Tribeca Trib, Feb. 2013 by Carl Glassman

6 14 25

T RIBECATRIB

First steps taken to restore Battery Park City ball fields

Proposed Pier 17 mall sign called ‘blight’ on the Seaport The many faces of P.S./I.S. 276’s Winter Carnival ‰

THE

Vol. 19 No. 6

‰

SAVING HISTORY

FEBRUARY 2013

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PHOTO BY KEVIN DALEY, COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

M A N H AT TA N | B R O O K LY N | Q U E E N S | L O N G I S L A N D | T H E H A M P T O N S | T H E N O R T H F O R K | R I V E R D A L E | W E S T C H E S T E R / P U T N A M | F L O R I D A © 2013 Douglas Elliman Real Estate. All material presented herein is intended for information purposes only. While, this information is believed to be correct, it is represented subject to errors, omissions, changes or withdrawal without notice. All property information, including, but not limited to square footage, room count, number of bedrooms and the school district in property listings are deemed reliable, but should be verified by your own attorney, architect or zoning expert. Equal Housing Opportunity.

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THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

TRIBECA TRIB

THE

VOLUME 19 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 2013

Winner National Newspaper Association First Place, Feature Photo, 2012 First Place, Feature Photo, 2011 Second Place, Local News Coverage, 2011 First Place, Breaking News Story, 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 CUNY IPPIE AWARDS Second Place, Best Photograph, 2012

Publisher A PRIL K ORAL

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 C ONNIE S CHRAFT 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 www.tribecatrib.com 212-219-9709 The Trib welcomes letters. When necessary, we edit them for length and clarity. Send letters to editor@tribecatrib.com. Follow us on:

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A PICTORIAL HISTORY BY OLIVER E. ALLEN

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VIEWS

An Improvement District to Support Hudson River Park: One Resident’s Opposition

Sarah Bartlett is a longtime Tribeca resident and director of the Urban Reporting program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. A public forum on a proposed Neighborhood Improvement District (NID), to include parts of Tribeca, will be held on Feb. 12, 6:30 p.m. at the Downtown Community Center, 120 Warren St. The forum is sponsored by Friends of Hudson River Park. The Trib welcomes all opinions on the NID, which we will post online and include in our March issue.

BY SARAH BARTLETT It all sounds so innocent. We have a wonderful park that runs along the Hudson River and we want to make sure it stays that way. A nice-sounding group called Friends of Hudson River Park sends you a letter saying that if you and your neighbors agree to pay a modest fee to support a new Neighborhood Improvement District (NID), all will be well. “Without your support,” says this letter, “the Park you use as your gym, playground, concert venue and haven to escape could disappear.” Yikes, sign me up! However, this simple-sounding proposal for a Hudson River Park NID raises serious issues of fairness and, if approved, would result in bad public policy. Unfortunately, public knowledge in Lower Manhattan about this proposal has been very limited. The initial round of public meetings that took place in the late fall were not advertised in community newspapers and the Tribeca meeting had only about 20 residents in attendance.The Friends group is now seeking wider participation by expanding its mailing list and advertising the public forums to be held this month. Here’s the background. In 1998, the New York State legislature passed a law creating the five-mile-long, 550-acre Hudson River Park and placing it in a trust. The city and state each agreed to contribute about $169 million toward the park’s creation but mandated that in the future the park must be self-sustaining. In other words, the largest open space

“This simple-sounding proposal for a Neighborhood Improvement District raises serious issues of fairness and, if approved, would result in bad public policy.” project in Manhattan since the construction of Central Park was created with no assured means of funding its annual expenses. This is the crux of the problem that the NID was designed to help solve. To date, efforts to create commercial development at certain approved areas within the park have failed to generate enough revenue to pay for the park’s ongoing costs. Private fundraising has also been inadequate to the task at hand. As a result, the Trust and its fundraising sidekick, the Friends, have decided that the way out of this conundrum is to levy a small tax on everyone who owns property several blocks east of the park. (Most commercial landowners would be able to pass along the tax to their tenants; residential owners cannot.) The NID, as currently proposed, would run from Murray Street at the southern end to 59th Street at the northern tip. Once implemented, this assessment would generate about $10 million a year. The proposed NID is a departure from the 67 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the city because those

are, as their name implies, generally created by businesses to support commercial zones. If this NID is approved, it will be the first time that ongoing maintenance of one of the city’s major public parks will depend significantly on a tax paid for by nearby residents. As parks increasingly become seen as a luxury, not an essential public good, expect to see more efforts to shift the burden onto residential taxpayers. While there has been little public discussion of the proposed Hudson River Park NID, there are many thorny issues that deserve consideration. The first is one of fairness. The owner of a 2,000square-foot apartment, for instance, would pay about $150 a year. A business with the same square footage would pay at twice that rate, or $300. While some consider these sums modest, there’s an important principle at stake. According to the Friends’ literature, the park receives 17 million visits a year; 400,000 people use its recreational facilities. Is it reasonable to single out 8,000 tax-lot (CONTINUED ON PAGE 39)

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

New Life for Neglected Landmark? 502 Canal Street gets further attention after the collapse of its roll-down gate

BY CARL GLASSMAN A graffitied roll-down gate that crashed to the sidewalk last month may have done more to save the 194-year-old, city-designated landmark building it was attached to than all of the city-issued violations and threatened lawsuits had accomplished. The vacant, dilapidated three-story building, which wraps around the corner of Canal and Greenwich streets (and shares the addresses of 502 Canal and 480 Greenwich) has been a source of concern among preservationists and neighbors for many years. A sidewalk shed, which had appeared to be at least partially supporting the facade, has been in place for as long as neighbors can recall. In fact, until the Jan. 9 collapse, for years nothing had changed other than the building’s increasingly fragile appearance. Now a construction fence has been erected outside the building, offering hope that the owner, Ponte Equities, will begin to rehabilitate the structure. Two Department of Buildings violations, for failure to maintain the site, were issued to Ponte following the collapse. “Over the years the Historic Districts Council has been concerned about that building and its, quote, demolition by neglect,” said George Calderaro, a member of both the HDC board and Community Board 1. “So we’re cautiously optimistic that the Pontes will do the right thing.” In 2010, the Landmarks Preservation Commission threatened to file suit against Ponte Equities, claiming “demolition by neglect.” In response, Ponte hired an architecture and engineering firm to come up with plans to restore the building. But there has been no visible sign of work since then. Last November, two years later, the Landmarks Commission again threatened to take action against Ponte and again the owners filed plans with the Landmarks Commission

PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

Above: The collapsed roll-down gate at 502 Canal St. Shown are Ponte Equities representatives, including property manager John Mele, second from left. Left: The building with newly installed construction fence.

and the Department of Buildings. Once more, no suit was filed because the owner “demonstrat[ed] that he planned to make the necessary repairs to stabilize the building, and filed an application for a permit to do the work,” Landmarks spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon said. Landmarks issued a permit for the work back in November. The Department of Buildings, however, has so far disapproved the application. Standing outside the building after the collapse, John Mele, property manager for Ponte Equities, said the company has been working to come up with approved plans and “this [incident] is

going to make it go faster.” “We’re spending a lot of money to restore it,” Mele said, denying charges by critics that the owner is neglecting the building so that it will collapse on its own. “That’s not in our interest,” he said. “We’d have to rebuild it.” Asked why it has taken so long to restore the building, he said that Ponte, which owns at least 30 buildings in the neighborhood, according the Real Deal, has many properties to look after. Mele said the company’s planned restoration of 502 Canal Street is part of a three-building residential project that includes the two contiguous buildings to the west, 504 and 506 Canal. Those three buildings, along with 508 Canal Street, are called by the Landmarks Commission “a rare surviving cluster of early 19th-century buildings.”

In a letter to Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair John Tierney last August, a month after the DOB cited the owner for failure to maintain the sidewalk shed, along with other complaints, CB1 Chair Catherine McVay Hughes wrote, “Given the ongoing neglect and advanced state of deterioration of 480 Greenwich Street/502 Canal Street, we urge you to take action immediately to prevent the destruction of this landmark.” In October, the DOB sent an emergency response team to the building and issued a violation to the owners after reports that there were “serious cracks/gaps in the brickwork” and a metal gate was falling off the building. Robert Verdier, who lives next door, has long been calling on the Landmarks Preservation Commission to help protect the building. “Part of the reason I live down here, and a lot of folks live down here, is the neighborhood character,” Verdier said. “And it’s historic buildings like that that give the neighborhood its soul.”

‘Can’t Believe We Gotta Get Out’

CARL GLASSMAN

Dennis Healy in his flea market and bike repair shop at 504 Canal St.

Crumbling 502 Canal Street is part of a trio of historic buildings that the owners, Ponte Equities, say they want to develop into a single residential project. Just one family remains, in number 506, and they have been there for nearly 50 years. “I just can’t believe we gotta get out of here,” said Dennis Healy, 58, who lives in the apartment with his parents, Frank and Frances, who are in their 80s, an aunt, Alice Murgalo, 95, and Murgalo’s daughter, Mary Jane Murgalo. Healy, who runs a bike repair shop and flea market in number 504, said that his father has rejected as unsuitable other Ponte-

owned apartments shown to him and he can’t imagine how they could ever move. “You know how much my father and mother and aunt collected over the years?” said Healy, surrounded by his own large and eclectic assortment of goods. In any case, it is unclear where the family, with their longtime monthly rent of $500, can move. “My father’s waiting for a decent apartment but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Healy said. “It’s hard to find them a comparable apartment,” said Ponte property manager John Mele, adding, “We’re not going to throw them out.”

THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

A First Step in Restoring BPC Fields

CARL GLASSMAN

PAUL COLLITON

Above: On Jan. 29, the northern half of the fields’ turf and the pads (shown in stacks) below it were removed. The back mesh fabric beneath it will also be taken up. Right: Forklifts carried rolls of turf, placing them on the fields’ south side. Below: Workers roll up the turf, exposing the pads.

BY CARL GLASSMAN They’ve rolled up the green carpet on the Battery Park City ball fields. The flood-ruined artificial turf, along with a porous layer of padding beneath it, were taken up late last month, giving Downtown Little League families their first visible sign of progress towards making the fields whole again—and the baseball season a reality. It’s only a preliminary step toward the reconstruction of the fields, but one meant to shorten the rebuilding time once a contractor is selected and work can begin. The Battery Park City Authority set Feb. 4 as the deadline for contractors’ responses to its request for proposals. Buoyed by word earlier in the month that the Authority was moving ahead with this first phase of work, Downtown Little League President Bill Martino told the concerned parents of some 1,100 players, “We anticipate, and will now begin to plan for, a full season of baseball and softball for our children!” The “new and expedited” repair

schedule of the hurricane-damaged fields was the result of “weeks of discussions” led by the office of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, he said. Martino had earlier said that the fields must be ready by May 1 in order to rescue even part of the season. Battery Park City Authority officials have been more cautious about predicting a completion time for the fields. “The timeline for replacement continues to have some uncertainty around it,” Authority Chairman Dennis Mehiel said at a Jan. 29 board meeting. “When will we have that timeline?” he added. “You know, maybe in the next week or 10 days, something like that.”

