Manhattan Express

MANHATTANEXPRESSNEWS.NYCJanuary 14 - 27, 2016 | Vol. 02 No. 01

In First, City Schools Graduate 70 Percent

That Titanosaur Hits Town

10 18 23

Money Where Cuomo’s Mouth Is On Homelessness

Even As Buildings Go Up,

Prices Go Up, Up, Up04

January 14 - 27, 2016 | ManhattanExpressNews.nyc2

ManhattanExpressNews.nyc | January 14 - 27, 2016 3

BY JACKSON CHEN

C ity Councilmembers Mark Levine and Ydanis Rodriguez

are staying vigilant in their demand for West Side ferry service with another public call on January 6, despite the city’s conclusion that the idea is not economically feasible.

Continuing their push for what they cast as transportation equali-ty for all Manhattanites, the coun-cilmembers are asking for inclu-sion of a West Side route into the Citywide Ferry plans announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio in his State of the City Address last February.

The city’s Economic Develop-ment Corporation currently plans five new ferry routes over the next several years. Service to Manhat-tan from the Rockaways, South Brooklyn, and Astoria is set to begin by 2017, and service from Soundview in the Bronx, East 90th Street, and East 62nd Street to Lower Manhattan as well as a Lower East Side route from East 34th Street to Downtown are due to be completed by 2018.

The missing link for Levine and Rodriguez is a route that serves their constituents in Council Districts 7 and 10, helping to relieve subway overcrowding as well as promote economic activity around landings in Inwood and West Harlem.

“The West Side subway lines, especially the 1 line, are getting more crowded with each passing year,” said Levine. “It’s important that residents have an alternative for moving north-south.”

According to EDC spokesperson Anthony Hogrebe, the agency is open to suggestions for more ferry routes, but they must prove com-petitive with the existing public transportation options and main-tain a strong ridership.

“Our analysis indicates a north-south Hudson route would have a hard time attracting commuters away from existing and more acces-sible subway service and could face real logistical and financial chal-lenges,” Hogrebe said.

For ferry advocates like Roland Lewis, president and CEO of the Waterfront Alliance, there’s a mar-ket for ferry service on the West Side driven by recent real estate develop-ment and limited transit options. Allowing Upper West Side routes would entail much lower costs than increasing subway service along that corridor, according to Lewis.

Challenging the city’s claim that Hudson north-south service is not economically viable, Levine said he felt the EDC was underestimating the potential demand. In his dis-trict, the councilmember said, the 17-acre expansion of Columbia

University and the recent econom-ic revitalization of Hudson Yards would add thousands of people to the Upper West Side and Midtown. The West Harlem Pier at West 125th Street, he said, could not only pro-vide north-south service but is also just a five-minute trip from an existing pier across the river in Edgewater, New Jersey.

Infrastructure already in place on the West Side, Levine assert-ed, would support ferry service. His district, which runs from 96th Street north to 165th Street, includes the West Harlem Pier, which, he said, would be better

utilized if ferry service were added. Further south, the West 39th Street Pier, which currently serves a ferry from New Jersey to Mid-town, could also provide a stop on the north-south route.

Rodriguez’s district, comprised of Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill, includes the Dyckman Street Boat Marina. The councilmember has his eyes set on its short fishing pier as another stop, which could serve residents of Inwood, Washington Heights, and Marble Hill.

The EDC points to studies it con-ducted in 2013 that indicated that the five routes currently planned offer the most economically viable options for the city.

Levine and Rodriguez also face skepticism from one of the city’s leading public transit advocates — Gene Russianoff of the Straphang-ers Campaign, who said propo-nents face a large burden in proving that a Hudson River north-south route would be a success.

“A train moves thousands of peo-ple at very reasonable costs; a ferry is the opposite,” he said. “It’s just more costly to move a small num-ber of people being carried.”

However, Russianoff acknowl-edged that expanded ferry service is a very tempting option for the city. Being surrounded by water during a commute has an appeal he said he well understands. n

Local Pols Push West Side Ferry Service — So Far, With Little Luck

COURTESY: OFFICE OF COUNCILMEMBER MARK LEVINE

City Councilmembers Mark Levine (at podium) and Ydanis Rodriguez (to Levine’s left facing photo) at a January 6 City Hall press conference renewing their call for a north-south West Side ferry service route.

JACKSON CHEN

The existing West Harlem Pier at 125th Street.


BY JACKSON CHEN

W i th the release of year -end sales reports showing

record-breaking apartment prices across Manhattan, potential buy-ers in Midtown and the Upper East and Upper West Sides can find little in the way of encouragement about avoiding sticker shock in their housing search.

The continued rising prices are particularly significant in light of a decline in median and average costs in the sale of new construc-tion units.

According to a fourth quarter 2014 report from the real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman, the sales prices throughout Manhat-tan reached record highs across numerous categories.

Encompassing all of Manhat-tan, the Elliman report shows that median sales price jumped 17.3 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, and reached $1.15 million, beating the previous record of $1.03 million in the second quar-ter of 2008, before the full onset of that year’s big recession.

Average sales prices followed suit, with a record high of $1.95 million, a 12 percent increase from the previous year. Additionally, Manhattanites are paying $1,563 per square foot for their apart-ments, a level never before seen.

The high numbers are explain-able due to insufficient inventory for resale condos and co-ops and continuing high buyer demand, according to Jonathan Miller, author of the Elliman report.

“The reason why prices are ris-ing in the resale market is because inventory is chronically low,” Miller said. “It bottomed out in 2013 after the peak of ’09. In ’14, it rose a lit-tle, but in ’15 it flat-lined.”

In all three neighborhoods, num-bers from the Corcoran Group report show steady increases in resale pric-es in 2015’s fourth quarter.

For Midtown, buying increased 41 percent, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015, from 531

closed sales to 749, but invento-ry only saw a 10 percent increase from 914 to 1,007.

Though the average price of resale co-ops in Midtown dipped in the fourth quarter, the medi-an price rose three percent from $598,000 to $616,000. Apartments of all sizes saw higher median price tags, with the three or more bed-rooms chalking up a 24 percent year-to-year increase from $2.05 million to $2.538 million. One and two-bedroom co-ops saw slight increases — one and five percent, respectively — while studio prices climbed 13 percent from $354,000 to $400,000.

In the case of Midtown resale condos, though the median price decreased 21 percent from $1.19 million to $945,000, that clearly indicated a changing mix in the size of apartments that closed. Three or more bedroom con-dos in Midtown saw a 23 percent increase, raising the median price from $2.976 million to $3.65 mil-lion. Prices rose nine percent for two-bedrooms, to $1.88 million, and four percent for studios, to $590,000. Only one-bedroom sale prices declined, by six percent from $898,000 to $845,000.

Across co-op and condo resales plus new building unit sales, the median sales price in Midtown

grew 16 percent compared to the year before, to $956,000.

On the Upper East Side, hous-ing stock on the market increased five percent — from 1,112 to 1,169 units — in the face of a six percent increase in closed sales, from 744 to 791.

The median price for resale co-ops also fell on the Upper East Side, by five percent, compared to last year, from $882,000 to $835,000. Again, this reflected a changing mix of apartment sizes in sales that closed, given that medi-an prices for studios, one-bed-rooms, two-bedrooms, and three or more bedrooms all jumped by

at least five percent. The highest increase in median price came from the three or more bedroom category, which saw a 23 percent increase from $2.85 million to $3.5 million.

Resale condos on the Upper East Side saw a median price increase of 15 percent, from $1.463 million to $1.685 million, though apart-ments with three or more bed-rooms actually saw a 22 percent decrease, from $4.275 million to $3.35 million.

Overall, the median sale price on the East Side grew five percent, to $1.14 million.

As for the Upper West Side, resale co-ops saw slight fluctua-

tions, with a median price increase of four percent from $815,000 to $852,000. Studios made up the only category to see a slight decrease — of five percent — while all other apartment sizes saw slight increases in pricing.

Resale condos on the West Side saw a steep rise in median price of 24 percent, from $1.31 million to $1.63 million, and an increase of larger, higher cost units in the mix. The median price for three-bed-room units rose six percent, to $4.38 million; for two-bedrooms by 11 percent, to $2.21 million; and one-bedrooms, by 10 percent, to $1.15 million. Studio median pric-

es declined slightly — by two per-cent, to $650,000.

The steep rise in condo resale prices and the greater share of condos in the sales mix led to an increase in median sales price for the neighborhood overall of a whopping 37 percent, to $1.37 million.

A trend that was similar across all three neighborhoods was the significant decrease in the medi-an sale prices for units in newly developed buildings. The 85 per-cent decrease in the average sales price for new development units on the Upper West side, for exam-

Fourth Quarter Real Estate Numbers Show Rising Prices, Lagging Inventory

c REAL ESTATE, continued on p.5

MEDIAN PRICE, 4Q2015 CHANGE FROM 4Q2014 CO-OP RESALES, 4Q2015 CHANGE FROM 4Q2014 CONDO RESALES, 4Q2015 CHANGE FROM 4Q2014 NEW DEVELOPMENT SALES, 4Q2015 CHANGE FROM 4Q2014

MANHATTAN

$1.10 MM

16%

$735,000

4%

$1.33 MM

8%

$2.24 MM

8%

MIDTOWN

956,000

16%

$616,000

3%

$945,000

-21%

$1.63 MM

-60%

UPPER EAST SIDE

$ 1.14 MM

5%

$835,000

-5%

1.69 MM

15%

1.85 MM

-61%

UPPER WEST SIDE

$1.37 MM

4%

$852,000

4%

$1.63 MM

24%

$2.21 MM

-52%

SOURCE: THE CORCORAN REPORT

REAL ESTATE SALES CLOSING IN FOURTH QUARTER OF 2015


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ple, from $18.81 to $2.75 million, is a fact that certainly catches the eye. According to Elliman’s Mill-er, however, numbers like that are skewed, representing a “volatile” new development market.

“What you’re really seeing is a lot of high-end closings that went to contract further back than what the resale data will show,” he said of the price trends with new developments.

As an example, Miller said One57 — a 94-unit luxury high rise — closed a sale in 2014 that was captured in that year’s fourth quarter statistics, but had a $100 million price tag and actually went to contract in 2012.

