CHINESE INTERN AT WESTVIEW: As part of a collaboration with the Foundation for Global Education, Publisher George Capsis and Chinese intern Shen Xiaowen host 40 Chinese professors at St. John’s with Father Graeme to review Shen’s experience as an intern. “We learned more about controlled news in China than Chen learned about a free community
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The Youth Orchestra of Milan Joins The Youth Orchestra of New York
Two of what might be called the world’s most prestigious youth orchestras will come together on August 9th and 10th in joint performances here in New York. From Milan, the home of Giuseppe Verdi, the Orchestra Sinfonica Junior (OSJ) joins The Children’s Orchestra Society of New York (COS), the youth orchestra founded in 1962 by
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When Buildings Sing
By Ananth Sampathkumar, Partner—NDNY Architecture + Design Cesar Pelli, the world-renowned Argentinian architect, died on July 19 at the age of 92 in New Haven, Connecticut. The architect gained international acclaim for the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, a pair of skyscrapers 1,483’ tall built from 1993-1996. The design combined Islamic iconography of the ‘Rub el
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Why do Prescription Drugs Cost So Much in the U.S.?
By D. Cascardo, MA, MPA, CFP Although many Americans have insurance that covers most of the prescription drugs they take, many more do not have any insurance or have ridiculously high co-payments with the plans they do have. Those who need to take “brand name” drugs rather than generics, may find those drugs are not
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Hats On to Linda Zagaria!
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor With her dark hair curving against her alabaster cheek in a 1920s bob, and her signature hat, Linda Zagaria is instantly recognizable. Influenced by the stars of the silver screen, her elegant dresses and constant pearls evoke the era between the wars. Her passion for the Art Deco period
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(Why) Build a Full-Size Field on Gansevoort Park?
By Brian J Pape, AIA Architecture Editor A crowd of over 100 anxiously awaited the unveiling of new concept designs for the Gansevoort Peninsula part of Hudson River Park (HRP) on July 24. The joint meeting of the CB2 Parks Committee and the HRP Trust (HRPT) commenced at the new 75 Morton middle school cafeteria,
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Abolishing the Senate
By James Lincoln Collier It hardly needs to be said that the United States government is today so riven by conflict that it can no longer function. Liberals are at war with conservatives, Republicans are at war with Democrats, the president is at war with everybody. In most parliamentary democracies the voters choose a legislature
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The Truth of the American Revolution
By James Henry The American Revolution was fought over freedom…or was it? Tax-wise, the British colonists in North America had it pretty easy. That’s why they came to the New World—to get away from the crowded over-taxed opportunity-starved Old World. The colonists had the opportunity to own land, enjoy the fruits of their labors and
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What’s Happening at Clarkson Square?
By Brian J. Pape, AIA Architecture Editor Chances are you don’t recognize the name, but in the real estate world you can choose any name you want for your projects or even for whole neighborhoods. Witness the One Morton Square moniker from a few years back and, now, the West SOHO label for Hudson Square.
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Landmark Preservation Today
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, Architecture Editor The loss of the original NYC Penn Station caused citizens here to focus on the importance of our monumental buildings and special historic homes being lost. But the movement to preserve special places grew. Economic and population pressures continued to threaten our historic fabric, from Plymouth Rock to
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Olive Oil 101
By Annunziata Gianzero What do you really know about olive oil? Most everyone in New York likes to think of themselves as a foodie, as we make great sport of knowing the latest restaurants, chefs, diets and even trendy kitchen gadgets (Whaaat? You do not own a home sous vide cooker and an Instant Pot?).
