Congressional District 12, Carolyn Maloney vs. Chris Wight

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney

In this race for Congress, our endorsement goes to Democratic incumbent and prolific legislator U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Maloney has consistently delivered federal funding and services to her district, championing the Second Avenue Subway and other capital projects, working hard on the 9/11 Zadroga bill to grant healthcare to those affected by the terrorist attacks, and pushing against the Republican onslaught on women’s rights at the national level. While her Republican opponent Christ Wight has said that he is pro-choice, he doesn’t have a platform for promoting continued access to abortion and reproductive healthcare. Wight also toes the Republican line on cutting taxes and said that he would focus more on reducing corporate taxes than bringing federal dollars into the state and the district, which we believe would hurt, not help, the Upper East Side.

Senate District 28, Liz Krueger vs. David Garland

Sen. Liz Krueger

David Garland, a Republican and Independence Party candidate, presented a strong campaign with well-developed ideas for the Upper East Side. Garland, who speaks six languages and works at a management consultant for Fortune 500 companies, is a fiscal conservative, advocating for better use of tax incentives at the state level as well as reducing taxes for small businesses and corporations to keep them in New York. He also is a social libertarian, supporting gay marriage and reproductive and abortion rights. He is running, however, against a very strong opponent in State Senator Liz Krueger, and our endorsement goes to her in this race. Krueger has been a consistent champion of women’s rights as well as a powerful force in the Senate, as she serves as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee and could become the chair if her party takes the majority. She consistently provides excellent constituent services while diving into the weeds of budgets and complicated legislative issues, like the Reproductive Health Act that would move the state’s reproductive health laws from the penal to the civil code. While we support Sen. Krueger in this race, we hope to see David Garland continue in politics and would have considered endorsing him against a weaker Democratic candidate.

Senate District 31, Adriano Espaillat vs. Martin Chicon

We are declining to endorse either candidate in this race. While Republican Martin Chicon argued that he would be able to better serve the district as part of the (currently) majority party in the Senate and said that he would bring development and transit improvements to the district, we were not completely convinced that he would be the best representative for the Upper West Side’s heavily Democratic and liberal constituency. We are unable to endorse his opponent, incumbent Sen. Adriano Espaillat, however, since he did not make himself available for an endorsement interview.

Assembly District 76, Micah Kellner vs. Mike Zumbluskas

Assembly Member Micah Kellner

Democratic incumbent Micah Kellner presented a compelling case for promoting his reelection, specifically with an eye toward his advocacy on behalf of creating a new middle school in the district and his work against the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station. He also is supportive of raising the minimum wage as well as creating an angel investor tax credit, similar to what other states have implemented successfully, to keep tech innovators in New York. He is a strong opponent of hydrofracking in the state and said that he will continue to push to prevent or restrict it. His opponent, Mike Zumbluskas, is an Independent candidate running on the Republican line, and while he presented some ideas similar to Kellner, his emphasis on reducing taxes and challenging the Democratic majority in the Assembly were not strong enough reasons for voters to choose him. Despite the widely circulated rumor that he will be running for city council in 2013 (which he would neither confirm nor deny), we endorse Kellner in this race.

Assembly District 73, Dan Quart vs. David Casavis 

Assembly Member Dan Quart

In this race, we endorse the freshman incumbent Assemblyman Dan Quart. After winning the seat just over a year ago in a special election, Quart is running for a full term with a focus on improving the state and city’s energy policies and improving access to quality education on the Upper East Side. While we wish that Quart had presented a slightly stronger case for voters to return him to Albany, we also recognize that he’s only had a year in the job and we look forward to seeing what he can do if he wins reelection and had a full term to develop some of his positions and advance his ideas, especially in promoting green energy. His Republican opponent, David Casavis, who ran for Manhattan Borough President against Scott Stringer in 2009, presented little in the way of specific plans to help his district and almost no indication of the type of legislation he would pass, aside from opposing Democrats.

Assembly District 65, Sheldon Silver vs. Wave Chan 

Assembly Speaker Sheldon SIlver

While we wish that there were a stronger challenger running against all-powerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, our endorsement in this race still goes to him. Especially in light of his botched handling of the Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal, many argue that Silver’s iron-clad hold over the Assembly could use a shake-up, but the Tea Party Republican candidate Wave Chan isn’t the person to do that. Silver remains popular in his district and does advocate for his constituents’ needs, while Chan could only present vague ideas about severely cutting corporate taxes and encouraging new housing development without clear plans as to how he would specifically help the Lower East Side. He also would be a poor fit for a district with an active LGBT population, as he does not support gay marriage, only civil unions.

As kids prepare to go back to school, classroom crowding and the fight for more schools continues

As students back their backpacks and get ready for the school year that will kick off next week, parents and education advocates are gearing up to fight the continuing battle for quality public school education on the Upper East Side.

While the neighborhood, part of Community Education Council District 2, enjoys many top-notch public schools, overcrowding and budget tightening are constantly threatening the balance.

The biggest concern in the district is over the lack of school space for future classes.

“I think the questions of overcrowding continue to predominate on the Upper East Side, and that’s what we’re hearing most from parents,” said Council Member Dan Garodnick. “The inclusion of new school spaces will certainly help, but it does not eliminate the challenges that we have today.”

