Sunday, May 30, 2004
Covering the activities of Community Boards - an experiment
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis/
As part of the community service performed by this column, we will try to do periodic reports on the activities of our local Community Boards. The CB is one of the two activities on the ground-floor level of participatory government that allow the citizen to get involved, hands-on, and let his or her opinion count Membership in the local political club of one’s choice is the other ground-floor level activity of active participatory continuous and institutionalized democracy, as distinguished from grass-roots movements and protests, which are spontaneous, issue oriented and mostly of limited duration.
This column will try an experiment in covering the hearings and agendas of our local Community Boards 5 and 6, using the minutes of the monthly full-board meetings (available only a after the next monthly meeting has approved them) and the announcements of future committee meeting topics. This is an area totally neglected by the daily newspapers, for various reasons (to be discussed at a later date) and is particularly suited for coverage by neighborhood media.
There are 59 such boards in NYC, with a maximum of 50 members each, appointed by the Borough President, 50% of them following recommendations of City Council members .The citizen can either apply for membership, granted on basis of political, environmental activity or other qualifications (more later), or request the designation and attend committee meetings as a “public member,” or just attend the meetings of one’s choice and testify on the items under consideration. The minutes below will give you the flavor of the activities Future articles will have more details and some historic stuff of the CB phenomenon..
Today let’s look in on CB5, which had its monthly get-together on April 4, attended by practically all of its 43 members, plus representatives of Borough President C. Virginia Fields State Senator Liz Krueger Assembly member Richard Gottfried and City Councilmember Christina Quinn..
CB 5 in this 3 ¼ hour meeting dealt with a variety of topics. The Public Session saw a dozen community members speak against a Department of City Planning ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Process) proposal to change the zoning of 5 ½ bocks of the Ladies’ Mile Historic District (17th to 22nd Streets, 5th to 6th Aves) from M1 (Manufacturing) to C6 (Commercial), to accommodate “ as of right” residential development. Later in the meeting the Land Use and Zoning Committees, jointly, did not approve the city planners’ resolution, unless rezoned area includes specific provisions for affordable housing, requires sufficient off-street parking and excludes new bars and night clubs. The full CB agreed with the committees, as it did in all recommendations detailed below. .
The same committees also asked the NYC Department of Buildings to reverse a ruling that allows 49% of space in transient hotels to be used for long-term occupancy
A major function of both CB5 and 6 is granting permits for street fairs, block parties and park use Any number of religious, ethnic and fraternal, as well as commercial functions like to use the above activities for their commemorative, fund raising and advertising activities. If all were permitted, the streets in Manhattan would have no room for weekend traffic, and we would be overrun by vendors. The criteria for denials by the CB committee members center on lack of tolerance for minorities, gender discrimination, lack of cleanup after the festivities, and event organizers’ non-attendance at committee hearings, where the groups are supposed to present their cases. Thus, Consents and Variances Committee and Parks Committee denied various requests from Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and some Catholic, Indian and Pakistani groups for fairs involving street closings and Union Square and Madison Square park use, in one case urging the group to see an alternate venue.. An Oxygen Media concert, a wine tasting sponsored by The New Yorker and a Chiclets promotion in both parks bit the dust, while a Marina Maher commercial women’s health event and a Carvel Ice Cream feast were approved. .The customary New York is a Book Country on Oct 3 passed with flying colors, as did a Berkeley College block party.
Request for modifications to landmarked buildings are reviewed by the Landmarks Committee, which approved proposed changes to 42-48 East 20th Street and denied the legitimization of illegal changes in another, on West 18 Street.
Sidewalk cafes are another major item. The 12 CCKO tables at 25 Union Square West and another for Zana Inc at 30 East 30th were approved. Curbside telephone booths, new and improved, were investigated and 12 of 20 denied.
Madison Square Park has a food kiosk, which had requested a beer and wine license. It was recommended by the joint Public Safety and, Quality of Life and Parks committees and approved by a split vote.
As part of the community service performed by this column, we will try to do periodic reports on the activities of our local Community Boards. The CB is one of the two activities on the ground-floor level of participatory government that allow the citizen to get involved, hands-on, and let his or her opinion count Membership in the local political club of one’s choice is the other ground-floor level activity of active participatory continuous and institutionalized democracy, as distinguished from grass-roots movements and protests, which are spontaneous, issue oriented and mostly of limited duration.
This column will try an experiment in covering the hearings and agendas of our local Community Boards 5 and 6, using the minutes of the monthly full-board meetings (available only a after the next monthly meeting has approved them) and the announcements of future committee meeting topics. This is an area totally neglected by the daily newspapers, for various reasons (to be discussed at a later date) and is particularly suited for coverage by neighborhood media.
There are 59 such boards in NYC, with a maximum of 50 members each, appointed by the Borough President, 50% of them following recommendations of City Council members .The citizen can either apply for membership, granted on basis of political, environmental activity or other qualifications (more later), or request the designation and attend committee meetings as a “public member,” or just attend the meetings of one’s choice and testify on the items under consideration. The minutes below will give you the flavor of the activities Future articles will have more details and some historic stuff of the CB phenomenon..
Today let’s look in on CB5, which had its monthly get-together on April 4, attended by practically all of its 43 members, plus representatives of Borough President C. Virginia Fields State Senator Liz Krueger Assembly member Richard Gottfried and City Councilmember Christina Quinn..