With several high-end closings from One57 in 2014 juxtaposed against more affordable closings in 2015, the Corcoran report’s numbers also showed a median price drop in Upper West Side new development units of 52 percent, from $4.65 million to $2.21 million. According to Corcoran, the num-bers dropped because of closings at One Riverside Park, a 33-story waterfront property, and at 175 West 95th Street, an apartment complex with 27 floors.

As with the Upper West Side, Mid town saw a 60 percent decrease in median sales price for new development units, from $4.04 million to $1.63 million. Matching that trend, the Upper East Side’s median price for new construction units dropped 61 per-cent, from $4.70 million to $1.85 million, because of closings at moderately-priced developments like the Carnegie Park Condo-minium at 200 East 94th Street, a 31-story complex.

“The optics on new development are much more scattershot,” Mill-er explained. “I’d call it more of a circus side show; they’re big num-bers and certainly not a small seg-ment of the market, but it is much smaller than the part of the market that is the resale market.”

Other real estate analysts agreed that with new development num-bers, it is usually difficult to spot any reliable trends in quarter to quarter tallies.

According to Greg Heym, chief economist for Terra Holdings — the parent company of Brown Har-ris Stevens and Halstead Property

— the gap between contracts being signed and a closed sale on new construction units makes it diffi-cult to rely on the data.

“You have to be careful at look-ing at new development numbers from quarter to quarter,” Heym said. “The building at One57 has a bunch of closings and prices can skyrocket, then you have buildings not on the market and the data goes right back.”

Contrary to the randomness of the new development numbers, the resale market acts more in line with the ebb-and-flow of real estate, Miller said.

According to Dottie Herman, CEO of Douglas Elliman, “The resale market remains tight with low inventory, a fast pace, and ris-ing prices.”

For the new year, Herman said, she expected those condi-tions, challenging for buyers, to continue. n

c REAL ESTATE, from p.4

MICHAEL SHIREY

Construction continues at One West End Avenue.


BY JACKSON CHEN

The city’s Department of Trans-portation (DOT) announced a

significant southbound connection between two existing East Side bike lanes during a Community Board 8 meeting on January 6.

According to the plans, the DOT will install a bike lane on the sec-tion of Second Avenue that runs south from East 105th Street to East 59th Street as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero initia-tive. The mayor’s plan to end traffic fatalities identified this stretch of Second Avenue and the intersection of Second and East 79th Street, in particular, as points ripe for safety improvements.

Along this Second Avenue cor-ridor, the DOT found there was an increase in bikers during 12-hour timeframes between October 2011 and October 2015 from 631 to 940.

The DOT proposes to create a shared bike lane from East 68th Street to East 59th Street, which will connect to the existing shared bike lane south of 59th Street. From East 105th Street to East 68th Street, the agency will install a protected bike lane that will con-nect to the similarly protected bike lane north of 105th Street.

The road configuration from East 105h Street to East 68th Street is currently set up as two park-ing lanes and four travel lanes. Recently, the Second Avenue Sub-way efforts have oftentimes left two lanes closed off for construction.

Coinciding with the end of con-struction, the DOT will be con-verting the lane closest to the west sidewalk into a weekday-on-ly Select Bus Service and loading lane and installing a six-foot pro-tected bike lane with a buffer on the eastern-most lane. Motorists will be losing one travel lane that will be replaced with pedestrian

islands, left-turn bays, and some parking space.

According to the DOT plans, there will be a slight shift from East 69th Street to East 70th Street due to a sidewalk extension that makes room for a new Second Avenue Subway station. While the protect-ed bike lane continues, there will be no parking on this block, according to the plans.

As for the shared lane design from 68th Street to 59th Street, DOT will be converting a parking lane, which becomes a travel lane during rush hours, into a shared lane of bikes and cars during rush hours. During off hours, when parking is allowed in the east-ern-most lane, cyclists will still be sharing a travel lane with vehicles in the next lane over.

While the Community Board 8’s Transportation Committee was happy to see more safety protocols, its members expressed concern for the nine blocks that would not have protection.

“It was hoped by me and several other people that there would be less of a gap in the protected lanes, if any, in the Second Avenue pre-sentation,” said Scott Falk, co-chair of the community board’s Trans-portation Committee.

Committee members argued that some of the district’s most danger-ous intersections fall within the area between East 68th Street and East 59th Street, where there will only be shared bike lanes.

DOT officials responded that due to the proximity to the Queensboro Bridge’s Second Avenue entrance, they had to create shared lanes to maintain travel lanes and not exac-erbate congestion issues.

“I understand that immediately at the bridge is going to require a tremendous amount of thought and creativity,” Falk said, but added, “To have shared lanes for so many

lanes leading up to [the bridge] is a real serious concern.”

Among residents who spoke up, some suggested more patience and planning were needed before a plan was adopted. Jill Eisner, a longtime Upper East Sider, said the DOT should wait until the Second Ave-nue Subway construction is com-pleted and then figure out how the traffic flows.

“Why don’t they pave it over, let us enjoy traffic moving smoothly, and see what’s going to happen,” Eisner said of the expected end of construction. “Then after those traf-fic patterns have been ascertained, then decide what to do.”

Those who praised the bike lane plans said they would create more order and safety on Second Ave-nue. Paul Krikler, a resident who bikes 10 to 11 months out of the year, said there would be fewer

reckless cyclists — like those who go the wrong way on the north-bound First Avenue bike lanes — because of the availability of the appropriate bike lanes.

Krikler, who currently uses Second Avenue as a southbound route, said the trip down is very precarious, especially with the subway workers in some of the lanes. With the new bike lanes, the resident is expecting every stake-holder to benefit.

“Why wouldn’t a motorist be more comfortable knowing they won’t be hitting a cyclist,” Krikler said. “It’s a win for everybody.

After hearing many community comments, the DOT is expecting to begin implementation in summer 2016, but that the start date hinges on the agency’s coordination with the MTA and its Second Avenue Subway construction. n

Cycles on Second: DOT Proposes Adding 36-Block UES Southbound Lane

NYC DOT

The protected bike lane proposed for the stretch of Second Avenue from East 105th Street to East 68th Street, except for the block between 69th and 70th Streets.

NYC DOT

A proposed shared bike lane on Second Avenue between East 68th Street and East 59th, which shifts one lane over during off hours to allow for parking in the eastern-most lane.


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BY JACKSON CHEN

A plan for an Amsterdam Avenue bike lane has long been await-

ed by many, though apparently not all, with a revised proposal being met with a deadlocked vote at a January 12 meeting of Community Board 7’s Transportation Committee.

During the second visit by the city’s Department of Transportation to the committee to discuss a plan for Amsterdam Avenue, members ended the evening with a 4 to 4 tied vote. While some members emphasized the safety improvements a bike lane would deliver for all Upper West Side resi-dents, others asserted that Amsterdam Avenue was not a suitable location for encouraging bike traffic.

DOT’s proposal was first intro-duced to the community during a November 10 Transportation Com-mittee meeting. Responding to wide-spread neighborhood buzz around the desire for a northbound Amster-dam Avenue bike lane, the DOT pre-sented plans that would incorporate a protected bike lane on the ave-nue from West 72nd Street to West 110th Street. In the plan, one of the avenue’s car traffic lanes would also be converted into a parking lane that would include left-turn bays and pedestrian islands, as well.

After garnering hours of commu-nity input at the November meeting, the DOT also went into the field and surveyed merchants and pedestri-ans on the 38-block Amsterdam Avenue stretch.

In its updated plan, the DOT focused its attention on delivery trucks that often double-park and render bike lanes useless, and even dangerous. Throughout the corri-dor, the DOT earmarked 11 loca-tions — five on heavy-use locations of the west curb, six on the east curb — that would be metered commer-cial parking zones during weekdays. According to Margaret Forgione, DOT’s Manhattan borough com-missioner, the zones would allow for a maximum of two hours parking before having to purchase more time.

DOT also included nine blocks

that would be a combination of open metered parking and commercial zones, four of which are pending con-sultation with the Columbus Amster-dam Business Improvement District.

With the proposed bike lane passing two major cultural insti-tutions, the DOT made specif-ic arrangements for the streets around the Beacon Theatre and the Plaza Jewish Community Chapel.

Since the Beacon often uses its curb at the rear of the theater for equipment loading, the DOT pro-posed requiring that it employ tem-porary barriers to create a pseu-do-protected bike lane to the east of the trucks when they are present.

As for the chapel, the DOT pro-posed banning left turns from Amsterdam Avenue onto West 91st Street and maintaining the existing no parking rules outside the main entrance.

Even with the changes the DOT made to its original plan present-ed in November, both co-chairs of CB7’s Transportation Commit-tee and two other members voted against approving the agency’s Amsterdam Avenue proposal for multiple reasons.

Co-chair Andrew Albert said he is in support of a northbound bike lane and safety improvements on Amsterdam Avenue, but was hes-itant to combine the two. Instead, Albert proposed that the DOT con-duct a trial test of its current bike lane proposal to understand the fea-sibility and efficiency of the setup. DOT officials responded that they were not in favor of conducting such a test because it would take a sig-nificant effort to make sure the test is properly administered to yield meaningful results.

As for the other co-chair, Dan Zweig, he recommended the com-mittee disapprove the proposal and instead ask the DOT to come up with an Amsterdam Avenue safety improvement proposal without a bicycle lane and an alterative north-bound route.

CB7 Transportation Committee Deadlocked on DOT Amsterdam Bike Proposal

c AMSTERDAM, continued on p.11


BY YANNIC RACK

In a double win for Manhattan’s West Side, Governor Andrew

Cuomo laid out new plans last week to both finally expedite the stalled redevelopment of Pennsylvania Sta-tion and the James A. Farley Post Office on Eighth Avenue and to expand the Jacob K. Javits Conven-tion Center to boost jobs and tour-ism in the area.

One big announcement was chasing the other, as Cuomo con-tinued to unveil a slate of ambitious projects ahead of this week’s State of the State address.