Mehiel acknowledged the technical advice that is being offered to the Authority by the New York Mets. The help came as the result of a call from Silver to Mets owner Jeff Wilpon. “They have come down here, they have met with us, and are going to continue to be available to CARL GLASSMAN find the most expeditious possible process to restore those fields,” Mehiel said. The Coney Island field of the Mets’ minor league team, the Cyclones, was also flooded during Sandy, though both the Mets’ Citi Field and the Cyclones’ MCU Park are natural grass. The Authority’s decision to begin the

preliminary work came after weeks of escalating frustration from league and elected officials and Community Board 1 over what they saw as foot-dragging over replacement of the $3 million fields. In early December the Authority had suggested that the Downtown Little League look for alternate fields, to which Martino had responded, “There are no other fields.” “Let’s be clear: it is absolutely vital that the BPCA figures out how to get work started on the fields by the beginning of next month—period,” State Sen. Daniel Squadron said on Jan. 11. “It is simply not acceptable to tell the children of Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan that there will be no season this year,” Silver told Mehiel in a Jan. 7 letter. Now optimism prevails. The Authority’s request for proposals, drawn up before the earlier work was ordered, calls for the fields to be ready by May 24. But it encourages contractors to propose schedules that would finish the construction earlier. CARL GLASSMAN

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

City Ponders Answer to PS 276 Crowding

BY CARL GLASSMAN It was the start of a P.S./I.S. 276 school tour last month and Principal Terri Ruyter stood at the front of the auditorium, facing parents who were filled with hope and uncertainty. Having run through her PowerPoint on the school’s philosophy, she now began the part that, for many of these mothers and fathers of 4-year-olds, addressed their more immediate concerns. “As I’m sure you are aware, there are more children living in our zone than we have physical space for,” Ruyter began. What followed was a delicately stated account of her struggle with the Department of Education over how to solve that kindergarten enrollment problem without running out of classrooms in the rest of the building—a path she says the school is already on. “There are a number of solutions being bandied about and I’m pushing very strongly for a decision,” she told the parents. Unhappily for Ruyter and many of her current parents, the solution handed to the school the last three years was to open more kindergarten classes than the three intended for the building. There were five in the past two years and four the year before. Based on enrollment last month, parent coordinator Erica Weldon said she expects 130 to 140 kindergartners in the P.S. 276 zone—enough to fill at least five classes—to be seeking seats

CARL GLASSMAN

Parents, most of whom hope to enroll their children into kindergarten at P.S. 276 next year, take a tour of the school last month, led by the parent coordinator, Erica Weldon.

at the school. On Jan. 24, Ruyter led a DOE official and representatives of a slew of elected officials on a tour of the school to show, as she later said, “how the building was actually being used.” “It’s fine to see it in the abstract to look at a plan that doesn’t have any people in the rooms,” Ruyter said. “But when you tour the building and you see this is what the rooms look like with 33 eighth graders in them then it makes this empty little box on a piece of paper mean

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something else.” Ruyter and others on the tour, which was closed to the press, later said they believed they had made some headway with Drew Patterson, the DOE’s Director of Planning for South Manhattan, over “cluster” rooms—music, art and science rooms—that he had thought could be transformed into classrooms. “Before the meeting he thought all [those rooms] were on the table,” said PTA co-president Matt Schneider. “Now a certain number of rooms are not.”

Schneider said it is uncertain how many rooms that would be or whether other rooms under consideration would qualify, such as one used by a special education school that occupies its own floor and others that P.S./I.S. 276 designates for special purposes. “In my mind there’s not feasible space that Drew’s going to be able to come up with to add more than the three kindergarten classes that we’re allocated,” Schneider said. Responding to questions about classrooms that may—or may not—be under consideration to relieve the crowding, DOE spokesman Devon Puglia replied in an email: “At this point, no formal plan has been developed, and therefore it would be unrealistic to comment on specific classrooms within this space.” Paul Hovitz, co-chair of Community Board 1’s Youth and Education Committee, is arguing for an off-site pre-K center, to free up classrooms in P.S. 276 and other potentially crowded Downtown schools. He said that could be at Tweed Courthouse, now the incubation site for the Peck Slip School where, he believes, the DOE may now be willing to carve out two more classrooms, though he and others on CB1 would like to see more. The DOE, which in the past has opposed more than two classes per grade at Tweed, did not respond to questions about that possibility for the next school year.

WORLD PREMIERE LIMITED ENGAGEMENT! NOW PLAYING @ THE FLEA A freezing night in Kingston, New York. A woman meets a boy at a bus stop. A play about how we live and the stories we tell ourselves when we’re haunted by the people we’ve loved and lost.

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Emerging Metropolis: New York Jews in the Age of Immigration, 1840-1920 SUN | FEB 3 | 1 P.M. Co-authors Annie Polland and Daniel Soyer talk about their 2012 Jewish Book of the Year award-winner.

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THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

New Building to Add Life to Cortlandt Alley

Only a handful of run-down and its advisory approval of the plan, which deserted buildings remain among the includes a commercial space that fronts flashy conversions of Tribeca. And now on Broadway. Because the building there will be one fewer. slopes down, the store would back onto An 1855 five-story boarded-up struc- Cortlandt Alley above the building’s ture at 372 Broadway (beentrance. tween White and Franklin If approved by the streets) that extends to CortLandmarks Commission, landt Alley is slated to the three-story addition to become an eight-story conthe building will contain a dominium with a glass3,200-square-foot duplex walled penthouse. apartment and a singleRather than creating an floor 2,300-square-foot entrance on busy Broadway, unit, both with outdoor the developers, Imperial space. In their presentation to Development Corp., wanted CB1 in December, the dequieter comings and goings signers, Robert Traboscia for their prospective buyers. and Caterina Roiatti of TRA “By putting it on CortStudio, said the glass pentlandt Alley you’re really house was meant to recall taking advantage of a histhe skylights that once were toric and authentic street in common in the area. “We Tribeca,” said Imperial’s used the skylight as the link Vice President Ryan Kapfrom the past to the preslan. “It’s a very quiet and ent,” Traboscia said. private atmosphere for the Kaplan said he expects residents as they come to the project to go before the their building.” Landmarks Preservation Community Board 1’s Commission on Feb. 12. Landmarks Committee gave 372 Broadway, 1910

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

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The planned 3,000-square-foot public plaza that is part of the Pace dorm project.

Planned Pace Dorm Tower Wins an Approval from CB1 BY JESSICA TERRELL asking Pace to provide some free access Pace University came a step closer to to school space for community use and approval for its proposed 34-story to encourage its students to volunteer for Beekman Street dorm last month when community projects. Community Board 1 voted overwhelmThey also want Pace to limit the ingly to support the school’s request for impact of construction by not closing a variance to build six more floors than adjacent streets and only working from 7 the zoning allows. a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Pace offi“This type of project makes a neigh- cials said they will look into the need for borhood safer because the institution is concerned with the safety of its students,” board member Bob Townley said before the vote, describing the stretch of Beekman Street where Pace plans to build as “desolate.” The building, designed by Gene Kaufman, would rise on a vacant lot at 2937 Beekman St., across from the 76-story residential tower at 8 Spruce St. that also houses P.S. 397. Included is a 3,000square-foot public plaza. It would replace a 500-bed leased dorm space at 55 John St. and add an additional 260 beds to meet growing demand for student housing. The school is close to CARL GLASSMAN completing a 24-story At a CB1 presentation, a Pace representative points to line dormitory at 180 indicating the currently approved height for the tower. Broadway. “Just over 10 years ago we had about crossing guards during construction, to 500 residential students Downtown and ensure that Spruce Street School students now we have 2,000,” William McGrath, can cross the street safely. a senior vice president at Pace, told the The Seaport Committee had disTrib last month. “Students want a resi- cussed asking for a giveback to the comdential experience [and] we provide munity in return for the additional good campus life-type activities.” height, but decided that the space did not Because Pace envisions a building allow for the kind of requests made of that is six stories taller than the 28 stories larger neighbors. The community negotithat zoning allows, it is seeking a vari- ated space for the Spruce Street School ance from the city’s Board of Standards during the construction of the Frank and Appeals. Gehry-designed tower across the street. CB1, which acts in an advisory Seaport Committee member Joel capacity, was asked to weigh in before Kopel called the prospect of a new buildthe Board of Standards and Appeals ing on the lot “exciting.” takes up the issue this month. “The site has been a blight for a numIn return for its support, the board is ber of years,” he said.

THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

Investigation Continues Following Ferry Accident

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The damaged SeaStreak Wall Street soon after its crash at Pier 11 on Jan. 9.

BY JESSICA TERRELL It took just moments for everything to go wrong. So said a preliminary accident report issued weeks after the SeaStreak Wall Street’s crash at Pier 11 that injured dozens of passengers, including one critically. As the commuter ferry approached its slip on Jan. 9, the captain transferred propulsion control from the vessel’s center operating station to a station on the starboard side with better visibility for docking. But when he walked to the second station, the controls did not respond, the captain later told investigators. He tried to transfer control back to the center station, but got no response there either. There was no time, the captain said, to issue warnings to the ferry’s 326 passengers before the vessel struck the dock. What happened next has since been classified as a “significant marine casualty,” by the Coast Guard. One in four passengers aboard suffered minor injuries, according to the preliminary report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board in late January. As of Jan. 23, one passenger remained in the hospital, although his condition had been upgraded from critical to serious. “Everyone went flying everywhere,” said Bill McKenzie, an uninjured passenger from Rumson, NJ, who was resting on the pier following the accident. The boat went “from however fast it was going to zero,” he said. Several passengers crashed into glass doors in the back of the boat. One man fell down a flight of stairs. In all, 83 passengers and one crew member were injured. “We were just kind of coasting into

the dock, and it just didn’t seem like they had reverse thrusters,” said passenger Brett Cebulash, who was boarding a FDNY bus to have his knee examined at a hospital in Brooklyn. According to Cebulash, it seemed that the thrusters “didn’t do what they normally do, and you know it was just a big, sudden shock.” The vessel’s engines stopped after it crashed into Slip D2, according to the report. After a crew member restarted the engines, the captain was able to regain control of the vessel and maneuver it to a nearby slip. By the time it was docked, first responders were already on the scene. More than a dozen investigators from the Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), city Department of Transportation and Coast Guard investigated the accident, from checking for underwater obstructions near the pier to examining the ferry’s engines. It could take up to a year for the NTSB to release a final report. The agency said that one focus of its investigation is the ferry’s new engines and “controllable pitch propellers” installed in 2012. The SeaStreak Wall Street is the only vessel in its fleet that underwent those modifications, according to SeaStreak spokesman Tom Wynne. SeaStreak is also conducting its own investigation into the accident, Wynne said. “We strive to provide a safe and efficient means of travel, and we recognize that our track record of safety has been marred,” SeaStreak president James Barker said in a statement on the company’s website. “We will continue to work hard to earn your trust.”

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

CARL GLASSMAN

Douglas Durst at presentation of his plan.

RENDERINGS BY DATTNER ARCHITECTS

Rendering of the reimagined Pier 40 facade, including a pedestrian bridge spanning West Street, near Houston.