CB 5 in this 3 ¼ hour meeting dealt with a variety of topics. The Public Session saw a dozen community members speak against a Department of City Planning ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Process) proposal to change the zoning of 5 ½ bocks of the Ladies’ Mile Historic District (17th to 22nd Streets, 5th to 6th Aves) from M1 (Manufacturing) to C6 (Commercial), to accommodate “ as of right” residential development. Later in the meeting the Land Use and Zoning Committees, jointly, did not approve the city planners’ resolution, unless rezoned area includes specific provisions for affordable housing, requires sufficient off-street parking and excludes new bars and night clubs. The full CB agreed with the committees, as it did in all recommendations detailed below. .
The same committees also asked the NYC Department of Buildings to reverse a ruling that allows 49% of space in transient hotels to be used for long-term occupancy
A major function of both CB5 and 6 is granting permits for street fairs, block parties and park use Any number of religious, ethnic and fraternal, as well as commercial functions like to use the above activities for their commemorative, fund raising and advertising activities. If all were permitted, the streets in Manhattan would have no room for weekend traffic, and we would be overrun by vendors. The criteria for denials by the CB committee members center on lack of tolerance for minorities, gender discrimination, lack of cleanup after the festivities, and event organizers’ non-attendance at committee hearings, where the groups are supposed to present their cases. Thus, Consents and Variances Committee and Parks Committee denied various requests from Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and some Catholic, Indian and Pakistani groups for fairs involving street closings and Union Square and Madison Square park use, in one case urging the group to see an alternate venue.. An Oxygen Media concert, a wine tasting sponsored by The New Yorker and a Chiclets promotion in both parks bit the dust, while a Marina Maher commercial women’s health event and a Carvel Ice Cream feast were approved. .The customary New York is a Book Country on Oct 3 passed with flying colors, as did a Berkeley College block party.
Request for modifications to landmarked buildings are reviewed by the Landmarks Committee, which approved proposed changes to 42-48 East 20th Street and denied the legitimization of illegal changes in another, on West 18 Street.
Sidewalk cafes are another major item. The 12 CCKO tables at 25 Union Square West and another for Zana Inc at 30 East 30th were approved. Curbside telephone booths, new and improved, were investigated and 12 of 20 denied.
Madison Square Park has a food kiosk, which had requested a beer and wine license. It was recommended by the joint Public Safety and, Quality of Life and Parks committees and approved by a split vote.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Community Boards, your quality of life watchdogs
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Let's talk about Community Boards, groups of volunteers who are willing to worry about the quality of life and the environment in which we live. A community Board is a city agency serving one of 59 defined districts. Each board is composed of 50 unsalaried community members appointed by the Borough President in consultation with localCity Council members.. They must reside, work or have a significantinterest in the community they represent, and they better not transgressthe Conflict of Interest law.The CBs do get involved in the nitty-gritty of local problems - street repaving, treeplanting, sidewalk maintenance. In an advisory role, the CB will impactcity and state applications, such as land use and zoning, sidewalk café s,liquor licenses, street activity (fair, block party) permits, newsstands, the Citybudget and municipal service delivery.If you have matters to complain about, you can address your CityCouncilmember, Assembly member or the Mayor, but for making your case inpublic, your best forum is your CB. Call the office, find out whichcommittee handles you complaint and where it meets, and go there. You willget a hearing , a discussion and eventually, perhaps, a resolution, to bepassed to the decision-making authorities. Hey, that's democracy.If you want to be part of the CB, it is possible. You must be willing tospend the time, every month, to attend meetings and work on committees. Youwill start as a Public Member, and will gain appointment later. If all youwant is to work on a limited issue, such as landmarking and protecting anarchitectural treasure, public membership works. Jack Taylor, the city’s champion preservationist, and Jon Schachter, who worries about public safety and transportation, are both public members of the two CBs impacting the T&V readership.Community Board 6, covers the territory from 14th Street to 59th, east ofLexington Avenue-Irving Place. The District Manager’s office is at 866 UN Plaza, Suite 308,NY, NY 19917, mgr. Toni Carlina (212-319-3750). The District Manager is a salaried city employee, keeping the Board’s books, fulfilling requests, accepting routing our complaints, protecting the privacy of board members and maintaining liaison.CB6 covers Gramercy Park, Murray Hill, Turtle Bay, Rose Hill, Phipps Houses, ST/PCV, and the United Nations, an international responsibility. If Kofi Annan parks onyour street and blocks your driveway, you can call CB6. Its territory also covers six major hospitals- BI, Joint Diseases, Bellevue, Cabrini, Vets and NYU, and five BIDs - Grand Central Partnership, 34th Street Association, 14th Street-Union Square,East Midtown Association and 23rd Street Association.Community Board 5 , the more glamorous sister, covers Times Square and thetheatre district. Its boundaries are, again, 14th to 59th Streets, east ofEighth Avenue, with cutouts- from 14th to 26th Street it goes West only to 6thAvenue.To give you a flavor of the activity, here's a summary of CB6 April 14thMonthly Meeting minutes, as they pertain to the T&V community, taken fromthe board's website, Cb6Mny.org. Minutes are made public a month late, after the subsequent monthly meeting has adopted them. Please note that the minutes are condensed and statements are abbreviated. The writer apologizes, in advance, for a any misinterpretations and requests that CB members identify errors, particularly those of form, for future reference.
