By George Capsis Below, I have included my (slightly revised) email exchanges with Valerie Combs—the Senior Vice President and Head of Communications at IAC—between October 25th and 27th. These emails conveyed my attempts to meet Barry Diller in person. Hi George, I run communications for IAC, and wanted to get this to you on
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Diller Island is Dead
By George Capsis At 7:00 a.m. on September 22nd, I came out of the shower to a ringing phone and stood, still dripping, as Westview contributor Barbara Chacour announced with exhilaration, “Diller Island is Dead.” These were the very words printed on the front page of the New York Times article by Charles V. Bagli
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Rally Demands—No Beth Israel Shutdown
By Arthur Z. Schwartz The fight to keep Beth Israel open took a major step forward on September 24th. Over 100 neighbors gathered outside the hospital to demand that it cease shutting down, that services be restored, and that nothing more be done without a thorough government review of the potential consequences of a shut
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Your Own Concert Hall
By George Capsis You, and only you, reading these words, can have and give to others a 120-year-old marble-clad Gothic hall in which to hear the great music of the past and allow others to hear it for the next century or more… You can do that by attending the first concert at the Church
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Lawsuit Filed – Stop Beth Israel Closure!
By Arthur Z. Schwartz On August 30, 2017, as promised, a lawsuit was filed to block the further closure of Beth Israel Hospital, and to restore the services already cut. The lawsuit, titled George Capsis et al v. Howard Zucker as Commissioner of the N.Y. State Department of Health, addresses the ruse pursuant to which
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Will We Get St. Veronica’s?
By George Capsis As I waited for a ham sandwich at an outside table at Eric’s Restaurant on Hudson Street, I became aware of a gray-haired (and as I confirmed later) Irish-American lady walking towards me, trying to figure out if I was indeed the ‘George of WestView’. “Are you George?” she asked, followed by,
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The Happy Marriage of Pier 40 and Pier 55
Michael Sorkin is My Doppelganger If I could have convinced myself to do the math, I might have become an architect and, if I had, I would now be Michael Sorkin. I mean, he does exactly what I find myself doing—telling NYU how to better expand its campus and badgering Barry Diller to make his
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We Get a Concert Hall
By George Capsis Oh wow! In the 15 years I have been producing WestView, we have never received such heartfelt support for an idea we proposed as we have for converting the now locked St. Veronica’s Church into a concert hall for classical music—including a plea from a locked-out parishioner. We sent an elaborate proposal
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Bureaucrats Should Not Practice Medicine
By George Capsis I have macular degeneration in my right eye and became aware that my eyesight was getting worse. I started to condition myself to accept it as one of the penalties of old age but my eye doctor said, “No, you have a bit of debris from the insertion of an artificial lens
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Notes and Perspectives from Away: Summer in Maine
By Tom Lamia In a sweeping gesture of nature (and with a mass exodus from cities) summer comes to Maine. It brings euphoria, like the last day of school in fifth grade: There is no limit to tomorrow and no interest in yesterday. One day in early June, it is cold, wet, gray, and generally
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The Closure of Beth Israel Will Be Stopped
By Arthur Z. Schwartz June 11th marked a really sad day for those of us who live downtown. On that date, Beth Israel Hospital closed its Center for Labor and Birth. Life is funny. The Catheterization Lab doctors at Beth Israel saved my life in January, when I got wheeled in with a heart attack.
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The Times Reads WestView
By George Capsis Oh wow! The day after WestView’s June issue came out with the front-page article (“The Ego Fight for Diller Island”) about the now years-long ego clash between Wall Street tough guy Steve Novogratz and staid developer Douglas Durst to control and shape the Hudson River Park, Charles Bagli of the Times released
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Musical Resurrection of St. Veronica’s Church
By George Capsis On June 25th, the New York Catholic Archdiocese changed the locks and closed the 115-year-old St. Veronica’s Church on Christopher Street (just opposite the Archive Building) to the very few who still tried to attend the continually diminishing religious services. Another church has been lost to the ever- waning call of traditional
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The Ego Fight for Diller Island
By George Capsis In a recent two-part article by Lincoln Anderson, the now years’ long ego tussle to control the development of the Hudson River Park was traced, culminating in the now locked-horns court battle to stop Pier 55, also known as Diller Island. As we go to press, an appeal by the U.S. Army
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MoMA Lost My Art
By Martica Sawin In 1979, MoMA curator Kynaston McShine was walking along SoHo’s West Broadway when he noticed a display of exquisitely-decorated artificial cakes in the window of the Holly Solomon Gallery. He tracked down the artist, Pat Lasch, and commissioned her to create a monumental cake for the Museum’s 50th anniversary celebration. Lasch, at
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The Landlords Wrote the Laws. Schneiderman Wants to Change Them.
