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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933

August 20, 2015 • $1.00 Volume 85 • Number 12

Gasps over Gansevoort plan as developer calls historic street ‘blighted’ BY YANNIC RACK

GANSEVOORT continued on p. 6

Over-arch-ing issue keeps committee from approving One if by Land facade job BY YANNIC RACK

ew proposals for the exterior of One if by Land, Two if by Sea, the popular restaurant that had its facade ripped down in July, met little enthusiasm this week at Community Board 2. The plans for a cast-iron

PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

onstruction on a large-scale redevelopment in the landmarked Meatpacking District could start as soon as next spring, according to the developer who plans to demolish and replace some of the historic brick buildings

on the south side of Gansevoort St. Concerned residents living in and near the district packed a room above the Gansevoort Market food court on the evening of Tues., Aug. 18, to hear the developer’s proposal for a row of new buildings that will reach up

entrance for the restaurant at 17 Barrow St. were presented to C.B. 2’s Landmarks Committee hearing on Monday, Aug. 17. The restaurant faced outrage from residents and preservationists after its owners tore down the plaster arch that had adorned the buildBARROW ST. continued on p. 12

Here’s looking at you, kid: Le Baron Andre a.k.a. Andre Saraiva — the owner of Le Baron club / performance venue in Chinatown, as well as Le Baron clubs in Paris, Tokyo and London — collaborated with photo-mural artist JR and twin taggers Os Gemeos last week on this Thompson St. piece, which was getting (and giving) a lot of looks.

Crusty pit bull victims hurt and howling mad BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

ast week a third victim of an attack by a crusty pit bull came forward as fears of a “sharknado” of violence by the homeless youths’ rampaging pits continued to grip the East Village. Michael Puzzo, 47, said he was bitten on Tues., Aug. 4, around 2 a.m., as he was walking his girlfriend’s miniature dog, Bobito, along E. Sixth St. between Second and First Aves., the East Village’s

Indian restaurant row. “It hurt like a motherf-----,” Puzzo told The Villager this week, recounting how a 50-pound pit bull chomped him under his right arm and then wouldn’t let go. Puzzo, a playwright and actor, played “the non-pederast priest” in “Doubt.” He has lived in the East Village for 18 years “and nothing ever happened, knock on wood,” he said. But then, one night earlier this month, they came upon a crusty traveler who was sleeping smack in

the middle of the sidewalk, his pit bull beside him. “My dog is a little muppet, like a nine-pound rag doll,” he said of the Havanese-Maltese mix. “The crusties like to hang out on that block because a lot of the restaurants have sunken areas where they like to go to sleep or fiddle on their iPads. We all know these people aren’t homeless,” he scoffed. Anyway, he thought the pit bull was also asleep — PIT BULLS continued on p. 8

Pols support incumbents (surprise!)...............page 2 Challah back! B&H Dairy reopens....................page 3 Skenazy: Hot town, smellin’ in the city...........page 31 And the Fringe goes on..............page 17

www.TheVillager.com

BENCHMARK MOMENT: The Villager’s Tequila Minsky recently happened upon Assemblymember Deborah Glick doing a photo shoot with District Leaders John Scott and Jean Grillo on a bench in Washington Square Park, and Minsky took a photo of the photo shoot. Glick confirmed to us this week what would have seemed to be obvious, that, yes, she is endorsing the two for re-election in their hotly contested primary race on Sept. 10 against upstarts Dennis Gault and Terri Cude. “Indeed I am endorsing them,” Glick told us. “Jean and John have lots of support from many officials, in fact, all of the officials I think from the area. Their accomplishments are many and varied and that’s why they have broad support.” Glick said other politicians backing the Scott-Grillo team include state Senator Brad Hoylman, City Councilmember Corey Johnson, Congressmembers Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney and many of the other Democratic district leaders that they work with around Manhattan. “Why? Because they have done a good job and have been around a long time,” Glick stated of the district leader duo. “They were on the first board of Washington Market Park years ago when P.S. 234 was created. After 9/11, Jean Grillo joined the CERT emergency-response team in Battery Park City and is now the team chief. She has run free CPR courses for folks from the Village to Tribeca. John Scott was on the Community Education Council and was its vice president. He was on the School Overcrowding Task Force for Lower Manhattan. They’ve just been doing their work. Jean prevented N.Y.U. from closing three polling sites in Greenwich Village. They de-

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FOR KIMLAU’S SAKE: The people behind Webster Hall got an angry reception for their new Chinatown spot when they went before the Community Board 3 S.L.A. and D.C.A. Licensing Committee for their liquor license on Mon., Aug. 17, Jan Lee told us. First mistake: naming the restaurant/bar at 69 Mulberry St. Kimlau Garden. Benjamin Ralph Kimlau was a U.S. Air Force pilot during World War II who died in combat. An American Legion post and a gate in Chatham Square were named after him. “It shows profound disrespect for our community that reveres our leaders,” said Lee, founder of the Civic Center Residents Coalition, of the choice of the bar ’s name. Lee told us that two ex-marines, members of the Chinatown American Legion post named after Kimlau, also came out on Monday night to speak out against the place. Apparently the opposition worked. The place’s name has now been changed to Mul-Bay Cocktail Lounge, according to Bowery Boogie. However, the next fumble, Lee said, is the owners saying that the restaurant will be “food-forward.” The menu so far doesn’t have a lot of items, one of which is Chinese pickles — Lee said he doesn’t even know what that is — and boiled peanuts. “It’s such a farce and so insulting to us,” he said. The C.B. 3 committee rec-

ommended denial of the application, Lee said, adding that it’s not a case of “not in my backyard,” or NIMBY, but rather that the community knows “when something is not right.”

FEELS HER PAIN: After the Mrs. Green’s open house Monday evening, Westbeth photographer Bob Gruen and his wife, Elizabeth Gregory Gruen, happened to come strolling by and looked in the window of the new Hudson St. natural-foods market, trying to check the place out. He said he had read The Villager article the other week about his friend and fellow punkrock photog Roberta Bayley’s pug dying after being attacked by a crusty pit bull, and that he feels bad for her. (The article feature a photo by Gruen of Bayley, cameras hanging from her neck, chatting with Sid Vicious before the Sex Pistols’ Dallas show in 1978.) Gruen said, after reading the article, when he and Elizabeth were walking on the street they felt a bit paranoid every time they passed a pit bull. CHALLAH BACK! Thanks to Jeff Trachtman, who last Friday tweeted out, “So proud that my former paper had the best headline on the reopening of B&H Dairy!” He was referring to the online post we ran the same day as the reopening. An expanded article appears in this week’s print issue. Trachtman worked at the paper back in the day when it was published by Mike Armstrong. SWEET! Congrats to Ray (Asghar Ghahraman) of Ray’s Candy Store on Avenue A, whose place was named the Business of the Month by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. In recognition of the honor, Councilmember Rosie Mendez stopped by over the weekend to show her love and buy a black-andwhite egg cream. CORRECTION: Last week’s Police Blotter incorrectly stated that an arrest had not been made yet in a July 11 assault in front of 109 E. Broadway. In fact, the week before, police had arrested Zin McDade, 29, a homeless man, in the incident, and charged him with two counts of felony assault, one as a hate crime, and aggravated assault as a hate crime. According to police, McDade had approached a woman at the location, argued with her, accused her of speaking negatively about him in her language, then made anti-Muslim statements and spit and punched her in the face, fracturing her jaw.

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serve to be re-elected.” Of their opposition, Glick didn’t have much to say about Gault, but said, “Terri does great work in the community, and will continue to do that. I don’t think John and Jean should be replaced as district leader.” For her part, Cude said she already had gotten wind of Glick’s position on the race, but expressed confidence that she could win, even without the backing of the political establishment. “I believe Assemblymember Glick is endorsing them, as it seems to be the usual policy of many electeds to endorse incumbents,” Cude said. “I look forward to working with her and all of our local elected officials even more closely after the Sept. 10th Democratic primary.” Although she publicly shrugged off not having Glick’s support, we hear Cude was not happy that they chose to hold the photo shoot in Washington Square Park — right in her neck of the woods! A central plank of Cude’s campaign is that she is running to bring representation to the northern part of the 66th Assembly District, Part B, which stretches from the Washington Square area, down through Soho, Hudson Square and Tribeca to Battery Park City. Both Scott and Grillo live farther Downtown in Battery Park City, at Part B’s southern end.

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Challah back! B&H dairy restaurant reopens BY YANNIC RACK

PHOTOS BY YANNIC RACK

fter its doors were shuttered almost five months ago, the B&H kosher dairy restaurant on Second Ave. finally reopened last Fri., Aug. 14, with a line of loyal customers stretching out the door. The restaurant, an East Village staple since the 1930s, closed in the aftermath of the gas explosion that destroyed three buildings on the same block back in late March. Fawzy Abdelwahed, who has run the dairy with his wife, Ola, since 2003, struggled to pay the $30,000 monthly rent plus expenses, but was saved from bankruptcy by two successful crowdfunding campaigns. He also had to update his gas facilities and install a costly new fire-suppression system, all mandated by the city after the explosion. “It was very close. For a while I really lost hope,” he said on Friday, while his staff — all of whom have returned to the restaurant — dished out buttered challah and coffee to the enthusiastic locals that packed the counter and tables of the small shop. “I’m feeling great,” Abdelwahed said, standing behind the counter next to his wife. “All my customers, all my friends — everybody’s here.” Mike Tarabih, who has worked at B&H for 10 years, said he didn’t take another job while the restaurant was closed but instead passed the time at home, babysitting. “I missed my place, I missed my customers. I’m really excited. I couldn’t sleep for two days,” he said right before the gas was turned back

Longtime customers dug into their usual B&H breakfasts last Friday for the first time in almost five months. Dan Efram, right, has been coming to B&H for 23 years.

on for the first time. Standing in the small kitchen and tending to her pots of split-pea soup, bouillon and brown rice, Bogna Sanga, the dairy’s Polish cook, was beaming, too. It didn’t take long for everyone to settle back into their old routine, and soon the regulars were enjoying their usual orders. “This is what we’ve been waiting for,” said Dan Efram — who has been

coming to the classic East Village eatery for 23 years — as he bit into his first slice of challah.

Next to him, Lawrence Weibman, a food writer and blogger, enjoyed his own favorite dish — an egg-andcheese sandwich on challah bread, with a potato pancake stuffed inside for good measure. “It’s like being home,” he said. “When I come here, I feel like I’m going back to my grandma’s kitchen.” Andy Reynolds, who has been helping the owners get back on their feet by organizing the fundraisers and liaising with city agencies, said that the restaurant will host a proper reopening party on Fri., Aug. 21, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Florence Bergson Goldberg, the daughter of the original owners, will be the “guest of honor” at the event. There are also plans to install a plaque in the restaurant with the names of everyone who helped out. Jordy Trachtenberg, who lives around the corner on St. Mark’s Place and remembers hearing the explosion back in March, was one of the regulars that donated to the campaign — twice. “The food is spectacular, but it’s really about the people, the community, the environment,” he said. “You talk about the fabric of New York; this is a delicious stitch.”

