Looking Ahead

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis


Community Board 5 , with a territory between 14th and 59th Streets and Lexington to Eight Avenues ( except Sixth Ave between 14th and 26th and Madison between 34th and 40th) has more tourist traffic than any CB. Its monthly meetings, second Thursday each month except for August, have visitor-oriented topics galore. You’re welcome, and your name will be published in the Minutes.

The May 13, 2004 CB5 regular monthly meeting of CB5 took place, as customarily, at the Fashion Institute of Technology, 227 West 27th Street, Building A, 8th Floor, at 6..30 PM. The meetings start with a Public Session, to first give members of the public an opportunity to speak on topics of local interest (not too tightly defined), followed by a Business Session , addressing some housekeeping items. The bulk of the meeting is devoted to the important Committee Reports where chairpersons offer resolutions to recommend approval or denial of requests for licenses, public events, construction, transportation, changes to landmarked buildings and transportation routes affecting the district. Each committee holds a meeting throughout the month, to provide an arena for proponents to present their cases. The committee resolutions are voted upon by the whole CB at the monthly meeting, and are normally nearly unanimously approved.

The Public Session speakers concentrated on newsstand applications, Times Square, vendors’ complaints of security bollards and planters impeding their legal activities, and partisans addressing the issues of rooftop and backyard additions at 33 East 20th Street.

In the Committee Reports Session, Consents and Variances recommended denial for two newsstands, for reasons of congestion. Transportation/Environment Committee had extensive recommendations for revitalization of Times Square, where traffic has gone up 200% in 20 years, to be facilitated by widening sidewalks, narrowing unnecessary traffic lanes, and discouraging vendors from grabbing the extra space. The TKTS space is to be improved and a summer art exhibit was recommended.

For Madison Square Park, the Big Apple Barbecue (June 13) was recommended to be approved, as was the temporary installation of three sculptures by Marco de Suvero, likewise a Responsible Dog Ownership Celebration by the American Kennel Club, on September 18. The sculpture exhibit was proposed as part of the Madison Square Park Conservancy ‘s art program. Bet you did not know that existed. A Target Stores promotional event was denied. The 23rd Street Association’s music program, for successive Thursdays between June 19 and August19, passed with flying colors – 12.30 to 2:30; no selling of food , though.

The Taiwan Festival on Union Square, for May 16, was approved.

The Landmarks and Park Committees were merciful this time, approving a six-foot statue of Benito Juarez, Mexico’s Indian revolutionary hero who defied the French empire. It is by Moises Cabrero Orozco , a gift of the people of the state of Oaxaca, and was accepted for Bryant Park, in line with the city policy of recognizing that Mexicans are the third largest Latino population in New York and counting, but without any statuary representation. Hola!

In the Ladies’ Mile Historic District, a rooftop addition , at 95 Fifth Ave (17 St.), a 12-story Beaux Arts structure by Henry Corn (1899-1900), and a more appropriate storefront design for 928 Broadway were recommended to be approved. Two other storefront infills, one at 186 Fifth Ave, installed without authorization, and at 134 Fifth Ave, were given short shrift, with recommendations to deny the applications.

At 30 West 18th Street a/k/a 31 West 17th Street, a 75-ft vacant lot was recommended to be approved for the construction of a new residential building of contextual height. Ladies’ Mile is certainly booming again, lots of restaurant action.

The controversial rooftop addition, back yard and storefront infill at 33 East 20th Street was recommended for approval, with a split vote.

Public Safety & Quality of Life committee recommended that the SLA deny a liquor license for Felena (formerly Bloom Florist) at 16 West 21st Street, because of proliferation. There are 23 liquor dispensers within 500 ft .And, as a final resolution for the day, the denizens of Chelsea, 14th to 26th Streets between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, were supported in their wish to be served by the 10th Police Precinct rather than our 13th, to have the constabulary duty lines coincide with their CD lines (that area is served by CD4). And so to bed, as Mr. Pepys would close his diary.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Recycling Updated, courtesy of CB5

Recycle Mixed Paper in clear bags or GREEN-labeled recycling containers. That includes newspapers, magazines and catalogs, telephone books, paper, mail and envelopes, paper bags, soft cover books, smooth cardboard, including shoe boxes, cereal boxes (after removing liners) and tubes, corrugated cardboard boxes (tied in bundles)

Recycle Metal, Plastics and Glass in clear bags or BLUE-labeled recycling containers. That includes cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and jugs, beverage cartons and drink boxes, aluminum foil and trays, household metal objects, such as wire hangers, pots and pans, large items that are predominantly metal, such as metal furniture and metal cabinets.

