March 17, 2016 - WestchesterGuardian.com

Transcription

PRESORTED
STANDARD
PERMIT #3036
WHITE PLAINS NY
Vol. XI, No. VI
Westchester’s Most Influential Community Newspaper
State of the City
Addresses
New Rochelle, Page 2
Yonkers, Page 6
Mount Vernon City
Council Subpoenas
Administration
Page 4
Thursday March 17, 2016
HAPPY
SAINT PATRICK’S
DAY!
W W W.W E S T C H E S T E R G U A R D I A N . C O M
Page 2
THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN
Thursday, MARCH 17, 2016
GOVERNMENT
New Rochelle: State of the City Address by Mayor Bramson
By Mary Keon
Mayor Noam Bramson delivered the New Rochelle State of the
City Address on Thursday, March 3
at Beckwith Pointe, in an event hosted
by the New Rochelle Chamber of
Commerce.
The Mayor thanked the Chamber
members for organizing the event and
also Finance Commissioner Howard
Ratner for his 23 years of service to the
City; he will retire this year.
Mayor Bramson noted several
benchmarks the city has achieved this
past year:
• the fourth lowest tax rate in the state
• the highest fund balance in 8 years • the
lowest violent crime rate in 16 years • the
smallest municipal debt in 25 years • the
lowest burglary rate in 55 years • the best
bond rating since FDR was in the White
House • a business community that has
sold more goods and services than they
ever have sold in the history of the City
• more than 600 families bought homes
here over the past year and hundreds
more chose to rent here.
He noted that the City is on track to
do even better in 2016 and described the
state of the City as strong. As a result of
the unanimous bi-partisan decision to
designate RDRXR as the downtown
Master Developer, New Rochelle looks
forward to:
• a potential 1 million square feet
of new retail space • a potential of more
than 2 million square feet of new office
space • 550 new apartments • hundreds
of new hotel rooms• annual revenue as
high as $70,000,000.
The Mayor described the New
Rochelle as a City on the rise and open
for business. He noted the advantages of
the recently adopted form based zoning,
flexible but with strong design mandates.
The code will allow new development
to proceed quickly, taking advantage of
markets conducive to construction and
ensure that once built, dynamic design
enhances the streetscape.
For the first time, developers will
be required to contribute to the cost of
infrastructure needed for development
to proceed: enlarged sewer capacity,
additional classrooms and job training;
10% of new housing must be affordable.
“Height bonuses are available to
builders willing to contribute something to the City that enhances our civic
life such as building more classrooms,
creating open space or a new park,
incorporating cutting edge green design
or preserving an historic structure.”
Train access to the east and west
side of Manhattan through Penn Station
will make New Rochelle an even more
desirable location in which to live and
work, “offering some of the best mass
transit options in the country.”
RDRXR has unveiled an illustration of a 28-story tower to be constructed
at a privately owned site on Main Street
that will feature a performance space
while preserving the façade of the
former Loew’s Theatre. “Two other
projects are already under construction,
two more have been approved by the
Planning Board, and multiple major
projects – transformative projects – are
under active discussion with our staff
– ranging from hotels and conference
centers, to condos and rentals, to restaurants and retailers.”
The Mayor also announced a new
marketing campaign to promote New
Rochelle to the region: New Rochelle,
“Ideally Yours,” to enhance business
investment here.
Among the Mayor’s 2016 Initiatives
are replacing nearly 7,000 streetlights
with new LEDs, cutting electricity use
by 2/3 for an annual savings of an estimated $650,000 on the City’s electric
Continued on page 3
SPORTS
Monroe College Men’s Basketball has Bittersweet Ending to Season
Mustangs Defeat ASA in Semis, Fall to Harcum in Regional Final
but Monroe would counter and take
their own four-point-advantage. The
game would be knotted at 37-37 with
1:08. The Avengers scored the final
five points of the half to lead 42-37 at
the break.
The five-point ASA cushion
quickly evaporated in the second
MARCH 3, 2016 NEW
ROCHELLE, NY – The Monroe
College men’s basketball team had a
bittersweet weekend as they hosted
the Region 15 Championship. The
Mustangs defeated ASA College
77-75 in the semifinal on Saturday,
but saw their season come to an end
with an 82-78 loss to Harcum in the
final on Sunday.
and hit a step-back trifecta to bury a
second-straight trifecta. At 18:15, the
Mustangs led 48-47.
The game would be tied once
again at the 14:44 mark. Monroe took
the lead for good on a Tavares jumper
nearly thirty seconds later. The lead
Continued on page 4
Table of Contents
Monroe vs. ASA
In the latest chapter of a storied
rivalry between a pair of New York
City schools, the game came down to
a surreal ending that would have the
Montagues and the Capulets jealous.
Monroe led 77-75 with a second left.
After a timeout, the Avengers took
the ball on the baseline, having to go
the length of the court and hope for
a desperation toss. Victor Corranza,
a reserve player who finished with
eight points, was going to inbound
the ball. After getting the ball from
the referee adn the standing room only
crowd rising to a crescendo, Corranza
stepped over the inbounds line, forcing
a turnover and giving Monroe the ball
back. The Mustangs ran out the clock
and won 77-75.
In front of a raucous, overflowing crowd at the Monroe Athletic
Complex, both sides fed of the
half when the Region XV Player of
the Year, Will Tavares, showed very
briefly, that he was the best player
on the floor. He opened the half
by dribbling away from traffic and
nailing a three-pointer. On the next
Monroe possession, Tavares used a
crossover dribble to juke a defender
Government............................................... 2
Sports.......................................................... 2
International............................................... 4
Creative Disruption.................................... 6
Will Taveras Photo by Brian Balweg
intensity of the crowd. The Monroe
College Mighty Mustangs marching
band also revved up the pressure in
the area that was palpable throughout
the action.
The game was back and forth
early on as the game was tied at 14-all
just seven minutes into action. Monroe
took a 4-0 lead on baskets by Jarron
Chapman and Shackquiel Scott.
Neither side could gain a foothold on
the game for the remainder of the half.
At one point, ASA led by four points,
Community................................................ 6
Arts & Leisure........................................... 8
Eye on Theatre......................................... 10
Music........................................................ 11
Local Lore................................................ 12
Nutrition................................................... 13
Calendar................................................... 14
International Film.................................... 14
Mary at the Movies.................................. 15
Photos of Main Street in Yonkers by M. Keon.
Sam Zherka, Publisher
Mary Keon, Editor /Advertising
Publication is every other Thursday
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Page 3
Collective; Muhammadu, Nazaf, and
Mohamed of ICON, the Islamic Center
of New Rochelle; NRPD Sergeant
Calvin McGee who trains new officers
to engage the community; Firefigthers
Anthony Margiotta, Dan Thompson
and Jarred McLean who delivered a
baby; Alisa Keston, Executive Director
of Volunteer New York, artist Charles
Fazzino who will be involved in
downtown streetscapes and diner manufacturer Phil DeRaffele.
“It’s wheels up. And as our city
takes flight, lifted by the hard work
already done, aiming higher through
the hard work still to do, may we never
forget why the journey matters and why
we are so privileged to take it together,”
he said in conclusion.
GOVERNMENT
New Rochelle: State of the City Address by Mayor Bramson
Continued from page 2
bill and a new bike share program.
Residents will soon have help
in cutting electricity costs with help
from Energize New Rochelle, offering
“free expert consulting, connections to contractors, financing tips,
home weatherization suggestions and
HVAC upgrades. Visit the website at
EnergizeNY.org.”
Starting in May, access to
Community Choice Aggregation will
enable residents to pool their buying
power with all electricity consumers in
several municipalities resulting in lower
prices for a “better mix of clean, renewable energy.”
The Mayor has set several goals
for the waterfront this year: completion of the Waterfront Revitalization
Plan as a precursor to implement the
recommendations of the Davids Island
Task Force and to better enable the city
to qualify for grants. He also suggested
that planners consider the combined
potential of Municipal Marina, Hudson
Park, Wildcliff, and Five Islands for
public access, affordable boating and
performances.
The Mayor thanked Millie Radonjic
and her community volunteers for their
work at Amy’s Greenhouse at Barnard
School. They are now renovating the
Greenhouse at Hudson Park.
The Hudson Park Sundeck has
been repaired under the direction of
Commissioner Bill Zimmerman.
The City thanks the anonymous
donor of $100,000 for new sound equipment and lighting for the bandshell,
under renovation by the New Rochelle
Council on the Arts. The city can now
solicit requests for performance proposals at all four sites.
The Mayor also discussed the need
to move the City Yard, observing that
the public can have greater access to the
waterfront once this accomplished. An
industrial use is no longer the highest and
best use of this location and he is reluctant to commit city funds to make needed
improvements to a facility that should be
re-located. He urges everyone to work
toward identifying a new site for the yard.
The City Council has recently discussed the need for greater funding to
capitol projects. Mayor Bramson noted
New Rochelle has “61 miles of road;
192 miles of sanitary lines; 87 miles of
storm drains and 40 public buildings…
dozens of playgrounds, plazas, traffic
signals and median islands as well as
potholes… The City has estimated
$200 million of need in capital investment against roughly $5 million capital
budget. It can’t go on this way.”
The City Council has directed
the staff to prepare a complete streets
plan for New Rochelle so that each
capital dollar is spent wisely rather than
patching a road that actually needs a
complete re-design. On the agenda are
two-way traffic for Huguenot Street and
a widening of the North Avenue bridge
over 1-95 in collaboration with the
Thruway Authority. The Mayor’s goal
with the capital budget is “a sustained
and predictable policy that rebuilds New
Rochelle over a period of years.”
The Mayor noted the diversity
present in our city, singling out several
residents for special mention, including: Councilman Rice for his work with
My Brother’s Keeper; David Krinick,
Ben Kent, David Gonzales, and Matt
Demeo of the New Rochelle Arts
Winner Westchester County
Arts Organization of the Year
JOB
Dan Montez
Saturday March 19, 2016
Ossining United
Methodist Church
Corner of Emwilton & Route 9
Ossining, NY · 7:30pm
Sunday March 20, 2016
Presbyterian Church
of White Plains
39 North Broadway
White Plains, NY · 3:00pm
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Page 4
SPORTS
Monroe College Men’s Basketball has Bittersweet Ending to Season
got up to ten points when a Taquan
Givens steal led to a Ran Tut layup
that made the score 67-57 with 7:35
remaining. ASA chipped away at the
lead and got within two points when
Corranza turned the ball over. Monroe
held on for the 77-75 win.