B&H owner Fawzy Abdelwahed with his wife, Ola, left, and Bernadette Nation from the Department of Small Business Services, who has been helping the restaurant obtain permits and navigate through complicated agency bureaucracy. TheVillager.com

August 20, 2015

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August 20, 2015

N.Y.U.: Our cooling towers all cool BY YANNIC RACK

ith New York City’s largest-ever outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease apparently on the wane, the mayor signed into law new regulations on Tues., Aug. 18, to prevent a future spread of the illness that has killed a dozen people over the last month. Even though their response did not always seem coordinated during the outbreak, which originated in the South Bronx in early July, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo had previously announced that they would work together on new legislation aimed at curbing the disease. The bill, approved by the City Council last week, mandates strict timeframes and procedures for the maintenance and testing of cooling towers, which were found to be the source of the outbreak. The measure requires building owners to conduct quarterly inspections of cooling towers and provide annual certification that they have been inspected, tested, cleaned and disinfected. “The recent Legionnaires’ outbreak has been an unprecedented challenge requiring an unprecedented response,” the mayor said in a statement. “But a powerful response is just one piece of the equation. New Yorkers need to be protected from the disease through aggressive preventive action, and this groundbreaking legislation, developed in partnership with the City Council, is exactly that.” Cooling towers are a component of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in many modern buildings and can be found throughout the city. Legionnaires’ disease, an extreme form of pneumonia that commonly afflicts the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, is caused by heat-loving bacteria that easily breed in the warm water circulating inside cooling towers. The disease can spread through the air when somebody breathes in water droplets or mist containing the bacteria, for example from an air-conditioning unit, but is not contagious between individuals. In the future there will be fines and even prison terms for failing to comply with the new regulations, as well as a requirement that cooling towers be registered with the Department of Buildings. Prior to the outbreak, no central records of cooling towers were kept. The city also doesn’t regularly inspect them, so the task of maintenance falls to building owners. In The Villager’s coverage area, New York University has a large number of cooling towers. According to John Beckman, the

university’s spokesperson, N.Y.U. maintains around 30 cooling towers throughout the city, most of them in Manhattan. “For some years, N.Y.U. has had a program of annually cleaning and disinfecting its cooling towers,” Beckman said, which means the university falls short of existing guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The latter recommends that cooling towers be cleaned quarterly — or at least twice a year if the unit is not used year-round. Beckman added that the university uses an outside firm that specializes in the work and that the towers are also routinely treated with a biocide “to prevent, control and kill pathogens such as Legionnaires.” Two weeks ago, health officials issued an order that required buildings with water-cooling towers to assess and disinfect their units within the next 14 days, unless they can provide documentation of a similar inspection and cleaning within the past month. Beckman last week noted that N.Y.U. had its towers disinfected most recently in April and was already working to schedule another round of cleaning, to meet the city’s deadline. “We checked with the vendor to see if there are any additional steps we should take,” he said. “However, given N.Y.U.’s existing, robust treatment program…no additional actions were required, beyond the efforts we will take in accord with the city’s mandate. “Of course, the university will comply with whatever program the city comes up with in regard to cooling towers.” Bellevue Hospital Center maintains three cooling towers at its location between E. 26th and E. 28th Sts., on the stretch of First Ave. nicknamed “Bedpan Alley” for its concentration of hospitals. Bellevue is run by the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, which also operates Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx, one of the five buildings that originally tested positive for Legionella bacteria. “When the tower at Lincoln Hospital tested positive on July 29, we immediately cleaned and disinfected it,” Ana Merango, a spokesperson for H.C.C., told The Villager last week. “Since then we’ve gone beyond the Bronx and we’re cleaning all of our towers,” she said, adding that the work should be completed by the end of the week. The cleaning process takes a couple of hours and is usually done overnight, according to Merango. After disinfectants are used to rid the cooling towers’ insides of any bacteria, they need to be flushed out before going back into op-

eration. Merango noted that all public hospitals in the city follow C.D.C. and OSHA recommendations and so have their cooling towers cleaned and disinfected every six months by an environmental specialist. “I couldn’t tell you if every other hospital in the world does it [the same way],” she said. “It makes sense to us to do it on a regular basis.” Among the other building operators that responded to a request for comment was the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System, whose Manhattan campus is located right next to Bellevue off First Ave. A hospital spokesperson acknowledged that the cooling towers at the site were tested regularly but did not provide details of how often they were cleaned and disinfected. “VA has had a water-monitoring system in place for sometime,” the spokesperson said. “VA New York Harbor takes all appropriate measures to ensure our cooling towers are maintained properly and are safe for all. We have no issues with our cooling towers.” The New School, which has an eight-story building on W. 12th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves., plus its new 16-story University Center, on Fifth Ave. at E. 14th St., also gave no specifics but said its cooling towers were clean and well maintained. “The New School received the NYC DOH order that most building owners received in the last few days. The New School is in full compliance with the order,” the school said in a statement. The building that stood out for the most frequent testing was 770 Broadway, next to the Astor Place subway station and home to the offices of the Huffington Post, Facebook, AOL and J. Crew, as well as a K-Mart, among others. A spokesperson for Vornado Realty Trust, which manages the building, said the cooling tower there was tested every month and treated with biocides “as required.” It was not clear how often the tower was actually cleaned. On Tuesday, the mayor tried to dispel any remaining worries about the safety of cooling towers in the city. “As we speak, there are city workers on the ground throughout the five boroughs identifying every single cooling tower in this city,” he said before signing the bill. “That is something for this city to be proud of, but we don’t look backwards — we look forwards now. And we know that preventative medicine is the best medicine.” At a press conference afterward, the mayor noted that no new cases of Legionnaires’ had been reported since Aug. 3, though the number of confirmed cases connected to the outbreak had risen by one patient to a total of 127. TheVillager.com

No one wants one, but there will be an election BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

TheVillager.com

PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

he polls will be open Thurs., Sept. 10, in the Village — but they wouldn’t be if local Democratic district leaders and political clubs had their way. District Leaders Keen Berger and Arthur Schwartz — facing no primary-election opponents and having won the endorsement of the area’s political clubs — have already been re-elected in the 66th Assembly District, Part A. Because it’s a party position, there is no general election for district leader. Gil Horowitz had briefly mounted a challenge to Schwartz, but quickly dropped out after the incumbent won the overwhelming endorsement of the Village Independent Democrats. However, even though there is no district leader race in Part A, the polls will be open Sept. 10 for voters to weigh in on two slates of candidates for judicial delegates. Judicial delegates’ role is to choose the Democratic candidates for Manhattan Supreme Court in the November general election. The 66th A.D., Part A, includes most of the Village. Meanwhile, Part B — which includes Washington Square Village, 505 LaGuardia Place, Soho, Hudson Square, Tribeca and part of Battery Park City — does have a race for district leader, with incumbents John Scott and Jean Grillo being challenged by Dennis Gault and Terri Cude. To get on the ballot, district leader candidates had to collect 500 valid petition signatures from registered Democrats living in the Assembly district. At the same time that political club members were collecting signatures for district leader candidates, they also collected them for judicial delegate candidates. Traditionally, though, the ballot petition signatures are not valid unless a cover sheet is eventually provided by a set date. Ultimately, not wanting to force an election in Part A — again, where there is no district leader contest — Scott and Grillo did not provide a cover sheet for their petition signatures for judicial delegates in Part A. As a result, they presumed there would be no election. Yet, due to a snafu in a Harlem race in the 70th A.D. where one side failed to provide cover sheets, the city’s Board of Elections has ruled that — at least for this election — cover sheets are not required, and so the polls will be open in the Village on Sept. 10. “Harlem is having a war and Part B is having a war,” Berger said. “But Part A doesn’t want a war and John Scott and Jean Grillo tried not to have a war over the judicial delegates.” Berger two weeks ago went down to argue to the Board of Elections commissioners why an election should not

Assemblymember Deborah Glick, center, recently posed for a photo shoot in Washington Square Park with District Leaders John Scott and Jean Grillo. Glick subsequently confirmed it was for a photo for campaign materials for the two candidates in their race against Dennis Gault and Terri Cude. By chance, The Villager photographer happened upon the shoot, which was being done by another photographer.

be held, but was rebuffed. “I pleaded my case, and they did not budge,” she said. “They stuck with the letter of the law rather than the spirit of elections.” The Part A primary election will see a slate of six regular candidates and five alternates on one side versus a slate of four regular candidates and no alternates on the other. The first slate is endorsed by V.I.D., Village Reform Democratic Club, Downtown Independent Democrats and Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, the other slate by Scott and Grillo’s club, Downtown Progressive Democrats. “We’re not going to campaign,” she said, adding of the D.P.D. slate, “They don’t even want to win.” In all, 16 poll sites in Part A will now be open, each manned by from five to 30 workers — or 250 temporary election day workers, in all — according to Berger. Two police officers will also be assigned to each poll, one working the morning shift, and another working the late-afternoon and evening shift. Then there are the workers who will need to bring in and set up the voting machines. “There’s a lot of effort and money required to keep the polls open,” explained Berger, who tallied up the expenses. “This would waste an estimated $102,000 of city tax money that could be spent on eduction, police, libraries, Pier 40… . The list is very long.” In fact, the original plan was to include candidates from D.P.D., Scott and Grillo’s club, on one unified slate with the other side, which, again, would have avoided an election. “However, the politics around the district leader race in Part B caused

everything to fall apart, thus leading D.P.D. to decide to run their own slate,” explained Nadine Hoffmann, president of V.I.D. “This controversy with the Board of Elections occurred

when John and Jean decided not to run a slate, thereby avoiding a primary in the 66th, Part A.” The six judicial delegates on the larger slate are Hoffmann and Jennifer Hoppe from V.I.D.; Schwartz and Maria Passannante-Derr from V.R.D.C.; Jenifer Rajkumar from D.I.D.; and Allen Roskoff from Jim Owles. The five alternate judicial delegate candidates are Zella Jones and Cormac Flynn from V.I.D.; Norma Ramirez from V.R.D.C.; and Jeanne Wilcke and Elliot Silber from D.I.D. The other slate includes Grillo, Scott, Scott’s daughter and one other candidate. Scott confirmed that he had assumed there would not be an election in Part A. “The way I read the law is...in most cases, you don’t have a cover sheet, you don’t get on the ballot,” he said. However, he added of an election in Part A, “It’s going to happen. Keen went before the commissioners and they said it’s going to happen.” Scott noted that a lawsuit has been filed in the Harlem election case and is now before Justice Lucy Billings in State Supreme Court, who can settle the matter. Billings lived in the Village when she ran for judge, he recalled. “We supported her,” he said.

August 20, 2015

Developer shows plan to build up Gansevoort St. GANSEVOORT continued from p. 1

August 20, 2015

BKSK ARCHITECTS

to eight stories and replace some of the one- and two-story market buildings that currently line the block, between Greenwich and Washington Sts. “I think Gansevoort St. has been a blight for the community,” Jared Epstein, vice president and principal at Aurora Capital Associates, told the meeting. The remark, meant to illustrate that large portions of the buildings on the street currently sit empty or have housed nightclubs unpopular with the community, was met with outcries from the audience. Most of the locals present were concerned, if not enraged, about the plans, which they fear would destroy the character of the neighborhood and even lower property values. In addition, the buildings are all located within the Gansevoort Market Historic District, which was designated in 2003 after years of campaigning from community activists. “This developer will have an enormous fight on their hands if they seek to move ahead with this proposal,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. “This is not why we fought for years to get the Meatpacking District landmarked,” he added. “Frankly, I think the proposal is crazy and I can not imagine that anybody at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, who is charged with preserving the character of historic neighborhoods, would do anything but reject this proposal outright.” Aurora is developing the project together with William Gottlieb Real Estate. The two companies are also currently building a “glass cube” addition atop 9-19 Ninth Ave, the former site of Keith McNally’s popular French bistro Pastis. As The Villager reported two weeks ago, the plan for their latest project — situated right across the street from the southern end of the High Line and the new Whitney Museum of American Art — is split into three separate zoning lots. “This is a real labor of love for us,” said Harry Kendall, one of the two architects from BKSK Architects who presented the proposal. “I know you’re all here because you’re concerned, but we hope that this presentation will alleviate some of your concerns.” He explained that the easternmost part of the site, the two-story building at 46-48 Gansevoort St. at the corner of Greenwich St., would be kept as is but “cleaned up” — meaning extraneous signage and piping would be removed, and the brick facade would

An architect’s rendering of how the landlord and developer envision the south side of Gansevoort St. between Greenwich and Washington Sts. looking under their rebuilding plan.

be restored. The building would also receive two marquees extending over the sidewalk. “It’s quirky things like that we want to incorporate into the design,” Kendall noted. The first lot also includes 50 Gansevoort St., a lower two-story building that currently houses The Griffin nightclub. Todd Poisson, also of BKSK, said the existing building would be demolished and replaced with a three-story one instead, raising the height to about 45 feet, not counting an additional 10 feet of rooftop mechanicals. Immediately west of 50 Gansevoort St., the second lot is currently occupied by the Gansevoort Market, an indoor food court that opened last year. On Tuesday, Epstein revealed that Keith McNally’s Pastis restaurant would take over most of that space and is currently eyeing a reopening date in early 2017. He later added that the market, whose lease will expire in time, will potentially reopen at a different location in the area. The third lot, from 60-74 Gansevoort St., is split in two under the proposal: Numbers 60-68 would receive an additional three floors on top of their existing two stories, plus another fourth floor that would be set back 20 feet. The one-story building at 70-74 Gansevoort St. would be demolished completely and replaced by a six-story building with a two-story setback, raising the total heights at the block’s western end to 78 and 111 feet, respectively. While this is still lower than the old Manhattan Refrigerating Company building across the street — which was converted years ago into the West Coast Apartments — the sentiment during and after the meeting was unanimous.

