Verdi Square

The survey evaluated parks based on the percentage of residents living within a 10-minute or ½ mile walk of a park; total park acreage including the city’s median park size, and services and investment, which combines the number of playgrounds per 10,000 residents and number of dollars spent per person.
“New York spends a lot per person,” said Adrian Benepe, senior vice president and director of city park development for The Trust for Public Land. Benepe was New York City Parks Commissioner for 10 years, until joining the The Trust for Public Land last year. This year’s ranking showed New York spending $160 per person compared to $152 in the previous ranking.
The good news is New York moved up from third place, passing Sacramento, since last year. At that time, the Trust looked at just the 40 largest U.S. cities. By including the 50 largest U.S. cities this year, Minneapolis got into the mix, and secured the first place ranking. In 2012, San Francisco ranked number one, with Sacramento in second place. New York and Boston had tied for third.
If the same 40 cities had been considered this year, would New York have been Number One?
“It’s possible,” said Benepe. How does the future look for New York? Because other cities have “big, empty areas” and New York doesn’t, he said it will be hard for New York to add more medium-sized parks to increase overall park acreage in the future.
How do particular New York neighborhoods fare?
Park acreage includes federal, city, and state land yet, the Upper East Side still falls short. “The Upper East Side is one of the areas that doesn’t have a lot of parks,” said Benepe.

By Colleen Long and Jennifer Peltz

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly is the most popular public figure in New York City not running for mayor. And when asked, his answer is always the same: He has no plans to enter the race and is focusing solely on running the police department.
But that hasn’t stopped political insiders from urging the 71-year-old Kelly to get in, suggesting his tough-on-crime record would make him the front-runner from Day One.
“Ray Kelly great public servant. Only hope of averting disaster for NY,” media mogul Rupert Murdoch tweeted last week.
Such chatter has reached a fever pitch ahead of an upcoming deadline for candidates to file petitions to get on the ballot. But experts say the odds of Kelly entering are slim, and it’s not clear whether the commissioner who has served for more than a decade would even stay on after the election.
“I think that the conservatives, plus some business elites, are concerned about the Democrats being too liberal for them,” so they want someone like Kelly who can replicate the policies of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Republican predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, said City University of New York Graduate Center political scientist John Mollenkopf.
Kelly is an independent who has served under both Democrats and Republicans, including former President Bill Clinton as the head of customs. He’s seen as someone comfortable being a public figure, with the managerial experience of leading the nation’s largest police department.
Kelly also has presided over a precipitous drop in crime – last year there were a record low 419 murders in a city of 8 million people – and has remade the NYPD’s counterterrorism and crime-fighting efforts. His reputation remains untarnished despite department scandal and criticism.
“He’s a phenomenal police commissioner,” said Bloomberg. “He’s done an enormous job for this city. As far as I know, he doesn’t have any interest in running for mayor. But this is a very good manager who cares very much about people and has done a great job.”
Kelly regularly gets a higher approval rating than the mayor and other public figures; in a Quinnipiac University poll late last month, more than two-thirds of voters said they liked how he’s doing his job. The same poll also found nearly half thought he should run for mayor.
“There’s no question that he’s admired in what he’s doing in his job,” but it’s not clear that would translate into support for him as a political candidate, said the poll’s director, Maurice “Mickey” Carroll.
Late last week, when asked about the election, Kelly gave the standard response: “I have no plans to run for elective office.”
But he acknowledged he was flattered by the poll numbers, citing them as a reflection of how well police officers do their jobs.
“They are doing a superb job and I’m the beneficiary of that,” he said.
Talk of Kelly’s political prospects picked up after some voters started getting survey calls last month about their views of him and the mayor’s race. Conducted by longtime Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, the $17,000 survey was commissioned by a businessman who’s not well known in political circles, she said, declining to identify him. She said he had seen media reports about interest in a potential Kelly candidacy and was curious about how he might fare.
“I believe that there is room for a new entrant, especially someone as well-known as Ray Kelly,” Conway said.
But with a July 11 deadline to submit petitions to enter the race for the Sept. 10 primary, it could be tough to put together a campaign and fundraising apparatus. Many experienced political strategists are already committed to other candidates, as are many endorsers.
Plus, as an independent, Kelly would need party leaders’ permission to run in a primary.
“I admire the commissioner greatly, but in terms of being a candidate for mayor, I don’t believe it’s going to happen,” said Manhattan Republican Party Chairman Daniel Isaacs. “I don’t believe he, personally, is inclined to run, and I think, quite frankly, at this juncture it’s quite late to run.”
Kelly’s popularity has remained high even as his department’s tactics have come under fire.
An ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit claims thousands of street stops made under the department’s “stop, question and frisk” policy were based solely on race. During the 10-week trial, city lawmakers reached agreement on a proposal to create an inspector general to oversee the police department, based largely on the outcry over stop-and-frisk and a series of stories by The Associated Press about the department’s monitoring of Muslims. A 2011 investigation found instances of ticket-fixing by dozens of officers who are now being charged criminally. And the 50-shot police barrage that killed unarmed Sean Bell on his wedding day prompted protests and debate about excessive force.
Some current mayoral candidates have said they would keep Kelly as commissioner, but he hasn’t said whether he’d stay if asked.
Others would look for new leadership in the police department if elected.

