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YOUR WEEKLY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CHELSEA, HUDSON YARDS & HELL’S KITCHEN

Illegal Construction, Unsafe Conditions on W. 25th St. BY EILEEN STUKANE Four months ago, families were living normally, as they had for years, in their rent-regulated apartments at 264 and 266 W. 25th St. Today, the five-story, 17-apartment building at 264 has been transformed into a demolition and construction site, with 10 of those apartments gutted and under renovation. At 266, the five-story building next door, residents are also vacating. Continued on page 2

Our Audience With City Planning BY YANNIC RACK Affordable housing is a topic of intense interest for many residents of Chelsea, Hudson Yards, and Hell’s Kitchen. At the same time, zoning — or making changes to it — is highly contentious as well. No one would envy the Department of City Planning (DCP), then, which this summer unveiled its proposals to both launch a new affordable housing program, and change the city’s zoning regulations. Continued on page 5

THE HORROR, THE HORROR!

Turn to page 17 if you dare, where our downright scary amount of Halloween covers begins.

Photo by Zach Williams

One piece of classic tech deserves another: Justin Schweitzer on a landline, at the thriving Gramercy Typewriter Company.

A Return for Typewriters, and a Future for Repairmen BY ZACH WILLIAMS Business is booming at the 83-year-old Gramercy Typewriter Company, as a new generation discovers the staccato pace and simultaneous printing of a 19th-century innovation. This new clientele joins longtime customers who never gave up on the personal touch only a manual typewriter can provide. The father-son business is one of the last of its kind in Manhattan — just ask the “new guy” in the shop, located at 174 Fifth Ave. (btw. E. 22nd & E. 23rd Sts.). They are busier than ever with the tasks of fixing and selling manual typewriters, said Justin Schweitzer, 47, who began working with his father Paul, 76, more than 20 years ago. “Due to this wave of new technology that we have nowadays, people just want to get away from the screen and go back to basics,” Justin said. “Certainly it is a way to get away from all of the distractions that you find sitting

in front of the computer.” Justin started in the business as a kid, just like his father. There were the early childhood memories watching dad tinker with the machines, and then a gradual apprenticeship at his side. In this line of work, winding ribbons and buffing the body of a fine typing machine are the entry-level tasks until the correct habits become second nature. Summer vacations during elementary school were for work rather than lounging around the house watching cartoons, his father told Justin as a kid. Forgetting the whereabouts of little bolts and springs or inadvertently damaging the carriage instilled a sense of organization necessary to hack it as a reliable professional beginning in his early 20s, he said.

Continued on page 7 VOLUME VOLUME 07, ISSUE 07, ISSUE 34 | 22 OCTOBER | JULY 22 16 - 28, 22, 2015

Knowing Their Rights, Tenants Fight Back Continued from page 1 Why is everybody leaving? This summer, rent-regulated tenants were told by a new landlord that their leases would not be renewed (one resident was known to take a buyout), so they left. Only a few residents, who knew their rights, decided to stay and stand their ground amidst the dust, debris, and noise of construction work that has become an all-too-common form of tenant harassment in this city. Out of the 17 rent-regulated apartments at 264 W. 25th St., only four are currently occupied. Tenants tell Chelsea Now that residents there, and in 266 W. 25th St. (which has nine, soon to be seven, out of its 15 rent-regulated apartments occupied), were driven away by the actions of Leor Sabet of The Sabet Group, which purchased both buildings this year. From July to October, residents have filed about 30 complaints to the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB), notifying the agency of illegal construction and unsafe conditions. In response, the DOB has sent inspectors, issued certain violations, and, this month, put a partial Stop Work Order in place. In addition, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (HMH) issued an October Stop Work Order due to the serious health hazard of lead dust. Residents say this isn’t enough. They have never been informed about, nor have they ever experienced anything related to, the city-mandated Tenant Protection Plan that is required in occupied buildings during construction, and the harassment via construction has been relentless. “I’m extremely proud of Chelsea’s tenants for taking a stand against abusive landlords. Real estate speculators have become increasingly aggressive in their approach and will often stop at nothing to force out tenants in affordable units. Landlords who deliberately create unlivable conditions and lie on construction permits must be held accountable for their actions,” Councilmember Corey Johnson wrote in an email to Chelsea Now. Here’s what’s happening on the ground: A Worker Falls Through A Ceiling: One resident, speaking anonymously,

October 22 - 28, 2015

Photo by Yannic Rack

Don’t let the peaceful façade fool you. Tenants say that life at 264 and 266 W. 25th St. has been thrown into chaos.

them,” Assemblymember Richard Gottfried wrote in a statement to Chelsea Now. “My office is inundated with tenants who tell horror stories about their landlords performing massive construction and renovations in buildings while tenants live there. The landlords systematically harass these tenants to get them to move out, so the rents can be increased and the apartments can be taken out of rent stabilization and rent control systems. This must stop. The Department of Buildings must aggressively protect tenants, not help the people attacking tenants and destroying affordable housing.” Assemblymember Gottfried’s office has been actively working to help tenants find legal recourse.

LEGALITIES AND THE NEED FOR ACTION has stories that are incredulous, such as the day this person came home from work after hearing the news that a construction worker on the floor above had fallen through their bedroom ceiling. “Every single wall in my home has damage, a hole here, a hole there, and then I get word that a worker, perhaps drunk or high, but definitely unprofessional, has fallen from the upstairs floor through my ceiling,” said the tenant, “and when I got home, I found windows open and a sloppy patch over the hole. I called the police.” DOB permits posted at the time only allowed for work on the second floor, but demolition was ongoing on all other floors in 264 W. 25th St., activity that residents had already reported to the DOB. “There’s a lot of dust and debris everywhere, on the floor, the doors, in the air, it’s a constant thing,” the tenant added. Then there was the rent money order, payment for this same tenant’s ceiling-damaged rent-controlled apartment, that was returned by The Sabet Group, stating that the resident was not the tenant of record, that the tenant’s mother, who had been deceased for over 30 years, was the tenant of record, and that they had no rights. This tenant had paid rent on time for decades and was the legal tenant of record at the NYC Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) since 1984 — but the burden of proof was on their shoulders. Insects and Bedbugs: Since demo-

lition and construction in 264 W. 25th St. began, records show that another tenant has been battling cockroaches, water bugs, beetles, flying insects, and a bedbug infestation confirmed by an extermination service. This tenant had to relocate while the apartment was being fumigated. Rats and mice were also reportedly seen in the hallway of the building. Water Cascades Through Floors and Ceilings: Steven Cincotta, a second-floor resident of 266 W. 25th St., was awakened on a September morning at 4 a.m. by the sound of water rushing down from the ceiling in the hall outside his apartment. Discovering a flood situation, he called the fire department, which found the source of the problem several floors above him. A faucet had been left on in a fifth-floor apartment in the process of demolition, a gutting for which there was no work permit. As far as water, hot water and heat are concerned, tenants report periodic interruptions without notice. Hazardous Lead Particles: As stated in its report, the HMH found this month that the work in 264 W. 25th St. was “generating and dispersing paint chips, debris and dust,” and warned, “improperly performed work which disturbs lead-based paint may expose members of the public, particularly children under six years of age, to the risk of lead poisoning.” “These tenants are just one example of people forced to live under horrendous and dangerous conditions while construction goes on around

Leor Sabet of The Sabet Group, which purchased 264 and 266 W. 25th St. this year, checked off “No” on the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) PW1 permit application, indicating that 264 W. 25th St. — which had families in their homes — was vacant. Once again, men, women and children who called their apartments home, were all invisible on the new owner’s falsified PW1 application for construction this summer. Chelsea’s Community & Residents Protection Working Group (CRP) has made the community aware that an unoccupied building does not require a Tenant Protection Plan — so residents who are not recognized are subject to unsafe conditions, and then the predictable landlord pressure is exerted to motivate them to move out. Not understanding their rights as rent-controlled or rent-stabilized tenants, not wanting to endure life on a construction site, and being notified by the new landlord that he would not renew their leases, the majority of families on W. 25th St. did what many do — they relocated. Demolition began full force within apartments at 264 W. 25th St., and to a lesser degree at 266 W. 25th. Chelsea Now spoke with Leor Sabet by phone and asked what the plans were for the buildings. Were the apartments to be turned into condos? No response. When asked about the accuracy of tenants’ statements that no Tenant Protection Plan was

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Film Marathon Stops to Ask Why We Run

Courtesy Runners High Film Marathon

Runners endure high altitudes and extreme weather, in Barry Walton’s “THE HIGH: Making the Toughest Race on Earth.”