Durst Reveals Plan to Save Pier 40 At odds with Hudson River Park Trust, he says residential towers don’t have to be built BY JESSICA TERRELL

Residential development isn’t the best—or the only—way to finance the Hudson River Park and save its deteriorating Pier 40. So says real estate developer Douglas Durst, who revealed a proposal last month that he says will fix the pier with less “contentious” uses. Durst resigned his position as chair of Friends of Hudson River Park Trust in December, after ongoing disagreements with the Hudson River Park Trust over its proposal to pay for the pier’s restoration by opening up portions of it to residential developers. Durst insists that the pier can be saved by allowing commercial uses on the existing structure, though he says he is not the one to do it. “We are demonstrating that there are adaptive reuses that we believe are economic,” Durst told the Hudson River Park Advisory Council. “The problem with any kind of highrise is you have to take down the entire pier. You can’t reuse the existing structure, which is extremely wasteful.” Trust Board Chair Diana Taylor later declined to comment on the proposal. Durst’s designs call for using parking stackers to consolidate current commercial parking in the center of the pier. The parking zone would be surrounded by roughly 90,000 square feet of retail space that the developer envisions as being “park compatible,” such as cafes, and bike or kayak rentals. Additional office space would be built out on the north and south side of the pier. “We think this concept is compelling because the space available at Pier 40 for

Pedestrian Promenade & Park

Elevated Playfield Retail

it for the developer. Trust President Madelyn Parking Wils told her board at the end of January that she has Commercial hired a firm to analyze the Retail finances of Durst’s proposal. Pier 40 Champions, a Park coalition of several community sports groups including the Downtown United Soccer Club, has also been working on a proposal for the pier and is expected to make a presentation to the advisory council meeting at the end of this month. Chris McGinnis, of the Downtown United Soccer Club, pointed out at the council meeting that Durst’s estimate of $57 million for piling repairs is less than half what the Trust has said it will need to repair the underwater structures. The Trust has been pushing for legislative changes that would open up the park’s commercial piers to new types of

Commercial

office space is exactly what is in greatest demand today by the fastest-growing sector of New York’s economy,” Durst said. “Tech firms want large floor plates, high ceilings, large windows and unconventional and interesting space.” The pier’s popular public ball fields would be raised one floor, and surrounded by a landscaped public promenade. Durst believes such a redevelopment would bring in the $10 million a year that the Hudson River Park Trust estimates it needs from Pier 40 and still make a prof-

Above: Elevated ball fields would be ringed by steps that would double as bleachers. Left: The proposed three levels of Pier 40. The redone pier would have just over half a million square feet of leasable space, and just under half a million square feet of public access space.

development to help the financiallystrapped agency maintain the five-milelong stretch of waterfront park. Although Pier 40 is one of a few piers in the park zoned for commercial development, its approved uses are too limited to make for a successful project, advocates for the changes argue. Durst’s proposal would also require legislative approval. Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Pier 40, is a staunch opponent of residential development in the park. Legislative changes that would have done just that were introduced in the last state legislative session but no action was taken. Although she had not seen the details of Durst’s proposal, Glick said she believed that “its very existence demonstrates that alternatives to residential development do exist and, of equal importance, can help generate additional revenue for the Park without building unwanted luxury condos.” “I thought it was really interesting,” said Cathy Drew, founder and director of the River Project, a marine research center based at Pier 40. “It’s nice that he has no residential and it doesn’t get any bigger. That’s what the neighborhood had hoped would work out all along.” Arthur Schwartz, chair of the advisory council, said he wasn’t prepared to say whether the plan was “good or bad,” but he thought parts of it seemed overly optimistic. Schwartz said he would favor any option that works and doesn’t consider one plan, whether commercial, residential or parking, more “moral” than another. After hearing a presentation from the United Soccer League, Schwartz said, the advisory council may weigh in on both proposals in March.

TRIB bits

THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

Pier 25’s popular playground will be ready for an official reopening in May, Hudson River Park Trust President Madelyn Wils said last month, after the Trust’s board approved a nearly half-million-dollar contract to rebuild the outdoor space. Contractors will be salvaging and reusing existing pavers, installing new gravel and play safety surfacing and reinstalling displaced playground features. The playground was badly damaged by flooding during Sandy.

Forum on Park Future

Friends of Hudson River Park Trust will hold a public meeting to discuss its proposed Neighborhood Improvement District on Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the Downtown Community Center, 120 Warren St. The N.I.D would assess a fee to property owners within a few blocks of the Hudson River Park to help pay for repairs and operations of the public space. The group plans to submit its proposal for the improvement district to the city in March.

Historic Districts History

Tribeca Trust, a recently formed group dedicated to preserving the architectural character of the neighborhood, is hosting a discussion about the area’s historic districts on Sunday, Feb. 24, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the New York Law School, located at Leonard and West Broadway. Panelists at the pay-what-you-wish event include former Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Anthony Tung; Tribeca gallery owner Hal Bromm, a driving force in the creation of Tribeca’s districts; and Andrew Dolkart, the director of the historic preservation program at Columbia University who drew the first map of a proposed Tribeca historic district. Information at tribecatrust.org.

Dumplings for Families

A dumpling-making workshop for families with children ages 5 and up will take place this month at the Museum of Chinese in America. Families will make their own dumplings with chef Kenny Lao of Rickshaw Dumplings, then eat foods typically consumed for Lunar New Year at nearby Red Egg restaurant. Reservations are required. Saturday, Feb. 9, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The price is $50 for one adult with a child; $90 for a family of 4; $15 for each additional family member. The museum is at 215 Centre St., mocanyc.org.

Grateful Tribeca Dining

The parents who run Taste of Tribeca, the food extravaganza benefiting P.S. 234 and P.S. 150, encourage you, on Tuesday, Feb. 5, to support the restaurants that support their big event. For suggestions on where to “Dine Out in Tribeca,” go to the “Restaurants” link at tasteoftribeca.com.

Black Stand-Up Comics

Sherrod Small, known for his witty commentary on politics, city life and culture, headlines an evening of stand-up comedy by some of New York’s top African-American comedians. Jordan Rock, Chris Rock’s 20-year-old brother and contestant on “Last Comic Standing,” also makes an appearance. Friday, Feb. 15, 8 p.m. $15. Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., tribecapac.org.

Lust in the Animal World

A panel of primatologists as well as a dinosaur sex expert will discuss sexual patterns and behaviors among animals ranging from monogamous birds to polygamous primates—and what they reveal about our own habits. Reception and book signing will follow the discussion. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 6:30 p.m. $25; $20 students. New York Academy of Sciences, 250 Greenwich St., nyas.org.

Beethoven on Warren

The Tribeca Chamber Players will perform works by Beethoven on the first and third Mondays of this month, from 7 to 9 p.m. On Feb. 4, the group will play Beethoven’s Opus 59, No. 3 in C Major; on Feb. 18, they will perform Opus 74 (“The Harp”) in E flat Major. The concert is free. Downtown Community Center, 120 Warren St., manhattanyouth.org.

© 2012 Douglas Elliman Real Estate. All material presented herein is intended for information purposes only. While, this information is believed to be correct, it is represented subject to errors, omissions, changes or withdrawal without notice. All property information, including, but not limited to square footage, room count, number of bedrooms and the school district in property listings are deemed reliable, but should be verified by your own attorney, architect or zoning expert. Equal Housing Opportunity.

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Animation Celebration

Celebrate the Native American tradition of wintertime storytelling in a very modern way with this animated short film series at the National Museum of the American Indian at One Bowling Green. The free Animation Celebration runs from Monday, Feb. 4, to Sunday, March 17, and will feature films such as “Walkin-the-Forest,” which reveals secrets of the woods, and “Bear Facts,” telling the story of the first meeting of Inuits and Europeans through the eyes of a hunter. More information at nmai.si.edu.

Ice Carvings

Ice sculptors from the Okamoto Studio will carve blocks of ice into a wintry garden of decorative flora on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. and Friday, Feb. 22 at noon at the World Financial Center Plaza, artsbrookfield.com.

Harold Reed Memorial

A public memorial service for Harold Reed, longtime Community Board 1 member and Downtown arts advocate who died at age 75 last month, is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 6 p.m. at the South Street Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton St. Reed, who lived in the Seaport, chaired CB1’s Arts and Entertainment Task Force and previously served on the board of the South Street Seaport Museum.

Keep in touch all month at tribecatrib.com

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Pier Sign Called a ‘Blight’on Seaport Weighing in on Pier 17 redevelopment, City Planning Commission dislikes sign atop mall BY JESSICA TERRELL

An 18-foot-high, 90-foot-long illuminated sign proposed to go atop the redeveloped Pier 17 mall was denounced by City Planning commissioners last month as a potential eyesore that would mar iconic views of the waterfront and Brooklyn Bridge . Designers for developer Howard Hughes Corp. argue that the sign, proclaiming “THE SEAPORT” in giant letters, harkens back to historic riverfront signage and would help draw visitors to the area. On Jan. 22, during a review session for the mall project, all five City Planning commissioners who spoke said they opposed it. “My feeling is we will have blighted—it’s a strong word, but I feel it—the Lower Manhattan waterfront environment forever,” said Commission chair Amanda Burden. “I am really worried about it.” The Planning Commission, which votes this month, must weigh in on several special permits, zoning amendments and special signage approvals as part of the city’s lengthy Uniform Land Use Review Process. The commission is expected to vote favorably on the project as a whole, with some modifications. Only signs in waterfront districts are under the purview of the commission. Community Board 1 also opposed the sign after reviewing the mall plans in October. “I think we can consider this to be a major victory for the efforts of this Community Board,” Michael Levine, CB1’s director of land use and planning, said of the commissioners’ views. The commissioners’ opposition to the sign puts them at odds with the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), which approved it last October. “I think [the sign] is excellent,” LPC vice-chair Pablo Vengoechea said at the October meeting. “It does recall an industrial building, but at the same time it is appropriate to this use.”

RENDERINGS COURTESY OF HOWARD HUGHES CORP.

Top: Proposed sign would be raised to allow visitors to look out from the public rooftop. Above: Southern view of the Pier 17 mall, with blade store signs that commissioners say should have limited lighting. Right: The overall plan, which commissioners say they like.

Michael Bierut of Pentagram, the company that designed the pier’s proposed signage, told the Landmarks Commission last fall that the sign is inspired by giant industrial signs like the riverfront Colgate clock in New Jersey. The simple lettering, he said, would be made of channel glass and lit from within to give the letters an “even soft glow.” “Our challenge as sign designers was to bridge [two] worlds,” Bierut said. “To do something that was congruent with the historic character of the overall site, but yet had a certain kind of logic with the contemporary architecture.” The planning commissioners acknowledged the history of illuminated industrial signs such as Pepsi and Domino, but said the concept did not translate for them.

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“We really have to respect the integrity of the waterfront,” said commissioner Maria Del Toro. “I like the iconic signs, but this is not an iconic sign, so let’s not put it in the same category.” Burden told fellow commissioners that her concerns about the sign came after spending numerous hours “studying how it feels to be on the East River at night.” “The glory of the East River in this location is the Brooklyn Bridge,” Burden said. “It is beautiful, the skyline of Brooklyn from Manhattan, of Manhattan from Brooklyn and these twinkling lights on the water. It is really quite extraordinary.” The City Planning Commissioners appeared to agree with CB1’s criticisms on two other Pier 17 issues as well.

The commissioners voiced an interest in limiting the illumination on a series of planned blade signs for the exterior of the building. And they are expected to recommend that Howard Hughes Corp. remove the view-obstructing canopy of a proposed stage on Pier 16 when the stage is not in use, so as not to obstruct views of the South Street Seaport Museum’s historic ships. (CB1 had requested that the stage be removed from plans altogether.) The Planning Commission is expected to vote on the project on Feb. 6. From there, it will go to the City Council for final approval. Howard Hughes Corp. plans to begin work on the project in June and reopen the area in 2015. Hughes Corp. did not respond to a request for comment.

