If “raucous” and “intimate” can coexist adroitly, that describes the atmosphere at the release party for Marc Spitz’s new memoir Poseur, an affair tucked cozily away up a staircase at the Lower East Side’s Slipper Room.

Everyone here knows each other, laughs heartily like old friends, embraces one another eagerly. An outsider would hardly recognize Spitz, who fades purposefully into the crowd, ceding the limelight, preferring a spot at a tiny table pressed up close to his old pals. Writer fame is different than other kinds, he’ll later explain, and release parties are stressful.

The Slipper Room is one of Spitz’s old haunts. He used to DJ here back in the day when DJing was nothing like how we think of it now. You’d have to seek out your records at a joint like the House of Oldies in the West Village, wait for your coveted 45s to zip up on a dumbwaiter.

Spitz would DJ many such bars, which rented out their booths to free agents like him.

“I’d stumble in drunk,” he says. “It was like a status thing.”

He adds: “Modern DJ culture happened over night.”

The burlesque dancers who take the stage at the Slipper Room are a handful of originals from Spitz’s days of haunting the venue, moving salaciously to such 90s acts as Nine Inch Nails while suggestively gripping copies of Poseur.

Brought back to perform just for Spitz, they show no hint of being out of touch.

The man behind the sunglasses

Forty-three-year-old Spitz, born in Far Rockaway, has written plays, novels, and nonfiction, and has a prolific career as a music journalist for “Spin.”

Perhaps this is why, when I ask to meet somewhere “of significance,” he chooses the White Horse Tavern in the West Village, a famed joint known for drawing such patrons as Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan, and Hunter S. Thompson over the years.

Spitz, who shows up with a Sylvia Plath button on his authentic Burberry trench coat and two Basset Hounds—named for Joni Mitchell and Jerry Orbach—in tow, is just a slightly aged version of the grungy, gangly, and perhaps slightly awkward kid in sunglasses and Edie Sedgwick t-shirt who graces the cover of Poseur. He still wears a black leather bracelet and sunglasses, and seems perpetually caught off-guard.

“I’ve been there, but I don’t really like it,” says Spitz of the White Horse. “It’s why I came to the City,” he adds, referring to the larger, rich history of writer culture rather than the establishment itself.

In Poseur, Spitz recounts studying at Bennington College in Vermont but knowing if he wanted to make it as a writer, he must get to New York City, and fast. Specifically, he must live at the Chelsea Hotel in a sort of “bohemian squalor” in order to launch himself into the kind of pictures of success with which the ambitious collegian figuratively surrounds himself.

Eventually Spitz’s young ambitions will amount to more than just pipe dreams. His story is truly one of wanting something badly enough and succeeding, though at some point, he realizes merely getting his body to the city where great artists flourish (and often founder miserably) isn’t enough.

“There’s definitely a ‘what now?’ moment,” he says.

In Poseur, Spitz writes of spending his first night in the renowned Chelsea Hotel, scared to death, barely expecting to survive, unsure who or what might break down the door in the middle of the night. It’s not exactly the romantic experience he envisioned when he thought of Patti Smith walking into the lobby and feeling as though she’d “come home.”

“The Chelsea was the home I wanted, but it was also a place where people suffered and sometimes died,” he writes in his memoir.

As a music writer, Spitz interviewed many of rock’s big names, but even then had trouble getting past the sense he was nothing more than a fraud. He would have to invent a persona to overcome his shyness.

“Bowie was shy,” he explains. “It’s genetic, people are predisposed, but I overcame it by inventing someone who wasn’t shy.”
“I couldn’t even talk to a rock star. Interviews felt like blind dates. I’d have to drink, put on sunglasses, I couldn’t be honest. I’d have to take a pill.”

Still, Spitz “felt like part of rock and roll even though [he] wasn’t in a band because [he] was part of a larger phenomenon—part of the ecosystem of the rock world.”

Perhaps not too much has changed, as he relays his own anxiety over being interviewed to this day. “I can write about it, but in person it’s like maybe I should leave it in the shrink’s office,” he says.

Shy kids write diaries, explains Spitz. He kept a diary his whole life, allowing him to recall with ease, as he does, what songs were playing on the radio at any given moment.

(Spitz’s choice to include in his memoir so many references to artists he says is a nod to technology—the ability for the reader to quickly Google anything unfamiliar—as well as a stylistic choice.)

Poseur

Spitz says Poseur is the first book of his last four that didn’t feel “like a job” to write because he called all the shots, giving it—for him—an unprecedented level of honesty and integrity.

“There’s no way to bullshit it. Maybe I just wanted to be an authority on something,” he says.

Still, writing a memoir was a new experience with its own challenges. “It’s hard to have things come to light after the fact. I still have dreams that I’m working on it,” he adds. “It’s sad.”

Spitz wrote Poseur before selling it. He says it occupies a place in his heart which hasn’t been fulfilled since he wrote at length about The Smiths.

