Baruch students and members of the community enjoy the new Interim Plaza. Photo courtesy Baruch College

When Baruch College students return to classes toward the end of this month, they won’t have to look both ways when they cross 25th Street anymore. That’s because the college received the necessary approvals to close 25th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues to traffic at the end of December, and has created an interim pedestrian plaza. In about a year, it will be permanent.

Even in chilly early January, a few parka-clad pedestrians paused to sit at the colorful bistro tables and chairs recently set out for passersby, shielded in part from the wind by large potted and holiday-decorated trees. The closed portion of the street, which lies between Baruch’s two main buildings, the Newman Vertical Campus on the south side and the Library and Technology Building on the north, is paved with sand-colored gravel, many shades lighter than the surrounding streets, giving it a bit of a beachy look.

Diane Livoti, who works in the college’s registrar’s office, recently enjoyed part of her lunch break in the new plaza. “It will give Baruch much more of a campus feeling,” she says. “And everyone is on board with it: the pizza place, the bagel place, the students, everyone.” The plaza will also be smoke-free and Wi-Fi accessible to the college community, and open 24/7 not just to students but to the public and surrounding community.

When Baruch first floated the idea of the plaza, the college argued that such a space would provide a much needed oasis in a district—Community District 6, encompassing Turtle Bay, East Midtown, Murray Hill, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village—that is the most open-space deprived in the city. When school is in session, there are an estimated 10,000 crossings per day, many of which are performed by harried students not necessarily taking the time to look before they cross. A traffic light installed midblock mitigated, but did not completely eliminate, the danger. It still hangs, despite there now being no vehicular traffic for it to signal.

Community Board 6 approved the plan last June, and it received the support of the DOT’s Plaza Program, the brainchild of DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “The creation of the 25th Street Plaza will be a transformative event that will forever enhance the campus experience for our students, faculty and staff,” said Baruch College President Mitchel B. Wallerstein, “as well as for the local community.”

As a signal of how important the plaza is to the college community, the Baruch College Association voted to fund the entire cost of the 25th Street Interim Plaza beautification. The Interim Plaza is expected to be in place for a year or more as the college and community work together on the design and construction of a permanent one, which may host events for the whole community, like a book fair, farmer’s market and productions from Baruch’s Performing Arts Center.

A Manhattan Townhouse. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Life in a Box
To the Editor:
I was extremely disappointed to see Our Town (“Could You Live Here?” Aug. 9) not just reporting, but essentially hyping, the downgrade or waiver of current zoning regulation minimums for rental apartments from 400 to 300 square feet for “micro units,” even if such a policy is endorsed by a billionaire mayor who couldn’t be bothered to move out of the comfort of his townhouse for Gracie Mansion, by a Department of Housing and Development which has overseen the scandalous deregulation of hundreds of thousands of apartments with thousands of backlogged cases concerning pricing and habitation violations, as well as real estate brokers and agencies who wouldn’t mind putting tenants to live in refrigerators or coffins if that could be made to seem acceptable and marketable.

Rental regulation (of both amenities and cost) has undeniably proven to be the single best, if not the only, means of preserving affordable, livable housing for New York’s middle and working classes given a pampered, enormously wealthy, politically powerful and subsidized industry that knows no limits of greed in controlling what should be a human right. Instead of caving in to permit smaller units at even higher (unregulated) prices, the mayor, the DHCR and a responsible media should require and promote affordable housing to be built as a condition for any building permits, as well as universal regulation. This would serve the public’s interest instead of that of a voracious, corporate monopoly which currently and very profitably reaps all the benefits of loopholes, tax breaks and subsidies while selling or renting on the basis of a “free” market which they, in actuality, control.

The article demonstrates that tenants will resourcefully and desperately try to make the best out of anything, but in the marketing of such a necessity of life, responsible authorities should be protecting the public interest for the good of the city, not assisting an industry to fleece its inhabitants.

If Mr. Thompson, chair of Community Board 6, says, “There is simply too much demand and not enough supply,” the answer is not diminishing the product further but demanding more and better. His enthusiastic endorsement makes me rather wonder what space Mr. Thompson enjoys.

And one last point, would Our Town please refrain from the demeaning term “renters” for tenants currently being promoted by the landlord industry until you call them “mortgagers” which is, of course, what they do, thus giving them yet another write-off.

—Edward Maloney

Community Board 6 Chair Mark Thompson said that while the board hasn’t taken an official position on the rezoning proposal, they are generally supportive of it. The biggest problem, he said, is that the city wants to plow ahead with the plan before allowing adequate time to answer the community’s questions and figure out how a potential business boom in Midtown would affect other city systems. Thompson said the board is concerned that the city isn’t giving enough consideration to ancillary factors like sidewalk crowding, an influx of subway and bus passengers and the impact on the electric grid and sewer systems that would come along with a rapid upward expansion of Midtown office buildings.