In “The Runners,” Ivo Gormley and Matan Rochlitz pose intimate questions to those making a brisk trek through a London park.

BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC India’s La Ultra (or “The High”) is an almost 138-mile run through high altitudes — including a peak of 17,700 feet — and extreme weather. For its founder and race director, Dr. Rajat Chauhan, it is the “cruelest run in the world,” he wrote in Forbes India. For filmmaker Barry Walton, it was an opportunity. “I really wanted to move toward

making narrative documentary work,” Walton said in a phone interview. “And I thought the making of this was just an interesting, compelling [and] original story about people kind of pioneering against the odds.” That, he added, “was what kind of drove me to want to dig up the story.” La Ultra is an “ultramarathon,” which is much longer than a traditional one. For example, the New York Marathon,

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which will be held this year on Sun., Nov. 1, is 26.219 miles. A week before the marathon, Walton, who now has two documentaries about ultrarunning under his belt, will present a “Runners High Film Marathon,” to be held on Sat., Oct. 24 at W. 23rd St.’s SVA Theatre. The evening will feature two shorts — “The Runners” and “The Last Time I Heard True Silence” — and Walton’s

“THE HIGH: Making the Toughest Race on Earth.” Walton’s first foray into the subject was the documentary “Profiling HURT,” which is about the 100-mile H.U.R.T. (Hawaiian Ultra Running Team) endurance run. In 2009, Walton followed ultrarunner Mark Gilligan as he traveled to the Hawaiian Islands for the race.

Continued on page 13

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DCP Provides Details of Housing Plan Continued from page 1 Part of a citywide effort to reach Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ambitious 10-year housing plan, they are supposed to boost the creation of affordable apartments while at the same time encouraging the construction of better residential buildings. To lay out the details of the two separate programs, Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning for Quality and Affordability, DCP officials recently sat down with the editors at NYC Community Media, the publisher of Chelsea Now (and our sister publications The Villager and Downtown Express, as well as the newly launched Manhattan Express).

MANDATORY INCLUSIONARY HOUSING The first proposal would add a new mandatory program for inclusionary housing — the process of adding extra floors to a development in exchange for offering more affordable units — that would build on the city’s current voluntary program, and help achieve the

mayor’s goal of creating or preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing in the city. “This program would be, at this point, the most rigorous proposed program of any city in the US. It’s a big deal,” said Frank Ruchala, the deputy director for zoning at the department, who presented the plans together with Erik Botsford, the deputy director of the department’s Manhattan office. Under the plans, any future zoning actions — from sweeping rezonings like the one planned in East New York, to small changes of use, as long as they Photo by Yannic Rack add new floor area — would require L to R: Lincoln Anderson, editor of The Villager; Joe Marvilli, press officer that a site provide a fixed amount of at the Department of City Planning; Frank Ruchala, the department’s deputy director of zoning; and Erik Botsford, deputy director of the department’s affordable housing. Manhattan office. Today there is already a voluntary program — which will stay intact A third option targeting moder— that, in certain designated areas, average median income (AMI), whereawards developers with a higher floor as the second would require reserving ate- or middle-income families would area ratio, or FAR, if they set aside a 30 percent of the space for residents require 30 percent of the floor area percentage of the building for afford- averaging 80 percent of the AMI. to be set aside for residents making “The options are meant to try and 120 percent of the AMI on average. able housing. Developers would have three dif- reflect various economic conditions This so-called “workforce option”, ferent options under the new proposal. that exist in the city, and also give a however, is not available in Manhattan B:8.75”little bit of optionality for communities The first would set aside 25 percent Community Districts 1-8, which as they’re looking at their neighborof residential floor area for residents T:8.75” earning, on average, 60 percent of the hoods,” Ruchala said. Continued on page 14

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Screen Fatigue Means Business at Gramercy Typewriter Company

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Continued from page 1 Though such rookie mistakes occurred long ago, seniority remains elusive through a paradox inherent to any son who learns from his father, Justin said with a chuckle. “Oh my goodness, listen, you know with my dad around, no matter how long I stay or how many years I put in, I’m always going to be the new guy,” he said. His childhood coincided with the rise of the personal computer and printers that began supplanting the once-ubiquitous typewriter in the 1980s and 1990s. In the old days, large companies would have more than 500 typewriters in their offices. Nowadays they might still have 20 or 30 left for specific tasks such as filling out forms that are not easily recognized by computer programs, Paul said. He saw the writing on the wall about 25 years ago and expanded the business to include the repair of Hewlett-Packard printers. By the turn of the century, companies churned out the last of the electric typewriters, and it seemed that manual typewriters would be relegated to a mere curiosity of the past, something for the eccentric antique enthusiast or people of older generations unwilling to change. But in the last few years typewriter repairs and sales have bounced back to about a quarter of the overall business that relies on the printer repair side. A certain pushback is underway against the dominance of the computer screen, as teenagers and twentysomethings begin to appreciate that the old way of putting words onto paper has an irreplaceable value, said Paul. “You are able to get a lot of work done. It’s very enjoyable to see the results once you’ve sat at the machine for a while typing away and all the work you can accomplish,” said Justin. “You feel more in control of what you’re doing. Plus you’re able to use a machine that, because of the craftsmanship and how they were made, will continue to work for decades to come.” Each week, dozens of customers bring old Remingtons, Olympias, Underwoods, and IBMs up to the fourthfloor business. Others pay $150 to more than $500 to buy restored models from the first half of the 20th century. A pink Royal grabs the eye, but connoisseurs of

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A cache of old parts acquired over the years makes repairs happen at Gramercy Typewriter Company, where Justin Schweitzer (above) works with his father Paul.

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older vintages also have options among the many models for sale. Unlike almost any other business in New York City, there is no computer and not a smartphone to be seen within the small office, which has a cramped workshop in back. Invoices and receipts are typed, and the old-fashioned approach extends to the dress code: a collared shirt and tie. A generational gap, though, sometimes means that customers know what they want even if they cannot describe it in proper terms, said Justin. Luckily for them, the “new guy” in the typewriter business has a keen sense for when to lend an increasingly rare expertise. “Customers have called up asking if we sell ‘those old things, those old computers.’ I say, ‘No, we don’t sell those.’ They say, ‘sure you do, I saw the photos,’” he said. “I says, ‘Wait a minute, I says, do you mean typewriter?’ They say, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s what I mean, typewriter.’ I says, ‘Oh yeah, those we have.’”

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THE WEST SIDE’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

Publisher

Jennifer Goodstein

Editor Scott Stiffler

Editorial Assistant Sean Egan

Art Director Michael Shirey

Graphic Designers Rhiannon Hsu Chris Ortiz

Correction Re: “CB4 Mulls Air, Street, Pier Matters” (news, Oct. 15, 2015): The following statement is inaccurate: “Board Chairperson Christine Berthet said that the applicant had met with the Hudson River Park Trust and CB4’s Business License and Permits Committee about the proposed restaurant and would next go before the City Council’s Business and Licensing Committee.” I reported the fact that we had discussions with Google, but there has been no conversations with the applicant yet. Thank you for publishing a correction. The meeting with HRPT relates to a different applicant. Christine Berthet Chair, CB4

Community Contacts To be listed, email info to scott@chelseanow.com.