“My other books are sold in airports,” he says. That’s not to say he’s not waiting for Poseur to become a sensation.

Poseur is the story of how Spitz searches for the authenticity that makes great writers and artists, but it’s also a candid examination—peeling back the skin of downtown New York City in the 90s.

In penning the memoir, ruminating on downtown now versus then, Spitz describes a mix of emotions.

From ‘93 to ‘94, he briefly moved to Hollywood. Even then, he says, New York City was changing.

“I moved back for good in ‘95; you could tell it was a different city.”

“It changed so much,” he says. “If I left the Lower East Side in ‘95 and came back, I would not recognize anything…I would wonder ‘is it still dangerous?’”

“It took 15 years to become that way,” he adds. “It took 30 years to get beyond the 70s myth. I thought it was time to write this book because of how quickly things were changing.”

“It offers a record of bygone time that is literally bygone.”

Spitz describes writing Poseur as an instinctual and freeing process. As a writer who no longer tries to write like others, he notes Poseur offers a good lens to view the changes in himself as well as the City.

Despite this, Spitz says a lot of what went into the book arose from input and discussions with others. He was also not afraid to pull back the curtains on his process and personal evolution.

“Does older, wiser me comment in the book?” Spitz asks. “Yes, but I think that makes for a more pleasant, sadder, sweeter read.”

He also worried at times about missing out on the humanity that can arise in fiction if he was too busy trying to get the period right.

Taking in the city with Spitz

As we walk through the Village, Spitz pauses briefly, perhaps nostalgically, below the “Peace to the World” sign at the Saint Anthony of Padua Church. He recalls the church as a sort of East to West gateway from his younger, wilder years.

We wind up at The Library bar on the Lower East Side, where Spitz worries he won’t know who’s working anymore. To his delight, Kendra is behind the bar, as she has been for the past 10 years. She tells Spitz her psychedelic solo act is taking off and slides us a couple business cards.

“I used to drink here all the time,” says Spitz from behind his sunglasses, sipping a tall Bloody Mary. The coolly distant boy from the cover of Poseur momentarily reemerges. “I can’t count how many hours I’ve spent here.”

At some point, Spitz realized he was ready for a slower pace of life. “New York is for young people,” he says. “I want to age gracefully. You feel like a ghost, haunting the neighborhood.”

“I loved anyone who wanted to die young…I could only die too young.” It’s too late for that now, he adds.

Before taking off into the brisk Lower East Side afternoon, Spitz sheds a little more light on the artistic process with an observation that would resonate with anyone who’s just completed their magnum opus: “The world didn’t end when the book came out.”

“Just make me sound cool,” he says, finally, making sure I know he’s quoting Almost Famous.

Attorney Jeffrey Kurzon announces his candidacy for Congress in downtown district

By Adam Janos

Attorney Jeffrey Kurzon, 36, announced his candidacy for New York’s 7th Congressional district early Thursday morning, setting himself up as an early challenger to incumbent Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez in the Democratic primary of 2014. Valazquez represents parts of the Lower East Side and the East Village.

Velazquez faced a contentious battle against Councilman and fellow Democrat Erik Dilan during her 2012 race, then cruised to victory in the general election. Unlike Dilan in 2012, Kurzon poses a challenge from outside the New York City Democratic Party machine. Kurzon holds no public office, and first became a player in the New York political world as a fundraiser and big bundler for then – Senator Barack Obama in 2008. During that time, he raised over $150,000 for the candidate throughout the primary and general election season by tapping into a network of young urban professionals living within the five boroughs.

“I’m a little frightened to stick my neck out,” said Kurzon, in reference to his candidacy. “But I’m encouraged by the support of my friends, and I’m motivated by my anger.”

Candor at the expense of tact seems typical for Kurzon, who speaks as if he’s got no one to impress, even as he embarks on a journey to unseat Velazquez, who will be a 22-year incumbent by the time the election rolls around, and is the first Puerto Rican Congresswoman in U.S. history. When asked why he’s running, Kurzon glibly replied, “It’d be a good job. Good pay, good benefits. $180,000, that’d be a raise for me. And I could use the benefits.”

And yet, despite saying out loud what would undoubtedly be the inner monologue of yet-another-cynical-empty-suit, Kurzon has made his career out of blind, idealistic bravery standing up to the powers that be. In 2011, he represented social activist Jonathan Tasini and 9,000 other bloggers in a civil suit against AOL. After AOL purchased the Huffington Post for $315 million, the bloggers got no more than “a thank you email from Arianna Huffington.” Kurzon fought, unsuccessfully, to bring some of that money to the writers of the website’s content.

“Asking people to volunteer for a for-profit company is offensive,” said Kurzon, adding that, “all work is valuable.”