The meeting is held at NYU Medical Center, everybody is welcome. The event starts with a Public Session, then goes into a business session, in which the committees report on activities and offer resolutions.In the former, CM Margarita Lopez reported on the 23rd Street VeteransHospital, stating that all the community letters have convinced AnthonyPrincipi, Secretary of Veteran Affairs, to scuttle the recommendations ofthe C.A.R.E.S. Commission to transfer the hospital to Brooklyn. It would becatastrophic to the 350 Manhattan veterans who are patients of the hospital, many of them homeless, and many suffering from mental illness. The mayor and several major hospitals have also formed a committee to fight the proposal. Six more speakers wereheard.In the Business Session, Housing & Homeless Committee offered a resolutionto open a Task Force to consider Section 8 housing for the homeless. HumanServices Committee opposed the change of hot meal delivery to the aged,introducing a pilot delivery of seven days worth of frozen meals, becausethe recipients lack storage and microwave facilities. Also, it supportedthe extension of the senior citizens' rent support (SCRIE) program.The Transportation Committee recommended a parking lot closure, on 34th andEast River, and proposed to integrate the space into the Manhattan Greenway (pedestrian and bikeway) program. It also recommended a car service proposal at 2nd Avenue and 19th Street, and elimination of advertising in pay phone booths..Larks, Landmarks & Cultural Affairs recommended denial of an alterationpermit to 22 Gramercy Park, due to the failure of the applicant to appear,The Murray Hill Historic District extension was reported as approved.The only sidewalk café and bar issue in our area was Rodeo Bar, Third Aveat 27th Street, which was automatically opposed by the Board, because ofthe owner's non-attendance.That's all for now Next week, look for a CB5 report.
Let's talk about Community Boards, groups of volunteers who are willing to worry about the quality of life and the environment in which we live. A community Board is a city agency serving one of 59 defined districts. Each board is composed of 50 unsalaried community members appointed by the Borough President in consultation with localCity Council members.. They must reside, work or have a significantinterest in the community they represent, and they better not transgressthe Conflict of Interest law.The CBs do get involved in the nitty-gritty of local problems - street repaving, treeplanting, sidewalk maintenance. In an advisory role, the CB will impactcity and state applications, such as land use and zoning, sidewalk café s,liquor licenses, street activity (fair, block party) permits, newsstands, the Citybudget and municipal service delivery.If you have matters to complain about, you can address your CityCouncilmember, Assembly member or the Mayor, but for making your case inpublic, your best forum is your CB. Call the office, find out whichcommittee handles you complaint and where it meets, and go there. You willget a hearing , a discussion and eventually, perhaps, a resolution, to bepassed to the decision-making authorities. Hey, that's democracy.If you want to be part of the CB, it is possible. You must be willing tospend the time, every month, to attend meetings and work on committees. Youwill start as a Public Member, and will gain appointment later. If all youwant is to work on a limited issue, such as landmarking and protecting anarchitectural treasure, public membership works. Jack Taylor, the city’s champion preservationist, and Jon Schachter, who worries about public safety and transportation, are both public members of the two CBs impacting the T&V readership.Community Board 6, covers the territory from 14th Street to 59th, east ofLexington Avenue-Irving Place. The District Manager’s office is at 866 UN Plaza, Suite 308,NY, NY 19917, mgr. Toni Carlina (212-319-3750). The District Manager is a salaried city employee, keeping the Board’s books, fulfilling requests, accepting routing our complaints, protecting the privacy of board members and maintaining liaison.CB6 covers Gramercy Park, Murray Hill, Turtle Bay, Rose Hill, Phipps Houses, ST/PCV, and the United Nations, an international responsibility. If Kofi Annan parks onyour street and blocks your driveway, you can call CB6. Its territory also covers six major hospitals- BI, Joint Diseases, Bellevue, Cabrini, Vets and NYU, and five BIDs - Grand Central Partnership, 34th Street Association, 14th Street-Union Square,East Midtown Association and 23rd Street Association.Community Board 5 , the more glamorous sister, covers Times Square and thetheatre district. Its boundaries are, again, 14th to 59th Streets, east ofEighth Avenue, with cutouts- from 14th to 26th Street it goes West only to 6thAvenue.To give you a flavor of the activity, here's a summary of CB6 April 14thMonthly Meeting minutes, as they pertain to the T&V community, taken fromthe board's website, Cb6Mny.org. Minutes are made public a month late, after the subsequent monthly meeting has adopted them. Please note that the minutes are condensed and statements are abbreviated. The writer apologizes, in advance, for a any misinterpretations and requests that CB members identify errors, particularly those of form, for future reference.
The meeting is held at NYU Medical Center, everybody is welcome. The event starts with a Public Session, then goes into a business session, in which the committees report on activities and offer resolutions.In the former, CM Margarita Lopez reported on the 23rd Street VeteransHospital, stating that all the community letters have convinced AnthonyPrincipi, Secretary of Veteran Affairs, to scuttle the recommendations ofthe C.A.R.E.S. Commission to transfer the hospital to Brooklyn. It would becatastrophic to the 350 Manhattan veterans who are patients of the hospital, many of them homeless, and many suffering from mental illness. The mayor and several major hospitals have also formed a committee to fight the proposal. Six more speakers wereheard.In the Business Session, Housing & Homeless Committee offered a resolutionto open a Task Force to consider Section 8 housing for the homeless. HumanServices Committee opposed the change of hot meal delivery to the aged,introducing a pilot delivery of seven days worth of frozen meals, becausethe recipients lack storage and microwave facilities. Also, it supportedthe extension of the senior citizens' rent support (SCRIE) program.The Transportation Committee recommended a parking lot closure, on 34th andEast River, and proposed to integrate the space into the Manhattan Greenway (pedestrian and bikeway) program. It also recommended a car service proposal at 2nd Avenue and 19th Street, and elimination of advertising in pay phone booths..Larks, Landmarks & Cultural Affairs recommended denial of an alterationpermit to 22 Gramercy Park, due to the failure of the applicant to appear,The Murray Hill Historic District extension was reported as approved.The only sidewalk café and bar issue in our area was Rodeo Bar, Third Aveat 27th Street, which was automatically opposed by the Board, because ofthe owner's non-attendance.That's all for now Next week, look for a CB5 report.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Brotherhood Synagogue celebrates 50th Anniversary
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Brotherhood Synagogue celebrates 50th AnniversaryFriday, May 14, 2004 was the 50th anniversary of the BrotherhoodSynagogue. On that day in 1954 the 23 founding members met, under theleadership of their young Rabbi, Dr. Irving J. Block, to celebrate afirst Shabbat. It was in Greenwich Village, and the synagogue's first home,for twenty years, was a columnated church at 139 West 13th Street, built in the Greek Revival style, and shared with a Presbyteranian congregation led by Dr. Jesse W.Stitt. The Holy Ark, used for the Jewish Friday and Saturday services, onSundays was covered with a curtain and a cross was hung over it, for theChristian rites, but a sign, "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself," was shared byboth congregations.Brotherhood was the theme, and bringing discouraged Jews back to religionwas the mission of the late Rabbi Block. Both objectives were met; theRabbi and the Minister were seen by much of the world as true symbols ofecumenism, the togetherness of religions and people in their search forpeace. The unlikely pair traveled all throughout the US, Germany andIsrael, preaching together, as a living example of coexistence, andreceiving awards and recognition. At home, the Synagogue attracted membersby providing a gathering place and a free pulpit for the disenchanted, andby reaching out to the Black community and to other faiths in common socialaction.