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Troy Conyers, “Keeper of the Karan Kingdom”
By Allyn Freeman The address bespeaks good luck and good fortune: 711 Greenwich Street at the southeast corner of Charles and Greenwich Streets. For decades, this spacious building served as a parking garage, and then, for a few years, it was converted into a paper-recycling center. In the late 1990s, it was sold, and the
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Notes From Away: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By Tom Lamia Next week (as I write this) I start a five- or six-week residence in The West Village—a kind of forced exile from my farm in Maine—during the highlight of the year, midsummer. I will, of course, survive this absence and will return for the glories of fall and the changing of the
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August Escapes
By Gordon T. Hughes II Among the things New Yorkers and Parisians have in common is summer travel. I love that about those two cities. Paris, like New York, has wonderful neighborhoods, and of course my favorite neighborhood in either city is the West Village. Most weekends you see people of all ages on Fridays with small
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The Legendary Caffe Cino Designated a NYC Landmark
By Robert Heide In 2015 the Stonewall Inn was granted landmark status by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. On June 18th of this year, six historic sites important to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people movement were also designated historic landmarks. They are the LGBT Community Center on 13th Street, the former
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Book Review: Crimes and Punishments: Entering the Mind of a Sentencing Judge
Crimes and Punishments: Entering the Mind of a Sentencing Judge By Frederic Block ABA Book Publishing, Chicago, 210 pages, $34.95 In U.S. District Judge and West Villager Frederic Block’s new memoir, he explains the challenges of punishing people for criminal convictions. It is a book of great self-reflection, written in a plain and engaging style
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Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel Applies for Drastic Changes
By Penny Mintz Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel filed an application with the State Department of Health on July 22nd, 2019. The application seeks approval for the relocation and construction of a replacement building for the Beth Israel Hospital on 16th Street and First Avenue. If this application is approved, the hospital, with an 800-bed capacity, will
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West Villagers Can Walk to the Sea
By Deborah Clearman Once again, Pier 40 is in the news, as the State Assembly has amended the Hudson River Park Act to allow office development on the pier. However, with some stipulations. Remarkably, the legislation calls for a boathouse, at least the size of the current boathouse, providing small-scale boating and water access on
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On the Threshold of a Global Cure for AIDS
By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D. Since the 1980’s, the emphasis in the medical community has largely been on treating or preventing AIDS—not curing it. However, recent advances have created new opportunities to develop a global cure, which could end AIDS for good. Logically, the goal with any infectious disease must be to nip it in the
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Google Lease Opposite Pier 40 Big Loss for Our Community
By Arthur Z. Schwartz Folks who follow Pier 40 doings may remember a few years back when there was great noise and cheering for the sale of air rights from Pier 40 to the new owners of the St. John’s Terminal, a gigantic multi-block commercial office space running from Spring Street to Clarkson Street opposite
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The Hottest Street in the Village
By Ananth Robert Sampathkumar, Partner NDNY Architecture + Design It was a particularly warm day in July. I had barely parked my Citibike at the docking station at Eighth and Greenwich Avenues, when I felt the incredible heat reflecting off 1 Jackson Square. Completed in 2008, the 11-storey high-end residential condominium sits on a corner
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Polly’s Folly Will Be Adjudged This Month!
Disability Rights Lawsuit Against the MTA to Follow By Arthur Z. Schwartz I spent 24 years on Community Board 2. During those 24 years I interacted with numerous City and State Agencies (mostly the Parks Department and the Hudson River Park Trust), and I experienced the Community Board as a means by which the efforts
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Yesterday’s Justice, Today’s Dilemma
By George Capsis Oh wow—it was only a week ago that Dusty heard a rumor that our garrulous head WestView distributor (and former seaman) was retiring to Florida and I thought, “Where does he get the money to retire to Florida on the peanuts I pay him?” And, bang, yesterday I heard he was not going
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WestView Instagrams the Issues of the Day
By Karen Rempel Last month we reported that WestView News has begun a video interview series in which George Capsis speaks with prominent cognoscenti about newsworthy subjects. We discovered that George is a natural TV maven, delivering compelling stories and coaxing his subjects to tell all. This month, WestView is pleased to announce we continue
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Captain O’Hare: PO Israel Torres Has Got to Leave the 6th Precinct!