Don’t Recycle: plastic toys, electronic equipment or plastic cups and plates, deli or yogurt containers, Styrofoam items or plastic furniture.

Ed.: Samuel Pepys (pronounced Peeps) was a 17th Century British civil servant and diarist

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

If you have recently visited the West side of the Stuyvesant Square Park, you will have noticed remarkable changes, for the better. The center fountain area, reset in a star pattern with metal dividers, has roses, blooming in each of the interior triangles, while the fresh black dirt in the exterior ones will soon have summer annuals, for your enjoyment. There ate also three gardeners busily working, last seen weeding the tall intruders along the inside of the 2nd Avenue fence. More changes are coming; a new a mound of new black dirt has been delivered to the park.

Connie Casey, four years with the department of Parks and Recreation, is our new gardener (her assistants are Ruperto Nacipucha and Lidia Santiago). This is her major garden; she has five others to take care of, such as the Ralph Bunche near the UN. The new design for the fountain is traditional for the Park, she saw it in plans daring back to the turn of the 20thcentury, and there is a 1910 picture in the Parks library.

The same star pattern, roses and bushes is also repeated in the East park with more to come. Let’s hope the funds and energy will last.

There seems to be a rebirth in the local Parks activities – Madison Square park has two gardeners and a dozen assistants, and Union Square and Washington Squire are active. Our best regards to District Manager Elliott Sykes, and keep on the good work.


The Brotherhood Synagogue Religious School Players (aged five to 50-something) have just completed their third successful season, two performances of Bye Bye Birdie, an adaptation of the Broadway musical and hit movie, organized in scenes around the musical acts .

Set in the 1960s, rock star Conrad Birdie (Justy Kosek) has been drafted, and his faithful agent Albert (Hailey Eichner) has just lost not only his livelihood (“Bye Bye Birdie”} but also his long-time secretary Rosie (Jade Silver , “What Did I Ever See In Him”)). The star is slated to go on the Ed Sullivan Show and kiss away civilian life (“Lot Of Livin’ To Do”) by symbolically embracing a teenage beauty (“One Last Kiss”). That angers her boyfriend, and the romantic conflicts power up the drama, with a Greek chorus of the ensemble repeatedly lamenting the problems of youth (”Kids”). The show was not only entertaining but also educational, teaching some new words to the youth (draft, Ed Sullivan) and the curtain calls (so to speak) went on forever. Kudos to the director Rabbi Allison Berlinger and her crew of volunteer helpers.


Concerned Citizens Speak Inc.. will have its 23rd Anniversary Dinner, Award Presentation and Benefit Raffle on Sunday, June 6, 2004, at the Players, 16 Gramercy Park South. Chairman John F. Bringmann has announced two recipients of the Annual Concerned Citizen Award.

District Attorney Charles Hines of Brooklyn has been chosen in recognition of his many innovative criminal justice strategies that have improved the quality of life for many New Yorkers. He started one of the first domestic violence bureaus in the country, leading up to domestic violence court parts . He initiated one of the first Drug Treatment Alternative to Prison programs for chronic non-violent drug offenders, which as rehabilitated hundreds of addicts and has served as model for the nation. Mr. Hynes began his public service in 1963 and has served as Special Prosecutor as well as Fire Commissioner for several mayors and governors.

Pastor Dan Stratton and the Faith Exchange Fellowship are honored for their work in helping children. FEF arranges visiting services to hospitals – particularly the Foundling Hospital – bringing holiday gifts and birthday presents to the needy youngsters.

The gigantic annual Benefit Raffle, subsidized by local merchants and restaurateurs, virtually guarantees a winner, large or small, for every participant, with the funds collected designated to aid FEF in its efforts.

Late participants may call Jack at 212- 673-1993

The review of Community Board #5 activities scheduled for this issue was postponed for a week because Wally’s ThinkPad laptop had a motherboard crash, and several projects became inaccessible. He will have to find a compatible unit and try moving his hard drive. A warning to us all, to back up our valuable files and pictures.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

Several buildings around Union Square have been recently honored by admission to the National Register of Historic Places, a designation administered by the US Department of Interior’s National Park Service, whose local agent is the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation sand Historic Preservation, Bernadette Castro, Commissioner.