Left to right, Ken Biberaj and Gov. David Paterson

“Over the course of this campaign, I have regularly sought the advice and counsel of Governor Paterson about the issues that face the Upper West Side as well as our City. It is an honor to have his support in my race for the City Council,” said Biberaj.
Governor Paterson stated, “I am pleased to see that there are a number of excellent candidates in this City Council race for the 6th District, which will guarantee good service to the area I used to represent. I am endorsing my close friend Ken Biberaj because he believes in a better path for his family, friends and neighbors and represents a fresh, new voice eager to engage in the civic process. In our many discussions about the issues impacting the District, Ken has displayed a pragmatic, realistic view of our economy and the times we live in, which is unique and rare, and has proven to be a forward thinker with a tremendous vision for the future of his community and their quality of life.”

Franklin Reyes, 17, didn’t have a license to drive the car that killed 4-year-old Ariel Russo and injured her grandmother on the way to Ariel’s pre-k class at the Holy Name School on the Upper West Side. On Tuesday morning, June 4, Reyes was heading to one of the last days of the school year when he made an illegal turn from the far lane in search of parking. The police stopped him, and, fearing the $200 fine, Reyes fled north up Amsterdam Avenue. He lost control of the black Nissan Frontier 11 blocks later on 97th street, slamming into the ground floor of an apartment building at 34 mph, Newsday reported.
The 17-year-old is taking full responsibility for the charges.
The community mourned the death of Ariel, which Reyes’ attorney labeled “an unfortunate accident,” at a service on Wednesday, June 4. Family, friends, and the larger school community came to the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus to grieve the loss. Father Dan Kenna led the memorial mass and spoke directly to Ariel’s young classmates. The New York Post reported Father Kenna told the congregation: “Comfort Ariel’s mom and dad and brother, all of her friends and classmates, and those who care for her and love her.”
Flowers and candles mark the spot of the crash.
–Jake Orbison

On Sunday, June 9, community leaders and residents spoke out about their anger over the physical neglect of two dilapidated properties at 118 West 76th St. and 44 West 73rd St. They say landmarked buildings are crumbling, have been issued violations by city agencies for rats and garbage, and present a health hazard for the whole neighborhood.

