NYC Election Atlas 2013, a joint project of the Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center / CUNY with the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and the Center for Community and Ethnic Media, has info about the 2013 Primary in NYC. And, New Yorkers, don’t forget to vote in the runoff election for Public Advocate on October 1, 2013.
EVENTS
–Saturday, September 28, 2013 from 10am-5pm 104th Street Block Association Yard Sale on West 104 Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, NY NY. http://www.westsiderag.com/2013/09/25/yard-sale-this-weekend-is-a-bargain-hunters-delight
-Saturday, September 28, 2013 from 4pm-9:30pm Global Citizen Festival with Stevie Wonder, Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys, and John Mayer. The focus of this year’s festival is celebrating success and accelerating progress to a world without extreme poverty by 2030. Visit festival.globalcitizen.org/ for more information.
-Monday, September 30, 2013 at 10am in the Education Committee is a hearing on Council Member Gale A. Brewer’s Resolution No. 1768 at 14th floor Committee room, 250 Broadway, NY NY. On Monday, September 30, 2013, the Education Committee will be holding a public hearing to consider Res 1768-2013 – By Council Members Brewer, Jackson, Lander, Arroyo, Barron, Chin, Comrie, Dickens, Dromm, Eugene, Gentile, James, Mark-Viverito, Palma, Rose, Williams and Wills – Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign, A.6059/S.4284, legislation that would protect student privacy by prohibiting the release of personally identifiable student information without consent. Text: http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1429652&GUID=75209255-AF9D-4871-8DE4-9F13867E75C4&Options=Advanced&Search. We invite members of Community Education Councils, parents, students, educators, advocates, and all other stakeholders and interested members of the public to testify at this hearing. Testimony will be limited to 2-3 minutes per person to allow as many as possible to testify. Unlike oversight hearings, the Administration (Department of Education), does not testify on Resolutions, so we expect to hear from invited witnesses and interested members of the public from approximately 10:30 am until 1:00 pm. Please make sure you fill out a witness slip on the desk of the Sergeant-at-arms if you wish to testify on this Resolution. If you plan to bring written testimony, please bring at least 20 copies. If you are unable to attend the hearing and wish to submit written testimony, please email your testimony to jatwell@council.nyc.gov.
-Thursday, October 3, 2013 from 6-8pm at SVA Theater, 333 West 23 Street, (8-9th Aves) NY NY Frackonomics: Debunking the Financial Myths of Fracking Get expert facts on why hydrofracking isn’t a silver bullet for the New York State economy with Deborah Rogers, Founder of Energy Policy Forum Co-Sponsored by: NYS BRAD HOYLMAN Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney ∙ Congressman Jerrold Nadler State Senator José Serrano ∙ State Senator Liz Krueger ∙ State Senator Daniel Squadron State Assembly Member Deborah Glick ∙ State Assembly Member Dick Gottfried State Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh ∙ State Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal City Council Member Rosie Mendez ∙ City Council Member Gale Brewer Damascus Citizens for Sustainability ∙ Environmental Advocates of New York Food & Water Watch ∙ Sane Energy Project (list in formation) Info: email hoylman@nysenate.gov or call (212) 633-8052. This event is free and open to the public.
-Friday, October 4, 2013 from 8:30am-10:30am Insideschools and the Center for New York City Affairs invite you to a free forum: Baby Steps: Poverty, Chronic Stress & New York’s Youngest Children. Chronic stress and early trauma shape the brain development of very young children. Increasingly, research shows that innovative, early-life work with infants, toddlers and their parents can help prevent the need for much more costly interventions later on. A conversation with experts in the field, and the release of the latest edition of Child Welfare Watch. Keynote remarks by: Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., FAMRI professor of child health and development, Harvard School of Public Health. A conversation with: Linda Lausell Bryant, executive director, Inwood House; Susan Chinitz, professor of clinical pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Piazadora Footman, parent; editorial assistant at Rise, a magazine written by and for parents in the child welfare system; and Chances for Children participant; Benita Miller, deputy commissioner of family permanency services, NYC Administration for Children’s Services . Moderated by: Andrew White, director, Center for New York City Affairs, The New School. Admission is free but you must RSVP. https://cwwbabysteps.eventbrite.com/
-Sunday, October 6, 2013 from 10am-4pm rain or shine FREE E-WASTE RECYCLING EVENT Sponsored by Council Member Gale A. Brewer and Lower East Side Ecology Center at Amsterdam Avenue between West 74th and West 75th Streets, Upper West Side, Manhattan, NY NY. Accepting Working & non-‐working computers, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, cables, TV’s, VCR’s, DVD players, phones, audio/visual equipment, cell phones & PDA’s. Info: Lower East Side Ecology Center at lesecologycenter.org or 212.477.4022.