The board will be sending a letter to City Council Member Dan Garodnick requesting a meeting and his assistance in getting the DCP to steady the pace as they continue, and is working in conjunction with Community Board 5, which shares their concerns.

Renewed Calls for Pedicab Restrictions
Upper East Side Council Member Dan Garodnick, chair of the consumer affairs committee, has consistently called for stricter regulations of the pedicab industry, citing the high number of complaints that his committee has received from customers who feel they were ripped off. The New York Post reported earlier this week that one visiting family from Texas was charged over $400 for a 10-block ride in Midtown recently—and that the charge was completely legal. Garodnick introduced a package of bills last year that passed the Council and now require pedicab drivers to clearly post their rates someone in their cab, but the city doesn’t place any restrictions on how much pedicabs can charge, and some are getting around the rule by posting their rates in tiny lettering and not directing their passengers’ attention to it. Now Garodnick, along with many in the pedicab industry who don’t want their profession given a bad name, are calling for additional laws that will require drivers to state the charges clearly at the beginning of a ride, instead of springing a huge bill on riders when they reach their destination.

Summer Streets on the East Side
If you’ve always dreamed of zip-lining through the streets of Manhattan, your dreams may soon be fulfilled. The Department of Transportation will continue the fifth annual Summer Streets program for the next two Saturdays, Aug. 11 and 18, on the East Side, closing down Park Avenue from Foley Square downtown all the way up to East 72nd Street from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cars will vanish and the avenue will be free to roam on foot, bike, scooter, rollerblades or hoverboard, with activities like the zip-line, a rock climbing wall and a picnic food stand area from Whole Foods at various rest stops along the way. There will also be interactive art projects and a fire hydrant sprinkler, perfect for parched kids. Complete info at nyc.gov/summerstreets.

A Comic Consolidation
The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) announced this week that it will be consolidating its collections with that of the Society of Illustrators, located at 128 E. 63rd St. The two art institutions will merge their assets and become a single institution dedicated to celebrating illustration, comics and animation. The Society will continue to host the MoCCA Fest, an annual independent comics festival, and will dedicate one of their galleries to MoCCA’s permanent collection and draw from the collection for curated shows.
“The Society of Illustrators has a long, proud history of promoting the art and appreciation of all genres of illustration,” said Executive Director Anelle Miller in a statement. “We are honored to be able to spearhead the expansion and growth of the incredible foundation that MoCCA has created over the past 10 years.”

East Siders’ Ideas to Boost Second Ave.
While the businesses on Second Avenue near the subway construction have suffered in the past years, with foot traffic down by 30 percent in some spots, local residents say that they try their best to support those businesses and have ideas of how they can do even better, according to a survey conducted by Council Member Jessica Lappin’s office. Out of the 990 people who responded to the survey, 78 percent said that they shop in stores or dine in restaurants along Second Avenue. An overwhelmingly number—86 percent—also said that they’d be inclined to spend on the Avenue more frequently if merchants offered coupons or deals.

“Businesses have been hit hard by Second Avenue construction, so it’s wonderful that East Siders are supporting them,” Lappin said in a statement. “This survey also makes it clear that shoppers are looking for bargains. In this economy, who isn’t? So, going forward, this is something we can work on with Second Avenue merchants.”

The survey also found the best thing the MTA can do to help people who live around the Second Avenue construction is to provide better information for the community about what’s going on. Survey respondents chose that option 40 percent of the time, more than keeping the work spaces cleaner and being less noisy.

C Tops the List as the Worst Line in the City
Have a favorite subway line? So does the New York Public Interest Research Group, whose Straphangers Campaign released its annual State of the Subway report last week.

The Q line came out on top, with major points for a low breakdown rate, regular service, seat availability and cleanliness. Apparently, this line also has the best announcements in the system. It ranked relatively low, though, on the actual amount of scheduled service.
Probably to few New Yorkers’ surprise, the C line came in last. For the fourth year in a row, its notorious grimy cars, frequent breakdowns and infrequent appearances kept it at the bottom. It ranked second to last on in-car announcements.

City is pushing for even smaller apartments

Last month, the Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) unveiled a scheme to construct what the city is calling micro-units, apartments designed to be 300 square feet or less.

HPD has launched a design competition called adAPT NYC, asking developers to submit proposals to create these miniscule living spaces. The winning bidder will be able to build on a city-owned site in Kips Bay; at least 75 percent of the units in the building, which will be at 335 E. 27th St., will be micro-units, between 275 and 300 square feet (half the size of a subway car), and will be reserved for one- or two-person households.