“I was very disappointed. It’s grossly out of scale and completely lacks historical context,” said Zack Winestine, the co-chairperson of the Greenwich Village Community Task Force, who lives nearby on Horatio St. “It looks like a short Madison Avenue,” agreed Elaine Young, a member of Community Board 2 who lives just south of the Meat Market. “I think their history justifications are very shaky. They’re grasping for a reason, it doesn’t actually make sense,” she added, referring to the architects’ claim that the block’s existing buildings actually used to be higher than they presently are. Vincent Inconiglios, who moved to the area in 1969 and is one of the few grandfathered residents actually living on Gansevoort St., did appreciate one aspect of the proposal. “I like what they’ve done in terms of trying to tier the buildings,” he said. “I think the reality is that this is not the Meatpacking District any longer.” Inconiglios still remembers when racks of meat would be a common sight on the block and there was “fat in the street.” “It’s changed dramatically,” he said. “I’ve seen so much of it change and the concern of the people here, I think, is very real.” Charles Portelli lives on Horatio St., whose backyards are adjacent to the Gansevoort St. buildings. “Building a larger building that shadows and cuts off views suddenly lowers the value of other people’s property, so you’re going against zoning,” he said, echoing the concerns of many residents on his street who were present at the meeting. “You’re blocking off the right to light,” he said. “You’re blocking off views.” Portelli also said he would like to see the character of the stores on the

street preserved, for example mentioning a carpentry shop that used to be there. “There were actual tradespeople in the neighborhood,” he said. “Now it turned into pretty expensive shops, which the people who live in this area can’t actually afford.” In addition to landmark protection, a restrictive declaration is in place for the buildings on Gansevoort St., prohibiting their use as residential apartments, hotels or office space. Asked what kind of stores would occupy the street’s ground-floor spaces under their plan, Epstein named luxury retailers like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermes. The upper floors on the block could be used as small offices by the groundfloor retailers, which the restrictive declaration allows, or be leased to art galleries or even a fitness center like SoulCycle, he said. Offices not directly associated with the ground-floor retailers would not be allowed under current zoning. Epstein noted that the developers originally wanted to use all the upper floors as general office space — without any restrictions — and claimed that Councilmember Corey Johnson’s office, as well as the City Planning Commission, were on board with lifting the restrictive declaration. “Right now we’re comfortable building the buildings without an office use,” he said, quickly adding a disclaimer. “If we had the restrictive declaration lifted, it would be for offices.” Brooke Schafran, a spokeswoman for Aurora, said the developers were not planning to appear before the Landmarks Preservation Commission until October, citing Oct. 27 as the earliest possible date. “We want to make sure that people have had a chance to look at it and weigh in and be fully informed,” she told the meeting. “We do plan on having probably another meeting in September, or as many meetings as people would like us to have. And then obviously there will be a formal community board presentation before we go to Landmarks.” Two weeks ago, a spokesperson for William Gottlieb Real Estate said the developers planned to start work on the project within the next six months. Epstein on Tuesday confirmed that the work could start as early as spring 2016 if L.P.C. gives the green light. Construction would then take 18 months from groundbreaking to completion. Asked whether there was any chance the project would go even higher than currently proposed, he shook his head. “Absolutely not,” he said. TheVillager.com

It’s schmeer love between an artist and N.Y.C. bagels BY TEQUILA MINSKY

Freshman Residence Hall No Parking Zone PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

wedish artist Hanna Liden is paying a very visible homage a the New York icon, the bagel, in her two-part installation called “Everything in The Village.” Unveiled last month, a stack of five super-size bagels (including sesame, pumpernickel, everything and plain) are piled 17 feet high in Ruth Wittenberg Plaza, at Sixth and Greenwich Aves., while another bagel stack, plus a lone gigantic sesame, are in Hudson River Park at the Christopher St. entrance. The bagels in the central Village are there till Aug. 24, while the ones on the waterfront will stay up through Oct. 20. The project is under the aegis of the nonprofit Art Production Fund. Liden’s inspiration came from the composition for a photo she exhibited last spring: She spray-painted a stack of bagels — which looked vaselike — with a tulip in it. She, in turn, chewed over the large-scale bagel project for about a year. “I like how, with a sculpture, it’s more of a physical experience compared to if you stand in front of a framed thing that’s flat on the wall,” she said. The artist used industrial styrofoam, polyurethane, steel and paint. Each poppy seed and every piece of onion and garlic was carved individually and attached to the bagels by hand. Liden had her first bagel when she moved to New York 17 years ago. “It was on a park bench in Abingdon Square park on Hudson St. in September 1998 — plain with lox,” she recalled. “I got it in a shop in Meatpacking that is now long gone,” she said, not entirely sure of its name. Sounds like Dizzy Izzy’s. For the “models” for her jumbo-sized bagels, she used “lots of different ones, some from Manhattan, some from Brooklyn.” As for favorites, the artist likes the bagels in the bodega downstairs from where she lives. While she made this installation for this show, it potentially could travel to “possibly Brooklyn or Tokyo,” she said. In parting words about the New York starch staple, Liden said, “The

By the bagels at Sixth and Greenwich Aves.

bagel has a beautiful shape. I love New York.” William Kelley, executive director of the Village Alliance business improvement district, said of the central Village bagels, “We are happy with the sculpture — it is temporary after all. Mostly, we are responding to feedback that asked us to use the space for temporary art from time to time — the Department of Transportation’s public art program approached us and we agreed. ... What’s more New York than a bagel after all?” After the sculpture comes down, the plaza will be reconstructed and enlarged, after which the BID’s planters, tables and chairs will return. However, not everyone was bullish about getting “bageled.” Minerva Durham contacted The Villager back in June, alarmed that she had heard the bagels would be coming to Petrosino Square in Nolita. But a Parks Department spokesperson said then that it was “early in the process,” adding, “Looks like it won’t happen in Petrosino.”

With reporting by Lincoln Anderson

Move-In Day Parking Relief Saturday, August 29, 2015 NYU is welcoming a new class: our freshmen move into their residence halls on Saturday, August 29. We understand the effect that move-in day has on traffic and street parking, and are offering parking reimbursement to neighborhood residents. If you live in the area designated by the darkly shaded section of the map above (from 15th Street to Houston Street, between Sixth and Second Avenues) and need to put your car in a garage on Friday night or Saturday, August 2829, NYU will repay the cost for up to 24 hours. This offer is not valid for NYU students. Please mail your original parking receipt, proof of residency, name, email, and phone number to the NYU Office of Government and Community Affairs for reimbursement, or bring them in person between 9 am and 5 pm on weekdays. Please keep copies of all receipts. NYU Office of Government and Community Affairs 25 West Fourth Street, 5th Floor New York, NY 10012-1119 212.998.2400 • community.affairs@nyu.edu Find out about public programs and more: visit nyu.edu/nyu-in-nyc »

TheVillager.com

August 20, 2015

Victims: City must enforce laws on crusty pits PIT BULLS continued from p. 1

but it opened its eyes and went right for little Bobito. Puzzo said that, with a quick jerk of his leash — “like Bruce Lee” whipping around nunchucks — he flung Bobito, who was wearing a harness, up into his arms, and shielded him by spinning away from the pit bull’s jaws. But the bigger dog clamped its teeth under Puzzo’s arm, for how long, he’s not sure, but possibly up to half a minute.

CAME THISCLOSE TO BOBITO Later on, Puzzo found Bobito’s fur mixed with his own blood in his arm wound, showing just how close the pit had come to catching his prey. “He just missed Bobito,” he said. “He’s nine pounds. If he got him, he would have been bitten in two, like Roberta’s dog.” He was referring to punk rock photographer Roberta Bayley’s late pug, Sidney, who was attacked by a crusty pit bull just two blocks away, outside their St. Mark’s Place home between Second and Third Aves., on Aug. 1. Sidney underwent surgery but died the next day at the vet. “I said, ‘Get your dog off of me!’ and he grabbed my dog,” Puzzo said incredulously of the crusty, who had by now awoken. “The dog was hanging onto my arm and I couldn’t get him off. It was so surreal. It could have been 30 seconds. But that’s 30 seconds longer than I wanted to be attacked by Cujo. It felt like someone had lit my arm on fire.” After the crusty finally pulled the pit bull off him, the beast then continued to circle Puzzo and Bobito menacingly, before the crusty eventually forced it into the street. As the injured Puzzo walked away, he yelled back at the man, “Does this dog have his shots?” “Yeah, yeah, totally,” the blackclad nomad assured. Puzzo’s arm was left covered in blood, with “fang marks — and worst was a big hard bruise.” Yet, he acknowledged that his injured limb “is not 1/18th as bad as Ed’s,” referring to Ed Vassilev, who was savagely bitten by a pit bull on Second Ave. and E. Fourth St. as he, too, was trying to shield his dog, a Vizsla puppy, from attack. Vassilev was attacked at 11:30 a.m. either the same day or the day after Puzzo was. Bayley’s pug Sidney had been attacked three or four days earlier. Unlike Vassilev, Puzzo didn’t need any stitches, because the bite was mainly puncture wounds.

August 20, 2015

Ed Vassilev showing his major arm wound at Beth Israel Hospital after being attacked by a pit bull on Second Ave. The dog’s bite severed the first layer of nerves on his forearm, but luckily not the deeper nerves that control finger and arm movement.

sponded to the scene to look for the dog and its owner. In each of the three attacks, the pit bulls were going after a much smaller dog. Each time, the travelers were either asleep or apparently nodding out on substances. The homeless travelers say the pit bulls are their protection when they’re sleeping out on the street — but when the travelers are sleeping, who’s keeping an eye on their pit bulls? “It’s not about, ‘Let’s get the homeless off the streets or put the pit bulls in concentration camps,’” Puzzo said. “It’s just that the neighborhood should be safe.”

‘I want that dog put down.’ Ed Vassilev

PIT BULL WASN’T LEASHED Puzzo said the dog that bit him did not have a leash and, like the one that attacked Bayley, was not fixed. “If a dog is in the street, it should be fixed, it should be registered,” he said, “it should have all its shots, and it should be on a leash — or it should be taken away from them.” He reported the attack to the Ninth Precinct, but isn’t sure if officers re-

HOW MANY OF THEM? One big question that remains un-

answered is how many dogs were involved in the three attacks. If there was only only one dog, that would be reassuring, in a way. “If it’s one pit bull, it’s ‘Jaws,’ ” Puzzo said, meaning — just get that one dog off the street. Puzzo said the pit bull that attacked him was brown with black stripes “like a tiger,” known as a brindle coat. The one that bit Vassilev was gray and white. Meanwhile the dog that tore up Sidney’s throat was brown, possibly a brindle with faint stripes, according to Bayley. However, she said, it all happened so fast, it was hard to focus on what the dog looked like. What is known is that the dog that bit Vassilev was impounded at Animal Care and Control and was being observed for rabies. Vassilev told The Villager he has been making phone calls to try to ensure that the dog is never released. “I want that dog put down,” he stated. “There’s no way that dog should come out.” He said A.C.C. directed him to an inspector at the Department of Health, who asked for Vassilev’s medical records. Vassilev said that inspector told him that the dog’s owner claimed Vassilev was bitten “during a fight.” In fact, the pit bull had come charging down the sidewalk straight toward his little dog, Misha. Also known is that the pit bull that attacked Sidney was named Jax, and that a traveler named Natas (Satan backwards) had had the dog for a month or two. But one crusty told The Villager that Natas could not handle the dog and shouldn’t have had it, while another crusty said Jax, who was taken from a family in Bushwick that also could not handle him, was “very aggressive.”

POLICE: PROBABLY WAS 2 The Ninth Precinct does have one officer specifically dedicated to dog issues, according to Detective Jaime Hernandez, but he could not be reached by press time. Hernandez said he believes a total of two dogs were involved in the three attacks. As for Bayley, she’s still feeling the pain of losing her best buddy Sidney, but this week said she is “feeling a bit bit better every day.” Like Puzzo, she objected that the New York Post’s brief article this past Monday about the attacks on Vassilev and Puzzo, mainly seemed to want to blame the mayor for the problem, portraying it as just another side effect of the current uptick in homelessness. “They want to make it about the PIT BULLS continued on p. 29 TheVillager.com

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TheVillager.com

August 20, 2015

Mixed buzz on ‘beer pier’ on Chelsea waterfront BY ZACH WILLIAMS

n idea to put a beer garden in a family-friendly area of Chelsea parkland has aroused opposition and skepticism among some longtime residents who say public spaces should not serve private interests. The proposed venue would occupy a parcel of what is currently a large lawn near the carousel at Pier 62. Manhattan-based Merchants Hospitality, Inc. — described on its Web site as a “full-service hospitality company with expertise in investment, development, ownership and management of real estate, restaurants and hotels” — would manage the project. On July 9, a Merchants representative presented the current plan to the Waterfront, Parks & Environment Committee of Community Board 4, and received a mixed response. The committee did not make a recommendation either to approve or deny the plan. C.B. 4 Chairperson Christine Berthet said the community board has no plans to hold a special meeting for public comment on the issue, adding that concerned residents can attend relevant C.B. 4 committee meetings and sign up for the public comment section of full board meetings, which are held the first Wednesday of each month.

August 20, 2015

A rendering from the Merchants Hospitality Web site, which touts the Pier 62 project as “Coming April 2015.”