There are five buildings in the group, already distinguished by their designations as New York City landmarks, The new designation gives them, besides the honor, a palpable benefit of a tax deduction of 20 percent for repair work. It also gives me, in the 11-page government document, access to a treasure of architectural terms for parts of the buildings, which I will try to decipher and disseminate to my audience. Other people get grants for this kind of work, your kind thoughts will be ample reward for me.

Let’s start with the most fun structure, the Moorish eleven-story Decker Building, later Union Building, at 33 Union Square West, between 16th and 17th Streets, easily recognized by an interesting layout of windows, three of them per floor, and a turret at the top. No floor is the same. The classic tripartite columnar skyscraper division is employed: the first two stories form a base, with the second floor windowing unified by a frame. Third is transitional, then come six stories forming a shaft of the column (the classical Greek column consisting of a base, a shaft and a capitol is easily discernible in lots of early NY skyscrapers), then a columnar loggia (a roofed open gallery overlooking the court, very appropriate in Tuscany, for instance), then a balcony, and finally, a tower.

What brought this Islamic/Venetian fantasy, this 1893 sliver in the middle of “shapeless and ill-looking lots …around which were reared a miserable lot of shanties,” per Valentine’s manual of 1957? Actually, at the time of the present building’s construction there were modest three- and four-story structures surrounding a burgeoning park and residential area, with a major shopping area on the Ladies’ Mile, just a block westward.

Well, this was a piano industry area – consider the Steinway building on 14th Street – and a bit of flash was expected to help the Decker piano people acquire the class that goes with fortune. In 1869 they hired Leopold Eidlitz, who was finishing St George’s Church on Rutherford Place, to construct a jewel of a four-story showroom for their wares. In 1893 this was razed, to construct the present Moorish miracle.

The architect of record was Alfred Zucker, whose work we discussed in conjunction with the Madison Square Park Historic District. The actual doer was a notable architect and a man of some mystery, John H. Edelman, an anarchist who had come to the city after drifting back and forth between his native Cleveland, Chicago and Kearney, N.J. In Chicago he was a major influence in the growth of Louis H. Sullivan, the great pioneer of American architecture who sometimes worked for Edelman. Their interaction, with the aid of ideas from the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris formed what has been recognized as an outstanding style, best exemplified by the Decker Building. Edelman’s presence at the birth of the present #33 has been recognized only since the 1960s by inquisitive historians, although the difference in styles between this and other imaginative Zucker buildings has been a long-time puzzlement.

Now to the interesting decorative elements. The center fifth-floor windows are framed by an Arabic horseshoe arch. The intrados (interior curve of the arch) has a contiguous band of similar small arches. An alfiz, rectangular molding framing a horseshoe arch, unites the fourth and the fifth floor window elements. Another horseshoe arch surmounts the 11th floor center windows. Cast-iron ogee arches (bell-shaped but pointed) frame the second-story windows. Terra-cotta ornaments, sunflowers, filigrees and arabesques abound. There was once a domed minaret atop the tower, which disappeared long ago. It was rumored that the owners had promised to restore it, but let’s not hold our breaths.

To cap it all, this building’s sixth floor after 1968 housed the Factory, Andy Warhol’s studio and offices. It was renovated into condominiums in the 1990s.

More in weeks to come . Wally Dobelis thanks the NYS Office of Parks, Restoration and Historic Preservation, Anthony Robins, Christopher Gray, and Jack Taylor

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

Among the new designees to the National Register of Historic Places is the former Bank of the Metropolis at 31 Union Square West, neighbor of the Decker Building (see T&V, June 17,2004). If you have had a meal at the Blue Water Grill, its ground floor tenant, you no doubt have been charmed by the splendor of the marble halls that transport the visitor into another era.

The building, designed by Bruce Price, an early skyscraper proponent, was built in 1902-03, using the then newfangled curtain wall methodology that utilizes vertical steel beams rather than massive walls to support the 16-story building., dominating the west side of Union Square.