Contributors

Stephanie Buhmann Sean Egan Michael Lydon Dusica Sue Malesevic Winnie McCroy Puma Perl Yannic Rack Paul Schindler Trav S.D. Eileen Stukane Zach Williams

Executive VP of Advertising Amanda Tarley

Account Executives Jack Agliata Allison Greaker Jennifer Holland Jim Steele Julio Tumbaco Published by

NYC Community Media, LLC

One Metrotech North, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Phone: (212) 229-1890 Fax: (212) 229-2790 www.chelseanow.com scott@chelseanow.com © 2015 NYC Community Media, LLC Member of the New York Press Association

Chelsea Now is published weekly by NYC Community Media

LLC, One Metrotech North, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201. (212) 229-1890. Annual subscription by mail in Manhattan and Brooklyn $75. The entire contents of newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2015 NYC Community Media LLC, Postmaster: Send address changes to Chelsea Now, One Metrotech North, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR: The Publisher shall

not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for other errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue.

October 22 - 28, 2015

COMMUNITY BOARD 4 (CB4) CB4 serves Manhattan’s West Side neighborhoods of Chelsea and Clinton/ Hell’s Kitchen. Its boundaries are 14th St. on the south, 59/60th St. on the north, the Hudson River on the west, 6th Ave. on the east (south of 26th St.) and 8th Ave. on the east (north of 26th St.). The monthly full board meeting, open to the public, takes place on the first Wed. of the month. The next meeting is Nov. 4, 6:30 p.m. at the Hotel Trades Union (305 W. 44th St., 2nd Fl. btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.). Call 212-736-4536, visit nyc.gov/mcb4 or email them at info@ manhattancb4.org. COMMUNITY BOARD 5 (CB5) CB5 represents the central business district of New York City. It includes midtown Manhattan, the Fashion, Flower, Flatiron and Diamond districts, as well as Bryant Park and Union Square Park. The district is at the center of New York’s tourism industry. The Theatre District, Times Square, Carnegie Hall, the Empire State Building and two of the region’s transportation hubs (Grand Central Station and Penn Station) fall within CB5. The full board meeting, open to the public, happens on the second Thurs. of the month. The next meeting is Nov. 12, 6 p.m. at Xavier High School (30 W. 16th St. btw. Fifth & Sixth Aves.). Call 212-465-0907, visit cb5.org or email them at office@cb5.org. THE 300 WEST 23RD, 22ND & 21ST STREETS BLOCK ASSOCIATION Contact them at 300wba@gmail.com. THE WEST 400 BLOCK ASSOCIATION Contact them at w400ba@gmail.com.

DISTRICT 3 CITY COUNCILMEMBER COREY JOHNSON Call 212-564-7757 or visit council.nyc. gov/d3/html/members/home.shtml. STATE SENATOR BRAD HOYLMAN Call 212-633-8052 or visit bradhoylman.com. THE GREENWICH VILLAGE-CHELSEA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Call 212-337-5912 or visit villagechelsea.com.

THE MEATPACKING DISTRICT INITIATIVE Visit meatpacking-district.com or call 212-633-0185. PENN SOUTH The Penn South Program for Seniors provides recreation, education and social services — and welcomes volunteers. For info, call 212-243-3670 or visit pennsouthlive.org. THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER At 208 W. 13th St. (btw. 7th & 8th Aves.). Visit gaycenter.org or call 212-620-7310. GAY MEN’S HEALTH CRISIS (GMHC) At 446 W. 33rd St. btw. 9th & 10th Aves. Visit gmhc.org. Call 212-367-1000. THE CARTER BURDEN CENTER FOR THE AGING This organization promotes the well-being of individuals 60 and older through direct social services and volunteer programs oriented to individual, family and community needs. Call212879-7400 or visit burdencenter.org.

WIN TICKETS TO “THE VELVETEEN RABBIT” The Atlantic Theater Company begins its 2015/2016 “Atlantic for Kids” season with a world premiere musical adaptation of “The Velveteen Rabbit.” Long before the days of Woody and Buzz Lightyear, the nursery toy characters of author Margery Williams Bianco helped children explore matters of tlonging, loss, wisdom, and friendship. A young cast brings life to the book’s beloved tug boat, wooden lion, porcelain doll and sawdust-stuffed rabbit, as they explore what it means to be real. A talkback Photo by Ahron R. Foster session after each performance Enter our raffle for the chance to win four offers kids the chance to interact tickets to the Nov. 1 performance of Atlantic with cast members and discuss the Theater Company’s “The Velveteen Rabbit.” themes of the play. Atlantic Theater Company’s The Linda For the chance to win four tickets to the Nov. 1 show, send an email to Gross Theater (336 W. 20th St. btw. Scott@ChelseaNow.com. Include a day- Eighth & Ninth Aves.). Not content to time contact number. The winner will be take your chances on our raffle? Call 866-811-4111 or visit atlantictheater.org notified on Oct. 26. to purchase tickets ($15 for ages 10 and Best suited for ages 3 to 9. Sat. & under, $20 for adults, with group disSun. at 10:30 a.m., through Nov. 1. At counts available).

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Rhymes With Crazy

Teaching Today’s Kids Yesterday’s Games BY LENORE SKENAZY Since lately there’s almost no aspect of childhood that isn’t bewailed, it should come as no surprise that the existence of “recess consultants” is evidence to many that the apocalypse is at hand. But it isn’t. Despite articles, editorials, and tweets like, “Oh good dear sweet God in heaven, save us from ourselves,” the consultants do not strike me as helicoptering killjoys. And I say that as the founder of Free-Range Kids, an entire movement devoted to more freedom and less adult supervision of kids. How does that square with a program that places young adults outside at recesses across the country — including 30 schools in New York State — teaching kids how to play some age-old games? It is because I think of Playworks, an organization which trains and provides these consultants, as something akin to Lady Bird Johnson. What? Lady Bird Johnson was President Lyndon Johnson’s wife, and she had a pet cause: Wildflowers. Thanks to development and pollution, these were dying out. So she set about deliberately planting some of the wildflowers that were disappearing. In other words, she used completely artificial means to bring back the natural landscape. That’s what the Playworks coaches are doing. They are artificially reviving a natural part of childhood that has been dying out: Playing. I have no idea who taught me kickball as a kid. But there was a game of it in front of my suburban house every night, so I just kind of absorbed it. Who taught me four square? Hopscotch?

Jacks? Chinese jump rope? Who taught me “Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack — All dressed in black, black, black?” Or even the double-Dutch rhyme, “Cinderella, dressed in yella — Went downtown to meet her fella — On the way her girdle busted — How many people were disgusted?” I may be middle-aged, but even when I was a kid, girdles were on their way out. Way out. Which means that the rhymes I was learning came from long ago, handed down from older sister to younger, to neighbor, to kid down the block. Until there were no kids playing on the block anymore. One recent study found that the number of kids ages 9–13 playing outside, unsupervised, for even one hour a week is six percent. The number of kids walking to school is about 11 percent. So all those games, rules, and songs we learned by osmosis are not being learned by an entire generation of kids. We may like to think of play as innate, but what’s innate is the desire to play. It isn’t innate to come up with the rules of four square, or a rhyme about a wardrobe malfunction. Those are things handed down from generation to generation. When they’re not, it is like a lost language. If a parent speaks Spanish, but not to her kids, the kids don’t automatically learn it. Likewise, just because we all knew how to organize a game of “Mother May I?” doesn’t mean today’s kids will, if they haven’t been taught by

the older kids, or even just watched them play it. Enter the Playworks coaches. They are trying to bring back childhood games because those games were not coming back on their own. I was invited to a Playworks conference at Columbia few years back, because I, too, had ridiculed them. Then the organization’s founder, Jill Vialet, told her story. She’d come to an Oakland, California school to talk about starting an art program. But when the principal emerged from her office trailed by a trio of nineyear-old boys who looked like they’d just been chewed out, she snapped at Jill, “You know what I really need? I need someone to fix recess.” Too many of the kids weren’t playing. With no experience in organizing their own games, or solving the inevitable conflicts, the kids resorted to an even more basic behavior: They wal-

loped each other. And got in trouble. And started to think of themselves as bad kids. So Jill decided to see if she could bring back some of her childhood — the fun she’d had playing every day after school. Lady Bird re-seeded the hills with wildflowers. Playworks is trying to re-seed the playgrounds with joy. Their goal is to let the kids take over, once they learn some games, and some quick techniques for solving conflicts, like “Rock-Paper-Scissors.” As far as I can tell, Playworks is not about micromanaging recess, or forcing participation, or insisting, “Everybody wins!” It’s about giving kids back that precious thing we took away from them: time with their friends outside, on their own, learning games as old as girdles. And probably older. Lenore Skenazy is a public speaker who authored the book, and founded the blog, Free-Range Kids (freerangekids.com).