Kurzon LLP (his firm) also sued the Thomas M. Cooley Law School and the New York Law School, (two separates suits, filed on the same day), for providing what he claims is misleading information to prospective students regarding their job placement rates.

“They say that there’s 80 to 90 percent job placement within nine months of graduating their schools, but what they don’t say is a lot of those students are working at their admissions offices, at Starbucks, or at JCPenney,” he said.

According to Kurzon, the answer is better regulation from the ABA (American Bar Association) and a warning label on bank loans for law school.

“They put a warning label on cigarettes. Why not on loans?”

In general, Kurzon speaks most passionately when discussing the exploitation of labor and the unchecked growth of the financial sector, which is also one of his main gripes with Velazquez. “She’s getting contributions at $10,000 a pop from big banks. She’s been compromised by corporate PAC [political action committee] money.”

Kurzon, meanwhile, refuses to accept PAC money for his campaign, and hopes to raise at least $500,000 by tapping that same grassroots, small donor movement he shook down in 2008 for Obama. (By comparison, Velazquez spent $1.2 million last election cycle and currently has over $200,000 cash-on-hand, according to OpenSecrets.org).

“The party won’t like my candidacy,” Kurzon admitted. “But leadership is more valuable than seniority.”

He likens his candidacy to the anti-establishment ethos of recent grassroots protests.

“Occupy Wall Street was a warning. Bloomberg swept them out of the park, but they had good ideas,” he said. “Our country is one community. We have to look out for each other.”

Pure Yoga’s Figure 4 Class is designed to give you the most effective results and a more flexible body. It can be tough to brave the winter elements to stay in shape, which is why this high-intensity yoga class is great for maintaining flexibility and keeping you limber for all those high-powered snow sports. Figure 4 will also help you ease your way into swimsuit season come spring. Pure Yoga has Figure 4 classes this winter at its Upper East Side and Upper West Side locations.

Keep Your Wheels Winterized
Cybert Tire and Car Care, 726 11th Ave., 212-265-1177, cyberttire.com
Need winter tires or a tune-up for the blustery months? Or maybe you just need a phone number on hand in case your car winds up in a snowbank. Cybert Tire and Car Care in Hell’s Kitchen, which has been servicing New York City cars for nearly 100 years, comes highly recommended from its customers. You can even buy your winter tires and order other services online from the luxury of your heated apartment.

Rock a Winter-Themed Pedicure
Carol’s Daughter, 24 W. 125th St., 212-828-6757, carolsdaughter.com
Carol’s Daughter salon in Harlem offers a “haute chocolate” pedicure in the winter months, complete with cocoa and brown sugar skin products. This winter-themed pedicure is guaranteed to keep your skin smooth and healthy all season, with these products’ proven antioxidant properties. Added bonus: hot beverages are served chair-side at Carol’s Daughter.

Work Up a Sweat
Bikram Yoga LES, 172 Allen St., 212-353-8859, bikramyogales.com
Bikram Yoga Lower East Side’s hot yoga is guaranteed to make you sweat this winter. One Yelp reviewer commented Bikram Yoga LES’s 105 degree temperatures can be a bit overwhelming, especially for first-timers, but the classes are ultimately enjoyable and great for healing all sorts of injuries. Alternate extreme snow sports with hot yoga this winter to whip your body into shape and keep injuries at bay.
Best Winter Coat Repair
Wilfred’s Tailoring, 277 Fifth Ave., 212-242-3030, wilfredstailor.com
Wilfred’s Tailoring in Flatiron will work miracles on your busted winter gear, from jackets to pants and everything in between. Wilfred’s tailoring and alteration skills have been featured in New York magazine, for their “best of” services, and even on various movie sets for their impeccable sewing and alteration skills.

Chill Out with a Mid-Winter Massage
Dyanna Body and Nail Salon Spa, 40 E. 21st St., 212-995-2355, dyannaspa.com
Dyanna Body and Nail Salon offers a cozy, comforting atmosphere and a full range of spa services. Hit up Dyanna’s for a revered massage this winter at a reasonable price and let the masseuses work their magic and rub away your winter worries. Customers say Dyanna’s massages are brief, but well worth it, especially for kicking those cold-weather blues.

Ski, Snowboard and Snowshoe Tune-ups
Paragon Sports, 867 Broadway, 800-961-3030, paragonsports.com
Stop in to Paragon Sports this winter for sports equipment tune-ups or new gear. Paragon Sports sells gear for every sport imaginable—from snowshoeing to table tennis—as well as clothing, footwear and accessories. According to customers, Paragon’s convenient Union Square location has a huge selection and a helpful, knowledgeable staff.

Donate to a Coat Drive
New York Cares, 65 Broadway, 19th Floor, 212-228-5000, newyorkcares.org
Get in touch with your charitable side this winter and donate a coat to New York Cares. The New York Cares organization accepts clean, gently worn winter coats for residents in need. Hurricane Sandy has left even more New Yorkers badly in need of donated winter items this season, so dig up your gear and help keep a fellow New Yorker warm.