The recorded history of the square begins with the Commissioners’ Map of 1807-11, a successful effort to curb the helter-skelter layout of streets in Manhattan by substituting the familiar controlled grid, starting above Houston Street. Certain established thoroughfares were retained, such as Broadway (then Bloomingdale Road), which intersected with the Bowery. The area of this “union” was the base of a Union Place, originally from 10th to 17th Streets, “a shapeless and ill-looking collection of lots, around which were reared a miserable group of shanties,” as described in the Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York (“Valentine’s Manual”) of 1857. In 1815 the state legislature reduced the size of Union Place, with i14th Street as its southern boundary.. As the need for open places became more apparent, Union Place was expanded, graded, paved and fenced, and officially opened to the public in 1839.

The Bank of the Metropolis was founded in 1871, and was always located on Union Square, first at No.31, then , in 1877 at No. 17, in 1888 at No. 29, and back to No.31. It was active as the bank for neighborhood businesses, and in 1902 its board of directors included Louis J.Tiffany, whose store occupied the quarters of the present Amalgamated Bank, jeweler Charles T. Cook and publisher Charles Scribner, . A solid enterprise, it was absorbed by the Bank of the Manhattan Company , which in turn merged into the Chase Manhattan Bank in 1955.

Bruce Price (1845-1903) built many residences in the rural shingle style, working in Tuxedo Park, a wealthy suburban community financed by Pierre Lorillard IV, until he became involved in urban ,settings around 1890. His first “tower skyscraper” was the Sun Building Project, Neo-Renaissance structure with a tripartite configuration, base, shaft and capital Still extant, in the neighborhood, is the St. James (1896) at 26th Street and Broadway, and the American Surety building at 100 Broadway ANOTHER US???NAC Annex? Bway?

The Metropolis is seemingly is a narrow slab, although there is an L expansion. The front on Union Square has three window bays, while the 16th Street side has 18 in a tailed configuration of three, nine, three and three again. Vertically, the tripartite division is applied once more.

In line with the dictum that significant decorations should be at the base, the entrance on Union Square, two stories high, has a bowed portico flanked by two polished granite Ionian columns supporting a broken pediment with a ball-like finial. With its classical ornament embracing both a side window and the entrance to the upstairs offices it proclaims the building’s function as a bank. Beneath the portico are also the square second story windows, separated by panels within panels and decorated with flowers. Beneath the cornice, two swags decorate the large frame bearing the name of the bank..

The entrance on USW leads directly into the narrow banking hall which runs the entire length of the West 16th Street length of the building, widening toward the back. The style is neo-Classical, the lower part of the North wall has white marble panels, the top is plaster. The floor to ceiling piers have inner rectangular green marble frames, rising to simple capitals (the classical Greek tripartite construction held in the interior design as well)

Above the cornice a transition floor leads to the nine story shaft , with square windows ornamented by foliated spandrels (spaces between windows), some centered with acanthus leaves, others with roundels. Look for open-mouthed lion heads on the tenth story

The thirteenth or transition floor is demarcated with a string course below, decorated with incised wavelike or “running dog” motifs, and a projecting band course above, supported by consoles (brackets). Two of the floors constituting the capital have a new decorative element appear between the windows: panels of palmettes centered between scrolls. Above the fifteenth floor, four lions’ heads rest on pilasters decorated with floral pendants, and the top story is crowned by an elaborate dentilled (small blocks beneath the cornice) copper entablature.

There is a lot of style, thought and effort to create beauty in the buildings around and above us that we may pass by, intent on our daily affairs. A pause to look around might refresh us and help reestablish a sense of balance and order, and faith in a world that seems to be spinning towards chaos.

Wally Dobelis thanks Lisa Koenigsberg, Anthony Robins, and the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation..

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

Community Board 5 , with a territory between 14th and 59th Streets and Lexington to Eight Avenues ( except Sixth Ave between 14th and 26th and Madison between 34th and 40th) has more tourist traffic than any CB. Its monthly meetings, second Thursday each month except for August, have visitor-oriented topics galore. You’re welcome, and your name will be published in the Minutes.