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POLICE BLOTTER GRAND LARCENY: Big bill brings trouble A 37-year-old Queens resident tried to use other people’s credit cards on Fri., Oct. 16, to settle a $6,436 tab at the No. 8 bar (357 W. 16th St. btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.). An employee noticed different names on the credit cards, and confronted the customer at about 3:30 a.m. His own personal plastic was not enough to cover the bill. Police arrived and arrested the man for attempted grand larceny, a felony.

LEAVING THE SCENE: Hit bicyclist doesn’t slow down cabbie Hitting a bicyclist near the northeast corner of W. 18th St. and 10th Ave. did not slow a taxicab down on Fri., Oct. 16. The 39-year-old victim managed to snap a blurred photo of the cab as it sped away, just before 3:30 p.m. All the Upper West Side resident could tell police was that it was yellow, and driven by what appeared to be a woman with bleached hair. A police report did not identify the extent of injury suffered by the victim.

THE 10th PRECINCT Located at 230 W. 20th St. (btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.). Commander: Deputy Inspector Michele Irizarry. Main number: 212-741-8211. Community Affairs: 212-741-8226. Crime Prevention: 212-741-8226. Domestic Violence: 212-741-8216. Youth Officer: 212741-8211. Auxiliary Coordinator: 212-924-3377. Detective Squad: 212-741-8245. The Community Council meets on the last Wed. of the month, 7 p.m., at the 10th Precinct or other locations to be announced. The next meeting is Oct. 28.

THE 13th PRECINCT Located at 230 E. 21st St. (btw. Second & Third Aves.). Deputy Inspector: David Ehrenberg. Call 212-477-7411. Community Affairs: 212-477-7427. Crime Prevention: 212-477-7427. Domestic Violence: 212-477-3863. Youth Officer: 212477-7411. Auxiliary Coordinator: 212-477-4380. Detective Squad: 212477-7444. The Community Council meets on the third Tues. of the month, 6:30 p.m., at the 13th Precinct. The next meeting is Nov. 17.

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GRAND LARCENY: Stolen passport postpones flight?

Someone bumped into a 25-year-old Swedish woman as she danced the night away on Sat., Oct. 17. Little did she know that someone was going through her purse rather than merely getting down with his or her bad self at about 2 a.m. The woman noticed her wallet containing $300 cash was missing as she entered a taxicab in front of Tao, a restaurant located at 92 Ninth Ave. (btw. W. 16th & W. 17th Sts.). To make matters worse, the thief also snatched her passport and Swedish drivers license the day before she was to fly home. A police report did not state whether she caught her flight.

MENACING: Wielding a box cutter while confined to a box The service elevator at 232 W. 18th St. (btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.). was where a Staten Island man found himself confronted with mortal danger at about 2:30 p.m. on Fri., Oct. 16. He was riding with a co-worker when an unknown 40-something man threatened him with a blue box cutter for no apparent reason, according to a police report. The assailant told the victim, “I’m gonna catch you outside. You’re done” before fleeing on a bicycle. Video surveillance caught the incident, but police have yet to track down a suspect.

GRAND LARCENY: His meatball beef Texts and emails were how a former employee of The Meatball Shop (200 Ninth Ave. btw. W. 22nd & W. 23rd Sts.) threatened the business, between Oct. 4 and Oct. 17. The 36-year-old man demanded $5,000 or else he would tell local media that they discriminated against him. Instead, management turned to the police, who have yet to arrest the suspect.

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Runners High Film Marathon Generating Buzz Continued from page 4 “For me, I found it unique that humans wanted to run these...larger, extreme kind of races that went beyond the traditional kind of marathon, hundreds of miles,” he said. Walton, who has worked on shows for Animal Planet and has been a sports producer for the Detroit Pistons, was living in Italy in 2011. “My career was dwindling. It was a lot more challenging to stay in the field in Italy than I thought it would be, so I decided to start to make my own stuff,” he said. The same year, he decided to go to India to film La Ultra. “I actually covered the race live,” he recalled. “I rode backwards on the back of a motorcycle like I was doing the Tour de France, which was probably not the smartest thing to do.” The Himalaya mountain range, and the fact that the roads are one lane, makes it tricky for cars to pass each other, he explained. “Literally there will be inches between the vehicles,” he said. “I don’t know if it was the best decision making that I’ve had in my life, but I did get some great footage out of it.” Walton said he learned a lot about the race, and would build on that for his documentary, “THE HIGH.” The documentary begins with Chauhan, the founder and race director, and follows three runners: Bill Andrews, Mark Cockbain and Molly Sheridan. Thrown into the mix is New Delhibased journalist Ben Arnoldy, who was covering the war in Afghanistan for the Christian Science Monitor. Walton first premiered the documentary in the Detroit area, where he currently lives with his family.

Courtesy Runners High Film Marathon

Tim O’Donnell’s “The Last Time I Heard True Silence” follows a US veteran who finds running an effective treatment for the persistent ringing in his ears.

“I kind of wanted to promote this myself — maybe take a new avenue,” he explained. “That was a big confidence builder, and that probably drove me to New York.” “THE HIGH” also screened at the Trailing Running Film Festival in Seattle in September, where it was one of the films in the running for best feature, Walton said. He decided to organize the Manhattan screening event at Chelsea’s SVA Theatre because, he said, it’s respected and, “It’s a great venue. They’re extremely welcoming.” Walton said he tried to time the event late enough so that people could go to dinner and then come to the theater afterwards. But for those that are still hungry, the Gourmet Brooklyn

Popcorn truck will be on hand to offer six flavors of popcorn, Walton said. First up for the evening is the 11-minute “The Runners,” which was directed by Ivo Gormley and Matan Rochlitz. The duo asked people intimate questions while they were running in a London park, said Walton, and many answered. “‘The Runners’ is a great little film that I love,” he said. Next up will be Tim O’Donnell’s “The Last Time I Heard True Silence,” which runs 22 minutes. After returning from Iraq, a US veteran has some hearing loss because of an explosion, and has an ongoing ringing in his ears. When he runs in races, the ringing tends to go away, Walton explained.

Then, “THE HIGH” will screen and there will be a Q&A with Chauhan. “I genuinely want this to be a fun experience for people to go to,” Walton said. “It would be a fun thing that the marathoners that are in town could enjoy.” The Runners High Film Marathon is on Sat., Oct. 24 at the SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd St. btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves). Doors open at 8 p.m. and screenings begin at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $13.50 online or $15 at the door ($12 for students and marathoners). Purchase tickets by visiting Eventbrite. com and searching for Runners High Film Marathon, and RSVP by doing the same on Facebook.com.

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City Plans for Zoning, Quality, Affordability Continued from page 5 includes Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen. The unavailability of option three has not gone unnoticed at the community board level, where the proposals are currently being presented by planning officials, and the issue has also come up at the Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton Land Use committees of Community Board 4. According to Ruchala, the option is not planned for districts 1-8 because those areas recently received changes to the 421-a tax program, which makes most newly-constructed housing developments in the city eligible for an exemption (10-15 years) from property taxes by providing affordable housing. Although this now prohibits the “workforce option” there, Botsford said that a similar affordable configuration could still be achieved using the other two. “I think it’s important to emphasize that the first and second options do allow for the provision of modern income housing at higher income levels,” he said. “Those can be factored in. They can’t exceed 130 percent [of AMI], like any of the options, but there is a component that is brought into that weighted average.” This means that the affordable units in any development can have different price tags as long as the provisional average of 25, 30 or 120 percent is achieved in the building overall.