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Chocolate Not So Hot on Franklin Street BY JESSICA TERRELL It was a restaurant idea that raised eyebrows with its unusual cuisine concept, and riled neighbors with its choice of location. Peter Harris told Community Board 1â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tribeca Committee last month that his British-based company hoped to open a chocolate-themed eatery at 175 Franklin Street in June. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve focused the menu on something we call â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cacao cuisine,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? said Harris, whose company, Hotel Chocolat, owns some 50 chocolate shops in Europe and a restaurant and hotel on its cocoa â&#x20AC;&#x153;plantationâ&#x20AC;? in St. Lucia. The restaurant, Harris said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;subtlyâ&#x20AC;? modifies recipes by adding in the bean that is the basis for chocolate. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We use, for instance, cacao nibs to give texture instead of breadcrumbs.â&#x20AC;? Featuring such menu items as cacao gazpacho and chicken liver parfait with dark chocolate ganache, the eaterie would transform the decrepit and longvacant storefront at 175 Franklin Street into an unusual and high-end dining hot spot, Harrisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lawyer said. But first, Harris would have to convince a half-dozen worried Harrison Street residents who live behind the building that he would be a better neighbor than prior tenants of the space. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had horrible relationships with [the] building owner,â&#x20AC;? one resident told the committee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everything that happens in that building, the sound just

PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

Peter Harris, right, proposed a chocolate-themed restaurant for this space at 175 Franklin.

reverberates.â&#x20AC;? Several who attended the meeting declined to comment later because they are currently involved in litigation with the owner over issues arising from construction on the building. The neighbors told the committee that the site, which has been vacant for several years, was previously used as a venue for parties, which were often loud, and lacked proper restroom facilities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;[It] was a problem because inappropriate behavior was occurring on the street because the interior of the space was not allocated properly,â&#x20AC;? said Michael Levine, CB1â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s director of land use and planning. Harris promised no such problems at

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risks at this site are too great.â&#x20AC;? The company had yet to sign a lease when it appeared before the board. Reached by telephone in England the following week, Harris declined to specify the reasons for his change of heart. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really sort of comment, other than the fact that things have got to be right for us,â&#x20AC;? Harris said. Neighbors who had attended the meeting seemed split over Hotel Chocolatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision. One described the withdrawal as a victory, another said she thought the restaurant would have been a good tenant. The company is currently looking for another location in the neighborhood, Harris said.

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his restaurant. He also agreed to close an hour earlier than he had requested, at 1 a.m., and work on better soundproofing for the space. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think us occupying the space will be a good thing,â&#x20AC;? Harris told the committee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think you will be disappointed.â&#x20AC;? But while the chocolate-loving restaurateur succeeded in convincing several attendees that he would be a good neighbor, they may have inadvertently convinced him of something else: The need to find a new location. In a letter to the community board office a week after the meeting, Harrisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lawyer asked to withdraw Chocolatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s liquor license application because â&#x20AC;&#x153;the

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

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THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

POLICE BEAT

REPORTED FROM THE 1ST PRECINCT For updates, go to tribecatrib.com.

28 WARREN

Jan. 7...12 p.m. A thief pretending to shop for eyeglasses asked a clerk at Cohen’s Fashion Optical to show him several frames. While the clerk was getting them, the thief snatched five pairs of frames valued at $4,480, and ran out of the store.

Jan. 18...12:15 p.m. A thief stole a woman’s purse, containing an iPhone and $180 in cash, from a changing room at a yoga studio. Employees of the studio told the police that a man had been in the establishment around the same time, and had filled out a form for a class but had not attended.

217 BROADWAY Jan. 9...6:30 p.m. A man locked his clothing and $1,650 in cash in a gym locker. While he exercised, a thief broke the lock and made off with the cash.

Jan. 18...5:15 p.m. A man parked his 2009 Kawasaki motorcycle and went to work. At the end of his shift, he discovered that the $7,500 bike had been stolen.

33 MAIDEN

7 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS Jan. 10...9:30 p.m. A cab driver parked his cab to get dinner at a deli and accidentally left the a window of the vehicle open. While the driver was getting his food, a thief stole his wallet, which contained $1,000, and his taxi license. BROADWAY & WALL Jan. 11...7:01 p.m. While a woman was purchasing a Metrocard, a thief plucked an iPhone from her open bag. 4 WHITEHALL Jan. 13...3:07 a.m. Police arrested a man who brandished a stick at a man and demanded his camera as he exited the subway. The victim told a nearby police officer, and the two found the perpetrator, who was banging on a pole with the stick.

BROADWAY & JOHN Jan. 14...7:05 p.m. A woman was standing on the northbound 4/5 platform at Fulton Street when a man bumped into her and then stole her iPhone. The iPhone case also contained her credit cards and driver’s license.

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68 WARREN Jan. 19...10:30 p.m. A man parked his motorcycle on the sidewalk on Saturday night. When he returned on Sunday, the $6,000 Husqvarna bike was gone.

I know this, because it’s my community too. Tribeca and Lower Manhattan are about remarkable people, great resources and terrific homes. I know because I own here and have sold and rented here, and for more than three decades I have been part of the challenges and rebirth of Tribeca and the Financial District. If you are thinking of buying, selling or renting, allow me to put my experience to your advantage. Selling Tribeca is the easiest part of my job. It would be my pleasure to meet with you and discuss your real estate needs.

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The Corcoran Group is a licensed real estate broker. Owned and operated by NRT LLC. All material herein is intended for information purposes only and has been compiled from sources deemed reliable. Though information is believed to be correct, it is presented subject to errors, omissions, changes or withdrawal without notice. Equal Housing Opportunity

NASSAU & FULTON Jan. 23...8:35 p.m. A thief stole a wallet from the unzipped bag of a subway-goer as she went through the Fulton Street turnstile.

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Jan. 25...1:30 p.m. A woman parked her 2010 Acura on the street. When she returned, the $30,000 vehicle was gone.

195 BROADWAY Jan. 25...2:50 p.m. A pickpocket stole an iPhone from a Starbucks customer. Jan. 26...5:50 p.m. A customer left her wallet on the counter of the store, and another woman took it.

30 BROAD Jan. 17...4:27 p.m. A teenager walked into a men’s suit store and told the clerk he was waiting for his father to be fitted. While the clerk was helping a customer, the teen went into a back room and stole a laptop, debit card and Metrocard. He tried to take an iPad too, but it was locked to a counter.

Jan. 26...10:36 p.m. Police arrested a 25-year-old man who attempted to steal nearly $500 in merchandise from a drug store. When an employee confronted the thief, he allegedly reached his hand into his waistband as if he had a gun, and said to the employee, “Don’t make me pop it off here.”

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34 WATTS Jan. 20...7:40 p.m. A 29-year-old man was standing outside his girlfriend’s apartment building when two men rode up on bicycles. The men punched him in the face and stole his iPhone. The police canvassed the area but were unable to find the suspects.

125 BROADWAY Jan. 16...3 p.m. A thief stole a bag containing $900 and a $1,000 camera from a customer inside Starbucks. The woman had placed her bag on the floor.

BY OLIVER E. ALLEN PUBLISHED BY THE TRIBECA TRIB

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After Hurricane Sandy, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum faced a major challenge: the safekeeping of its huge archive.

FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

History Goes Packing

KEVIN DALEY, COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

A curator from the National Park Service records each item, before placing them in specially designed drawers.

CARL GLASSMAN

— DIANA PARDUE, Chief, Museum Services Division

BY APRIL KORAL museum services division and a designer ens of thousands of archival of the museum, was at her apartment in papers. Nineteen thousand artiGreenwich Village, also without electricifacts. The thousands of donated ty. Only sporadic text messages told her items, carefully chosen by immi- what was going on. grants to bring to America—from Bibles “I had heard there was water in the to pasta makers to musical instruments. basement,” Pardue recalled as she led a In all, one big packing job for the Ellis Trib reporter and photographer on a tour Island Immigration Museum. of the museum, “and I was concerned if The magnificently restored 113-yearwater got to the first floor.” old building, where the story of America’s The water did not reach the first floor, great immigration is told, is now largely empty, its walls stripped of exhibits of passports, steamship posters, immigrant manifests and much more. Cases once filled with religious items, the dreaded button hook used by doctors to check for trachoma, children’s shoes and dozens of other exhibits are all empty, too. Hurricane Sandy struck Ellis Island hard— submerging nearly the entire island. Hitting from the south and west, the flood waters easily scaled the low seawall, sped KEVIN DALEY, COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE across the parking lot and Above: Staff move boxes from the third floor. Right: A Ranger rushed down the museum building’s ramp leading to pulls a pallet to a truck bound for a storage center in Maryland. the basement. The doors were no match leaving untouched almost all the musefor the force of the water, which soon um’s treasures, most of which are on the filled the lower level. Some five feet of third floor or in storage. (A small exhibit water spread through the entire network of in the ferry building about the island’s forunderground passageways that linked the mer hospital was destroyed). island’s buildings. But worse, it flooded But nature began to wreak havoc on the powerhouse that supplied the island the museum in other ways. with electricity. “The building has been climate conDiana Pardue, who is chief of the trolled for about 20 years and it kind of

“We knew that things weren’t going to be fine in a week, and that we would have to dismantle this whole place—and then bring it back.”

CARL GLASSMAN

KEVIN DALEY, COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

went through a shock,” said Pardue. Mold started forming on the museum’s collection almost immediately, she said, especially the wooden artifacts. “We have lots and lots of textiles, and they would have been the next thing to go. Things were starting to grow on anything that didn’t have a finish.” The walls were also covered with condensation; even the wooden railings were wet. A smaller matter, but one that affected the staff nonetheless, was the odor. “There was that horrible moldy smell,” Pardue recalled. “And there was all the rotting food stored in the basement. It smelled like a fish hatchery for weeks.” After the storm, the National Park Service, which was also coping with assessing damage to dozens of other federally run parks, had to act quickly. Pardue said there was never a question that the museum would have to be closed. “We knew that things weren’t going to be fine in a week, that we would have to dismantle this whole place—and then bring it back.” In the beginning, it was hard just to locate employees. Specialists who were called in to help could not find hotel rooms; many slept on the living room floors of other staff members. There were conference calls and numerous discussions about what to do. Storing the artifacts somewhere else on the island was even considered. It was finally decided

that the safest place for the collection was a federal storage center in Landover, Md. Nearly seven weeks after Sandy struck, 14 National Park Service curators from all over the northeast, assisted by advisors from states as far away as

Above: This empty case once held a replica of the RMS Aquitania, which left Liverpool on its maiden voyage to New York City on May 30, 1914. Left: This wall was once an exhibit of political cartoons, many of which argued against allowing so many immigrants into the country.

After each box was sealed, Park Rangers, standing along the two flights of stairs, passed it down. On the first floor workers put the boxes on pallets and shrink-wrapped them. The packing took six weeks, and by the end, the staff had filled six tractor trailers, each loaded with 23 pallets. Today, the museum, which had hosted 4 million visitors a year, is eerily quiet. (The staff has returned to their offices, thanks to engineers who were able to connect 30year-old steam boilers to the building’s turn-of-thecentury radiators.) As at so many other places at water’s edge, museum officials are now trying to figure out how to best proCARL GLASSMAN tect the building from a Diana Pardue next to one of the few remaining photos. future Sandy. There are no Pardue helped design the museum, which opened in 1990. easy answers. California and Washington, began the But there is little doubt that the musedemanding packing job. Twelve tables um will remain the country’s repository were set up along the second floor hallfor immigration history. way and balconies. Surrounded by five“Even while we were packing,” foot-high rolls of foam padding and acid- Pardue recalled, “we were still being confree tissue, the curators carefully wrapped tacted by people who had things they each item, working every day until 4 wanted to give us.” And the staff continp.m., when the light became too dim. As ued to consider each donation. they packed, they continued to clean “We don’t know when,” Pardue said, mold off artifacts. “but we will definitely reopen.”