The city will have to waive current zoning regulations that require new apartments to be at least 400 square feet in order to build the apartments, but the mayor is hoping not only that it will work but can serve as a model for new buildings around the city. The units will be designed with efficiency in mind and will be situated for maximum exposure to light and air. They will also be kept at below-market rates, which for a studio in Manhattan is currently about $2,000.

“Everyone is excited to see the response to the RPF [request for proposals] and what sort of creative designs and financial solutions are presented,” said Mark Thompson, chair of Community Board 6, where the new building will be constructed. “There’s been a lot of interest generated about the possibility of creating units that are below market rent.”

Thompson said that while the project could be welcome in such a densely populated neighborhood with few vacant apartments, it will also depend very much on the price point of the units. If they’re designed for people just starting out who can’t otherwise afford their own apartment, close to $2,000 isn’t going to cut it, he said.

There are, of course, the lucky few who rent apartments in Manhattan for well below market rent. Felicia McCoy lives in a cozy studio on West 104th Street. While she always thought she might one day move to a more spacious pad, the stabilized rent—currently $889—has kept her happily in place for 22 years.

“I’m trying to be a minimalist,” said McCoy of not having a lot of space. “I’m also not home a lot, so I really don’t care.”

For McCoy, the tradeoffs of living in a small space—no place to put a proper table, stray papers quickly piling up in the middle of the room, a tight squeeze with visitors—are primarily worth it because of the price and location. Paying close to $2,000 for a potentially smaller space in Manhattan, even if it was a design and amenities upgrade, just doesn’t appeal to her.

“I would move to the Bronx, like a friend of mine did,” she said, before she’d pay more for a studio.

But real estate agents swear there will be people clamoring to get into the micro-units if they are priced even slightly below normal market rents.

“Prices are so high now; if [renters] want to live and work in Manhattan, they have no other alternatives,” said Jason Haber, CEO of Rubicon Properties. He was standing with one of his agents, Eric Mendelsohn, in a tiny Upper West Side one-bedroom that rents for $1,975 a month. Haber and Mendelsohn said that the apartment, which is less than 500 square feet, would probably be snapped up soon because the lack of direct sunlight was offset by a dishwasher, an anomaly in a prewar building.

They both insisted that demand for micro-unit apartments in Manhattan will be high. The housing shortage practically guarantees that anything under $2,000 will be easy to rent, Haber said.

Mendelsohn said he works with a lot of recent college graduates who want to live in Manhattan, but their options are shrinking.
“There’s a real housing shortage and there’s not enough inventory,” Mendelsohn said. “Many managing agents aren’t allowing pressurized walls anymore,” which young people commonly use to turn an out-of-their-price-range one-bedroom into a divided two-bedroom apartment they can share with a roommate, he explained. The micro-units would be perfect for many of his clients, he said.
Lower East Side resident Lisa Travnik was among the young professionals scouring Manhattan for an affordable place two years ago, and she snapped up a studio for less than $1,500, with a big sacrifice on space. Travnik lives in a 275-square-foot apartment; she is living proof of how people might exist in the forthcoming micro-units.

“My kitchen is a decent size, my bathroom is a normal size and it has fairly high ceilings,” said Travnik. “Those are the things that make it livable.”

Travnik’s apartment, which she described as a “cozy cave” that doesn’t get too much direct sunlight or cell signal, has its charms. The exposed brick and new kitchen appliances are bonuses, she said, as is the prime location in her neighborhood of choice. Her queen-sized bed—something she insisted on having, since she spends much of her time sitting on it—takes up most of her living space, but she has it strategically lifted to fit baskets underneath. Still, it’s a challenge to keep it clutter-free, and it’s not necessarily a bargain-basement price.

“Sometimes it seems like [a lot to pay] for how small it is. But I know that rents are going up. When I first got it, it felt like more,” Travnik said. “For the area, it’s pretty low.”

Travnik hopes to stay at least another year in her place and thinks she’s set it up to maximize the little room she has. She’s become a de facto expert on storage, learning how to “store up” and utilize her vertical space and how to choose furniture pieces carefully to fit in exact spaces. She loves her apartment but can’t imagine sharing it with another person. She did say, however, that in a more mindfully designed space, it could very well work.

Sally Augustin, an environmental psychologist who studies how people’s surroundings affect their mental well-being, agreed that design is a key factor in whether two people, or even just one, could thrive in a micro-unit. But more important than that, she said, is the element of choice.

“We need to feel like we’re in control of our lives, including our physical world, and if people really get to choose to live in these apartments, they will feel better about the whole experience,” she said. “If it turns out that everybody getting a certain kind of aid from the city is forced to live in these spaces, there will be some real unhappiness.”

The city is positing that the micro-units can accommodate couples as well as singles, aiming to give more options to the 1.8 million one- and two-person households in New York. But can two people really co-exist in a space that small? Augustin said it truly depends on good design, as well as personality.