In the game, Tavares led all scorers
with 20 points on 8-15 shooting
including 3-4 from the three-point
line. Chapman finished with ten on
5-8 shooting. Tyler Ancrum had nine
points to coincide with five assists.
Monroe vs. Harcum
Twenty-four hours later, Monroe
had to face another nemesis in the final
against Harcum College. The Bears
bested the Mustangs on two previous
occasions earlier in the season. They
took the rubber match between the
two sides, 82-78, in a hard-fought
denouement that nearly lived up to the
Monroe-ASA tilt a day earlier.
It was Harcum whom controlled
action early on in this one, building
a 10-5 lead in the first 3:30 of play.
Monroe would eventually gain the
lead, 15-14 on a driving layup from
Tavares inside of 13 minutes. The lead
grew to six points on a pair of Lawahn
Lewis free throws. He later buried a
three-pointer to push the advantage
to nine. Harcum fought back to lead
41-38 at the break.
With the score even at 45-all at
the 15:48 mark of the second half, the
Mustangs rattled off five-straight points
to grab a 50-45 lead. A Tavares theft
led to a Scott jumper and the ensuing
possession ended with a Tavares three.
Harcum later tied the game at 55-55
with ten minutes remaining.
The final segment of the half saw
two evenly-matched teams battle for
control. The score would be even three
more times before the Bears slowly
built a nine-point advantage. Not to be
deterred, Monroe answered and got as
close as one point when Ancrum found
Givens for a three-pointer to make the
score 79-78, Harcum, with 0:39 left.
Monroe had to foul the rest of the way
and Harcum won 82-78.
In this contest, Tavares once again
led all scorers with 22 points. Ran Tut
came off the bench to score 13, Scott
chipped in with 11 and Ancrum had 10.
The Monroe College men’s basketball
team finished the 2015-16 campaign
with an overall record of 21-9.
Will Tavares shoots a free throw as (22) Felix Carlsson and (12) Hampus
Ahlin watch. Photo by Brian Balweg
INTERNATIONAL
Four Missionaries of Charity Among 16 Killed in Yemen
MARCH
5,
2016,
ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK,
NY: The news that four members of the
Missionaries of Charity, the religious
order founded by Blessed Mother
Teresa of Calcutta, were among 16
people killed today by gunmen at a
retirement home in Yemen, is deeply
troubling and sad.
According to news reports, the
four nuns were handcuffed and then
shot in the head at the retirement home
for the poor and homeless that was run
by the Missionaries of Charity.
While each day seems to bring
a new report of violence against
Christians, the slaughter of these four
sisters brings the horror of the genocide
home. The Missionaries of Charity
are known around the world for their
selfless acts of love and care for the
poorest of the poor. They have worked
in the Archdiocese of New York for
decades, and Mother Teresa herself
was a frequent visitor here. Our love
and prayers are with the Missionaries
of Charity, especially those who labor
so generously here in our archdiocese.
Let us seek intercession of these
new martyrs for the faith, and their
foundress, Blessed Mother Theresa,
as we pray for an end to the persecution and violence against Christians
wherever it occurs.
In a sign of solidarity and loving
support, Cardinal Dolan celebrated
Mass on Saturday, March 6th at the
Missionaries of Charity convent ,
located at 406 West 127 Street, in
Harlem.
GOVERNMENT
Zombie Home or Renovation Ready?
Mount Vernon City Council Investigates Speedy Demolition of 136 Park Avenue
By Mary Keon
Did Mount Vernon Mayor
Richard Thomas order 136 Park
Avenue to be hastily knocked down
on Sunday, January 31st, 2016, at
the City’s expense, as a payback
to a political contributor? Mount
Vernon’s City Council issued subpoenas and convened on Tuesday,
March 8th at 6PM to hear testimony
in an effort to understand how a
home was demolished without the
legally required permits and safety
precautions, putting neighborhood
residents at risk.
A December 2014 fire at 136
Park Avenue in Mount Vernon
damaged the upper floors of the
residential building, rendering it
uninhabitable. The family relocated
within the neighborhood and reportedly remained current on their city
tax payments. Yonkers architect Tom
Abillama was hired to develop plans
for reconstruction, making frequent
filings at the Mt. Vernon Buildings
Department on behalf of the family
and was in the process of soliciting
construction bids when the building
was razed.
According to testimony at the
hearing, Buildings Commissioner
Mark Warren texted John D. Royce,
City of Mt. Vernon Plumbing
Superintendent on Saturday, January
30th, 2016 telling him the Mayor
had called Warren to say “137 Park
Avenue should be a priority and
should be down by mid-afternoon the
following day,” advising that this was
an emergency tear down. The designated contractor was Figueroa and
Sons Contracting of New Rochelle.
Mr. Royce stated he told
Commissioner Warren to have the
contractor’s licensed plumber bring
him the paperwork on Monday, certifying that the appropriate work
had been completed: capping off
sewer, water and gas lines to avoid
contamination to city water and
sanitary sewer lines. Capping is also
necessary to prevent leaks from the
gas lines as well as methane from
sanitary sewer lines.
According to Superintendent
Royce, he is the person designated
by the city to certify on demolition
permits, that a licensed plumber has
completed the necessary work at
properties slated for demolition prior
to work commencing at a given site,
since it is often difficult to locate
the lines following a tear down. No
permit was obtained for the demolition. To date, he has not received
any documentation from Figueroa
and Sons Contracting although the
company reportedly submitted a bill
of $65,000 to the City for razing the
property. The city council alleges that
the work there is not yet complete.
According to City Councilman
Andre Wallace, bids to raze comparable properties come in at a
much higher rate, ranging from
$80,000-96,000, due to the expense
of mandated precautions – draping
the building and covering adjacent
property windows within 15 feet
of demolition with plastic to limit
the spread of contaminated dust.
Councilman Wallace, present for the
demolition, stated that the lack of
proper precautions at the site resulted
in dust filling the air a block and a half
away from the demolition site and he
advised Mayor Thomas to remove
himself and his family from the area
for their safety. Neighbors and passersby were reportedly coughing and
choking in the streets.
Both the City and the State
require contractors to have a special
Continued on page 5
Page 5
Ave., in imminent danger of collapse.
At the conclusion of the hearing,
Council Chairperson Marcus A.
Griffith observed that the process of
American government is designed
to move slowly and when things
move very fast, something is wrong.
The demolition of 136 Park Avenue
moved very fast.
On Thursday, tension between the
Mayor and the City Council escalated
as the Council put the Administration
on notice that several appointed
Commissioners and Deputies live
outside the City Limits, in violation
of the City Charter requirements.
The Council holds these persons in
contempt of the Charter. Councilman
Wallace says the Council is prepared
to take their findings from the hearing
and the violation of the Charter directives to the next level.
*MountVernonExposed.com
GOVERNMENT
Zombie Home or Renovation Ready?
Was the Demolition a “Pay
to Play” Scheme?
Campaign supporter Jimmy
Melendez told the Council, under
oath, that he overheard Mr. Spezio,
a recently appointed Deputy Police
Commissioner, say to Thomas,
“Here’s $100,000 in cash and there’s
going to be a lot more once the
Zombie homes come down.”
The Council also questioned
Thomas campaign worker Dr.
Robert Baskerville, who helped
organize events and get out the vote.
Dr. Baskerville told the council it
became difficult to do his job when
his staff was not being paid according to previous verbal agreements.
Following a discussion on this
topic with Councilman Thomas,
he received a text from him with a
photo of a bundle of cash in excess of
$26,000. From this, he “inferred that
everyone would be made whole,”
although that did not happen. Dr.
Baskerville also told Thomas he
could no longer work up to 80 hours
a week, 7 days a week for free and
left the campaign after the primary
victory, later returning to work on the
inaugural celebration. Dr. Baskerville
is a professor in the Sociology
Department at BMCC.
Dr. Baskerville states Thomas
offered to pay him in cash but he
eventually received a one-time
check for $1200 from R & S Waste
Services, LLC, signed by Joseph
Spezio whose role in the campaign
he described as “nebulous,” though
he seemed to be the “primary financier” of the Thomas campaign.
In the absence of a report and
photos by a licensed engineer, it
will be difficult to know if the heavy
Winner Westchester County
Arts Organization of the Year
JOB
Dan Montez
Saturday March 19, 2016
Ossining United
Methodist Church
Corner of Emwilton & Route 9
Ossining, NY · 7:30pm
Sunday March 20, 2016
Presbyterian Church
of White Plains
39 North Broadway
White Plains, NY · 3:00pm
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or call (855) 88-OPERA
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license to handle asbestos, commonly
found in older building stock, now
known to be dangerous when aerosolized by improper removal. To
date, Mr. Figueroa has not submitted
a license to the City demonstrating he
is authorized to demolish properties
that contain asbestos although he has
told them he holds one under another
business name.
Mr. Royce stated that prior to his
appearance at the Council hearing,
he had been advised by a law firm
(Ruskin, Moscou and Faltisheck*),
hired to represent City officials in this
hearing, that he did not have to testify;
someone else would testify on his
behalf. Mr. Royce told the Council he
has declined their offer and retained
his own counsel at his expense.
Ironically, both the Mayor and
Commissioner Warren declined to
appear at the hearing, despite the
subpoena, though the Mayor ran his
campaign on the pledge of a transparent administration. Also served
were Corporation Counsel Lawrence
Porcari, First Assistant Corporation
Counsel
Maria
Donovan,
Commissioner of Public Works
Ralph Uzzi, Malcolm Clark at the
Office of the Mayor and Benjamin
Marabel of the Dept. of Buildings.
Superintendent Royce also stated that
Mayor Thomas told him not to speak
with Council regarding 136 Park
Avenue. Councilman Andre Wallace
expressed frustration at not getting
answers to his questions regarding
this speedy demolition that will likely
result in liability to the City.
In a letter to Councilman
Wallace, the attorneys at Ruskin
Moscou and Faltisheck questioned
the basis for the Council’s assertion
that the asbestos inspection and or
abatement was not completed at 136
Park Avenue; the basis for the assertion that Rogan Carting was used to
remove debris from the site; and that
the R in R & S Waste Services stands
for Rogan, an affiliate of Rogan
Carting. Mr. Spezio is the owner of R
& S Waste Services.
Many municipalities are faced
with the dilemma of “Zombie
Buildings” --real estate not usable due
to damage or abandoned by property
owners in financial difficulty.