The owner of the two buildings, Diane Haslett-Rudiano, Chief Clerk of the Brooklyn Borough Office of Elections, has not responded to complaints and formal requests by both Council Member Gale Brewer and local block association presidents. The two buildings were acquired in the mid 1970’s by Ms. Haslett-Rudiano’s late husband, Jean Rudiano. Since then, the properties have been virtually abandoned. Locals say that not only are they in an unsightly state, but the failure to maintain the exterior building walls is dangerous for neighbors and pedestrians. The buildings have received violations from the New York City Department of Buildings and the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
In addition, the garbage buildup in front of the buildings has created a health hazard. Haslett-Rudiano has been urged to take responsibility, and been notified that rats were spreading from her buildings into the surrounding blocks. “Over the past 12 years I have sent many letters to the owner, sharing the concerns of my constituents,” said Brewer. “My office has reached out offering to assist in mending the situation in any way possible, at first to try to improve the situation together and get her to do something about the rat infestation and garbage. When it became clear that she had no intention to make any improvements and maintain these buildings, I tried putting her in touch with a broker recommended by the block association. She never followed up on any of these things, and I found her lack of concern and refusal to be reasoned with deeply disturbing. Things can’t continue this way, the Upper West Side community has had enough of being ignored and we want a new person to take possession since it is clear that the current owner is not a responsible property owner.”
Judith Bronfman, president of the West 76th Street Block Association, Inc. summarized their attempts to repair 118 West 76 Street. “Over these years, the building has grown more derelict, more of an eyesore, a greater haven for rats.”
“We tried to get something done about this building,” said Bronfman. “We’ve gotten inspections by the Fire Department, the Department of Buildings, the Department of Sanitation, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, but the garbage then gets cleaned up, sort of; the minimal fines get paid, and then all that busy ineffectual activity joins the news stories in the archives.”
Residents of West 73rd Street are facing similar issues. “Our West 73rd Street Block Association and its members and residents on this block have been under duress by the great amount of rats running around the sidewalk and the street every evening. Needless to say, it has eroded the quality of life and real estate values on this block where many are owners of their building and/or their apartments,” said Frances Apgar, president of the association. Mark Diller, chair of Manhattan Community Board 7, also commented on the situation. “The owner’s refusal to properly maintain these houses contradicts CB7’s Core Principles, which recognize that we are all interdependent, and that enhancing quality of life is everyone’s shared responsibility. Neglect is contagious, and breeds like the rats in these abandoned sites.”
Calls to Haslett-Rudiano at her office went unanswered.

By Angela Barbuti

Steve Schirripa proves that any man can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a daddy. In his new book, Big Daddy’s Rules: Raising Daughters Is Tougher Than I Look, he writes about raising two daughters with tough love and a sense of humor. The former Sopranos star doesn’t appreciate how fathers are portrayed on television. “In every TV show, the dad’s always a bumbling idiot. Well I’m not an idiot,” the Manhattan resident said. Schirripa tackles everything from underage drinking to dropping his daughter off at college for the first time. He also weighs in on “parents who need to be slapped,” which include ones who let their children push every button while riding in a New York City elevator.

You wrote a bestseller already, A Goomba’s Guide to Life. How did you start in the writing field?
Oh years ago. My first book came out in 2002. I had an idea for a book; I knew it was a long shot. I pitched it and then collaborated with someone and A Goomba’s Guide to Life became a New York Times bestseller. I did a few other Goomba books and then did two young adult books and one became a movie which came out on May 27th, Nicky Deuce.

What made you write this parenting book?
There were parents around downtown Manhattan who were annoying me. I also wanted to write a love letter to my daughters to tell them how I really feel about them.

A lot of people know you from The Sopranos. Do your daughters think you’re cool for being on that show?
My daughters don’t care about the celebrity thing at all. I mean, I’m just their dad. They’re not celebrity kids. They could care less. Sometimes there are perks. We get good seats at games. We get to go to openings or premieres. But otherwise, I’m just their dad. They’re not show-business kind of kids at all.

How can you explain your Big Daddy rules?
This is what I think. I’m your father; I’m not your friend. But I’m the best friend you’re ever gonna have. Cause no one’s gonna care about you the way I care about you. It’s okay to say “no” to kids. Parents are afraid to say “no.” The kids don’t control my life. I’ve worked too hard to have the kids control my life. “Because I said so,” is not a bad thing.

You say that raising daughters is harder than raising sons.
I think having a son is much simpler. You give the kid a ball and he’s kind of happy. Girls are smarter; they’re cunning. They bat their eyelashes and melt you. The girls are very manipulative. Boys, what you see is what you get. They’re much lower maintenance than girls.

You live in Lower Manhattan. What are the challenges to raising children in the city?
What I think is a lot of parents want to be a friend to their kids and not a parent. They get matching tattoos. I don’t want to target Manhattan; it’s everywhere. They buy them liquor when they’re underage. My daughter went through a lot of that. Parents have parties for the kids and buy the kids a keg. Here in Manhattan you go to a restaurant, the kids are screaming and yelling and running around and no one disciplines them. I have to spend $200 on a meal and I’m getting aggravated.

