The performance begins at 6 p.m. There is no charge, though ESNA requests that attendees bring an unwrapped toy, game or book to be donated to a needy child in Ambulatory Pediatrics of New York Presbyterian Hospital / Weill Cornell Medical Center on East 68th Street.

FIVE YEARS PROBATION FOR MADAM GRISTINA
“Upper East side madam” Anna Gristina spent roughly 45 minutes in custody on Tuesday, Nov. 27, after accepting a plea bargain that sentenced her to time served in state Supreme Court. In exchange for the sentence, the 45-year-old tabloid sensation pleaded guilty in September to running an elaborate brothel out of an East 78th Street apartment, a scandal that led to charges against her back in February.

Gristina served four months on Rikers Island this year before her bail was lowered in June. Her family has claimed that she was forced to wear a diaper in an unsanitary cell there. Had Gristina gone to trial and been convicted, she could have been sentenced to seven years in prison. Now, she faces five years of probation.

Gristina was born in Scotland and is not a United States citizen, so she is at risk of deportation.

GARODNICK SEEKS DELAY FOR POST-SANDY EVICTIONS
City Council Member Dan Garodnick and a group of legal and tenant advocacy groups submitted a letter to the New York City Civil Court last week requesting an extended moratorium on housing evictions through the end of the year.

A moratorium was first issued shortly after Hurricane Sandy to help those New Yorkers who suffered losses catch up on expenses and secure benefits without losing their homes. The ban was lifted on Monday, Nov. 26, but thousands of New Yorkers remained displaced by the storm and lingered in the city’s already-crowded shelters. Garodnick and the advocacy groups—which included MFY Legal Services, Legal Services NYC and Three-Quarter House Tenant Organizing Project, among 16 others—agreed that many residents need more time to return their lives to normal.

“We were in the midst of a serious housing crisis in this city even before the hurricane hit,” Garodnick said in a press conference on Thursday, Nov. 29. “Our city shelters are full, even without the thousands of those displaced because of the storm. Let’s give people just a little more time to get on their feet. To resume evictions when we know many families will have nowhere to go is callous and irresponsible.”

Kevin Cremin, director of Litigation for Disability and Aging Rights at MFY Legal Services, told Our Town, “Some people have lost work and are unemployed because of Hurricane Sandy. They might be eligible for unemployment compensation or FEMA benefits, but those benefits might not have come in yet, so they just need some more time.”

Cremin noted that the Civil Court customarily issues a weeklong holiday moratorium on evictions at the end of December. Garodnick mentioned that the moratorium would also help save the city money by reducing sheltering costs.

Elected officials, including Council Member Jessica Lappin, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Council Member Dan Garodnick, State Sen. Liz Krueger and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, spoke at the annual ESNA meeting.

Last Sunday, dozens of Upper East Siders braved the icy rain to attend the annual East Sixties Neighborhood Association (ESNA) meeting, coming together to hear from a slew of elected officials and talk about the big issues facing their neighborhood in the coming year.

City Council Members Jessica Lappin (who reps the eastern portion of the district) and Dan Garodnick (who reps the western part) both came out to support the work of ESNA, as did State Sen. Liz Krueger, Assembly Member Micah Kellner, Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who was the event’s keynote speaker. At the last minute, Rep. Carolyn Maloney swung by to congratulate the organization and the board.

“This is really such an important organization that works so hard for the neighborhoods of the East 60s, and this is certainly an exciting time for the Upper East Side,” Maloney said. “The East 60s is certainly a gateway to the East Side from Queens, Long Island and Roosevelt Island.”

She mentioned the upcoming construction of the Cornell/Technion campus on Roosevelt Island and the fact that the East Side is home to an increasing number of tech companies. Maloney also touted the East Side’s abundance of hospitals and said she’s trying to get New York state to create a high-tech zone in the city for those hospitals to develop new technology and use it right there.

Stringer, who is an Upper West Side resident but lived for a brief time on East 85th Street near Second Avenue, focused his speech on transportation, explaining his recently announced ambitious plan to reorganize the MTA’s funding structures. Using the Second Avenue Subway as a jumping-off point, Stringer launched into an explanation of his vision that would bring back the defunct commuter tax and use that money to help permanently fund a five-borough transit system, theoretically without constant fare hikes.

“We need to expand the system, but it cannot be on the backs of working people,” Stringer said.

He also praised ESNA members for looking at the big picture in terms of what’s good for the city.

“One of the great parts of what ESNA is all about is you think locally and act globally,” he said.

Barry Schneider, president of ESNA, spoke about some of the group’s ongoing projects and what they have their eyes on. ESNA has a group of 13 certified tree pruners who attend to local tree pits, and is hoping to get more volunteers to expand their territory.

Schneider also petitioned the crowd for anyone with a spare $12 million to fund the rehabilitation of the pier at Andrew Haswell Green Park.

“If you have $12 million, we’ll name that park after you. We’ll even put in neon, which is against the city code, but we’ll get around it,” he joked.

He also encouraged ESNA members to get involved in Community Board 8 and pointed out the major projects residents should be aware of, like the Roosevelt Island tram station’s upcoming repairs and what major local buildings have changed hands. Schneider said that the group will have a full plate in the coming year and will probably focus a lot of energy on transportation and construction issues.

Each of the event’s speakers agreed on one thing: that ESNA is a model community group. Schneider said it just takes a little commitment from everyone to make an outstanding contribution.

“We’re a volunteer organization. We get together because we think we can make a difference in the community,” he said.