Millrose Games
February 4, 2010
Jamaica’s Sheree Francis clears the bar in the high jump event during the 103rd Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden. Francis took home first place with her jump of 1.88 meters at the annual track and field event, held Jan. 29. Photo by Andrew Schwartz.
MORE SECOND AVE. BLASTING
February 4, 2010
Second Avenue residents are in for five months of blasting relating to the subway construction project.
The controlled blasting will excavate two shafts at East 69th and 72nd streets, beginning Feb. 8. The shafts will be used as access points for the 72nd Street station on the new subway line.
The Fire Department approved permits for the blasting between East 69th and 73rd streets. The blasting is allowed to occur during approved construction hours between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. weekdays, but the MTA will try to limit work to daylight hours. There will be four to five blasts a day, each lasting a minute. All pedestrian and vehicle traffic will be stopped temporarily during the blasting.
SELECT BUS SERVICE CONCERNS
February 4, 2010
Reaction to the MTA’s draft designs for Select Bus Service on First and Second avenues have been mostly positive. But elected officials and transit groups are eager to see a physically segregated bus lane along the route.
Last month at the Hunter College School of Social Work, New York City Transit and Department of Transportation officials told a group of community stakeholders that express buses would be unable to pass local buses if there were a separated lane. But Ted Orosz, director of long-range bus planning at New York City Transit, said that police will strictly enforce the bus-only traffic rule.
Assembly Member Micah Kellner, who pushed for a separate lane in September 2009, said that this is still a priority for fast bus transit.
“This is a big negative impact on the quality of service that [Select Bus Service] can deliver,” he said.
Michael Auerbach, president of Upper Green Side, a transportation and environmental sustainability group, said that the lack of a segregated bus lane was disappointing, but that his group will continue to advocate one.
“This is the first design. There will be opportunity to improve upon it,” Auerbach said. “Maybe they’ll realize a physical barrier is necessary.”
Public open houses to discuss the plans for express bus service on First and Second avenues will begin this March.
SOLE POWER
February 4, 2010
Students at Wagner Middle School are doing something about the millions of people around the world who lack shoes.
Through Feb. 12, 6th graders at the East 76th Street middle school, between Second and Third avenues, are collecting gently worn pairs of shoes to benefit Soles4Souls, a Nashville, Tenn., charity. The organization has collected 5.5 million pairs of shoes that have been donated to needy people around the world.
“I wanted to get the 6th graders to recognize the importance of community service,” said Robin Dansky, Wagner’s dean of students. “I wanted to do something hands-on, and I was looking for ideas when I saw a report about Soles4Souls.”
At the beginning of February, Dansky said the students had collected more than 400 pairs of shoes, with donations coming primarily from classmates, teachers and families.
The class that brings in the most shoes at the end of the drive will get a pizza party.
Sixth grader Rosa Gomez, 11, said she donated four pairs of shoes and got her mother to ask her coworkers to bring in old sneakers.
“I’m helping people that need it and I’m thinking about people other than myself,” Gomez said.
According to Dansky, the shoe drive is part of a year-long program emphasizing community service, which included the adoption of a new school motto, “Live to Learn, Dare to Care.” The program will culminate May 16, when the 6th-grade class participates in the New York AIDS Walk.
“This has been a good opportunity to pay attention to people who don’t have the chance to get what they need,” Dansky said. “The kids have really taken this and run with it. They’ve done a great job, and I could not be prouder.”
For more information on the fundraiser, contact the school at 212-535-8610.
THUMBS DOWN FOR PRIVATE DRIVEWAY
January 28, 2010
An Upper East Side man got a rebuke from his neighbors when Community Board 8 voted down a curb cut for a driveway in front of his home Jan. 13.
Andreas Gruson, owner of a one-family townhouse at 161 E. 94th St., between Lexington and Third avenues, wanted a private driveway. He requested a nine-foot, two-inch curb cut in front of a garage he had built in his home. Gruson requested the private driveway so that his elderly father could have better access to the townhouse.
Though the project can skirt the public review process, the City Planning Commission requested that the board take a look at the application before it makes a decision.
The board voted 34 to one against the proposal in an advisory opinion because of a garage’s impact on traffic and character of the block.
