By Nora Bosworth

Two barbells lie beneath a peeling bench, bound by a rusty chain that allows just enough room to lift them if one should choose, though it’s such a forlorn sight it’s hard to imagine anyone has actually done so in recent years. This is the current “exercise area” of Tompkins Square Park.The weights are emblematic of the general disrepair throughout Tompkins, which is not immediately noticeable but lies in the details – or lack thereof – amidst the historical site.

The nature of the park may very well change, however, over the next few years. On Thursday, Community Board 3 voted unanimously to support the East Village Parks Conservancy’s preliminary efforts to plan a multi-million dollar renovation to the 10.5 acres of green space.

The Conservancy hopes not only to replace the park’s rundown and decrepit bits, but also to give it the “design integrity” that it had before renovations in the 1990s “stripped the park of its elegant historic character.”

Tompkins Square Park in 2007. Photo by Daniel Avila.

Roland Legiardi-Laura, Co-Chair of the East Village Parks Conservancy, and Gail Witter-Laird, Landscape Architect for the East Village Parks Conservancy, presented the proposal, which is still in its very first stages.

Legiardi-Laura, who also lives right next to Tompkins, expressed their reason for appearing before Community Board 3 bluntly:
“After twenty-two years of use we really think its time to rethink [the park]. We know its a long process; we need your letter of support.” “We are just here to plant the seed,” added Witter-Laird.

She explained that the park’s original details were lost a couple decades ago, when the city took an industrial and utilitarian approach to fixing up the area – installing, for instance, a chain-link fence, which Legiardi-Laura called “prison-like”.

“A lot of the time when people see the park they don’t necessarily see it as a historical park, and I think thats to a large degree the way it was renovated in the nineties,” said Witter-Laird. “It didn’t give attention to the details that make it a historic park.”

The plan comes at a strategically wise time. The Landmark Preservation Council recently declared East 10th street between Avenue A and Avenue B, which borders the park, a landmark district. If part of Tompkins’ perimeter is officially a landmark then the park itself no doubt merits repairs and enhancements, the Conservancy reasons.

“None of us were around in the thirties and forties and fifties when those historic details were taken out,” said Witter-Laird. “I think its time to start to think about the park as part of that landmark district and something we want to preserve and protect.”

Advocates want to remove chain link fences in the park

Moreover, during the last twenty years, almost all of lower Manhattan’s significant parks and squares have been reconstructed: City Hall Park, Union Square, Madison Square, East River Park, Washington Square, Battery Park, Sara Roosevelt Park and the recently renovated Stuyvesant Square Park. Sprucing up Tompkins would just be a continuation of this momentum.

The Conservancy’s plan currently has three stages, according to their presentation. In the first phase the park’s perimeter would be rebuilt, smoothing out the pavement, curbs, and improving the fencing. They would also fortify protections around the fauna, and plant more trees.

A renovation would fix broken sidewalks around the park

The second piece of the plan focuses more on aesthetic improvements. The organization proposes improving the soils and the drainage system, building decorative fencing, and adding granite curbs. The Conservancy also wishes to restore the lawns, increase lighting, preserve the monuments, and – East Villagers rejoice – “reduce rat habitat.” In the final stage the group envisions adding new outdoor fitness equipment, (lonely barbells do not an exercise area make), installing a bike share station, and rebuilding the “comfort station and maintenance area”.

“I’ve been into the bowels of the park house with the former supervisors, and everything there needs to be done from the ground up,” said Witter-Laird.

Prior to the Conservancy’s petition, the board spent over an hour hearing from Friends of Gulick Park, the organization that has been spearheading the reconstruction of Luther Gulick Park & Playground.

In his speech, Legiardi-Laura praised the progress that Friends of Gulick Park have made, saying, “We’re very impressed to see what you guys have done with Gulick park – we want to sort of model ourselves off of your model, in including the community. “

Perhaps this desire to garner community support is why the Conservancy’s current proposal is still quite vague; they are waiting to see how the public takes to the idea of fixing up Tompkins. The plan was already announced on an East Village blog, EVGrieve.com, where residents’ reactions were mixed. One member expressed concern that a beautified park would mean a spike in real estate prices. Another wrote: “I feel like I am in jail with all the tall black fences,” echoing Legiardi-Laura’s sentiment.