-Sunday, October 20, 2013 from 11am-3pm FREE Bike Helmet give away and fitting while supplies last Sponsored by Council Member Gale A. Brewer and NYC Department of Transportation at District Office of Council Member Gale A. Brewer, 563 Columbus Avenue (West 87 Street), NY NY Info: 212-873-0282 or gale.brewer@council.nyc.gov
–Jezebel founder Anna Holmes, acclaimed biographer Deborah Solomon, and recent Granta editor John Freeman are among the writers slated to read from their new books in the second fall season of the @Macaulay Author Series. The authors in the stellar lineup will each be paired with equally distinguished interviewers, including Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan and outspoken essayist Daphne Merkin. The monthly readings are on October 24, November 3 and December 4 at 7 p.m. at CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College, 35 W. 67th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, NY NY. The events are free and open to the public. Authors will be signing their books at an informal reception following the each program. Books will be available for purchase at the events. October 24: The audacious and provocative Anna Holmes, founder and former editor of the popular and influential website Jezebel, will read from The Book of Jezebel: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Lady Things, a cleverly-designed, smart and funny reference book that includes all things feminine and feminist, ranging from pop to politics, art to sex. A panel of Jezebel stalwarts–current Jezebel editors Jessica Coen, Dodai Stewart, Tracie Egan Morrissey, and Lizzie Skurnick–will join her in what is sure to be a spicy conversation after the reading. November 3: Following Deborah Solomon’s reading from her groundbreaking new biography American Mirror: The Life and Work of Norman Rockwell, she and the critic and novelist Daphne Merkin will hold a conversation on “The Wounded Norman Rockwell.” With American Mirror, Solomon trains her eye on an American icon whose life and work provided twentieth-century America with a defining and comforting image of itself. But his life was far darker and more complicated than his public realized. Solomon was also “Questions For” columnist of The New York Times and a biographer of Jackson Pollock and Joseph Cornell. December 4: The thoughtful and penetrating book critic and literary interviewer John Freeman reads from his new release How to Read a Novelist, which pulls together his very best profiles of the leading novelists of our time (many of them new or rewritten for this volume), sharing with us what he’s learned from such international stars as Salman Rushdie, Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison, John Updike, David Foster Wallace, Amy Tan, Edwidge Danticat and Jonathan Franzen. He will be joined in conversation by novelist Jennifer Egan. Freeman, former president of the National Book Critics Circle and until recently editor of Granta, is one of the most significant voices on the literary scene today. Info: http://macaulay.cuny.edu/community/author-series/ or 347-460-4292.
–Saturday, November 16 and Sunday, November 17, 2013 is TULIP PLANTING WEEKEND at the West Side Community Garden, West 89 Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues, NY NY All welcome to help.
HOUSING
Council Member Gale A. Brewer, Goddard Riverside’s SRO Law Project, and The Urban Justice Center present FREE 2013-2014 Monthly Housing Clinics and Workshops from October 2013 – June 2014 (6:00PM-8:00PM) at Goddard Riverside Community Center, 593 Columbus Avenue (between 88th and 89th Streets), Manhattan. On the first Wednesday of each month, the clinic will offer a presentation on a variety of topics, to be followed by a question and answer session. The funding is provided by the Housing Preservation Initiative of the New York City Council. Each evening, at least one staff attorney will meet with individuals who are seeking specific legal advice. ( Bilingue: Español) For questions, contact the Urban Justice Center at (646) 459-3017 or the Office of Council Member Brewer at (212) 873-0282. Sign-up sheet starting at 6pm each evening.