By George Capsis “Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is giving a press conference on tenant harassment and you gotta go,” demanded Nelly Godfrey who lost her Christopher Street restaurant to Steve Croman—the West Village landlord who is now facing prison time and is easily vying for the number one spot as “The Worst Landlord in New
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Billionaire Landlord to Pay $500K to Berks
By Arthur Z. Schwartz After nearly 25 years of litigation, which included a 1996 judgment against the owners of 95 Christopher Street worth over $100,000, and 16 separate holdover and non-payment petitions, peace has finally come for 93-year-old Ruth Berk (for whom I serve as a court-appointed guardian) and her daughter Jessica. After a three-day
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It Takes a Village: Meet Amy Smith, Sexual Assault Care Champion (Extraordinaire)
By Nicole Ferris “I knew what was in store the day I married a super hero,” says Mr. Smith, while driving his wife into Manhattan at 3:00 a.m. to attend to a West Village patient who had just been sexually assaulted. His words are genuine and accurate. Amy Smith is an exceptional human being. She
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The Self-Deception of Wealth
By George Capsis On that glorious morning, when we savored the first Trump defeat, I read what could be—THE court order that might, at last, sink Diller Island. Oh joy! The story goes that Diller Island began more than two years ago with an invitation from budget-strapped Madelyn Wils, who heads the Hudson River Park
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Secretly Dismantling Our Health Care
By Arthur Z. Schwartz As regular WestView readers know, on January 28th I experienced, first-hand, the reasons why we need a hospital downtown, not only Beth Israel, but another one on the West Side. On that morning, my life was spared because, while in the midst of a heart attack, I was able to reach
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A Tale of Two Exhibitions: An Afternoon of Art Without Leaving the Neighborhood
By Martica Sawin The first Whitney Biennial in the new Gansevoort Street building focuses on contemporary political and social concerns. The spacious galleries are well suited to the installations, bulky sculptures, and viewing areas for video that dominate the exhibition. Four blocks to the south, an artist-generated exhibition, “On the Shoulders of Giants,” filled
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Planned Parenthood Happy Hour Benefit
Planned Parenthood of New York City and Left Bank invites you to the Planned Parenthood Happy Hour Benefit. Monday, March 3, 7pm to 9pm. Join us this Monday for a special happy hour benefiting Planned Parenthood of New York City! We will be donating a portion of our sales to the Planned Parenthood of New
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New Film Czar in Fun City (Part Two): An Interview with NYC Commissioner of Media and Entertainment Julie Menin
By Annunziata Gianzero Part One of this article, which appeared in last month’s issue of WestView (http://westviewnews.org/2017/02/started-fun-city-part-one/), recounted the beginnings of the NYC Film Commission and Mayor Lindsay’s influence on bringing the film industry back to New York. In case you haven’t noticed, it worked. Last year marked the 50th birthday of the Commission (now
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Emergency!
Learning About Our Need for a Full-Service Hospital the Hard Way By Robert Widmann I was getting ready for bed and had just sat down at the computer for a final check of my emails when I felt something come over me. I focused on the date and time on the screen for some reason.
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How Do Hospitals Really Work?
By Alec Pruchnicki, MD Arthur Schwartz’s harrowing account of his heart attack in last month’s issue of WestView accurately portrayed many aspects of what a patient goes through in the middle of an emergency situation. But there are a few unanswered questions that should be addressed so that people can understand some of the subtleties
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Facing Death –Thinking About Hospital Closings
By Arthur Z. Schwartz I woke up on the last Saturday in January feeling awful. As I have told WestView readers before, once you survive heart surgery, you develop a heightened awareness of what is going on in your heart. On January 28th, my heart said, “Code Red.” The first decision was where to go.