The district recently won a long-fought battle in gaining a new elementary school at the Our Lady of Good Counsel building on East 91st Street. Over the summer, DOE Chancellor Dennis Walcott joined U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Assembly Member Dan Quart at the official announcement of the DOE’s deal with the Catholic Archdiocese to lease the space for 15 years. The building had been the temporary home to P.S. 151, the Yorkville Community School, before it moved into its permanent location on East 88th Street, and then P.S. 51, which had relocated from Chelsea while its building was under construction. The DOE’s lease on the building had been set to expire this fall, and parents in the community pushed hard to renew the lease for a longer term. Now the building will be home to P.S. 527, helping alleviate some of the area’s elementary school crowding.

“School overcrowding remains a critical problem on the Upper East Side,” Quart said at the ceremony. “As enrollment rates continue to increase, it is crucial that school construction keep pace with this growth.” Quart had a real-life prop to back up his claim—his 5-year-old son, Sam, who will be attending the school as a kindergartener this fall—standing at the podium with him.

Shino Tanikawa, the president of the District 2 Community Education Council (CEC), said in a letter addressing this year’s upcoming challenges in the district that overcrowding continues to be a major concern.

“District 2 schools continue to be overcrowded even with new schools that have started in the last four years,” Tanikawa said. “This coming year, we will be rezoning the east side of Midtown for a new school located on First Avenue at 35th Street. Plans are under way for a new school in Chelsea and another in the Financial District and negotiations to acquire 75 Morton St. are ongoing.”

Most new school plans are for elementary schools, which is what the DOE says the district needs. Some parents and elected officials, however, say that the numbers don’t indicate the real picture of what the district needs, since it encompasses many different neighborhoods—the Upper East Side as well as most of Lower Manhattan.

Assembly Member Micah Kellner has been leading the charge to ask the DOE for a new middle school, petitioning local parents to get on board. He said that many parents with middle school-aged kids feel that they face a choice between private school and moving out to the suburbs instead of relying on public middle schools.

“I wish the DOE would stop playing games with middle school numbers and admit we need another middle school on the Upper East Side,” Kellner said.

Community Board 8’s Youth and Education Committee has also been pushing for a middle school, specifically that the building that houses P.S. 158, which will soon have space for another school, will use that space for a middle school.

“We’re ever watchful about what’s happening with P.S. 158 that it becomes a middle school. All the electeds have spoken out that they don’t want it to be a charter school,” said Judy Schneider, co-chair of the committee.

“In September the DOE is expected to release Educational Impact Statements for co-location [of charter schools],” said Tanikawa. “While it seems the elementary and middle schools in District 2 are spared from co-location, we still need to voice our concern for having elementary students with high school students in the same building, and for potential overcrowding that could result from co-location.”
One small victory that parents around the city are celebrating is the reinstatement of a program that was recently cut—Wellness in the Schools, which pairs professional chefs with public school cafeterias to create healthy, scratch-made menus for the kids. Earlier this week, DOE officials said that they would have to cut the program to ensure that all schools would be able to meet more stringent federal school lunch regulations or risk losing federal money. Thanks to an immediate outcry from parents and elected officials, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the DOE announced that it would keep the program and work with the schools and chefs on keeping the menus within guidelines.

Hydrofracking site in Lancaster, Penn.

By Megan Bungeroth & Mayara Guimaraes

The debate over hydrofracking has been raging in New York for years, and it may be coming to a head this year as Gov. Andrew Cuomo contemplates allowing the controversial drilling technique in the state for the first time.

The state currently has a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, but the governor has recently indicated that he would be open to allowing the process in certain areas of the state near the border with Pennsylvania, where fracking is already underway.

Fracking is a process used to extract natural gas from shale rock. Large volumes of water, chemicals and sand or ceramic beads are pumped into rock at high pressures, fracturing it and releasing the gas deposits that can then be piped to the surface. It’s a process that has been in practice in the oil and gas mining industries for decades, but a surge in natural gas production in recent years has put the latest hydrofracking methods into the national spotlight, and many New Yorkers don’t like what they’re seeing.

“While I understand the economic arguments in favor, those arguments do not take into account the potential costs—both economic and environmental—associated with fracking,” said State Sen. Liz Krueger. She’s been a vocal opponent of fracking in the state, as have many of her Upper East Side constituents.

“The experience of other states with ground and surface water contamination and well blowouts, concerns about the contents of fracking fluids and the significant damage to existing infrastructure that could result from allowing fracking are simply too great,” she said.
Problems in other states—contaminated drinking water being the gravest among them—have made New Yorkers especially cautious about allowing the process at home. The potential benefits, however, are what have been swaying some upstate lawmakers and landowners to lobby to allow fracking. Aside from the royalties offered to landowners in economically depressed areas of the state where farming has fallen by the wayside, allowing fracking has the potential to create jobs and tax revenue.

There’s also a large U.S. supply of natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal or oil. “You have to look at what’s available and what’s viable,” said Alan Herbst, a principal with Utilis Advisory Group, a New York-based oil and gas industry consulting company that has worked with many clients on fracking for natural gas.