Derelict buildings are eyesores that
lower adjacent property values and
threaten the safety of the neighborhood. In most communities, the City
Engineer is the person responsible for
determining whether or not a building
should be condemned as unsafe. At
deadline, the Guardian’s attempts
to reach Mt. Vernon City Engineer
Curtis Woods were not successful.
Mount Vernon requires architects to
have plans approved by a licensed
civil engineer prior to submitting
them to the Buildings Department.
snowfall over the previous weekend
damaged 136 Park Avenue to the
point that demolition was necessary
however the property was clearly
not abandoned by the owner. Mr.
Abillama states that neither he nor
the property owner received notification of the demolition and they
discovered this as it was in progress.
The council was told that the Mayor
stated the city was not able to locate
the owners to advise them of the
teardown, despite the fact that their
architect was well known to the City
Buildings Dept.
Councilman Edwards is concerned about the number of Mt.
Vernon homes that will potentially
be demolished. Approximately 10
buildings within the city are clearly
Zombie buildings but he has been
told there may be as many as 47 additional houses slated for tear downs
at considerable expense to the city
requiring money taken from the contingency fund.
On February 3, the State Labor’s
Asbestos Control Dept. issued a stop
work order to Mount Vernon due to
Figueroa and Sons Contracting’s
failure to perform an asbestos survey
at 136 Park Avenue. As a result,
the Building Dept. has directed the
company to halt work at 271 Second
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Page 6
GOVERNMENT
State of the City Address: Yonkers
11,000 sq. ft. craft brewery.
The Administration has secured
$12 million in state and federal funding
to improve the traffic flow on two east
– west street corridors with a synchronized computer traffic signal system. A
school bus stop has been relocated to
Filmore Street for greater safety.
The Mayor noted that the fall in
gas prices, while great for consumers,
results in less tax revenue to the city
but pledged to tighten the belt for all
areas of spending except for education,
keeping the budget in line revenue with
tax caps.
The city is committed to affordable housing for all residents and
this year opened both School House
Terrace and Grant Park. Plans are in
place to renovate 1773 units of affordable housing within the city next year,
aided by L&M Development Partners,
NPH Foundation and the Properties
Resource Foundation.
Five of the 8 Yonkers schools noted
by the State as failing two years ago
were recently removed from the list.
The City added 56 new teachers this
year, and has added a total of 122 over
the past four years; reading and math
scores are on the rise. The establishment of the Yonkers Thrives – a public,
private partnership that included educators has provided test prep courses that
have boosted the SAT scores of public
school students by average 139 points.
The graduation rate at Roosevelt High
School is now 80%; up from 46% a
few years ago.
The Mayor thanked all those
whose efforts assist the city, including the bipartisan support of the City
Council, Governor Cuomo and the
NYS Yonkers delegation: Democratic
Leader Senator Andrea StewartCousins, Senator George Latimer,
Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer and
Assemblyman Gary Pretlow.
EMP? What is EMP? – and What’s Going On At Yellowstone?
and Diplomats (admittedly all conservative critics of the current Administration)
in a letter to President Obama
(http://www.emptaskforcenhs.com/
uncategorized/letter-to-presidentbarack-obama/), decrying the lack
of progress in this area and stating
“Mr. President, both Republicans and
Democrats have known how to deal with
this issue for at least thirty years but have
done nothing about it. Bipartisan efforts
in Congress have failed in spite of the
fact that neither technology nor expense
should be an issue. Dealing effectively
with this issue is a matter of achieving
the needed political leadership and will.
The American people need you to lead
the efforts to protect our nation from
an EMP catastrophe. We urge you to
pursue our request.” To my knowledge,
little, if any, progress has been made in
the almost ten months since the date of
the letter.
Getting a little depressed as I
researched this material, I called a friend
from high school, the usually levelheaded John Coffey, to inquire whether
he took this information seriously (Of
course, if the president doesn’t seem
to, why should he?). He replied “Oh,
yeah – I know about EMPs and they
are a matter of concern -- but, if you
really want to be concerned, consider
By Mary Keon
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano delivered the State of the City Address on
Wednesday, March 9th at the Riverside
Library.
The Mayor described Yonkers as
Better today and Greater Tomorrow, a
slogan that underscores the progress the
city has made over the past four years
by a Mayor who won re-election with
an 83% majority vote. Demolition has
commenced on long-vacant waterfront
warehouse buildings to make room for
the RXR hi-rise apartment complex,
a project that will enhance the already
vibrant downtown community. The
Boyce-Thompson building, derelict for
40 years, is being transformed into an
office/ retail complex that will bring in
new revenue. Great progress has been
made over the past year in improving
the school system. Yonkers is a riverfront city on the move, embracing the
future.
Lights wrapped around the
branches of trees along Main Street and
in Larkin Park provide graceful illumination to the street and restaurants that
offer sidewalk dining underscore the
dramatic change that has taken place in
a city that was down for the count for
many years but is finally a contender
again.
Over the past four years, over a
billion dollars of development has
flowed into Yonkers. The city’s finances
have stabilized and bond ratings have
steadily increased. “Cintas is developing a distribution center off Executive
Blvd and FedEx is constructing a distribution center on Tuckahoe Road.”
Yonkers is now the third safest city
of its size in the country with a crime
rate that has dropped 31% over the
past four years. Foot patrols have been
added to McLean Avenue, Elm Street,
Lake Avenue, South Broadway and
Getty Square to continue this trend.
The Yonkers Tourism agency will
promote the city regionally and nationally highlighting the Palisade Views,
Untermeyer Gardens, Legoland and
the newly designated Alexander Carpet
Mills Arts district. The city now has 6
nationally branded hotels. A Lowes
Home Improvement store is planned
for Ridge Hill along with a Hyatt Hotel,
the second in the city.
Mill Creek, a 344-unit hi-rise residential building will soon break ground
on the waterfront. Micro apartments
are under construction at I-Park as is
Phase Three of Hudson Park with 222
residential units. Avalon Bay will enter
the Yonkers market with a waterfront
residential rental complex planned for
Alexander Street. Across the street,
Chicken Island Brewing will open an
CREATIVE DISRUPTION
By John F.
McMullen
I just finished the
scariest book that I ever
read. It’s not “Dracula”
nor “Frankenstein” nor any of Anne
Rice’s Vampire series’; it’s rather
“One Second After” by William R.
Forstchen, a professor at Montreat
College, a small college in rural North
Carolina. The novel, published in 2008,
deals with an “EMP” attack on the
United States (and Western Europe) that
knocks out ALL electricity.
Think about that – all electricity!
All cars built after a certain year stop,
just stop – all airplanes with electric
devices in the motors fall out of the sky
– all refrigeration units stop working –
all hospital gauges, measuring devices,
tools, and controls cease operation – all
computer systems, telephone systems,
and WiFi close down -- all factories stop
doing whatever they were doing -- all
means all!
“EMP” = “Electromagnetic
Pulse” – from Wikipedia: “An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also sometimes
called a transient electromagnetic disturbance, is a short burst of electromagnetic
energy. Such a pulse’s origination may
be a natural occurrence or man-made
and can occur as a radiated, electric or
magnetic field or a conducted electric
current, depending on the source. …
EMP interference is generally disruptive
or damaging to electronic equipment,
and at higher energy levels a powerful
EMP event such as a lightning strike can
damage physical objects such as buildings and aircraft structures. … Weapons
have been developed to create the
damaging effects of high-energy EMP.
These are typically divided into nuclear
and non-nuclear devices. Such weapons,
both real and fictional, have become
known to the public by means of popular
culture” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Electromagnetic_pulse)”
The usual minor EMP pulses have
been known to cause minor interference with electrical equipment while the
very less often larger ones have caused
damage. These effects have led to the
design of weapons – as Wikipedia states
in the same article, “The damaging
effects of EMP have led to the introduction of EMP weapons, from tactical
missiles with a small radius of effect to
nuclear bombs tailored for maximum
EMP effect over a wide area.”
The event that kicks off One Second
After is the blackout of the area of North
Carolina, where the protagonist, John
Matherson, lives. As he begins to find
the extent of the power loss, he recognizes that an EMP attack has taken place.
– Prior to returning to his wife’s home
town, Matherson had been a full Colonel
in the Army and had resigned his commission and a promotion to General to
bring his terminally ill wife back to her
home town. While in the Army, he had
been briefed on the dangers of EMP
attacks and he theorized early that the
blackout had been caused by the explosion of nuclear bombs in the atmosphere.
It does not take Matherson and
others in the town long to realize that,
without some structure, the town would
descend into chaos as food, medicine,
and other essentials became scarce.
Forstchen, who was a co-author
with Newt Gingrich of a number of
historical novels, obviously did extensive research into the science underlying
EMPs and later testified before Congress
on the possibilities and the ramifications
of such an EMP attack.
In doing research for this piece,
I found that Congress had previously
authorized a Commission to study the
ramifications of an EMP event.
Duties of the EMP Commission
include assessing:
the nature and magnitude of potential high-altitude EMP threats to the
United States from all potentially hostile
states or non-state actors that have or
could acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles enabling them to perform
a high-altitude EMP attack against the
United States within the next 15 years;
the vulnerability of United States
military and especially civilian systems
to an EMP attack, giving special attention to vulnerability of the civilian
infrastructure as a matter of emergency
preparedness;
the capability of the United States to
repair and recover from damage inflicted
on United States military and civilian
systems by an EMP attack; and
the feasibility and cost of hardening select military and civilian systems
against EMP attack.
It seems, however, that, even with
a commission in place, nothing of real
consequence has been accomplished.
On May 27, 2015, former Director of
the CIA R. James Woolsey and former
member of that Commission Peter
Vincent Pry joined with 31 other individuals, including Senators, ex-Military,
Continued on page 7
Page 7
great again.” This country is great right
now. Could it be improved? Of course.
But neither the activist left nor right
offers practical steps to do so.” The piece
deserves to be read and thought about as
we consider our political alternatives.
Back in 2 weeks!
I welcome comments on this piece
to johnmac13@gmail.com.
around us. These changes normally
happen under our personal radar until
we find that the world as we knew it is
no more.
Creative Disruption is a continuing
series examining the impact of constantly
accelerating technology on the world
© 2015 John F. McMullen
CREATIVE DISRUPTION
EMP? What is EMP? – and What’s Going On At Yellowstone?
the supervolcano under Yellowstone
National Park; … the resultant eruption
could split the continent in half, killing
millions of people.”
