By Arthur Z. Schwartz In mid-December I got a worried phone call from George Capsis. An older woman (who I will call Fran for purposes of this article) had found her way to George’s apartment, holding a clipping from WestView about another older woman who George had referred to me with a landlord problem. She
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Notes From Away: War Story
By Tom Lamia I write on the day of the memorial service for George H.W. Bush. Today and during the preceding four days, many have spoken privately and publicly of the remarkable character of Bush 41. A connection between his character and the effect of his service in World War II has been noted as
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If Only God Had Money
By George Capsis Carol Yost, who scans the news with a mesh grid, sent me a Daily News article of November 26 that offered that tenants and developers “stand together” to push for changes in the rent law that will protect the safeguards in the original law of some 80 years ago. Hmm. Well, I do not
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City Council Proposes 18 Tenant Protection Regulations
By Carol Yost At long last, with a new Democratic majority in Albany, chances are better than ever to break the stranglehold the greedy landlords have held on our city. By hook AND by crook, saying they’re only trying to make an honest buck, they’ve managed to get laws that allow them to eliminate rent-regulated
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Don’t Just Sit There, Resist—Part VIII: The Trump Effect
For each action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. —Newton’s third law. By Alec Pruchnicki After the Electoral College put President Trump in the White House, it appeared that he had invigorated the Republican Party. Mainline Republicans were cowed by his political followers into being spineless enablers of his policies at the
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Jerusalem: No Winners
Hello George, I just want to thank you and WestView for publishing the article “Jerusalem: No Winners.” This article presents a viewpoint that most Americans will not see in the mainstream press. And that is one that suggests that there is an appalling, ongoing and illegal situation in Gaza of which many Israelis and most
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City Council Supports Single-Payer Health Act
By Penny Mintz The changes in store for Beth Israel are temporarily on hold. Mt. Sinai is deferring its application to the Department of Health for a certificate of need, which the state must approve before the changes can be made. According to Arthur Schwartz, who is pursuing a lawsuit against Mt. Sinai and the
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Jerusalem: No Winners
TAGS: POLITICS, NEWS, OPINION By J. Taylor Basker I have lived and worked in the Middle East since 2007, teaching at an American university in Amman, Jordan. I’ve made frequent trips across the River Jordan to visit Jerusalem, relatives in Israel and friends in Palestine. The first time I entered Israel I was shocked to
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L Train Shutdown and Beth Israel Closure Litigation Proceeds
By Arthur Z. Schwartz Almost as though related by fate, two community-based lawsuits addressed to attacks on the fundamental livability of our community proceed in parallel through the Court system. Both cases involve a fundamental decision by government to largely ignore the needs of our community and proceed while giving “lip-service” to the concept of
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“I Have What?” A Toxic Diagnosis
By A. I. Freeman At this year’s annual physical, the doctor entered the examination room with a grim expression. He said, “Tests confirm you have the onset of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” I was shaken. “My gosh, I have T.D.S.! How serious is it?” He replied, “Only Stage One. I’ll share a patient’s history: He was a retired Navy SEAL, a burly rugby prop with Stage Three T.D.S. After taping
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Don’t Just Sit There, Resist—Part VII: Elections Have Consequences
By Alec Pruchnicki The wheels of justice are slow to move, but when they do they grind exceedingly small. —popular axiom. The people of the country have done our part, for now, and produced a Democratic House of Representatives. Many of the congressional investigations of the Trump administration that have been undermined, if not completely
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The Story Emerges
By Tom Lamia Life everywhere has resembled a bad novel these past two years. Bad, but with all the ingredients needed for commercial appeal: good guys, bad guys and all shades of characters in between; intrigue worthy of Hitchcock; foreign malevolence on the scale of Peter Lorre; cryptic influences sure to be made known but
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Why I Am Voting for Cynthia Nixon (Not Deborah Glick) For State Assembly
Glick Has Not Earned Your Vote. Nixon Represents Change. Think About It! By Jim Fouratt In the September issue of Westview, I wrote that Cynthia Nixon, if she did not win her primary against Andrew Cuomo, would be a perfect candidate to run on the Working Families ballot for NY State Assembly opposing 28 year
