Don’t Build a Bridge to Diller Island with our Tax Dollars
By George Capsis
On February the 11th the thirteen members of the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) will sit down to accept the offer of billionaire Barry Diller to spend $130 million dollars to build a 2.9 acre, undulating, reinforced concrete island supported by three hundred concrete mushrooms standing 70 to 30 feet above the Hudson. Designed by [...]
Full StoryNo Kisses for Hershey
What is an ex-pat to do? Unless Hershey’s recent action can be turned around,all those imported childhood favorites from Cadbury’s—Kit-Kat, Toffee Crisp, Crunchie, and many more—will be banned! And although, as it has for years, Hershey will continue to make Cadbury products for sale in the U.S., the ingredients are different and, as the connoisseurs [...]
Full StoryPolished Notes on Sixth Avenue
“George, perhaps you can just play gently.” This last minute advice from the conductor before my debut performance as a member of the fifth grade class band is a humbling segue into my present task of informing the good readers of Westview News about the newly installed 40 rank pipe organ gracing the choir loft [...]
Full StoryWelcome A “Board”
Dr. Jonathan Keith, a sometime contributor to this paper, passed his oral board examination for the American Board of Plastic Surgery in December. Big whoop you say? Not so fast… the board certification process is not merely a rubber stamp. The pass rate varies year-to-year, but in 2012 over 20% of the candidates failed. Candidates [...]
Full StoryExtreme Wealth Continues to Grow out of Control, While Inequality Worsens for the Rest of Us.
When I saw an arresting graphic on Bill Moyer’s show indicating that only 40 individuals owned as much as half the US population, I knew I wanted to share it with the readers of West View. When we asked the author for permission, he generously let us reproduce his original article. There is no question [...]
Full StoryHow Much is a Life Worth
I feel for Douglas Durst. He not only grew up with a mentally disturbed and obviously psychopathic brother—who probably killed three people and now most certainly wants to kill Douglas— but the latest horror is brother Robert freely disgorging his fantasies in an upcoming TV series. When the Times came to Douglas to get his [...]
Full StoryRuth Berk Is Free! (Almost)
Ruth Berk, the 91-year-old Christopher Street resident, and a historic part of the Village—she ended a career as an opera singer to open the Waverly Lounge in the Hotel Earl on Washington Square North, and became its resident cabaret singer—finally returned home to 95 Christopher Street on January 22, after spending 11.5 months in two [...]
Full StoryWest Village Original: James Stewart Polshek
This month’s West Village Original is architect James Stewart Polshek, born in Akron, Ohio in 1930. Among the many projects he has designed—both nationally and internationally—are the Clinton Presidential Library in Arkansas, the Santa Fe Opera and, closer to home, the Rose Center for Space at the Museum of Natural History,Scandinavia House, the Lycée Françaisde [...]
Full StoryGung Hay Fat Choy – Happy New Year
2015 is the Year of the Sheep, and Chinese New Year is Thursday, February 19ththis year. The 16th Annual Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade in New York will take place at 1:00 PM on Saturday, February21, 2015 featuring floats, marching bands, lion and dragon dances galore, Asian musicians, magicians, acrobats and local NYC organizations. If [...]
Full StoryScience from Away: Fountain of Youth?
Paul Bert, who died in 1886 in Hanoi at the age of 53, was a Frenchman who wore many hats, varying from politician to scientist. He is best known for his understanding of life at both high pressure—he understood the malady that beset a person returning too quickly from the depths of the sea, the [...]
Full StoryRare Bird
The birders are coming, the birders are coming! Tall birders, round birders, old birders learning new tricks. Birders knee-high-to-a-mailbox, with binoculars already weighing them down. Curmudgeonly “I’m just listing the birds” birders. Amiable birders, who conversationally use words like frugivorous and greater primary-coverts, as a way to draw novices into their adoring circle. Birders from [...]
Full StoryThe Jefferson Market Courts – A Timeline (Part One)
The Jefferson Market branch library was originally a courthouse. But there were courts on the site well before 1877, when the present building opened. The Jefferson Produce Market opened in 1833, alongside a fire tower and a small jail. A police court (called a “policeoffice”) opened there in 1845. Then, in one form or another, [...]
Full StoryWalk About New York: From Communion to Condo, Part 1Churches Are Born Again as Residences
Two historic Greenwich Village churches—the Village Presbyterian Church and the Washington Square Methodist Church—have seen their pews turned into pantries, their altars altered and their choirs silenced. From the worship of God to the worship of mammon, both houses of worship are now divided into condominiums. We will consider each edifice in a two-part series. [...]
Full StoryA Road Forward From The Silver Scandal
Paul Newell is a Male Democratic District Leader for a portion of Sheldon Silver’s District. He was an active NYC leader of Barack Obama’s historic campaign to win the NY Presidential Primary in 2008, and the next year he ran an insurgent campaign against Silver for the Assembly. Coming out of nowhere, he won the [...]
Full StoryTaste of Greenwich HouseUnveils 2015 Culinary Trends
Foodies, bloggers, and celebrity chefs are already speculating what the shining star on 2015’s culinary stage will be. Kale and quinoa were the super foods of 2012. 2013 was the year of the dumpling. In 2014, meatballs were supreme. For 2015, the Taste of Greenwich House—the Village’s premier food festival and annual fundraiser for the [...]