“There is so much in this game plan, this agenda, that frankly we couldn’t fit it into one day and one speech, and we’re announcing it in components all throughout this week,” the governor said. “What happens tomorrow depends on what we do today.”

The projects both have a less than glorious past — a few years ago Cuomo even considered scrap-ping the Javits Center altogether, and the Penn Station project has been in limbo for a decade — but the announcements promise to soon bring even more activity to an area already bustling with development.

“The governor came into town and really made a big splash,” said Delores Rubin, the new chair of Community Board 4, which covers both the convention center as well as the post office.

Both announcements also earned the governor praise from local elected officials, who said the momentum on neighboring projects certainly played a part in jump-starting the Penn Station and Javits efforts.

“There’s a lot of excitement about the future of the West Side,” said State Senator Brad Hoylman, point-ing to the current construction at Hudson Yards as well as other proj-ects in the area, including a plan for a new Port Authority bus terminal and the already completed 7 train extension.

“That’s no doubt a driver for these projects,” he said.

City Councilmember Corey John-son said, “What’s happening on the West Side of Manhattan, when you take together a new Penn Station, a new Moynihan Station, the Gate-way Tunnel project, Hudson Yards rising, a renovated and expanded Javits Center, a new Port Authority bus terminal — these are projects that are of course going to phys-

ically reshape the West Side, but they’re transformational not just for these neighborhoods but also for the entire region.”

Between the governor’s two announcements, Johnson added, “This has been a great week for the West Side.”

The renovation of Penn Station is part of Cuomo’s larger plan to revitalize New York’s infrastruc-ture, which includes expanding the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) as well as building a new LaGuardia air-port and a new Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River connect-ing Westchester and Rockland Counties.

The Penn Station plan would essentially renovate the exist-ing station maze below Madison Square Garden, build a new train and retail hub within the block-long General Post Office across Eighth Avenue, and eventually link both facilities underground, to create what the governor has dubbed the “Empire Station Complex.”

“Penn Station is the analog to La Guardia,” Cuomo said, referring to the troubled airport that Vice President Joe Biden recently called something out of a third world country. “Let’s be honest, Penn Sta-

tion has been wholly unacceptable for a long, long time.”

The governor said the rail termi-nal — the busiest in the country and notoriously overcrowded — is expect-ed to double its traffic over the next 15 years. It already serves 650,000 people every day, which is more than triple the traffic it was original-ly designed for (and more than that of Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty Airports combined).

The state, along with Amtrak, put out an expedited Request For Proposals (RFP) last week, which gives potential developers 90 days to come up with viable ideas for the redevelopment.

Possible options suggested in the governor’s presentation include the creation of a grand glass-walled entrance to Penn Station on Eighth Avenue, which would entail raz-ing the 5,600-seat theater beneath Madison Square Garden, as well as adding new entrances on Seventh Avenue or on 33rd Street.

In any case, the project will “widen existing corridors, reconfig-uring ticketing and waiting areas, improve connectivity between the lower levels and street level, bring

Cuomo Offers Bold Pledges to Finish the Job at Penn Station, Expand Javits Center

c CUOMO continued on p.9

OFFICE OF GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO

A rendering of the redesign of Penn Station presented last week by Governor Andrew Cuomo.LINDSAY BU

The Eighth Avenue side of Penn Station as it is today.


natural light into the facility, improve signage, simplify navigation and reduce congestion, and expand and upgrade the retail offerings and passenger amenities on all levels of the station,” according to a statement from the governor’s office — which could go a long way in addressing common complaints about the terminal’s frus-trating layout.

The state and its partners will also solicit a developer for the long-delayed plan to turn the nearly vacant James A. Farley Post Office into a train station and waiting room for Amtrak, LIRR, and New Jersey Transit passengers, ringed by shops and offices.

At 210,000 square feet, the train hall will be roughly equivalent in size to the main room at Grand Central Terminal.

Developers can submit proposals for either or both of the buildings, and the overall project is estimated to cost more than $3 billion.

For the last 10 years, two of the city’s largest real estate developers, Vornado Realty and Relat-ed Companies, have tried in vain to transform the post office into what was to be called Moyni-han Station, named after the late US senator from New York who first put forward the idea in the early 1990s.

Under a previous agreement with the state, Vornado and Related sought a tenant for the space and even proposed moving Madison Square Garden across the street, but no real progress was made, culminating in last week’s announcement that the playing field was once again open for new proposals.

Over the past year, construction started underneath the Farley Building to expand Penn Station’s West End Concourse, as well as the existing underground corridor below Eighth Ave-nue connecting Farley to Penn Station and the subway lines there.

This portion of the plan — which also includes new entrances at the 31st and 33rd Street cor-ners of the post office — is scheduled for comple-tion this fall.

The overall redevelopment will be expedited, the governor said, pledging it would be finished in the next three years, with Farley opening before Penn Station’s revamp is complete.

c CUOMO, from p.8

c CUOMO continued on p.14

OFFICE OF GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO

A rendering of the train hall underneath the Farley Post Office.


CITYWIDE

ALL MANHATTAN

ALL DISTRICT 2

ALL DISTRICT 3

ALL DISTRICT 5

INDIVIDUAL SCHOOLS

DISTRICT 2

REPERTORY COMPANY HIGH SCHOOL FOR THEATRE ARTS123 W. 43RD ST.

JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS HIGH SCHOOL120 W. 46TH ST.

PROFESSIONAL PERFORMING ARTS HIGH SCHOOL328 W. 48TH ST.

URBAN ASSEMBLY GATEWAY SCHOOL FOR TECHNOLOGY439 W. 49TH ST.

BUSINESS OF SPORTS SCHOOL439 W. 49TH ST.

HIGH SCHOOL OF GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION ARTS439 W. 49TH ST.

MANHATTAN BRIDGES HIGH SCHOOL525 W. 50TH ST.

HIGH SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT525 W. 50TH ST

FOOD AND FINANCE HIGH SCHOOL525 W. 50TH ST.

FACING HISTORY SCHOOL525 W. 50TH ST.

URBAN ASSEMBLY SCHOOL OF DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION525 W. 50TH ST.

INDEPENDENCE HIGH SCHOOL850 TENTH AVE. AT 55TH ST.

HIGH SCHOOL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES444 W. 56TH ST.

ART AND DESIGN HIGH SCHOOL245 E. 56TH ST.

VANGUARD HIGH SCHOOL317 E. 67TH ST.

MANHATTAN INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL317 E. 67TH ST.

URBAN ACADEMY LABORATORY HIGH SCHOOL317 E. 67TH ST.

TALENT UNLIMITED HIGH SCHOOL300 E. 68TH ST.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL411 E. 76TH ST.

LIFE SCIENCES SECONDARY SCHOOL320 E. 96TH ST.

100.0%

64.5%

97.9%

88.0%

72.0%

46.0%

94.3%

83.5%

79.8%

66.7%

62.0%

12.8%

82.2%

85.3%

73.9%

72.9%

43.8%

96.4%

100.0%

81.7%

96.1%

61.0%

94.6%

NA

68.0%

53.7%

84.4%

73.5%

76.5%

71.7%

65.3%

20.5%

84.1%

80.2%

74.8%

71.2%

40.4%

94.9%

100.0%

77.2%

87.8%

69.6%

94.0%

NA

NA

50.4%

75.0%

80.0%

90.2%

70.1%

71.3%

17.2%

81.5%

72.2%

59.6%

59.4%

41.3%

93.4%

100.0%

85.6%

47.2%

65.1%

90.0%

NA

NA

31.5%

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

9.6%

75.3%

70.7%

53.3%

64.2%

58.1%

92.5%

NA

70.6%

INDIVIDUAL SCHOOLS

DISTRICT 3

BEACON HIGH SCHOOL522 W. 44TH ST.

FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA HIGH SCHOOL OF MUSIC, ART AND PERFORMING ARTS100 AMSTERDAM AVE. AT 64TH ST.

HIGH SCHOOL FOR ARTS, IMAGINATION AND INQUIRY122 AMSTERDAM AVE. AT 66TH ST.

HIGH SCHOOL FOR LAW, ADVOCACY AND COMMUNITY JUSTICE122 AMSTERDAM AVE. AT 66TH ST.

HIGH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY122 AMSTERDAM AVE. AT 66TH ST.

URBAN ASSEMBLY SCHOOLFOR MEDIA STUDIES122 AMSTERDAM AVE. AT 66TH ST.

MANHATTAN / HUNTER SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL122 AMSTERDAM AVE. AT 66TH ST.

MANHATTAN THEATRE LAB HIGH SCHOOL122 AMSTERDAM AVE. AT 66TH ST.

THE URBAN ASSEMBLY SCHOOL FOR GREEN CAREERS145 W. 84TH ST.

FRANK MCCOURT HIGH SCHOOL145 W. 84TH ST.

INNOVATION DIPLOMA PLUS145 W. 84TH ST.

THE GLOBAL LEARNING COLLABORATIVE145 W. 84TH ST.

EDWARD A. REYNOLDS WEST SIDE HIGH SCHOOL140 W. 102ND ST.

WADLEIGH SECONDARY SCHOOL FOR THE PERFORMING & VISUAL ARTS215 W 114TH ST.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS ACADEMY II SECONDARY SCHOOL215 W. 114TH ST.

DISTRICT 5

COLUMBIA SECONDARY SCHOOL425 W. 123RD ST.

99.7%

97.9%

79.2%

74.1%

63.6%

74.0%

99.1%

49.2%

67.9%

91.2%

9.7%

76.7%

22.1%

64.6%

63.8%

98.8%

99.0%

98.8%

70.5%

73.0%

62.0%

69.9%

98.3%

47.4%

49.3%

94.5%

22.6%

76.1%

24.3%

50.5%

72.9%

98.9%

97.8%

97.8%

78.7%

80.4%

65.0%

62.0%

93.3%

58.1%

NA

NA

37.9%

NA

27.5%

70.9%

74.1%

NA

89.4%

87.7%

NA

NA

NA

NA

16.7%

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

60.0%

NA

NA

70.5%

72.5%

74.6%

75.3%

64.9%

68.4%

70.6%

72.3%

74.6%

64.3%

61.0%

66.7%

67.5%

68.6%

66.9%

46.5%

59.0%

58.6%

66.3%

69.3%

CLASS BEGINNING

2011

CLASS BEGINNING

2010

CLASS BEGINNING

2006

CLASS BEGINNING

2001

City officials were quick to tout news out of the State Board of Regents on January 11 that, for the first time, graduation rates from New York City public schools are better than 70 percent. The 70.5 percent four-year gradu-ation rate is a huge improvement over the comparable number a decade ago — just 46.5 percent. “Today’s announcement of more students graduating than ever and fewer dropping out speaks to the critical importance of main-taining the momentum we are seeing in education here in New York City,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a written statement. The mayor acknowledged that his administration is building on progress begun under his predeces-sor, Michael R. Bloomberg. The graduation rate for students who began high school in 2006 and graduated five years ago had already risen to 61 percent.