ZONING FOR QUALITY AND AFFORDABILITY While the first program directly targets the affordable housing stock in the city, the second one takes a more subtle approach — by ridding the zoning code of outdated rules that actually hinder developers from providing affordable homes, including for seniors, while also constructing beautiful buildings. The proposal includes reducing the high cost for building transit-accessible affordable housing and would also make it easier to provide affordable senior housing and care facilities. “The zoning for these hasn’t changed in thirty or forty years and they really don’t match how providers or seniors are looking to live today,” Ruchala said. The unintended zoning side effects the program aims to get rid of in terms of quality include unused ground floors, which are often too low to be

converted into restaurants or other commercial establishments, and dull building facades that often automatically turn out flat if a developer wants to use all of the space available to them. “We see people who don’t use the voluntary program, simply because they don’t have the space to fit that floor area,” Ruchala said. “Or they try to fit it and kind of cram it into that building envelope that they have, and the building is basically a box. If they get a higher FAR for affordable housing, they should also get a building envelope to fit that FAR,” he said, adding that this would also encourage building things like bay windows and courtyards that serve to beautify a neighborhood. Regarding the proposal to allow for an additional five feet in building height to accommodate ground-floor retail, Ruchala emphasized that this could not be used to build “a penthouse up in the sky.” “The idea is that if you don’t use it on the ground floor, you don’t get the additional height,” he said.

FEEDBACK FROM CB4 As part of the public review process, both programs are currently being presented to community boards around the city. After that, at the end of November, the proposals will move to the planning commission and then on to the City Council, which will likely vote on them by early spring. Community Board 4 will pass a resolution on the proposals at its next full board meeting on Wed., Nov. 4, which will be held at 305 W. 44th St. Other concerns that have been raised at meetings of the board’s two land use committees, as well as the housing committee, include requests to have affordable units more equally distributed throughout otherwise market-rate buildings, to avoid having them crammed into the lower, less desirable floors. Members have also raised the issue that there are not enough incentives to actually preserve existing affordable housing stock, and many worry that the rezoning will lead to higher buildings in their neighborhoods. Nevertheless, Ruchala is positive that the proposals will pass. “There is a clear recognition that this program is far more robust than the current voluntary program,” he said. “It’s far more robust than anywhere else in the country.” .com

New Landlord’s Old Tricks: Intimidation, Illegal Construction Continued from page 2 in place, the response from Mr. Sabet was: “There’s no comment. Thank you for the call, but no comment,” and he hung up. Alex Schnell, a spokesperson for the DOB, noted in an email: “On a 9/15/15 visit [to 264-266 W. 25th St.], inspector was provided documentation showing tenant protection plan.” According to Schnell, the tenant protection documentation would have been on the work plans for the buildings, but regardless of what might have been indicated on paper, tenants have not experienced a Tenant Protection Plan. A number of work permits were issued in relation to the second-floor demolition in 264 W. 25th St., but then the demolition spread to other apartments. Eventually permits were issued for specific work in other apartments in the building, and construction has been undertaken in the common areas of both buildings. The owner noted on DOB applications that work would not involve more than 50 percent of a building — but at 264 W. 25th St., 10 out of 17 apartments gutted is certainly more than 50 percent of the building. Cincotta also questions whether the Certificate of Occupancy in the buildings, which states that there are 10 habitable rooms per floor, is being violated. He discovered that the apartments being renovated have increased numbers of rooms. “Where there were two bedrooms, there will be three. Where there were three bedrooms, there will be four,” he said, and notes that the bedrooms are small with attached bathrooms, as if dormitory or hotel living were being created, which would change the living environment of the building.

LOOKING TO THE CITY AND COURTS FOR HELP Residents who want to continue living in their homes at 264 and 266 W. 25th St., filed over 30 complaints to the DOB. When DOB inspectors arrived to investigate illegal construction and falsified applications, work came to a halt, doors were locked, and inspectors were often denied the access they needed — according to tenants, who suspect that an alleged lookout stationed in front of their buildings .com

alerted workers. Action that might have been taken to file violations was, thus, delayed. Nevertheless, to their credit, the DOB inspectors did issue violations, including the latest Stop Work Order for plumbing issues. Eight DOB violations remain outstanding, and two of them are for different work permit applications that falsely noted there was no rent-controlled or rent-stabilized occupied housing in either 264 or 266 W. 25th St. The violations at the respective addresses carry penalties of $2,400 and $4,830. What seems a glitch in the system, however, is that last summer’s falsified PW1 application for construction at 264 W. 25th St., after a violation was issued, was resubmitted with the notation: “Respectfully Requesting Approval of Amended Schedule ‘B’ and Plans,” an amendment which corrected the occupancy status in the building. This amended application was requested and approved in September, with what appears to be no further challenge by the DOB. In addition to open DOB violations, the two addresses on W. 25th St. have a combined 19 open NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) violations filed in the last half of 2015. Although the current DOB Stop Work Order for plumbing and the HMH Stop Work Order for lead contamination have given the tenants a little breathing space, they are far from satisfied. Their friends and neighbors are gone. What often happens is that by the time city agencies become aware, tenants have chosen to move away rather than suffer through harassment. The affordable housing that existed is gone and the neighborhood environment is changed. Gottfried and Johnson are both working to stem this particular tide. “We need to use every tool at our disposal to fight back and protect tenants, and the package of legislation that my City Council colleagues and I introduced last week will give the City broader enforcement power,” Johnson emailed Chelsea Now, adding that he was “pleased that the Department of Buildings and the Department of Heath issued Stop Work Orders at these properties, and I look forward to working with our city agencies until full accountability is reached.” The tenants at 264 and 266 W.

Photo by Yannic Rack

Steven Cincotta with his archive of permits, violations, photos and affidavits chronicling what has happened at the units of his building, 266 W. 25th St., since it was acquired by new owners.

25th St. want the entire workplace closed down by a complete Stop Work Order that ends their harassment, allows DOB full access, and brings in an on-site superintendent (which the buildings currently do not have).

That The Sabet Group refuses to issue renewals to rent-regulated tenants, and delays in depositing rent payments, questions legality. Tenants would rather go to court than be forced to move out, and that is just what they are ready to do.

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ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Haunted by Houses Night and day, odd occurrences at Merchant’s House and Bartow-Pell BY SCOTT STIFFLER In the dark and stormy pages of fiction; in movies, when heirs to a fortune must brave a creepy old mansion from dusk to dawn; and on TV shows whose jumpy investigators wear infrared goggles as they navigate narrow catacombs: these are the scenarios popular culture tells us are necessary to have a paranormal encounter. But why would a spirit need, or even want, to wait until the sun goes down in order to materialize? That witches’ brew of nighttime shadows and nervous tension says more about our own fleshly insecurities than it does about the world that awaits us when we draw our last breath and give up the ghost. Rest assured, strange things do happen in the stark light of day — and year-round, at two of New York’s most lovingly preserved, historically significant homes, you can roam the grounds, climb the stairs, and quite possibly join the ranks of those who are confident they’ve seen, heard, or spoken with the dead.