More practical matters, like where funding will come from – the Conservancy projected that the process would cost between ten and fifteen million dollars – remains to be seen. Yet the board’s approval of the Conservancy’s efforts to forge a plan may mark the beginning of an enormous opportunity. Witter-Laird ended her address with a hopeful nod toward the future.

“I think we’ve done so much in lower Manhattan, and I think this is a missing piece, and we’re just here to put that missing piece in everybody’s wish list, and have support going forward in advocating for the park,” she said. “The process of what we do first, and who we do it with – that’s all to come.”

By Helaina Hovitz

It’s a brisk Saturday morning in April, and a group of inner city students are rehearsing a musical of their own making at East Side Community High School on 12th Street and 1st Avenue.

This story doesn’t seem unique, at first, but the production isn’t your typical high school musical.

Among this group are teens who have endured abuse in all its forms, been kicked out of their homes because of their sexual orientation, and have become caretakers for their siblings because their own parents are addicts. The Possibility Project has brought them all together to sing about these and other experiences, hoping to help them transform the negative forces in their lives into means for positive change, raising awareness for these and other issues through the performing arts.

Throughout the ten-month school year, kids ages 13-19 learn to build relationships across differences, resolve their conflicts in peaceable ways, and engage in community improvement projects while writing and performing an original musical inspired by the stories of their lives. This year’s musical, “Home Free,” at El Museo del Barrio at 1250 Fifth Avenue, will be performed from April 25-28, and addresses the themes of poverty, bullying, homelessness, gun violence, and death, among other problems that most of the kids have previously never spoken about to anyone.

Photo by Christopher Smith

“These students go through traumatic life-altering events like abandonment and sexual abuse, and they blame themselves,” said Jeff Flowers, the program’s artistic director. “They think they’re alone until they get here and realize that other people have gone through something similar, and they see that there isn’t something inherently wrong with them.”

Not all of their young people are “troubled,” however, according to the program’s founder and president, Paul Griffin.

“The adolescent years are an emotional time, no matter what the circumstances, and the collision of vulnerability and responsibility can often play out in destructive forms,” said Griffin. “We try to bring together a diverse group, some who are struggling and some who are not, so they can learn from each other,” he explained.

Kids are selected for the program based on their availability, willingness to collaborate, and concern for various issues, rather than on talent or ability.

Isamar Ubiera, 18, a member of this year’s Production Team, said that the experience of hearing everyone’s story is always powerful and intense.

“You wouldn’t know these things happened to them, not even to your own friends, because it’s not something you’d normally talk about,” she said. “But we can’t change without knowing what the problem is.”

The next step is helping the teens figure out how to use what they’ve been through to create positive social change. The Production Team, a group of youth from the previous year’s cast, work with the staff to write the script for a show with six vignettes that relate to the youth’s personal stories.

“We believe our shows should be on the level of Broadway,” said Flowers. “People come in with low expectations because they’re kids. They think it’s a talent show, but it’s not. It’s risky. This show has edge.”

Because the themes are so intense, they must be dealt with carefully.

Photo by Christopher Smith

“You can’t just throw rape and violence at an audience,” said Kelly Claus, director of operations. “When you live in a hard world, it’s hard to see that hope is possible, but the show has to be about hope, too, not just hurt.”

Students also participate in Community Action Projects twice a year by choosing an issue of concern and designing a challenge to raise awareness for it. Last June, one group took a sex-ed game show to Union Square Park, and had no trouble finding participants wiling to answer questions about the effectiveness of a condom vs. the pull-out method.

Another group took their project up to 125th Street, fashioning a coffin out of individual cardboard tombstones, asking passerby if they’ve ever lost anyone to gun violence, and, if so, to write their name on the tombstone. Participation there was high, too.

Flunking out of school and often years behind, when young people see they can commit to the Project, they see that they also have the ability to follow through with school, which many participants ultimately go back and finish. Their grades improve, and practical skills like time management, goal setting and future planning also become part of their repertoire. For many, relationships with family and friends also improve.

“Even if I don’t feel like waking up on a Saturday, I don’t want to let my friends down,” said Ashley Rivera, 17, who attends East Side Community High School. “If I break my commitment, my classmates will look at me as someone who gives up too easily.”

Rivera, who lives on the Lower East Side, says that she is shy by nature and didn’t talk much before the program. Now, she is slowly coming out of her shell.

“I’m gaining the confidence to speak up,” she said.

Unless they join the Production Team, the program caps after two years of involvement.

Photo by Christopher Smith

“We don’t want them to become too dependent on us,” said Claus. “We want them to go out into the world and put what they’ve learned into action.”