Schools in Districts 2 and 3 in Midtown and the Upper East and West Sides generally outperformed both the system overall and the universe of all Manhattan schools, but even there wide disparities from school to school exist, as the accompanying table shows. And Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, in the city’s release, acknowledged racial disparities as well, with 85 percent of Asian-American students and 82 percent of white students graduating, while the figures for black and Hispanic students are 65.4 and 64 percent, respectively. — Paul Schindler

CLASS BEGINNING

2011

CLASS BEGINNING

2010

CLASS BEGINNING

2006

CLASS BEGINNING

2001CLASS

BEGINNING 2011

CLASS BEGINNING

2010

CLASS BEGINNING

2006

CLASS BEGINNING

2001

In a First, City High School Graduation Rate Tops 70 Percent

EDUCATION


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Daily News Yanks Back Newsstand Price to a Buck

The opponents’ suggestions for alternatives ranged from exploring Central Park West as a northbound bike lane to looking into a two-way bike lane on Columbus Avenue. DOT officials reiterated that Central Park West is too too nar-row to incorporate a protected bike lane as long as it remains a two-way street. As for a two-way bike lane on Columbus, the agency said that was feasible, but that Amsterdam was the better choice based on its research.

According to Forgione, the Amsterdam Avenue proposal is a catchall to solve most of the corri-dor’s challenges.

“The advantage of the Amsterdam proposal is it addresses every issue and knocks out every con-cern all in one proposal,” Forgione said. “You have a northbound bike lane, and you’re also address-ing pedestrian and vehicular traffic concerns at the same time. That’s why this is our favorite proposal.”

Much like the previous meeting in Novem-ber, community members who turned out were largely in support of an Amsterdam bike lane, with few dissenting opinions, focused largely on parking concerns and reckless cyclists.

But with a split vote from the committee, the apparent popularity of the proposed bike lane has not yet held sway. The DOT proposal will now be brought to a vote during CB7’s full board meeting on February 2, according to the board’s chair, Elizabeth Caputo. n

c AMSTERDAM, from p.7

BY SHAVANA ABRUZZO

There’s still some bang left in the old buck!

Though the dollar doesn’t stretch very far these days, it can still get you a slice of pizza, a song on iTunes (sometimes), and now, a copy of the Daily News. Our pals in publishing — all NYC Community Media and Community News Group publications are printed at the News’ printing press, and Man-hattan Express is delivered in Sunday editions of the daily — have slashed its newsstand price by a quarter in all five boroughs as of January11.

The media grapevine buzzed over the cut, which comes just seven months after the News hiked its price to $1.25. Some print pundits speculated that the News drove up sales with its strong gun control advoca-cy after the San Bernardino shootings, while others credit-ed its willingness to swallow a

decline in newsstand revenues to a fresh round of layoffs.

News honchos said only that readers shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

“As New York’s Hometown Paper, we look for every oppor-tunity to bring our loyal read-ers the news they need at a lower price point,” Bill Holiber, president and CEO of the Daily News, said in the press release.

Consider the quarter savings no chump change, either, offi-cials urged.

“Life in New York City is hard enough and we figured we’d put 25 cents back in the pock-ets of our faithful readers,” said Ricardo Flattes, circulation sales and consumer marketing director. “It all adds up.”

The New York Daily News, founded in 1919 as the Illus-trated Daily News by Joseph Medill Patterson, was the first successful tabloid newspa-per in America, with the larg-est circulation in the nation. It later changed its name to the

Daily News, attracting readers with its sensational coverage of crime, scandal, and violence, and lurid photographs, car-toons, and other entertainment features. By 1930, its circula-tion had leapt to more than 1.5 million and in the next decade increased to two million, as it delivered the lowdown on political wrongdoings behind President Warren G. Harding’s Teapot Dome Scandal and, later, the intriguing romance between Wallis Simpson and Britain’s King Edward VIII that led to his abdication.

On October 30, 1975 the Daily News brought the nation to a hush with its gut-punch-ing screamer, “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”

Now, trusty readers are applauding the cheaper price.

“It means that the New York’s hometown paper is still in busi-ness,” said Flatbush, Brooklyn, resident Tom Harris, 54. “And I won’t have to rummage about looking for that extra quarter.” n


BY JACKSON CHEN

A s a tennis court operator’s contract for a park under-

neath the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge nears its end, Community Board 8 is ramping up its efforts to “de-privatize” Queensboro Oval.

According to the city’s Depart-ment of Parks and Recreation, Sutton East Tennis has been oper-ating courts at Queensboro Oval — located between 59th and 60th Streets to the west of York Avenue — with a tennis bubble from Sep-tember to varying dates between April and June each year since

1997. Raising complaints about the lack of public access to the park and the area being left in poor condition after the tennis season ends in June , Community Board 8 has put in several years of effort at removing the operator and return-ing the park to full-time open space for the public.

“This situation does not appear to be tenable in keeping this public space privatized,” said Peggy Price, co-chair of CB8’s Parks and Recre-ation Committee. “We need to find a way to persuade the powers that be to let us have our park.”

While anyone in the city can play

in the Sutton East Tennis Club by making a reservation, prices range from $80 to $225 an hour depending on the court. The Parks Department notes that through its partners, like City Parks Foun-dation, people have the ability to access free and reduced tennis programming.

But for Price, the court fees dis-courage use by the wider communi-ty and the park would better serve the neighborhood as public space.

With Sutton East’s contract expiring in August 2017 — the Parks Department said it usually starts its request for proposal pro-cess a year prior to the expiration of an existing license — CB8 feels this is the last year it has a chance to reclaim the space.

Despite the CB8’s “de-privatiza-tion” efforts, the Parks Department said it is premature to speak about the issue.

“Parks employs a good work-ing relationship with the CB,” said Parks Department’s Manhattan Borough Commissioner William Castro, who added that the depart-ment acknowledged an April 2015 community board resolution calling for the reduction in the portion of the year allocated to Sutton East to six months, with the remainder of the year open for the park’s use as a ball field. “We would happily review any proposals presented.”

At the CB8 Parks Committee’s January 12 meeting, members laid out a plan of action that includes outreach efforts and garnering support from local elected officials. Committee members were large-ly working from a resolution they passed last July calling for a return to full-time public use of Queens-boro Oval after the city ends its cur-rent lease with Sutton East.

To push the issue more into the forefront, Price said the committee would be working to boost public support through word-of-mouth by going down to the oval’s immediate vicinity to speak with residents.

Committee members are also working with City Councilmember Ben Kallos to draft a letter to the Parks Department expressing the community’s interest in return-ing Queensboro Oval to unfettered public access.

“We don’t have enough parks in the district,” Kallos said. “We have some of the lowest numbers of parks space per capita. Any

place we have park land, we need to be using it as park land for the entire community.”

According to a study done by a parks advocacy organization in 2013, Kallos’ District 5 ranked the fifth worst in the ratio of land area to parks space out of all 51 Coun-cil districts.

In the New Yorkers for Parks’ study, the district falls far short of the standards set out by the group, which call for 2.5 acres of total open space per 1,000 residents. Kallos’ district scored only 0.47 acres of open space per 1,000 residents.

The group’s study also noted that the balance between public use as a ball field and private use as tennis courts shifted in 2012 to the advan-tage of the courts’ operator, when it secured an additional six weeks of time that keeps the bubble in the park into June.

To combat what they deem a slow creep of private use, Kallos said he would be working with the community board by reviewing the current contract with Sutton East, making sure the contract isn’t renewed, and trying to secure city funds to revert the park into public space year-round.

“In order for this to work, we’re going to have to pay a lot of atten-tion between now and 2017 and make sure this contract doesn’t get renewed,” Kallos said.

The councilmember said he’s heard numerous complaints from the Sutton Place neighborhood and from the CB8 Parks Committee, all expressing displeasure with the tennis bubble setup.

“We are a very densely popu-lated area which is getting more dense, but we’re not getting com-parable park land,” Price said, adding that there’s too little room for children to play and for adults to enjoy the outdoors.

As for Queensboro Oval’s future, Price echoes her community board’s feelings that it should be a multi-use park that operates like any other city park.

“It would be just such a terrific amenity for the community,” she said. “We could have any number of different activities there from soft-ball to public tennis courts, to plac-es where people could relax and enjoy themselves.”

Representatives of Sutton East did not respond to a request for comment. n

CB8’s Last-Ditch Effort to “De-Privatize” UES’ Queensboro Oval

MICHAEL SHIREY

The tennis bubble operated by Sutton East Tennis in Queensboro Oval every year from September to June.

MICHAEL SHIREY


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“There has been inaction and complacency around coming up with a substantive, workable plan for Penn Station and Moynihan Sta-tion,” said Johnson. “And what [the governor] has put on the table is really a game changer, because he has been able to bring key parties to the table who have acceded to work something out — Amtrak, Madison Square Garden, and the MTA.”

“The RFP has already been issued, so the governor is wasting no time,” said Hoylman.

A spokesperson for Related con-firmed in an email that the company expects to respond to the solicitation.

“We continue to passionate-ly believe in the project and are reviewing the materials,” she said. “We applaud the governor’s focus on the revitalization of Penn Station and Moynihan Station.”

Vornado declined to comment.Cuomo said that $325 million for

the project would come from gov-ernment sources, while “nearly all of the work” will be privately fund-ed, by the chosen developer — in exchange for an interest in the long-term revenue stream generated by the retail and commercial rents.