“All human beings need to be able to be alone to order their thoughts from time to time,” Augustin said. “You can be alone in different ways. Two people can be alone in 300 square feet, if they can sit in ways that they don’t see each other.”

She said that something as simple as having two chairs back to back can facilitate the kind of privacy that most people think only comes from having a larger apartment with multiple rooms. But it also depends on the personalities of the people living there—the cramped space is probably not great for an introverted person to share with an extroverted one, for example.

Perception is also a key factor, she said.

“Someone comes from Hong Kong to the United States, [it’s] not as dramatic [a change] as for someone who grew up in a great home in Chappaqua, a kid who grew up in that type of large home,” Augustin said.

She suggested that painting the walls light colors, eliminating clutter and using vertical storage can all help make a simple small room into a welcoming home.

“When we have more clutter, our eyes catch on more stuff, it’s quite difficult to survey our environment,” she said.

All of these prescriptions for small living could be the way of the future, especially if the city continues to grow in population with a mind for environmentally conscious development. For some, any move toward providing more middle-range rental housing is urgently welcomed, even if the space is minimal.

“There is simply too much demand and not enough supply,” said Haber. “And this is in a sluggish economy. Imagine if the economy picked up.”

Cool Wheels: Lillian Vernon hands over the keys to Citymeals-on-Wheels' first ever refrigerated truck to Citymeals Executive Director Beth Shapiro on July 11. The new $54,000 truck has been funded by the Lillian Vernon Foundation in commemoration of Vernon's birthday, a Citymeals-on-Wheels board member.

Mayor Koch Endorses Mark Thompson
Mark Thompson is doin’ great after receiving the endorsement of former Mayor Ed Koch in his bid for City Council. Thompson, currently the chair of Community Board 6, will by vying for a seat on the council in the East Side’s 4th District when Council Member Dan Garodnick runs for comptroller, as he is expected to do.

In a letter announcing his support, Koch said that Thompson’s experience will be especially beneficial to a Council and city government with many newbies in 2014. “We need to elect people who understand how the city runs and how to get things done. I know that by electing Mark, we will be putting the city in good hands, no matter what challenges we face,” said Koch. He also noted that Thompson “has worked successfully for new school seats, reclaiming of parkland and many other issues.”

Thompson was happy to receive the support, saying it would make his run for City Council an “incredibly strong race.”

“The mayor is a true New Yorker who knows what it takes to govern successfully. His support will give my campaign the powerful push it needs to get started in these early days of the race,” he said.

Thompson works as a consultant for government relations firm Capalino+Company, where he helps not-for profits, cultural institutions and private companies “navigate through red tape.” He worked in the former mayor’s administration in what was then the Department of General Services.

Parking Garage Accident
Two people were hospitalized Tuesday morning after a car plummeted down the elevator shaft of an Upper East Side parking garage.
A parking attendant at the East 76th Street and 1st Avenue garage reportedly drove the vehicle into the car elevator on the building’s fifth floor, but the elevator was not there, CBS reported. He and the car plunged five stories before hitting the ground.

At around 9:45 a.m., the fire department arrived on the scene at 355 E. 76th St., which houses a Hertz Rent-a-Car location, according to NY1. Firefighters rescued the driver, who was trapped inside the vehicle, as well as an individual who was in the elevator on the ground floor at the time of the accident.

Neighbors reported that there were at least 10 emergency vehicles on the scene, in addition to a helicopter hovering over the building. Fire and police officials closed off the sidewalk to passersby on both sides of the street.

The rescued driver and victim were transported to New York Presbyterian-Cornell Hospital to be treated for what were believed to be non-life-threatening injuries.

Department of Buildings records show that the garage faced a code violation in May 2009 for noncompliance related to maintaining elevator service equipment. The complaint was later resolved.

Lappin Gets Cash for New RI Library
City Council Member Jessica Lappin announced last Friday that she has secured over $4 million for Roosevelt Island-based projects and organizations in the 2013 fiscal year city budget. Two million dollars are allocated to move the existing Roosevelt Island Library, which has been plagued by book-damaging water leaks, to a new location at 504 Main St. Another $1.85 million is slated to fund the completion of the FDR Four Freedoms Memorial, and $150,000 is for the FDR Hope Memorial.

“Roosevelt Island is going through a spectacular transformation, and I’m proud to support the groups that have been there in the past and will continue to shape the island in the future,” Lappin said. “It’s especially exciting that this funding will help build a new home for the island’s public library.”

Anthony Marx, president of the New York Public Library, praised Lappin, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Borough President Scott Stringer for their support of the new library, which he said will double in size and offer more access to programming, computers, classes and other library services.