Going back to drinking, I like when you said that you think it’s crazy when parents say, “At least they are drinking under my roof.”
That’s right. That’s absurd. This is my rule. When you’re 21 and you’re legal, I guess you can drink. But if you’re living here in my house, you’re not gonna come home drunk at three in the morning. I don’t want to see that. What’s wrong with saying, “We have a nice house, we go to nice dinners, have nice vacations, but it will all stop if you don’t go by my rules?” When you’re out on your own and you’re making your own living, and you want to do that kind of stuff, then I guess go ahead and do it. But now you’re not going to. I’m not saying that I don’t let my daughters have a sip of my wine when we’re out at dinner. But I’m not going to buy 17-year-old kids alcohol and let them get drunk in my house. I’ve never heard of such a thing.

One of your daughters is away at college now. How was that transition for you?
That was very hard. That was one of the hardest days ever – when I had to drop her off. It was one of my saddest days ever. I was scared, scared for her. I had a nervous stomach. When I dropped her off, we had said, “Listen, you’re gonna stay here a month without coming home. Get used to it.” It took a little while, but now I can’t even get her to come home. You can only instill in the kids, when they’re younger, to make good choices. But you really have to stay on them. And that’s what me and my wife have done. And you just hope when she’s away at college, that she’s making the right choices.

You talk about working parents and how it’s about quantity time, not quality time.
It’s not like, “Well I have them on the weekends, and we’re really together for those two hours.” No! We’re always together, and we’re always doing things. And I understand that there are parents who have to work. It’s very difficult. Everything is so expensive and you want the most for your family. But at what cost? Hey look, if you’re gonna have the kids, raise the kids. There’s a woman who has a 1,000-dollar stroller with a 12-dollar-an-hour nanny pushing it, and the mom’s texting. She doesn’t even want to push her own kid. I see it constantly.

I share one of your pet peeves – parents who narrate as they’re walking with their kids.
Yeah, and they’re doing it not for the sake of the kid – cause the kid don’t know what the heck they’re saying. They’re doing it for the sake of people around them to show what a great parent they are. And they talk loud. “Okay, do you see the birdie? Say hello to the birdie.” The kid’s in never-never land. “Do you see the car? It’s red, right?” Shut up!