Coming up with a funding formu-la won’t be necessary for the Javits Center, however. Cuomo said the complex’s $1 billion expansion, for which construction will kick off later this year, would be financed “within existing resources.”

“The Javits Center has long been an economic generator for this state, but we want to build and expand it to ensure it remains a premier venue for the next generation,” he said in a statement. “The new Javits Center will continue to garner mil-lions in economic activity, create jobs, and keep New York’s economic momentum moving forward.”

The proposal will add a glassy 1.2 million-square-feet extension at the northern end of the center — which currently stretches six blocks along 11th Avenue, from 34th to 40th Streets — resulting in a five-fold increase in meeting and ball-room space. In addition, a four-level, 480,000-square-foot garage will be built to accommodate the thousands of trucks already flooding the neigh-borhood every year to service the con-vention center — which is the busi-est, if not the biggest, in the country.

“There is a massive problem right

now, on Ninth, 10th, 11th Ave-nues, of just choking truck traffic,” Johnson said. “And any plan that is going to move some of these trucks off of the streets is going to help from many standpoints — air quali-ty, pedestrian safety, traffic. So this is a big deal for local residents.”

Last year, the facility hosted more than 2 million visitors, which the governor’s office says supported 17,500 local jobs and generated an estimated 478,000 hotel room res-ervations as well as an economic boost of $1.8 billion.

Although the convention business is often written off as contributing comparatively little to the economy, Cuomo said that the expansion — a more than 50 percent increase in total floor space — would help bring more trade shows, jobs, and tax rev-

c CUOMO, from p.9

FXFOWLE EPSTEIN/ NEOSCAPE, INC

A rendering of the Javits Center after its expansion.


A rendering of the interior of the expanded Javits Center.


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enue to the city. Specifically, the gov-ernor asserted, it would add 4,000 full-time, 2,000 part-time, and more than 3,000 construction jobs, and generate an extra $393 million in economic activity every year.

“More convention centers are com-ing online, and if you want to remain competitive, you have to grow and you have to increase to stay ahead of the competition, and that is just what we want to do with this plan,” Cuomo said. “This will be the convention cen-ter of the next generation.”

The governor’s announcement comes on the heels of a $463 mil-lion makeover for the convention center just two years ago, which included the addition of Javits North — a semi-permanent struc-ture that will be replaced by the truck garage.

The state previously had plans to nearly double the size of the public-ly owned center in 2008, but backed out after the predicted cost exploded.

And just four years ago, the gov-ernor wanted to raze the Javits Center entirely and replace it with a $4 billion convention center in Queens, a plan that was ultimately jettisoned as well.

“If they move with this expan-sion in the same thoughtful way as previously, I think our community will be pleased with the outcome,” CB4’s Rubin said of the new plan. “We do have a meeting planned with the Javits Center, so we’re pleased that they do want to involve us in that conversation.”

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has begun putting together a task force — comprised of community board members and local elected officials — to weigh in on the Penn Station development.

“We really plan to be very active in the conversation, because it’s import-ant not just for the millions of com-muters that come in, but also the thousands of residents that live in and around that area, that are directly affected by any change,” said Rubin.

Hoylman, who said he is looking forward to working with the Penn Station task force, suggested the area may benefit from a construc-tion command center, like the one that was used to coordinate the rebuilding of the World Trade Cen-ter in Lower Manhattan.

“We’re talking about a decade plus of major construction, and we need to make certain that local res-idents and community boards have input into everything,” he said. n


A rendering of the Javits Center after its expansion.


A rendering of the interior of the expanded Javits Center.


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CHILD ENDANGERMENT:SHAKE SHACK SMOOCH (20TH PRECINCT)

Police are looking for more information about an incident of endangering the welfare of a child that occurred on January 11 at 11:30 a.m. According to police, a male suspect approached a 12-year-old girl inside the Shake Shack at 366 Columbus Avenue near 77th Street and grabbed her wrist. The girl pulled away and the suspect made his way downstairs, where he approached a 13-year-old girl. After asking for her name and hugging her, the suspect gave her a kiss on the right cheek. As the 13-year-old pulled away, the suspect fled on foot on Columbus Avenue. For more details on the suspect, watch the surveil-lance video at manhattanexpressnews.nyc.

ASSAULT:LATE NIGHT, BLUNT FORCE(MIDTOWN NORTH PRECINCT)

On December 19, a verbal dispute ended with a concussion and fractured ribs for one victim and a swollen right hand for the other victim, according to police. Police said that two male suspects approached the victims at 2:30 a.m. in front of 666 10th Avenue, near 47th Street, and, after arguing, struck the victims with blunt objects. The victims were rushed to Roosevelt Hospital and the police are still on the hunt for the two suspects. For more information of the suspects, surveillance photos are available at manhattanexpressnews.nyc.

ROBBERY:DEAD PRESIDENTS, NO CHEESE(23RD PRECINCT)

On December 20 at 9:50 p.m., a male sus-pect entered the Little Caesar’s Pizza on 1936 Third Avenue near 107th Street and, according to police, pointed a gun at the clerk behind the register, demanding money. The armed suspect made off with an undetermined amount of cash

and there were no injuries from the incident, according to police. Video of the suspect is available at manhattanexpressnews.nyc.

ARSON:SAINT NEW YEAR’S FIRE (19TH PRECINCT)

On January 9, police apprehended a sus-pect at the Episcopal Church of Heavenly Rest at 2 East 90th Street after a 911 call at around 1 p.m. The call was made when a male suspect was seen stacking pew cushions and torn paper onto pews and then lighting them on fire. Church staff said when they asked the suspect what he was doing, he replied, “Don’t worry, it’s a New Year’s Fire.” The suspect continued into the vestibule where he began hitting a glass window with a paper weight, police said. The FDNY joined the call and extinguished the fire, while the suspect was caught by police trying to escape out the back door and then brought to New York Presbyterian Hospital for evalu-ation. The suspect, identified as Regis De Fou-cauld of the Upper West Side, was charged with second-degree arson, criminal mischief, and reckless endangerment.

ROBBERY:SIRI COULD BE A WITNESS(24TH PRECINCT)

According to police, a male suspect robbed a 19-year-old male victim in the street on November 13 at 11 a.m. The suspect approached the victim at the northeast corner of Central Park West and West 104th Street. After saying he had a gun, the suspect told the victim to follow him and when they reached West 105th Street between Central Park West and Manhattan Avenue, the suspect took an iPhone 5S, headphones, and a paycheck from the victim’s pockets, police said. The victim wasn’t injured, and the suspect fled in an unknown direction. For more details of the suspect, view the surveillance photo at man-hattanexpressnews.nyc.

Police Blotter

Midtown North Precinct306 West 54th Street212-767-8400

Midtown South Precinct357 West 35th Street212-239-9811

17th Precinct167 East 51st Street212-826-3211

19th Precinct153 East 67th Street212-452-0600

20th Precinct120 West 82nd Street212-580-6411

23rd Precinct162 East 102nd Street212-860-6411

24th Precinct151 West 100th Street212-678-1811

26th Precinct520 West 126th Street212-678-1311

C e n t r a l Pa r k Precinct86th Street and Transverse Road212-570-4820

Anyone with information regarding these incidents or other suspected criminal activity can call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS, visit the Crime Stoppers website at nypdcrimestoppers.com, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All calls or contacts are strictly confidential.

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Money Where Cuomo’s

Mouth Is On Homelessness

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

Early last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo garnered

big headlines with an executive order mandating the removal of homeless people from the streets when temperatures fall below 32 degrees. “We have to get people in off the streets,” the governor said, as his aides were reportedly explaining that anyone who would try to sleep outdoors in such con-ditions is clearly demonstrating a mental impairment that warrants their involuntary removal.

That sort of blanket policy flies in the face of customary think-ing and perhaps a constitutional mandate that individuals cannot be forced into shelters against their will. And as quickly as crit-ics began pointing that out, the Cuomo administration started to waffle. “Obviously, the order does not mandate involuntary com-mitment for competent individ-uals,” Alphonso David, the gov-ernor’s counsel, said in a written statement. The order, David later told the New York Times, is “a directive, an administrative policy is just that: It’s not an edict, and it’s subject to interpretation.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who over-sees the largest number of home-less residents in the state — with an estimated 58,000 in shelters and perhaps another 3,000 to 4,000 on the streets every night — dismissed the news value of the governor’s move, saying, “At this point it seems to simply reit-erate what’s already in the law and the power we already have to bring people in off the streets. And we use that power.”

And de Blasio’s police com-missioner, Bill Bratton, who one might think has enough dust-ups on criminal justice questions to handle without wading into homeless policy, nevertheless backed up the mayor, saying, “I don’t see it changes anything in what we actually do or what we have done for 20 years.”

The quibble, coming just as

the season’s first true cold snap descended on the city, seemed liked the latest in a wearying series of pissing contests between the state’s and the city’s dueling Democratic chief executives — many of them, frankly, initiated out of Albany. It seemed partic-ularly distressing that New York-ers without even the most basic of amenities — a roof over their head — would find themselves at the center of all this.

Divisiveness over how to tack-le homelessness widened this week in a Wednesday morning article in the New York Times, in which city officials pushed back, saying it was a $65 million cut in state rental assistance funding in Cuomo’s first budget as gov-ernor in 2011 — which triggered the loss of an additional $27 million in federal funds and was denounced by de Blasio’s pre-decessor, Michael R. Bloomberg — that resulted in the city’s shel-ter population mushrooming by 16,000 in three years’ time.

Fortunately, hours later, in his annual State of the State Address, the governor offered what sounds like a substantive response to the homeless cri-sis that could move the debate beyond petty political maneu-vering. Pledging to devote $20 billion to housing solutions over five years, Cuomo said the state would create 100,000 units of affordable housing, 6,000 new supportive housing beds, and 1,000 emergency shelter beds, as well as providing an array of other homeless services. Over 15 years, he said, the total commit-ment would be $28 billion and would provide 20,000 new sup-portive housing beds.

The governor’s effort would complement an in i t i a t i ve announced by the mayor in November to create 15,000 new units of supportive housing. Credit de Blasio with taking the initiative there.

