The Surreal Thing, p. 26
VOLUME 4, NUMBER 44
THE WEST SIDE’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
MAY 2 - 15, 2012
Floored by LPC approval of Chelsea Hotel rooftop addition BY BONNIE ROSENSTOCK In an April 24 move met with outrage from tenants and electeds, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) gave a 9-0 thumbs up to the Chelsea Hotel rooftop addition proposed by the building’s owners (the Chetrit Group). Tenants of the iconic hotel on West 23rd Street, as well as elected officials and community leaders considered
Photo by Russell Dungan
On April 27, these volunteers got their hands dirty — in the name of a cleaner, greener park. See page 2.
BRC, at home in Chelsea BY WINNIE McCROY Nine months have passed since the Bowery Residents’ Committtee (BRC) opened its doors at 127 West 25th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. In that time, Executive Director Muzzy Rosenblatt and his staff have worked to realize the promises they made to their clients and a skeptical community. Chelsea Now recently toured the ambitious vertical campus — our third visit to a BRC facility, and the first since the 25th Street location has been fully operational. Our goal: assess the BRC’s mission to get homeless people off the street, in rehab and job training, and into permanent housing. “People have success because they don’t come kicking and screaming. They choose to be here because they’ve hit rock bottom,” Rosenblatt said. “The bottom is fearful, but it gives them motivation to climb up. We can make that moment an opportunity for change.”
Since opening, the BRC has served 2,200 clients — 1,100 of whom have graduated (900 through rehab and 200 to jobs and housing). One success story is the kitchen trainee program. Clients are paid for the 20 weekly hours they work in the three-month program. When they get their food handler’s certification, the BRC helps with their job search. “I have been with the program for two weeks, and I would love to get any job in the culinary field when I’m done,” said Corey Allen, a trainee who checked that chicken was 160 degrees, then placed it into a warming dish. Allen helps cook fresh food daily for the facility’s clients, like the 1,100 chicken thighs prepared for dinner: two per client. Rosenblatt said while clients enjoy the quality of the food, some complain about the quantity. “We practice portion control, but people who have nothing tend to hoard,” he said. “We focus on building good habits.” Cooks don’t add
salt, and only provide clients with it upon request. Encountering an empty McDonald’s salt packet in a stairwell, he said, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way, but we try to keep people within healthy sodium levels.”
A SENSE OF CALM IN THE MIDST OF RECOVERY When Chelsea Now toured the BRC on April 19, the facility was at full capacity — housing 96 clients in their Reception Center, 200 in the Jack Ryan Residence and 32 in the Chemical Dependency Crisis Center. Yet walking through the Crisis Center, one would never guess. “There is a real sense of calm. It doesn’t feel like there are more than 300 people here,” said Rosenblatt. “We’ve worked to create a relaxed atmosphere, so people can let their guard down and have a chance to heal. A couple of days sober and they’re ready to start.”
the decision to be made with undue haste, in total disregard for their unanimous opposition and without proper notice of the meeting. Corey Johnson, chair of Community Board 4 (CB4), said, “I am really disheartened and dismayed by LPC’s decision to first, approve this, and second, not to listen to the community board and all the
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Symposium inspires Block Association rethink BY SCOTT STIFFLER Hyperlocal by nature rather than necessity, block associations normally go about their business — neighborly camaraderie, beautification projects, quality of life advocacy — without the benefit of strength in numbers. Until now. Taking a page from the Occupy Wall Street playbook — and with an eye
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toward influencing matters of citywide scope — the Coalition of Block and Community Leaders (CBCL) held its first annual Blocks for Blocks Symposium (BBS) on April 21, at the Rutgers Church Community Space (236 West 73rd Street, at Broadway). Although the subject matter addressed at the
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EDITORIAL, LETTERS PAGE 8
MY SOUL FLIES PAGE 14