“This checks off a lot of boxes. It’s clean, it’s cheap, it’s domestically available. Is it the perfect solution? Maybe not. But it’s something that’s been developed and it will lead up toward energy independence,” he said.

Some argue that energy companies should be investing in alternative fuels instead of pushing for more fracking.

“We’ve known that we need clean, renewable energy for a sustainable planet for a long time. But now, fracking and other extreme extractions are putting us in a precarious position because they’re giving us more fossil fuels at a very high price to our precious water, climate, ecosystems and environment,” said Elizabeth Kelley, a volunteer with the local anti-fracking group United For Action.
“They are delaying renewable energy development and they are taking climate change to the brink.”

Herbst said that while the industry and the state should be looking at other forms of fuel as well as large-scale energy conservation, natural gas will continue to be a big part of the United State’s energy plan for the foreseeable future.

“You can’t be against everything,” Herbst said. “You just can’t produce the power you need with solar and wind. It’s too expensive and it’s not what you call baseload—you can’t rely on it 24 hours a day.”

Upper East Side Assembly Member Micah Kellner has acknowledged the potential benefits of accessing the state’s natural gas reserves but urged the state to hold off until a thorough review can be completed.

“You are not talking about drilling for oil in places that have been used to drilling,” Kellner said. “We are talking about drilling in places throughout New York State—some of the last untouched land in the Northeast—that have never been disturbed.”

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is taking all of these factors into account as it conducts a Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) on hydrofracking—essentially a report on the potential impacts—and considers the 79,700 comments it has received from the public over two separate comment periods. The report should be completed by the end of the year.

The DEC recently came under scrutiny from several local lawmakers, including State Sens. Krueger and Tom Duane, for releasing some information about their study to the gas industry before making it public. Emily DeSantis, DEC’s spokeswoman, defended that decision.
“DEC has regularly and routinely met with environmental groups, industry, local government representatives and other stakeholders as it develops the final SGEIS for high-volume hydraulic fracturing,” DeSantis wrote in an email.

“Under the State Administrative Procedures Act, state agencies are required to assess the impacts of the regulatory action on the regulated entity. Agencies cannot gather this data without holding meetings and engaging in other forms of communication with the regulated community prior to proposing the regulation. Nothing in the regulations changed as a result,” she said.

Opponents of fracking argue that even strict regulations might not be enough to sufficiently protect the state’s water supply, and that the industry will find a way to get around the regulations regardless. Gas companies are seeking to drill the Marcellus Shale, the rock formation under which most of the region’s natural gas deposits sit. It also encompasses the watershed region in the Catskills from which New York gets most of its fresh water, and many argue that in order to protect the water supply, the state needs to maintain the outright moratorium on fracking that is currently in place.

Daniele Gerard, president of the Upper West Side’s Three Parks Independent Democrats, said there should be a hard line to protect the state’s water. “Water is a precious natural resource. We shouldn’t be injecting it with poisonous chemicals to obtain yet another fossil fuel. Energy companies should be using readily available technology to move wholesale to renewable energy and conservation measures,” she said.

The DEC won’t say what factors they are weighing in crafting their recommendations on hydrofracking, citing the ongoing scientific studies, but DeSantis did say that “if high-volume hydraulic fracturing moves forward in New York, it will do so with the strictest standards in the nation.”

That alone may be enough to keep the industry at bay, some argue, as other states open up for hydrofracking with more lax regulations.

“Given the intense interest and degree of concern expressed to date…it’s difficult to imagine that those restrictions would ever be relaxed regardless of pressure from industry,” said Telisport Putsavage, an environmental and energy law attorney with Sullivan & Worcester and former assistant counsel at the DEC.

“There are multiple shale formations and hydraulic fracturing opportunities in the United States, and I believe industry will ultimately gravitate toward the areas where resistance and regulation is less extensive, rather than continue to fight against what will most likely be the strictest regulatory regimen in the country.”

Synchronized Septuagenarians: The Harlem Honeys & Bears synchronized swimming team performs inside the Thomas Jefferson Park Pool to celebrate the expansion of the Senior Swim program to 14 outdoor public pools. The program runs through Aug. 24.

Espaillat Eyes Senate & Concedes to Rangel
City & State reports that State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, who conceded defeat on Monday in his contested primary race against Rep. Charles Rangel, declined to say whether he would run for re-election to the state Senate.

But Espaillat signaled that he would run for his seat, revealing at a press conference Monday that he had given district leaders permission to circulate petitions on his behalf after the June 26 congressional primary.

“I authorized some of the district leaders to begin circulating petitions after the 26th, after Election Day, and I will be considering my personal decision as to whether or not I will accept those signatures and move forward with re-election,” he told reporters outside his district office. “I promise you that in 48 hours, I will have that answer for you.”

Petitions to run for the state Senate and Assembly are due by Thursday.

A source close to Mark Levine, an Espaillat ally who had been planning to run for Espaillat’s seat, also confirmed the senator will run for re-election. The source said that Espaillat will use his own petition signatures and not get on the ballot through a Levine vacancy committee, as had been speculated.

During the campaign, Espaillat said he only had his sights on the congressional seat, not his own. Rangel, the longtime congressman who faced his toughest primary challenge in over four decades in office, seized on Espaillat’s comments, saying that he didn’t know where the senator would find a new job when he lost.

