

The Wundelsteipen (and Other Difficult

Roles for Young People) Short, dark comedic pieces about the waking of Caligula, an internet sex fairy and more. To Wed, 5/23. $20. A Letter from Omdurman A response to the photos of Abu Ghraib and misinformation about the Muslim world. Fri, 5/4–Sun, 5/27. $20. All events: see website for dates and times. The Flea Theater, 41 White St., theflea.org. g Calico Jack Musical celebration of the maritime history and traditions of the Chesapeake Bay. Sun, 5/6, 3 pm. $5. John Street United Methodist Church, 44 John St. downtownny.com. g

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway An

exact recreation of Genesis’ 1974 show, down to the costumes, set, lighting, slideshow and instruments. Fri, 5/12, 8 pm. $60. Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., tribecapac.org.

ET CETERA g

6 P.M. 6:30 P.M.

Discussion with Ira B. Nadel, Leon Uris biographer Film screening

Based on the novel by Leon Uris, this now classic Hollywood adaptation stars Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint in the story of the 1947 Palestine-bound ship Exodus and the founding of the State of Israel.

Experience an inspiring soundscape and incomparable view of the Statue of Liberty. mjhnyc.org/khc/voices

$10, $7 students/seniors, $5 members

Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games WED | MAY 23 | 7 P.M. Author David Clay Large looks back to the 1972 games in West Germany and the events surrounding the shocking kidnapping and murder of members of the Israeli team.

The story of Jews who emigrated from the former Soviet Union.

$10, $5 members Public programs are supported, in part, through the Edmond J. Safra Hall Fund.

THE MUSEUM IS CLOSED ON MAY 1, 27, AND 28.

COMPLETE LIST OF PROGRAMS AT MJHNYC.ORG LOWER MANHATTAN | 646.437.4202 | WWW.MJHNYC.ORG | OPEN SUN–FRI

In Tribeca forever

Noodle-Palooza Macaroni, dumplings, kugel

and homemade pasta sampling from WFC restaurants. Samples $5 or less. Wed, 5/2, 11 am–2 pm. In the Loop Knit and crochet shawls and scarves for women who are staying at the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge. Fri, 5/18, 12 pm. Free. World Financial Center Winter Garden, worldfinancialcenter.com. g Federal Hall Open House Tours, talks and reenactments at the site of George Washington’s inauguration. Sat, 5/5–Sun, 5/6, 9 am–5 pm. Free. Federal Hall, 26 Wall St., nyharborparks.org. g

Transform Your Life Through Meditation

Learn to meditate. Mon, 5/21, 5 pm. Free. New Amsterdam Library, 9 Murray St., nypl.org.

C ity H all W ines & S pirits 108 Chambers Street 212-227-3385 bet. West Broadway & Church

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