Cuomo’s announcement also included a call for audits of local

homeless services agencies around the state by either the state or city comptroller. “Shel-ters they find to be unsafe or dangerous will either immedi-ately add local police protection — or they will be closed… If an operator’s management prob-lem is systemic, a receiver will be appointed to run that system,” the governor said, in a warning that might rankle the mayor, given the widespread talk that Cuomo doubts de Blasio’s man-agement smarts and the fact that City Comptroller Scott Stringer is a potential 2017 challenger.

But, whatever etiquette is or is not required in making such a pronouncement, the fact is that it’s hard to argue with gov-ernment accountability. Cuomo aides, cited in Wednesday morn-ing’s Times piece about the city administration pushing back on the governor’s homeless remov-al directive, emphasized that they keep a close eye on what works and make money avail-able to such programs and pull it back from stragglers. That’s as it should be.

Cuomo is certainly no stranger to the intricacies and nuances of housing policy and homeless-ness, having founded, back in the 1980s, a non-profit aimed at expanding housing opportunities for economically disadvantaged people and then having run Pres-ident Bill Clinton’s Department of Housing and Urban Develop-ment. De Blasio, meanwhile, has identified making New York City more affordable as a cornerstone of his agenda and, as mentioned above, is also attuned to the need to create supportive housing for those living in poverty.

Could tackling homeless-ness provide a safe harbor for Cuomo and de Blasio to play nice together? Don’t hold your breath. But we can at least hope — and we should certain-ly expect — that they will find some way to work together on this vital public need. n

EXPRESS OURSELVES


With So Many Play Dates, Where Is the Play?BY LENORE SKENAZY

A s Brooklyn mom Tamara R. Mose was preparing for a play date with a mom

and child she didn’t know well yet, she paused to look at her home: “All the bathrooms are clean, dishes put away, beds made, floors Swiffered, laundry folded, garbage cans emp-tied, and toys put in their place and sorted for age appropriateness.”

And then there was the food: “The kitch-en is full of aromas, boiling pasta, simmer-ing sauce, freshly sliced carrots, celery, and oranges, all displayed on sparkling white plates. Lined up are juice boxes boasting their 100 percent organic label, plastic forks and plates, and beside them some half-folded dis-posable white napkins.”

Add to this some whole-wheat crackers, cheeses (three varieties), and the fact her daugh-ter had straightened up her room, too, and Mose, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College, couldn’t help but notice: This was not just about fun. This was a performance — “an effort to present ourselves as a decent black family.”

From there it was just a hop, skip, and a jump — and a year of interviewing a broad swath of New York parents — to writing “The Playdate: Parents, Children, and the New Expectations of Play,” which will be published by NYU Press this spring.

A play date, Mose argues, is really sort of a double date — “You’re essentially dating the other parent. You’re checking them out. What do they do for a living?”

Parents arrange play dates ostensibly for

their children’s fun and enrichment, but really, there’s a lot more going on. Yes, they want their kids to make friends and play, but the parents want to make friends, too. And usually, Mose observed, they want to make friends with other parents demographically the same as them — friends who might even be able to help them in the job world.

At one play date Mose arranged at her son’s request, she and her then-husband invited over two couples. One was a lawyer married to an artist, the other was a screenwriter married to the curator of a book lecture series. By the end of the play date, Mose and the curator real-ized that they knew someone in common and he invited Mose to give a lecture at his series.

“It was at this moment that I started to real-ize how many times the parents I had invited to a play date either knew someone I knew,” said Mose, or offered some kind of connecting: Come to this show with us, let me introduce you to so-and-so.

The upside is obvious: friendship, networking, even babysitting backup. But Mose’s book looks at the downsides, too, starting with the way play date culture perpetuates class stratifications. The parents who believe in organic hummus and no television are unlikely to have many play dates with the parents who put out soda and chips with SpongeBob in the background — even if the kids really like each other at school.

What’s more, simply by perpetuating the play date imperative — that is, the idea that of course children need constant supervision either by parents or caregivers — the idea of kids running around on their own seems

preposterous. When she was growing up, Mose recalled, she’d go down the street knocking on friends’ doors, asking them to come out to play.

“Almost all the parents that I interviewed did the same thing,” she said. Play was kid-driven and often out in public.

Now that kind of fun is considered too dan-gerous — even though crime is back to the level of 1963. The modern play date is organized, supervised, and private.

“So if Joe and John get in a fight and they’re in the room next door, they can come out and complain to me to make it better,” said Mose. “Whereas if they’re out on the street playing they need to figure it out.” Play date-raised kids lose out on certain childhood lessons their par-ents got just as a matter of course: How to deal with a quarrel, or even a bully. Is this one rea-son we have so many anti-bullying assemblies today? Kids just don’t get any real-world prac-tice in standing up for themselves, or shrug-ging off an insult?

What’s more, Mose said: Kids who are indoors, surrounded by amusements, may not learn how to make a sword out of a stick, or a boat out of a square of pavement. They do, however, learn how to speak to adults. And in the end, she said, that confidence and poise may serve them well in the business world.

In fact, play dates may help both generations in the business world. They just might not help children actually learn how to play.

Lenore Skenazy is a speaker, author, and founder of the book and blog “Free-Range Kids.” n

EXPRESS YOURSELVES

Going to the Mat Against Ultimate FightingBY DEBORAH GLICK

A fter years of spending sub-stantial time and money lob-

bying to overturn a state ban on cage fighting, the Ultimate Fight-ing Championship expects that Albany’s upcoming legislative ses-sion will bring it success. But to ensure the outcome it seeks, UFC has filed suit against New York State to overturn the ban on ulti-mate fighting. Part of the group’s messaging strategy in Albany has been to rebrand cage fighting as Mixed Martial Arts, which sounds much more innocuous.

The notion that MMA is a sport is difficult for me, and many oth-ers, to accept. I am a big sports fan

who follows several sports, includ-ing professional football. Of course people who play sports can get injured and we are learning more every day about the long-term health implications of even minor concussions. But the goal of these sports — whether it is scoring points by hitting a ball with a bat, throwing a ball through a hoop, or shooting a puck into a net — is not to punish one’s opponent but to win the match. But “winning” in Mixed Martial Arts is predicat-ed on physically beating up one’s opponent. On that basis alone, I believe that New York State should not repeal its ban on this activity.

The attempt to sanitize MMA is betrayed by the facts. According

to a study in the March 21, 2014 issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, about one-third of professional MMA matches end in a knockout or a technical knock-out. A technical knockout occurs when a fight is stopped by a referee who determines that a fighter is no longer able to defend him or her-self. This study indicates that there is a higher incidence of brain trau-ma in MMA than in boxing or other martial arts.

MMA is cage fighting, a no-holds-barred fight using punches and kicks, as well as wrestling holds and moves from judo, boxing, and kickboxing, with the fighters wear-ing fingerless gloves and no head protection. The cage itself adds to

the reality that this is a more vio-lent version of the familiar boxing match held in a ring. In a fight that goes to a knockout, repeated blows to the head are common. In other contact sports, such as football and ice hockey, which proponents of MMA point to in order to demon-strate that all sports are danger-ous, significant protective gear is utilized, and even this protection doesn’t prevent frequent severe injuries.

In response to increased under-standing of the dangers of repeat-ed concussions, the NFL has instituted a “concussion proto-col” to monitor head injuries. If

c GLICK, continued on p.21


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there is any question, an indepen-dent doctor on the sidelines can remove a player from the game. In football and other sports, we see teams engaged in the effort to score points. In MMA, the combat is one-on-one, with the only goal being to disable an opponent.

Aside from the potential long-term physical damage to young fighters, legalizing this type of fight-ing as a sport is a negative, even destructive message to young peo-ple. As larger questions are being asked regarding contact sports like football, some high schools have suspended their programs, and many programs are actively work-ing on new techniques to reduce potential injuries, such as chang-es in tackling tactics. What is the rationale for New York to legalize a new and more violent “sport”?

Proponents of MMA claim that New York State is missing out eco-nomically because of the ban, which prevents matches from being hosted by local venues. But we don’t know if the long-term health-care costs to New York will out-

weigh the benefit to New York ven-ues. There is no question that it will greatly enrich UFC, but is that a reason to eliminate the ban?

New Yorkers need to ask wheth-er this “sport” is so important to our future that we will change the law and risk fighters’ exposure to greater long-term healthcare and long-term disability costs. The recent NFL settlement is roughly $1 billion, to be paid out over the next several decades to players who suffer from specific debilitating con-ditions recognized to be a result of their playing football.

Is UFC, a much newer entity, going to be in a position to provide the same level of compensation? Or will New York find itself providing for fighters who face long-term care needs that they and their families cannot afford?

New Yorkers need to ask their state legislators where they stand on this issue and whether they support eliminating the ban on cage fighting and, if so, why.

Deborah Glick has represented the West Side’s District 66 in the State Assembly since 1991. n

c GLICK, from p.19

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BY STEVE ERICKSON

I n an interview last year, director Serge Bozon divided filmmak-

ers into two categories: those who draw everything from their imag-ination and those who essential-ly fictionalize their own lives. He placed Philippe Garrel and the late Jean Eustache in the latter cate-gory. Garrel’s latest film, “In the Shadow Of Women,” is a radically austere melodrama of adultery. I don’t know enough about the film-maker’s personal life to have any idea whether it’s autobiographical, but in the past Garrel has based his work on his involvement with radical politics, his struggles with heroin addiction, and his relation-ship with singer Nico, whom he has acknowledged as the love of his life.

Garrel is also a child of the French New Wave; he began work-ing at age 16 in the mid ‘60s, although his first decade or so of films were non-narrative. While he finally seems to have found steady, if marginal, American dis-tribution, his early work merits an Eclipse/ Criterion box, particular-ly the beautiful “The Inner Scar,” in which he and Nico traveled the world to find stunning locations for

360-degreee pans.Pierre (Stanislas Merhar) and

Manon (Clotilde Courau) are a married couple who work togeth-er on documentaries directed by Pierre. She takes on the less glam-orous task of editing the films, although she accompanies him to interviews. (In an early scene, Pierre talks to an elderly World War II resistance fighter.) Pierre takes a young woman, Elisabeth (Lena Paugam), as his lover, quite casu-ally. He treats both her and Manon shabbily. Unbeknownst to him, Manon is also having an affair, which Elisabeth discovers by peep-ing through a café window. When she reports that back to Pierre, he reacts with outrage but remains quiet about his own infidelities.