Whether he runs for re-election or not, Espaillat could be a serious candidate for Rangel’s congressional seat again in two years. Espaillat, who is Dominican, came within 1,000 votes of ousting the incumbent, capitalizing on changing demographics and redrawn lines that made Latinos a majority in the district.

“There’s no question I come out of this process strengthened,” Espaillat said. “I think two years down the line is a long time. I will not make a decision right here, but I feel very strongly that I have been strengthened in this process.”

Espaillat could also find himself taking on the state’s other leading Dominican elected official, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares. Linares said he would run for Espaillat’s state Senate seat after Espaillat announced his run for Congress, and reiterated his intention to run when Rangel initially declared victory.

The Nabe’s Bad Landlords
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio released his updated list of the city’s worst landlords last week, and four of the culprits are located on the Upper East Side.

The worst offender of the four is Golden State Holding, which according to de Blasio, operates a building at 408 E. 64th St. that has 16 units. The property has a total of 96 violations, placing it 38th on the list of the worst Manhattan buildings. The other locations on the list are M/S Capitol NY LLC, with an 81-unit building at 1531 York Ave.; 33-39 East 65th Street LLC, with a 48-unit building at 35 E. 65th St.; and 501 ½ East 83 Street LLC, with a building at the same address with 39 units.

“It takes years of neglect for a building to deteriorate to the point where it ends up on our Watch List. But with enough public pressure and strong tenant organizing, we can turn these buildings around and make life better for thousands of New Yorkers,” said de Blasio.
He began the list in 2010 in order to highlight repeat offenders and pressure landlords with dangerous conditions to make necessary repairs. According to de Blasio’s office, each entry on the list has a minimum of two hazardous housing code violations per unit, such as lack of heat or hot water, lead paint, toxic mold or broken plumbing.

For the Win For Now
While his lawsuit against Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council is still pending, Assembly Member Micah Kellner is touting a temporary win in the fight against building a new marine waste transfer station (MTS) at East 91st Street. Attorney Michael Cardozo, serving as corporation counsel for the city, signed a stipulation last week that prevents the city from doing any construction at the MTS site, where a defunct station and a community recreation facility, Asphalt Green, currently sit, until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approves the permits needed to start the project.

“We don’t know the true environmental impact of this transfer station,” Kellner said of the reason for his lawsuit, which demands that the city submit and receive approval on a new environmental impact statement that takes a larger capacity for waste processing into account. “We’re going to let a jury decide who was right on the law.”
The Army Corps must issue permits in order for the city to start construction because the proposed facility sits on a body of water.

Disabling the Training Wheels
A special training camp for children with disabilities will be held in New York City for the first time this summer. Lose the Training Wheels, a nonprofit organization that teaches people with disabilities to ride two-wheeled bicycles, is holding a free camp for children Aug. 6–10 in Brooklyn sponsored by the National Down Syndrome Society and the Lyle Foundation. The event will be held at the Aviator Sports & Event Center in Floyd Bennett Field, at 3159 Flatbush Ave.

The program uses special adaptive bicycles to gradually transition kids to riding regular two-wheeled bikes without assistance.
Participants must be at least 8 years old and have a disability. They must be able to walk without an assistive device and sidestep to both sides, as well as be under 220 pounds and have a minimum inseam measurement of 20 inches. All participants must be able to attend a 75-minute session for each of the five days of camp. Those with their own two-wheeled bikes are strongly encouraged to bring them the first day.
Registration is limited; email bikecampnyc@gmail.com for more information or to sign up.

Students in front of PS 158

Parents and politicians are clashing with the Department of Education (DOE) in a war of numbers and need on the Upper East Side. While residents insist that they must have another middle school and soon in the neighborhood, the DOE is holding parents at bay, pointing to data they say indicates that elementary school seats are in far higher demand.

The flashpoint of the debate currently rests in the hallways of the Bayard Taylor School, P.S. 158, on York Avenue between East 77th and 78th streets. That building’s annex most recently held the first classes of the newly opened East Side Elementary, P.S. 267, which will be moving to its permanent home on East 63rd Street this fall. The annex was also home to East Side Middle School several years ago, a fact that parents cite as evidence that another new middle school could easily coexist in the building again.

Assembly Member Micah Kellner has been pounding the pavement outside elementary schools for weeks, gathering signatures—at last count almost 2,000—for his petition to urge the DOE to open a new middle school as soon as possible.

“This chancellor has said middle schools are the key to people’s success, and my [dstrict's] parents want better middle school options—they want more middle school options,” said Kellner.
He has accused the DOE of playing games with the data and driving families out of the
neighborhood when they feel their children’s middle school options are limited. He
said he has heard from parents who, when their child isn’t placed in one of the coveted
middle schools in the neighborhood, feel that their only choice is private school or moving to the suburbs.

“I’m not advocating for one middle school option over another—that’s for the DOE and the parents to decide,” Kellner said. “The more the DOE drags their feet, the more they’re harming our kids.”