After Hurricane Sandy, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum faced a major challenge: the safekeeping of its huge archive.

FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

History Goes Packing

KEVIN DALEY, COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

A curator from the National Park Service records each item, before placing them in specially designed drawers.

CARL GLASSMAN

— DIANA PARDUE, Chief, Museum Services Division

“We knew that things weren’t going to be fine in a week, and that we would have to dismantle this whole place—and then bring it back.”

CARL GLASSMAN

KEVIN DALEY, COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

OLD TRIBECA

FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Starting out in what is today Tribeca, Madame Demorest pioneered the art of putting dressmaking—and fashionable clothes—in the hands of all women

Madame Demerest started her business in 375 Broadway, between White and Franklin streets. In 1860, the store moved to 473 Broadway, in today’s Soho.

BY OLIVER E. ALLEN century and a half ago, when the eastern half of Tribeca was the textile capital of the U.S., one woman stood out as an economic powerhouse in what was essentially an all-male world. Known everywhere as Madame Demorest, she had introduced the technique of mass-producing tissue-paper dress patterns and thereupon had founded a business that expanded until it ultimately held sway not only throughout this country but all over the world. Born to a well-to-do upstate family in 1824, Ellen Louise Curtis decided in her teens to become a milliner, or ladies’ hat maker, and at age 18 she opened her own millinery shop in her home town of Schuylerville. Business was good, and so Nell, as she was known, moved to New York City, where she continued to do well. But presently—in the 1850s—she decided to change her focus. One day she noticed that her maid was cutting rudimentary dress patterns from crude brown wrapping paper. All at once the idea hit her: why not print such patterns on tissue paper, which was far cheaper and could be replicated and distributed endlessly at low cost? Soon she had figured out a mathematical formula that would enable her—or the buyer—to adapt such patterns for different sizes and figure shapes. The scheme held great promise, and the timing was fortuitous, for the sewing machine had just been invented and young women were eager to try their hand at dressmaking. Meanwhile Nell had met a young widower named William Jennings Demorest, a dry goods merchant and promoter and, like her, from

The Empress of

Patterns

upstate New York. In 1858 the two were married. Demorest was already operating a store called Madame Demorest’s Emporium of Fashion at 375 Broadway, just south of White Street, and presently he and Nell decided that she should henceforth be known for trade purposes as “Mme. Demorest.” Then Demorest had another scheme. Needing a vehicle with which to advertise Nell’s patterns, in 1860 he began publishing a quarterly magazine called Mme. Demorest’s Mirror of Fashion that meticulously described Nell’s designs and even included a sample pattern stapled inside it. The magazine proved highly popular and soon was selling

throughout the U.S. and abroad; within a decade the Demorests had some 1,500 agencies, or merchandising branches, and were selling 3 million patterns a year. The patterns were inexpensive— those for blouses went for 18 cents, while dresses “elegantly trimmed” were $1 and infants’ patterns sold for 12 cents apiece—and were constantly changing, as Nell was keenly aware that the fashion market demanded up-to-theminute styles. Not only did she and her sister Kate (who had become her chief stylist) keep improving and changing their product, but each year Nell would travel to London and Paris to pick up the latest trends and would send notes back to Kate who would produce new patterns for their eager customers. Competitors admitted she led the field. Wrote one rival, “What Madame Demorest says is supreme law in the fashion realm of this country.” One successful innovation was a small hoop-skirt that was an acceptable and far more manageable alternative to the otherwise popular full hoop-skirt. For customers unwilling to give up the full hoop Nell devised what she called the Imperial dress-elevator, an arrangement of weighted strings that enabled the wearer to lift up a corner of the hoop to prevent it from dipping in the gutter. And all the time Nell was supervising her successful business she was helping to expand opportunities for women. She hired white and black women on equal terms, found-

ed an early women’s club and served as treasurer of the New York Medical College for Women. There was only one problem with the Demorests’ glory ride. In all the rush to found a new business and keep innovating, the couple had never sought to patent Madame Demorest’s methods. But in 1863 a rival pioneer, one Ebenezer Butterick from Sterling, Mass., had independently developed his

William Jennings Demorest

own system for producing paper patterns, and he had patented his methods. In the 1880s Nell and William found Butterick’s business eating into their own and in 1887 they reluctantly decided to fold. They devoted their remaining years to worthy causes they had long espoused, such as temperance and women’s suffrage. And so the Demorest business quietly expired, leaving the field to Ebenezer Butterick—whose firm, despite many name changes and ownerships, exists to this day. The Butterick camp stoutly claims it invented the paper pattern scheme. Don’t believe it. The dates prove it: Nell Demorest was first. Born Ellen Louise Curtis, “Mme.” Demorest and her husband William founded their successful patternmaking business in what is now Tribeca. She died in 1898 at the age of 74.

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THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

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THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

KIDS

PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

“King Henry” performs some clowning magic for a delighted P.S./I.S. 276 audience. (Mysteriously, the balloon did not pop.) Below: Tokio Minami, 7, dishes out his family’s pot luck offering, skewers of pinapple and sausage.

acked with kids, parents and a swirl of activities, P.S./I.S 276 held its Winter Carnival last month, bigger than ever. “It’s my first time running it and it’s crazy,” said parentin-charge Allison Allen. Around her, kids jumped in a bouncing house, tossed bean bags, got their faces painted, and waited patiently in a line almost as long as the gym for their very own balloon animal. “A great team of us came together to do even better than what we’ve done in the past,” Allen said. “Not because it wasn’t good before but because we wanted to raise the bar

P.S./I.S. 276 Winter Carnival returns with a

BANG!

and raise more money for the school.” So along with the carnival in the gym, there was karaoke and King Henry (“reigning king of all things silly”) in the auditorium, an adult “marketplace” and, most notable of all, a potluck of dishes native to some 20 countries, reflecting the international flavor of the school’s parent population. The funds that are raised go into a PTA pot for music, art and professional development “It’s a good way to make money,” said Principal Terri Ruyter, “but more than that, it’s a fun thing for kids and families to come to school and just have a good time.” Above: Second graders Kate Wattenberg, left, and Chloe Fernando-English mug with new faces, prizes won at the carnival. Far left: Saajin Magon, a 4th grader, performs one of many magic tricks he has up his sleeve. Left: A troll doll knock-’em-down game was just one of many activities for children in the school gym.

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26 PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

Below: Mike Barbieri, executive director of the Downtown Giants, coaches a team of the youngest players. Different teams are formed each Sunday, depending on who shows up. Right: Aidan Monninger tries to avoid being “tackled.”

FLAGGED DOWN

FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

On Sundays at Pier 40, the fun of football continues— minus all the gear

ach Sunday on the Pier 40 fields, yellow “flags” go flying in the cold winter air. It’s another season of flag football and 80 kids, boys and, yes, some girls, turn out for the fun. For younger players, it’s a chance to grasp the rules of the game, or to find out what it feels like to catch a pass or chase down a receiver. The more seasoned players, many of whom play tackle football on one of the Downtown Giants’ teams, get to hone their skills in the off season. Maybe best of all, it’s a great outdoor activity players of every level. But the program, jointly sponsored by Manhattan Youth and the Downtown Giants, is also great for recruitment to the competitive Giants, says Giants Executive Director Mike Barbieri, who runs flag football with the Giants president, Carl Frye. But he sometimes first has to convince parents wary of contact sport. “Usually it’s a mom or an aunt or a grandma,” Barbieri David Wilkerson makes a catch as he is defended by his said between scrimmages. brother, Sam. “Dad’s always into it. I had two kids today who said, ‘Coach, would you talk to my mom?’” Ten-year-old Will Gushed has yet to win that battle with his mom. But it doesn’t stop him from getting all he can from the Sunday games, said his dad, Steve, who watched him play from the sidelines. “He was even enthusiastic about church this morning,” Gushed said. “Only because he knew that it was part of a plan to go here.” For more information on the flag football program, go to Manhattanyouth.org.

Above: Ari Hatzimemos, with the ball, tries to outrun Jack Vernon. Most of the older players (kids can play through 8th grade) play during the regular season of the Downtown Giants. Left: Will Jenkins avoids the grasp of Carlos Santos.

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THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

City‘Chips In’ to Fix Messy School Recess BY ALINE REYNOLDS The ground floor of the Tweed Courthouse, where the Peck Slip School is temporarily housed, is looking a lot cleaner these days, thanks to an unorthodox move by the city. Since the school got its start in Tweed in September, the kindergartners had been dirtying their shoes on the grassless play area and tracking dirt into the building. Until last month, that is, when the barren field in the northeast portion of City Hall Park got a generous covering of wood chips. One morning last month, a few dozen kindergartners, bundled up in winter gear in the bitter cold, kicked soccer balls and hula-hooped as usual on the park grounds. Principal Maggie Siena watched them with a smile. “It’s a huge improvement,” said Siena, who began lobbying the Parks Department for a better play surface last May, backed by the office of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. “This is quite tidy-looking, it’s safer for the kids, and [if] we get some more greenery around here, it’ll look quite nice.” A beautiful lawn would be “fabulous,” she added, “but it’s just not realistic.” Wood chip surfacing of the city’s parks is uncommon, according to Namshik Yoon, chief of operations for the city Parks Department, which recent-

CARL GLASSMAN

Peck Slip School kindergartners play on the new wood chip surface next to Tweed Courthouse. The Parks Department rejected the principal’s first choice, artificial turf.

ly laid the covering—marking the largest installation of its kind in Manhattan. The ground was sodded when P.S. 397 and P.S. 276 were incubated in the building, Yoon noted. But with children playing on it, he said, the soil did not have time to breathe or the sod have a chance to knit. And, unlike grass or artificial turf, the wood chips are cheap and easy to maintain. “We usually grow grass, but unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury here,” he said. “If we closed that lawn for two

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months, the kids would go crazy. This is an interim fix that was able to be done with really no cost except labor.” City maintenance workers, who will add a new layer of chips once a year, will be monitoring the field daily to check for problems, Yoon said. The wood chips are an early success, as is new fencing, which Yoon said the Parks Department installed to prevent chips from scattering off the field. To beautify the field’s sparsely planted perimeter, workers will add more green-

ery in the spring. Rob Glowacki, a special ed teacher at the school who supervises recess, called the setup “fantastic.” “It’s a safe haven for them to play in,” he said. “The kids are having a blast. [The fence] is high enough where now we can bring out the soccer ball and the kickball.” In addition to containing the play space, the fencing has also kept the children away from the shrubbery, which occasionally caused accidents during playtime, according to Peck Slip guidance counselor Shelley Hoverman. “There was some kind of mesh they used when they sodded it, and the kids would be [ripping] that up,” she said. “This is more attractive, and it’s softer.” And, says Glowacki, the wood chips may help to prevent scrapes and bruises, too. “It lets them take their fall with some grace instead of just falling and sticking,” he said. “Now when they fall, they’re more prone to getting back up.” At first, in fact, the mulch was so soft that the children looked like they were doing the moonwalk when scampering over it, Siena said, laughing. As the principal stood amid the frolicking kids, a boy tripped over her foot and fell knee-first into the chips. “Let’s check it out,” Siena told him as she pulled up the youngster’s pant legs to check for bruises. “You look like you’re going to be okay, my friend!”