Like most of Garrel’s films, “In the Shadow Of Women” is in black and white. The 35mm cinematog-raphy is high-contrast. It’s rare for movies to be shot on actual cellu-loid these days, and perhaps as a consequence, Garrel shot each scene in only one take. The film’s look evokes the rough-hewn pho-tography of early French New Wave films, although “In the Shadow Of Women” is slightly slicker. When Manon and Pierre argue for the

first time, the room is lit so that Pierre is sunk in deep darkness and she is sitting in bright light. The one French New Wave film to which “In the Shadow Of Women” seems overtly indebted is François Truffaut’s “The Soft Skin,” another drama of adultery. The Truffaut-in-spired feel is enhanced by a voice-over supplied by Garrel’s son Louis.

The whole plot of “In the Shad-ow Of Women” rests on a Parisian culture of outdoor cafes, as well as a kind of bohemia that may only exist in art these days — or, at least, in cities whose rents are cheaper than Paris or New York. In the opening scene, the landlord barges in on Manon to demand the rent and tell her that the cou-ple has 48 hours to pay up or move out. But this subplot has nothing to do with the main narrative of the film and is never followed up on. Nevertheless, the film returns repeatedly to the couple’s precar-ious economic status. Manon’s mother tells her that she should have gotten a degree in Oriental Studies so she could have worked as an interpreter, and, late in the film, we see that she’s gone back to school to study that subject.

“In the Shadow Of Women” was

written by a team of four screen-writers. Two of them are male, two female. This group includes the legendary Jean-Claude Carriere (who worked with Luis Buñuel) and the should-be-legendary Arlette Langmann (who wrote “A Nos Amours,” directed by Maurice Pialat and perhaps the best female coming-of-age film ever made.) The film does justice to both male and female perspectives on adultery, although the fact that it features a male voice-over gives Pierre’s P.O.V. a slight edge. It captures Pierre’s rank hypocrisy quite well; while it’s true that both partners cheat, Manon gives up her affair as soon as Pierre discovers it and calls her on it. Pierre treats her with an anger to which his behav-ior leaves him no right. It takes her much longer to learn about his infidelity, a period during which he continues to sleep with Elisabeth.

The film never plays like a male fantasy of middle-aged attractive-ness in which 50-year-old men have teenage girls falling for them; Merhar is reasonably young and still handsome enough that it’s understandable for a 21-year-old to sleep with him. In the end, “In the Shadow Of Women” is a film about betrayal, and its final scenes suggest how that betrayal has con-sequences in the political realm beyond one marriage. n

Self-Righteous Infidelity

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Stanislas Merhar and Clotilde Courau in Philippe Garrel’s “In the Shadow of Women.”

IN THE SHADOW OF WOMEN Directed by Philippe Garrel

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BY PAUL SCHINDLER

The Earth’s Cretaceous Era is more recent than the Juras-

sic Era popularized by the big-gest dinosaur movies of all time, but it featured a more diverse dinosaur population than its preceding period.

This coming weekend, the Amer-ican Museum of Natural History opens a new exhibition in its Fossil Halls featuring a cast of a 122-foot-long dinosaur, one of the largest ever discovered. Paleontologists, working in a desert region of Pata-gonia, unearthed remains of the giant herbivore in 2014 and say the creature lived approximately 95 to 100 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period. This dinosaur, which belongs to a group known as titanosaurs and is esti-mated to have weighed around 70 tons, has not yet been named.

The excavation was carried out by a team from the Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio in Trelew, Argentina, led by José Luis Carballido and Diego Pol.

The dinosaur is so large that it grazes the fourth floor exhibition hall’s 19-foot ceiling, and its neck and head extend out toward the elevator banks to welcome visitors to the museum’s dinosaur floor.

The exhibit runs January 15 of this year through January 19, 2020. n

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A member of the paleontologist team that unearthed the 122-foot titanosaur is dwarfed by one of the massive creature’s bones.

MUSEUM SPOTLIGHT

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FROM ELIZABETH CADY STANTON TO ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

“Women Take the Lead: From Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Eleanor Roosevelt, Suf-frage to Human Rights” is an exhibition of important treasures dating back to the early days of the Women’s Suffrage Move-ment, some of them unseen for more than a century. Featuring some 75 rare posters, broadsides, pamphlets, books, and man-uscripts, the show features items used in the early 20th century to promote voting rights for women, which were finally won in 1920. Most of the pieces in the exhibit are on loan from the privately held Dobkin Family Collection of Feminist History, built over 25 years by New York philanthropist Barbara Dobkin to chronicle women’s experiences and achievements in both the political and domestic realms. The show will feature material about Eleanor Roosevelt, who, once women won the right to vote, joined the League of Women Voters and other political and labor groups, and immersed herself in Democratic politics. The exhibit takes place in the home Roosevelt and the future president shared prior to their move to Washington and where FDR began his recovery from polio in 1921. Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, 47-49 E. 65th St. Jan. 14- Apr. 2; Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is free. More informa-tion at roosevelthouse.hunter.cuny.edu.

INTIMATE MOMENTS WITH FRED HERSCH AND FRIENDS

J a zz p i a n i s t a n d co m p ose r Fred Hersch has produced some of the most arrestingly beautiful solo and trio projects in recent years, and in four shows over two evenings, the eight-time Grammy nominee welcomes several fellow world-class play-ers to join him in a variety of combinations, including several intimate duos. Guests include Hersch protégé Sullivan Fortner, on piano, performing solo and in duet with

vibraphonist Stefon Harris. Hersch also performs solo and in duets with clarinetist Anat Cohen and guitarist Julian Lage. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room, 10 Colum-bus Circle. Jan. 15-16, 7 & 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $55.50-$75.50 at jazz.org.

A BIT OF THE WEST END ON UPPER BROADWAY

Over the next several weeks, Sympho-ny Space hosts several NTLive screenings of National Theatre stage productions from Lon-don. Sally Cookson’s adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre” strays from the 1847 novel but with a cast that includes Madeline Worrall, Felix Hayes, and Melanie Marshall creates what New York critic Andy Humm, in Manhattan Express’ sister publication Gay City News, has called “an engrossing play… [that] has tremendous theatrical and emotional coherence and resonance.” Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater, 2537 Broadway at 95th St. Jan. 17 & 27, 7 p.m.; Jan. 20, 1 p.m. Tickets are $24; $22 for seniors; $16 for those 30 & under at sympho-nyspace.org. On Jan. 27 & Feb. 16, 1 p.m. & Feb. 6, 6 p.m., Symphony Space screens the new Ken-neth Branagh Theatre Company’s production of “The Winter’s Tale,” starring Branagh, Judi Dench, Tom Bateman, Jessie Buckley, Hadley Fraser, and John Dagleish. “Pulling off ‘The Win-ter’s Tale’ is a high-wire act, and Branagh and company succeed in an auspicious start to their season,” wrote critic Humm.

OUR SKYLINE’S FUTURESome of the most influential names in

determining the shape of the New York skyline come together to discuss what’s in store in Manhattan’s future. New York Times real estate writer C.J. Hughes moderates a panel that includes Pritzker Prize-win-ning architect Richard Meier, Bjarke Ingels, whose firm was chosen to design Two World Trade Center, Annabelle Sell-dorf, known for her work on New York City museums, libraries, and historic renova-tions, and Rick Cook , a leader in envi-ronmentally responsible, high-performance

buildings. 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St., Kaufmann Concert Hall. Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 at 92y.org.

LET’S PLAY CARDSO n l y t h r e e d e c k s o f E u r o p e a n

hand-painted playing cards are known to have survived from the late Middle Ages. These include the Cloisters Playing Cards, which form the core of a small exhibition highlighting one of the more intriguing works of secular art. Examples of cards from the ear l iest hand-painted wood-block deck as well as 15th century German engraved cards, north Italian tarot cards of the same period, and the finest deck from the early 16th century complete the dis-play. Collectively, the figures and scenes depicted reflect shifting worldviews during a period of change, as Europe emerged into modernity. The Cloisters, 99 Margaret Corbin Dr. at Ft. Tryon Pl. Jan. 20-Apr. 17, daily, 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Admission is $25; $17 for seniors; $12 for students. Informa-tion at metmuseum.org/exhibitions/list-ings/2016/world-in-play.

CRISIS POINT: OVERCOM-ING OUR BROKEN POLITICS

Democrat Tom Daschle and Republican Trent Lott, both former majority leaders of the US Senate, have come together to write a book sounding an alarm about the partisan gridlock that has paralyzed Wash-ington in recent years (including during their tenures as leaders). Tonight, the two authors of “Crisis Point: Overcoming Our Broken Polit ics” are joined by Atlantic magazine staff writer Molly Ball to dis-cuss their ideas at the start of what could be the most politically polarized year yet. 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St., Buttenwieser Hall. Jan 20, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 at 92y.org.

LAURIE ANDERSON GETS TO THE HEART OF IT ALL

“Heart of a Dog” is musician, artist, and director Laurie Anderson’s first fea-ture since her 1986 concert film, “Home of the Brave.” A valentine to her beloved Lolabelle, it is also a meditation on the security state that has grown up in the midst of her West Village neighborhood in the decade and a half since 9/11. The film doesn’t touch on the death of her husband Lou Reed, but he’s listed in the credits. As critic Steve Erickson wrote, “Human and animal mortality are clearly on her mind. We should al l be so lucky as to have a method of dealing with it as productive as making ‘Heart of a Dog.’” Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th St. Jan. 24 & 31, Feb. 7, 7 pm. Tickets are $14; $12 for students & seniors at sym-phonyspace.org.