But in 1971 Dr. Stitt died, and the relationship became difficult. Thesynagogue needed a new home. Luckily, a defunct former Friends MeetingHouse, built in 1859 of brick and Dorchester olive stone, was available, at28 Gramercy Park South. The community had protected the neglected buildingfrom developers by landmarking it in 1965. Its interim owner, the UFT, wasglad to turn it over to a worthy successor, and on August 15, 1974 Town &Village was able to fly a front page headline: "A Landmark Home forBrotherhood."True to its name, Brotherhood Synagogue has proved itself as a good neighbor.It has participated in joint actions, such as Thanksgiving services, with adozen and more local churches and synagogues. For Passover it has invitedits Christian neighbors, and made contact in the Muslim community, with thelate Seif Ashmavi, a Sunni leader, addressing the congregation and joiningin its events on several occasions. In 1980 Brotherhood, in response toMayor Koch's call, was the first Manhattan synagogue to open a wintershelter for the homeless. There are also social services for thehandicapped, and Alzheimer and AA support groups, and provisions formeetings, such as local community group and co-op building events, andelection forums.In education, Brotherhood has a professionally run award-winning Hebrew school,providing after- hours religious instruction for students attending secularschools, a Tikvah program for the learning-disabled. More recently, theSynagogue has opened a nursery school in its rebuilt legendary basement,once the refuge of runaway slaves in the Underground Railroad phase of itsQuaker past.Dr Block retired in June 1994, after 40 years of service, hailed byreligious leaders of many faiths, particularly Dr. Thomas Pike and Msgr.Harry Byrne, his Christian colleagues in the developing of the ecumenicalspirit within local religious groups. One prays for a return of those days,in view of the polarization of the world, both abroad and at home. Dr.Block's successor, Rabbi Daniel Alder has led the congregation since 1994,following the same path. Brotherhood Synagogue has continued its ties tothe ecumenical cooperation, to the Black Christian community, to sharingevents and services with the community. Everybody is welcome to pray atBrotherhood Synagogue on the High Holidays.The synagogue's anniversary is also shared by Rabbi Alder, commemoratingfifteen years of service (he came to Brotherhood in 1989 as Dr. Block's assistant)and Cantor Shiya Ribowsky, ten years with Brotherhood. Other synagogue stalwarts are Executive Director Phil Rothman, with 23 years, and CantorEmeritus Herman Diamond, of the unforgettable basso voice.The three-day weekend of May 14 was devoted to the celebration of theanniversary, for which a number of retired congregants have returned, fromas far as South Carolina and Florida. The Friday Shabbat services honoredthe founders, and members past and present exchanged reminiscences during aSaturday luncheon and Sunday brunch, the event culminating in apresentation of a new Torah, hand-written by scribes in Israel. An exhibitof the Synagogue's history, on the second floor, will be open for thenext several months. Call 674-5750 for hours.Town & Village extends its best wishes to Rabbi Daniel Alder and RebeccaKryspin, a teacher, on their engagement. _______________________________________________________________________Our Covenant of Brotherhood (1954)We consecrate ourselves to a program of Brotherhood.We commit ourselves to a joint service for the community of man.We engage ourselves to do whatsoever the hand findeth to do for humanwelfare, without preference or prejudice to race, creed or color.We undertake this endeavor before God to the end that the truth ofuniversal brotherhood may be established in full measure upon the earth,and man's responsibility to man accepted as the mandate of God.
Brotherhood Synagogue celebrates 50th AnniversaryFriday, May 14, 2004 was the 50th anniversary of the BrotherhoodSynagogue. On that day in 1954 the 23 founding members met, under theleadership of their young Rabbi, Dr. Irving J. Block, to celebrate afirst Shabbat. It was in Greenwich Village, and the synagogue's first home,for twenty years, was a columnated church at 139 West 13th Street, built in the Greek Revival style, and shared with a Presbyteranian congregation led by Dr. Jesse W.Stitt. The Holy Ark, used for the Jewish Friday and Saturday services, onSundays was covered with a curtain and a cross was hung over it, for theChristian rites, but a sign, "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself," was shared byboth congregations.Brotherhood was the theme, and bringing discouraged Jews back to religionwas the mission of the late Rabbi Block. Both objectives were met; theRabbi and the Minister were seen by much of the world as true symbols ofecumenism, the togetherness of religions and people in their search forpeace. The unlikely pair traveled all throughout the US, Germany andIsrael, preaching together, as a living example of coexistence, andreceiving awards and recognition. At home, the Synagogue attracted membersby providing a gathering place and a free pulpit for the disenchanted, andby reaching out to the Black community and to other faiths in common socialaction.
