The Skinny on Fat Chick
Columnist Lorraine Duffy Merkl’s debut novel gets real about dieting
By Smriti Rao
Peer into any chick-lit lover’s bookshelf and you might spot the obligatory Bridget Jones’ Diary, The Devil Wears Prada and the terrifyingly titled Skinny Bitch. Page after soppy page details the travails of heroines who stumble and bumble through their diets, makeovers and professional lives—only to emerge skinny, chic, successful and finally with that job at The New Yorker. Read more
Subway Construction Updates
Launch Box excavation continues
By Dan Rivoli
Sam Schwartz Engineering released Second Avenue subway construction updates through Jan. 4, 2010.
Con Edison will be working on projects between East 100th and 95th streets. Work includes building a new manhole and relocating utilities and a sewer main, as well as replacing a duct bank and manhole on East 97th Street, between First and Second avenues. Demolition of the Century Lumber building will also continue. Read more
Ask The Vet: Pets as Presents
Remember that neat gadget gift you got last year from your friend? I’ll bet by now it has lost it appeal and is either collecting dust on a shelf or has been re-gifted.
Imagine if that “gadget” were living, breathing and had four legs and a tail? Now what? Read more
People, Not Trees
To the Editor:
I do not want to sound like a grinch or Scrooge, but your article glorifying sellers of Christmas trees (“Evergreen Guys,” Dec. 17) was not just hopelessly one-sided, but not entirely accurate. You say that, “[M]ost of the Christmas tree operations are on city sidewalks, and only require consent from the property owner fronting the sidewalk.” Not quite. Although Christmas tree vendors are exempt from most of the vendor regulations, they are subject to administrative code section 19-136(a)(4), which requires that, “a passageway shall be kept open on the sidewalk so obstructed for the free movement of pedestrians.” Read more
M31 Nightmare
To the Editor:
While I agree about the convenience of the M31 trajectory for Upper East Siders (anniversary issue, Dec. 10), the buses’ thundering engines, squealing brakes and ear-piercingly shrill kneeler alarms are nightmarish disruptions for those of us to live along its route. Read more
That December Glow
Peace, goodwill and safety for all in a just society
By Bette Dewing
“I wish that glow would never fade away,” is a line from the lamentably overlooked Perry Como song, “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Forever,” featured in all his Christmas shows. It is a CD I most heartily recommend.
It’s all about the glow December bestows—in the lighting, the music and more frequent smiles and kindly exchanges. Whatever our background, we are affected by places, sounds and social mores whether we know it or not. Read more
Crime Check
Weekly, monthly and year-to-date crime stats from the 10th Precinct, on the East Side from 59th to 96th streets.
City Snowboarders
Will Berry and Zach Spohler turn a sled into a tandem snowboard as they slide down Central Park’s Cedar Hill. For more sledding action photos from Cedar Hill, visit our gallery. Photo by Andrew Schwartz 
BIAS ATTACK BECOMES ASSAULT
By Dan Rivoli
Hate crime charges have been dropped against the man arrested for bias attacks in the Upper East Side this summer.
Driton Nicaj, an Upper East Side resident, was arrested in July for the brutal robbery of Joseph Holladay.
When Nicaj, who was 19 at the time of his arrest, was arraigned, he was charged with robbery as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.
But state Supreme Court Judge Ronald Zweibel dropped the hate crime charges Dec. 17. Nicaj faces charges of assault in the third degree.
Holladay was visiting a friend who lives in the Upper East Side during the city’s Pride Week celebrations. Nicaj, acting with several other men, is accused of hitting Holladay in the head with the butt of a silver firearm and robbing him June 27 at 4:15 a.m. Police investigated other bias attacks and robberies.
Nicaj is slated for a Feb. 11, 2010 hearing and trial.
BUS/BIKE LANE GETS SUPPORT
By Dan Rivoli
Manhattan’s elected officials are pushing for a transportation plan that includes protected bicycle lanes with bus rapid transit.
Currently, the Department of Transportation is planning to bring “select bus service,” as bus rapid transit is known, to First and Second avenues. The transit strategy speeds up bus trips during rush hour by allowing riders to pay before boarding, restricting buses to dedicated lanes and giving buses traffic signal priority.
But elected officials from lower Manhattan to East Harlem signed a letter earlier this month in support of placing separated lanes for buses and bicycles on First and Second avenues.
“We urge you to take the project further,” the letter to Transportation Commissioner Jannette Sadik-Khan states. “True [Bus Rapid Transit] can be faster and more reliable than traditional bus service.”
Elsewhere, Transportation Alternatives and Upper Green Side, an environmental group, started the East River Greenway Initiative, a campaign dedicated to turning the waterfront area into an esplanade that rivals the West Side’s Hudson River Greenway. The group is also pushing for a complete waterfront bicycle lane, which has a gap from East 37th to 63rd streets.
“The East Side has this derelict, ignored green way,” said Michael Auerbach, president of Upper Green Side. “The East Side deserves a great park and waterfront access. Having a greenway and an off-road bicycle lane will give people the motivation to cycle.”
Updates and information on the waterfront initiative can be found at eastrivergreenway.wordpress.com