One of the reasons New York has had Republican mayors for the last 20 years is because the City’s public and private sector unions have fragmented in Democratic primaries.
Guess what? Even though labor talked about unifying around one candidate in 2013, history is about to repeat itself. The major unions have split, backing different Democratic candidates; Quinn’s got the backing of Retail Workers (RWDSU), Liu has city employees (DC37), de Blasio has health care workers (1199), Thompson has the Uniformed Officers Unions, and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is likely to back either Thompson or Liu. Only the Working Families Party (WFP), an amalgam of unions that needs a 60 percent quorum to give their line to a Mayoral candidate, has yet to endorse, and probably won’t until after the primary.
Why should voters who don’t belong to unions care about who these organizations support?
Well, now more than ever, the city’s fiscal health and tax policies are inextricably linked to how the next mayor handles labor negotiations in 2014.
For the past four years, all the city’s union have been working without an official contract.
(What many fail to realize, however, is that there were some smart labor leaders like Greg Floyd at Teamsters Local 237 who got his members a four percent annual cost of living increase since then, so there have actually been some unions who have little claim to “retroactive raises,” because, essentially, they’ve already received them.)
The bottom line is: the next mayor may be facing an unfunded liability of approximately $10 billion, if one believes that the city’s unions deserve retroactive raises to make up for the last four years. That’s almost 15 percent of the annual $70 billion budget — a huge looming gap that would either necessitate deep cuts to services or a whopping tax increase for all New Yorkers.
That’s not a great choice for an incoming mayor who will potentially be saddled with increasing the size of the police force (it’s dropped 12 percent in the past decade), spending more education dollars to make sure the “Common Core” curriculum doesn’t fail, and fighting pushback from citizens (and the real estate industry) who have seen property taxes skyrocket in the past decade.
So far, we have not seen any creative plan from the mayoral candidates. The GOP frontrunners — John Catsimatidis and Joe Lhota — take the expected conservative line that the city cannot afford retroactive raises and that’s that. That’s more than their potential November opponents have done thus far.
Among the Democrats, johnny-come-lately Anthony Weiner has made the most intriguing half-attempt to confront this issue by saying that any retroactive raises have to be weighed against requiring city employees to pay a portion of their health care premiums as most other cities — including New York state government workers — already do.
The other leading candidates, Bill Thompson, Christine Quinn and Bill de Blasio, all say they don’t want to negotiate future union deals in public (Translation: they either don’t want to jeopardize those union endorsements or they don’t have a clue yet on how to pay for these retroactive raises).
John Liu, who is running so far to the left that he should see if the Socialist Party Line is still available, believes we must pay those $10 billion in retroactive raises but as far as I can tell, he has not offered a concrete plan of how to pay for them.
So, it looks like another circular firing squad on the Democratic side this year with four union-backed candidates alternately pandering for endorsements and then trying to swivel back to the middle to try to assure New York’s powerful business and real estate interests that they will be their champion, too.
And then there’s the outsider: fast-talking and glib Anthony Weiner, who has the luxury of speaking his mind and not being constrained by his desire to get union support — because he just get it won’t no matter what he does at this point. The same goes for Lhota and Catsimatidis.
Look for those three candidates to hopefully put forward some smart ideas and a plan in the coming months that will balance the interests of city workers and the city’s taxpayers.
As for the Democratic primary scrum — let’s watch and see if labor’s fragmented support once again delivers a mayor to City Hall who has not been endorsed by many of the major unions.
In 1993 and 2001, the winners for Mayor — Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg — were not labor’s first choice.
Will 2013 continue that 20-year streak of labor unions backing losers?
Tom Allon, a former member of the United Federation Teachers, is the president of City and State, NY and a former Liberal Party-backed candidate for Mayor. Questions or comments? Email tallon@cityandstateny.com

By Laura Shanahan

Sing along with me now: “Mem-reees, misty blah-blah mem-reees…”
You got memories? Mad for music? Cuckoo for choreography? Over the moon for musicals? Bananas for Broadway? Stop me before I alliterate again.

BACKSTAGE MEMORIES
1638 Broadway
(212) 582-5996

Have I got a store for you: Backstage Memories, a gem of a family-run operation that glitters among the chain tchotchke dens and fast-feeders that predominate in the Theater District.
“This is one of the first gift shops in the area,” Chi, a store associate, says of the nearly two-decades-old Backstage, which is located at 1638 Broadway, off 50th Street.
“We’ve seen a lot of the megastores come – and we’ve seen them go,” he adds, noting that his long view includes the district’s pre-Disney era.
So how has Backstage thrived, while others, big and small, were washed away with the tides of time?
For one thing, the non-sprawling-sized store is exceptionally sparkling, neat and inviting. The wares are well-edited; the staff friendly. But perhaps most important, as Chi notes, the store has evolved to serve the clientele’s changing tastes. It used to strictly offer Broadway-oriented goods – and you will still find all manner of that: hit shows’ scores and scripts, souvenir programs, theater reference-guides and so on. But in more recent times, there are additionally more generally New York-centric items. Representative of the latter category are the (official!) NYPD and FDNY T-shirts and sweats, complete with city logos and emblems; they start at $16 and $15, for each department respectively.
Also representative is the bubblegum pink T-shirt for little girls featuring an elaborate sparkly-studded big apple; $12.99. “Ah, kids love sparkly stuff,” I observed to Chi, who smilingly rejoined, “Their parents love it more.” No worries – there are also tastefully blinged-out tops for grown-ups, too, so don’t try to squeeze into a kids’ size. (We’ve seen your kind on the street – you’re not looking any smaller by wearing a small size, okay?)
While the New York-themed stuff is grand – oooh, lots of skyline-encasing snow globes, starting at $7.99 for enchanting miniatures – the play’s the thing, no? Are you a fan of Mamma Mia? (FYI: It’s playing right next-door.) How about Wicked, Cinderella or Phantom of the Opera, now celebrating its 25th year? These are just some of the themed garments that are especially popular right now at the shop; prices start at about $20 and go up to $50.
But perhaps you’d like to taste the power of awarding an Oscar yourself – but the odds of you actually presenting one to, say, Meryl Streep, are slim to none. Consider all the unsung heroes in your own life who are worthy of shiny faux-gold statuary dedicated to them – or at least to their profession/relationship to you. Hence, here you can pick up a $14.99 “Oscar statuette” made out to “World’s Greatest Boss.” Don’t have a great boss, let alone the world’s greatest? How about your nonpareil husband, lawyer, dad, dentist or artist friend? The list of possibilities goes on. If your “greatest” person doesn’t have any classifiable designation – hard to believe with the choices here – you may opt for “World’s Greatest Person.” A little, um, generic, but as Chi says, “It works for everyone!”
By the way, if you get priced out of buying tickets for Broadway hits, be advised a wide-screen TV here plays videos of them for your background viewing pleasure. Cool – and classy.