The Possibility Project grew out Paul Griffin’s Washington, D.C. based City at Peace program, which he created in response to a lack of action ameliorating the rising tide of youth violence and racial division. Griffin moved to NYC in 2000 and began building the program here for the same reasons.

“These kids need a way to experience what they’ve been through as a way to understand the world around them,” said Flowers, speaking to the program’s ultimate goal. “Here, they find their purpose. We’re teaching them that they have choices…that there are possibilities out there for them.”

A plan by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to generate much-needed revenue through land leasing has been met with uproar from public housing tenants and elected officials.

NYCHA’s land leasing plan involves eight different sites and 325,000 square feet of land, including public open space and at least one community center. The ground lease, which lasts for 99 years, would allow developers to build on the land while it remains under NYCHA ownership. NYCHA says this plan would generate 30 to 50 million dollars annually, or two percent of the organization’s unmet capital.

The land leasing program involves primarily development of housing, including 4,000 private housing units with 80 percent at market rate and 20 percent permanently affordable units. NYCHA residents will receive priority for the new housing. Some of the development will also involve commercial space.

According to public housing residents and elected officials who showed up to a City Council hearing last week, NYCHA is moving forward too quickly with the ground leasing plan and refusing to address tenants’ numerous concerns.
City Council member Rosie Mendez is one elected official outspoken in opposing the plan as it currently stands.

“NYCHA should wait longer so residents can review [the plan], adequately respond and have the opportunity to stop it if they so decide,” she said. “There is a difference between getting feedback and doing something with that feedback.”

She added that residents of public housing have concerns about every single aspect of the plan and should have been consulted from the very beginning of its formulation.

NYCHA Chairman John Rhea said the organization is facing aging housing stock and the rent they collect only provides half of their operating costs.

“We’ve seen a dramatic change in assistance received from government officials,” he explained. “There has been a precipitous decline in federal government funding.”

He explained while other cities would resort to reducing public housing stock, “preserving public housing is the only proven option in New York City.”

“There are not enough options for low income families, this mission is more relevant than ever before,” explained Rhea. “Given the pressures faced by the government on all levels, we must find ways to chart our own path and do more with less.”

“Preservation comes with tradeoffs and hard decisions,” he added.

Nonetheless, City Council officials and tenants have made their views clear.

Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh said: “While we’re fighting at the state level, we need to make sure NYCHA cannot unilaterally sell off NYCHA housing.”

“Decisions of this significance need a full hearing,” said Kavanagh. “A real process means at the end of the day there’s a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’”

Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito noted 2,000 children attend a community center which would be eliminated by the plan, and questioned where they would go instead. She said a full review would be done for luxury condos, and the same courtesy must be given for public housing.

Jane Wisdom, President of the Frederick Douglass Houses, said she is overwhelmed by NYCHA’s actions.

“They’re pushing us and the tenants are very upset,” said Wisdom. “We worry about the quality of life, we want time.”

Lela Santiago, a senior tenant at the Meltzer Houses said NYCHA has been tricking tenants by using sign-in forms at their meetings as a display of consent, while many tenants show up just to be informed or voice their disapproval of the plan.

“There is no tenant involvement,” she said. “They manipulate us.”

Despite concerns by tenants, Rhea assured community members every cent generated by the plan will be used for capital improvement. NYCHA says it will create permanent jobs for its residents, not demolish a single building and avoid increasing rent or hurting anyone’s current work situation. Rhea added tenants’ relationships with their landlords will not be affected by the plan and the plan will not go forward without full engagement with all residents, council members and stakeholders.

“This is our single largest opportunity to make money to reinvest in public housing and the time to act is now,” said Rhea. “The challenges aren’t going anywhere and become more urgent with every year that passes.”

The Beth Hamedrash Hagodol synagogue (BHH) on the Lower East Side is in obvious ruin. The facade is crumbling, windows have been blown out and behind the barbed wire fence, trash and leaves have been accumulating for years.

The synagogue was closed down five years ago by Rabbi Mandl Greenbaum when it was deemed no longer habitable, and has suffered under the strain of significant natural disasters and serious neglect.

As the first Eastern European synagogue in America, BHH was once the epicenter of the vibrant immigrant Jewish community.

While groups often attempt to gain landmark status for buildings with important historical ties, BHH already has landmark status as of 1967 – but some, including the congregation’s leadership, want out.