Residents who attended the July 9 meeting were dismayed by Merchants’ plan to apply for a full liquor license — not just beer and wine, as residents had thought. The current proposal would reduce the amount of seating from 250 to 200 and eliminate the bleacher seating from the original

presentation. Amplified music and operating hours until 2 a.m. are also points of contention, along with a lack of details surrounding how the Hudson River Park Trust would use the $225,000 generated annually from the beer garden. In addition, the length of the lease was not given at the meeting. “Our opinion is that it would be good for the parkland to not have a business, but if so the business should be family-friendly,” said Jean Blair, co-president of the West 400 Block Association (which represents the blocks between Ninth and 10th Aves. on W. 21st, 22nd and 23rd Sts.). She added, though, that the organization has not yet decided on a specific plan moving forward. Blair said the beer garden’s proximity to the carousel would require that some type of barrier prevent the former’s patrons from crossing paths with children. But more than anything, longtime residents said that the emerging partnership between the company and the Park Trust could undermine the spirit that inspired neighborhood activists to organize and push for years to establish the Chelsea Waterside Park, located between W. 23rd and W. 24th Sts., west of 11th Ave. The proposed beer garden would occupy land that was secured for community purposes, according to Robert Trentlyon, founder of the Chelsea Waterside Park Association. “The great lawn is used for picnicking and for children and parents playing games,” he said. “The beer garden would be next to the carousel — how appropriate. I think it would be a step backwards,” he said of allowing the beer garden. Abraham Merchant, founder of Merchants Hospitality, said that he was not at the meeting and referred questions

to a representative who did not respond to multiple requests for comment made via telephone and e-mail. Chelsea residents of a later generation, though, who visited the proposed site of the beer garden on July 20, expressed support for having a place where they could enjoy a brew so close to the many other amenities nearby. “It’s a great family outing where my daughter can run free,” said Brent Dougherty, a Chelsea resident who brought his toddler to the park on Mon., July 20. His wife, Leile Shams, added that her concern with a potential beer garden merely extended to the possibility that more people might frequent the park, especially on hot summer days. Debbie Plummer, a mother and former Chelsea resident, relaxed on the lawn a few yards away from Dougherty and Shams. Plummer said that the lawn made an ideal place to wait for her 6-year-old daughter, who was taking a class at the nearby Chelsea Piers — especially considering the available shade and the lack of similar options east of the highway. Yet she had no qualms with the idea of a beer garden, while her other daughter said that she enjoyed the diverse features of the park, as a group of martial artists twirled long wooden staffs about 100 feet away. “I like that I get to see lots of other people do other sports,” said Onnah Plummer, 9. But neighborhood activists are steadfastly committed to their ideals and their vision of what defines a community-minded park. “A lot of people believe that parks should be used for public use — not be leased out and allowed to be used for businesses,” said Bill Borock, president of the Council of Chelsea Block Associations. TheVillager.com

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They like plan, but can’t forgive arch violation BARROW ST. continued from p. 1

COURTESY ANITA BARTHOLIN/BRAND ARCHITECTS

ing since at least the 1940s. The restaurant owners now plan to restore the building to what they termed its “original” state — before the arch was added. But the committee members unanimously rejected the new proposal, which calls for a slightly elevated storefront that would incorporate the cast-iron columns that were exposed when the arch came down. The new plans would also include restoration of the building’s original brick facade, as well as the addition of new doors — two on either side, as entrances to the restaurant, with a set of double doors in the center. “Our design involves retaining the cast iron and keeping the proportions of what would have been a stable, a blacksmith shop,” said Anita Brandt, the architect who designed and presented the proposal to the committee. She said she was called in to draft a design less than two weeks ago and had already met with the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. Brandt is a member of C.B. 2’s Landmarks Committee but recused herself from voting on the issue to be able to represent the restaurant. “It’s a reinterpretation of what would have been there before the arch, and recognizing that it had a very utilitarian opening, with the double doors in the middle, which swing in, and the side doors, which are exit doors for the restaurant and would swing out,” she explained during the hearing. “It looks nasty now, there’s really nothing beautiful about it,” she added. The restaurant’s owners, Zef Deljevic and David Ghatanfard, were initially criticized mainly because the removal of the archway had occurred without permits from L.P.C. The commission would have to approve any changes since the building is located within the Greenwich Village Historic District. “The removal of the arch was absolutely wrong and unacceptable. It’s a historically significant element of the building,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Society for Histor-

A rendering of the proposed new facade for One if by Land, which will incorporate original elements of the buildings.

ic Preservation. “They just went ahead and ripped off a beloved piece of this historic building,” he added. Last month, the owners claimed that they were doing minor repairs on the entrance doors when the arch suddenly partially collapsed. They claimed that the inside had been rotting and that they removed the rest of the facade as a safety precaution and to be able to stay open. When the issue of the permits arose at Monday’s hearing, Chenault Spence, the committee’s co-chairperson, quickly chimed in. “That is not something that’s before us,” he said. “We are not here to litigate the circumstances of the changes that were done, and that were done without the proper permits. We are here with the situation that exists now. “With any violation, our guideline is that we can evaluate it almost always on the basis of what

would our decision have been had a proper hearing been given,” he explained. Although they liked the new proposal, the committee members were quick to condemn the restaurant for what had happened. “This is obviously a gorgeous proposal but I feel like the process was so seriously circumvented that it’s very hard to regard the original transgression of the arch as an oops,” Susan Gammie, one of the committee members, said. “It seems like a calculation, not an oops.” Jonathan Geballe, another member, agreed. “The presentation, under other circumstances, would get our applause,” he said. The old arch can be seen on property-tax photos from 1940, though it was not painted white back then. Some, including Berman of G.V.S.H.P. and Ellen Conway Bellone, whose family owned the building from the late 1800s until around 1965, think the archway was significantly older than that. Bellone told The Villager last month that the archway dated back to 1897, when the building was turned into a blacksmith shop by her grandfather. Deljevic and Ghatanfard also did not have consent for the work from the building’s owners, Oscar and Colleen Goujane, who sold the restaurant earlier this year but still live above it. The building owners were on vacation in Europe when the arch came down and said last month that they wanted the facade restored to its former look. But on Monday, Brandt said that the Goujanes weren’t opposed to the new design. “She thought it looked very nice,” Brandt said of Colleen Goujane, who couldn’t be reached for a comment after the hearing. Brandt also claimed that the restaurant owners initially proposed a restoration of the archway in meetings with L.P.C., but that the commission did not approve of it and asked for something “simpler,” which could be a sign that the agency is open to the current design. The proposal has now been filed with the city and L.P.C. will likely hold a public hearing on the issue on Sept. 12. “We’re here to do the right thing,” Brandt said.

Trying to make it in the school of hard knocks It’s hard to top the recent Campout New York Post and Tompkins Square Riots Anniversary Concert for excitement, but Theater for the New City will be putting on their latest extravaganza, “Teach It Right or Right to Teach!” in the park on Sat., Aug. 22, at 2 p.m., at the old band shell site on the park’s E. Seventh St. side. The musical follows the adventures of a young man, Michael, whose first approach to higher education comes with his entrance into New Styles High School after having suffered through a substandard elementary school. He and the school face challenges from budget cuts and no art classes to a charter school trying to take over half their building. Trying to make ends meet, he takes a part-time job as a Disney character in Times Square taking photos with tourists, but not surprisingly, that gets pretty whacky. From McDonald’s fights, encounters with illegal immigrants and the homeless, to the subbasement of Trump Towers, the young hero sees it all. This will be the show’s sixth performance, and their second in Tompkins. “We will have a really big audience,” T.N.C. Executive Director Crystal Field assured. “This musical has gotten a wonderful reception so far.”

August 20, 2015

The cast of “Teach It Right or Right to Teach!” at one of their recent performances. TheVillager.com

POLICE BLOTTER Bagel blowup Police said that the cream cheese hit the fan at Bagels on the Square, at 7 Carmine St., on Sun., Aug. 2, around noon, between two counter workers who schmeer the bagels and make the sandwiches. According to police, one man first pushed the other in the back, then cut him on the wrist with a knife. E.M.S. medics were called but it was not immediately clear if the victim received treatment or declined it. He was not taken to an area hospital. William Bonilla, 32, of Manhattan, was arrested and charged with assault and misdemeanor possession of a weapon. A police spokesperson said the victim, 30, told cops that the two men had a history of verbal altercations. Speaking from the store this Wednesday, Marcos Velavquez, another counterman, said he had been on vacation at the time of the incident, but that Bonilla was still working at the deli. “He’s still there,” he said. “The other guy quit.”

Subway stabbing According to police, a 21-year old man who got into a dispute with four other men in their 20s was stabbed once in the torso on the N/Q/R platform of the Union Square subway station on Sat., Aug. 15, at 4:10 p.m. He was removed to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. Police said the first suspect was wearing all black with a black backpack; the second suspect was shirtless but was holding a white shirt in his hand and wearing black shorts and black sneakers; the third man was wearing a white tank top and light-colored sneakers; and the fourth alleged perp had on a red baseball hat, black shorts and whiteand-black sneakers. They all ranged in height from 5-foot-8 to 6-foot-2 and all fled in different directions.

Hudson River Park perv Police said they caught a man, 31, masturbating near playing children in Hudson River Park on Thurs., Aug. 13. Another man, the same age, reported his suspicions of inappropriate behavior after he reportedly viewed the other man open his pants and expose his penis shortly after 11 a.m. The incident occurred about 15 to 20 yards away from children playing near the northwest corner of W. TheVillager.com

11th and West Sts., in the waterfront park, according to a police report. A search for a suspect resulted in the arrest of Donovan Clarke, 31. He was charged with public lewdness, a misdemeanor.

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Lamb glass slam

A woman allegedly broke a beer bottle and swung it at a fellow patron of The Slaughtered Lamb bar, at 182 W. Fourth St., around 11 p.m. on Tues., Aug. 11. The 28-year-old victim was taken to Lenox Health Greenwich Village to treat a laceration. Johanna Lopez, 33, was arrested and charged with felony assault. The report did not explain what motivated the attack.

Chase across the tracks The subway system served as an escape route for a panhandler ironically seeking a free MetroCard swipe on Wed., Aug. 12. Police observed the man allegedly accosting straphangers at the station at W. 14th St. and Eighth Ave. at 8:50 p.m. that night. He fled into the system soon after police requested to see his ID. The suspect jumped down onto the northbound tracks and ran across to a waiting southbound E train. But police caught up with him and forced him back onto the platform before he could get away. Babacar Mbaye, 27, flailed his arms attempting to resist arrest again, police said. He had an open warrant, according to the report. He was charged with resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.

Night out ends in cuffs A couple out in the Village for the night gave each other bloody noses on Thurs., Aug. 13. The two Upstate residents began arguing at about 11 p.m. when the blows began to fly, according to a police report. Both refused medical attention after police arrived. Boyfriend Rene Chino, 21, then turned his wrath toward police officers, who reported that he yelled, cursed and screamed at them. Chino and girlfriend Katherine Loja, 19, were arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault.

Zach Williams and Lincoln Anderson

MADONNA SEPTEMBER 17th at Madison Square Garden For your chance to win, visit

gaycitynews.nyc/win August 20, 2015

Punk music you could sink your teeth into! To say this singer, at the recent Tompkins Square Park Riots Anniversary Concert, lives, breathes and eats punk rock probably would not be an exaggeration. PHOTO BY JOHN PENLEY

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR A tremendous activist To The Editor: Re “Doris Corrigan, 87; Go-to activist was Chelsea” (obituary, Aug. 6): I first met Doris in the 1970s through her work in the W. 20th St. Block Association but I really got to know her when I was running for Democratic district leader in 1982. We were partners in so many ways, whether it was being founding members, and at various times officers, of the Chelsea Waterside Park Association, or developing and securing the Chelsea Plan. Then there was the time I told Doris that the city was making daffodil bulbs

available free for block associations to plant, and she not only got them and planted them on 20th St., but she got the other block associations in the neighborhood to do the same. (I didn’t actually plant any bulbs myself, but I continue to enjoy the beauty when they come up every spring). I was fortunate to serve as co-leader with Doris when she was elected female district leader in 1987. Doris was always a tremendous community activist and political leader — both as an advocate for causes and candidates she believed in, and as a technical expert who made sure the Democratic Party in Chelsea functioned seamlessly. Selfless, committed, fiery when necessary, energetic, thoughtful, a leader by example: That

IRA BLUTREICH

was our Doris. Her passing is a tremendous loss to Chelsea, the entire 75th Assembly District, and personally for me. I have no doubt that she is organizing her angel colleagues in heaven. Tom Duane

Made an indelible impact To The Editor: Re “Doris Corrigan, 87; Go-to activist was Chelsea” (obituary, Aug. 6): I met Doris in 1988 when I started volunteering on Tom Duane’s then-nascent first campaign for City Council. Doris was in her second year as Democratic district leader and in full throttle as a driving force in Chelsea. She was a mentor to me when I become Tom’s volunteer coordinator on that campaign and I had many other opportunities to work with Doris on politics and policy over the years. I am grateful that I was able to help Tom Schuler in caring for her in recent years as her memory first began to falter and then completely slipped away. She made an indelible imprint on our neighborhood, and I will always remember her as a dynamic leader and generous friend. Laura Morrison