October 2, 2013: Rent Laws Update, Rent Control & RGB Increases
November 6, 2013: Roommates & Subletting
December 4, 2013: HPs, Repairs, Bedbugs & Cockroaches
January 8, 2014: Harassment *(Second Wednesday of the month)
February 5, 2014: Non-Primary Residence
March 5, 2014: DHCR Overview, including MCIs & 1/40ths
April 2, 2014: City-Wide Housing Related Campaigns
May 7, 2014: Preferential Rents, SCRIE & DRIE
June 4, 2014: Succession Rights (GRCC)
CULTURAL EVENTS
–Saturday, October 5, 2013 from 12:00 Noon – 9:00pm at the Harlem School of the Arts at the Herb Alpert Center, 645 St. Nicholas Avenue at 141 Street, NY NY Join the Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance for PUEBLO HARLEM – Familia, Comunidad y los Artes in celebration of Hispanic Heritage at the Harlem School of the Arts. Pueblo Harlem is a housewarming of sorts for the Alliance which maintains its administrative office at the Harlem School of the Arts where Arturo and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra are artists-in-residence. Admission is free. Space is limited; first come, first served. Info: 212/283-4086 PUEBLO HARLEM SCHEDULE OF EVENTS *Throughout the Day – An art exhibition entitled REVOLUTUM: A Hispanic Heritage Exhibition featuring the work of 30 Spanish speaking artists, curated by Ana Ruiz-Castillo, Director of Visual Arts at Harlem School of the Arts will be on view. The exhibition includes painting, sculpture, photography, installation and video. Some of the artists will be on hand to speak with visitors.
*12 noon – 12:45 pm – Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Quartet present “Exploring Afro Latin Jazz” an interactive musical lecture/demonstration suitable for children and their families. With great warmth and enthusiasm, virtuoso pianist-composer-arranger Arturo O’Farrill, Founder and Artistic Director of the GRAMMY award winning Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, leads a quartet in a participatory and engaging lecture/demonstration with audience members joining in on claves, hand percussion and clapping. Audiences will be introduced to the work of master artists such as Machito, Tito Puente, Hermeto Pascal, and others as they explore the components of Latin Jazz.
*2:00 pm – 3:15 pm – Analysis of Chico O’Farrill’s “Afro Cuban Jazz Suite”: Master Class Conducted by Arturo O’Farrill featuring the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. In anticipation of the Apollo Theater’s commission of Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Suite, premiering on May 10, 2014 at the Apollo as part of their Lost Jazz Shrines Festival, and their 80th anniversary, the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance will present a series of public programs exploring both the significance of Chico O’Farrill’s Afro Cuban Jazz Suite and the creative process underlying Arturo’s creation of a new Suite inspired by his father’s composition, but, that takes in to account the new Pan Latin aesthetic of jazz.
*6:30 pm – 7:00 pm – Latin Dance lesson taught by Nydia Ocasio – An introduction of basic Latin dance steps for the novice, and an opportunity for others to brush up their skills before they hit the dance floor.
*7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Latin Dance Party featuring Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.
-In the upcoming months, City Council funds that I allocated will support four, FREE neighborhood concerts sponsored by Carnegie Hall. The first is at John Jay College and the last three will once again take place at Advent Lutheran Church as part of Carnegie Hall’s Marilyn Horne legacy series. Details are below: (NOTE: Clive Gillinson, the Executive and Artistic Director at Carnegie Hall, sent me the e-mail with this information; he is an extraordinary leader).