Delivery Bike Crackdown
Cyclists flouting the law found themselves the targets of several attacks from the city last week. On Thursday, City & State reported that Upper East Side Council Member Dan Garodnick and Queens Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer called for legislation to double traffic violation fines for those riding electronic-assisted bicycles, which are illegal in the city. Even though the City Council overrode a mayoral veto to ban electronic bikes in 2004, both Garodnick and Van Bramer said at a press conference in Queens that motorists are still dangerously riding electronic bikes on the sidewalk, against traffic and through red lights. Noting that he had seen an electronic-assisted bike just minutes before the press conference, Van Bramer said there was an “epidemic of reckless driving” in his district and across the city. By doubling the fines, Garodnick said the city could step up enforcement.

“Navigating our city streets is dangerous and difficult enough without the reckless actions of many cyclists who are riding illegal electric bikes today,” Garodnick said. “We need to empower our law enforcement officials to help crack down on this illegal activity.”
The legislation, introduced by Garodnick and co-sponsored by Van Bramer and seven other council members in June of last year, is awaiting a hearing by the Council’s transportation committee this fall. In February, Council Member Jessica Lappin introduced a separate bill to double the $500 fine for selling or operating an electronic-assisted bicycle.

The next day, Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan held a press conference to announce the DOT’s new education and enforcement program for delivery cyclists. The commissioner was joined by Council Members Gale Brewer, Lappin, Garodnick and Council Transportation Committee Chairman James Vacca, as well as some restaurant owners, to introduce the efforts and explain the program that will target first the Upper West and then the Upper East Side.

A special six-person unit of the DOT will go door to door to businesses and explain to employers the legal requirements and safety information for their delivery cyclists. After a six-month period, businesses who violate the laws will receive fines ranging from $100 to $300.

The program comes after the Upper East Side community has called repeatedly for holding businesses accountable for delivery cyclists’ reckless behavior.

“New Yorkers believe they have a constitutional right to great food delivered to their door while it’s still hot—and they’re right,” said Garodnick. “That cannot mean that we will compromise the safety of our streets in the process.”

The education portion of the program will give businesses brochures on safety and the law as well as ID cards their cyclists can fill out and keep on them. Employers will be required to provide upper body apparel with the name of their business clearly identified as well as safety equipment like lights, reflective gear and helmets.

“We need to put the brakes on dangerous delivery bicycles,” said Lappin. “Education and enforcement will make us all safer on our streets.”

Nine-year-old author Carrie Berk poses with her book Peave, Love and Cupcakes, which she co-wrote with her mother Sheryl Berk, during a book fair for the St. Gregory the Great School at Barnes and Noble. The mother and daughter team met with and took questiongs from students in the third, fourth and fifth grade.

Compiled by Megan Bungeroth, Amanda Woods, Adel Manoukian

ART AT THE ARSENAL
Urban artists will gather June 18 for The Horticultural Society of New York’s Block Party to feature new and original street work in the Arsenal building at Central Park. The silent auction and meet-and-greet event benefits the Society’s GreenHouse Program, which provides horticultural therapy and vocational training for Rikers Island inmates. One of the contributing artists is New York City-based photographer Sue Kwon, known for her black-and-white photographs of the five boroughs as well as portraits of hip-hop performers.

Why do you choose to focus on urban art and the subjects you have photographed?
I lived in Little Italy for a good many years, which is probably why that is the biggest chapter in [my] book. I was fortunate to have lived in a vibrant, multiracial neighborhood with a wealth of characters to get to know and go on to take their portrait.

Why did it take a few years to publish your book, Street Level?
I have the unfortunate tendency to get lost in my contacts while viewing and editing them. It is overwhelming at times to look at so many images, images that tell a definite timeline of my life. I am trying to be more objective when I edit—it is easier to edit with new work, but not so much with the older ones.

What interests you about photography?
For me, photography was the most gratifying way I could express myself. Not a great writer nor always articulate, I felt completely at ease behind a camera, writing/creating black-and-white images that told a story I had experienced. I was also a bit obsessed with capturing time because I found it too fleeting.

The first job you had in the field was working for The Village Voice. How has working for a paper helped you?
The Village Voice was one of the first publications to give me the opportunity to shoot images for them that would support a story and/or cover trends that were going on and needed photo documentation. This to me was far more interesting than assisting fashion photographers—it gave me great practice in shooting organically on the streets, reacting quickly to whatever may come one’s way when shooting in uncontrolled situations.

If any, what frustrations do you encounter when working in your field?
I miss the days when it wasn’t so difficult to find a film lab in NYC.

What advice can you give to new urban artists who are looking to make it?
Work from the heart, with passion. If you have a true vision, don’t let others try to tell you what “style” to have and, of course, stay focused. These things will help you stay true to yourself and your work.

FIFTH AVENUE CHURCH NAMES NEW DIRECTOR
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, a landmark congregation at Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, announced the appointment of Ryan William Jackson as its new director of music and fine arts ministries. Jackson, currently the associate organist and conductor at Christ Church United Methodist in Manhattan, will join the Fifth Avenue staff on July 1.