MERCHANT’S HOUSE MUSEUM In 1835, having made his fortune as a NYC hardware merchant, patriarch Seabury Tredwell moved his brood to a lavishly decorated, recently built row house in the swanky Bond Street neighborhood. Over the next nearly 100 years, dozens of family members and Irish servants would live at 29 East Fourth Street. Along the way, eight family members died in the house, including spinster daughter Gertrude (1840-1933). The youngest Tredwell child shuffled off her mortal coil while occupying the very same bed she was born in — also where Seabury met his maker in 1865. First opened in 1935, the Merchant’s House Museum remains accessible to the public five days a week. Self-guided tours afford history buffs and paranormal enthusiasts the opportunity to walk among the furniture, artwork, clothing, tools, and everyday items that have been here since the mid19th century — along with, many believe, former residents whose lack of a pulse doesn’t stop them from making playful, protective, or sociable appearances. “It’s safe to say that each year we average roughly a half-dozen documented reports of occurrences to staff, workers, or visitors,” says board member Anthony Bellov, whose inexplicable experiences are among the “over one hundred reported incidents [during the course of the Museum’s life], since we started seriously archiving them about fifteen years ago.” One of the most-witnessed sightings in Merchant’s House history, which you’ll hear about .com

Courtesy Merchant’s House Museum

Members of the Tredwell family lived here over a period of 100 years. Some say they never left.

on their upcoming Ghost Tour (and can read about in Bellov’s “Some Say They Never Left” gift shop booklet), took place in broad daylight — and makes a convincing argument for the notion that certain Tredwell family members didn’t fly the nest once they crossed over. “It’s a very famous story involving neighborhood children playing in front of the House,” Bellov says of the 1933 summertime incident. “Gertrude came rushing out the front door to chase them away. Many neighborhood people saw it, and the long-timers on the block all recognized Gertrude. The only problem is, Gertrude had been dead for several weeks at that point.” Another daytime incident, this one from 1995, was reported by a visitor who had a top position in the NYS Judicial Department. Unaware of the building’s haunted reputation, she gave an account of a tattered and musty gentleman who engaged her in conversation, upstairs, while they perused old family objects in a display case. “He spoke at length about what it was like to live in the house,” Bellov recalls of the eyewitness account. “She turned away from him for just a moment, and he was gone.” Minutes later, there was another sighting on the main floor — where he told her to come back for another visit. Presented with a book of photos after

reporting the event to staff members, the woman identified her new acquaintance as black sheep son Samuel Tredwell (1825-1917). Although sightings of head-to-toe apparitions are rare, even by Merchant’s House standards, plenty of other odd and possibly otherworldly incidents take place — so many, in fact, that Bellov says “almost everyone involved with the Museum has had at least one unexplainable thing happen to them. The noteworthy thing is that people have experiences separated by several decades that are identical in every way.” Those experiences include hearing phantom notes from a piano that long ago ceased to function, and the sound of light snoring coming from a sofa (incidents taking place in the front Greek Revival parlor — replete with Tredwell family furnishings, some of which date back to before Gertrude was born). The Grecian sofa, notes Bellov, is now in the downstairs family room, where “there have been no further reports of invisible nappers.” Are these occurrences merely sounds once made in the house, that play on a loop and can be perceived when the certain atmospheric or psychological conditions are just right? If so, that in and of itself is pretty impressive proof of…well, something beyond what we experience in day-to-day life. And how, then, to explain how several people can be in a room, yet only some will be certain that they see, smell, or hear things? Such events took place with startling regularity during monthly visits throughout 2011 by the Sturges Paranormal team of veteran investigators, uninformed newbies, certified mediums, and this curious but sometimes less than brave reporter — who, in addition to finding similarities in the team’s accounts (during post-investigation one-on-one interviews), logged hundreds of “hits” on TriField Natural EMF (electromagnetic field) Meters. EMF fluctuations often corresponded with requests that any “spirit” present manipulate the device, via “once for yes, twice for no” responses to questions. Many times over the course of the yearlong investigation, this reporter observed positive responses to the team’s request that anyone (or anything) present but not observable travel from meter to meter, thereby eliciting the buzzing sound that indicates a fluctuation (three meters were typically placed in various locations around the room we were in). Proof of a sentient, otherworldly force interacting with us? No. But another possible explanation, that investigators themselves cause EMF meters to move by a psychic extension of wishful

Continued on page 18 October 22 - 28, 2015

Where History Comes Alive, The Dead May Roam Continued from page 17 thinking, is every bit as provocative. Also experienced by some — but not all — of the group (five or six at any given time), as we were within feet of each other: a strong scent of tobacco in the bedroom of Seabury Tredwell, and disembodied Christmas carolers who were heard in the front parlor, accompanying the living. Discovered on audio or video upon leaving the house were bells, voices, and footsteps (most of which were not heard at the time of the recordings). Two investigators (Bellov and a purported psychic) both described, in their exit interviews, the same blue mist snaking its way down the staircase — at the top of which a family member is believed to have tumbled, sustaining injuries that would soon cause her death. The official Merchant’s House take on all of this, says Bellov (who was present during all of the Sturges investigations): “We’ll never say the Museum is haunted until we have actual, incontrovertible proof, whatever that may wind up being. All we can say is, ‘Strange things we can’t explain happen here very often.’ If it’s the Tredwells, we’re happy they’re still watching over their home, and we hope they approve of our own efforts to preserve it for future New Yorkers.” Tidbit-packed guidebook in hand, you can tour the house and court your own daytime encounter with the Tredwells or their servants — or take your chances during one of the atmospheric Candlelight Ghost Tours, during which many have reported brushes and tugs while surrounded by nothing but thin air. With the house decorated in 1865 funeral parlor chic (black crepe, coffin in the parlor, mourning attire on display), living history will come back to haunt you, as the guides give a room-by-room rundown of ghostly encounters through the years. The 50-minute tours begin every half hour, 6:30–9:30 p.m. on Oct. 23–24 and 28–30. Prices vary ($25-$35) according to tour time and a “Super-Spooky” option that includes a visit to the fourth floor servants’ quarters. For reservations (required) and more info on the Oct. 24 “Parlor to Grave” funeral reenactment/graveyard procession and a Halloween night dramatic reading of Gothic literature, visit merchantshouse.org or call 212-777-1089.

October 22 - 28, 2015

Courtesy Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum

The living aren’t the only ones free to walk around the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum.

Open Thurs.–Mon., noon–5 p.m. Admission is $10 ($5 for students & seniors, free for children under 12). Merchant’s House Museum is located at 29 E. Fourth St. (btw. Lafayette & Bowery).

THE BARTOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM Constructed over an eight-year period beginning in 1836 in order to accommodate the family of Thomas Pell (then an English doctor from Connecticut), the Grecian-style stone Bartow-Pell Mansion and the 220-acre estate it sits on opened to the public in 1946 — providing a rare glimpse into upscale 19th century country life in the Pelham Bay Park area. Many of its original occupants are still on site, in a graveyard filled with the remains of six Pell family members. Visitors can tour the garden and grounds, and explore the house (either on their own, or on guided tours). E ither way, you might not want to go it solo — unless you have the intellectual curiosity and intestinal fortitude to find out what it’s like to be “alone” when you get the distinct feeling that you’re being watched, followed, or brushed up against (all things experienced by the public as well as staff

members). In her decade at Bartow-Pell (first as a volunteer, then as Education Director and Curator), Margaret Highland can’t claim an unexplained encounter of her own — but she’s heard the stories. The upstairs, she notes, is prime real estate for paranormal occurrences. “When Dan [Sturges, of Sturges Paranormal] was in the bed chamber of George Bartow,” Highland recalls, “one of the psychics said he [George] had a disappointment in love.” Later, in a sound bite not heard by the group at the time, “Dan’s [tape] recorder picked up a voice saying it wasn’t the girls’ fault. The psychic said that George’s fiancée broke off their engagement.” In addition to sightings of a child’s ghost on the third floor (described similarly by witnesses through the years), indentations are frequently discovered on the Lannuier bed. Highland, who has seen them, speculates that it’s “probably the down settling, but who knows?” When Sturges asked the person responsible for sitting on the bed to identify themselves, he “picked up a voice that sounded like ‘Nathan Walker.’ We don’t know who he was, but we do have a piece of

[19th century] embroidery made by an Abigail Walker.” Elsewhere in the Mansion, music, (absent the presence of instruments) has been heard, and “a tour guide thought he saw a person in a long skirt disappearing quickly,” Highland says, adding that others “have heard footsteps in the attic when we knew nobody was up there.” Short of claiming that the Bartow-Pell Mansion is haunted, Highland doesn’t hesitate to supply this explanation: “What I say is, ‘Anything’s possible.’ ” A “Cemetery Walk and Tombstone Talk” will take place on Thurs., Oct. 29, at 6 p.m. — first, with a candlelit trek to the Pell Cemetery, then inside for a lecture by tombstone expert and carver Robert Neal Carpenter. Cost: $20 ($15 for seniors and students). Registration required. The garden and grounds are open daily from 8:30 a.m. to dusk (free). Mansion hours are Wed., Sat. & Sun., noon–4 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors & students, free for children under six. At 895 Shore Road, Pelham Bay Park, The Bronx. Call 718-885-1461 or visit bartowpellmansionmuseum.org. .com