Whoa – millions of people? I knew
that there was a possible problem but certainly not to that extent – but, once John
said it, I had to check it out. As I expected,
his understanding was right on. A very
good “EarthSky” article, “What is the
Yellowstone supervolcano?” (http://
earthsky.org/earth/what-do-you-knowabout-the-yellowstone-supervolcano)
explains the geology well and notes
that while “three enormous eruptions
occurred at the Yellowstone hotspot 2.1
million, 1.3 million, and 640,000 years
ago,” there did not seem to be immediate concern as “Many scientists think that
it is unlikely that another supervolcanic
eruption will occur at Yellowstone any
time soon, for example, in the next few
thousand years. Experts also say that a
supervolcanic eruption at Yellowstone
is not necessarily imminent. One new
study has even estimated that if another
supervolcanic eruption were to occur at
the Yellowstone hotspot, it likely would
not happen for another 1 to 2 million
years from now. These estimates were
based, in part, upon knowledge of the
size, contents, and activity of the magma
reservoir underneath Yellowstone.”
Well, that’s a relief – but there
was no mention of any vulnerability to
nuclear attack and another article, “If
This Supervolcano Erupts, Two-Thirds
of America Will Be Screwed,” published
two years ago by the climate change
organization “RYOT” (http://www.ryot.
org/supervolcano-yellowstone-volcanowill-it-erupt/765673), lays out a picture
of instant devastation should there be an
eruption – “Though scientists are mixed
as to whether the place could blow
anytime soon, there is one thing they
do agree on — if it did, it would push
much of Earth to the verge of extinction.
Its immediate effects would be deadly
enough, with some estimates saying that
87,000 people would be killed instantly.
A 10-foot layer of ash would spread up to
1,000 miles away, leaving two-thirds of
the country completely uninhabitable.”
There was still no mention of
vulnerability to nuclear attack but, thankfully, just as I was writing this piece, a
March 7th Scientific American piece
by Shannon Hall, “Yellowstone’s
Supervolcano Gets a Lid” (http://
www.scientificamerican.com/article/
yellowstone-s-supervolcano-gets-a-lid/),
appeared indicating that a new simulation showed that the problem was not of
the magnitude previously thought – “it’s
not this vigorous plume that just blasts
through everything.” The simulation,
“the first to replicate the complex interaction between a mantle plume and a
sinking slab,” according to the article,
“shows that the conventional wisdom
was wrong.”
Well, that’s a relief! There is still,
however, an overriding problem to be
considered -- there has been no mention
of either of the above seemingly very
scary problems in this political season
even though they had to be known to
the press and debate moderators. One
would think that someone might have
brought up an issue that puts the life if
the whole nation at risk, if only to test a
candidate’s knowledge.
In fact, the whole debate scenario
to date has been, in my judgment, a disservice to the American public. It would
seem as though we had two separate
presidential elections going on. One
party’s candidates debated the best way to
handle income equality, climate change,
and racial and gender bias while the other
one spoke only of immigration, ISIS, and
government regulation (and also constantly damned the President and former
Secretary of State). All of these issues are
very important but one gets the impression that, no matter which party wins the
White House, the issues brought up by the
other party are “off the table” and that is a
real shame as we have real problems in all
areas that should be addressed.
It is, of course, not helped by the fact
that one party has a candidate that has
sucked all the air out of the room as 95%
of the media attention seems focused
on what nasty things he has said about
others and what nasty things others have
said about him. By and large, however,
it is our collective fault for not demanding that the press and debate moderators
bring up such issues as mentioned above
to test the candidates – but that might be
too difficult; it’s much easier to let the
candidates dictate the issues – and it’s
also a disgrace!
To end on a positive note – there
was an excellent column in the March
8th New York Post by Ralph Peters,
“Don’t let angry politics smash all
that works in America” (http://nypost.
com/2016/03/07/dont-let-angry-politics-smash-all-that-works-in-america/)
in which he calls attention to all that
works in America but writes “My
gravest concern isn’t Islamist terrorism
or China’s ambitions. It’s that we, in the
thrall of demagogues in both political
parties, may precipitate catastrophe. We
do not need anyone to “make America
John F. McMullen is a writer, poet,
college professor and radio host. Links
to other writings, Podcasts, & Radio
Broadcasts at www.johnmac13.com, and
his books are available on Amazon.
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Page 8
ARTS & LEISURE
Westchester Real Estate, For Art’s Sake
By Joseph P. Griffith
Westchester County
has always considered itself an artistic
place, even when it was
trying hard to attract business. Now,
in addition to creating art, the trend
includes creating business through
arts centers and spaces for creative
artists.
In the last few years, Yonkers has
been marketing itself as a magnet for
artists and artisans. Perhaps the most
notable project has been the creation
of the YOHO Artist Studios on
Nepperhan Avenue, part of the former
Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Co.
The artist lofts there regularly stage
open studio weekends to give the artists
a chance to showcase their work.
The owner of some adjacent
buildings is raising the ante by marketing them to other creative tenants.
R.J. Rose Realty, headquartered
at 500 Nepperhan Ave., owns several
buildings along the avenue as well
as 179 Saw Mill River Road, around
the corner. In December the company
obtained a $500,000 grant from
New York state to create the Carpet
Mills Arts District and upgrade street
lighting and signage, with the intention of beautifying the neighborhood
and attracting business.
“We’re excited. We feel that
Yonkers is on the verge of some good
things happening. It’s a good opportunity,” said Austin H. Rose, a partner in
the company.
He said the company was a
tenant until 2007, when it bought 500
and 530 Nepperhan, and has since
invested millions of dollars in renovations, including roofing and hundreds
Ancestral Callings #2 by Barry
Mason who also supplied the photo.
Austin H. Rose at his warehouse space on Nepperhan Avenue in Yonkers.
of new windows. It is also looking
for ways to improve transportation
from the Yonkers train station, to
make it more attractive to Manhattan
prospects.
In addition to the existing tenants,
a specific type is being sought,
in creative industries such as art,
antiques, web design, films, costume
designers, colleges and exotic car
dealerships. One space with high
ceilings has been utilized by film and
TV companies, and several projects
have been filmed there, including the
NBC TV show “The Blacklist.”
The buildings have a long history.
The Alexander Smith company was
a carpet mill in the 19th century, the
various buildings used for manufacturing and the storage of wool. One of
its employees was John Masefield, the
poet laureate of England from 1930
until his death in 1967, who briefly
worked there when he was 19 years
Artist’s rendering of the Carpet Mills Arts District.
old and later wrote the famous poem
“Down to the Sea in Ships.”
Rose said the lighting project is
still in the planning stage and may
face some bureaucratic hurdles, but
that “things are in motion.” He said
he has been putting together a coalition of 11 other building owners in the
area to create even more opportunities. One idea that has been “floated”
is an extended daylighting, or uncovering, of the Saw Mill River, such as
has been done in the waterfront area
near the Yonkers train station and the
Riverfront Library. Part of the river
is visible as it runs underneath and
alongside adjacent buildings.
The company has several ancillary
businesses, including the Randolph
Rose Collection, which creates
custom bronze sculptures, and FEA
Home, specializing in Asian creative
arts, sculptures and antiques. Its huge
warehouses, holding thousands of
The former Yonkers City Jail.
large and small works, is reminiscent
of the vast trove of artifacts in the final
scene of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Although the Hudson Valley
Center for Contemporary Art is not
new, having been established in
2004 by the art collectors Livia and
Marc Straus, it seems reborn after a
seasonal shutdown since December.
An exhibit called “Word,” which
incorporates written language as part
of multimedia artworks, opened Feb.
27. Among the 45 artists whose works
are displayed are the rock musician
John Mellencamp and Robert Indiana,
famous for his “Love” print created
for the Museum of Modern Art’s 1965
Christmas card, and reproduced as a
U.S. Postal Service stamp in 1973.
Sarah Connors, manager of the
Peekskill museum, said the only
activity during the hiatus was its
second annual Live Art Fest on Jan.
31, which allowed the public to come
in and see artists create works and
engage them in workshops and performances. More than 20 artists and
750 people were in attendance.
Among the artists working that
day was Barry Mason of Mount
Vernon, a painter, sculptor, photographer and educator at the Horace Mann
School in the Bronx, whose work
was displayed at the White House in
1979. He was creating canvases and
currently has one in the Word show
titled “Ancestral Callings #2,” an oil
on shaped canvas measuring 8x8 feet.
He said creating at the Live Art
Fest was an “awesome experience.
There were so many things going on.
It was my first time ever being part
of a live show. I was a little nervous
and didn’t know what to expect, but
the energy of the people was just
phenomenal.
“Peekskill has a lot of energy.
It was an honor to be part of the
exhibit, for people to get a chance to
come in and learn about you. One day
one of those kids may become an artist
in their own right,” he said.
One of the county’s most interesting arts-related projects is the former
Yonkers City Jail, at 24-26 Alexander
St., a virtual case study in adaptive
reuse. Daniel Wolf, a Manhattan art
dealer and collector, purchased the
87-year-old,
10,000-square-foot
building for $1 million in 2013 and has
been renovating it for his personal use.
The building will hold his collection of
paintings, sculpture, antiques and photographs from all over the world.
A look inside the building
recently revealed much renovation
yet to be done, and traces of its history
still visible, including bars on the
windows. Wolf said, however, that he
is in the process of moving in.
It has been reported that the
building will contain exhibit space to
be used by other artists. Wolf said that
was not correct, that the building will
be for his personal use. “There’s not
a lot of space that’s not storage,” but
he will keep one room for occasional
private receptions, he said.
He also corrected misreporting
that his wife, the artist and sculptor
Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Washington,
D.C., and a bakery for the Greyston
Foundation in Yonkers, was contributing to the redesign. “There’s no design
element to it,” Wolf said. “We’re
fixing what was broken and taking out
the cells. It will be the same building
without the cells. It’s an amazingly
wonderful building, the structure, the
size of the rooms. The outside looks
like a library or a museum, not a jail.
It represents a moment in American
urban history. Even as a jail it had so
much attention to the architecture. We
don’t think of jails now as architectural monuments. They’re just gray
blocks, but this was beautifully built
80 years ago.”
He added that he thought it was
“wonderful” to live just 30 minutes
away, in Manhattan. “It’s just a joy to
work in Yonkers,” he said.
Photos by Joseph P. Griffith
Page 9
ARTS & LEISURE
Because It’s There:
Peter Nichols’ Sea Change: Alone Across the Atlantic in a Wooden Boat
By Lee Daniels
“Because it’s there,”
English mountaineer
George Mallory said
in a 1923 interview
with a New York Times reporter who
asked why he wanted to climb Mount
Everest.