This past winter, the heads of the congregation, including Rabbi Greenbaum, filed an application with the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) seeking to demolish the landmark and erect in its place a mixed-use building with residential space.

In the application, they stated they could not amass the necessary funds to restore the building.

“There are simply no private or public entities that are able to commit the needed resources and the Congregation simply can no longer do it alone,” notes the application. “Calamities that can strike any building have twice victimized the Synagogue. The cost of renovation is now in the millions.”

The application lays out plans to build a mixed-use building, while maintaining historical and religious qualities of the landmark and continue serving the community in a meaningful way.

“The residential portion of the development would generate the needed funds to construct the new Synagogue in a manner that reflects its landmark qualities,” the application explains.

Rabbi Greenbaum told the Lo-Down blog in an interview he had done everything in his power to save the landmark.

For community members trying to preserve the synagogue, the demolition is unacceptable. Groups like Friends of the Lower East Side say they do not want to see BHH razed to make room for luxury condos. The organization alleges Rabbi Greenbaum has refused funding and allowed the synagogue to fall into disrepair.

Rabbi Ben Zion-Saydman is one community member with close personal ties to the synagogue. His great grandfather, Ben-Zion Meltsner, came to America from Lithuania in 1871 and settled on the Lower East Side. He became affiliated with BHH along with much of his extended family. Rabbi Zion-Saydman’s great grandfather, a leader in the immigrant Jewish community, was president of BHH in 1900.

Rabbi Zion-Saydman, who grew up in California, visited New York City in high school and stumbled upon the synagogue.

“As a rabbi I don’t believe in coincidence,” he explained. “At that point, I had no idea the old shul still existed. It was beshert — meant to be. I joined the synagogue that year and completed the circle.”

The rabbi said the grassroots effort by individuals and organizations to save the synagogue has galvanized the community in support of the cause. Many reached out to him to offer their personal historical ties to the synagogue and express their horror that a significant landmark would be transformed into condos, of which they believe the city already has enough, he explained.

“BHH is not like any other building,” said the rabbi. “It is a symbol of the American Jewish experience. It is us.”

However, he does not see the synagogue going anywhere anytime soon. Rabbi Zion-Saydman said there is a plan in place for the synagogue to continue serving its community though he is unable to divulge the details.

“[BHH] represents 163 years of the American Jewish experience and is a vital part of our history and a direct connection to the life of our ancestors in the Old Country,” he said. “We are an ancient people who understand and respect history. To us, BHH is an important link in the chain that connects us all the way back to Sinai.”

The hearing by the LPC on the application will take place at the end of March.

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.

New Park Snacks

Come spring, Hudson River Park will be offering new food and drink options throughout the park. According to the recently released Request for Proposals, which will be open until March 15, the West Side park is looking for bids for seven new food carts and trucks to be located in various locations including Battery Park City, Hell’s Kitchen and Hudson Square. These new additions will more than double the six mobile food vendors currently operating in the vicinity. According to DNAinfo.com, the Hudson River Park Trust is interested in certain vendors that offer food and drink at affordable rates. Specifically, they want vendors that charge $2 or less for at least two items. The Hudson River Park Trust is hoping that not only will the low prices improve visitor satisfaction; the monetary increase from monthly fees will help with the projected $80 million deficit. Hudson River Park is looking to have these mobile vendors up and running by May 1.

Manhattan Rental Market Report

Real estate brokerage firm MNS has released its January 2013 Manhattan Rental Market Report. MNS specializes in the sale, rental and marketing aspect of residential properties in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the report focuses on market summary, inventory analysis and trend prices.

As far as downtown neighborhoods are concerned, Soho, Tribeca, the Lower East Side and Harlem yielded the most interesting finds. In terms of average prices, Soho was ranked most expensive for non-doorman studios, and one- and two-bedrooms in doorman buildings. While the non-doorman studios were most expensive, rent for doorman studios in Soho had the second largest decrease in all of Manhattan. Tribeca was ranked most expensive for non-doorman one- and two-bedrooms (even with a 1.9 percent decrease in two bedrooms) and for doorman studios. While Tribeca’s doorman studios had the highest mean studio rental prices in all of Manhattan, the rent price for non-doorman studios had the largest decrease in Manhattan by far at 32.9 percent due to a 43 percent fall in inventory. Soho and Tribeca were the only two neighborhoods in Manhattan to experience a crisscross of studio price trends between doorman and non-doorman, and both switches happened between this past December and January.