Can’t-Miss Holiday Toy Shopping
FAO Schwarz, 767 Fifth Ave., 212-644-9400, fao.com
FAO Schwarz near Central Park may be daunting this time of year, particularly with all the holiday tourism, but where else can you go toy shopping for every kid on your list and see guards dressed as toy soldiers alongside other winter festivities? Nothing will get you in the winter spirit quite like FAO Schwarz, not to mention the store is guaranteed to have every toy and gadget a child can dream up and more.

Tricia Donegan coaxes inspired poses and generosity out of her local yoga enthusiasts

By Sophia Rosenbaum

Yoga studios in New York are as common as pizza joints, but there’s a reason Lady Gaga chose Tricia Donegan to be her yoga instructor.

Donegan, 42, is a burst of energy with a toned physique adorned with tattoos and a mess of curly, multi-colored hair. She’s the owner of Bikram Yoga Lower East Side—a walk-up studio with cases of water bottles lining the stairwell, pops of pink paint from the floor to the ceiling and people dripping in sweat from the 107-degree yoga room.

With a team of 15 other instructors, Bikram Yoga LES offers six classes a day, seven days a week. Monty Stilson, 54, has been taking classes at Bikram Yoga LES for more than a year and said the only negative part is all the laundry.

“Tricia truly has a gift to deliver the perfect balance of wit and wisdom, all the while coaxing the body into never-realized positions and undreamed feats of strength,” Stilson said.

Donegan’s yoga business is just one of her many ventures. She is also a Lower East Side community activist and a mother of a 5-year-old daughter, Lula.

“I’m here to change the world,” she said. “I build communities wherever I go.”

Donegan was born in Michigan and moved to New York City in 2001. Prior to her career as a yoga instructor, she worked as a restaurant owner in Atlanta. Although she loved the restaurant business and being a community activist in Atlanta, she feels much more at home in her yoga space at 172 Allen St.

“Everyone who comes to the yoga studio is trying to empower themselves or better themselves in some way,” she said. “This is a true well-being destination for people, so it becomes this safe haven for people to come and let go of themselves.”

For more than a decade, Donegan has been teaching Bikram yoga, or hot yoga, which is a series of 26 postures and two breathing exercises in high-heat, high-humidity rooms. While Bikram originated in the early 1970s, it has became popular in the United States in the past decade.
Donegan said the heat forces students to focus on their bodies and push themselves more than a regular exercise class.

“It’s sort of like spaghetti,” she said. “If you try to bend cold spaghetti, it breaks. But when you put it in the water, you can do whatever you want with it.”

Tamara Pollack, Donegan’s life partner, said part of what makes Donegan talented are her interpersonal skills and her deep understanding of yoga.

“She won’t tell you to blindly push into a locked knee, she won’t just coach you into a deeper backbend,” she said. “Instead she will empower you in your weakness and lead you toward your strengths. She wants to see you try, and once you enter her hot room, that’s all you want to do.”
Four years ago, Donegan created a class that combined her love of yoga with her passion for community engagement. Nite Sweats is a donation-based class that’s offered the first Friday of every month.

The proceeds go to the Lower East Side Girls Club, which counts Donegan among its board members. The Club serves girls and young women from ages 8 to 23, teaching them the importance of education, healthy eating and equality.

“We’re not just babysitting girls from the projects,” Donegan said. “We’re giving them power.”
Donegan said Nite Sweats rakes in about $1,000 a month for the Girls Club.

“Tricia Donegan’s luminous and infectious presence enriches our community in boundless ways,” said Lyn Pentecost, the visionary behind the Girls Club. “She lives, works and runs her unique business on the Lower East Side and sends her daughter to school on the Lower East Side. One can’t get more ‘community’ than that.”

And while Donegan rarely leaves the neighborhood, she frequently goes on tour with Lady Gaga as her fitness instructor. She said she’s proud of her accomplishments in life thus far, but attributes most of her success to yoga.

“I have so many ideas, I have so much energy and it wasn’t until I slowed my head down with yoga that I realized why I am here,” she said. “Once you get real precise, then your dreams come and chase you.”

Despite a setback from Hurricane Sandy, the historic shelter looks ahead to a new facility and a robust Thanksgiving

By Sophia Rosenbaum

The New York City Rescue Mission has a lot to be thankful for post-Sandy.

“It’s a little bit of a hardship to be blocks away from the worst of it,” said Joe Little, the mission’s director of community relations. “But, we were able to sustain some continuity for four or five days while being in the middle of mild-mannered chaos.”

While the mission lost power for four days, they continued to feed hundreds of people, including what Little calls the “perennial homeless” and the “temporarily homeless.”