“It’ll stop traffic from flowing. It’s not the right place to have traffic backed up,” said Jaqueline Ludorf, the board’s chair.
Gruson’s lawyer, who attended the community board meeting, did not return calls for a comment.
KRUEGER FOE ENDS PRIMARY BID
January 28, 2010
The primary challenge to State Sen. Liz Krueger was a brief affair: Michael Cohen, counsel to Donald Trump, announced his bid to unseat the eight-year incumbent in December and declared he would not run Jan. 21.
Cohen released a statement citing professional and personal reasons that prevented him from mounting a successful campaign.
“Giving the people of this district anything less than a fully committed alternative to the status quo would be wrong,” he wrote in an email.
Cohen criticized Krueger for voting on a budget that increased taxes for the wealthy and for being a part of Albany’s dysfunction.
As an executive in Trump Organization, he had connections to the business community and claimed to have $400,000 in pledged contributions. He said he was also willing to partially self-finance.
Bowing out, he took a parting shot at Krueger and Albany’s notoriously dysfunctional legislature.
“The people of the 26th Senate District deserve better than what they’re currently getting,” Cohen wrote. “And part of that means they deserve a candidate who is both willing to take on the status quo and has all of the time and resources necessary to dedicate to the campaign.”
The only challenger Krueger has so far is Saul Farber, a 24-year-old Republican who ran for State Assembly in 2008.
Council Promotions
January 28, 2010
The East Side’s two Council members, Jessica Lappin and Dan Garodnick, got a bump in status—and pay, for Lappin—in this year’s Council class.
Both Council members will chair full committees for the first time. The position comes with a $10,000 stipend—known in political parlance as a “lulu”—on top of a $112,500 base salary for all Council members. Garodnick, however, is voluntarily forgoing his stipend. [Read more]
Art from the Heart
January 20, 2010
Eviction Intervention Services, a non-profit that helps tenants stay in their homes through free legal clinics and tenant advocacy, got a dash of color thanks to former intern Kristen Pesature (second from the left).
“I wanted the space to feel as accommodating as the people who work here,” she said.
Pesature, 23, first came across the non-profit, based at 1233 Second Ave., near East 65th Street, after enrolling in a “Persuasion and Advocacy” class at Marymount Manhattan College. The class requires students to spend at least 12 hours working directly with a community partner, and is part of the school’s “Service Learning Program,” in which students do on-site observation of local non-profits to see how organizations with limited financial resources advance their missions. Pesature was so inspired by the group’s work that she decided to paint a picture, unveiled at a Jan. 12 ceremony, to brighten Eviction Intervention Services’ office.
“It gives them a hands-on experience of how advocacy really takes place with regard to housing in New York City,” said Anthony Naaeke (left), the class’ instructor.
For small non-profits such as Eviction Intervention Services, partnerships with local colleges provide much needed administrative and technical support.
“It has kept us alive as a small non-profit,” said Audrey Tannen, the executive director (third from right). “We could not have afforded it otherwise.”
Also in attendance were Cindy Mercer, executive director for academic achievement (second from right), and Ellen FitzGerald, president of the board of directors for Eviction Intervention Services (right). Photo by Andrew Schwartz
NEW PRIMARY CARE CENTER
January 20, 2010
Lenox Hill Hospital is now accepting patients at its new primary care facility, which opened Dec. 15.
The facility, at 178 E. 85th St., between Lexington and Third avenues, specializes in caring for patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, arthritis and heart disease. Physicians are also trained in areas including geriatrics, women’s health and preventative medicine.
Patients can be seen in less than a week from inquiry, or the same day, if the medical issue is urgent. Call 212-434-6776 for an appointment.
Lenox Hill Hospital also recently made news for donating an automated external defibrillator to St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, at 109 E. 50th St., between Park and Lexington avenues. The donation was part of a hospital initiative to prevent sudden cardiac death.
Tree-Cycle
January 13, 2010
Leonardo Hess sweeps up bits of evergreen left from the wood chipper in Carl Schurz Park as part of the Department of Parks & Recreation’s “Mulchfest.” The annual event turns New Yorkers’ holiday trees into gardening material at designated sites across the five boroughs. Photo by Andrew Schwartz