This is a refrain that normally
comes to mind when one reads of an
extraordinary feat of endurance by
an athlete, sailor, climber or explorer.
How many people are there, after
all, who can commit to the daunting
amount of preparation and physical
stamina required to run an ultra-race,
summit a peak of more than 4,000
feet, or sail across an ocean? The
answer is, only a very few; a special
breed of human being.
In the mid-1990s, mariner
Peter Nichols, a former advertising
copywriter, embarked on a 2,700 nautical-mile (3,100 statute-mile) voyage
from the southeast coast of England to
Maine in a 27-foot wooden boat.
In the age of sleek, multi- and
monohull racers equipped with the
most modern electronic and satellite
navigation, sail-handling, automatic
pilot, communications and shipboard
living capabilities, this may not sound
like a gargantuan feat of skill. In fact,
the 2015 winner of the RORC (Royal
Author Peter Nichols. Photo by
Adrian Kinloch
was an aficionado of merchant ships
and shipping also enthralled him with
his detailed instruction on maritime
history and ships.
During college, Nichols’ worked
out a scheme to buy a small, used
wooden boat and sail it from England
to Morocco, buy a load of hashish, and
smuggle it to the U.S.
Though he did not complete the
voyage due to illness and brutally
rough conditions, his fascination with
the sea did not end there. He learned
“The greatest reward of sailing alone (that I have discovered
so far) is that no one comes between you and the indescribably
beautiful world around you.”
Peter Nichols, Sea Change
Ocean Racing Club) Transatlantic
raced finished in just 19 days).
Consider, then, the fact that
Nichols’s boat, Toad, was a shallowdraft, wooden sloop built in 1939, and
it was without an engine.
Nichols, who had been born in the
U.S. but has lived most of his life in
the U.K., was a self-taught sailor. He
became fascinated with the sea when
he was a boy, while reading books
by Sir Francis Chichester--on his
epic circumnavigation in 1967--and
renowned British long-distance sailing
pioneer Eric Hiscock. a. A teacher at
a boarding school in England who
to handle a boat when his parents
bought a large ketch to cruise in the
Mediterranean in their retirement
years.
After that, Nichols began gunkholing around the Caribbean with his
wife, J., working as a charter captain,
having acquired his Captain’s papers
while living aboard a boat in the
British Virgin Islands. He began delivering yachts across the Atlantic, as
well around the Mediterranean, while
his wife made a living as a marine
repair technician and charter captain.
While living with his wife in the
B.V.I., the Nichols began looking for a
boat of their own, eventually discovering and buying Toad from a Dutchman
who had just sailed her over from the
Netherlands.
Together, they repaired the boat
and begin sailing it, across the Atlantic
and back, stopping at the Azores and
cruising in the south of France, in a
heartfelt devotion to living on and
maintaining Toad that lasted for six
years.
Anyone who has lived with others
aboard a small boat for any length of
time—including with loved ones—
will tell you that living under these
types of conditions puts pressure on a
relationship. After thousands of miles
of sea voyage and working while
living aboard the boat in port with his
wife, Nichols’ love affair with his boat,
sadly, outlasted the couple’s marriage.
As the title suggests, the book
is about not just a sea voyage, but
a change in direction and lifestyle.
After his wife left, Nichols decided to
take Toad on one last voyage, across
the Atlantic, from Land’s End in the
U.K. to Maine, via the Azores and
Bermuda. There, he planned to sell the
boat and use the proceeds to continue
his writing career.
While much of Nichols’ narration
is interspersed with bittersweet recollections of his years aboard Toad with
J., his passion for forging a symbiotic
relationship with the sea and awe of its
powerful beauty are recurring themes.
“The greatest reward of sailing
alone (that I have discovered so far)
is that no one comes between you
and the indescribably beautiful world
around you…At moments, standing on
deck looking at the lonely sea and the
sky, you find yourself moved to a mix
of joy and sadness that breaks your
heart,” he writes.
Much of the book is drawn from
entries in Nichols’ log. His ability as a
writer to capture the essence of singlehanding at sea, rather than a merely
technical description of what is taking
place, brings the reader on board:
“0200: I come on deck and look
around. No lights. We’re alone on
the whole visible surface of the sea.
I watch Toad surging on without any
help from me, all sails trimmed and
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Page 10
ARTS & LIESURE
Because It’s There
pulling, the wind vane steering an
accurate course. Pointing straight
at the Azores, 770 miles ahead, the
boat seems to know where it’s going,
and plows on with steady, dogged
enthusiasm. It’s been doing this for
five days now, all by itself. I can’t
believe at this moment that this is no
more than a man-made machine, an
assembly of wood, screws, bolts, wire,
and cloth, without a sentient notion of
what it’s up to. I can see it feeling the
sea, meeting and shouldering its way
through every wave with understanding and skill. And it will go on and on
doing this, without any fuel, without
any help from me, until I make it stop.
To me this seems as miraculous as
perpetual motion. I sit on the cabin
roof as we move through the dark, and
watch this for a while.”
One morning Nichols wakes up
to discover seawater sloshing around
on the cabin sole. His is able to pump
out the bilge and cabin, but the leak
becomes progressively worse over the
course of days.
Nichols realizes that going faster,
the boat seems to bring on more water,
so he slows the boat’s speed by heaving-to (a technique to slow the boat’s
forward motion by backing sails and
heading into the wind) and pumping
every half-hour. The voyage becomes
a race against time, for if he does not
continue to keep pace, he risks sinking
before he can reach land.
One day he is sitting on the bow
of the boat setting the jib, and sees
a dark form in the water: it is the
fabric sheathing that the previous
owner glued to the outside of the hill
to prevent saturation of the boat’s
wooden planks and caulking.
At 300 miles northeast of
Bermuda and still 800 miles from
Maine, Nichols realizes he must
abandon ship.
“Toad is gone. I know this absolutely as I sit here in the cockpit on
what is now becoming rather a nice
day. The sun is out, the sea is going
down,” he recounts.
The good news is that route he
is sailing is a major shipping lane for
transatlantic cargo ships. After putting
out a distress call on his VHF radio
(designed to transmit and receive at
distances of up to 20 miles only),
he is picked up soon afterward by
an American freighter bound from
Amsterdam to Galveston, Texas.
Carrying only a sail bag with only a
few items of clothing, some books, his
Captain’s papers and passport, sextant
and typewriter, he is hauled aboard,
and eventually, lands in Galveston to
begin his life anew.
Devastated by the loss, remorseful that he was unable to make landfall
(he planned to split proceeds from the
sale of the boat with his wife), Nichols
questions whether he may have been
able to make it to Bermuda for repairs.
In the end, his inclination toward
survival, intuitive temperament as a
writer, and appetite for the sea bring
him spiritually to accept the only
possible solution to the unfortunate
outcome of his voyage.
“What I will do now is find my
way back to sea,” he writes.
Sea Change: Alone Across the
Atlantic in a Wooden Boat (New York:
The Penguin Group, 1997, hardcover,
238 pages). Reprint edition: (Lanham,
MD, U.K: Sheridan House Publishers,
2010, paperback, 256 pages).
to have been a composite picture of a
vanished era in which he lived handto-mouth in similarly moribund hotels.
Distinguishing this, like some of his
more important, full-length plays, is
the affectionate reminiscence of the
language, more particularly argot, of a
past era, for which he had the keenest
of ears. The O’Neill scholar Travis
Bogard has called “Hughie” a “perfect
dramatic poem.”
Interestingly, even the best
O’Neill biographers pay “Hughie”
scant heed. Robert M. Dowling
remarks that “Erie finds meager solace
in gambling and alcohol, short-term
solution to the long-term problems of
isolation, alienation, and disillusionment.” Louis Sheaffer quotes John
Henry Raleigh: “The authenticity,
concreteness and ease with which
O’Neill handled Broadway-ese in
‘Hughie’ made him finally one of
the masters of the literary use of the
American vernacular.”
This might make you think that
the play is about language, and in a
certain sense it is. What else to make
of a stage direction such as this one,
concerning the play’s soundscape:
“Only so many El trains pass in one
night, and each one passing leaves
one less [that should be “fewer”] to
pass, so the night recedes, too, until at
last it must die and join all the other
long nights in Nirvana, the Big Night
of Nights. And that’s life.” Later, Erie
reflects about the dead Hughie: “He
needn’t do no worryin’ now. He’s out
of the racket. I mean the whole goddamned racket. I mean life.”
Life is a big, inconsequential,
frustrating hustle. Take both men’s
relationship to women. Erie once
accepted a dinner invitation from
Hughie and what did he see about
Hughie’s marriage? “Hughie and her
seemed happy enough . . . in their flat.
Well, not happy. Maybe contented.
No, that’s boosting it too. Resigned
comes nearer, as if each was givin’
the other a break by thinking ‘Well,
what more could I expect?’” (Note the
inconsistency between the –in’ and –
ing endings.) And here is Erie: “Why,
one time down in New Orleans I lit
a cigar with a C note, just for a gag,
y-understand? I was with a bunch of
high-class dolls and I wanted to see
their eyes pop out—and believe me,
they sure popped! After that, I coulda
made one at a time or all together!”
In that “”fourth-rate” hotel lobby,
everything is superficial and inadequate, and ever since Hughie was
taken to the hospital to die, Erie’s luck
seems to have left him, “I mean I lost
the old confidence,” as he puts it. And
yet there is also gallows humor, and in
the end the dice are rolling again. As
for the clerk, he says his sparse words
“in the vague tone of a corpse which
admits it once overheard a favorable rumor about life.” He regards
Erie with “vacant, bulging eyes full
of a vague envy for the blind.” And
Frank Wood, fine actor that he is,
just about manages to convey these
impossibilities.
Erie, however, is all fully there.
He is capable of a grand gesture,
spending a recklessly borrowed
hundred bucks on a horseshoeshaped flowery wreath for Hughie’s
grave, at a funeral attended by almost
nobody, so if he did not make the
gesture, who would? It is a good
role, despairing at times, but defying
it with casual levity. Distinguished
actors—Jason Robards, Burgess
Meredith, Ben Gazzara, Al Pacino,
Brian Dennehy—have played it with
considerable success, even if the
author did not live to see any of them.
Lee Daniels, a former reporter for
the Journal News and Reuters, is Arts
writer for the Westchester Guardian.