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Cynthia Nixon for Assembly? Time for A Change
By Arthur Z. Schwartz There was not a single Assembly District in the State of New York where Cynthia Nixon did better against Andrew Cuomo in the September 13th Democratic Primary than our 66th Assembly District. Yes, our bastion of progressivism gave her 57.5% of the vote against a man who spent over $20 million
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Squirrel Hill: It Could Have Been Greenwich Village
By Arthur Z. Schwartz I have struggled throughout my adult life with the question of the Jewish religion, and the “proper” parameters of a Jewish identity. With a name like Arthur Schwartz, I will never get far from those ancestors who escaped the Russian Czar and arrived in the Jewish diaspora of NYC. I was
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Gentleman Jerrold: Our Fierce Warrior in the House
By Catherine Revland The NRA is Twitterpated over Congressman Jerrold Nadler. “To say it bluntly,” warns #AmmoLand, “the man would be a nightmare for Second Amendment supporters if the Democrats take control of the House.” Aside from being the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, with jurisdiction over the Department of Justice, the FBI,
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Indian Summer
By Tom Lamia As I write, in mid-October, I am feeling moderately pleased at having finished the bulk of my annual fall list of chores. The boat has been returned to its winter quarters in Newcastle, ten miles up the Damariscotta River. The son and grandson of its builder will look after it while the
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Notes from Away: Judicial Notice
By Tom Lamia Like you, perhaps, I spent time recently watching the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have views on this sort of thing that are deeply associated with my past life as a lawyer. I went to Harvard Law School, graduating in the mid-1960s, a classmate and friend of Stephen
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Don’t Just Sit There, Resist-Part VI: What’s Next?
By Alec Pruchnicki Get it through your heads. They’re dusting off the hot seat for me! Lee J. Cobb as Johnny Friendly in On the Waterfront. The panic that President Trump is exhibiting as his minions flip on him (Flynn, Cohen, Manafort and others) reminds me of the fictional corrupt union official at the end
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Why You Didn’t See Penny Mintz on the Ballot
By Penny Mintz If you are one of the 1,900 people, during those brutally hot days at the end of June and the beginning of July, who signed a petition to get me—Penny Mintz—on the ballot as candidate for Member of the Democratic Party State Committee, you may have noticed that my name did not
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Politics and Civics at the Jefferson Market University
By Nancy Aravecz In anticipation of this November’s midterm elections, the Jefferson Market Library is offering three courses on political themes that will be free and open to the public. These classes are geared toward helping members of the Greenwich Village community and beyond brush up on American civics, politics, law, and history. First up is
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We Won! (Postcards to Voters, Part Three)
By Sarah O’Neill When Alessandra Biaggi whupped entrenched incumbent and former IDC leader, Jeff Klein, as five other challengers for New York State Senate also triumphed, cheers likely erupted in 50 states. From late July to early September, the Postcards to Voters (PTV) volunteer army, now over 20,000 strong across the U.S., had an education
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Don’t Just Sit There, Resist! Part V: Hey, Young People. Vote!
By Alec Pruchnicki There appears to be a lot of enthusiasm within the Democratic party for the upcoming midterm elections. The recent victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC, as I like to call her), the numerous victories in special elections around the country, several high profile primary fights in New York, and massive opposition to the
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Hoylman/Epstein Work to Save Hospital
By Penny Mintz Members of the Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel (CCSBI), including one of our founding members, State Assemblyman Harvey Epstein, met with State Senator Brad Hoylman in early August. This is the fourth in a series of meetings CCSBI has held with elected officials. Since April the coalition has met with City
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Why I Am Voting for Cynthia Nixon and Jumaane Williams
By Arthur Z. Schwartz On Thursday, September 13th (make sure not to forget that our state leaders, ever anxious to depress voter turnout, moved this election to a Thursday) we face an incredibly important primary election in NY State. While Trump neophytes are winning Republican primaries, progressive Democrats are winning races all over in States
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Postcards to Voters (Now Arriving in NYC by the Thousands!)