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KIDS

FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Getting to the Heart of School Conflicts

Every day at every school, teachers and staff stop what they are doing to work out conflicts among children; it’s part of teaching them to live in communities and get along with all kinds of people. Whether we are sitting down with tear-stained little boys whose game of chase has gone awry, or 10-year-old girls trying to be good friends in the age of cell phones and Facebook, the conversation alCONNIE ways touches SCHRAFT on the Golden Rule—treat others as you would like to be treated. Of course it’s not always that simple. A few weeks ago, I received an email from a SCHOOL parent who said TALK that an older boy had deliberately kicked her son during recess. She gave me the names of classmates who had seen what happened, and I emailed back that I would investigate. While we are always quick to look into reports of incidents—young children’s memories are notoriously short— I was particularly fired up that day, having sat in on a presentation for parents by the educator who will be working

with the school this winter in a bullying-prevention program. The anecdotes she described were upsetting, and many were “covert.” Under-the-radar bullying is deeply troubling to anyone who works with children and is charged with keeping them safe. I immediately called the witnesses to the office, but neither had seen anything. This is not uncommon. In a 30minute recess, there are innumerable interactions in the whirl of fast-moving little bodies, to say nothing of the hundred voices calling to each other, shouting to be heard over the hubbub.

The supposed aggressor lumbered into the office, seeming not at all perturbed or defensive. In fact, he was just the opposite: friendly and cooperative. Yes, he had kicked the younger boy the day before. After much questioning and demonstrating, the real story emerged. While playing a game, the “victim” was backing away from a friend. Simultaneously, the “aggressor” was showing off a taekwondo move, involving an outstretched arm and a backward kick. As all the pieces fell into place, we could see how it happened, like a slow-motion

Only rarely are we confronted with cases of true bullying—repeated, deliberate meanness. But we investigate every accusation. Children are often hard-pressed to remember exactly what they saw, if they did see anything at all. The victim was a little nervous to be called down to the office, but masked it with a giggle. When he identified the child who had kicked him, I asked if it would be all right for that boy, whom I knew to be a good kid, to meet with us. I invited an assistant principal to join us as well, the one whom I often say could be working for the FBI, so skilled is she at getting to the heart of a dispute.

instant replay on TV. What a waste of time, you might say, investigating such a benign incident. But I’m glad we did—to allay a parent’s worry and to let kids know we take their concerns seriously. Many incidents that reach the office are accidental, like this one. Some children who get hurt that way retaliate with words or fists; resolution of those cases begins with a box of tissues and ends with a handshake. Only rarely are we confronted with cases of true bullying—repeated, deliberate meanness.

Sometimes we hear rumblings that there is bullying in the schoolyard, but hardly ever any specifics. Common knowledge is that children who are being bullied are often embarrassed or afraid to speak up. The aim of anti-bullying programs these days is to empower the bystanders to report to an adult any unacceptable behavior they witness. Recently I learned that a family was withdrawing their child from school. When the mother came to say goodbye, she told me that her son had been subjected to name-calling during recess. “He was called words he’d never heard of,” she said. I was sorry she had not told me sooner, as we would have investigated. I don’t know what we would have uncovered. Maybe there would have been many witnesses with many different versions of events, or there might have been no witnesses at all. As I said, children’s memories are short; recess is loud and action-packed; and the truth takes time to uncover. But it all begins with someone coming forward—a student, a friend or a parent. I don’t think it’s a waste of time for an investigation to lead to the discovery that a case of potential bullying is really just an accident. I much prefer that to the alternative. Connie Schraft is the P.S. 89 parent coordinator. For questions and comments, write connie@tribecatrib.com.

photo by: Anna Palma

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THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

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Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Going on A Bear Hunt Saturday, February 9 at 1:30PM z $25

The Best Place To Skate. Michael Rosenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s s award-winning book Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Going On A Bear Hunt is brought vividly to the stage in director Sally Cooksonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bowerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s versatile lively score. Join our intrepid adventurers on their quest to find a bear; as they wade through the gigantic swishy swashy grass, the splishy splashy river and the thick oozy, squelchy mud! Expect catchy songs, interactive scenes and plenty of hands-on adventure. Ages 3 to 7.

Enjoy $15 tickets as a 10Club Member Call 212.220.1460 for more information Or visit the Box Office Located at the BMCC Campus 199 Chambers St. NYC Order single tickets online: www.TribecaPAC.org

Sky Rink has been New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite place to skate since 1969. Bring friends and family to Chelsea Piers for: GENERAL ICE SKATING

Admission: $10 â&#x20AC;˘ Skate Rental: $5 Visit chelseapiers.com/sr for the full schedule.

SKATING SCHOOL

New classes begin every week. Receive 12 Classes for the Price of 10!

BIRTHDAY PARTIES

New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coolest party place. Ask about our affordable party packages!

Sky Rink at Pier 61 â&#x20AC;˘ 212.336.6100 â&#x20AC;˘ chelseapiers.com/sr Visit chelseapiers.com for a complete listing of sports classes available for both kids and adults.

TriBeCa Kid Coach

â&#x20AC;˘ individualized family and parenting coaching â&#x20AC;˘ short term, intensive and effective education â&#x20AC;˘ manage family conflict and kid behavior â&#x20AC;˘ two to teens free consultation 646.723.4589 email: drpeter@tribecakidcoach.com

OMING U C P

FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

FOR KIDS

accompanied by an adult. Registration is required. Fri, 2/1 & 2/8, 11:30 am. Free. Battery Park City Library, 175 N. End Ave., nypl.org.

ARTS & CRAFTS g

Home Grown Valentines Children ages 4 and up make old-fashioned valentines using dried flowers and ferns, lace, ribbon, fabric and an assortment of paper. Participants are welcome to bring other items to decorate the gift. Sat, 2/9, 10:30 am. Free. Battery Parks City Parks Conservancy, 6 River Terrace, bpcparks.org.

Express Your Inner Snake Celebrate the Lunar New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Snake with holiday arts and crafts activities; walking tours of Chinatown; a traditional lion dance; a reading by author Michele Wong, the creator of the Gordon and Li Li series; and performances and dance workshops by the Red Silk Dancers. Sat, 2/2, 11 am–6 pm. $10; free under 5. Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., mocanyc.org.

Valentine’s Day Card Creations Kids create an architecturally-inspired Valentine’s Day card after learning about skyscrapers and urban architecture. For all ages. Registration required. Sat, 2/9, 10:30 am. $5. Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl., skyscraper.org.

Archikids Architect Yves Roger leads a handson workshop in which, inspired by images, vintage film and models of actual skyscrapers of the past and present, kids make their own skyscraper models. Registration required. Ages 9–13. Sat, 2/16, 10:30 am. $5. Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl., skyscraper.org.

ichael Rosen’s “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” is based on popular book in which a family goes through “swishy swashy” grass, a deep, “splishy splashy” river and lots of “thick, squelchy” mud in search of a grizzly. Their adventures are accompanied by catchy songs, rhymes and audience participation. At the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., Sat., Feb. 9, 1:30 p.m. For ages 5 to 8. Tickets are $25 ($15 for 10Club Members). Call 212-220-1460 or visit tribecapac.org.

Ka-Boom! Inside Out & Unmasked A guide introduces children ages 5 to 11 to two museum exhibits that explore the depiction of Asians and Asian Americans in comics, then leads a workshop in which kids create images of their own superhero alter egos. Reservations required. Sat, 2/23, 11 am. $10; $5 students, seniors; free under 12. Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., mocanyc.org.

MUSIC g

Debbie and Friends The recent Grammy nominee plays a range of genres, from pop to country, rock to reggae, and everything in between. There is also lots of audience participation. Sun, 2/10, 11 am. $15; free under 2. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org.

or more. At 388 Greenwich St., jcpdowntown.org.

Erin Lee and the Up Past Bedtime Band Fun songs with catchy songs about snow, sleds and loud sneezes. Sun, 2/17, 11 am. $15; free under 2. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org.

Bill Harley and Keith Munslow Two awardwinning children’s musicians pair up to sing a wacky collection of songs about childhood, from the spooky “Stinkeye” to bluesy “Give Me Back My Hat.” Sun, 2/24, 11 am. $15; free under 2. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org.

PURIM g

Purim Carnival and Shpiel JCP hosts a party with carnival games, prizes, crafts, groggers, hamantaschen and a musical, “Harry Potter and the Shpiel of Secrets.” Purim costumes encouraged! Sun, 2/10, 11 am–2 pm. $18; $65/family of 4

Purim Bash The Mama Doni Band plays original songs for a high-energy celebration that includes a costume parade and Purim craft activities. Ages 3–10. Sun, 2/10, 1–4 pm. $10; $7 10 and under. Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., mjhnyc.org.

Purim Fun Yael and Rony Megillah host a party with songs, crafts, music and costume parade. 2/23, 5:30–7pm. $15/child. To find out more and reserve early, call 212-966-7141 or email info@synagogueforthearts.org. Synagogue for the Arts, 49 White St., synagogueforthearts.org.

SUPERHERO PURIM CELEBRATION Dress in your superhero gear, win prizes, mingle with superhero characters plus face painting, glitter tattoos, arts and crafts and loads of Hamantashen. $36 per family Sun, 2/24, 3:30 - 5 pm. Chabad of Tribeca, 54

BOB WORKMAN

Reade St. Visit chabadoftribeca.com to RSVP and for more info or call 212-566-6764

SCIENCE g

Peter and Potter Kids ages 5–8 learn about the animals featured in Beatrix Potter’s children’s stories. They also look at real snakeskins, learn about how snakes shed their outer layer, and paint a wooden snake puppet. (Tue, 2/5.) Kids can see Potter’s sketches of rabbits that inspired Peter Rabbit, and make their own rabbit mask (Tue, 2/19). Both days at 4 pm. Free. Battery Park City Library, 175 N. End Ave., nypl.org.

SPECIAL EVENTS g

Bilingual Birdies Children up to age 5 learn basic vocabulary and phrases in Mandarin through a live music program of songs, movement, puppetry, props and games. Each session ends with a dance party. Children must be

g Dumpling Happiness Dumpling-making workshop for children ages 5 and up with an accompanying adult. Families make their own dumplings with chef Kenny Lao of Rickshaw Dumplings, then taste foods typically eaten during Lunar New Year at nearby Red Egg restaurant. Reser vations required. Sat, 2/9, 11 am–2 pm. $50/1 adult and 1 child; $90/family of 4; $15/each additional family member. Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., mocanyc.org.

STORIES & POETRY

g Storytime Toddlers and babies with their parents or caregivers enjoy interactive activities, including stories, songs, rhymes, finger puppet plays and more. Birth to 18 months: Mondays (except 2/18), 9:30 am; Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:30 am. Ages 18 months to 3 years: Wednesdays, 10:30 am. Free. Battery Park City Library, 175 N. End Ave., nypl.org. g

When Animals Were People Children learn about the culture of the Huichol people of Mexico, hear a Huichol tale about the transformation of the species, and then create a yarn painting. Must be accompanied by an adult. Sat, 2/9, 1 pm. Free. National Museum of the American Indian, 1 Bowling Green, nmai.si.edu.

THEATER

g Letters from Martin and Anne Actors portray Anne Frank and Martin Luther King, Jr., and share observations on justice and peace. A post-performance Q&A with the audience will take place, with the actors still in character. Sat, 2/13, 2 pm. Free. Anne Frank Center at BMCC Richard Harris Terrace, 199 Chambers St., annefrank.com. g

Mario the Magician Mario’s magic show incorporates humor, interactive elements and original handmade props. For all ages. Sun, 2/24, 2:30 pm. $20; $10 children. Space on White, 81 White St., mariothemagician.com.

Submit your listing to the Trib through our online calendar at tribecatrib.com.

One Great Preschool in two DOWNTOWN locations!