His work has appeared in the Danbury
News-Times, Litchfield County Times,
and Orlando Sentinel. He is the
winner of the first-place prize in NonFiction in the 2013 Porter Fleming
Literary Competition, and an MFA
candidate at the School of Letters of
the University of the South.
EYE ON THEATRE
Gamblers and Teachers
By John Simon
Hughie
Late in his life in
1941, Eugene O’Neill
reverted to a genre he
excelled at in his younger days: the
one-act play. To be sure, “Hughie” is
a sixty-minute one-act, about which
he rightly noted that it was more to be
read than staged. One reason for this
is that much of what matters is in the
stage directions, describing thoughts
and feelings that remain internalized,
and hence only suggestible rather than
actable.
It takes place in a by now
run-down hotel lobby at 3 A.M., when
“Erie” Smith, a small-time, down-atheel gambler, returns for the night,
and engages in conversation (largely
one-sided) with the new night clerk,
Charlie. The subject is mostly Hughie,
the previous, recently deceased night
clerk, with whom Erie had a friendly,
albeit somewhat patronizing, relationship, and whom he affectionately, but
also critically, recalls.
This was supposed to be one of
several short plays, collectively titled
“By Way of Obit,” of which O’Neill
wrote only two but kept only this
one. Each of them was to concern
someone recently departed, the whole
Forest Whitacker as Erie Smith in HUGHIE by Eugene
O’Neill Photo by: Marc Brenner
Frank Wood as Charles and Forest Whitacker as Erie Smith
in HUGHIE by Eugene O’Neill. Photo by: Marc Brenner
Page 11
EYE ON THEATRE
Gamblers and Teachers
What the play is finally about is
summed up best by Bogard: “Man’s
only sense of life comes through
sharing a vision with another human
being. The vision has no truth:
it contains no hope. Yet it offers
movement, and it is the focus of existence.” And now it is the talented
Forest Whitaker—the first black in this
role—who plays Erie with wonderful, subtly exaggerated brio. Britain’s
Michael Grandage has directed
compellingly, giving Erie quite a choreography of self-asserting movement
topped off by perhaps mendacious
but pervasive smiles. Christopher
Oram has designed the possibly too
large-scale but suitably gloomy hotel
lobby as well as the perfectly gauged
costumes, and Neil Austin has aptly
contributed the slowly dawning light
of ambivalent day. Although Adam
Cork’s music is carefully unmelodious, it may still be a trifle too loud.
It is a short play, but rich with
innuendo. You may enjoy it.
Women Without Men
Jonathan Bank, the producing
artistic director of the Mint Theater
Company, has a kind of genius for
unearthing plays that, whether or not
they were hits in their day, amply
merit reviving. Irish playwright Hazel
Ellis’s 1938 comedy-drama, “Women
Without Men,” certainly deserves to
be seen, as the friendships and hostilities in a private girls’ school faculty
room speak to us with barely diminished relevance.
Malyn Park Private School,
Protestant in a predominantly
Catholic country, is by that very fact,
though nothing is overtly made of it,
a somewhat nervous place. Students
and teachers alike seem solidly
middle or upper middle class, clearly
resigned to the respectable curriculum and sound discipline. The girls,
three of whom we meet, are like girls
anywhere, but the teachers, with the
exception of the headmistress, are
all unmarried women, more or less
jumpy Vestal virgins.
They are, all of them, types, but
astutely enough observed in their different ways and vividly characterized,
so as to make the typical not uninteresting, and their clashes and alliances
genuinely absorbing. Jean Wade, the
new teacher, is young, attractive, liberal-minded, but not yet adept at the
routines and exigencies. She alone has
an offstage boyfriend, whom she may
eventually marry. Ruby Ridgeway,
also quite young, is a flibbertygibbet, fond of gossip and intrigue, but
harmless.
Miss Connor, on the contrary, is
older, presumably love-starved, rather
bitter but dedicated, and, in whatever
free time, fanatically immersed in
writing a book, ironically about the
history of beauty through the ages.
Mademoiselle Vernier is the
French teacher, a trifle flighty and distraite, and also a bit querulous—well,
let’s face it, French. Miss Marjorie
Strong (aptly named) is eminently
sensible, foursquare, the raisonneuse of the bunch. Miss Margaret
Willoughby is the uncharming, unattractive, often hostile one, although
Shannon Harrington, Beatrice Tulchin, and Alexa Shae
Niziak in WOMEN WITHOUT MEN by Hazel Ellis.
Photo: Richard Termine.
not quite villainous. Mrs. Hubbert,
the Matron, is what you expect a
Matron to be, decent, businesslike
and unintellectual. Mrs. Newcome,
the headmistress, is clearly judicious,
authoritative, a picture of humane
gravitas.
What happens when these
hoydens and secular nuns, steadfast or wobbly votaries of learning,
are thrown together? “Don’t expect
too much ointment and no flies,”
Miss Strong warns the idealistic
newcomer, Miss Wade. Again, MISS
STRONG: “The more unpopular you
make yourself out with the girls,
the more the girls’ teachers will like
you. WADE: It’s very petty, isn’t it?
STRONG: It’s a petty life.” And so it
is in a school where teachers have one
afternoon off per week and hot baths
are hard to come by. “Bicker, bicker,
bicker,” JEAN WADE complains, to
which MISS STRONG: “What else
could you expect? A small group of
Emily Walton, Dee Pelletier, Aedin Moloney, and Kate
Middleton in WOMEN WITHOUT MEN by Hazel Ellis.
Photo: Richard Termine.
women all cooped up together with
no release from each other save in
the privacy of our bedrooms. Women
brought together not by choice, not by
liking, but by the necessity of earning
our living.”
When she wrote this, one of her
only two plays, Ellis was 29 and a
relatively recent graduate of a school
very much like Malyn Park.
There is only one major plot
element here, concerning a destructive act angrily ascribed to an innocent
person, the sole bit of melodrama,
and even that handled with mature
control. It is a grand, old-fashioned,
ample play—none of this now prevalent 90-minute stuff—but you will get
a good deal out of your irresistible
involvement.
The gains include canny direction by Jenn Thompson on Vicki R.
Davis’s thoroughly lifelike set, as
well as Martha Hally’s irreproachable
costumes, and flawless acting from
an eleven-person cast. I especially
liked Emily Walton’s heartfelt Jean
Wade, Mary Bacon’s wise Marjorie
Strong, Kellie Overbey’s starchy
Miss Connor, Kate Middleton’s
fluttery Ruby Ridgeway, and Aedin
Moloney’s sharp-tongued Margaret
Willoughby, who also had the
showiest parts.
Though enjoyable by all, this
play is especially recommended to
anyone who has ever been a teacher
or a student, a mother or a daughter, or
simply a sentient human being.
John Simon has written for over 50
years on theatre, film, literature, music
and fine arts for the Hudson Review,
New Leader, New Criterion, National
Review, New York Magazine, Opera
News, Weekly Standard, Broadway.
com and Bloomberg News. He
reviews books for the New York Times
Book Review and for The Washington
Post. To learn more, visit his website:
www.JohnSimon-uncensored.com
MUSIC
Biber Baroque in Concert
Featuring the Music of Baroque Masters: Bach, Biber, Monteverdi and Handel
Ardsley, NY – Biber Baroque’s
first set of concerts for the year will
feature a variety of instrumental and
vocal music of the great Baroque
masters. The New York based early
music group Biber Baroque includes
Agnes Simkens, Baroque Violin,
Anneke Schaul-Yoder, Baroque
Cello, Kevin Devine, Harpsichord,
and Christine Free Rhodebeck,
Mezzo-Soprano who perform and
promote the
riches of baroque chamber music
on original instruments.
Named for composer Heinrich
Ignaz Franz Biber, Biber Baroque
performs a wide variety of music from
the Baroque era, rich with virtuosic
content and dramatic energy.
Biber Baroque has performed
in NYC, on Long Island and in New
Jersey for the past five years and look
forward to their first Westchester
County performance this weekend in
Ardsley. Admission is $15.00.
CONCERT #1 takes place
Saturday, March 19, 2016, 7 PM at
St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 2
Revolutionary Road, Ardsley, NY
10502.
CONCERT #2 Sunday, March
20, 2016, 4 PM at Short Hills
Community Congregational Church,
200 Hartshorn Drive, Short Hills, NJ
07078
Baroque Cellist: Anneke Schaul-Yoder, Harpsichordist: Kelly Savage,
Baroque Violinist: Agnes Simkens, Mezzo-soprano: Christine Free
Rhodebeck. Photographer: Jacob Rhodebeck
Page 12
LOCAL LORE
The Penn Station Story: Conquering the Hudson Barrier 5
By Robert Scott
Early in the last
century, some 90
million
passengers
crossed the Hudson
River each year on ferries--many of
them going to or from rail lines terminating on the New Jersey side.
As head of the largest generator of freight and passenger traffic,
Pennsylvania Railroad president
Alexander Cassatt faced a dilemma.
He had considered building Gustav
Lindenthal’s giant bridge across the
Hudson, but New Jersey required
such a bridge to be a joint venture
with other New Jersey railroads, who
expressed no interest.
The alternative was to tunnel
under the river, but steam locomotives
could not use such a tunnel due to the
accumulation of smoke and combustion gases in the closed space of a
tunnel.
However, the development of
practical electric railroad locomotives
made subaqueous tunnels feasible.
On December 12, 1901, Cassatt
announced his railroad’s plan to enter
New York City by tunneling under
the Hudson and building a luxurious
station on the west side of Manhattan.
At first, Cassatt considered
building the proposed station on
Fourth Avenue. His consultant, J
Vipond Davies, counseled against
this, pointing out: “the grades for the
approaches, eastward and westward,
would not permit location otherwise
than West of Broadway.”
As a result of this opinion, Cassatt
then proposed building a sumptuous Manhattan terminal in the area
occupied by the rail yards of the New
York & Hudson River Railroad at
West 33rd Street and the river.
house on West 30th Street.
“I’ve had nothing but chuck steak
for a long time, and now I’m going to
get a little of the tenderloin,” Williams
exulted.
Williams reigned as “Czar of the
Tenderloin” until 1894, when he was
investigated by the New York State
Legislature’s Lexow Committee.
According to The New York Times of
December 29, on the witness stand,
Williams admitted that “on a salary of
$2,750 a year, he has a country place,
area was obviously based in a large
part by the anticipated lower real
estate values.
Enter Charles M. Jacobs
Fortunately for the Pennsylvania
Railroad, in May of 1900 it had
acquired the Long Island Rail Road,
a small commuter line mainly active
in the summer months. With the
Long Island line, it acquired Charles
Matthias Jacobs, a British railway
engineer of superior talents.