By Arthur Z. Schwartz It isn’t often that I write about cases I lose, but this month I just must. During the third week of May I represented a former neighbor (whose privacy I will respect by calling him “J”) in a civil rights trial arising out of his arrest in 2014. The arrest was
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Tenant Protection and Drastic Rent Drop Came Too Late for Cornelia Street Café
By Karen Rempel The New York State Senate Bill S6458, the “Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019,” came a few months too late to save the Cornelia Street Café. But at least the Café’s former landlord and its managing agent, the terrible duo Mark Scharfman and Mitchell Rothken, are hoist on their own
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How to Celebrate an Urban Summer
By Naomi Sternstein It’s summer in the city, in case you haven’t yet heard! The grasses beg for our picnic blankets, the flowers and expansive trees muffle the usual bustle and noise. We will do anything to be outside (recent heat advisories aside, when outdoor tables on the porch of San Ambroeus or in Hudson
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Bleecker Flower Shop
By Salvador V. Bleecker Flower Shop opened in March 2019 as a flower studio located on Bleecker Street in the West Village in Manhattan. It was founded by two Spanish friends, Valeria Castillejo and Bebes Ferrer, who bonded over a passion for flowers, nature and artisan work. When Valeria was looking for an apartment they
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The Grey Marrow
By Loraine Gibney The 20th century saw many advancements in the medical field; however, many people in Greenwich Village, New York experienced much loss and calamity. In the West Village, the Northern Dispensary was established for the treatment of the poor in 1791 in the neighborhood of City Hall. As the West Village grew the
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Envisioning Its Future: Challenges for the Country’s Only Music School for the Blind
Interview with Dr. Leslie Jones, executive director of The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School (fmdgmusicschool.org) By Barbara Chacour SURPRISING HISTORY: The New York Lighthouse for the Blind was started in 1905 by sisters Edith and Winifred Holt (of the Holt publishing family), who had been inspired by a group of blind schoolchildren’s enthusiastic attendance
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The Psychology of Perpetrators, Bystanders, and Victims of the Holocaust
By Leila Amin Attempting to explain human behavior during an event as unfathomable as the Holocaust can seem like an impossible task. However, although a nation of bystanders was crucial to its implementation, so too was an army of active perpetrators, each of whom had to undergo a transformation of their own in order to
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Cell Phone Free Restaurants, Please
By Jill McManus Can anyone tell me of a good restaurant where I can be spared the self-absorbed conversations of cell phone users all around me, and rest my body from microwaves? Many people are trying to fight a robotical addiction to their cell phone. And many others are becoming EMF-sensitive from an overload of
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50th Anniversary of Stonewall: Remembered through Dramatic Work
By Celeste Kaufman Phoenix Lindsey-Hall, a ceramicist, photographer, and mixed media artist, has a story to tell; and what better time to share her story than during the celebration of the Stonewall uprising? She explores themes related to queer communities, and the violence perpetrated against them. Originally focusing on photography, earning degrees from Parsons School
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Rocketman Launches Taron Egerton into Stardom
By Raphael Carty Rocketman is an audacious reimagining of Elton John’s life as a musical set to the Elton John/Bernie Taupin songbook, with touches of whimsy and surrealism creating a fantastically entertaining film. Beneath the stardust and sequins is a darker story than I had gleaned from the headlines over the years. From his parents
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The White Horse—A Pub with Food
By David Porat Having spent a good bit of time in London and England (having visited many times over four or so decades), I have seen and tasted some very poor English food. But I have also had some very good meals in rustic pubs in unassuming, unpretentious, settings. These meals can be straightforward and
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A Banner Year for Terrence McNally
By Robert Heide The year 2019 has certainly been a banner year for playwright Terrence McNally. He won a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, has a Broadway revival at the Broadhurst Theater of his 1987 two-character play, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, starring Audra McDonald as Frankie and Michael Shannon as Johnny; and
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Nicky and Me
By Webster Stone I am not the guy you’d expect to know a 1970s heroin kingpin. But I knew Nicky Barnes pretty well. I first met him fifteen years ago. He didn’t go by Nicky Barnes, not anymore. He was in the U..S. Federal Witness Protection Program. He went by Clayton “Clay” Williams. The name