But in 1971 Dr. Stitt died, and the relationship became difficult. Thesynagogue needed a new home. Luckily, a defunct former Friends MeetingHouse, built in 1859 of brick and Dorchester olive stone, was available, at28 Gramercy Park South. The community had protected the neglected buildingfrom developers by landmarking it in 1965. Its interim owner, the UFT, wasglad to turn it over to a worthy successor, and on August 15, 1974 Town &Village was able to fly a front page headline: "A Landmark Home forBrotherhood."True to its name, Brotherhood Synagogue has proved itself as a good neighbor.It has participated in joint actions, such as Thanksgiving services, with adozen and more local churches and synagogues. For Passover it has invitedits Christian neighbors, and made contact in the Muslim community, with thelate Seif Ashmavi, a Sunni leader, addressing the congregation and joiningin its events on several occasions. In 1980 Brotherhood, in response toMayor Koch's call, was the first Manhattan synagogue to open a wintershelter for the homeless. There are also social services for thehandicapped, and Alzheimer and AA support groups, and provisions formeetings, such as local community group and co-op building events, andelection forums.In education, Brotherhood has a professionally run award-winning Hebrew school,providing after- hours religious instruction for students attending secularschools, a Tikvah program for the learning-disabled. More recently, theSynagogue has opened a nursery school in its rebuilt legendary basement,once the refuge of runaway slaves in the Underground Railroad phase of itsQuaker past.Dr Block retired in June 1994, after 40 years of service, hailed byreligious leaders of many faiths, particularly Dr. Thomas Pike and Msgr.Harry Byrne, his Christian colleagues in the developing of the ecumenicalspirit within local religious groups. One prays for a return of those days,in view of the polarization of the world, both abroad and at home. Dr.Block's successor, Rabbi Daniel Alder has led the congregation since 1994,following the same path. Brotherhood Synagogue has continued its ties tothe ecumenical cooperation, to the Black Christian community, to sharingevents and services with the community. Everybody is welcome to pray atBrotherhood Synagogue on the High Holidays.The synagogue's anniversary is also shared by Rabbi Alder, commemoratingfifteen years of service (he came to Brotherhood in 1989 as Dr. Block's assistant)and Cantor Shiya Ribowsky, ten years with Brotherhood. Other synagogue stalwarts are Executive Director Phil Rothman, with 23 years, and CantorEmeritus Herman Diamond, of the unforgettable basso voice.The three-day weekend of May 14 was devoted to the celebration of theanniversary, for which a number of retired congregants have returned, fromas far as South Carolina and Florida. The Friday Shabbat services honoredthe founders, and members past and present exchanged reminiscences during aSaturday luncheon and Sunday brunch, the event culminating in apresentation of a new Torah, hand-written by scribes in Israel. An exhibitof the Synagogue's history, on the second floor, will be open for thenext several months. Call 674-5750 for hours.Town & Village extends its best wishes to Rabbi Daniel Alder and RebeccaKryspin, a teacher, on their engagement. _______________________________________________________________________Our Covenant of Brotherhood (1954)We consecrate ourselves to a program of Brotherhood.We commit ourselves to a joint service for the community of man.We engage ourselves to do whatsoever the hand findeth to do for humanwelfare, without preference or prejudice to race, creed or color.We undertake this endeavor before God to the end that the truth ofuniversal brotherhood may be established in full measure upon the earth,and man's responsibility to man accepted as the mandate of God.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Takeout on 1st Avenue, Petrosian's and Mahler-power
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
On our way to Carnegie Hall we stopped at the fabled caviar and champagne palace called Petrossian Paris – although it is 58th at 7th Ave (212-;245-2214 – for a pre-concert meal. Surprise, there is a prix-fixe $30 dinner that includes an appetizer of herring sampler (dill, Madeira and juniper-marinated), although the Transmountainese caviar extracted from farm bred live sturgeons under Pertossian’s control is $10 extra. Entrees are a nicely seared salmon steak, calf’s liver that melts in your mouth and organic chicken. Reservations.
For the connoisseurs, Petrossian’s offers a $199 caviar sampler, Sevruga, Ossetia and three other, 75 grams, vodka chaser and sides included. When questioned, the affable waiter disclosed that although some people share this treat while having other entrees (ranging around $28-32), caviar enthusiasts will spoon up as much as 125 grams in a sitting, Surprisingly, the wine cellar offers bottles of French white and red starting at $28 (my favorite Muscadet is $25), and then there are those two pages of wa-wa -woom champagnes. The ambiance is superb, uncrowded at pre-concert time, good service, comforting mahogany panels and posts, and an Art Deco bar with flappers and dandies on a mirror background. Top value for Tsarist-French decadence. Takeout? Petrossian’s has a café-takeout/retail facility a block away.
And the concert? Gidon Kremer and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Christopher Eschenbach held the audience breathless while performing the finale acrobatics of Dmitri Shostakowich’s austere Violin Concerto No.2. Sveiks, Gidon!.
The true moments of peace and relief came with Gustav Mahler’s hour-long pastoral Symphony No. 1. In these days of tenseness and doubt it is a mind-relaxer, recommended to be played to relieve stress. Not pure comfort food, Symphony No. 1 has moments of self-mockery, and each movement ends in a crescendo, but it delivers what I call Mahler-power, the ability to let you transcend the cares of the day. It does not transform you, it just soothes.