Jacobs was born in Hull, England,
on the Humber River. (Like New
York’s Hudson, the Humber is also
an estuary.) He was ninth in a family
of 14, wealthy enough for him to be
privately educated. At the age of 16,
Jacobs was apprenticed to the British
engineering firm of Charles and
William Earle, which specialized in
engines and shipbuilding
At the conclusion of his five-year
apprenticeship, the Earle firm sent him
to India and China to build bridges.
Upon his return to England, Jacobs
went to sea for several years to earn
a certificate as a marine engineer. He
then opened an office in Wales, from
which he worked on jobs in Europe
‘The Tenderloin’
The station would sit in
Manhattan’s so-called Tenderloin,
a seething mixture of tenements,
boarding houses and disreputable
shops, where even the police patrolled
the filthy cobblestone streets in pairs
as part of Tammany Hall’s culture of
police-protected vice.
Famous for its crime and corruption, the neighborhood was bounded
by Fifth and Ninth Avenues and
by West 23rd and 42nd streets. Its
colorful name had been coined in
1876 by police Captain Alexander
Williams (whose street nickname
was “Clubber Williams”) after he was
assigned to the 19th Precinct station
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Alexander Cassatt, Library of Congress Image
Theodore Roosevelt, 1901. Library of Congress image
and as far away as Australia.
a steam yacht, a considerable number
In 1887, he moved his office to
of bank accounts, and some real estate
London, where, three years later, he
in the city.” The newspaper added its
met Austin Corbin, president of the
own comment: “That he is the most
Long Island Rail Road, who invited
outrageous ruffian on the police force
him to come to New York City to
is . . . a matter of common knowledge.
work on tunnels under the Hudson
That he is one of the richest men on
and East rivers.
the police force has been
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of common belief.”
By 1905, Jacobs was much in
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River from Ravenswood, Queens,
in Japan. When a tough reform police
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tunnels under the Hudson in 1904
Cassatt’s decision to locate his
for William G. McAdoo’s Hudson &
station in the disreputable80
Tenderloin
West Grand Street, Fleetwood
Alexander “Clubber” Williams
LOCAL LORE
COMMUNITY
The Penn Station Story: Conquering the Hudson Barrier 5
Manhattan line. Begun in1879,
Haskins’s flooded tunnels had languished for more than two decades.
Once Jacobs had an opportunity
to review Cassatt’s plan, he gave
him the unexpected and unsettling
information that the proposed site
near the river was inappropriate. A
train station at river’s edge would
require tunnels of a slope too steep
for heavy trains to operate efficiently.
The new Pennsylvania Railroad
terminal, which would also serve the
Long Island Rail Road that had been
acquired in 1900, would have to be
located farther to the East.
Plans Emerge
It took two years for the team of
engineers led by Jacobs to come up
with plans in 1904 for tunnels under
the Hudson. The project was divided
into three parts, each managed by
a resident engineer. These were (1)
the projected terminal station in
Manhattan; (2) the river tunnels, east
of Weehawken and under the Hudson
River; and (3) the Bergen Hill tunnels,
west from Weehawken in New Jersey.
The first task was digging two
Page 13
William Gibbs McAdoo
shafts, one just east of Eleventh
Avenue in Manhattan and a larger one
a few hundred yards west of the river
at Weehawken on the New Jersey
side, The Weehawken Shaft, a rectangular concrete-walled 76-foot deep
hole, measuring 56 by 116 feet at the
bottom was completed in September
1904 by the John F. O’Rourke
Engineering Construction Company.
After the shafts were completed, the
O’Rourke Company began work on
the tunnels under the Hudson.
The river tunnels were built by
drilling and blasting and employing
tunneling shields, digging west from
Manhattan and east from Weehawken.
The two ends of the northern tube met
under the river in September 1906. At
that time it was the longest underwater
tunnel in the world.
In 1905, the John Shields
Construction Company had begun to
bore through Bergen Hill, a southern
extension of the Palisades. Contractor
William Bradley took over in 1906
and the tunnels to the Hackensack
Meadows were completed in April
1908.
The west portals of the
Pennsylvania Railroad’s Hudson
River tunnels are in North Bergen, at
the west edge of the Palisades, near
the east end of Route 3 at US Route
1/9. They run beneath North Bergen,
Union City and Weehawken to the
east portals at the east edge of Tenth
Avenue at 32nd Street in Manhattan.
Since 1968, the east portals have been
hidden beneath 450 West 33rd Street
on the east side of Tenth Avenue.
Colonial Day at Phelps Manor
Philipse Manor Hall State Historic
Site is located at 29 Warburton Avenue,
just blocks from the train station in
Yonkers, N.Y. The site is one of six
historic sites and 15 parks administered
by New York State Office of Parks,
Recreation and Historic Preservation
– Taconic Region. The historic Manor
Hall is regularly open for tours Tuesday
through Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to
5:00 p.m. For additional information
about Philipse Manor Hall, please visit
http://nysparks.com/historic-sites/37/
details.aspx. For information on the
Friends of Philipse Manor Hall, visit
http://philipsemanorfriends.blogspot.
com/.
The New York State Office
of Parks, Recreation and Historic
Preservation oversees 180 state parks
Colonial Girl at Phelps Manor,
Yonkers. “Photo Courtesy of NYS
OPRHP.”
and 35 historic sites, which are visited
by 60 million people annually. A recent
study found that New York State Parks
generates $1.9 billion in economic
activity annually and supports 20,000
jobs. For more information on any of
these recreation areas, call 518-4740456 or visit www.nysparks.com,
connect on Facebook, or follow on
Twitter.
NUTRITION
Shoprite Offers Free Nutrition Consults
Registered Dieticians Available at New Rochelle, White Plains and Yonkers Stores
Father Gleeson Drives a Hard Bargain
Among the residents of the
Tenderloin district who watched
the demolition of a large part
of their neighborhood by the
Pennsylvania Railroad was Father
John A. Gleeson, rector of the
Roman Catholic Church of St.
Michael’s, located on the west side
of Ninth Avenue between West
31st and 32nd streets. In addition
to a venerable church built in 1857,
it included a rectory, parochial
school and convent. The religious
buildings were directly across
Ninth Avenue from the four-block
parcel intended to be the site of the
Pennsylvania Railroad’s terminal...
In April 1904, the concerned
rector sent a letter to Alexander
Cassatt in which he wrote: “could
I ask a favor in strict confidence
of information” about which other
nearby streets, the railroad might
still intend to acquire. . . “not for
purposes of speculation” but so
that Gleeson could plan—if necessary—for St. Michael’s future and
“the people whose spiritual wants,
I must attend.”
Cassatt offered to prop up
the church’s property while the
railroad constructed its tunnels
beneath it. This was not unusual.
It had already propped up other
buildings and the Ninth Avenue
Elevated in order to tunnel beneath
them.
Gleeson declined the railroad’s offer. In the discussions
that followed, Cassatt learned that
Father Gleeson was willing to
sell the property and the church’s
buildings if the Pennsylvania
Railroad would replicate the religious complex at a nearby location.
A series of complicated and
time-consuming
negotiations
ensued, culminating in the purchase
by the Pennsylvania Railroad of
a lot three blocks to the north on
West 34th Street between Ninth
and Tenth avenues. Here it erected
a handsome new Romanesque
Revival limestone edifice incorporating portions of the old red
brick church, including its striking
marble altarpiece.
When the costs were totaled,
Cassatt discovered that moving the
church complex a relatively short
distance had cost the Pennsylvania
Railroad $500,000—or onetenth of the total cost of about
$5,000,000 it would pay for the
four huge rectangular blocks of
New York City real estate on
which Penn Station would eventually be located.—Robert Scott
Registered Dieticians Samantha Mark, RD, ShopRite of Tuckahoe Road in
Yonkers, Ana Leibovici, MS, RD, ShopRite of Greenway Plaza in Yonkers,
Inga Voloshin, RD, ShopRite of White Plains, Toni Marinucci, MS, RD,
ShopRite of New Rochelle were receive the proclamation along with store
Manager George Zadrima. Shoprite’s staff will present additional events at
their stores throughout the month.
Chief of Staff to the County
Executive, George Oros, presented
Shoprite in White Plains with a
proclamation recognizing their contribution to keeping our residents
healthy, during National Nutrition
Month, declaring Thursday, March
3, 2016 “Shoprite Day in Westchester
County.” Shoprite offers free in-store
consults with registered dieticians
in New Rochelle, White Plains and
Yonkers stores, to help interested
shoppers make more healthful choices
at their point of purchase. The service
is free and a great opportunity to learn
how small dietary changes can lead
to improved health outcomes. The
Shoprite Registered Dieticians explain
how to “do this, not that!” to meet
your diet goals, and they will also
bring you to the aisle and show you
where you can find the right ingredients for your new menu. Shoppers can
find additional healthy recipes posted
at: shoprite.com. Photo courtesy of
Shoprite.
Page 14
CALENDAR
News & Notes From Northern Westchester
By Mark Jeffers
My family often tells
me that I have a perfect
face for radio, so we are
re-launching our weekly
sports radio show on WGCH 1490AM
“The Clubhouse” Wednesdays 7 to 8
pm live from Grand Prix NY in Mount
Kisco. All the fun starts March 23rd,
now I just need to finish up this week’s
“Clubhouse is coming” edition of
“News & Notes.”
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The New
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Our friends at Bedford Hills Live
tell us that The Farmer’s Market at
the Bedford Hills Train Station is
thriving each Saturday from 10:00am
to 2:00pm. With a wide variety of
vendors from food to fashion, you can
pick up anything from freshly baked
breads and treats; hearty soups; fresh
fish; winter produce to organic cosmetics; beautifully crafted jewelry and
more. Make it part of your Saturday
routine as it is more of an event then a
chore…
My Irish dancing usually improves
on a per beer basis, but if you want to
see some real dancing then stop by the
Irish Step Dance Spectacular on March
20th at the Academic Arts Theatre on
the Valhalla campus at Westchester
Community College.
The annual Corporate Fun Run
Westchester 5k will take place on
July 14th supporting The Max Cure
Foundation. They encourage all teams
and team members to voluntarily raise
dollars for the charity.