Doorman studios on the Lower East Side had the highest price increase in all of Manhattan at 26.1 percent. The yearly basis average increase shows that rents were raised by $225 or 8 percent. In the past month alone, rents were raised $207 due to a fall in inventory.

If you want to live in Manhattan, this report shows that Harlem is the place to be. It was ranked least expensive in all of Manhattan and experienced a drop in rent of at least $49 across all studios, one bedrooms and two bedrooms. One-bedrooms in both doorman and non-doorman buildings experienced the highest drop of $78. “Rents are lower in this area compared to other desirable places in Manhattan, so any renters interested in going uptown should not wait around,” MNS said in its statement.

The 2011 NYPD data on the controversial policy bears out common criticism of the practice

The NYPD recently re-released citywide Stop and Frisk data from 2011 that reinforce what many opponents of the controversial policy have criticized: Almost 90 percent of all people stopped and frisked citywide in 2011 were minorities. The statistics were re-released just in time for the trial next month that will determine the legality of this police practice.

The statistics, which were also divided by precinct, showed that minorities were even more likely to be stopped in neighborhoods with higher percentages of white residents, like the Lower East Side. In the 1st precinct, even though blacks and Latinos only make up 27 percent of the population, they constituted 85 percent of all stops. In the 9th precinct, blacks and Latinos make up almost half of the population, while almost three-quarters of all stop and frisks in 2011 were black and Latinos.

“It’s not really ‘I don’t like you because you’re black or Latino’; it’s ‘I see you as a potential criminal,’” said Babe Howell, a professor at CUNY School of Law explaining her theory on the numbers. “If you stop a black or Latino kid, chances are you aren’t stopping someone who will be related to the mayor or a city council member.”

But according to Robert Gangi, the director of PROP, the Police Reform Organization Project, people on the street can only be stopped if they look suspicious, or are committing a crime. In addition, police can also stop an individual if they fit the description of a known criminal in the area. Gangi said that although this practice is legal, sometimes police officers go over the top.

“There’s a lot of pressure for police to meet their quotas and in a desperate effort to do so, they will engage in unwarranted or illegal stops,” said Gangi.

NYPD statistics show that not only did stop and frisks increase steadily from over 540,000 in 2008 to almost 686,000 in 2011, but crime has also steadily decreased. Murders are down 43 percent, and this year, on Nov. 26, not a single person was reported stabbed, shot or slashed, according to the NYPD.

Nick Viest, the chair of the 19th precinct community council on the Upper East Side said that he supports the NYPD Stop and Frisk policies.

“From what I’ve witnessed, they’ve handled these things very professionally and appropriately,” said Viest. “When you look at these statistics at face value, people get concerned, but they are responding to specific descriptions. They are doing the job necessary to keep the community safe.”

As far as stopping those who fit a certain description, Victor Goode, a professor at the CUNY School of Law, said that he doesn’t quite buy that explanation.

“Let’s say there a report of purse snatching [by] a young African-American male, 14-16 years old,” said Goode. “When the suspect is characterized as broadly as that, it gives them an excuse to stop almost anyone.”

Next month, Darius Charney, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, and his colleagues, will try to challenge the constitutionality of NYPD Stop and Frisk practices like these. However, he did stress that Stop and Frisk is not an illegal police tactic in and of itself.

“Their argument that black and Latino people are more likely to commit crimes is not the best, because these are law abiding folks that are being stopped,” said Charney. “Are you saying that black and Latinos are more likely to look suspicious?”

The trial, “Floyd vs. The City of New York,” a class action lawsuit, is set to begin on March 11.

We asked the state senators and assembly members from our neighborhoods to respond to Gov. Cuomo’s State of the State address

Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered his annual State of the State speech, addressing a population that had recently been shaken by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and the unthinkable violence of the school shooting in nearby Newton, Conn. The governor proposed a bevy of sweeping legislative changes to bolster the state’s economy, strengthen the public education system, and crack down on guns and assault weapons. We spoke to state legislators from Manhattan to find out how the governor’s proposals might affect New York City residents and how these leaders plan to follow through on these important issues.

Sen. Liz Krueger, Upper East Side

“I was thrilled to see Gov. Cuomo commit to moving key items in my own legislative agenda, especially a comprehensive women’s equality package including several key measures I’ve sponsored or supported.