This spiritually strengthening set me up for the day’s work, addressing the takeout food facilities on First Avenue, on the edge of East Village. It is a fascinating area, where within the same three blocks you can smoke a hookah, have some kielbasa and borscht, try out bistek Pilipino and pusit (sautéed squid), not to speak of customary everyday exotica.
First Avenue, South of 14th Street
David Bagels , 228 First Ave (212) 780-2308, a branch of the store six blocks North with which it shares the phone, also offers sandwiches and egg dishes. Free delivery.
Ikura Japanese Restaurant, 221 First Ave (212) 529-8500, offers “sushi half price seven days a week.” Sushi & Sashimi for two $33.95. Lunch through late dinner, free delivery.
Elvie’s turo-turo Authentic Philippine cuisine, 214 First Ave (212) 473-7785. Chicken, beef, pork and vegetarian dishes, two for $7.25, coconut juice, daily specials. Free delivery.
Gena’s Grill, saboro latino, 210 First Ave (212) 473-3700. Chicken, beef, fish, served with rice, beans and sweet plantains. Free delivery.
Christina’s 208 First Ave, (2121)254-2474. Polish-American cuisine.
Wai Café, 201 First Ave (212) 388-1997, offers. New American Lean Cuisine (Asian and Italian courses). Garden, late breakfast through late dinner. Fast delivery.
Neptune 194 First Ave (212) 777-4163 Polish – American Home Cooking, hot & cold borscht, kielbasa , goulash and stuffer cabbage . All day, home delivery.
Brunetta’s Italian Restaurant 190 First Ave (212) 228-4030. Free range chicken, spinach & pesto lasagna, choice of pastas with salad and focaccia brad ($11.95). Dinner and brunch, takeout available.
Oyama Japanese Restaurant 188 First Ave 11/12 streets (212) 777-1989. A new menu, sushi, negimaki and filet mignon ($12.95), party room, free delivery.
Sahara East 184 First Ave (212) 353-9000. Tabouli, baba ghanouj, schwerma, kebab (halal). And… you can order a hookah pipe and smoke Oriental tobacco in 30 different flavors, watermelon, to Lebanese cedar, in their open-air garden ($13). Take-out.
Atomic Wings 184 First Ave (212) 505-7272 . Buckets of buffalo wings, fries - but you can also get salads. Free delivery.
On our way to Carnegie Hall we stopped at the fabled caviar and champagne palace called Petrossian Paris – although it is 58th at 7th Ave (212-;245-2214 – for a pre-concert meal. Surprise, there is a prix-fixe $30 dinner that includes an appetizer of herring sampler (dill, Madeira and juniper-marinated), although the Transmountainese caviar extracted from farm bred live sturgeons under Pertossian’s control is $10 extra. Entrees are a nicely seared salmon steak, calf’s liver that melts in your mouth and organic chicken. Reservations.
For the connoisseurs, Petrossian’s offers a $199 caviar sampler, Sevruga, Ossetia and three other, 75 grams, vodka chaser and sides included. When questioned, the affable waiter disclosed that although some people share this treat while having other entrees (ranging around $28-32), caviar enthusiasts will spoon up as much as 125 grams in a sitting, Surprisingly, the wine cellar offers bottles of French white and red starting at $28 (my favorite Muscadet is $25), and then there are those two pages of wa-wa -woom champagnes. The ambiance is superb, uncrowded at pre-concert time, good service, comforting mahogany panels and posts, and an Art Deco bar with flappers and dandies on a mirror background. Top value for Tsarist-French decadence. Takeout? Petrossian’s has a café-takeout/retail facility a block away.
And the concert? Gidon Kremer and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Christopher Eschenbach held the audience breathless while performing the finale acrobatics of Dmitri Shostakowich’s austere Violin Concerto No.2. Sveiks, Gidon!.
The true moments of peace and relief came with Gustav Mahler’s hour-long pastoral Symphony No. 1. In these days of tenseness and doubt it is a mind-relaxer, recommended to be played to relieve stress. Not pure comfort food, Symphony No. 1 has moments of self-mockery, and each movement ends in a crescendo, but it delivers what I call Mahler-power, the ability to let you transcend the cares of the day. It does not transform you, it just soothes.
This spiritually strengthening set me up for the day’s work, addressing the takeout food facilities on First Avenue, on the edge of East Village. It is a fascinating area, where within the same three blocks you can smoke a hookah, have some kielbasa and borscht, try out bistek Pilipino and pusit (sautéed squid), not to speak of customary everyday exotica.
First Avenue, South of 14th Street
David Bagels , 228 First Ave (212) 780-2308, a branch of the store six blocks North with which it shares the phone, also offers sandwiches and egg dishes. Free delivery.
Ikura Japanese Restaurant, 221 First Ave (212) 529-8500, offers “sushi half price seven days a week.” Sushi & Sashimi for two $33.95. Lunch through late dinner, free delivery.
Elvie’s turo-turo Authentic Philippine cuisine, 214 First Ave (212) 473-7785. Chicken, beef, pork and vegetarian dishes, two for $7.25, coconut juice, daily specials. Free delivery.
Gena’s Grill, saboro latino, 210 First Ave (212) 473-3700. Chicken, beef, fish, served with rice, beans and sweet plantains. Free delivery.
Christina’s 208 First Ave, (2121)254-2474. Polish-American cuisine.
Wai Café, 201 First Ave (212) 388-1997, offers. New American Lean Cuisine (Asian and Italian courses). Garden, late breakfast through late dinner. Fast delivery.