275 Greenwich St. 212.571.6191

6 Barclay St. 212.571.2715

theparkpreschool.org

THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

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FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Whatever, Giovanni Savino

STREET SHOTS At the Seaport Museum, New York City keenly observed

ew York street life. So visually rich (i.e., weird, ugly, beautiful, tense, endlessly surprising) that as a photographic subject it is a genre all to itself, with roots as deep as Jacob Riis and early 20th-century documentary photography. Though it’s long been out of favor in the gallery scene, anyone who thinks great street photography in the city has all been done—or is no longer being done—has only to see “Street Shots, NYC” at the South Street Seaport Museum, now on view. The juried show of photos taken within the last 10 years is culled from some 6,000 submissions by hundreds of photographers, pros and amateurs alike. It is a testament to the keen, fresh eyes that continue to scan our city streets. “The show gives you a sense of the energy and the

N Umbrella, Jürgen Bürgin

Unicorn, Rita Thompson

action that happen on the city streets and at the same time there are these moments of observation,” said Sean Corcoran, curator of photographs and prints at the Museum of the City of New York, which now runs the Seaport Museum. Those moments, he says, are partly fostered by the city’s pedestrian-intense grid. “There is this collision of people every couple hundred feet, a continual stopping, waiting for a light, crossing, meeting, colliding into each other.” “These are places where interesting people are mixing,” he adds. “I don’t think there is any place like it.” The South Street Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton St., is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $10 and free for children under 9.

The Big Sleep: Coney Island Bound F-Train, Kurt Dietrich Wilberding Broadway and E. 12th Street, Cary Conover

THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

OMING U C P A SELECTION OF DOWNTOWN EVENTS

aintings and drawings by the faculty of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing will be on display through Feb. 17 at the New York Academy of Art, 111 Franklin St. The works in the show, “From Beijing,” range from irreverant to thoughtful to humorous, as in Yu Hong’s “Ark” (above). A panel discussion with curators and art critics will take place Thursday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m. The exhibit, in the school’s Wilkinson Gallery, is open daily from 12 to 8 p.m.

DANCE g

SPLICE: Neal Beasley and Bradey Teal Ellis Two choreographers present their works, both of which explore aspects of American culture. Beasley looks at historical figures real and fictional; Ellis’s work deals with guilty habits and pleasures. Wed, 2/6–Fri, 2/8, 7:30 pm; Sat, 2/9, 3 & 7:30 pm. $17; $14 students, seniors. Dance New Amsterdam, 53 Chambers St., dnadance.org.

Ballroom Dance Class Award-winning competitive dance instructor Mark Ellis Addison teaches the foundations and techniques of ballroom dancing—foxtrot, waltz, tango, rumba, chacha and swing—culminating in a formal ball in which participants will perform. Registration required. For more information and pricing, contact markeadd@gmail.com. Eight classes on alternating Thursdays, 2/7–5/23, 7 pm. Charlotte’s Place, 107 Greenwich St., trinitywallstreet.org.

Motionhouse Scattered The renowned British dance company weds highly physical dance theater with film, creating an image of an underwater world that the dancers move in, on and through. Tue, 2/12 & Wed, 2/13, 7:30 pm. $30–$55. Schimmel Center for the Arts, 3 Spruce St., pace.edu/schimmel.

28th Annual New York Sword Dance Festival Sword dancing is a winter celebration that has been passed down through generations in the coal mining regions of northern England. The performances in this festival feature longswords and rapper sword dancing, accompanied by live music on fiddle, accordion and other instruments. Sat, 2/16, 9:30 am. Free. Pier 17 Atrium, 3rd fl., halfmoonsword.org.

FILM g

Video Art & Experimental Film Festival Three-day festival of arresting, provocative and conceptually challenging works. Panel discussions will follow screenings of films by experi-

mental filmmakers from around the world. See website for schedule. Thu, 2/7–Sat, 2/9. Tickets start at $12. Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick St., festival.videoart.net. g

Groundhog Day Steven Tobolowsky will introduce this 1993 cult classic about former classmates (Tobolowsky and Bill Murray) who are stuck in an endless cycle of the same day. Sat, 2/16, 9 pm. $12. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org.

Lust (Al-Shooq) A fictional look at Alexandria, Egypt, before the revolution in which Umm Shooq, the daughter of a wealthy and prominent family leaves them to marry the man she loves. As she settles into a life of poverty, she learns that she must make one of the most difficult decisions of her life. Directed by Khaled El Hagar, 2011. Thu, 2/21, 7 pm. $10; $5 students, seniors. Alwan for the Arts, 16 Beaver St. 4th Fl., alwanforthearts.org.

Hava Nagila: The Movie The 2012 documentary follows the Israeli party song on its journey to become a hit on the global jukebox. Directed by Roberta Grossman, the film features interviews with Harry Belafonte, Leonard Nimoy, Regina Spektor and others. Grossman will field questions in a post-screening discussion. Wed, 2/27, 7 pm. $10; $7 students, seniors. Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., mjhnyc.org.

GALLERIES g

Siri Berg This exhibit, with its colorful pieces inspired by W. B. Yeats’s 1925 study of astrology, is composed of minimalist canvases that isolate and expand on Berg’s familiar motif of geometric forms. To Sun, 2/17. Mon–Thu, 11 am–6 pm; Fri–Sat, 9 am–2 pm and by appointment. Hionas Gallery, 89 Franklin St., hionasgallery.com.

Brad Greenwood Paintings and mixed-media works by the Tribeca artist from the series “Eat the Wolf,” inspired by the Italian saying “into the

mouth of the wolf,” roughly meaning “break a leg.” The pieces reference widely known literature, poetry and myths to explore the narratives we tell ourselves to explain happiness and heartbreak. To Thu, 2/28. Steven Amedee Gallery, 41 N. Moore St.

g George Steinmetz Exhibit of 42 large-scale aerial photographs of remote deserts, many of which have been shaped by natural forces into unique patterns and designs. Sat, 2/16–Fri, 3/15. Daily, 8 am–8 pm. World Financial Center Winter Garden, worldfinancialcenter.com.

Open Sesame Artists and graphic novelists of the Jordanian art collective Makan compiled the stories of Kuwaitis who were forced into resettlement after Saddam Hussein invaded their country in 1990. Sat, 2/16: 4 pm: “Sita Sings the Kuwaiti Blues.” A screening tribute to all the videos shared in the past 20 years by thousands of Arabs relating to the Iraqi invasion. Tue, 2/26: 6:30 pm: “Homeland Alakazam.” Ala' Diab presents music and memories from his past, evoking his experience of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. To Sat, 3/2. Tue– Sat, 11 am–6 pm. apexart, 291 Church St., apexart.org.

Zheng Xuewu To create his work, Xuewu transfers hundreds of images onto paper using woodblocks, cast metal printing type, stamps and found objects, reused as printing tools. Most pieces are finished with an overlaid handpainted image. To Sat, 3/2. Tue–Sat, 11 am–6 pm. Art Projects International, 434 Greenwich St., artprojects.com.

Battery Park City Parks Conservancy’s Annual Art Exhibition Works inspired by the gardens and parks of Battery Park City, views of the Hudson River and the historical buildings of Lower Manhattan by participants in the past year’s free public art programs. To Fri, 3/8. Mon–Fri, 2–4 pm. Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, 75 Battery Pl., bpcparks.org.

Allison Rufrano “Memory Box” consists of 14photographs of memorial cards wrapped with materials that symbolize her relationship with beloved friends and family she has lost. Wed, 2/6–Sat, 3/2. Opening reception: Tue, 2/5, 6 pm. Wed–Sun, 1–6 pm and by appointment. Soho Photo, 15 White St., sohophoto.com.

Tara Fracaiossi “Archive Index” is composed of thousands of digital photographs documenting Fracaiossi’s everyday life and surroundings. The artist takes the images out of their original context to create new juxtapositions and relationships. Thu, 2/28–Sat, 4/13. Masters & Pelavin, 13 Jay St., masterspelavin.com.

MUSEUMS g

Marvels and Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942–1986 Exploration of America’s evolving racial and cultural perceptions, as depicted by racist and xenophobic images of Asian Americans and incoming migrants. To Sun, 2/24. $10; $5 students, seniors, free children under 12 and on Thursdays. Mon & 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 Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust Photographs by Russian documentary photographers Evgenii Khaldei, Georgii Zelma and Dmitrii Beltermants. To Sun, 4/17. $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

Barings in America: An Interactive Investment Experience In 1818, Barings Bank was called the sixth great European power. One of the few significant investment banks of the 18th and 19th centuries, Barings remained a leader until its downfall in 1995. This exhibit explores five of the firm’s U.S. investments, good (CONTINUED ON PAGE 34)

FEBRUARY 2013 THE TRIBECA TRIB

OMING U C P A SELECTION OF DOWNTOWN EVENTS

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33)

with a radically different thrust, each performance group gives a greater perspective to the circumstances and citizens of divided Verona. Thursdays– Saturdays, 11 pm. To Sat, 2/2: Act 1; Thu, 2/7–Sat, 2/9: Act 2; Thu, 2/14– Sat, 2/16: Act 3; Thu, 2/21–Sat, 2/23: Act 4; Thu, 2/28–Sat, 3/2: Act 5. $12.50. The Flea Theater, 41 White St., theflea.org.

and bad. To Sat, 4/27. $8; $5 students, seniors; free under 6. Tue–Sat, 10 am–4 pm. Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall St., moaf.org. g

Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture Exhibition on Native Americans who have had successful careers in popular music. To Sun, 8/11. 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 Privileged White People Writer Christopher K. Ho reads from his screenplay inspired by his experiences as a young immigrant from Hong Kong in a New England boarding school. Set in 1996 at a fictitious liberal arts college, the story chronicles the political awakenings and romances of a group of multicultural students exploring the ethos of white privilege. Thu, 2/7, 6:30 pm. Free. Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., mocanyc.org.

Street Shots/NYC Recent images by 125 photographers, both professionals and amateurs, who have captured life as it unfolds in New York City’s public places. (See page 32.) $10; free under 9. Daily 10 am–6 pm. South Street Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton St., seany.org.

MUSIC g

Tribeca Chamber Players The group will perform works by Beethoven, including Opus 59, No. 3 in C Major (Feb. 4) and Opus 74 (“The Harp”) in E flat Major (Feb. 18), along with other classical pieces. Mon, 2/4 & 2/18, 7 pm. Free. Downtown Community Center, 120 Warren St., manhattanyouth.org.

Farah Siraj The Jordanian vocalist and band perform Arab flamenco jazz, in which Arab classics are set to flamenco jazz music. The lyrics are about the horrors of war and the urgent need for peace. Sat, 2/9, 8 pm. $20; $15 students, seniors. Alwan for the Arts, 16 Beaver St. 4th fl., alwanforthearts.org.

JOAN MARCUS

eirdre O’Connell and Zach Grenier (above) star in “The Vandal,” a story that begins when a woman meets a familiar boy (Noah Robbins) at a bus stop. An exploration of relationshipsy by Hamish Linklater, the play reveals the stories we tell ourselves when haunted by people we’ve loved and lost. Directed by Jim Simpson. To Sunday, Feb. 17. Tuesdays–Saturdays, 7 pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 3 p.m. $45–$50. The Flea, 41 White St., theflea.org.

Steven Feifke Big Band, Adam Larson Quintet and Armand Hirsch Trio A concert by three NYC-based bands led by 21- and 22-yearold musicians on the rise in the jazz world: pianist Steven Feifke, a semifinalist in the International Thelonious Monk Competition; saxophonist Adam Larson; and multi-instrumentalist Armand Hirsch, a Grammy Jazz Ensemble Selectee. Sat, 2/9, 9 pm. $10. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org.