The May 13, 2004 CB5 regular monthly meeting of CB5 took place, as customarily, at the Fashion Institute of Technology, 227 West 27th Street, Building A, 8th Floor, at 6..30 PM. The meetings start with a Public Session, to first give members of the public an opportunity to speak on topics of local interest (not too tightly defined), followed by a Business Session , addressing some housekeeping items. The bulk of the meeting is devoted to the important Committee Reports where chairpersons offer resolutions to recommend approval or denial of requests for licenses, public events, construction, transportation, changes to landmarked buildings and transportation routes affecting the district. Each committee holds a meeting throughout the month, to provide an arena for proponents to present their cases. The committee resolutions are voted upon by the whole CB at the monthly meeting, and are normally nearly unanimously approved.

The Public Session speakers concentrated on newsstand applications, Times Square, vendors’ complaints of security bollards and planters impeding their legal activities, and partisans addressing the issues of rooftop and backyard additions at 33 East 20th Street.

In the Committee Reports Session, Consents and Variances recommended denial for two newsstands, for reasons of congestion. Transportation/Environment Committee had extensive recommendations for revitalization of Times Square, where traffic has gone up 200% in 20 years, to be facilitated by widening sidewalks, narrowing unnecessary traffic lanes, and discouraging vendors from grabbing the extra space. The TKTS space is to be improved and a summer art exhibit was recommended.

For Madison Square Park, the Big Apple Barbecue (June 13) was recommended to be approved, as was the temporary installation of three sculptures by Marco de Suvero, likewise a Responsible Dog Ownership Celebration by the American Kennel Club, on September 18. The sculpture exhibit was proposed as part of the Madison Square Park Conservancy ‘s art program. Bet you did not know that existed. A Target Stores promotional event was denied. The 23rd Street Association’s music program, for successive Thursdays between June 19 and August19, passed with flying colors – 12.30 to 2:30; no selling of food , though.

The Taiwan Festival on Union Square, for May 16, was approved.

The Landmarks and Park Committees were merciful this time, approving a six-foot statue of Benito Juarez, Mexico’s Indian revolutionary hero who defied the French empire. It is by Moises Cabrero Orozco , a gift of the people of the state of Oaxaca, and was accepted for Bryant Park, in line with the city policy of recognizing that Mexicans are the third largest Latino population in New York and counting, but without any statuary representation. Hola!

In the Ladies’ Mile Historic District, a rooftop addition , at 95 Fifth Ave (17 St.), a 12-story Beaux Arts structure by Henry Corn (1899-1900), and a more appropriate storefront design for 928 Broadway were recommended to be approved. Two other storefront infills, one at 186 Fifth Ave, installed without authorization, and at 134 Fifth Ave, were given short shrift, with recommendations to deny the applications.

At 30 West 18th Street a/k/a 31 West 17th Street, a 75-ft vacant lot was recommended to be approved for the construction of a new residential building of contextual height. Ladies’ Mile is certainly booming again, lots of restaurant action.

The controversial rooftop addition, back yard and storefront infill at 33 East 20th Street was recommended for approval, with a split vote.

Public Safety & Quality of Life committee recommended that the SLA deny a liquor license for Felena (formerly Bloom Florist) at 16 West 21st Street, because of proliferation. There are 23 liquor dispensers within 500 ft .And, as a final resolution for the day, the denizens of Chelsea, 14th to 26th Streets between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, were supported in their wish to be served by the 10th Police Precinct rather than our 13th, to have the constabulary duty lines coincide with their CD lines (that area is served by CD4). And so to bed, as Mr. Pepys would close his diary.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Recycling Updated, courtesy of CB5

Recycle Mixed Paper in clear bags or GREEN-labeled recycling containers. That includes newspapers, magazines and catalogs, telephone books, paper, mail and envelopes, paper bags, soft cover books, smooth cardboard, including shoe boxes, cereal boxes (after removing liners) and tubes, corrugated cardboard boxes (tied in bundles)

Recycle Metal, Plastics and Glass in clear bags or BLUE-labeled recycling containers. That includes cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and jugs, beverage cartons and drink boxes, aluminum foil and trays, household metal objects, such as wire hangers, pots and pans, large items that are predominantly metal, such as metal furniture and metal cabinets.

Don’t Recycle: plastic toys, electronic equipment or plastic cups and plates, deli or yogurt containers, Styrofoam items or plastic furniture.