Neptune 194 First Ave (212) 777-4163 Polish – American Home Cooking, hot & cold borscht, kielbasa , goulash and stuffer cabbage . All day, home delivery.
Brunetta’s Italian Restaurant 190 First Ave (212) 228-4030. Free range chicken, spinach & pesto lasagna, choice of pastas with salad and focaccia brad ($11.95). Dinner and brunch, takeout available.
Oyama Japanese Restaurant 188 First Ave 11/12 streets (212) 777-1989. A new menu, sushi, negimaki and filet mignon ($12.95), party room, free delivery.
Sahara East 184 First Ave (212) 353-9000. Tabouli, baba ghanouj, schwerma, kebab (halal). And… you can order a hookah pipe and smoke Oriental tobacco in 30 different flavors, watermelon, to Lebanese cedar, in their open-air garden ($13). Take-out.
Atomic Wings 184 First Ave (212) 505-7272 . Buckets of buffalo wings, fries - but you can also get salads. Free delivery.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
When Fourth Avenue was Book Row of America - part 2
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
This installment completes the review of a history of our area, Book Row, An Anecdotal and Pictorial History of the Antiquarian Book Trade, by Marvin Mondlin and Roy Meador, 2003, $28.
To continue recollections of the book people of my generation, some Book Row (Fourth Avenue, 14th Street to Cooper Square) stalwarts managed to hold back the gentrifiers and real estate developers until the 1970s, before moving or giving up the business. The scholarly Wilfred Pesky, of Schulte’s Books (across from the coop building on the site of the burned down Wanamaker’s, also known as terrorist victim Leon Klinghoffer’s home) was the heir of the avenue’s flagship store, known for its huge stock, low prices and extensive theology collection. Following his untimely demise in 1966 a group of employees took over and concluded, after a few years of struggle, that the humongous stock had become quite outdated. The location was taken over by the late George Voss, a well-known liquidator of bookstores in distress, who himself eventually ended up selling from card tables laden with books, kitty-corners across from the Strand.
Biblo and Tannen, who owned and occupied a narrow five-story building on Fourth Avenue near Ninth Street, was known as a rare fiction house, with a huge stock of novels on the second floor, their rare book room. They, as Canaveral Press, also reprinted out-of-copyright books and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels. As a personal aside, our friend Charlotte, widow of a legal and Aristotelian scholar, had found out that B&T had reprinted his chief work, and complained, whereupon Alice, the kindly bookkeeper, sent her periodic statements of sales and small checks, and made herself available for chats.
Another reprinter of scholarly works was Pageant Book Company, owned by Chip Chafetz and Sidney Solomon. WWII vets, they learned the trade by working for Henry Rubinowitz’s Fourth Avenue Bookstore at 138. The Pageant was a known auction buyer of imperfect incunabula rich in woodcuts and engravings, particularly copies of Hartmann Schedel’s 1496 Nuremberg Chronicles and old Psalters, which they broke up and sold by the page, suitable for framing. Their reprint house was Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., through which they republished I. N. Phelps Stokes’s Iconography of Manhattan Island and, in 1961, a two volume facsimile edition of the Gutenberg Bible. Guided by daughter Shirley Solomon, Pageant survives in Soho, and has a booth in the annual Union Square Christmas Shop.
George Rubinowitz, who died in 1997 at the age of 98, had studied for the rabbinate but switched to reading books about books at the Brooklyn Library. His Fourth Avenue Book Store had a second-floor rare book room, housing treasures purchased at auctions by his former schoolteacher wife Jenny. George was easy on discounts, but Jenny ferociously held her ground. It was a pleasure to listen to their back-and-forth, thick accents flying.
One would hear pure New York speech from Ernie Wavrovics, who with his seldom seen twin brother Louis (or did he confuse us by also answering to the name of Ernie?) ruled over a book basement at 530 East 14th Street, edge of Alphabet City. They lived on a barge and were famous for buying unclaimed suitcases at hotel auctions, and particularly, for their 1947 purchase of the condemned Homer and Langley Collyer mansion. They were granted it for the purpose of clearing it out, after the hoarded treasures collapsed and killed the reclusive brothers. Whether they rescued any really valuable books is unclear.
Another adventurous reprint publisher was Jack Brussel, of the United Book Guild at 100 Fourth Avenue. He reprinted both the Gutenberg Bible (1960, 3 vols) and the Nuremberg Chronicles, as well as classic works of erotica, then illegal. An annual transoceanic traveler, he brought back from Britain stacks of ukiyoe, old Japanese color prints, many of which ended back in Japan. An irrepressible book enthusiast and acquirer, he was constantly on the search for editions of Aesop’s Fables and Napoleana for his collections, and would lead us, a small group of like-minded people, on Saturday expeditions in lower Manhattan, Harlem (Smith’s Books), Brooklyn (Binkin’s bookstore) and out of town, looking for finds. For the record, the group’s permanent members in the 1960s also included Sunny Warshall, whose Business Americana collection is now part of the Smithsonian, Dr. S.R. Shapiro, founder of the1940’s Cumulative Book Auction Records, Sam Orlinick, a dealer in social sciences and an admirer of Mozart, Paul Cranefield, PHD and MD, editor, historian and heart researcher at the Rockefeller University, who was on an unending search for his Grail, William Harvey’s De Motu Cordis (1628) , and Milt Reissman (much quoted by Marvin Mondlin), a button manufacturer and children’s book expert who eventually turned professional and opened Victoria Books.
Sometimes we had the pleasure of Jack’s scholarly brother I. R. Brussel, author of rare book bibliographies and an inveterate storyteller, recounting his personal experiences with the literary greats, such as the womanizing adventures of Theodore Dreiser.