The discrepancy between what parents and the Community Education Council want and what the DOE is willing to provide lies partly in the geography of the school district. District 2 encompasses the Upper East Side as well as all of Midtown and
Downtown. In theory, a student could live in the East 90s and attend a middle school
in the Financial District, but most parents would prefer their young kids take a short
walk or bus ride to a nearby school, rather than commute by subway for half an hour each way. What this means for DOE data is that while the numbers show an overall excess of 1,500 middle school seats in the district, those empty seats aren’t broken
down by neighborhood, and parents say open seats in other neighborhoods aren’t what they have in mind.

“The DOE says there are plenty of seats for middle school, but that’s if you want to send your kids to Chinatown or the lower West Side. That’s ridiculous if you want a neighborhood school,” said Todd Helmrich, the parent of a daughter entering 1st grade
and a son starting kindergarten at P.S. 158 this fall. He said he’s been alarmed by the
travails of stressed-out parents of older students trying to get their kids into middle
school, which is why he’s stepping in now.

Helmich said the two main options in the neighborhood aren’t viable for everyone—East Side Middle is very difficult to get into and Robert Wagner is quite large for a middle school, which makes some parents look for options elsewhere.

“The thought of having to put a 6th grader on a subway during rush hour to go all the way downtown is terrible to me,” Helmrich said.

At a recent press conference to hail the opening of a new elementary school in the Our Lady of Good Counsel building on East 91st Street, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the DOE will heed their data but will also listen to parents.

“We have to be sensitive to what the data actually says. At the same time, we’re going
to be conscious of hearing what the parents have to say, and they’re going to have to be
able to justify where they think that need is and why,” Walcott said. He called the process an “ongoing discussion” and said that the DOE has been trying to determine targeted needs for each district and neighborhood.

Kellner insisted that the data the DOE cites is disingenuous.

“They really make up the numbers to meet whatever decisions they’ve already made,” he said. “Elementary school kids turn into middle school kids. It’s literally biology. Unless Dennis Walcott is spending all that money on consultants developing a freeze ray, we’re going to need a new middle school.”

“In 2006, when the mayor reauthorized the marine transfer station, he did so under a false pretense. They made it seem like they were flipping a switch and reopening a facility,” Kellner said. “When the City Council approved the Solid Waste Management Plan, they only did an environmental impact statement studying what 1,800 tons of trash would bring. They need to amend their plan and do a supplemental environmental impact statement.”

The lawsuit, which also names the Department of Sanitation and the State Department of Environmental Conservation, demands that the city stop all planning for the new MTS and draft a revised impact statement, which would then need City Council approval. Kellner is the lead plaintiff in the suit; other plaintiffs are the Gracie Point Community Council, Residents for Sane Trash Solutions, Inc. and a handful of individual residents. State Sen. Liz Krueger, Assembly Member Dan Quart and Rep. Carolyn Maloney have all voiced their support of the lawsuit.

“[The MTS] will permanently and negatively impact the Asphalt Green athletic fields, which are adjacent to the site and used every day by thousands of New Yorkers,” said Jed Garfield, president of Residents for Sane Trash Solutions. “It will be a terrible environmental and health hazard for all nearby residents, including over 2,200 low-income New Yorkers and seniors residing just a couple of hundred feet away in the Holmes and Stanly Isaacs development.”

New Elementary School for Yorkville
Next year, Upper East Side tykes will get a new elementary school at the Our Lady of Good Counsel building on East 91st Street. The Department of Education has signed a 15-year lease with the Roman Catholic archdiocese to lease the school for P.S. 527, which will open this fall with two kindergarten classes and will eventually hold students through the 5th grade.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Assembly Member Dan Quart joined by his young son Sam, a future student of P.S. 527, and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott visited the building last week to commend the opening of the new school that they say will help alleviate the overcrowding that plagues the neighborhood.

Art Goodies on Sale
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store is holding a summer clearance beginning June 28. Art fans can pick up eclectic jewelry, home décor items, toys for the sophisticated tot and art books with enough breadth to cover any coffee table on the East Side. Many items are on sale for 25 to 75 percent off the original price. It’s a great place to stock up on cool gifts for the people who have everything. Visit store.metmusuem.org or call 800-662-3397 for information.

Catch the Fireworks
While some may still be roiling over Macy’s giving the East Side and the outer boroughs the shaft by displaying their famous fireworks on the Hudson River this year, it’s still a display worth schlepping for. If you’re planning on seeing the fireworks, a game plan is mandatory. Macy’s recommends that patriotic attendees head over to 12th Avenue below 59th Street at access points every few blocks along 11th Avenue. Parking will be severely limited. There will be no access at the Hudson River piers or the Hudson River Park promenade or bike path between 59th and West Houston Street. DeWitt Clinton Park is reserved for people with disabilities.
Plan to arrive at any of the viewing spots by 5 p.m., and don’t try to bring lawn chairs or large objects with you. The 25-minute show of 40,000 synchronized fireworks begins around 9 p.m.

UES Murderer is Sentenced
Last week, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced the sentencing of Alujah Cutts, 30, who was convicted of a cold-blooded robbery and murder that he committed on the Upper East Side in 2009.
Cutts broke into the home of 90-year-old Felix Brinkmann on July 30, hoping to make off with a hefty haul. He demanded that Brinkmann give up the combination to his safe, and when he refused, Cutts brutally attacked him, strangling and killing him. He then phoned a friend, who is also being charged, to come help take a safe out of the apartment.
The district attorney condemned the cruel attack and applauded the sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.