Has Senator Schumer gotten the point? 14

August 20, 2015

LETTERS, continued on p. 16 TheVillager.com

Woman saved by elevator amid my musings on race NOTEBOOK BY ALFIE MCCOURT

TheVillager.com

Irish suffered under bigotry. No Irish Need Apply, for jobs and apartments: That was the catch phrase. For us, bigotry and discrimination are a gut memory but we can never be accepted as brothers and sisters. And then there are the archconservatives, the ones who tether their horses to the rail of the Constitution, and buy any election they can get their hands on. By their reckoning, fair play must make its obeisance at the altar of the free market, and they oppose any measure bearing even a hint of social equality. At the end of the game they will hold all the toys, and that fits well with their sense of entitlement. If they don’t have forbears who came over on the Mayflower then they will cheerfully invent ’em, while masking their motives under the hoary banner of patriotism. I’m tempted to offer some bromides to Odile but still I must hold back. I’m becoming frustrated. “Listen, Odile,” I say to her, “you and I can’t solve these problems. Even with all the goodwill in the world. There are extremists on both sides, the people who, for their dubious living, depend on the perpetuation of divisiveness and bigotry. They command the headlines. As for the rest of us, the millions of people of goodwill on both sides? We have little or no voice and are rarely heard from.” “How about this?” I add. “Why don’t we try something different? Why don’t we do something as individuals? On the street, on the subway, in a store, we could stand back and let someone else go first. Maybe even hold the door for them, no mat-

ter who they are, with no ceremony and with no expectation?” “Yes,” I imagine Odile laughing, “try that in my neighborhood. The guy you hold the door for might just pull a gun on you.” But she isn’t really listening. She steps into the elevator. Glad to get away, I’m sure and she is entitled. A fine woman, she does worthwhile work. It might have been simpler, less preachy, if I had told her about my encounter, in 1974, in San Francisco. I was in my early thirties and standing at a bus stop when I fell into conservation with a black man in his fifties. He addressed me as brother. We boarded the bus. He headed for the back seat, which was almost full, found a seat and made the other people move over so I could sit down. I was only going a short distance and would have preferred to stand. But he had gone to a lot of trouble to secure a seat for me. I would not risk hurting his feelings and so I sat down. We resumed our conversation. I had been burning to ask him and now I did: “What’s a brother?” I asked. “A brother,” he said, “is a man without hate.” My stop was coming up but I couldn’t just leave the bus at that point. We continued talking. Soon my new friend stood up, shook hands with me and got off the bus. At the next stop I got off the bus, crossed the street to a bar, ordered a beer and used the men’s room. I was the only white face around as I boarded the bus that brought me back to my original destination. Where is he now, my brother? And that bus? Does it still run?

PHOTO BY MILO HESS

n 2008, during the presidential election campaign, I remarked that the Clintons, in facing Barrack Obama, an African-American and a candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination, had found themselves between a rock and a hard place. (“You mean a Rack and a hard place,” said my friend Jimmy). A short time later Senator Obama himself was in a difficult position. In defending his relationship with his pastor, Reverend Wright, he had to articulate, in one short speech, the agony of bigotry that has tortured these United States for hundreds of years, while knowing full well that a safe haven from that torture is nowhere in sight. I recently had a conversation with an African-American woman. Ours is a working relationship. Conversation may be casual but because our relationship is work related I have to be doubly careful in what I say. A stray remark could land me in trouble. She is about 55 years old. I was sympathetic to her complaints regarding race and the unfairness of it all and I agreed with some of her observations. Once before, in a similar situation, I had been suckered into offering an opinion and I had paid the price, and so now I had to be careful of what I said. On that earlier occasion the woman was coldhearted and calculating. This woman, however, I’ll call her Odile, has a good heart. Still, she did go on. I was frustrated. I could have said a lot but the unwritten rules held me back. Mind you, the rules are sometimes a blessing. Had I been free to speak I might have offered something like, “Yes, some of my best friends,” etc., or, “Someone once told me a story.” I might have said, “You’re right, your people have been crucified for centuries,” or “Yes, but what about the immigrants? They’ve had a tough time, too.” Or something equally lame, or even more stupid. Odile had unleashed a torrent. She had trusted me with her honesty and I owed her something more than a few perfunctory remarks. Some of what she said I had heard before. The great-grandfather, son of a freed slave, stayed in the South. His son, the grandfather, migrated north, only to find a different kind of segregation; a segregation more deeply entrenched in the North than it ever was in the South. The grandmother scrubbed floors while the grandfather worked as a janitor. Their son goes to high school. His child goes

on to college and gains a degree, but, because of his color, his employment and other opportunities are limited. Then there are the European immigrants. The grandfather and grandmother worked three jobs apiece (a miracle in itself, or simply the stuff of legend?) and went to school at night to learn English and, in time, a high school equivalency diploma. (Their grandchildren, contemptuous of the new immigrants, will boast about their grandparents’ hard work and their accomplishments, as if they themselves had done it all. Meanwhile, were they, the grandchildren, to stray more than two feet from their computer keyboard, they might well collapse from exhaustion or end up completely disoriented.) The oldest grandchild goes to high school. His son, in turn, achieves a college degree. Descendants of immigrants appear to do better, to rise faster and higher, than do native African-Americans. And now, it seems, both groups resent the flood of Latinos and Asians. According to the descendants of earlier European immigrants, the Latinos are on welfare forever and the Asians colonize whole cities while their children flock to Harvard, Princeton and MIT. And the Asians have no sense of humor. I’ve had these conversations. Barroom and barbershop are the great incubators of opinion. I feel a kinship with President Barrack Obama. He had been under attack from the bigoted side. Odile had witnessed bigotry and been a victim of it; and all too often had drunk from the bowl of bitterness. Because of my skin color, she probably assumed that I view matters from the opposite side of the debate. But I have some understanding of what she and President Obama are talking about, not much, but some. I’m Irish, after all, and an immigrant but it would be a mistake for me to say anything. Senator Obama, at least, got to make a speech. If I could make a speech I would tell the world, or my audience of two, that I am sick to death of the great white liberals, the ones whose disgust at the mere presence of a smelly homeless man, while understandable, far exceeds any kindness they might ever have felt. If they had their way, every homeless person would be provided with an Internet connection, so he or she could contact the appropriate agency and not be bothering the rest of us. Then there are the champions of Equal Rights and Civil Rights on talk radio. They address each other as brother and sister. To the champions of Civil Rights and Equal Rights I will never be a brother. The brotherhood is an exclusive club and I am a man and blue-eyed devil, the cause of all the evil and injustice in the world. That’s not bigotry, is it? The

Leave lions alone! Seen recently on West Broadway at Reade St. in Tribeca, stickers expressed the outrage of people everywhere over narcissistic dentists, gynecologists and whoever else that feel a pathetic need to heartlessly kill majestic animals and then pose with their corpses for selfies. August 20, 2015

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS continued from p. 14

On board with T.L.C. To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. strips setback” (Scoopy’s Notebook, Aug. 13): Terri Cude has been a remarkable community advocate. If your neighborhood is under siege, she is the person you want in the trenches with you. Terri is running for female district leader and I hope people will come out and support her in the Sept. 10 primary. Even though her opponent is good, Terri is better. Terri Cude is a true voice of the people. Annette Evans

No crusty sympathy To The Editor: Re “Crusty pit bulls gone wild; Man attacked protecting dog” (news article, Aug. 13): My 14-year-old dog is dead. I was clear in my statements about not demonizing the homeless, the travelers, etc. I’m against dangerous dogs

who kill. I am a 64-year-old woman who has lived in the East Village for nearly 50 years, and has been supportive of the homeless and even the travelers, but now my dog is dead. I grew up in San Francisco where we all loved the hippies until they turned to meth and heroin. I’m not sure why the travelers and their dogs need to live in front of my building. Many of them I know. Many of them are intelligent. Why live on the street with dogs that are not exercised or always treated well? These are the voluntary homeless, which makes a joke out of the truly homeless, who are rarely white, do not have cell phones and do not have pit bulls. My sympathy for them has evaporated. These crusties are smart and could contribute positively to our community and our world, but instead they just sit there and beg for money with their dogs, and make the community a cesspool. They are elite white begging jerks. Do they contribute anything? They could be a force for good, but the majority are just drug users. My dog is dead. Roberta Bayley

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Fear and loathing in E.V. To The Editor: Re “Crusty pit bulls gone wild; Man attacked protecting dog” (news article, Aug. 13): The horror my family went through because of the crusties and their pits is not an isolated case. Another man was bitten the night before Ed was bitten, two blocks north on Sixth St. and Second Ave. The crusties are using the system and now we are afraid to walk the streets — we anxiously turn every corner to see if there is a pit with them. We go to work, pay taxes, so that they can live off of us. That is not a lifestyle — it is free riding. Not to mention the drugs and alcohol and the public bathrooms they turned the streets into. Is this what New York City stands for these days? The parks are being polluted. They are dangerous and unsightly, the air stinks. I have to step over the crusties on my way to work. If they want to live as free souls, let them camp out in the woods. Why do they beg? Illegal immigrants who barely speak English work and support their families, and the crusties beg from you and me? They make our neighborhoods unliveable and no one can do anything. There is a fine line between democracy, human rights and anarchy. We have crossed it and it will take blood on the streets before we understand what really is happening. Shame on what the American symbol of freedom has become — the crusties, their pits and their piss. Valentina Vassilev

Doesn’t trust pit bulls To The Editor: Re “Famed punk photog’s dog dies after attack by big ‘crusty’ pit bull” (news article, Aug. 6): Oh Roberta, I am so sorry to hear about Sidney. I have friends who have sweet pit bulls. I also saw a couple of years back a pit bull go crazy and attack and kill a small poodle in the Washington Square dog run — where pits were supposed to be banned. I have an eight-pound poodle, 14 years old, so it really shook me up. One time when I complained about seeing a pit in the dog run, I was accused of being a troublemaker and was told that their pit would never hurt anyone. I have never trusted Mr. Butter around any pit, friend or not. They seem to get freaked by small dogs. I think the idea of a person living on the streets having a pit trou-

bles me. This breed is known for its aggression. And a person living on the streets could find themselves in all kinds of potentially hostile environments, and that is nowhere to have a pit. So sorry this has happened to you. Jim Fouratt

Something to chew on To The Editor: Re “Crusty pit bulls gone wild; Man attacked protecting dog” (news article, Aug. 13): This is probably a good time to ask if Governor Cuomo is going to sign the “Dining with Dogs” bill into law. Animal-centric legislators, like your assemblymembers, magically think that in a scenario with multiple dogs at an outdoor cafe, with food present, the dogs will simply act like human beings, and never lunge at each other like they do on the sidewalks. This will end badly unless the governor displays some much-needed common sense. Patrick Shields

Baby birds victims, too To The Editor: Re “Feathery felony in park as perps net hundreds of pigeons” (news article, July 30): Unfortunately, there is a sad aspect to the recent abduction of hundreds of pigeons from Washington Square Park that has not been touched upon. Every evening after feeding on bird food provided by kindhearted bird fanciers, such as Paul the Pigeon Man, many pigeons flew off to their nests in nearby buildings where they regurgitated the food to feed baby pigeons anxiously awaiting them. Who will feed the babies now? The crime committed by the heartless pigeon-nappers is compounded by its crippling effects on a whole new generation of Washington Square Park pigeons. For shame! Vahe A. Tiryakian

Lighting is next project To The Editor: Re “A daring expedition: To the clock atop Ol’ Jeff” (Flashback, Aug. 6): What a delight to read Yannic Rack’s retelling of the saving of the Jefferson LETTERS continued on p. 31 TheVillager.com

Certified Gems and Diamonds in the Rough

at FringeNYC

No Quick Fixes, When ‘Coping’ With Death Brains behind last year’s Fringe hit deliver more dark matter BY PUMA PERL

COPING, continued on p.18 TheVillager.com

PHOTO BY MICHAEL DIAZ

ast year, I had a gut instinct that “Chemistry” — described as “a pitch black comedy” — was the show to see. My hunch payed off, since the play went on to win a number of awards, including the FringeNYC Excellence in Playwriting. This time around, the same team (including one of the strongest actors in the cast, Lauren LaRocca) brings us “Coping,” which I would describe as a drama underlined with an almost goofy hilarity; the type of humor that gives us a well-needed break from tragedy. In the wake of 25-year-old Connor’s suicide, those closest to him have gathered to prepare for the funeral. LaRocca plays his girlfriend, Sarah, Couch trip: Scott Thomas, Lipica Shah, Lauren LaRocca, Lauren Hennessy and Dinah Berkeley prep for a funeral. August 20, 2015

A Thanksgiving Stuffed With Secrets and Lies Family breaks bread, baggage in tow BY YANNIC RACK

FringeNYC Review STRAIGHT FACED LIES

Writer: Mark Jason Williams Director: Andrew Block 1 hour, 40 min.