A native of Toronto, Canada, Jackson is a candidate for a doctor of musical arts in organ performance at The Juilliard School. He holds a master of sacred music in organ performance from the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University and a bachelor of music in organ performance from the University of Toronto.

Senior Pastor Scott Black Johnston called Jackson “an accomplished choral conductor, a brilliant organist, a gifted composer, a thoughtful liturgist and, by all accounts, an excellent colleague.”

Jackson will conduct and lead the 30-voice professional and volunteer choir and serve as the primary organist and pianist for Sunday worship and special events. He also will be the staff liaison to the church’s thriving Arts and Our Faith Committee, which organizes art shows, concerts and other arts events on behalf of the congregation and the community.

NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING
The East 79th Street Neighborhood Association will hold their monthly meeting on Thursday, June 14, at 6 p.m. at the City University of New York, 535 E. 80th St. A representative from the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct will share crime reports and updates, and the guest speaker will be the director of community relations from the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs. Representatives from local elected officials will also give reports.

KIPS BAY DAY
The Kips Bay Neighborhood Alliance, the Department of Transportation and Community Board 6 presents Kips Bay Day at the Plaza this Saturday, June 16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event will feature live music from the Craig McGorry Jazz Trio, chess games with NYChessKids and Zumba with New York Sports Club. Local elected officials will be on hand throughout the day. The plaza is located on the service road on the east side of Second Avenue and is closed off to traffic from 30th to 33rd Street through July 31.

For a full schedule of events, visit KBNA.tumblr.com.

SENATE HONORS EAST SIDE WOMAN
Each year, the New York state Senate honors a group of women recognized for their outstanding community work as “Women of Distinction.” This year, Sen. Tom Duane nominated East Midtown Plaza resident Jeanne S. Poindexter, Ph.D., a fierce advocate for the preservation of New York’s limited equity, affordable co-op apartment buildings and a renowned research scientist who dedicated her career to the education of undergraduate students in the biological sciences.

Poindexter received her award in Albany on May 15. In his essay submitting her for the honor, Duane wrote, “Jeanne is heroic in her efforts, upholding the true spirit of caring, supportive, broadly diverse, cooperative communities.” He also pointed out her volunteer service as a viola player with the Greenwich Village Orchestra, which performs free and low-cost symphony concerts. She has won the national Carski Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award and was chosen to be a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology.

“Really it’s the experience, having been a person who’ve volunteered in the community for so many years and been extremely active and gotten things done,” Thompson said in a recent interview at his office in the Woolworth Building. “Between work and the community board, you’re always doing something, but it’s so much fun.”

Thompson grew up in Orange County and earned his undergraduate degree in city and regional planning from the University of Southern California. He moved east to attend Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, but switched over to the Kennedy School of Government after his first year. While a student in Boston, he was recruited by a program run byMayor Ed Koch to intern for the city one summer, working for the Human Resources Administration. When he graduated, he heeded the call of New York and moved back to work for the Department of General Services (now the Department of Citywide Administrative Services).

In 1990, Thompson moved to Estonia to work in development as the country transitioned out of the former Soviet Union, working with private developers and companies to create new businesses and help transition the communist system into capitalism.

“At the time, there was nobody else there,” Thompson said, describing how he served as a de facto cultural ambassador. “I was ‘The American.’ People would look at you like, do you have horns or things like that. There were still people there who thought Americans were evil.”

Gradually, over the course of six years, Thompson said people warmed up to him. He picked up Estonian and grew to love the country and felt like he had achieved what he went there to accomplish. When a friend called on him to work at his company, Thompson agreed, and he moved back to New York to work at Capalino and Company, where he’s now a senior vice president, helping clients navigate the complex arenas of government, fundraising and business.

“The Museum of Chinese in America was one of our clients. They had leased property in Chinatown and were creating a museum,” Thompson said, describing one of his favorite projects. “They needed help actually getting it done. They had to design, they needed more funding and they needed to be able to build it.” He worked to get the Museum through the numerous approval processes and find ways to get the money they needed.

His familiarity with such processes has also served Thompson well as chair of the Community Board.

“Being outside the city itself but in a quasi-public role, [you see] that a lot of it is just doing it and knowing who to call,” Thompson said. “Picking up the phone, calling to ask questions, just being persistent. People all want to help, they want to do the right thing.”

A good dose of politeness doesn’t hurt either, he noted. Thompson enforces rules of civil engagement at Board meetings, no matter how contentious the topic. One recent success for the Board has been tamping down the raucous pub crawls that plague the neighborhood on holidays like St. Patrick’s Day, which they accomplished by talking to local businesses and using reason rather than outrage to encourage bars to opt out of the giant events.