By Sarah O’Neill Nine of New York’s Democratic State Senators have caucused with Republicans for years, tipping control to Republicans. Thankfully, we will have challengers for each one of them in the primary on Thursday, September 13th. And from now until September 7th there is an easy, fun way to help the good guys: #PostcardsToVoters
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DOT Lies to the Feds About 14th Street Plan
By Arthur Z. Schwartz I reported last month that the 14th Street Coalition, a group of 15 Block Associations, condo associations and co-ops, had won a major victory in their fight to keep the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) from shutting down 14th Street to vehicle traffic, other than buses, as part of the efforts
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Cynthia Nixon Comes to 69 Charles Street!
By George Capsis Arthur Schwartz, who besides being a prolific political contributor to WestView, is currently the lawyer for Cynthia Nixon’s campaign to become the next Governor of New York. As such, he kept e-mailing me he was going to get Cynthia to come to 69 Charles Street for an interview. And bang! The day
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Notes from Away: Maine’s Test Case
By Tom Lamia After having his nose and jaw broken by his drunken father, an 11-year-old boy ran from his Lewiston, Maine home never to return. Living on the streets, with French as his first language and not attending school, he survived, but with memories, one supposes, that were not charitable towards all. Of his
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Don’t Just Sit There, Resist—Part IV: Take the House!
By Alec Pruchnicki If you think President Trump’s performance in Helsinki was great, and the direction of the nation is just peachy, this article is not for you. This is for people who consider Trump a danger to the country and the world, and are desperately looking for a way to resist. There is a
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CB3 Resolution Aids Beth Israel’s Demise
By Penny Mintz July was a very busy month for getting people to sign an order to get candidates on the ballot for the Democratic primary on September 13th. So it was a slow month for the work of the Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel (CCSBI), a 12-member organization of community groups that have
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Penny Mintz Takes on Governor Cuomo In Disguise
By Arthur Z. Schwartz Over the last few months, WestView readers have been kept abreast of the efforts to keep Beth Israel Hospital open thanks to the reporting done by Penny Mintz, a 40 year resident of West 11th Street. Penny has been the Chair of the Coalition to Save Beth Israel Hospital, a group
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Feds To NYCDOT/MTA—Hold Up On 14th Street Plan! DOT Says—Do It Sooner!
The last month we saw lots of conflicting information released about the plans developed by the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), to address the impact of the April 2019 shutdown of the L Train for a (“planned”) 15-month repair of the Canarsie Tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The developments
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Saving Humberto
By Arthur Z. Schwartz Humberto Gonzalez Bernal has lived at 88 Horatio Street, in a 250 square foot studio, since 1957, shortly after, at the age of 26, he arrived in the US from Cuba, a country then living under the brutal US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. He always harbored a dream of returning to Cuba,
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A Criminal Fine Is Not A Grant
I think it is very important that we spotlight the instinctive double-think attitude of our politicians. The Federal government has indicted the management of the New York City Housing Authority for its sophisticated practice of concealing gross neglect in the apartments of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers from the eyes of federal inspectors. Those
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Advocates Stop Mitchell Donian’s Eviction
Mitchell Donian, 87 years old, called George Capsis on May 30, extremely upset. After living at 204-210 West 10th Street for 60 years, his landlord, Village Rose LLC, an absentee landlord, was threatening him with eviction because his apartment was cluttered. George said: “call Arthur, he will help you.” So Mitch, who I have known
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Jim Fouratt’s HAVE YOU HEARD!
July 2018 As I go to press, the visible takeover—call it a coup if you want—by agents of the 1%is in full bloom. Just as Occupy Wall Street warned. The writing was on the wall when the Senate confirmed the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. His vetting by and recommendation to Trump