Public School Agreement
Assemblymember Dan Quart with his son, Sam, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and Rep. Carolyn Maloney announce the signing of 15-year lease between the DOE and the Our Lady of Good Counsel parish ensuring the location of P.S. 523, a new public elementary school in Yorkville. Sam will be a student at the school.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The proposed garbage dump that will go next to Asphalt Green.

Opponents of the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station (MTS) planned by the city are joining forces with a seemingly unlikely ally, the Friends of LaGuardia Airport. What residents against a trash facility in their neighborhood have in common with a group that advocates for safe conditions at an airport in Queens is that both groups want to halt the transfer station in its tracks.

Air safety experts have begun to speak against the Upper East Side transfer station, as well as another planned for College Point in Queens, pointing to both planned facilities as wildlife attractants that will increase the number of dangerous collisions between flocks of large migratory birds and airplanes taking off from and landing at LaGuardia Airport. Last week, a Delta flight leaving JFK made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff when it struck a flock of birds and one of its engines was damaged, an incident that has reignited attention to this particular avian problem.

“This is a known risk, one that the aviation community has been dealing with for decades,” said James Hall, a transportation safety consultant and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. “The New York airports sit in the middle of an area that is surrounded by water. They are already an area that provides wildlife attractants and challenges in order to provide for safe flight.”

Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, the now-famous pilot who safely landed his plane on the Hudson River after a bird strike crippled its engines in 2009, has spoken against both transfer stations. He told CBS This Morning last week, “It’s a bad idea to build near an airport anything that’s likely to attract birds, including trash facilities,” mentioning the East 91st Street and College Point stations by name.

While locals and politicians in Yorkville have been fighting the transfer station for a myriad of reasons, it seems like their best hope for actually stopping it lies with the lawsuits that the Friends of LaGuardia airport have filed against the FAA.

“Most people don’t associate our community in Yorkville with LaGuardia Airport in Queens,” said David Mack, one of the founders of the group Residents for Sane Trash Solutions, formed to oppose the Upper East Side MTS. “But as the crow flies, literally, the FAA has a mandated perimeter where they don’t want any wildlife attractants, and we are within that distance.”

Ken Paskar, president of Friends of LaGuardia Airport and a former lead representative for the FAA safety team, said his group is only asking the FAA to do what their own regulations require them to enforce.

“The FAA is very specific about what it means to be a fully enclosed transfer station, and the transfer station at East 91st Street does not meet that criteria,” Paskar said. The FAA recommends that any potential wildlife attractant be located at least five miles from any airports to protect their approach, departure and circling airspace, and has strict requirements that those located within that radius must meet that essentially prohibit any trash or odor escaping the enclosed station.

City officials have said that the transfer station will be built to ensure minimal exposure of the trash to the outdoors, and that its operations will be conducted under the covered facility. The state Department of Environmental Conservation, which has issued permits for the facility, did not respond to request for comment on this story.

Opponents contest that there is no way the city can guarantee that the transfer station will operate without attracting additional birds.

“This is not rocket science here, this is something that everyone understands—birds and airplanes don’t mix,” Paskar said. “When you build something on the water with a new food source, which is garbage and waste, for birds, you’re going to have a hazardous situation.”

State Sen. Liz Krueger and Assembly Member Micah Kellner, who have both been vocal opponents of the transfer station along with other East Side elected officials, released a joint statement pointing to the recent bird strike as another reason to halt the East 91st Street facility.

“While this bird strike occurred on a flight path out of JFK, it’s a reminder that we need to work on mitigating the risks for all our airports,” read the statement in part. “We agree with the Friends of LaGuardia Airport, former FAA officials who think that putting bird-attracting sanitation facilities in major flight paths is a bad idea.”

Bird strikes have been increasing over the past several decades, a phenomenon that experts attribute to changes in migratory patterns due to climate change. According to the FAA’s database, there have been 960 wildlife strikes near LaGuardia Airport in the past 10 years, 10 of which resulted in substantial damage and one—Sullenberger’s “Miracle on the Hudson”—that resulted in a destroyed aircraft. While it’s common for birds to collide with planes in the air, large fowl like Canadian geese can cause enough damage to ground a flight.

“To me, it’s just a horrible precedent to be set nationally,” said Hall. “For the city of New York, the Port Authority and the FAA to take an action like this, to add to an area that is already an attractant, to add to that with these waste disposal units is just irresponsible.”

Tapped In: Notes from the Neighborhood

CAR WASH WORKERS TARGET UES OWNER

Last Friday, a group of car wash workers rallied at LMC Car Wash on East 109th Street to protest what they claim is its mistreatment of workers and to campaign for better working conditions. The car wash is one of about 20 in New York City operated by Lage Management Company; owner John Lage was ordered to pay over $3 million in back wages to workers in 2009 after the U.S. Department of Labor found that he had violated labor laws. Now, workers claim that conditions at Lage’s car washes are still unfair, that workers sometimes don’t make minimum wage and often work unpaid overtime.