Thompson, like Garodnick, lives in Stuyvesant Town, and he hopes to focus on waterfront development as well as education and senior issues and quality-of-life concerns in his Council race. He’s starting his campaign with small events, getting to know more constituents, but said he feels confident that he’s already aware of the neighborhood’s biggest issues.

“I’ve always thought about doing it, but now I’m just at a point where I feel that I can contribute a lot,” Thompson said. “It’s what I’m doing as Community Board chair in a lot of ways—it’s the next step.”

The last time the city addressed the master plan for waterfront revitalization was in 2002, and the new additions and changes reflect the priorities for the waterfronts laid out in the city’s Vision 2020, which specifies a 10-year plan to improve all city waterfronts. Last week, Michael Morella, the director of waterfront and open space planning at DCP, presented the revisions to Community Board 6’s Land Use committee, explaining what the city’s priorities will be and how the public can get involved and give input to the final plans. The affected community boards have until June 4 to respond with comments, and the borough board and borough president have until July 31, before the plan goes through City Planning Commission hearings and a vote, a City Council review, and finally a review by the New York State Department of State and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“All important aspects of the city need good planning, and I think we accomplished that with Vision 2020, and a component of that is also having good regulations,” Morella said. He explained that the WRP is a set of regulations that apply to certain project located with the coastal zones of the city. On the East Side, that encompasses any construction site from the East River to First Avenue that qualifies for public review.
“Projects that are as-of-right, if a developer or a building owner were to be proposing a project that would go to the buildings department and obtain a permit, the WRP is not required; it’s only for discretionary actions,” Morella said. The revisions addresses 10 policy areas within the WRP, applying updated scientific understanding to the city’s previous policies that emerged when the city was devising Vision 2020.
“After nine public meetings, an advisory board made of a city, state and federal agencies and a working group of multiple city agencies, we’ve come away with a far more nuanced understanding of the waterfront, and we’re proposing a far more robust program as a result,” Morella said.

One of the areas that will especially affect the East Side is the designation of Priority Marine Activity Zones, which will become sites for shoreline infrastructure like piers for ferry landings, as well as the creation and maintenance of sites for human-powered vessels like rowboats and kayaks.

Another policy area addressed in the WRP is flooding and erosion, an increasingly important issue for the East Side considering the cumulative effects of climate change and the fact that many parts of the neighborhood are in flood zones. The new revisions will require projects to take coastal flooding and climate change projections into their construction plans. It will also strongly encourage developers to utilize strategies against flooding, like waterproofing lower floors, and for parks along the coast lines to use salt-water-tolerant plantings.

“This is where the most important and longest lasting changes are,” Morella said. “There are a set of projections, and there’s quite a range, but by 2080 there may be upwards of 55 inches of sea level rise that the city may face.” The plan also emphasizes the need for public access, scenic resources and the preservation of historic resources andspaces for historic vessels to tie up. The WRP prioritizes waterfront open space for “sites within a waterfront area with less than 2.5 acres of open space per 1000 residents […] or where there is a gap in public access along the shoreline of 0.25 miles or more,” which will give the Upper East Side special consideration for developing that access.

The full revision plan is available at nyc.gov/wrp.

Encapsulating the Past: With officials looking on, including Rep. Carolyn Maloney, City Council Member Jessica Lappin and former Ambassador William vanden Heuvel, construction workers help place a stainless steel time capsule with memorabilia relating to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island.

Candidates for 4th Council District Emerge

While none have officially declared their candidacies or filed paperwork with the state, several people’s names have been circulating as potential candidates for Council Member Dan Garodnick’s 4th District seat. Garodnick has officially confirmed his run for comptroller, so his seat will be wide open. Community Board 6 Chair Mark Thompson has confirmed that he’ll be filing for a campaign committee shortly.

“I’m looking forward to running for office and representing the East Side,” said Thompson in a recent interview. “I’ve actually been working with the City Council for many years now, most recently as chair of the Community Board; I’ve worked very closely with the City Council and city agencies, getting things done.”

Thompson works for government and community relations firm Capalino + Company and holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He said he plans to focus on quality-of-life issues as well as small business, transportation, developing the waterfront and senior and education issues in his campaign.

Another name that has been floated in political circles is that of Brice Peyre, currently deputy chief of staff and press secretary for Rep. Carolyn Maloney. When asked if he was considering a run, Peyre said in an email that the prospect was interesting and mentioned his years of government service and local residency.

“I have been encouraged to run by many community leaders who think that I could make a meaningful contribution to public service in a different capacity, and that my experience and abilities give me an instinctive feel for the issues that most concern District 4 residents,” Peyre wrote. He would only say that he is “considering all [his] options carefully”; of course, there’s still ample time to make those kinds of decisions and for other candidates to emerge in what is shaping up to be a long race.