“Fair pay, workplace fairness, reproductive health, preventing domestic violence—these are priorities I’ve fought for since I joined the Senate, and I welcome Gov. Cuomo’s leadership and hope he can help us break through the deadlock in Albany that has prevented real action on too many of these issues.

“I was happy to see Gov. Cuomo continue his commitment to passing a comprehensive gun control package including a stronger assault-weapons ban.”

Assembly Member Micah Kellner, Upper East Side

“Gov. Cuomo put forward a progressive agenda to make New York a model for equality, innovation, education and technology. I look forward to working with him and his administration to implement the toughest assault weapons ban in the nation, enact meaningful campaign finance reform, provide equality for women and raise the minimum wage for working New Yorkers.

“Encouraging new businesses to thrive in New York City is something I have long promoted as the sponsor of an Angel Investor Tax Credit, which provides tax incentives to individuals who invest in startups so that companies that develop in New York remain in New York. The governor’s proposed “innovation hot spots”—tax free zones to ensure new technologies developed in New York are commercialized here—is an exciting idea, which could not come at a better time as the new Cornell-Technion campus breaks ground on Roosevelt Island.”

Assembly Member Dan Quart, Upper East Side

“I support the governor’s broad thinking on education issues. The governor’s competitive grant program will allow public schools the opportunity to reimagine their school days with more instructional time. Families who are looking for a longer school day or year will be able to find a public school that can provide those things.

“I applaud the governor for taking a strong stand against gun violence in New York. I support a policy of using the state’s buying power to curb the sale of semi-automatic machine guns. As the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to contacts for firearms for the New York State Police, Gov. Cuomo can and should leverage the state’s buying power against gun manufacturers who have prioritized profits over the safety of New Yorkers.”

Sen. Adriano Espaillat, Upper West Side, Manhattan Valley, Washington Heights

“As the sponsor of legislation to raise the minimum wage, I was heartened to hear Gov. Cuomo express his support for this initiative, which will help millions of New Yorkers rise out of poverty and be able to better make ends meet.

“I commend the governor for his commitment to enacting swift gun reform legislation. As the sponsor of legislation to restrict gun sales and strengthen our gun laws, I am pleased to join the governor in calling for strong reform to gun laws that will make New York’s the toughest in the nation.

“I applaud Gov. Cuomo for his decision to direct $1 billion toward the production and preservation of affordable housing in New York City.

“Additionally, I strongly support the governor’s call for a Women’s Equality Act, ensuring that all women have true equality regardless of gender.

“Finally, I also commend Gov. Cuomo for his call to invest in the future, by educating our youth, including a plan for fully funded pre-K.”

Sen. Brad Hoylman, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, Upper West Side, Midtown/East Midtown, the East Village and Lower East Side

“I am heartened by the governor’s renewed call for an assault weapons ban and other measures to fix New York’s porous gun laws, especially in light of the tragedy at Sandy Hook and the spate of gun violence across New York City last summer. The governor’s Women’s Equality Act, which includes support for pay equity, is a bold effort to end discrimination and inequality based on gender, and I appreciate his strong call for passage of the Reproductive Health Act to protect women’s right to choose. I was also pleased to hear his plan to lessen the harm caused by the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy by decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana and advance campaign finance reform through the public financing of elections.

“The creation of a $1 billion affordable housing fund appears promising, although we also need measures to strengthen rent regulation laws, which have been bottled up by special interests for many years. And while I’m pleased to hear of the governor’s support for increasing the minimum wage to help address the growing gap between the rich and poor in our state, working families will not see a lasting benefit if we fail to index any increase to inflation.”

Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, Upper West Side

“I was pleased to hear Gov. Cuomo outline an aggressively progressive platform for New York state. While it should not have taken the tragedy of Sandy Hook to begin the long-overdue conversation on guns that we are currently having, I am glad that New York state, which already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, will act to make them tougher. I am eager to cast my vote in the affirmative on a comprehensive package of common-sense gun laws.

“During these tough economic times, it is critical that we raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation to help build ladders to the middle class by guaranteeing that hard-working families are paid a fair wage for a day’s work. Recognizing the role that gender-based discrimination plays in economic security for women and their families, I was pleased to hear the governor focus on achieving real pay equity in New York state. I am the prime sponsor of legislation that would equalize the pay gap that still exists for women employed in stereotypically female-dominated fields, and look forward to working with the governor to pass this and a number of other reforms to end gender-based discrimination and also violence against women and girls. In addition to pay equity, I am excited that the governor will be seeking passage of the Reproductive Health Act as part of a broader Women’s Equality Act, which would focus on protections for victims of domestic violence, sexual harassment and human trafficking.”