BOOKS g

Mary Anne Hunting Architectural historian and author discusses her book “Edward Durell Stone: Modernism’s Populist Architect,” about the mid-20th-century architect whose aesthetic of “new romanticism” played a defining role in postwar American modernism, and the revived interest in his work. Reservations required. Tue, 2/5, 6:30 pm. Free. Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl., skyscraper.org.

The Life and Timeless Financial Wisdom of Benjamin Graham” will discuss the economist and investor, and how his theories and techniques, honed in the early 20th century, apply to investing and markets today. Wed, 2/20, 12:30 pm. $5. Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall St., moaf.org. g

Alison Singh Gee Journalist discusses and reads from her memoir “Where the Peacocks Sing: A Palace, a Prince, and the Search for a Home,” about the major life changes she made for love, which she found in the most unexpected of places. Wed, 2/27, 6 pm. Free. Barnes & Noble, 97 Warren St., bn.com.

Triss Stein NYC-based author reads from and talks about her new book “Brooklyn Bones,” about a woman and her daughter who find a skeleton behind the walls of their apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn. As the mystery unravels, stories of a grittier time in the now-gentrified neighborhood’s history are unveiled. Thu, 2/28, 6 pm. Free. Mysterious Bookshop, 58 Warren St., mysteriousbookshop.com.

Leonard Cohen Sylvie Simmons, author of “I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen,” will discuss the career of this Canadian singer and songwriter, with Liel Leibovitz of Tablet Magazine. Wed, 2/6, 7 pm. Free with suggested donation. Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., mjhnyc.org.

TALKS

Literary Salon New York City-based parents and writers will read excerpts from their recent publications of poetry and prose, including Victor LaValle (“Slapboxing with Jesus”), Emily Raboteau (“The Professor’s Daughter”) and shortstory writer Sean Ferrell. Tue, 2/12, 7 pm. Free. Pen Parentis, 75 Wall St., 2nd floor, Andaz Hotel. penparentis.org.

Joe Carlen Author of “The Einstein of Money:

Global Travel Slideshow Photographer and filmmaker Claude Biet shows pictures of Grand Canyon rafting, an Africa safari and Peru. Tue, 2/5, 6 pm. $2. Tuesday Evening Hour, 49 Fulton St. West Wing, tuesdayeveninghour.com.

The State of Artists’ Estates A panel, moderated by law professor Stacy Veloudius, will discuss art estate planning, archiving artwork and other steps artists must take in order to ensure the safe preservation of their work. Panelists include an estate lawyer, art historian, author, art archivist and a curator. Fri, 2/8, 6:30 pm. $7; $3 students, seniors. New York Law School, 185 W. Broadway, atoa.org.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Publishing Poetry But Didn’t Know Who or How to Ask Coffee House Press founder and publisher Allan Kornblum provides poets with practical guidance about preparing and submitting a poetry manuscript to publishers. Sun, 2/10, 2 pm. $10; $7 students, seniors. Poets House, 10 River Terrace, poetshouse.org.

Lust and Love in the Animal Kingdom A panel of primatologists and even a dinosaur sex expert discuss sexual patterns and behaviors among animals ranging from monogamous birds to polygamous primates—and what they reveal about our own habits. Reception and book signing to follow. Tue, 2/12, 6:30 pm. $25; $20 students. New York Academy of Sciences, 250 Greenwich St., nyas.org.

It’s Like My Heart Has Sciatica: SMITH Mag’s Annual Love & Heartbreak Story Show A show featuring five storytellers, including Ophira Eisenberg from NPR, writer and comedian David Crabb and Esquire magazine editor-at-large AJ Jacobs, who will share a six-word memoir about love, heartbreak or lust and then tell a six-minute story that elaborates on that particular memory. The audience is then invited to share their own six-word memoirs and stories. Thu, 2/14, 7 pm. $10. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org.

g Sherrod Small’s Best Black Show Ever Small, known for his witty commentary on politics, city life and culture, headlines an evening of standup comedy by some of New York’s top African-American comedians. Jordan Rock, Chris Rock’s 20-year-old brother and contestant on “Last Comic Standing,” also makes an appearance. Fri, 2/15, 8 pm. $15. Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., tribecapac.org.

WALKS

g Gangs of New York This tour visits sites associated with legend, lore and people such as Bill “The Butcher” Poole and Boss Tweed and takes a look at Paradise Square, Murderer’s Alley, the lost Five Points intersection and more. Meet at City Hall Park, Broadway and Chambers St. Fri, 2/8 & Thu, 2/21, 1 pm. $18; $15 students, seniors. Big Onion Walking Tours, bigonion.com.

g Preparing for the New Year in Chinatown Visit Chinatown during the liveliest celebration in Chinese culture to learn about the Lunar New Year and its traditions. Meet at the museum. Reservations required. Saturdays and Sundays, 2/9–2/23, 11 am & 1 pm. $15; $12 students and seniors; free under 5. Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., mocanyc.org.

Esther in Her Own Words: The Making of a Queen Scholar-in-residence and author Dr. Freema Gottlieb discusses the story of Esther, a Jewish woman who started life as an orphan and became a Persian queen and proactive stateswoman. Thu, 2/21, 6:45 pm. $10. Synagogue for the Arts, 49 White St., synagogueforthearts.org. Culinary Intelligence: The Art of Eating Healthy When food writer Peter Kaminsky learned that he had to lose weight or suffer the dangerous consequences of 20 years of indiscriminate feasting, he was unwilling to give up the pleasures of good eating. In this talk, he outlines how to eat and prepare foods that are not only good for the body, but also appeal to the taste buds and soul. Wed, 2/23, 12 pm. $21. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., 92ytribeca.org.

THEATER g

The Shakes: Romeo and Juliet Five teams of actors each perform one act from Shakespeare’s tragic love story. By focusing on one act at a time

Presidents and American Finance This 90minute walking tour of the Financial District will cover significant buildings, events and other sites in financial history, with an emphasis on American presidents and their influence on Wall Street. Meet at the museum. Sat, 2/16, 1 pm. $15. Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall St., moaf.org.

Submit your listing to the Trib through our online calendar at tribecatrib.com.

THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

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THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013

ARTS, ETC.

Below: Steven Baris, Somewhere Beyond or Behind D8, 2012, oil on mylar. Top right: Jon Elliott, Untitled (Conjoining Swirls), 2012, glaze and acrylic on earthenware. Bottom right: Ivan Stojakovic, White Out, 2012, mixed media on ready-made corrugated panels.

ON THE EDGE At Cheryl Hazen Gallery, a show to calm the viewer BY APRIL KORAL t was the hubbub of the holidays that drove Cheryl Hazan to mount the show now at her gallery on North Moore Street. “My mind was seeing too many things. I needed a rest,” Hazan said recently as she led a visitor on a tour of the works. “I needed to see something minimal and crisp. Something clean and calm.” “On the Edge,” an exhibit of eight artists who see the world through its endless displays of patterns, lines and shapes, is just that. Hazan, who curated the exhibit, concedes that many of the individual pieces are not always calm—Steven Baris’s work, she says, is a study in “spatial tension” and Matt Devine’s steel sculptures are trying to “quell internal struggle”— but when seen together, the combination does have a calming effect on the viewer. Indeed, the works play off each other with surprising symbiosis. Take one gallery alcove devoted to the work of three artists. A piece by Mitch Jones—bold red stripes laid across the pages of old ledgers and books—that

Mitch Jones, Docutone Series, Red, 2012

might have assaulted the eye soothes instead when paired with a joyous work by Jon Elliott. Titled Conjoining Swirls, it is a swirl of ceramic fragments affixed to the wall that seems ready to take off in all directions. Rounding off the trio and speaking

in a quieter, more intellectual voice is the work of Ivan Stojakovic, who takes apart ordinary tables to show what lies beneath the surface. What is revealed in his piece here (White Out) is a delightful honeycomb pattern that only on close inspection tells its secret. It is the cardboard innards found in the millions of tables and other furniture sold by Ikea and other mass producers. Stojakovic’s deconstruction is, in fact, a means to “violate, refashion and refurbish the readymades,” according to the artist’s statement. Hazan says that the first works she acquired for this show were those of Mitch Jones and Charles Christopher Hill, whose A Seat at the Table is a series of bands of color covered with

acrylic. “Then I said to myself, ‘That would be a very busy show and against what I wanted to accomplish,’” she recalled. “So I added other patterns.” When the show was almost complete, Hazan said she realized something was missing:

geometry. She called Steven Baris, whose Somewhere Beyond filled the bill with his canvases of angular shapes and perpendicular lines. Hazan notes that this show is a departure for the gallery, which usually features more established artists. On advice from her two assistants, both artists, she made studio visits to artist in Bushwick who had been in few, if any, shows. The sense of discovery energized her. “These artists are so talented, so brilliant,” she said. Not all the artists are young and unheralded. Cesar Paternosto, born in Argentina in 1931 and living in New York, in some way sets the tone for the show. A well-known abstract painter, he has reduced his work to a few bars of colors that hug the edges of the white canvas. Rather than feeling empty, the work communicates a welcome silence. It is just what Hazan was hoping for. Anyone who lives in this city, even in the quieter corners of Downtown, would welcome the respite that this show offers. Go take a look. “On the Edge” at Cheryl Hazan Contemporary Art, 35 North Moore St., cherylhazan.com. To Feb. 9.

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THE TRIBECA TRIB FEBRUARY 2013 NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3)

owners and require them to pay for an amenity that is enjoyed by a far wider circle of visitors? It does not help that the lines of the NID seem somewhat arbitrary: in some areas, the NID extends four blocks east of the park, in others, two or three. The Friends organization insists that property owners in the NID should pay because they benefit the most from the park’s existence. It cites a 2008 economic study produced by the Regional Plan Association that concluded the park has added about 20% to the value of properties within two blocks of the park. What the Friends’ literature does not include from the RPA study is this statement: “While the figures given above are impressive, and while the 20% value added correlates closely with other studies of how parks add value, it is probable that other factors besides the Park itself contributed to the value increases.” The Friends’ argument also ignores the fact that increases in property values are already captured in higher property taxes paid to the city by these landowners, amounting to double taxation on this particular group. (Full disclosure: the author is one of these property owners.) Ironically, if the RPA were to repeat its study in today’s post-Sandy world, the results might be completely different. Recent stories in publications like The New York Times indicate that real estate prices are falling and potential buyers are shunning areas near the river that are now perceived to be far riskier invest-

ments. The result could be a double whammy: Property owners near the river could see the value of their real estate investments decline at the same time as they are assessed an additional tax that their neighbors, farther away from the river, escape. By casting such a wide net over so many disparate neighborhoods and keeping the assessment capped at what many deem a nominal rate, the Friends group may be betting there will be little unified opposition. At a recent meeting of the Friends’ advisory council, heads of community boards representing Lower Manhattan, the Village and Chelsea, indicated that their organizations have either endorsed the proposal or expect to shortly. The proposal then goes before the City Planning Commission and the City Council. The Friends hope to get their approval in the spring, with the first tax revenues flowing to the Trust by 2014. Before approving the plan, the City Council must be satisfied that at least half the property owners affected by the NID are in favor. That is why it’s so critical that neighbors attend the final round of public meetings. (The Tribeca meeting is Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Downtown Community Center, 120 Warren St.) At these meetings, residents should encourage Friends to redouble its efforts to identify other revenue streams. If they don’t like what they hear, residents should contact their City Council representative or consider starting their own online petition.

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THE HAMPTONS

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