The mission, which is tucked behind a construction project just south of Canal Street, helps those who have slipped between society’s cracks to find refuge, offer a meal on their plate and a bed to sleep in at night—24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“It’s a sanctuary of hope,” said Martin Bowman, a reformed cocaine addict who now greets anyone who walks through the doors with a smile as the mission’s front desk supervisor. “It challenges your worldview and hopefully starts people on a path to transformation.”

Bowman, who has been affiliated with the mission for 12 years, is just one of their many success stories.

Lost in a sea of scaffolding, the mission is getting a top-to-bottom makeover. With long sheets of plastic serving as makeshift doors and the resonating sound of drills and hammers, Bowman said he’s eagerly awaiting the new six-story building, which is still on track to be complete in early 2014 despite the setback from Sandy.

Many New Yorkers in dire straits can’t welcome the new construction soon enough. Statistics from the 2011 Census Bureau detail a rising poverty rate in New York City, which is currently at 20.9 percent, up nearly one percentage point from last year. In raw numbers, that means close to 1.7 million people fall below the poverty level of $22,811 for a family of four in New York City. Rising poverty paired with our current national economic crisis translates to more people out of work, out of money and out of a place to live.

For the mission, this means more people to help. Packaged as a soup kitchen, a pantry and a shelter, the mission offers a variety of 24/7 services, from three meals a day to overnight lodging to counseling, and men-only 12-step programs for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.

Harry Benjamin, 58, has been coming to the food pantry for years because he and his wife do not bring in enough money to support his two children.

“I come here to eat,” Bejamin said, ”so that I can have enough food before my next check comes.”
Bowman said all the security guards who work with Benjamin come to the mission for pantry packages to sustain their families.

From 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., people arrive in spurts to claim two plastic bags stuffed with staples like rice, pasta, canned fruits and canned vegetables. Some unexpected treats like cookies and chocolate toffee also make their way into the bags through donations from Starbucks and other local bakeries.

From July to September, over 900 people volunteered at the mission to help serve the 500 people they help a day, according to David Knoche, the mission’s volunteer manager and administrative assistant. From spaghetti and meatballs to a full Thanksgiving meal, Knoche said numbers are up for those using soup-kitchen services for their daily meals since the 2008 recession.

“It takes a village to make things happen,” he said.

While he may not look it in his professional attire of a purple button-up shirt and black slacks, Knoche is a recovered alcoholic and dope addict. He has been clean for over 30 years and attributes much of his success to God.

The mission focuses on religious and spiritual guidance to help people escape drugs and homelessness. James Rowntree, 53, has been in the 12-step program for seven months, and is homeless, but not an addict.

“I’ve got no family, no money, no place to live,” he said in a British accent. “I believe that God wants me to be here.”

People at the mission like Rowntree break the mold of what most people think of when they hear the word “homeless.”

The same is true for Bowman. Although he was raised by a “solidly middle-class family,” his egocentric tendencies eventually tied him in the drug scene.

“My real addictions were power,” he said. “I had no intention of helping the homeless at all,” he added with a laugh.

But, after the tables were turned and Bowman experienced first-hand what it was like to be homeless, he dedicated his life to helping those in need.

“The real struggles in life are universal,” he said. “If you’re a homeless addict, we provide help. If you’re a businessman, we provide help. This place does so much more than just provide people with a meal.”

Little said that despite minor setbacks from Sandy, they are still gearing up for their 14th annual Great Thanksgiving Banquet, where he expects at least 1,200 people—up 200 people from 2011.
“We have a bigger space this year for the celebration,” he said. “So we think it will be bigger this year. Also, I think no matter what your socioeconomic status is, people are very aware of the plight of the homeless right now because of Sandy.”

LES volunteers Blaire Fontaine, Elise Fischer, and Rossy Rodriguez help plant new tulip bulbs on the storm damaged waterfront in Lower Manhattan.

As the storm’s impact on ecological systems and infrastructure becomes clear, what steps should be taken to secure the city against future floods?

In the days following late October’s hurricane-turned-superstorm Sandy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city and state officials described the immense damage to the city. They talked about the death toll, the lost homes and destruction to infrastructure, landmarks, businesses and natural environments around the waterfront. The impact continues, and will continue, to be uncovered.

In the weeks since Sandy made landfall on the East Coast, there has been much preliminary discussion of how to rebuild from here. One of the most important conversations taking place is what could have been prevented—the city’s most evident weaknesses—and what must change in the future to address this.

Ecological Impact
Christine Datz-Romero, executive director of the Lower East Side Ecology Center described the extensive damage East River Park sustained in Sandy’s wake. Numerous mature trees were uprooted and lost. Significant numbers of other plants were also damaged, as water washed up and flooded FDR Drive.

Even so, Datz-Romero said the full extent of Sandy’s damage to waterfront parks will not be known until the spring, when it becomes clear which plants will and will not survive.

According to her, however, the damage did not have to be so extreme.