Assembly Member Deborah Glick, Greenwich Village and Tribeca

“I’m very excited about the governor’s strong position on women’s equality. I will be working with a broad coalition to ensure that his agenda on women is passed in the Assembly. In addition, measures to increase the minimum wage and close gun loopholes are crucial.”

Sen. Daniel Squadron, Lower Manhattan

“New Yorkers are crying out for the common sense protections that will help keep our streets and our families safe from gun violence. I’ve long supported legislation that would close major gaps in our assault weapons ban—including the weapon used in Newtown and Webster. There is simply no reason for civilians to carry these military-style weapons. I applaud the governor for making a tougher assault weapons ban part of his proposal.

“In addition, I stand with Senate Democrats, the Assembly and the governor in support of microstamping. Blocking the bill means depriving police of a vital, cost-effective tool to connect shell casings with their guns. It’s simply mind-boggling that Senate Republicans would continue to block microstamping and let hundreds of murder and gun violence cases go unsolved each year.
“I also applaud the governor for highlighting the in-plain-view marijuana possession statute and the inconsistent way it’s enforced. In large parts of our city, entire communities feel like suspects targeted by law enforcement rather than citizens protected by it. The governor’s proposal to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana in public view would be a critical step toward ending these inequities.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Lower East Side

“As our Lower Manhattan community continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy, I commend the governor’s call for strengthening our infrastructure, such as subways, and I will continue to join my fellow elected officials to demand that Congress end its delays and release the aid that our residents so desperately need. I was also very pleased that the governor said he would join the Assembly in enacting serious and meaningful gun safety legislation. We in the Assembly have passed comprehensive gun reforms year after year, including bills to strengthen our state’s assault weapons ban, require the micro-stamping of shell casings to help police track guns used in crimes, keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and many other common sense measures. As one of our state’s leading advocates for universal pre-K, I commend the governor for joining our effort to make greater investments in our children, especially here in New York City.”

By Elian Zach

When a perfect meal knocks at your door wearing nothing but a plastic bag and a smile, you can’t help but be seduced, let it in and have your way with it.

I’m not a winter person. I was born and raised in Israel, where it’s sunny and snow-free almost year-round, and where people’s idea of “bad weather” is 55 degrees with an hour of rain a week. I am, however, a big soup enthusiast. Though somewhat inappropriate at 104 degrees and 100 percent humidity, we have a lot of soup in the Holy Land. When the first rain hits the ground, my mom/personal chef concocts a selection of surprising and eclectic soups; hearty mushroom, creamy sweet potato, and spicy bean soups are scarfed down by the Zach clan, as rich aromas of spices and family fill my childhood home.

My sister and co-foodie, Elinor, who moved to New York four years before I did, introduced me to the magic of Ramen, the climax of soupism. Together we scouted for the most exciting variations of the Japanese noodle dish around the city.

One chilly winter night, Elinor Skyped me from her apartment, two blocks away from mine, her eyes twinkling with the kind of passion reserved for a woman in love. “I have found the perfect Ramen,” she declared with joy. “Tt’s amazing, amazing, amazing!” Elinor is the only person whose food critique I never question. If she says something is dreamy – it must be true.

A year later, my BSF (best sister forever) made a life-altering decision to give the motherland another shot. She moved back to Tel-Aviv, and left me all alone in the concrete jungle, scared, longing, and a little hungry.

When power and Wi-Fi were restored post-Sandy, all I wanted was to stay home, take a long, hot bath, and turn the lights on and off, just for kicks. Cold and in a solitary mood, I browsed SeamlessWeb for something comforting to eat during the latest episode of Homeland, when I stumbled upon Rai Rai Ken, the ramen joint Elinor was raving about. Homesick and sentimental, I placed my order. Neither my New York winter experience, nor culinary existence, has been the same since.

Elinor’s pick:

Mabo Ramen

With soft, diced tofu, ground pork, garlic, and soy-based broth, this unconventional twist for the classic is a “bowl fulla comfort.” The supple Chinese-style wheat noodles blend beautifully with the tender pieces of pork and cubes of silky tofu. Top that hot mess with Sriracha sauce (to be purchased at your local grocery store) for an added flare, and you got yourself a truly perfect winter meal, and a great excuse to stay in.