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Fate Wrote the Front Page
By George Capsis “I have no front page article,” I offered our Production Committee, just days away from closing the February issue. I had hoped that our very experienced and accomplished fundraiser might have uncovered a promising money trail to our very own hospital via organizations that give to medical causes but no, “It takes
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Beth Israel From The Inside
By Arthur Z. Schwartz It has been two days since I was wheeled in here (Beth Israel), thinking that I was about to die. However, I didn’t die. Instead, I found myself in a wonderful place, with awakened memories of my last stay here 29 years ago, when my son Jacob was born. The doctors
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WestView Anticipates Diller Island Flaw
By George Capsis In February of 2015, WestView’s Architecture Editor, Brian J. Pape, signaled the arbitrary complexity and prohibitive cost of casting 300 reinforced concrete mushroom-shaped forms on which the tilted and undulating 2.7-acre Diller Island would rest. Today, January 31, 2017, we learned that construction has stopped, as contractors walked away from even attempting
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Demand Your Hospital Now
Pier 40 Has Been Offered to Locate the New West Village Hospital (You need to say you want it!) By George Capsis “I am not going to support something which is not going to happen,” were the angry words that came at the end of an increasingly tense phone conversation with our only good local
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We Have Our Hospital
By George Capsis “Offices would be something that would generate revenue,” offered Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) Director, Madelyn Wils in talking about what to do with the sprawling 15-acre, but decaying, Pier 40 at West Houston Street. After two abortive and very expensive (to the developers) Requests For Proposals, the HRPT “committee” rejection precludes
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Let’s Build Our Own Hospital and Show Politicians How Democracy Works
By Dr. David Kaufman As our nation heads toward the abyss, led by—pushed by—a pathologic narcissist, who is protected and supported by billionaire oligarchs and Dr. Strangelove Generals, we must remain vigilant, relentless, and outspoken in defense of our democracy and the lives we cherish. Community organizing and local action are crucial activities even while
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IN MEMORY OF THOSE WE LOST
On December 1st, with Council Member Corey Johnson and Mayor Bill de Blasio among the many speakers in attendance, the long awaited AIDS Memorial, across from the former site of St. Vincent’s Hospital, was finally unveiled though only temporarily, as it turned out. For afterwards, to everyone’s surprise, the fence around it was in place
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Collective Rage Seeks a Voice
By Erik Bottcher The November 8th election results have spurred New Yorkers to action like no event in recent memory. On Sunday, November 20th, hundreds of angry, but energized, New Yorkers packed into The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (The Center) on West 13th Street for a community meeting about resisting Donald J.
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How to Speak to Trump
They turned people away at the “I Can’t Believe Trump Won” Meeting (a nightmare from which you can’t awaken). It was a rolling offering of protest meetings and rallies, and I thought of my own response. We live in the digital age. And, while an irritated Trump unburdens himself on Twitter, why not collectively confront him
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When You Close a Hospital You Kill a Medical Community
By George Capsis “The recent article in WestView News about the closing of Beth Israel really needed the entire paper, cover-to-cover, to uncover what’s really happening.” Wow, we don’t get many letters with an opening like this—ever. The letter was written by a 62-year-old West Villager with chronic blocked arteries whose surgery had been done
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Mount Sinai Ends Expected Half-Billion Dollar Loss By Closing Beth Israel
By George Capsis On a dark, chilly, rainy Thursday October 27th evening in the large shabby 1927 Mason Hall, now part of Baruch College on 23rd and Lexington, a sparse group of perhaps 100 mostly seniors took their seats in dispersed clumps to represent the “community” in the “Community Forum to Learn More About the
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Closing a Hospital Ends a Medical Community
By M. Zakir Sabry, MD For a good four-plus years, I avoided the West Village, the same way I avoided the ICU room at the hospital where my father took his last breath. Because the memories of his last few days were so entrenched in my every cell, it was difficult to breathe while walking