“The plants growing there do not tolerate saltwater,” Datz-Romero said. She explained the natural environments around the waterfront could instead be used to absorb some of the impact of disasters like Sandy.

“This storm is an opportunity to think about waterfront parks and what ecological function they provide,” said Datz-Romero. “We could plant trees or plants that can withstand saltwater, or even slow down future storms by planting and creating resilient landscapes, like wetlands or salt marshes. There is a big lesson to be learned.”

Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh, who represents the 74th District, which includes the Lower East Side, agreed that while significant emphasis has been placed on implementing hard structural barriers to prevent storm surges, we must look to the possibility of “ecologically sensitive facilities” like the marshes and beaches Datz-Romero describes.

“There are naturally occurring beaches along the East River that could help protect Manhattan,” said Kavanagh. “It’s important to recognize that kind of thing has ecological benefits year-round and can be very valuable in a storm.”

Kavanagh has been promoting the East River Blueway project, co-partnered with Borough President Scott Stringer, which aims to “rethink the waterfront from the Brooklyn Bridge to 38th Street.”

Matthew Monahan, spokesperson for the Battery Park City Authority, echoed the wait-and-see approach—he believes it’s too soon to tell the full extent of the impact on Battery Park City’s mile-long esplanade. Monahan said the assessment is still under way, but notably emphasizes the use of the word “impact” rather than “damage” to describe the storm’s effect on the waterfront.

Residential Infrastructure
Ben Nitti, a downtown Manhattan real estate agent, said Sandy’s blow to waterfront infrastructure will certainly have an impact on real estate in the area.

“This will affect property values along Zone A,” explained Nitti. “Values will go down, people will not want to develop in that area.”

Zone A, or the area most susceptible to potential flooding from any hurricane, encompasses Battery Park City, the World Trade Center site, the South Street Seaport, parts of the Meatpacking District and other low-lying areas in Manhattan—many of the popular, expensive waterfront neighborhoods.

Nitti said while he knows fallout from the storm will be a problem, the full extent of the damage for real estate has also yet to be seen. Nitti thinks more developers will move to the Upper West and Upper East sides, where elevation makes for a “much safer area.”

“This is a huge section of real estate which loses value,” said Nitti. “And there is going to be a continuing weather problem.”

As far as the future of waterfront buildings, Nitti indicated changes made to Battery Park following 9/11. Backup generators became standard in newer buildings following the terrorist attacks.

“You’ll notice the lights didn’t go out in Battery Park [during Sandy],” Nitti said. “I think this will become the new norm.” Walls around the water will be raised higher and more generators will be added, according to Nitti.

“It’s possible the city might require restrictions on how things are built in those zones,” he said. “Requirements for different materials in certain areas is definitely possible.”

Assembly Member Kavanagh said that backup generators are not only crucial in waterfront buildings, but must also be routinely tested, and should not be installed in easily flooded areas, such as basements.

“We need to remember backup systems need to be ready in an emergency,” said Kavanagh. He also said protective walls are needed in residential facilities on the waterfront to mitigate flooding.

Many involved in real estate in the area are scrambling to minimize the impact on their business. Since the storm, some agencies have even taken to advertising their properties as “high and dry” and “unfloodable.” Real estate broker Peter-Charles Bright assures Our Town Downtown that this assessment on his real estate blog “APTcetera,” of a condo rental mere steps from the New York Stock Exchange, is not a joke.

Public Facilities
Many of the concerns facing residential infrastructure extend to public facility infrastructure as well.

Laura Gottesdiener, a housing and land-use activist in the city who has volunteered with Occupy Wall Street and helped with Sandy relief efforts, said the storm merely exacerbated problems that already existed, especially in public housing, along the waterfront.

Gottesdiener believes there are a number of components to consider in moving forward. “Our public transit system is incredible,” said Gottesdiener. “But it requires massive power, and we need more sustainable infrastructure.”

Above all, Gottesdiener emphasized the dire need for improvement in public housing projects along coastal areas, which had power restored long after other parts of Lower Manhattan.

“These areas were less likely to get stuff up and running,” said Gottesdiener, referring largely to complexes which house the elderly, disabled and poor. Residents were left stranded in high-rises, dependent on electricity to use elevators. They had no access to batteries or water—potentially lifesaving measures for some.

“Moving forward, we need to realize the people who get hit hardest are overwhelmingly already more vulnerable,” said Gottesdiener. “They are living in public housing in coastal areas, feeling isolated despite being a part of Manhattan.”

“We need more sustainable housing along coastal areas, especially public housing,” she said.

Kavanagh’s district includes three hospitals that were shut down due to the storm—Bellevue, NYU Medical Center and the V.A. Hospital. The Assembly Member said a combination of stronger walls and more effective pumping operations are needed in these areas, in addition to the more reliable generators.

“I don’t want to prejudge,” said Kavanagh. “But we have talked for years about sea walls that did not get built—if you’re on a river, you need to do what people have done for years in other similar places.”