NEIGHBORS EVOLVING: THE UPPER EAST SIDE & DUMBO

Development, real estate, and urban history come together for an interactive discussion about how two very different

Manhattan Treasures

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METMUSEUM.ORG/ LANDESMUSEUM WÜRTTEMBERG, STUTTGART


Saturday, February 27th

from 10am–3pm

25 Pine Street in FiDi

All offerings are FREE and open to the public

PRESENT

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Plan your summer in one day! Camp activity trials and registration all under one roof

Register and RSVP at GreenIvy.com/Events

Enjoy free performances, demonstrations, family adventures and summer-themed foods as you learn more about the very best local Day and Overnight Camp options for 2016.Registration is required for drop off and drop in activities. RSVP is appreciated for family Plan & Play day attendance.

Pixel Academy Minecraft Club drop in to the Pine Street School Design Technology Lab available from 10-3 for kids 6-14 years old.

Battery Park Montessori Summer Camp Sampler drop off available from 10-12 and 1-3 for children 2.5-6 years old.

A Long Submerged Operatic Jewel Rises AgainBY ELI JACOBSON

G eorges Bizet’s “Carmen” is the “C” in the operatic “ABC” triad of most popular

works. While “Carmen” has totaled more than 1,000 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, this season’s New Year’s Eve premiere of Bizet’s “Les Pêcheurs de Perles” marked only its fifth Met performance and the first since the 1916-17 season.

Bizet’s youthful exercise in exotica has been performed in New York in two productions by the New York City Opera and in concert by the Opera Orchestra of New York. It’s also been per-formed in regional houses. Still, while most lis-teners have heard the tenor-baritone duet “Au fond du temple saint” many times in concert and on recordings, the opera itself is unfamiliar.

Bizet wrote the opera in 1863 when he was only 25 on a commission from the Théâtre Lyrique, which was sponsoring new operas by young composers. The melodic inspiration, evocative orchestration, and dramatic touches of Bizet’s score foreshadow his greater achieve-ment a decade later with “Carmen.” Young, untried composers generally don’t have the benefit of good librettos, and “The Pearl Fish-ers” has a contrived, overfamiliar plot concern-ing a romantic triangle of two fishermen in love

with a Hindu priestess vowed to chastity. The story seems to run out of steam in Act III, with a tacked-on happy ending. The setting in ancient Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) played into the craze then for Orientalia. The story seems to take place in a kind of mythical exotic “Operaland” of palm trees, ruined temples, and starry skies.

Penny Woolcock’s production originated at the English National Opera in 2010, garnering poor reviews. It underwent revisions in a 2014 revival and was unveiled at the Met on the last day of 2015. Woolcock evidently got third-time lucky — cheers overwhelmed a few scattered boos when the production team took their curtain call. The setting is updated to the latter part of the 20th century in a seaside shantytown somewhere on the Indian coast. Kevin Pollard’s costumes for Leïla and Nourabad are colorfully traditional, while those for Nadir, Zurga, and the chorus are more modern. The beauty and potential destruc-tive power of the ocean are omnipresent; almost every scene is dominated by water suggested by rolling cloth or video projections (by 59 Pro-ductions). During the prelude, deep sea divers swim the watery depths searching for the titular pearls. Jen Schriever’s lighting is atmospher-ic, evoking light reflected on water. The sets by Dick Bird are temporary dock-like structures of recycled wood and corrugated metal. A pervasive

sense of rural poverty, social isolation, the dom-inance of religion, and vulnerability to the forc-es of nature creates an environment where the story has human reality. The loss of picture book romanticism is a gain in dramatic verisimilitude.

The first scene did have me worried — cho-risters milling around reading newspapers and smoking while Zurga and his minions are canvassing for political office. However

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Mariusz Kwiecien and Diana Damrau in the Penny Woolcock production of Georges Bizet’s “Les Pêcheurs de Perles” at the Metropolitan Opera.



as the plot progresses, it focus-es more on the intimate human drama of the three main protago-nists. The updating became irrel-evant and Woolcock’s intelligent personal direction fully exploited the strengths of a talented trio of star singers.

As Nadir, Matthew Polenzani sang his dreamy arias and duets with elegant musicality and a bewitching command of French vocal style and tone production.

The hypnotic romance “Je crois entendre encore” ended with an endlessly floated high C in mixed head voice — a style of singing that has seemed to survive only on century-old Pathé 78 shellac recordings rather than on modern opera stages.

As Leïla, Diana Damrau sound-ed vocally restored — her silvery, brilliant soprano precisely navi-gated the florid music but gained color and depth in the dramat-ic duets of the second and third acts. In fact, Leïla’s third act con-

frontation duet with Zurga, “Je frémis, je chancelle,” emerged as a vocal and dramatic highlight of the evening. Damrau’s sung French is excellent and she is a committed, positive performer.

Mariusz Kwiecien’s natural-ly handsome voice and presence should be a good fit for Zurga. But Kwiecien still attempts to puff up his lyric baritone by clamping a dark cover on his tone while push-ing for volume. Luckily the role isn’t excessively heavy or high-ly-ing. When Kwiecien lightened up,

his singing improved.Native Frenchman Nicolas

Testé, who is married to the prima donna, imbued the priest Nour-abad with a mellow soft-grained bass-baritone and a handsome brooding presence.

Gianandrea Noseda conducts with driving rhythmic force, dra-matic propulsion, and vibrant color. Noseda’s musical interpre-tation and Woolcock’s production revealed the muscular strength in Bizet’s opera as well as its fragile decorative charm. n

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New York neighborhoods — the Upper East Side and DUMBO — were transformed into sought-after hubs for culture, food, art, and real estate, and how they’re likely to evolve going forward. Simeon Bankoff is executive director of the His-toric Districts Council, a leading New York voice for historic preservation; Julie Golia is director of public history at the Brooklyn Historical Society; Aleksandra Scepanovic is man-aging director of Ideal Properties Group; Jacky Teplitzky is a Douglas Elliman real estate broker with broad expertise in speaking about the Upper East Side; and Sherry Tobak is a senior vice president of sales at Related Companies who is the lead on the company’s Carnegie Park project. Kathy Clarke, the senior national reporter at the Real Deal, moder-ates. 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St. Jan. 27, 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 at 92y.org.

A TROUBADOUR AT 75: JOAN BAEZFolk legend Joan Baez celebrates her 75th birthday surrounded

by friends and collaborators including Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Brown, David Bromberg, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris, and the Indigo Girls. Beacon Theatre, 2124 Broadway at 75th St. Jan. 27, 8 p.m. Tickets are $59.50 - $149.50 at beacontheatre.com.

CELEBRATING WILD FILMSNational Geographic, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Explor-

ers Club, Exploration Science, and the University of Miami sponsor the 2016 New York WILD Film Festival spotlighting films in the exploration, adventure, wildlife and environmental genres. During the Jan. 28-31 festival, Jonathan Demme (“Silence of the Lambs,” “Philadelphia”) will receive the award for Best Conservation Hero Film for his documentary “What's Motivating Hayes,” about the pioneering investigative biologist Tyrone Hayes. The Explorers Club, 46 E. 70th St. For the complete lineup of films, visit nywildfilmfestival.com.

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Kids CountSKATING IN CENTRAL PARK

Central Park offers two venues for ice skat-ing in the winter time. Wollman Rink, located on the east side of the park btwn. 62nd & 63rd Sts. is open Mon.-Tue., 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Wed.-Thu., 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Admission is $11.25 for adults on weekdays; $18 Fri.-Sun. and on holidays. Kids, 11 and under, pay $6 every day; seniors pay $5 on weekdays; $9 Fri.-Sun. and on holidays. Skate rental is $8 and lock rental is $5, with a $6 deposit. Check Woll-manSkatingRink.com or call 212-439-6900, ext. 12 for more information. Lasker Rink is located at the park’s northern end, btwn. 106th & 108th Sts. and the Loch and the Harlem Meer. Lasker offers two rinks — one for skating and one for high school hockey teams. Hours are Mon.-Thu., 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.; Fri., 10 a.m.-4:50 p.m. & 6 p.m.- 11 p.m.: Sat., 1 p.m.-11 p.m.; Sun., 12:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Admission is $7.50 for adults; $4 for kids, 11 and under; $2.25 for seniors. Skate rentals are $6.50, with lock rentals at $3.25 with a $4 deposit. More information at laskerrink.com.

BANG THE DRUMBAM Precussion mixes slapstick comedy

with explosive, electrifying, over-the-top per-cussion action. The characters, with powerful rhythmic abilities and offering deliriously funny sketches, look like they walked straight out of

a cartoon and speak a unique language: BAM-speech, spoken only by them, but understood by everyone from 3 to 83. Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th St. Jan. 17, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. Running time is 60 min-utes. Tickets are $15 at symphonyspace.org. For more information about the company, visit bampercussion.com/en.

WINTER WARM-UPLincoln Center presents a free winter

party, indoors and out, for families. Dance the cold away at the Silent Disco Dance Party in Alice Tully Hall, with hour-long sessions beginning on Jan. 23 at noon, 2:30 p.m. & 5 p.m. (Even though the dance party is free, you must register at family.lincolncenter.org/events.) From noon-to 3 p.m., watch live ice sculpture carving across Lincoln Center’s

plazas. And warm up again with free screen-ings of the Alvin Ailey American Dance The-ater in the David Rubenstein Atrium at noon and 3 p.m.

YOU’RE NOT IT!With an out-of-this-world sound evoking

both the Go-Gos and ‘90s power-punk, Seattle’s The Not-Its! mix crunchy guitars and smooth, four-part harmonies, for a show full of perfectly crafted pop gems about every-day kid stuff from the first day of school to taking a bath. Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th St. Jan. 23, 11 a.m., for a 60-min. show. Tickets are $15 at symphonyspace.org.

JEAN SIBELIUS CELEBRATES FINNISH MYTHOLOGY

The New York Philharmonic presents “Young People's Concert : Once Upon a Time: ‘Myths and Legends,” highlighting the sweeping music of Jean Sibelius, born 150 years ago, that captured the Finnish epic poetry of “Kalevala” in such a powerful way that it is credited with encouraging the movement for that nation’s independence. The program is appropriate for youth ages six and up. Lincoln Center, David Geffen Hall. Jan. 23, 2 p.m. Tickets are $13-39 at goo.gl/rhzbo2.

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