DA CANDIDATE FORUM
By Dan Rivoli
Three East Side Democratic clubs are hosting a forum for mayoral and district attorney candidates on May 5.
The Democratic candidates for mayor, City Comptroller William C. Thompson and Council Member Tony Avella of Queens, will address the club. Possible mayoral candidate Rep. Anthony Weiner, who represents Queens and Brooklyn, will be in Washington D.C. and is not likely to attend.
The clubs will also hear from the three district attorney candidates: Leslie Crocker Snyder, Cyrus Vance and Richard Aborn.
The Lenox Hill, Lexington and Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic clubs will hold the event at the New York Blood Center auditorium at 310 E. 67th St. between First and Second avenues from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
MAYOR STOPS BY CIVIC MEETING
By Dan Rivoli
Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed a crowd of around a hundred people at the East Sixties Neighborhood Association’s 18th annual meeting on April 26, held at the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden. Bloomberg gave a speech on the importance of volunteering, according to Barry Schneider, the association’s president.
He also took the opportunity to praise the vibrancy and diversity within the city and express pride that even in times of economic downturn, the city’s murder rate has gone down, not up.
“He took many of my lines,” said Schneider, who had to follow the mayor on the podium.
Schneider’s 16-point “Focus on the Neighborhood” report included news of a meeting in June with to the Department of Parks and Recreation about a new East River Waterfront Park.
LIBRARY BRANCH OPENS
By Dan Rivoli
The New York Public Library was scheduled to unveil its new Grand Central branch on April 29 at a grand opening celebration.
The 12,000-square-foot branch, at 135 E. 46th St. between Lexington and Third avenues, will house 42 computers and laptops and 3,500 linear feet of books and offer wireless Internet. The library will be open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
LOCAL DOCTORS PROFILED
By Dan Rivoli
Three plastic and reconstructive surgeons from Beth Israel Medical Center and Roosevelt Hospital will be profiled in a three-part documentary on MSNBC-TV.
The documentary will follow the treatment of nine patients of the surgeons, Milton Waner, Monica Tadros and Mark Smith. The documentary is scheduled to air on May 3, 10 and 17 from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.
THE MAYOR’S RACE: FOCUS ON TRANSPORTATION
By Shayndi Raice Sigall
An MTA fare hike may be only weeks away, and the mayoral election is six months away. As we count down to both, dreading one and perhaps looking forward to the other, we decided to kick off our monthly coverage of the mayor’s race with a look at transportation issues.
Now that the city’s two-term limit rule has been extended to three, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is likely to run for his third term on the Republican and Independence Party tickets. Read more
THE SEARCH FOR SPACE
FORMER CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN NEED OF UPGRADES VIEWED AS OPTION FOR P.S. 151
By Dan Rivoli
In the nearly 10 years since the P.S. 151 building was closed for safety and structural reasons, parents of children zoned for the defunct school have been clamoring for their own space.
These students are currently placed in nearby schools through a lottery, but since classroom space has become limited, the Department of Education is looking for new space for P.S. 151-zoned children. Read more
PUSH-BACK ON HOTEL PLAN
COMMUNITY PRESSURE TO KEEP PRIMARY MEDICAL PRESENCE AT BELLEVUE SITE
By Alan Krawitz
When it comes to the future of the Bellevue Hospital Psychiatric building, the city is seeing hotels and maybe conference space, with the possible addition of physician offices. But community groups are coalescing against the plan, arguing that the space, at First Avenue and East 30th Street, should be dedicated entirely to medical use. They point to a projected increase in the city’s aging population and a recent rezoning specifying that development in the First Avenue medical corridor must be related to medical, scientific or institutional uses. Read more
SEASON OF THE SCYTHE
FROM FORT KNOX TO CHOP SHOP FIELD, BASEBALL ARRIVES JUST IN TIME
By Spike Vrusho
The rally caps apparently worked for the Grim Reaper at the dawn of the 2009 pro baseball season. In the first week alone, the Angel of Death came for a young pitcher (Nick Adenhart of the Angels), a legendary broadcaster (Harry Kalas of the Phillies) and a retired pitcher (Mark “The Bird” Fidrych of the Tigers).
Before fans attending games could get the free promotional magnetic schedules back home and onto the old Norge refrigerator, April’s tumult brought a funereal intrusion on the annual escapist rite that is Opening Day. Autopsies and obituaries loomed over box scores. Read more
AN UNEXPECTED CHAMPION
WITH GEMMA’S HELP, OBERLIN CLINCHES FIRST INDOOR TRACK-AND-FIELD TITLE
By Adam Bloch
Ali Gemma’s journey from high school softball player to collegiate track star provides the proof for that old adage: expect the unexpected. Gemma, a senior at Oberlin College in Ohio and a native Upper East Sider, certainly failed to foresee all her recent success.
At the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships in early March, Gemma led her indoor track-and-field team to its first title ever by winning the long jump (15 feet, six inches) and the 4×200-meter relay and placing second in the 4×400 relay, seventh in the 200 and eighth in the 55. Read more
PERFECTING THE ART OF REPAIR
EAST SIDER RICHARD NEWMAN CREATES A NEW LIFE FOR DAMAGED RUGS, ONE KNOT AT A TIME
By Nick Broad
Hidden away in a small Upper East Side apartment, every inch of which is covered by some aspect of his work, is one of the world’s leading rug restorers, Richard E. Newman. Collectors from all over the world have been bringing rugs to him for hand washing and restoration since 1979.
To attain a 16th-century look using modern wool is no small feat. Read more