Local Democratic Leader Mulls Runs for City Council

David Menegon, president of the Lenox Hill Democratic Club, is considering a run for the Upper East Side’s 5th District City Council seat, Our Town has learned.

The bid for the council seat, currently held by Jessica Lappin, who is very likely running for Manhattan Borough President, has already attracted three declared candidates: NYU professor Hill Krishnan, attorney and activist Ben Kallos and Domenico Minerva, attorney and president of the Lexington Democratic Club.

While he hasn’t made any official moves to register a run for the seat, Menegon said that he’s talking with friends and potential supporters about a possible run.

“I’ve spoken to a couple of friends about this. I’m interested. I’ve lived here for almost 20 years,” Menegon said. “I haven’t filed any paperwork, I haven’t made a decision—it’s very preliminary.”

Menegon is an Army veteran who served for two years in Iraq and has worked in sales at the Xerox Corporation for the past 20 years. He said that his time overseas working on development and infrastructure would be useful working on Upper East Side issues like the Second Avenue Subway construction and the opposition to the East 92nd Street Marine Transfer Station.

“I think I have some skills to be a good advocate for people in the community,” Menegon said. “It’s a 50/50 thing right now.”

Republican Steps Up Against Maloney

This Sunday, local financial analyst Christopher Wight formally announced his congressional campaign, running as a Republican against Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the newly redrawn 12th District. Wight chose the site of the National Debt Clock in Times Square as the location for his press conference to declare his candidacy, using it as a jumping-off point to criticize Maloney’s fiscal record.

Wight, who has worked for Wall Street firms and has been endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parties and the Independence Party of New York, has emphasized his banking credentials and is already throwing jabs at Maloney for her voting record on fiscal issues.

“Our country has been on the path to bankruptcy and Carolyn Maloney has paved that path,” Wight said at the press conference. “When I look at Carolyn Maloney’s voting record, her priorities, I see a record that threatens the future my parents worked so hard for.”

Only time will tell if jabs will be enough to defeat a powerful incumbent. Maloney herself ousted a Republican incumbent when she first won national office representing the district in 1992 and has since won re-election nine times. Maloney defeated a Democratic challenger in 2010, Reshma Saujani, who went on to work for Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio and is now considering a run for that office.

‘War on Women’ Forum at CUNY

Local elected leaders and advocates are joining forces to hold a public forum to discuss feminism, the political attacks on women’s rights happening across the country and what citizens who are opposed to those campaigns can do to fight them. State Sen. Liz Krueger and the Center for the Study of Women and Society at the CUNY Graduate Center will host several speakers, including author of Full Frontal Feminism and founder of Feministing.com Jessica Valenti, vice president of The Women’s Media Center Jamia Wilson, professor at the CUNY Graduate Center political science department Joe Rollins and author and activist with Soapbox Inc. Amy Richards. The forum, entitled “The War on Women: An Evening of Basic Training,” will be held Tuesday, April 24, 6:30–8:30 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Elebash Auditorium, 365 5th Ave. RSVP to spasquantonio@gmail.com or call 212-490-9535.

UES Walking Tours

In celebration of their 30th anniversary, the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts will be hosting a series of walking tours through each of the six historic districts under its protection. The first walk will be Sunday, April 29 in the Henderson Place Historic District. The districts’ homes, built in 1881-82, were designed by the architectural firm Lamb & Rich in the Queen Anne style. The district became the center of German, Hungarian and Czech immigrant communities in the 19th and 20th centuries. The tour will be lead by Franny Eberhart, preservation committee chair, and Sarah O’Keefe, education director. Meet at 1 p.m. at the northwest corner of East End Avenue and East 86th Street. Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for non-members. Call 212-535-2526 or visit www.friends-ues.org/events.

“I’m looking forward for running for office and representing the East Side,” said Thompson in a recent interview. “I’ve actually been working with the city council for many years now, most recently as chair of the community board, I’ve worked very closely with the city council and city agencies, getting things done.”

Thompson works for government and community relations firm Capalino + Company and holds a masters degrees in city and regional planning from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He said that he plans to focus on quality of life issues as well as small business, transportation, developing the waterfront and senior and education issues in his campaign.

Another name that’s been floated in political circles is that of Brice Peyre, currently deputy chief of staff and press secretary for U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

When asked if he was considering a run, Peyre said in an email that the prospect was interesting and mentioned his years of government service and local residency.

“I have been encouraged to run by many community leaders who think that I could make a meaningful contribution to public service in a different capacity, and that my experience and abilities give me an instinctive feel for the issues that most concern District 4 residents,” Peyre wrote.

He would only say that he is “considering all [his] options carefully,” and of course there’s still ample time to decide and for other candidates to emerge in what is shaping up to be a long race.