Moving Forward
Vishaan Chakrabarti, the director of Columbia’s Center for Urban Real Estate, recently told the New York Observer there needs to be a way to protect the “thousands and thousands of housing units” being developed, and promoted by Mayor Bloomberg, on the waterfront.

Chakrabarti’s suggestion—perhaps extreme—is the installation of massive sea gates that can close at times of peril and protect the city from flooding. “The costs are obviously astronomical,” notes the Observer, also hypothesizing that Chakrabarti’s suggestion would be “the most expensive infrastructure project ever undertaken.”

“Climate change is here, and we clearly have to acknowledge that these unusual weather events are going to become more and more frequent, and we’re going to have to do something about it,” Chakrabarti told the newspaper.

While Chakrabarti’s suggestion may be on the more radical end of the spectrum, government officials in New York echo a similar sentiment of overhauling the system.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement: “We have to take into consideration reforming, modifying our built environment, our infrastructure. This city, this region is very susceptible to coastal flooding. It’s not something we had to deal with, with any frequency whatsoever. So we’re not built in a way that has the built-in protections.”

Kavanagh believes the projected price tag is probably worth it. “It is early and we are still assessing,” he said. “My sense from other places—other cities and countries further along in this—when a single storm can do this much damage, expensive projects could prevent the surge from coming in unimpeded.”

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Two people were stabbed Friday at the CBGB Fest at Webster Hall, temporarily shutting down the event. According to a Bowery Boogie contributor attending the show, “all hell broke loose” when Cro-Mags founder Harley Flanagan stabbed the band’s bassist Mike “The Gook” in the chest in the VIP lounge. He allegedly stabbed someone else, as well as biting a third individual. The violence took place prior to a Cro-Mags show.

Flanagan was arrested following the incident, according to Gothamist. Reportedly the stabbing is the culmination of many years of tumultuous relations between former and current band members. Co-founder John “Bloodclot” Joseph told the NY Post Flanagan is known for stalking the LES looking for fights and generally acting like a lunatic. According to Joseph, “no one likes him.”

The CBGB Festival is named for a club, which closed in 2006, but helped launch many notable bands’ careers, reports the New York Times. The punk rock club was notorious for violence, and that legacy seems to have carried on to its namesake festival.

—Alissa Fleck

Officer Brian J. Groves (Photo Courtesy of NYPD)

Officer Brian Groves was shot around 3:40 a.m. Thursday during a routine patrol on the Lower East Side (7th precinct). Groves swung open a stairwell door of the Essex St. building when he saw the suspect carrying a pistol, reports the New York Times. The suspect fled down the stairs, but turned back to fire on the officer. Groves returned fire before realizing he had been shot near the heart. Groves was saved by his bulletproof vest, and is expected to fully recover, reports the Times. 

(by Alissa Fleck)

At the time of the shooting, Officer Groves, 30, and his partner were performing a “vertical patrol,” or a sweep through a building starting at the top and ending at the bottom floor.

Police Commisioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a statement: “The vertical patrol that [Groves] and his partner engaged in is a common, proactive police practice to give some measure of safety to residents of public housing.” He provided the statistic: “approximately four percent of the city’s population resides in public housing, but it experiences about 20% of all violent crime.”

The shooting took place between the 18th and 19th floors after the officers began to pursue the man. Groves dropped near the 15th floor, and the gunman escaped. It’s unclear whether the gunman was shot. The building, part of the Seward Park House complex, was of particular interest because of reports involving narcotics.

According to the Seward Park House Cooperative website, the complex was operated for over thirty years as a limited-equity cooperative, allowing it to receive tax subsidies for keeping the price of apartments at below market rates. They now sell at market rate.

Police Officer Groves's Vest (Photo Courtesy of NYPD)

Thursday afternoon the surrounding area was cordoned off with police tape. Officers said it would be closed at least for the day.

One MTA worker at the Delancey/Essex St. subway stop said: “I feel safe, but the community is not safe. The Chase Manhattan Bank [at the corner of Delancey & Essex] has been robbed twice. It’s not safe for police officers, it’s not safe for anyone.”

Jeff Andrews, a resident of the area, said it was the first time he had seen anything like this in the neighborhood. “This is a big thing,” said Andrews, a three year resident of the neighborhood. “It looks like world war three over there.”

Andrews also said he thought police had been overreacting to such incidents ever since 9/11. “The guy didn’t even get shot,” said Andrews, “now they’re going through every single apartment with no warrant. They’ve been here since 2:30 [a.m.].” Andrews indicated the long line of police vans in front of the housing complex.

When asked if the incident made him feel any less safe, Andrews said: “I guess something’s gotta happen sooner or later.”