Price: $9.50

My additions:

Menma

This combination of marinated bamboo shoots, seaweed, scallion and red peppers in soy sauce, is the ultimate accompaniment for the scorching soup. This dish serves as a pause of freshness, to be eaten as either an appetizer, or a palate cleanser, in-between slurps.

Price: $4

Mango pudding

The only way to seal the meal is with this velvety dessert, which is just the right amount of sweet. The coconut milk moistens and refines, while the tapioca adds texture.  Seamless, indeed.

 Price: $4.50

Rai Rai Ken

218 East 10th Street

Hours: Sun-Thurs 12 p.m. -12 a.m.; Fri-Sat 12 p.m. -2 a.m.

Phone: (212) 477-7030

Lazy? Cold? Both? Enjoy it at home:

http://www.seamless.com/food-delivery/rai-rai-ken-new-york-city.23252.r

]]> http://nypress.com/the-best-seamless-delivery-ive-ever-had/feed/ 0 http://nypress.com/lower-east-side-leader-provided-direly-needed-help-post-sandy/ http://nypress.com/lower-east-side-leader-provided-direly-needed-help-post-sandy/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:40:44 +0000 NY Press http://nypress.com/?p=59693 David Garza worked with Henry Street Settlement team to keep food and assistance flowing in the wake of the storm

by Emily Johnson

In the first days after Hurricane Sandy, thousands in downtown Manhattan were stranded in cold, dark apartments. FEMA, flush with disaster relief funds, had the resources to send a truck with 22,000 much-needed meals to the Lower East Side.

But when it came to actually getting that food into the mouths of hungry New Yorkers, the agency looked to a local organization that has spent more than a century getting to know the neighborhood from the ground up.

“We realized the value of our Meals on Wheels distribution routes,” said David Garza, the executive director of Henry Street Settlement, a nonprofit social service agency that has served the Lower East Side since the late 1800s. “We are a coordinating entity that distributes 1,200 meals a day to seniors, so quite literally we could do that work in the dark.”

And they did. Working by candlelight and flashlight and relying on smartphones and social media to coordinate volunteers in the absence of power and Wi-Fi, Garza and his Henry Street team oversaw an exhaustive door-to-door relief effort. They printed out maps and mobilized a brigade of volunteers on bicycles to canvas each building and follow up with food deliveries.

“Obviously the most severe challenge was the power outage,” Garza said. “The LES is a vertical area. People being trapped in buildings was the obvious and immediate concern. So we focused on identifying where and who needed supplies—for example, we’d get a tweet saying, ‘I have an old relative stuck in this apartment, can you help?’”

In many ways, the relief effort was not much of a departure from business as usual for Henry Street Settlement, which runs residential facilities, assists with job placement and offers senior services and youth programs to the largely low-income community. But Garza had never before encountered this level of need.

“People here always live on the precipice of poverty,” Garza said. “But what the storm has done is intensify that so they have to choose between food and rent. I was overwhelmed a couple of times. At one point literally right in front of Henry Street where we were distributing food … people were civil, but the need was palpable as lines formed. That really hit home. How incessant the need was.

It really struck me, ‘Thank God we’re here, what would they be doing?’”

During the blackout, Garza drove into the city daily at 5:30 a.m. to beat the HOV lane restrictions and stayed well into the evening. He was in regular phone communication with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to articulate what steps needed to be taken.

The speaker, who nominated Garza for the OTTY Award along with Chris Kui of Asian Americans for Equality, called the men “passionate, hard-working, organized members of the community” and credited them with saving lives.

“As soon as the storm hit, David was in immediate contact with my office,” Silver said. “He mobilized volunteers. He mobilized trucks to pick up FEMA supplies, he also had volunteers knock on doors and the National Guard deliver food supplies, meals and water.”

When the power finally came back on, Garza said, it brought a memorable end to what for many had become paralyzing uncertainty.

“You would think your local team won the Super Bowl,” he said, smiling. “You could hear it out in the street. It was emotional, because it had been palpable that we were in crisis. That nor’easter was bearing down. It was getting dangerous.”

With the immediate crisis behind them, Henry Street Settlement is gearing its efforts to more long-term recovery efforts like counseling and cash assistance.

“The silver lining for me and for Henry Street is really the performance of our staff and the way we came together as community,” Garza said. “People forget the value of collaboration. It’s literally our founding principle. It’s comforting to know that 121 years later, that’s what it’s still all about.”