PHOTO BY SCOTT FETTERMAN

hey say you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. The deeply divided household of “Straight Faced Lies” takes that premise and runs with it. At its core you’ve got James, a shoe salesman who still lives at home to grudgingly support his single mother. Estranged sister Melissa has commitment issues at least as big as her libido — and their mother, Cathy, is desperately trying to bring the family together for Thanksgiving. But of course, everybody arrives with their own baggage in tow. James is secretly gay and less than happy when his lover Kip suddenly knocks on the door to invite himself to dinner, while Melissa has just found out she’s pregnant by her boyfriend Joe. Throw in Cathy’s widowed sister, the alcoholic Aunt Marie, who shows up trying to get over her latest breakup (by way of her ex’s credit card), and you’ve got yourself a classic holiday reunion scenario. But rather than heating up all the stale clichés of family drama, writer Mark Jason Williams serves up a fresh and funny take on how complicated it can get when it comes to your own flesh and blood. The peace doesn’t last long. Cathy’s already fragile façade falls apart completely when she finds out that her husband, who is generally referred to as Mr. Ryan, won’t be home for Thanksgiving. The twist: he’s been away in prison for the last six years for peddling

Tension boils over, when a family full of loons gathers for turkey day.

drugs while working as a pharmaceutical rep, and the evening serves as the double occasion of celebrating his homecoming. The intermission is rung in with a gunshot, setting the tone for the second half of the play. At times, different pairs of characters share the stage — but not the scene — to work through their issues. This device, which creates the sense of watching the plot unfold as if we’re looking into a dollhouse, comes from Andrew Block, who previously directed Williams’ play, “Recovery,” at FringeNYC in 2011. His work shines through the performances more than once, and most impressively so during a scene of

COPING, continued from p. 17

who unwittingly provided the means for him to take his life. His sister, Jessica, is coldly furious at her. Jessica’s girlfriend, Taylor, attempts to make peace, and Connor’s roommate, Lucas, stays as stoned as possible. Although Scott Thomas’ physicality and expressions may at first seem to be pure comic relief, his character Lucas, like all of them (except for the funeral director, who actually IS comic relief), demonstrates one of the ways we cope in order to accept the unacceptable. Sarah’s OCD, Jen’s anger and control issues, Taylor’s caretaking, and Lucas’ pot and pratfalls: all provide some space in which to live through it. It is a challenge to present a process that generally takes years in a one-act play spanning the course of three days, and the character that suffers the most from it is Lipica Shah’s Jessica, who, in the opening scenes, is mean and unrelenting enough to appear

August 20, 2015

parallel conversations between Melissa and her boyfriend Joe, and James and his mother. The couple have just found out they’re expecting a baby, and James cuts himself on a broken vase, which prompts his first outburst against his mother, who he blames for ruining his life by making him the man of the house as a teenager. As the two conversations get increasingly intense and personal, some lines are even delivered simultaneously, to great effect. Such gimmicks alone don’t make a great play of course, so it helps that Block has assembled an allaround captivating cast. Playing Cathy, the matriarch, Geraldine Librandi is deliciously loony in

one-dimensional. As the interactions continue, an emotional scene between Jessica and Lucas digs deeper into both characters, thankfully NOT evolving into scenes of group hugging. There are no quick fixes here, as the ending brilliantly demonstrates. One of my few criticisms of “Chemistry” was the obvious use of the vehicle as an educational device, breaking the fourth wall to explain various aspects of mental illness. I am happy to report that “Coping” relies on the dialogue and acting without hitting you over the head — well, at least not often. The writer and director have collaborated in utilizing an offstage voice — a sort of cross between Superego, Higher Power, and Soul — to guide Sarah to completion. Lauren LaRocca brings a mixture of vulnerability and resilience, much like she did in as the clinically depressed Steph in “Chemistry.” My one concrete suggestion is that the venue considers the dispensation of Martinis, shaken not stirred, on the way out. I can recommend it as a means to cope with the emotions stirred up by “Coping.”

her obsessive quest to create a harmonious get-together, making her gradual descent into full-on insanity as convincing as it is fun to watch. Although Cindy Marchionda delivers some of the most snarky lines as Marie, every character’s dialogue is consistently sharp and delivered with flair — making this a highly quotable show whose dialogue you might find yourself incorporating into conversation for days, perhaps weeks, to come. “Oh, the f**k with this, you people are nuts!” shouts a distressed Kip halfway through the play. With a family like this, let’s hope they pick some decent friends. Sat. Aug. 22 at 9:30 p.m., Mon. Aug. 24 at 7 p.m., Thurs. Aug. 27 at 3 p.m. At Teatro LATEA at the Clemente (107 Suffolk St. btw. Rivington & Delancey Sts.). For tickets ($18), visit FringeNYC.org. Also purchase at FringeCentral, inside the City Lore cultural heritage center (56 E. First St. btw. First & Second Aves.), daily from 2–8 p.m. Order on your smartphone up to 30 minutes prior to performance, at FringeOnTheFly.com.

FringeNYC Review COPING Writer: Jacob Marx Rice Director: Anna Strasser 1 hour, 20 min.

Sat. Aug. 22 at 9:45 p.m., Wed. Aug. 26 at 4:45 p.m., Fri. Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. At Teatro SEA at the Clemente (107 Suffolk St. btw Rivington & Delancey Sts.). For tickets ($18), visit FringeNYC.org. Also purchase at FringeCentral, inside the City Lore cultural heritage center (56 E. First St. btw. First & Second Aves.), daily from 2–8 p.m. Order on your smartphone up to 30 minutes prior to performance, at FringeOnTheFly.com. TheVillager.com

Sense of Self as Final Frontier Matt Jennings geeks out, comes out, and reaches for the stars BY SCOTT STIFFLER

FringeNYC Review THE UNIVERSE OF MATT JENNINGS

Writer: Matt Jennings Director: Levi Austin Morris 1 hour

PHOTO BY JONATHAN DAVID LEWIS

here are only slightly more stars in heaven than there are one-person shows about growing up and growing into yourself. But by planting a rainbow flag firmly in the domain of sci-fi mega-fandom, Matt Jennings — a proud geek with a shameless gym rat’s physique — succeeds in this one-hour mission to boldly go back and forth between his enduring love for all things “Star Trek” and his younger self’s struggle to claim a place in the strange new worlds of black identity, gay sexuality, and Christian faith. Judging from the reaction to references both broad and obscure, last Saturday’s performance (its first at FringeNYC) had plenty of appreciative Trekkies in the audience — and although it certainly helps, chances are you’ll enjoy the show even if you’re not aware that Starfleet’s Kobayashi Maru simulation test is rigged so every cadet will fail; or that the series premiere of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” had the Q Continuum putting humanity on trial; or that Bajorans believe Captain Sisko (Trek’s first black protagonist) is The Emissary of the Prophets. As parable, Easter egg or plot device, all of this figures into the flashback-heavy tale of Jennings’ life journey. Performed with an appealing hybrid of sugar rush enthusiasm, quizzical wonderment and sober self-awareness, Jennings alternates between breaking the fourth wall to tell coming-of-age anecdotes and injecting himself, insecurities and all, into classic Trek scenarios (highlighted by dead-on impressions, the best of which is 1960s-era Mr. Sulu, played

Strength of Kirk, sexuality of Sulu: Matt Jennings boldly goes in search of new life among the much-explored solo show universe.

by then-closeted George Takei). Well-timed sound effects and low-tech slides establish the era and mood, as does Jennings’ frequent retreat to the safety of his center-stage command chair — a piece of vintage kitchen furniture tricked out to resemble the iconic perch on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Indeed, the long shadow cast by James T. Kirk hovers over all aspects of Jennings’ life — beginning at the impressionable age of four, when he drops his Grover doll upon hearing William Shatner warble “Space…

the final frontier” for the first time. His new obsession is not a romantic crush-cum-gay awakening, though (that happens in the teen years, when a certain Jedi’s swirling cape and dangling lightsaber induces a memorable episode of movie theater swooning). Instead, his fixation on Kirk is a pure expression of the fanboy’s yearning to live just one day with a starship captain’s brash charisma, natural leadership skills, and unbeatable karate moves. It’s no wonder that the influential relatives and Trek cast mem-

bers he lovingly impersonates always get their own slide, while his talk of self frequently involves the use of an empty picture frame. But idols tend to break if they fall — and this show is at its best when the real people and escapist fiction he’s created his identity from disappoint. You just don’t invest that amount of time watching Trek or speaking well or going to church, only to be called a nerd or an Oreo cookie or a sinner, right? The series of monologues that contemplate such matters have a rhythm and a voice and an urgent energy all their own. In these moments, Jennings’ “Universe” expands into something much more than an agreeable solo performance — and hints at greater things to come, when the skills he brings to looking inward are applied to other frontiers. Sat. Aug. 22 at 8:45pm, Wed. Aug. 26 at 5:30 p.m. At Spectrum (121 Ludlow St., 2nd Fl., btw. Delancey & Rivington Sts.). For tickets ($18), visit FringeNYC. org. Also purchase at FringeCentral, inside the City Lore cultural heritage center (56 E. First St. btw. First & Second Aves.), daily from 2–8 p.m. Order on your smartphone up to 30 minutes prior to performance, at FringeOnTheFly.com.

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August 20, 2015

Half of ‘Dead Lunch’ is Easy to Digest Diner-set two-act fitfully entertaining, with flashes of heart BY SEAN EGAN

FringeNYC Review DEAD LUNCH, OR WHO PRAYS FOR BAD WEATHER?

Writer & Director: Tony Borden 1 hour, 25 min. PHOTO BY TONY BORDEN

ony Borden’s new play, “Dead Lunch, or Who Prays for Bad Weather?,” is a comedy set in a world that is, unfortunately, all too familiar to many — the wonderful, horrible, tedious world of the service industry. Specifically, Borden’s two-act comic exercise (which he also directs) unfolds in a run-down diner, as its chatty staff idles away a particularly anemic lunch hour by articulating their working-class ennui, to the detriment of their frazzled manager and dwindling clientele. It’s a seemingly fruitful topic for a play, but the results are more of a mixed bag than one would hope. Most of the problems reside in the first act, which gets things off to a slow start, and does little to whet the appetite for the rest of the show. Focusing on two young waitresses (one a college student, another an aspiring actress), it essentially captures them gossiping, thinking about the future, and bungling their way through serving their only party of the afternoon. This isn’t necessarily a bad setup, but the dialogue doesn’t really crackle or sound naturalistic, the way it does in the best dead-end workplace comedies (think “Clerks” or “Waiting”), nor do the characters resonate on an emotional level. And though not much is happening plot wise, it also, unfortunately, very much feels as though nothing of any significance is

L to R: Adam Pagdon, Jeff Solomon, Maxwell Moran and Leah Alfieri each pull double duty as disparate characters.

happening. This lack of an engaging story, combined with the merely serviceable acting of the lead waitresses, provides for an only occasionally amusing viewing experience. Fortunately, the whole shebang is saved in its second act, which picks up the slack from, and corrects the issues of, the first half. Shifting its perspective to that of the kitchen staff and the manager working in the back of the restaurant during the same time frame as act one, everything snaps into place, and “Dead Lunch” becomes the funny behind-the-scenes examination of the service industry the first half aspires to be. The kitchen staff is a lively bunch, and the characters presented here have empathetic

backstories, well-sketched personalities, and serious comedic rapport. It even manages to make the first act look (slightly) better, by paying off on jokes set up early on. It also helps that the actors in this section bring their A-game. Matt McAllister, as overwhelmed manager Graham, and Maxwell Moran as Miguel the cook do well in their mostly straight-man roles, invoking sympathy as well as laughs. Even better is Jeff Solomon as both French kitchen worker Francois, (sporting an absurd, Clouseau-esque accent and relishing every punchline) and a gentleman customer whose physical comedy and obliviousness is a highlight of the first act. Also tackling dual roles, Adam

Pagdon plays the gentleman customer’s elderly, judgmental mother in the first act, as well as the Eastern European dishwasher possessing minimal English skills in the second — two wildly different creations whose comedic timing steal every scene they’re in, while elevating the material they’re provided with. Perhaps “Dead Lunch” could have shone front to back with a few more revisions. As is, it’s fitfully entertaining, with flashes of heart and inspired humor — but on the whole, a little undercooked. Thurs. Aug. 20 at 4:45 p.m., Fri. Aug. 21 at 4:45 p.m., Mon. Aug. 24 at 9:15 p.m. At The Celebration Of Whimsy (21 Clinton St. btw. Houston & Stanton Sts.). For tickets ($18), visit FringeNYC.org. Also purchase at FringeCentral, inside the City Lore cultural heritage center (56 E. First St. btw. First & Second Aves.), daily from 2–8 p.m. Order on your smartphone up to 30 minutes prior to performance, at FringeOnTheFly.com.