Poe Cottage is a Bronx Trip Worth Pondering He of limitless imagination was a man of modest means BY TRAV S.D. I’ve only lived in New York for over 25 years — without ever getting around to visiting the Edgar Allen Poe Cottage, the home of one of my favorite writers. New Yorkers, you know the reason why. All together: “It’s in the Bronx!” Not because the Bronx is bad, but because it is far. From my house in Brooklyn, it’s nearly two hours away. It takes longer to get there than it takes to tour the museum. One strategy is to double your trip up with another nearby destination. I bundled my recent visit up there with a stop at the star-studded Woodlawn Cemetery. I highly recommend it. New York is one of four cities which have a Poe House Museum — the others being Philadelphia, Baltimore and Richmond. I intend to visit them all. The Edgar Allen Poe Cottage is maintained by the Bronx Historical Society. It’s where Poe lived and wrote from 1846 through his death in 1849, along with his child bride Virginia Clemm and her mother (who also happened to be his aunt — you do the math). Sadly, Virginia only lived there for a few weeks. Stricken with T.B., she perished on the premises. The bed where she expired is on view at the Poe Cottage. Most of the furniture, while historically appropriate, wasn’t part of the house when Poe lived there. Poe only outlived his wife by less than three years. It’s safe to say he never ceased mourning. A lot of his time was spent wandering around the still-rural Bronx, traipsing the High Bridge, and walking to Fordham (then St. John’s College) to rap with the Jesuit priests. It’s melancholy to contemplate. His modest house was surely the farthest thing from a distraction — more like the lifestyle of a monk. (Yes, I know this was Poe — a certain amount of his time was no doubt spent at taverns!) Still, I found the little cottage surprisingly bright and cheery, although I happened to be there on a bright,

may have been partially inspired by his home in the Bronx. Above all, your main takeaway is that this man of limitless imagination, this national treasure, was a man of very modest means, and that is instructive. It’s been said that Poe was one of the first Americans ever to make his living entirely from writing. He was clearly just about able to eke it out. Support your artists while they live, ladies and gentlemen! That is the lesson I draw from the Poe Cottage.

Courtesy Historic House Trust

This cottage in the Bronx is where Poe lived and wrote from 1846 through his death in 1849.

sunny Sunday afternoon. But if you go there at night, who knows? There could be ghosts. The tour guide at the little museum was terrific: enthusiastic, animated and knowledgeable. Much of what I’ve already included in this article came from him. He also pointed out some other cool stuff:

Lee,” about his deceased bride, and the impressionistic short story “Landor’s Cottage,” which some critics think

The Edgar Allan Poe Cottage is owned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, and operated by The Bronx County Historical Society, and is a member of the Historic House Trust. Hours: Thurs.–Fri. 10 a.m.–3 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. and Sun. 1 p.m.–5 p.m. Admission: $5 ($3 for students, seniors, children). Visit bronxhistoricalsociety.org and historichousetrust.org.

• A mysterious blemish in a period mirror in the shape of, I dare say, a raven. • The house’s last remaining original pane of glass. Believe it or not, it’s fascinating, and the difference is noticeable (older glass is much less uniform and sheer, and full of swirls). • An ironic newspaper clipping announcing Poe’s intention to start a new literary publication, The Stylus. The clip was from Oct. 7, 1849, the day Poe died while on a speaking tour in Baltimore. Fans of Poe’s writing will be interested to know that this is the house where he wrote the poem “Annabelle

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October 22 - 28, 2015

What Makes a Pumpkin Patch Worthy? Schulz knows the struggle for sincerity ain’t just peanuts BY MAX BURBANK On October 27, 1966, CBS debuted an animated family Halloween special based on Charles M. Schulz’s syndicated newspaper comic strip, “Peanuts.” While seemingly a children’s cartoon, the themes on display were disappointment, alienation, neurosis, delusion, and despair. These were concerns Schulz gnawed over daily for decades on the “funny” pages of our nation’s newspapers — but here, they crystallized to a razor sharpness that still cuts as cleanly and deeply as the first time it was unsheathed. We watch it annually — and so, by repetition, we are desensitized to the childhood horror which is the true subject matter of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” The story is made up of three character arcs: the events of a single Halloween night and following morning as experienced by Linus Van Pelt, Charlie Brown and his dog, Snoopy. In this essay, I will examine each arc, arriving at some semblance of what Schulz intended to convey through the narrative.

IMDb/United Feature Syndicate Inc.

Is Linus engaging in a culturally sponsored make-believe, or does Schulz intend us to see him as actively delusional?

LINUS Is Linus clinically insane? Certainly he is neurotic. He sucks his thumb, he carries a blanket, he is sickened by the Freudian image of his sister gutting a Pumpkin. These almost Ibsen-esque weaknesses are taken as given, but does his belief in the “Great Pumpkin” indicate a diagnosable delusional state? How does Schulz intend us to see this? There are several distinct possibilities. Certainly, the Great Pumpkin is a parody of Santa Claus. Millions of children believe in a magical being in a flying sled, bringing an impossible number of gifts to an impossible number of people in a single night. Since this is a culturally endorsed myth, children are encouraged to engage with it, and so the question of mental health never arises. Here, though, Schulz grafts a similarly bizarre myth onto Halloween. Every year the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch, then finds the most “sincere,” and flies through the air delivering toys to good boys and girls. But beyond removing the

October 22 - 28, 2015

this is soon replaced with blame and threats. Their status quo now completely reversed, Linus’s final emasculation comes in the form of a fainting spell when he believes he is having a religious experience and is witnessing the arrival of a god, but is in fact merely looking at a dog. He will lie on the ground, alone and unloved, convinced of his own unworthiness. The Great Pumpkin did not come because he allowed himself an instant of doubt, saying “if” the Great Pumpkin comes instead of “when.” This hairline crack in his perfect faith is all it takes for him to be cast out, and it is here he is found and taken in late that night by his sister. This would seem comforting, but think: where are his parents? It is Halloween night and their child has not returned home, and is in fact sleeping alone outdoors. Where are the police? Where is the amber alert? No. It falls to his sibling, a child herself, to care for him. In Schulz’s universe, any appeal for adult succor goes unanswered. They exist, but are always unseen and non-functional. Producer Bill Melendez exploits this alienation to advantage, by rendering adult voices as unintelligible bleats on a muted trumpet.

CHARLIE

IMDb/United Feature Syndicate Inc.

The use of Charlie Brown’s head as a model for a Jack O’Lantern is a concrete demonstration that he’s a non-person.

Santa myth from its usual context to illustrate its absurdity, what do we make of this? In Schulz’s universe, has Linus created the Great Pumpkin myth himself? Does he assume that since Christmas has Santa, Halloween must have something similar? Are we to believe the practice of writing to, and waiting for, the Great Pumpkin — while rare compared with the practice of trick-or-treating — is recognized? Is Linus engaging in a culturally sponsored make-believe (like

Santa), or does Schulz intend us to see him as actively delusional? If yes, his need to drag others into his belief system is disturbing. Linus exploits young Sally Brown’s crush on him and tries to indoctrinate her into the quasi-religious practice of waiting for the Great Pumpkin. She, in turn, personifies childhood’s fear of societal rejection. By believing in him, she has opened herself to ridicule, and missed the group affirmation of tricks or treats. Initially she offers her love, but

Charlie Brown, initially elated at having been invited to a Halloween party, is soon informed the invitation is a mistake. Not content to leave his alter ego isolated by simple exclusion, Schulz makes his singularity public through the ruse of a further mistake — his costume, a bed-sheet ghost with multiple eyeholes. A self-inflicted wound, he had trouble with the scissors. On a second level, as eyes are seen in literature as the “windows of the soul,” Brown has externalized his vulnerability. His soul is raw, open, unprotected. Compare his shame to Pigpen. Similarly individualized by his omnipresent cloud of filth, his pride and obvious self-esteem serve to cast Brown’s self-loathing in high relief. It is while trick-or-treating, however, that we see the true depth of