Another resident of the area, Mike Duvall, said he had been living nearby for 22 years. Duvall said the incident “doesn’t change anything” and he still “absolutely feel[s] safe.” Duvall said a recent incident involving teenage boys with guns nearby made him feel more unsafe.

A man standing outside a psychic/tarot card shop near the intersection of Delancey and Essex Sts. gave the name Steve and said he was married to the psychic who worked there. He said he has lived nearby for four years.

“I love it,” he said of the area. He said he feels no less safe after the shooting. Steve also said he has not heard about similar violence in the area. “This is the first time in four years it’s been so close,” he said.

A construction worker who had been working nearby for months also said he felt no less safe after the shooting.

Officer Groves is the ninth police officer shot on duty this year. As of Thursday afternoon, police were still looking for the suspect, described according to Kelly as “a black male in his 20s, about 5-foot-9, thin build, with his hair braided in corn rows, and wearing a black T-shirt with red basketball shorts with beige stripes.”

She was barely soaking in her victory — having addressed the crowd at Williamsburg’s East River Bar shortly before 11 p.m. — and was piling her plate with meatballs, roast chicken, fried fish, pasta salad, rice and some kind of lasagna at a buffet set up in the bar’s backyard.

“We beat him in his own district! In his base! Cypress Hills!” she said. “The question was turnout and how well we would do in the Hasidic community. But I’m going to work and represent the entire community.”

Her campaign manager, Anthony Thomas, said the keys to victory were decisive wins in Brownstone Brooklyn and the Lower East Side, and keeping pace with Dilan in Hasidic Williamsburg, where Velazquez picked up about 40 percent of the vote.

Turnout had indeed been low throughout the district.

Poll watcher Dorothy Siegel said that voter turnout in Brooklyn Heights was the lowest she had ever seen. And voters were slow to get to the polls in parts of southside Williamsburg and Bushwick.

Councilwoman Diana Reyna, who herself enjoyed a raucous primary night three years ago after defeating a Vito Lopez-backed candidate, said that she believed the Brooklyn Democratic chairman had been counting on a low turnout to help Dilan, but that even he thought Nydia was going to win.

“Vito approached a volunteer at my polling site and said, ‘Of course she’s going to win, she had eight pieces of mail and three negative pieces in the final days of the campaign,’” said Reyna.

Just after midnight, City Comptroller John Liu stopped by to congratulate Nydia and pose for a half-dozen photographs.

“I’ve been on the campaign trail with a lot of people and it’s really hard to keep up with Nydia,” he said. “Congratulations to Nydia and congrats to all of us. This is Nydialand!”

To read more from City & State click here.

155 Rivington St. (btw Clinton & Suffolk)

NYC, NY 10002

(212) 533-1810

Bathroom situation – 2 in the way back part, both unisex. The one on the left is huge and tatted up. The one on the right has a missing doorknob, but it’s ok cuz the knob-hole has been filled in with duct tape and you can hold the door closed from the toilet if you have to sit down (so that’s a big “Phew!” for the ladies, I’d imagine).
Takes credit cards? – Yeah they do, but don’t do that. Speaking of “don’t”…how many folks out here thought it was “Downtown Abbey” for the longest?
Crowded on weekends? – oh hell yeah, fuckin’ right. Exhausting those max capacity signs is a must.
Seating – 4ish booths on the left wall, 8-10ish stools at the bar, and room for a small bachelor party in the bathroom on the left side. Oh yeah, as mentioned above, the one on the left is big. Plus it has a functional lock.
Neighborhood – so close to the heart of the LES that you may as well be suckin its tits on the subway (right, Blossom?).
Pretentious/assholes – Visceralist didn’t get the “Really? No, really?” eye-roll last time we were here, so we’ll give this a pregnant “nah” for now…
Cost of Stella – $5, but bottle only. That’s below market rate, but it’s still bottle only, so…eh.
What time people start showing up – about 90 minutes after your friends said they were getting there.
Bartender efficiency – legit. Despite all your fog machines and light reflecting off those disco balls, the bartenders here got your back for rill rill.
Official Website – none. Which is actually kinda ill ill.
Food? How late – none, but Pok-Pok Wing is right down the street, so get creative.
TVs? What’s on – they have an ironic(?) video screen just above the bar that was showing some Russ Meyer foolishness last time Visceralist was here.
Guy:girl ratio – Even Steven.
Toys – there’s probably some fun to be had with that no-knob toilet in the back, on the right.
Age of clientele – young ladies in those black leather jackets and the weathered, long-haired burnouts that tolerate them.
Space for dancing? – surprisingly no, considering they have a substantially-elevated DJ booth in the front window. The layout just isn’t conducive to learning how to Dougie.
Music medium, style & volume – whatever the ‘80s equivalent of the Killers/Bravery/Panic! triumvirate of awesome was.
Specials or most popular drink – a tall pint glass of “God damn, you’re still here!? (eye-roll)”

To read more from The Viceralist visit www.visceralist.com