Incendiary and Polished, but Not Entertaining ‘Play’ is a preachy take on male entitlement and sexual assault BY SEAN EGAN

PHOTO BY MELISSA BALAN

L to R: John C. Nagy III as Luis, Michael DeBartolo as Tim.

August 20, 2015

atrick Bateman, the protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis’ perennially controversial novel, “American Psycho,” is a filthy rich, meticulously dressed playboy, who works on Wall Street by day, and operates as a gruesome serial killer by night. In terms of hero worship, there’s just about no one worse to idolize (fictional or otherwise) than Bateman — but what might happen if a few wayward individuals did? Ashley Jacobson’s “The American Play” takes that seed of an idea, and uses it to open up a wider conversation about male entitlement and rape culture — things that are unfortunately prevalent, and go largely unaddressed, in society. After meeting in a collegiate American Lit class — and bonding over grossly misinterpreting Ellis’ satirical work as a ringing endorsement of hedonism and unchecked patriarchal dominance — rich kid Luis (John C. Nagy III) takes Tim AMERICAN, continued on p.22 TheVillager.com

Love, Lust, and Home Repair A crack in the ceiling reveals more than expected PHOTO BY ANDREW BARRY FRITZ

BY YANNIC RACK

“

ow much shame can the world contain?” No child should have to ask himself that question, especially when it comes to his own mother. You can’t hold it against young David, though, for wondering aloud after a heavy-drinking handyman is allowed to set up camp in his basement — the latest in a long line of “hairy losers” he has to endure on behalf of his lonely mother. “My mom’s not like other grownups,” he sings at another point in the musical, perhaps unaware that his mother, Ellen, actually embodies the cliché of the stressed-out, hypersensitive single parent. But let’s rewind a bit. Soon after her latest boyfriend packs his bags and shuts the door behind him, Ellen is confronted with a harrowing problem: a crack in the ceiling. This seemingly harmless structural fault plunges the frail Ellen headfirst into a full-blown existential crisis — because the crack is, of course, a metaphor for her life: broken and beyond repair. “I can’t leave it. It could collapse,” she protests to her son, who is left shaking his head in disbelief while his mother chases after the perfect man to solve her problems. A pizza delivery guy, a carpenter-slash-escort, a mold removal specialist and handymen of varying abilities all turn out to be incapable of fixing the ceiling, much less satisfy Ellen’s needs. She is played by Kristy Cates — a Broadway veteran (as Idina Menzel’s understudy in “Wicked”) who brings the perfect balance of desperation and self-pity to the role. Cates is also lucky to have such a talented foil in Nicky Torchia, whose impressive performance as David shows a range and skill level far beyond his 11 years. Stealing the show, however, is Josh Grisetti — who effortlessly slips in and out of fake mustaches and accents, portraying the revolving cast of oddballs that Ellen and David encounter. It is rare to see an actor have this much fun on stage, whether scripted or not (when Grisetti’s mustache came off at one point, he immediately embraced the gaffe, incorporating it into the scene to the delight of the audience). The writing doesn’t lack in comedy TheVillager.com

L to R: Josh Grisetti, Kristy Cates and Nicky Torchia take the musical route, in James Harvey’s exploration of broken things.

FringeNYC Review THE CRACK IN THE CEILING Writer: James Harvey Director: Stephen Tyler Davis 1 hour, 20 min.

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either. The book, music and lyrics all come from the pen of James Harvey, who apparently conceived the idea a few years ago upon discovering a crack in his own family’s kitchen ceiling. Harvey’s catchy songs — accompanied by a skillfully arranged score for piano, bass and drums — feel original throughout, despite the repetitive nature of the subject matter. The story takes a turn for the truly bizarre (and hilarious) when Ellen dials the number for “Alternative Home Repair” and Grisetti appears in his last incarnation, the long-haired hippie-handyman Jeshua the Prophet, who demands she sacrifice David to heal her ceiling once and for all. “Hasn’t this crack been with you all your life?” he asks. It’s the moment of truth in this laugh-out-loud funny tale of growing up — as either a kid or an adult. Sat. Aug. 22 at 6:30 p.m., Tues. Aug. 25 at 8 p.m., Fri. Aug. 28 at 2:30 p.m. At the Lynn Redgrave Theater @ Culture Project (45 Bleecker St. at the corner of Bleecker & Lafayette Sts.). For tickets ($18), visit FringeNYC.org. Also purchase at FringeCentral, inside the City Lore cultural heritage center (56 E. First St. btw. First & Second Aves.), daily from 2–8 p.m. Order on your smartphone up to 30 minutes prior to performance, at FringeOnTheFly.com.

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Canadian ‘Ham’ Doesn’t Travel Well Gentrification play often stumbles, sometimes connects BY PUMA PERL

FringeNYC Review NAKED HAMILTON

“

AMERICAN, continued from p. 20

(Michael DeBartolo), a poor kid trying to forget his abuse-filled past, under his wing. He quickly begins grooming Tim into a high-class socialite like himself — using Bateman as his shining example of how a man should be (minus the nasty murder business). Things spiral out of control once Shelly (Jen Jacobs), a girl from Tim’s past, enters the picture — and Jacobson doesn’t hesitate to go to some truly dark, sordid places. Luis and Tim’s relationship escalates too quickly, spouting off the most extreme, toxic opinions until they become unbelievable caricatures of the attitudes being criticized. This undercuts the play’s treatment of the incident of sexual assault that much of the action revolves around — it practically implies that incidents like this are solely the work of extreme and obviously disturbed individuals who obsess over violent media, which is certainly not the case. On a structural level, the play

August 20, 2015

Writer & Director: Sky Gilbert 1 hour

PHOTO BY PRIAM THOMAS

aked Hamilton” is described as the story of an aging sex worker and her ex-lover who are getting kicked out of their favorite bar due to gentrification. The bar of DROM is the set, and the two characters are rarely seen onstage. The staging is effective in allowing for movement and realism, although the blocking runs into structural problems. The lighting is cleverly used to move the story along. Scott McCord, as Tom, is brilliantly annoying, so realistic in his rants and in casting himself alternately as hero and victim that it didn’t take long for me to grow as irritated with him as I do with the loud, repetitive drunks that I avoid in bars. However, like my barfly friends, there is a goodness and a sadness beneath the bravado, and McCord, who has played the role in prior productions, provides an unexpectedly layered performance. Suzanne Bennett, as Tee, is not as successful. There is a perkiness and cheerfulness at odds with the nature of the character, and she appears more like a former Texas cheerleader dressed for Halloween than the debauched, tough, aging hooker demanded by the part. Her body

Scott McCord and Elley Ray are at their best when sharing convincing moments between their characters.

language contains several signature gestures that are too controlled and planned, while McCord uses his body as if his bones were not quite connected. Despite these flaws, there are convincing moments between them, in which they move rapidly from laughing to fighting, to reuniting

against a common enemy in the “you and me against the world” mode that lends longevity to the most unstable duos. A dark secret, which would devastate most people, is revealed — but when immediate issues intrude, it is easily put to the side as they stumble on. The main problem I have with the

flash-forwards to police investigations post-incident, which only helps to deflate any narrative tension the play could have built, and lessens the horror of the brutal climax. These scenes are punctuated with readings from an Internet comment thread, where anonymous commenters voice their opinion on the incident. The on-the-nose comments run the gamut of misled and harmful societal attitudes — everything from victim blaming and slut-shaming to anti-feminist attitudes and rape apologist sentiment. It’s certainly incendiary (not a bad thing given the subject matter), but it’s also not entertaining — further contributing to the feeling that you’re listening to a lecture rather than being told a story. Still, the play is a polished and professional production. It’s staged sparingly, but effectively, by director Darren Johnston, who employs stylish video effects to enhance the experience. In addition, the abusive mentor/ mentee relationship, as implausible as it seems, makes for some electrifying scenes, particularly as it progresses.

Nagy is compulsively watchable as the embodiment of entitlement and self-regard, and DeBartolo is unnerving as Tim reveals his dangerous nature, and spirals into Id-driven madness. Their shifting power dynamic is the most thrilling aspect of the play, especially as Tim becomes more unhinged. The development of this relationship, however, comes at the expense Jacob’s Shelly, a warm and welcome stage presence, whose inner psychology is not examined as closely as the leading men’s. Using Ellis’ own prose, “The American Play” probes: “Is evil something you are? Or something you do?” The show provides no definitive answer to this question — instead, it implies that evil is a natural force in the world, manifesting itself in both the overt monstrosity of Tim and Louis, and their misogynistic, abusive ilk, as well as the more subtly insidious discourse prevalent in society, which proliferates under the blanket of anonymity the internet provides. It’s a chilling worldview to be sure, and an affecting message — but they could

play is a weakness in the storyline. The narrative fails to provide a connection between the larger issues of gentrification with the story of two individuals who live their lives on the bottom. “Naked Hamilton” was originally presented in Hamilton, Canada, as a two-act play that focused on a different couple in the first half. I think you may need to spend a lot less time in bars and a lot more time in Hamilton to fully appreciate this play. Thurs. Aug. 20 at 5:30 p.m., Sat. Aug. 22 at 12 p.m. At DROM (85 Avenue A, btw. Fifth & Sixth Sts.). For tickets ($18), visit FringeNYC.org. Also purchase at FringeCentral, inside the City Lore cultural heritage center (56 E. First St. btw. First & Second Aves.), daily from 2–8 p.m. Order on your smartphone up to 30 minutes prior to performance, at FringeOnTheFly.com.

FringeNYC Review THE AMERICAN PLAY Writer: Ashley J. Jacobson Director: Darren Johnston 1 hour, 20 min.

stand to be presented in the context of a slightly more nuanced and compelling manner. Fri. Aug. 21 at 4:45 p.m., Tues. Aug. 25 at 2:30 p.m., Thurs. Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. , Sat. Aug. 29 at 2:15 p.m. At UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Pl. btw. First Ave. & Ave. A). For tickets ($18), visit FringeNYC.org. Also purchase at FringeCentral, inside the City Lore cultural heritage center (56 E. First St. btw. First & Second Aves.), daily from 2–8 p.m. Order on your smartphone up to 30 minutes prior to performance, at FringeOnTheFly.com. TheVillager.com

Our Fringe Feast Isn’t Over FringeNYC shows are playing through August 30, so we’ll be seeing a few more plays, solo performances, and spectacles. Send a request to scott@thevillager.com if you’d like to be alerted when a new review posts on the web. Here are three we’re showing up to, pen and pad in hand. For more info, visit FringeNYC.org.

“THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE SCIENCE OF NERDS” PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Shyaporn Theerakulstit delivers three completely scientific lectures on “How to Become Batman,” “Star Wars vs. Star Trek,” and “Godzilla: History, Biology and Behavior of Hyper-evolved Theropod Kaiju.” With music, burlesque, special guests and Q&As.

PHOTO BY ANDY WALSH

“KAMIKAZE CUTESAUCE COSPLAY CLUB” Businessmen turn into samurai, junior high girls play gym class water polo, bystander cellphones snap pics of an attack. Milwaukee’s Physical Theatre fuses movement, puppetry, and martial arts with the Japanese popular art forms of Manga and Anime. Warning: Mature Content.

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Victims: E.V. unsafe for folks with small dogs PIT BULLS continued from p. 8

homeless and de Blasio instead of the dogs,” Bayley said of the Post. “The Villager has been reporting it because it’s community news.” But rather than just trying to pin another problem on the mayor, she thinks pushing for changes on legislation on dogs is what’s needed. “When I’m feeling better,” she said, “I’m going to go to the politicians and try to see if we can get a bill, make it a bit stronger.”

However, she conceded, it may take a truly horrific event before the city finally acts. “I hate to say it,” she said, “but I think what we need is for a pit bull to eat a baby — and preferably a celebrity baby.” While two weeks ago, Bayley stressed to The Villager that she didn’t want to demonize the crusty travelers, this week she said she’s had a bit of a change of heart since then. “I am beginning to make a distinction in my mind between the real homeless and the willful homeless,” she said, referring to the crusties. She also said police should be checking the travelers’ dogs for licenses, which only cost a few bucks to get. She noted a friend’s little Bichon Frise recently got a ticket for pooping on the grass in Washington Square. “What if they were going up to people with the big dogs and asking them if their dog had a license?” she said. “Then they’d go somewhere else and their dogs would kill some other dog there.”