Full StoryRestaurant News Location, Location, Location
The Hamilton Soda Fountain Opening a restaurant in the West Village is like starting on second base in the baseball game of life. After all, you have foot traffic from all over the world, you have the “tony” clientele, and you have an aesthetically pleasing backdrop for your new venue. If you do become a [...]
Full StoryRestaurant News A Jaded Restaurant Goer is Fooled!
Barbara Chacour, a fellow WestView Newscontributor and a neighbor in the West Village,came into my office and asked what Iwas writing on this month. Having been real busy for the holidays, been in SF working and eating around, and having eaten all over town this week—honorable mention to Tuome in the East Village, Little Park [...]
Full StoryLower Levels Better Living
Some of us are feeling new and refreshed from our January purge of those glorious holiday toxins. Most of us hope we’ve finally paid off those holiday credit card bills! I, myself, didn’t skip a beat and had a very boozy New Year’s Day “recovery” brunch with my Brooklyn crew. For those easing themselves back [...]
Full StoryEarly French Film at the Jefferson Market Library
France is considered the birthplace ofcinema and has always been at the centerof developments in the medium. StartingFebruary 21st at Jefferson MarketLibrary and continuing on the next fourSaturdays, the class “A Cultural Historyof French Film” will explore the richhistory of French film from its originsin the late nineteenth century until theend of the Second World [...]
Full StoryJim Fouratt’s Reel Deal: Movies That Matter
I am writing this column from Park City, Utah home of the 26th SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. Today there are actually two Sundances. The one you see on TV full of stars—Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Robert Redford, Iggy Azalea, Common and John Legend—partying on Main Street. The other Sundance, the one Robert Redford founded to celebrate [...]
Full StoryA Call for Integrity
“These charges go to the very core of what ails Albany—a lack of transparency, lack of accountability, and lack of principle joined with an overabundance of greed, cronyism, and self-dealing.” — U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara January 21, 2015 U.S. Attorney Bharara has said it before, but this time he got the biggest fish, the King [...]
Full StoryJanuary VID Meeting
On Thursday, January 8, the Village IndependentDemocrats (VID) held theirmonthly meeting. There were brief reportsfrom newly elected president Nadine Hoffmanand Democratic district leader KeenBerger. This was followed by elections forclub positions and a new executive board. Frieda Bradlow and Ellen Peterson were elected as co-treasurers, Kathy Slawinski as recording secretary, and Ed Yutkowitz and Jonathan [...]
Full StoryRent Control a Bad Deal
Dear Mr. Capsis, The loss of your paper for West Village residents would be a tragedy. That said, youreditorial comment in “Only The Rich…”while well intentioned was erroneous inimplying that rent control was a good deal, [and] in fact cementing that view by using the $500 and $600 rents of people you know as examples. [...]
Full StoryTitanic Facts
Hello George, Your coverage of Pier 55 is thoughtful and informative as are all your articles on the Village, and I thank you for that. What I take exception to is a contributor listed on your masthead who doesn’t do his homework. Page 5, Barry Benepe; Pier55: An Island Rises The Titanic lost over 1500 [...]
Full StoryWhat’s Love Got to do With “Likes”?
To figure out what you love, it is helpful to examine your “likes.” Everyone is familiar with the phrases “to know her is to love her” and “to know him is to love him.” Exploring your own list of likes—getting to know yourself— has the potential to increase the love in your life. You might [...]
Full StoryJe Suis Charlie! Blasting De Blasio:Is it Dinkins Redux?
We live in one of the most segregated communitiesin America. It is ironic becausewe also live in one of the most politicallyliberal communities in America. In CommunityBoard 2, which goes from 14thStreet to Canal Street, Hudson River toFourth Avenue/Bowery, only 2% of theresidents are Black. Other than a little partof Chinatown, we live in a [...]
Full StoryEating Healthy When it is Cold Outside
Brrr…it’s cold out there. You either don’t want to get out or you can’t. You know you have to eat, and should eat healthy, but wonder what, how, and maybe even…Idon’t care. Does this sound familiar? We’re here to help. As I tell my patients, be realistic and take it one step at a time. [...]
Full StoryDiller Builds a Monument to Indifference
PS 41 graduate, and architectural critic for The New York Times, Michael Kimmelman, thinks that One World Trade Center looks as hostile and forbidding as General MacArthur in dark glasses, (NYT 11/30/14) and that the solution to affordable housing is pre-fabricated apartments, the size of a parking space, piled up one on top of each [...]
Full StoryPier55 – A Neighborhood Park
By now, many WestView readers have read about Pier55, a spectacular new public park that we hope to open as part of Hudson River Park in 2019. But how did we get here? The story of Pier55 really dates back 40 years, when activists faced off with public officials who were determined to build Westway [...]
Full StoryPier 55: An Island Rises
On Wednesday, November 3rd, the Community Board Two Waterfront Committee heard and saw its first presentation of the design for a new Pier 55. (The Bromley Map of 1911 shows no Pier 55, the only missing pier on the island). This design is truly extraordinary in many respects. Unfortunately, in none of the many views [...]
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