Ed.: Samuel Pepys (pronounced Peeps) was a 17th Century British civil servant and diarist

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

Community Board 6 meets every month on the 2nd Wednesday, at the NYU
Medical Center, 550 First Avenue. The territory of CB6 is from 14th to 59th
Streets, East of Irving Place/Lexington Avenue, more or less. The District Manager’s office is at 866 UN Plaza, Suite 308,NY, NY 19917, (212-319-3750), staffed by salaried city employees, keeping the Board’s books, fulfilling requests, accepting routing our complaints, protecting the privacy of the volunteer board members and maintaining liaison. This column will attempt to report on the meetings monthly, using the approved minutes (one month late) as the basic source. Matters outside the T&V Country will be skipped.

The May 12th meeting opened with the customary Public Session.
Representatives of our elected officials reported on their activities: Sen.
Krueger sponsored a Seniors’ Health Forum on May 13, Speaker Gifford Miller
co-sponsored free mammogram screenings on May 20, Congressmember Carolyn
Maloney supports NY veterans in their opposition to the closing of the VA hospital, seeks full accounting of 9/11 recovery funds, and is pushing the DoD to deal with sexual assault problems in the military.

In the Business Session, District Manager Toni Carlina reported that the 14th Street-Union Square BID’s attempt to expand has run into residential and business resistance, and will be redefined. A street fair directory is available onwww.nyc.gov/html/cau/home.html (CB6 itself can be accessed at www.cb6mnyc.org). Transportation Committee reported that 2nd Avenue Subway power work will start late in 2004, at 92nd Street.

Land Use Committee offered resolutions pertaining to a number of zoning rule changes regarding rear yard definitions for libraries, hoses of worship, hospitals, schools and other community facilities and their distance from any wide street. A further tough resolution recommended limiting adult facilities beyond 500 feet from any houses of worship.

Business and Governmental Affairs dealt with liquor licenses and sidewalk cafes, including the latter for the Banc Café at 30th Street and 3rd Ave (not opposed), Dunkin’ Donut at 32nd and 2nd (opposed), and Mono Café at 17th and Irving (opposed). Ohter actions included transfer of the liquor license from the former Stuyvesant Town Café, 1st and 18th, to its new owner, Quigley’s New York Grill, (not opposed) and the licensing for Mark Café 140 East 27th (request an SLA hearing to consider remedies, due to residents’ complaints).

Parks, Landmarks and Cultural Affairs committee reviewed proposed modifications at 22 Gramercy Park South (not opposed), proposed landmarking of historic manhole covers (not opposed). Their ambitious request to have the NYS Department of Landmarks and Historic Preservation reconsider a refusal to grant landmark status to the Con Ed Waterside Plants 1 and 2 (scheduled for development by FSM East River Associates) was politely turned down by Commissioner Castro. On the Stuyvesant Park concession, it was noted that the date for RFP has passed.

A major discussion ensued regarding the proposed resolution nominating the National Arts Club building, 15 Gramercy Park South, to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It resulted in a vote to send a letter instead. In the background of this event, not covered in the discretely written minutes, appears to be a recommendation from members of the Gramercy Park Block Association to have the club building placed on the list of 11 most endangered places, discussed in committee, with its contested decision carried to the full CB6 meeting. The opposition stemmed from the fact that the NAC had not been invited to the meeting, and resulted in a proposal to postpone any recommendation until a formal meeting involving the NAC. The proponents objected, observing that a postponement would carry the decision beyond the “most endangered” nomination deadline. The above comments were offered to me by some participants, representing both sides of the issue.

Some Questions You Asked Me On The Street: One: Why is Zeckendorf Towers getting away with leaving the subway escalator broken, if they were given a tax break for installing and maintaining it ?

Miraculously, the up escalator recovered late in June. About six weeks earlier I had called the management corporation to complain about a five months’ hiatus in service, and was cheerfully informed that a new engineering firm had been hired. Getting the repair done on the essential up escalator is good, keeping it in service will be better.

Since my original blast early in the year about Zeckendorf Towers shirking their obligations, I have been informed by two independent observers that the big problem has been an onslaught of high school students from Washington Irving and other high schools, arriving at 3 PM full of beans and ready for mischief and sabotaging the escalators. Given the large numbers of New York’s Finest on duty at that precise hour in the station, it would seem appropriate that any miscreants would be reprimanded, but maybe that is not in the PD’s protocol of staying cool and not creating riots. Go figure.

Two: No, Don Berry of the NY Times is not related to Dave Barry of the Miami Herald Tribune.It’s the spelling, dear reader. NC