These reminiscences were prompted by the marvelous collection of anecdotes and facts in the Mondlin and Meador book. I have tried not to steal their thunder, there are many more stories to read (you can buy a discounted and signed copy at the Strand). T&V country people are New York’s greatest readers - look at all the Barnes & Noble stores we have been blessed with – and they remember the Book Row. My 1995 tales about the book people on the Avenue elicited more street-corner comments than any other subject matter that I covered. Feel free to send your recollections, c/o T&V, or e-mail Mdobelis@glic.com.
This installment completes the review of a history of our area, Book Row, An Anecdotal and Pictorial History of the Antiquarian Book Trade, by Marvin Mondlin and Roy Meador, 2003, $28.
To continue recollections of the book people of my generation, some Book Row (Fourth Avenue, 14th Street to Cooper Square) stalwarts managed to hold back the gentrifiers and real estate developers until the 1970s, before moving or giving up the business. The scholarly Wilfred Pesky, of Schulte’s Books (across from the coop building on the site of the burned down Wanamaker’s, also known as terrorist victim Leon Klinghoffer’s home) was the heir of the avenue’s flagship store, known for its huge stock, low prices and extensive theology collection. Following his untimely demise in 1966 a group of employees took over and concluded, after a few years of struggle, that the humongous stock had become quite outdated. The location was taken over by the late George Voss, a well-known liquidator of bookstores in distress, who himself eventually ended up selling from card tables laden with books, kitty-corners across from the Strand.
Biblo and Tannen, who owned and occupied a narrow five-story building on Fourth Avenue near Ninth Street, was known as a rare fiction house, with a huge stock of novels on the second floor, their rare book room. They, as Canaveral Press, also reprinted out-of-copyright books and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels. As a personal aside, our friend Charlotte, widow of a legal and Aristotelian scholar, had found out that B&T had reprinted his chief work, and complained, whereupon Alice, the kindly bookkeeper, sent her periodic statements of sales and small checks, and made herself available for chats.
Another reprinter of scholarly works was Pageant Book Company, owned by Chip Chafetz and Sidney Solomon. WWII vets, they learned the trade by working for Henry Rubinowitz’s Fourth Avenue Bookstore at 138. The Pageant was a known auction buyer of imperfect incunabula rich in woodcuts and engravings, particularly copies of Hartmann Schedel’s 1496 Nuremberg Chronicles and old Psalters, which they broke up and sold by the page, suitable for framing. Their reprint house was Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., through which they republished I. N. Phelps Stokes’s Iconography of Manhattan Island and, in 1961, a two volume facsimile edition of the Gutenberg Bible. Guided by daughter Shirley Solomon, Pageant survives in Soho, and has a booth in the annual Union Square Christmas Shop.
George Rubinowitz, who died in 1997 at the age of 98, had studied for the rabbinate but switched to reading books about books at the Brooklyn Library. His Fourth Avenue Book Store had a second-floor rare book room, housing treasures purchased at auctions by his former schoolteacher wife Jenny. George was easy on discounts, but Jenny ferociously held her ground. It was a pleasure to listen to their back-and-forth, thick accents flying.
One would hear pure New York speech from Ernie Wavrovics, who with his seldom seen twin brother Louis (or did he confuse us by also answering to the name of Ernie?) ruled over a book basement at 530 East 14th Street, edge of Alphabet City. They lived on a barge and were famous for buying unclaimed suitcases at hotel auctions, and particularly, for their 1947 purchase of the condemned Homer and Langley Collyer mansion. They were granted it for the purpose of clearing it out, after the hoarded treasures collapsed and killed the reclusive brothers. Whether they rescued any really valuable books is unclear.
Another adventurous reprint publisher was Jack Brussel, of the United Book Guild at 100 Fourth Avenue. He reprinted both the Gutenberg Bible (1960, 3 vols) and the Nuremberg Chronicles, as well as classic works of erotica, then illegal. An annual transoceanic traveler, he brought back from Britain stacks of ukiyoe, old Japanese color prints, many of which ended back in Japan. An irrepressible book enthusiast and acquirer, he was constantly on the search for editions of Aesop’s Fables and Napoleana for his collections, and would lead us, a small group of like-minded people, on Saturday expeditions in lower Manhattan, Harlem (Smith’s Books), Brooklyn (Binkin’s bookstore) and out of town, looking for finds. For the record, the group’s permanent members in the 1960s also included Sunny Warshall, whose Business Americana collection is now part of the Smithsonian, Dr. S.R. Shapiro, founder of the1940’s Cumulative Book Auction Records, Sam Orlinick, a dealer in social sciences and an admirer of Mozart, Paul Cranefield, PHD and MD, editor, historian and heart researcher at the Rockefeller University, who was on an unending search for his Grail, William Harvey’s De Motu Cordis (1628) , and Milt Reissman (much quoted by Marvin Mondlin), a button manufacturer and children’s book expert who eventually turned professional and opened Victoria Books.
Sometimes we had the pleasure of Jack’s scholarly brother I. R. Brussel, author of rare book bibliographies and an inveterate storyteller, recounting his personal experiences with the literary greats, such as the womanizing adventures of Theodore Dreiser.
These reminiscences were prompted by the marvelous collection of anecdotes and facts in the Mondlin and Meador book. I have tried not to steal their thunder, there are many more stories to read (you can buy a discounted and signed copy at the Strand). T&V country people are New York’s greatest readers - look at all the Barnes & Noble stores we have been blessed with – and they remember the Book Row. My 1995 tales about the book people on the Avenue elicited more street-corner comments than any other subject matter that I covered. Feel free to send your recollections, c/o T&V, or e-mail Mdobelis@glic.com.