Photo Credit: Andrew Schwartz

Sharing Titanic History

On the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, great grandson of Isidor and Ida Straus, Paul Kurzman, speaks with students at P.S. 198 the Isidor and Ida Straus School about the history of his family. The Strauses were founders and owners of the Macy’s department store. (INSET) Kurzman shared with students a locket recovered from Isidor Straus’ body.
DIABETES AND HEARING LOSS

Local audiologist group Audio Help Associates of Manhattan is offering free hearing screenings March 21-27 at their Upper East Side location, 186 E. 76th St. Hearing loss is about twice as common in adults with diabetes as in those who do not have the disease, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Doctors conducting the screenings will also be available to explain the connection between diabetes and hearing loss. To make an appointment, call 212-774-1971 and refer to code ADA SCREEN.
LAPPIN WANTS COMMUNITY BOARDS ONLINE

City Council Member Jessica Lappin introduced legislation last week that would require community board meetings to be broadcast live on the web. The bill would also mandate that recordings be archived and made available to the public within five days of meeting
dates. Community Board 6, which covers Turtle Bay, Murray Hill, Kips Bay and Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, may be launching a pilot program later this year, and Lappin hopes that other boards will soon follow suit. “New Yorkers are always on the go, and with technology, we can bring community board meetings to them,” Lappin said in a statement. “With live webcasting, we can connect New Yorkers and make government more accessible and transparent.”
CENTRAL PARK GETS HISTORIC NOD

Last week, the preservation advocacy group Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts presented the Central Park Conservancy with its
Distinctive Achievement Award for the restoration of the park’s East Meadow. The last of
seven major lawns to be restored by the Conservancy, the 6-acre stretch of East Meadow was revamped over the course of a year and reopened to the public in September 2011.

Drainage was improved and paths reconstructed and an automatic irrigation system was installed on the landscape. “With this project, the Central Park Conservancy has once again proven their determination to invest in this exceptional scenic landmark, which the Upper East Side is lucky to call our backyard,” said Matthew Coody, a Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts associate. The East Meadow will reopen to the public for passive recreation, following its fall/winter closure, in April.

Photo Credit: Andrew Schwartz

Some Fine Tuning

A high school student recieves some free instruction from Classical guitarist Ben Verdery, chair of the guitar department at the Yale School of Music, during the 92nd Street Y’s High School Guitar Day on March 18. The free day of guitar instruction for New York City teens of all playing levels, included workshops on Beginner Afro-Cuban; Hawaiian Slack Key; Classical Guitar; and Solo Flamenco Guitar Art and Technique. Visit our website at www.ourtownny.com for more photos from Guitar Day.
HELP PLAN BIKESHARE

The Department of Transportation is holding a community planning session to get input from local residents on how to develop the BikeShare program for the Upper East Side. The program, which will be funded by sponsorships and user fees, will place bike rental stations around the city, allowing members to rent bikes 24 hours a day and return them
to docking points at any station. One of the program’s aims is to connect people to other forms of public transit in areas where subways and buses aren’t accessible.

Representatives from Community Board 8, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Council Members Dan Garodnick and Jessica Lappin and Assembly Members Micah Kellner and Dan Quart will be at the session to hear community ideas and feedback about where to place BikeShare stations and how the program should be implemented. There will be two sessions Monday, March 26, at 6 and 7 p.m. at The Lighthouse, 111 E. 59th St., BV Hall, on the second floor. For information prior to the sessions, contact Josh Orzeck at jorzeck@dot.nyc.gov or call 212-839-6218.
FREE MAMMOGRAMS

Assembly Member Micah Kellner is coordinating with Project Renewal to provide free mammograms for the community Friday, April 20. Screenings will be conducted by appointment from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, 331 E. 70th St. Call Kellner’s office at 212-860-4906 to schedule an appointment in advance; all are eligible for the free service.

Most elected officials and animal rights advocates agree that New York City’s public shelter system is desperately in need of reform. Shelters are grossly overcrowded and understaffed, the city spends only 10 percent of the Humane Society’s recommended $8 per capita on its animal care, and an average of 54 animals are euthanized every day. What politicians and advocates cannot agree on, however, is how to fix this broken system.

City Council is expected to vote this week on Intro Bill 655, sponsored by Speaker Christine Quinn and Upper East Side Council Member Jessica Lappin and supported by the mayor and a cadre of prominent groups like the ASPCA, the Humane Society and the Mayor’s Alliance for Animals. Council Member Dan Garodnick is also one of the bill’s 15 sponsors.

The bill would infuse Animal Care and Control (ACC), a division of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, with a $10 million budget bump to fund expanded hours and staff at existing shelters and receiving centers, create a field service division and regulations for Trap-Neuter-Return programs. It would also repeal a law passed in 2000 that requires the ACC to build and maintain a full-service shelter in every borough, a requirement the city never fulfilled, and would negate the city’s obligation to operate shelters in Queens and the Bronx, where there are currently no city-run shelters.

Because of this provision, some animal rights organizations are crying foul on behalf of their four-legged charges, claiming that City Council is trying to abrogate its responsibility by throwing cash at a broken system. They are supporting an alternate plan put forth by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer—a viable rival of Quinn’s for the 2013 mayor’s race—that would spin off the ACC into a quasi-independent not-for-profit organization, much like the Central Park Conservancy.