By Kristine Keller

The other day I sat on my favorite downtown bench gazing at the throngs of passerby. I spotted gaggles of girls entering my favorite café, all dressed similarly in summer fare – cut-off shorts and gladiator sandals – hair all cascading below their shoulders with the exact same length and volume of curls. I noticed a litany of significant others strolling hand-in-hand taking in the balmy summer night. And I spied a slew of dog owners walking their dogs adoringly, taking a brief moment to chat with other dog walkers. I sat on my bench taking mental notes of these groups when something else occurred to me: All of these aforementioned groups seemed to have an incredible number of external characteristics in common.
They say that after enough time passes, dog owners begin to look like their dogs. The same notion goes for significant others—after enough time passes, they say romantic partners begin to dress alike or take on similar mannerisms. But what the collective “they” don’t know is that these couples most likely had similar propensities to begin with. In other words, these couples have started dating because they were “matched” from the start. Though the maxim that opposites attract is everywhere in the media and proverbs, countless studies have provided evidence that birds of a feather really do flock together.
This makes sense given the psychological principle called balance theory. The theory suggests that we like those who like us because we prefer consistency in our beliefs, attitudes, and desires. We also like those who like us because it validates that our own personalities and characteristics are desirable. What’s remarkable about balance theory is that it holds true in cross-cultural studies, too. Studies from South America, Asia, and Europe all provide evidence that matching plays a large role in the linking of not only your significant others, but your friends, and social networks, as well.
But then what accounts for the exceptions to the matching rule? Psychologists ascertain that one’s worth or mate value is a significant asset in the matching process.One notable study by Dr. Dan Ariely and his colleague found that when unattractive men generated huge gross incomes, they still obtained mates assessed “higher” in value. When income was not taken into account, these men were rated as less attractive. In other words, the evaluators rated the men’s income as more valuable than their looks, and this factor leveled the matching seesaw. Thus, matching isn’t all about looks – it can become a mixture of different factors. The crux of the process is that each mate contains the same amount of “valuable” assets.
It’s also possible to develop similar interests over time. Countless psychological studies have provided evidence for the notion for the “Michaelangelo Phenomenon.” This principle states that we are attracted to those who possess the qualities of our ideal selves. Perhaps you’re a leisurely runner but you’d like to run the NYC Marathon, you might inexplicably be attracted to someone who has run the marathon five times. Or perhaps you sing in the shower but have always wanted to tackle an open-mic night—you might be attracted to someone who has the courage to perform in a band every Friday night on the Lower East Side. The “Michaelangelo Phenomenon” states that by dating those who possess qualities that we’d like to have ourselves, we’re actually sculpting each other. By learning from the person who contains qualities of our “ideal selves” we may be accruing these characteristics over time. It can be easy in a city like New York to feel swallowed whole and alone. But take comfort in the fact that the psychological process of matching is alive and well and that your match exists. It just may not have lit your flame yet.
Kristine received her master’s in psychology from NYU. E-mail her at streetshrinknyc@gmail.com to request topics for this column.