On Saturday, April 2nd at the
Westmoreland Sanctuary in Mount
Kisco you can get ready for spring and
the return of migrating birds. It is still a
little chilly outside, but soon the birds
will be looking for nest sites and you
can help out by making a home for
them. Stop by at noon to build a birdhouse and learn about the best ways
to set them up in your yard to make it
inviting for a bird to live in. This event
is for ages 6 and up with a fee of $8 per
person for non-members, $3 material
fee for members.
The Field Library invites all
school-age children and adults to
“Author! Author! A Book Launch
Party for Local Author Ted Kelsey”
on Tuesday, March 22nd at 3pm.
Children and adults will help Peekskill
author Kelsey launch his latest book,
“Shasha and Wally Watson vs. the
Faker.” Kelsey’s new mystery novel,
for children 8 and up, is the exciting
story of a young detective who uses her
brother’s special brain to take on The
Faker and save a missing girl. Kelsey
will read from his book and play a
detective game with the audience.
He will discuss his creative writing
process and offer advice and inspiration to aspiring writers, both young and
old. At the end of the program, Kelsey
will be available to autograph books.
Kelsey will have books to purchase.
All school-age children and adults are
welcome. Refreshments will follow the
program.
SunRaven, a holistic health center
off Guard Hill Road in Bedford plans
to launch a garden co-op on March
20th, with dozens of residents getting
their green thumbs dirty as they prepare
the soil in this new community garden.
The center, aka the “home of slow
medicine,” is run by Dr. Michael and
Robin Queen Finkelstein. Its wooded
acres are populated by llamas, horses,
and even peacocks, said Tanya Neiman,
the Finkelstein’s executive assistant.
Twenty-five families will spend two
days each month planting, cultivating,
and reaping organic produce. Once a
month co-op members will take part in
an “all-hands-on-deck” day with workshops on everything from composting
to how to use herbs.
The Westchester Medical Center
Health Network (WMCHealth)
unveiled plans to build a $230-million,
280,000-square-foot
Ambulatory
Care Pavilion adjacent to Westchester
Medical Center on its Valhalla campus,
which would be the largest healthcare
construction project in the county in
decades.
Are you an amateur photographer…then you might be interested in
entering the seventh annual Westchester
County Amateur Photo Contest.
Sponsored by the Greenburgh Public
Library Foundation, the contest open
only to Westchester amateur photgraphers is juried and offers monetary
prizes for first second and third place
to both adults and high school students.
There is no fee to enter, photographs
must be submitted digitally as jpeg
attachments by March 31st.
I want to this opportunity to wish
everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day…
may the road rise to meet you, may the
wind be always at your back, may the
sun shine warm upon your face, and
the rains fall soft upon your fields…see
you all soon.
Keifer Sutherland in Forsaken,
distributed by Momentum Pictures
and The Vanishing, a personal favorite
of mine in which Jeff Bridges also
starred, giving a great performance as a
nasty, complicated villain. Kiefer gave
another wonderful performance as a
villain in Freeway, a modern twist on
Red Riding Hood.
Kiefer played the villain on the
phone line in the unconventional 1992
thriller Phone Booth, the film that also
launched the career of Colin Farrell.
Four years later, in 1996, Donald
and Kiefer Sutherland co-starred in
A Time to Kill, still never sharing a
Keifer and Donald Sutherland in,
Forsaken distributed by Momentum
Pictures.
scene. Despite numerous acting roles
in a career that has spanned 33 years,
including four stints in the director’s
chair, Kiefer is perhaps best known for
his role as Jack Bauer in the popular
series 24 that ran for 8 seasons on the
Fox network. Until recently, I have
viewed 24 as a one of a kind, injecting
high adrenaline into audience members
for the duration of its run. Kiefer was
perfect as the driven and intense special
agent Jack Bauer, bringing realistic strength and vulnerability to his
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Forsaken
By Sherif Awad
I have always been
a fan of the great actor
Donald
Sutherland
and constantly came
across many of his important roles as
I watched classic films, including The
Dirty Dozen from the 1960’s. During
the 1970s Donald Sutherland stared
in MASH, Kelly’s Heroes, Klute, Don’t
Look Now, 1900, Fellini’s Casanova,
The Eagle Has Landed, Invasion of the
Body Snatchers (the best in this series,
in my opinion), Ordinary People and
Eye of the Needle (a personal favorite)
to list just a few.
In time, film followers discovered that Donald’s son, Kiefer, also a
remarkable actor. Both father and son
co-starred in Neil Simon’s Max Dugan
Returns (1983), Kiefer’s film debut,
though father and son did not share a
scene. Kiefer’s career soon took off
with his early work including roles in
Stand by Me, The Lost Boys, Young
Guns I and II, Renegades, Flatliners
Page 15
INTERNATIONAL FILM
Forsaken
character. Dedicated series fans are still
eagerly awaiting a feature film spinoff.
Forsaken should have received
more media attention since it reunites
Donald and Kiefer Sutherland as father
and son for the first time since 1992. A
similar reunion was also a dream for
24’s fans but the producers chose to cast
another great actor, James Cromwell,
as Philip Bauer, Jack’s father. The
new film is directed by Jon Cassar, a
frequent episode director on 24, with
supporting roles played by other 24-ers
like Michael Wincott (Davis, Season
II) and Greg Ellis (Michael Amador,
Season III) not to mention a supporting
role by veteran actors Brian Cox and –
surprise, surprise, Demi Moore.
As Forsaken opens, John Henry
(Kiefer Sutherland) is returning to
his hometown in the hopes of repairing his relationship with his estranged
father (Donald Sutherland). However,
James McCurdy (Brian Cox) is paying
a gang to terrorize the small town to
drive people to sell their lands. Henry,
an avowed pacifist following the Civil
War, might become the only hope to
set the score straight. The film was not
only a chance for Kiefer and Donald
Sutherland to share powerful scenes
but also to compete as they bring their
characters to life on the screen.
My admiration for the Sutherlands’
historical acting crafts and my interest
the recent revival of Westerns in
Hollywood (Tarantino’s Hateful Eight)
motivated me to see Forsaken and I
think many readers will be tempted to
check it out for similar reasons. Could
westerns return and be revived like
in the days of Dances with Wolves,
Unforgiven and Open Range? I guess
we will have to wait and see.
M ary at the M ovies
Movie Review: Eddie the Eagle
By Mary Keon
God did not mean for me to ski.
I know this because I am not married
to an Orthopedic Surgeon and heights
bother me a great deal. So it was with
some trepidation that I watched Eddie
the Eagle, based upon the true story of
British Olympic Ski Jumper Michael
Edwards. That Ski Jumping is considered a sport and not attempted suicide
just goes to show how truly subjective
some things can be. Despite being on
the verge of a panic attack -- and on the
edge of my seat as my white knuckles
clutched the armrests for pretty much
the entire film, I did enjoy it. Then
again, I will brave anything for a Hugh
Jackman film!
Although he did not jump far,
Edwards still managed to qualify
for the 1988 Calgary Olympics.
Convinced he was destined for greatness as a small child, Edwards explored
swimming and track events before
settling on skiing. Sadly, the British
Olympic Committee did not share
Eddie’s enthusiasm for his spot on the
team but when they drew a line in the
snow, Eddie managed to jump over it.
Just. An underfunded working class
young athlete, Edwards was incredibly
resourceful and committed to making
his Olympic dream come true.
Edwards was the first Briton to
represent his country in Olympic Ski
Jumping, most likely because there are
no really large mountains in England
on which to practice. And so, Eddie
went to Garmisch, Germany where the
real competitors train. The Finns and
the Germans laughed at him but Eddie
considered himself a fast learner since
he graduated from the 40-meter slope
to the 70-meter slope within a day. Then
the Finnish coach explained to him that
Finns start learning to jump when they
are six --sometimes younger.
When Eddie’s inelegant landings
started chewing up the slope for the
snow maintenance guy, Bronson Peary
(Hugh Jackman), he offered Eddie
some sincere advice: GO HOME!
But you don’t make it to the Olympics
by being a quitter and Eddie haunted
Peary, a talented ski jumper who was
kicked off the American Olympic
team, to coach him.
The cinematography by George
Richmond delivers some thrilling shots
of Eddie soaring off the jumps in this
film, along with an amazing shot of
Jackman doing the 70-meter jump at
night. We see beautiful aerial footage of
Alpine mountain peaks as Eddie does
the European circuit and later, of the
Rocky Mountains when Eddie arrives
in Calgary. This is an inspirational
movie that is not about the guy who
goes home with the Gold, but about the
drive, endurance and years of training
it takes just to make it to Olympics.
All athletes who qualify to compete
in this elite arena are winners who
deserve to be celebrated. The crowds at
Calgary understood this and Eddie the
Underdog won their hearts.
Taron Egerton is great as the
somewhat awkward but determined Eddie. Hugh Jackman is very
Eddie (Taron Egerton) and Bronson
(Hugh Jackman) plan their next
unorthodox training session. Photo
Credit: Larry Horricks TM & ©
2016 Twentieth Century Fox Film
Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Not for sale or duplication.
believable as a former Olympic skier
and hard drinking burnout. Jo Hartley
and Keith Allen are excellent as Eddie’s
parents who make great sacrifices so
he can follow his dream. Christopher
Walken has a cameo as Warren Sharp,
the American Olympic Coach. The
Screenplay for this well worth watching
film was written by Sean Macaulay
and Simon Kelton; directed by Dexter
Fletcher. Adam Bohling, David Reid,
Rupert McConnick, Valerie Van
Galder and Matthew Vaughn, producers. Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Films. MPAA Rating: PG 13 for PG-13
for some suggestive material, partial
nudity and smoking.
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Page 16
FOR TICKETS: (877) 469-9849 OR (800) 943-4327 (TTY)
NOTICE: For the safety of every Guest, all persons specifically consent to and are subject to metal detector and physical pat-down inspections prior to entry. Any item or property that could affect the
safety of Yankee Stadium, its occupants or its property shall not be permitted into the Stadium. Any person that could affect the safety of the Stadium, its occupants or its property shall be denied entry.
All seat locations are subject to availability. Game time, opponent, date and team rosters and lineups, including the Yankees’ roster and lineup, are subject to change. Game times listed as TBD are
subject to determination by, among others, Major League Baseball and its television partners. Purchasing a ticket to any promotional date does not guarantee that a Guest will receive the designated
giveaway item. All giveaway items and event dates are subject to cancellation or change without further notice. Distribution of promotional items will only be to eligible Guests in attendance and only
while supplies last.
W W W.W E S T C H E S T E R G U A R D I A N . C O M

March 17, 2016 - WestchesterGuardian.com

Transcription

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