“We are currently in an emergency situation,” said Lappin. “If we can get this money now, if we can hire staff for this now, let’s do it. That does not mean that we can’t get more in the future.” She is pushing hard to get the bill passed on the basis that she’d rather take whatever resources the city can offer and put them into the system now than wait to perfect it. “I do think we would like to find a way to reform the system. We are looking at ways to do that,” she said. “That’s not what this bill is focused on—it’s about improving service and putting more money into our ACC system.”

Opponents have seized on just that fact, alleging that putting more money into ACC is exactly the wrong prescription to fix an ailing shelter system that can barely handle the animals it takes in.

“There are inhumane conditions. There are healthy animals being put down, animals sleeping in their own waste,” said Stringer. “We have members of the board who have absolutely no experience in fundraising and no experience in animal control. It’s a disgrace.”

“My view is that New York City can become a national leader in humane animal care through sensible reform. The root of the problem is that ACC lacks the funding and expertise to live up to its name,” Stringer said. He has put forward a proposal to take the ACC out of city control and require the city to comply with the existing laws mandating a full-service shelter in every borough.

So far, a petition supporting Stringer’s plan has garnered 8,165 signatures and the backing of many animal welfare groups, like Stray from the Heart, the nonprofit that sued the city for its breach of the shelter law, claiming they incurred financial injury as a result of picking up the city’s slack. The court originally agreed and ordered the city to set up a timetable to build additional shelters, but the city appealed on the grounds that Stray from the Heart had no standing on which to sue, and won. In a rare move, the appellate court ruled in favor of a motion from Stray from the Heart to reconsider the appeal based on legal errors in the interpretation of standing.

Toni Bodon, executive director and founder of Stray from the Heart, has worked on the lawsuit for three years. She is confident that their case will ultimately triumph in the court system and is dismayed that it may be voided by the passage of Intro 655.

“They’re running scared, so now they’ve fast-tracked the bill,” said Bodon. “Let the court of appeals decide this very important decision.” She said they had already won on the merits of the case, and that all the city had to fall back on were technicalities. “They called minivans that are parked in depressed neighborhoods receiving centers,” she said. “We said no, and the judge agreed.”

Assembly Member Micah Kellner, who has sponsored state legislation that would set minimum standards of care for shelters, said the Department of Health should be taken out of the equation entirely.

“Over the last decade, you’ve seen the private sector step up to the plate when it comes to saving animals,” said Kellner. For example, “There’s the ASPCA, which has provided free and low-cost spaying and neuters for people’s pets, particularly ones coming from rescue groups. So you’ve had all of this private investment in saving animals’ lives so we can have a no-kill city—all you’ve seen is the city under the Bloomberg administration take a step back.”

Fellow Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, who also has a legislative history of working to protect animals, has been urging City Council to vote no on Intro 655 and supports Stringer’s alternative.

“This current bill to put more money into ACC, while it’s commendable,” said Rosenthal, “doesn’t address some of the essential problems of homeless dogs and cats out there.”

Some of those problems include a lack of capacity and high rates of euthanization at shelters. Richard Gentles, director of development and communications at ACC, said they will euthanize sick animals at the requests of owners, if they have severe behavior problems and can’t be placed in adoptive homes and for simple illnesses they can’t afford to let spread.

“Our isolation wards are very limited,” said Gentles, an animal lover who is about to add a rabbit to his roster of adopted pets that at one point included goats. “We don’t have a lot of extra space for animals, so if they’re sick and contagious,” even with just an upper respiratory infection like a cold, “they’ll have to be put down.”

Rosenthal said the problem of space is her main objection to any bill that allows the city to get out of building new shelters.

“This might increase the number of staff people,” said Rosenthal. “[But] there will be no room. This is sentencing thousands of animals to death by not following up with building new shelters.”

With major support from the council, Intro 655 is likely to pass this week.

“In reality, if the mayor and the speaker support this, the only thing we can do is wait for a new mayor and speaker,” said Queens Council Member Peter Vallone Jr., whose father passed the original bill to mandate the shelters.

“The bill does good things, I’m aware of that, but there’s not reason to let the city out of its legal responsibility to build a shelter in Queens and the Bronx,” Vallone said.

Lappin and other groups supportive of the measure say they’re doing the best they can and would prefer not to let animals languish in shelters for lack of staff and funding while the city fights over how to restructure the ACC.

“There are people who would say, ‘Until we completely dismantle it and start from scratch, it’s not worth it,’” said Lappin. “I don’t agree with that.”

A recent visit to the Manhattan shelter showed the ACC doing its best with scant resources. Volunteers and staff members worked to clean the cages of the hundreds of dogs, cats, rabbits and other miscellaneous abandoned pets—recently, a pigeon and a pig—but many sit in small cages with their own waste precariously close to their food, waiting. What the ACC needs more of, said Gentles, are adopters, volunteers and money.

“We need to supplement our contract money from the city,” said Gentles, noting that the ACC is able to raise its own funds as a nonprofit but still relies heavily on the city, which appoints its board. He couldn’t say whether Intro 655 or an alternate plan would best serve ACC at the moment. “We’re all wanting to do the same thing, to help the animals,” he said, voice raised slightly above the din of howling pit bulls in cages a few yards away.