Continued on page 21 .com

Blood Manor Delivers Classic Scares and a Sense of Humor The haunted house institution continues its winning streak BY SEAN EGAN When it comes to haunted houses, Blood Manor is one of the oldest games in town — and, barring the year-round tourist trap, Times Scare, might be the only game of its kind in Manhattan this year. This season, after more than a decade, the folks behind Blood Manor have doubled down on their winning formula. Blood Manor has always stood out for its broad appeal, never leaning on the extreme, oppressive tactics that have recently been in vogue for horror attractions. Indeed, its well-lit halls are open to teens as young as 14 by themselves, and rely mostly on creatively icky props and set designs, and ol’ reliable jump scares (though you’re guaranteed not to be touched by the actors). This year they deliver all that is expected of their (not quite) family-friendly, creepily campy, bloodsoaked brand. Individuals brave enough to enter the attraction will forge their way through with a group, on an approximately 20-minute tour of the Manor. The tenants of this (presumably rent-controlled) Manor include horror stalwarts such as killer clowns, mad scientists, chainsaw wielding psychos,

and even demonic strippers. Almost all of these rooms are self-contained, so what it lacks in sustained tension and unity, it makes up for in variety. They’ve smartly kept some of their best set pieces this time around, including a disturbing butcher shop, and a demon carnival maze, rendered in delightfully headache-inducing neon colors (enhanced by the use of 3D glasses). One of Blood Manor’s strongest suits is its sense of humor, which is prominently on display. Whether it be the loopy, darkly humorous visual of a vivisected gorilla tied up and thrashing around, or a flamboyant actor warning you at the onset of the tour that you’ll have your “soul ripped out through your sphincter” if caught using cell phones during the visit, the Blood Manor crew recognize the value of eliciting laughs as well as screams. Much of the credit for making the humor and scares work well goes to the actors (though the production design is also great and gorgeously gory throughout). They’re quick on their feet and witty, which helps to lend the whole production an infectious, energetic edge. It’s hard not to crack a smile after every jump scare when it’s clear that underneath all the

Photo by BPS Productions, courtesy Blood Manor

Blood Manor delivers all that is expected of their (not quite) family-friendly, creepily campy, blood-soaked brand.

makeup and prosthetics, the actors are having a blast digging into their dark and demented characters. Their commitment to their roles throughout is admirable, and the experience is all the better for it. Overall, it’s not incredibly scary — more jaded thrill-seekers should definitely look elsewhere for their kicks — but maybe it’s better this way. It’s got enough gory and goofy tricks up its sleeve to make traipsing through the house engaging and lively — and as a fun, good-natured, classic celebra-

tion of Halloween season, you probably can’t do much better than Blood Manor. After all, tradition is tradition for a reason. Blood Manor runs through Sat., Nov. 20. At 163 Varick St. (btw. Charlton & Vandam Sts.). Tickets are $30 (plus $3.50 handling fee) online and by phone, $35 at the door. R.I.P. express tickets are $45 (plus $3.50 handling fee) online and by phone, $50 at the door. For tickets and info, call 212-2902825 or visit bloodmanor.com.

Patchy Logic, Power of Myth: A ‘Great Pumpkin’ Analysis Continued from page 20 Brown’s predicament. At each stop, as the costumed children describe their treats we learn Brown has received a rock instead of candy. What conclusions is Schultz inviting us to draw with these rocks? Are we to assume that the unseen, unreachable adults recognize Brown’s innate lack of human worth? Or is the universe itself casting him out? Does candy undergo a miracle of reverse transubstantiation, passing from food (the stuff of life) to rock (un-life) inside his trick-or-treat bag? Whereas Linus believes he is punished for sin and weakness, Brown is punished simply for existing. Later, at the party, Lucy will use his head as a model for a Jack O’Lantern, a concrete demonstration that Brown is a non-person. Think back to the opening scene where .com

Lucy gutted a Pumpkin and Linus accused her of “killing” it. Is she metaphorically killing Brown now? Or are we meant to see her use of Brown as model pumpkin as a declaration that Linus’ moral inclinations are useless? And yet, it is Lucy, the ultimate denier of the piece, who alone demonstrates compassion when she later retrieves Linus from the pumpkin patch, delivering him from the place of his humiliation and failure to home and safety. Brown never even thinks to look for Linus, and perhaps this weakness is all the justification needed for his lowest of all tribal status.

SNOOPY In Snoopy, Schulz presents the classic Wise Fool as alternative. With this dog there is no line between fantasy and reality. What he imagines (in this case that he is a World War I flying ace) simply is, for as long

as the belief suits him. When the time seems right, belief is abandoned without guilt. Compare this to the agony suffered by Linus over his crisis of faith, or Brown’s utter helplessness. It is worth noting that the exact moment Snoopy abandons his hero fantasy is his kiss with Lucy, a kiss that utterly (if briefly) destroys her status mastery. Snoopy is free of guilt, free from expectation, immune to claims of tribal status. But Snoopy is a dog. He can ape humanity, but is not human. Linus and Brown are allowed to see the successful alternative he represents, but are barred from embracing it by their essential nature. Like Brown’s ersatz party invitation, Snoopy’s lifestyle is a reward that is never truly on offer.

CONCLUSION In the universe of “Peanuts,” can

one hope for growth or change? Sadly, no. In the closing scene, Brown assumes the experience in the pumpkin patch has caused Linus to abandon faith and embrace a more existential approach. Linus is insulted. His faith is, if anything, stronger. And why shouldn’t it be? Linus and Brown both come to the same unrewarding end. No toys for the unfaithful Linus, no candy for the unlucky Brown. Why learn the lesson of experience if it yields us nothing? False hope trumps nihilism because false though it may be, it’s still hope. In the end, it is the struggle for sincerity and not the sincerity itself that makes the pumpkin patch truly worthy. “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” will air on ABC at 8 p.m. on Thurs., Oct. 29. “The Peanuts Movie” opens nationwide on Nov. 6. October 22 - 28, 2015

October 22 - 28, 2015

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Suspense! Speculation! Satire! These Halloween reads transcend horror Halloween-minded readers who have the guts to go beyond bloody lit picks will be rewarded with brain candy they can gnaw on all year long. We asked Zyad Hammad and the rest of the Bluestockings Bookstore staff to suggest a few unconventional choices, and they responded with four literary selections that draw their strength from suspense, speculation, and satire.

CHANGERS by T Cooper and Allison Glock-Cooper What happens when, after getting through the terrors of middle school as a boy named Ethan, you wake up on your first day of high school as a girl named Drew? This sci-fi series for young adults centers on a little-known race of ancient humans who live out each of their four years of high school as someone new — specifically, as someone of the opposite gender. After living life through four different sets of eyes, which life will they choose for themselves?

THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood With the unification of church and state, a militaristic, bigoted ruling class sets up a new government in the United States. As global health declines due to pollution — and infertility rises — women are put into bondage, where they are kept in existence only to be used by men. Will equity be regained, and who will join hands to make it happen? You’ll have to read to find out!

SEVENEVES by Neal Stephenson The Earth is doomed, with a meteor shower imminently wiping out all of existence. As the human race scrambles to save what natural life it can, scientists work to create a future for our planet. This title uses the fictional progeny of humanity to explore what it means to engage

Courtesy Akashic Booksr

In the sci-fi “Changers” series for young adults, high school students live out each grade as someone new.

with one another. Sacrifice and hardship pour out onto these pages, and what it means to be “human” is redefined.

SISTERS OF THE REVOLUTION

politically charged works of science fiction, horror, and satire. Content from around the globe, sometimes stretching back several decades, makes this collection a great find for the reader who seeks a challenge.

edited by Ann & Jeff Vendermeer This new feminist speculative fiction anthology — including works from celebrated authors Octavia E. Butler, Ursula K. LeGuin and Vandana Singh — presents us with

These books are available for purchase at Bluestockings Bookstore is located at 172 Allen St. (btw. Stanton & Rivington Sts.). Call 212777-6028 or visit bluestockings.com.

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