THERE GOES THE N’HOOD Meanwhile, Vassilev, for his part, does hold the mayor responsible for what happened to him. “I think since de Blasio took over, the police’s hands have been tied and they can’t do that much,” he said. “The direction comes from that office.” In his view, homeless panhandlers have gotten more aggressive in the East Village the past couple of years. A Bulgarian native, he has lived in the neighborhood for seven years. Asked if he is a Republican, Vassilev, said, “I’m a Democrat! It’s public safety that we’re talking about.” The savage pit bull attack severed his triceps and caused permanent nerve damage to his forearm. After the arm got infected, he had to spend a couple of days in Beth Israel Hospital hooked up to morphine and anTheVillager.com

PHOTO BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

WHAT WILL IT TAKE?

Clearwater, a veteran and former traveler, with his well-trained dog, Hitchhiker, in Union Square.

tibiotic IV drips. He still needs four months of treatment for the wound by a plastic surgeon.

WE’RE OUTTA HERE! Due to the violent assault, he and his wife, along with little puppy Misha, are leaving the ’hood, he said. “We’re definitely moving from the East Village,” he said. “I don’t know how we can continue to live here and feel safe. It’s not even about the homeless situation. The streets are

zo said. “When people I love — and our dog — are in danger, what other choice do I have? What good is rent stabilization when you have half an arm or a dog in two pieces?”

TRAVELERS’ TAKE Several of the crusties previously told The Villager that Jax was taken away from Natas, and that the dog was in “puppy jail.” Last Sunday night, a traveler named Andy was sitting under a lamppost at the corner of St. Mark’s Place and Third Ave. eating a sandwich he had scrounged up money for. Sporting a few dreads hanging down one side of his head and a rune-like tattoo on the bridge of his nose, he had only been in town four days, but had heard about Natas and Jax. “He doesn’t have the dog anymore,” he said. Asked where the other East Village travelers were, he said at Union Square — and they were. Up at the park, one of them who goes by Wing the Nut said, “What I understand, Natas’s not got the dog. He hasn’t had the dog for weeks now. They keep saying, ‘You’ll get it back, you’ll get it back,’ ” he said of A.C.C. On the other hand, a man who goes by Clearwater who was among them seemed to be the model of a

‘This is making me think, “Do I have to leave the East Village?” ’ Michael Puzzo

filthy. It’s gotten worse. You see people on drugs all the time. I’ve spoken to people who’ve lived here for decades, and they say it hasn’t been like this since the early ’90s.” Similarly, Puzzo said, he and his girlfriend and the diminutive Bobito also might have to say so long to the East Village due to the crusties’ outof-control pits. “This is making me think, ‘Do I have to leave the East Village?’” Puz-

good dog owner. With Hitchhiker, his pit bull-blue tick hound mix, standing by his side on a leash, he explained the dog is a service animal for his post-traumatic stress disorder. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001 to 2007. “Yes, sir. United States infantry Bravo. We were the knock-and-sweep guys,” he said, referring to the troops that cleared houses. The dog instinctively helps him relax if the vet starts to get agitated or feels a panic attack coming on, he said. He found Hitchhiker as a 10-weekold abandoned puppy on the side of the road in Washington and got the Veterans of Foreign Wars to pay for his training. “Kick it down,” he told Hitchhiker, and the dog sat. “All the way,” he said, and the dog lay down. He dropped the leash, paced 25 feet away and called out, “Heel,” and the pit mix trotted right to him, then obediently walked back with him right at his owner’s feet, gazing intently up into his face. “You have to be the owner of your animal and take responsibility,” Clearwater, 34, stated. He said he actually was a former traveler, but “got a little old” for it and settled down with a job in Pittsburgh. His van had broken down on his way home after a trip, though, and he found himself stuck in New York temporarily, without cash and hanging out again with the crusties. Between the V.F.W. and some panhandling, he hoped to raise the $100 for a bus ticket home.

PROTECTION AT NIGHt “He can definitely handle himself,” he said of his dog. “But he’s been taught to be friendly all his life. But if we’re sleeping outside, if someone comes within 10 feet of me, he’ll start growling.” Hitchhiker is good with other animals and they had spent time that day in the Union Square dog run. “I got him fixed when he was one year old,” Clearwater said, noting it had noticeably mellowed the animal. “Once the dog is a year old, 18 months old, there’s no need for the testosterone unless you’re going to breed them.” Asked where they would be sleeping that night, he said he wasn’t worried about it, because of Hitchhiker. “Finding a safe space for me to sleep is easy because he’ll wake me up if somebody comes close,” he said. “I would hate to be out here without a dog.” August 20, 2015

Etched in ink, exes are gone but not forgotten TATTOO TALES BY BOB KRASNER

t first glance, East Village resident Jordy Trachtenberg does not look like the kind of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. But look closely at his “sleeves” (a series of tattoos that cover one’s arm) and you’ll find that three of his ex-girlfriends are immortalized there, with one more on his leg. Trachtenberg formerly worked in the music business. After the end of a 13-year marriage, he found a new love who ended up being portrayed as a mermaid (her idea) on his left arm. She was the only woman to be inked while they were still together and, post-breakup, Trachtenberg decided that a revision was in order. He informed the original tattoo artist, Jason June, that he wanted to cover her face but wasn’t sure with what. June wanted to know why and was

informed by Trachtenberg that “she’s dead to me.” June’s solution, naturally, was to turn her into a zombie. The next two were also created by June. The women are depicted wrapped in shibari (a Japanese bondage style). Both women, he said, “are favorite chapters of my love life. It’s a nice way to memorialize them. Each one has a special place in my heart.” His friend Billy Bob Thornton once told him that tattoos “are all emotional scars.” Number four in that series is the image of a woman whom Trachtenberg said he “met on the beaches of Kismet,” on Fire Island. “She was the kindest, gentlest soul. Absolutely stunning and so shy about her looks.” But somehow she ended up being portrayed on his leg by Big Steve, amidst all of what he called “my vices” below the words “Man’s Ruin.” “She wasn’t too happy about that,” he noted. So, one wonders, where is the tattoo of his ex-wife, whom he continues to refer to as his “best friend”? “She wants to know that, too,” he said. “I see her in a different light. The true tattoo of her is on my heart. It’s the one that no one can see.”

PHOTOS BY BOB KRASNER

Mixed in among Jordy Trachtenberg’s many tattoos are images of his ex-girlfriends.

Trachtenberg felt a close tie to this former flame, who is tied up shibari style.

August 20, 2015

Zombified: One ex came in for some harsh treatment at the hand of the tattoo artist.

It was fun while it lasted — but, from the looks of it, maybe too much fun! TheVillager.com

Hot town, smellin’ in the city; A lovin’ noseful RHYMES WITH CRAZY BY LENORE SKENAZY

ummer in New York is nothing if not pungent. So pungent that there are certain smells that conjure up a New York August the way the smell of crayons whisks you right back to first grade. “I used to work in Flatbush and in the summer the fish store kept its door open,” recalls Megan Perlleshi, a mom of two who has since moved to Long Island. Every time she neared the shop she would literally sprint out into the street until she was past the miasma. The aroma? “Fish and garbage.” It is a city summer combo others remarked upon, too. For marketing consultant Amanda Hass, it is the smell of dying flowers that she associates with the Upper East Side in August. “Most residents are gone to their summer places,” Hass says. So the bodega flowers wilt right along with the rest of us, giving off a sad scent. By contrast, Hass adds, the open windows to hot laundry rooms give the air a fresh Clorox smell that makes up for the funereal flora.

Rain in the city summer also has a special smell. “Warm rain on hot asphalt in Brooklyn is a memory I’ve carried with me my whole life,” says media strategist Liz Polay-Wettengel, who now lives in Massachusetts. Business editor Patrick Rizzo, still here in Gotham, is specific regarding the type of rain that brings him back: the sudden sun shower. And then there are all the food smells on steroids the minute the mercury hits 90. Walk by a greengrocer and the peaches are positively seductive. They make you want to eat healthy. There are also the smells that make you want to eat charred meat — lots of it, immediately, even if you are a vegan with a history of heart issues. “Walking through the park on

the West Side Highway in that huge multiracial area of picnics, smelling delicious barbecue from all of the world… .” That smell sends transit worker Mike Ecker into a tizzy. The sticky sweet smell of candied nuts does it for Tatum Barrows, a high-school grad from Long Island working in the city for the summer. For Martin Kleinman, author of “The Home Front,” it’s “the wild scallions that grew along the fence to the V.A. Hospital in Kingsbridge.” He’s right — neighborhoods have their own smells. “The smell of anisette toast wafting from the Stella D’Oro Bakery as you whiz through Riverdale on the Major Deegan Expressway” remains a local scent memory for Stacey Gordon and legions of Bronx dwellers. At the other end of the city, lifelong New Yorker and clown entrepreneur (yup!) Michael Fandal recalls growing up in Coney Island, seven seconds from the beach. “Summers included ocean air, rich and invigorating, and the smell of morning cold beach sand beneath the Boardwalk.” There were also Nathan’s hot dogs and fries, overflowing litter cans and stylish women in their summer dresses, all wafting their particular perfumes, which mingled with the whiff of coffee whenever anyone opened the door of a Dunkin’ Donuts, and chlorine whenever you walked by a public pool.

Cut grass and freshly turned dirt send Michael Virgintino back to childhood in the Bronx, where he helped his dad tend their small yard and otherwise was constantly playing baseball on park fields. Writer Nancy Mattia claims it is car exhaust that brings a smile. When she was growing up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Vito the Ice Cream Man would drive down her street on summer nights. “Because I lived down the block, I would pass the back of his truck first with its engine running,” she recalls. Hence the association of exhaust fumes with joy. And then there is the city scent that stands above — or really, below — them all. The one you smell without even descending the stairs. New Yorkers have likened it to “someone getting a perm in the sewer under a slaughterhouse,” “the armpit of Satan,” “inside the stomach of a sick animal,” and perhaps most aptly, “a warm metallic smell with hints of urine.” Someday in some far-off town you may catch a whiff of something similar and be instantly transported back to the New York City subway on a sizzling summer day. May that memory be sweet. Or at least tolerable. Skenazy is a keynote speaker and author and founder of the book and blog “Free-Range Kids”

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS continued from p. 16

Market Courthouse through the creative, unflagging efforts of beloved Margot Gayle. Save it she did, starting with that clock, and she joined our committee when we worked to bring the 1851 bell, Ol’ Jeff, back to life in 1997. Now, very likely in her memory, we want to relight the entire building starting with that magnificent tower where Ol’ Jeff hangs. We’re really excited. Modern lighting will save money and could restore this treasure to its pre-eminent status of beauty. In 1885 a panel, sponsored by the American Architect and Building News, voted the courthouse 5th Most Beautiful Building in America. We have feelers out for a lighting company to help us out with the plans and execution. It’s a long journey starting with the New York Public Library, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Community Board 2. Nothing’s easy, but we think it’s worth the struggle. Cynthia Crane TheVillager.com

Crane is chairperson, Friends of the Jefferson Market Library Bell

M.T.A. is trashing us To The Editor: Garbage cans are a wonderful invention. They have existed since time immemorial. They make it easier for people to dispose of trash, and thus, they contribute to cleanliness and health. In 2011, for reasons unknown, the M.T.A. removed all garbage cans from the N and R station at Eighth St. and Broadway. It did so from a second station, as well: Main St. in Queens. The M.T.A. apparently trusted subway riders to keep their litter until they reached a station with trash cans, or until they got out of the subway. Mysteriously, the plan worked for a while. It is hard to imagine why it should have been effective, but on Jan. 27, 2014, the M.TA. announced that it would expand the program. Joe Leader, senior vice president of the

M.T.A.’s Department of Subways, said, “The results have been for the most part very positive and we have seen some behavioral changes by riders.” Subway riders are responsible and try to be clean and helpful. Most of them held on to their litter. It was an inconvenience. It is so very much easier to dump your garbage into a convenient trash can. Nevertheless, many people put up with the inconvenience. Consequently, the M.T.A. increased the inconvenience. They removed trash bins from 29 additional stations, mainly on the J and M lines. It was too much for subway riders. Littering increased. It increased even where there were convenient garbage cans. Once people get into the habit of dropping their garbage on the platform, they do so even if there is a convenient alternative. When I get off the N or R train at the Eighth St. station, I often see litter or even uneaten food on the benches. This is more common on the Downtown side in the evening. There are also lots of loose scraps of

paper on the floor after one passes the turnstiles but before one starts climbing up the steps. Riders who have been carrying their trash with them just give up when they see no relief when they finally arrive at their destination. The M.T.A. should be happy to make life easier for its riders. It should take advantage of the wonderful, historic invention that our remote ancestors gave us. Please, M.T.A., bring back the trash bins. George Jochnowitz E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 1 Metrotech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY, NY 11201. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. Anonymous letters will not be published. August 20, 2015

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