1. Sunday, October 06, 2013 at 3:00 PM
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (524 West 59th Street) NY NY
David Krakauer’s Acoustic Klezmer Quartet http://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2013/10/6/0300/PM/Neighborhood-Concert-David-Krakauers-Acoustic-Klezmer-Quartet/
2. Saturday, November 23, 2013 at 5:00 PM
Advent Lutheran Church (2504 Broadway) NY NY
Marco Stefani, tenor and Brent Funderburk, piano
3. Saturday, February 08, 2014 at 5:00 PM
Advent Lutheran Church (2504 Broadway) NY NY
Marina Harris, soprano and Robert Mollicone, piano
4. Saturday, March 15, 2014 at 5:00 PM
Advent Lutheran Church (2504 Broadway) NY NY
Nathaniel Olson, baritone and Kevin Murphy, piano
-Monday, October 7, 2013 7:30 PM MUSIC MONDAYS presents: Enso Quartet | Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano | Raman Ramakrishnan, cello | Karim Sulayman, tenor | Aaron Wunsch, piano at Advent/ Broadway Church, 2504 Broadway at 93rd St. New York, NY 10025 FREE CONCERT. 2013 marks the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi and the 100th of Benjamin Britten, both renowned first and foremost for their vocal music—yet they also brilliantly adapted their unique vocal idioms to instruments. Join the Enso Quartet (“glorious,” Washington Post), mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer (“captivating,” New York Times), cellist Raman Ramakrishnan (“superb,” New York Times), and pianist Aaron Wunsch (“masterful,” Hartford Courant) for a program that explores the intersection between singing and playing in the music of Verdi and Britten. www.musicmondays.org
OTHER
-I’m writing to you regarding the Basic School Tax Relief (STAR) registration program that is being administered by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Though the City Department of Finance isn’t involved with the registration process, I wanted to make sure you had the information you need to share with your fellow homeowners. New state legislation requires all homeowners receiving a Basic STAR exemption to register with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance in order to receive the exemption in 2014 and subsequent years. Homeowners receiving Enhanced STAR do not have to register for this program. Here’s a link to the State website where homeowners can register: http://tax.ny.gov/pit/property/star13/default.htm. The page is available in multiple languages. You can also register by calling the number listed on the website. (518) 457-2036. You should register with the State either by web or by phone; you should not submit a new Basic STAR application to the City Department of Finance. Registration started on August 19, 2013 and will continue through December 31, 2013.
-The National Wildlife Federation’s NYC Eco-Schools is offering $500 mini grants to 10 registered Eco-Schools, on a first come first served basis, to participate in the “Litter Less Campaign,” and implement Eco-Schools’ Consumption and Waste Pathway. This is an opportunity to jumpstart a recycling and/or waste reduction program. Schools that complete the Campaign will be eligible for an Eco-Schools award. Applications are due October 4, 2013. Program must be completed by May 2014. Want to apply for the grant? E-mail Emily at fanoe@nwf.org for an application. (Schools must be registered Eco-Schools to apply. Register for free here). Info: fanoe@nwf.org or (646) 502-7096
-Community Board 7 has been discussing and prioritizing the recommendations of the transportation consultants in their 95-97 Street Pedestrian Safety Study. Go to CB7 site to get details. http://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb7/html/home/home.shtml
-Calling all student artists! Alliance for Quality Education is asking students (K-12) to create a piece of artwork that finishes the sentence, “A quality education is…” Art programs have taken a considerable hit these past few years with budget cuts, and we want to highlight students’ talent and passion in order to show how important art programs are in their education. Submitted artwork will be featured at AQE’s Curriculum of Change Celebration in New York City on October 17. The winning artwork will be displayed on tote bags given out at the event, and the winning artist will be recognized during the program. Also, the winning artist will receive a $100 gift card. All art must be submitted by October 1, 2013. Artwork should be mailed to: Alliance for Quality Education, 94 Central Avenue, Albany, NY 12206
If you have questions, contact Emily Karol at emily@aqeny.org or call (518) 432-5315 ext. 102.
-Are you the parent of a 12-17 year old? Stressed about raising your adolescent?Wish you knew other parents going through similar situations? Would you like extra support? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, come relax, have snacks, share and listen to other parents. Get some support! We invite you to join a parenting group at: The Dean Hope Center for Educational and Psychological Services, Teachers College, Columbia University, (525 West 120th St., New York, NY 10027). Sessions will be on Monday evenings from 7:15 – 8:45 pm and run for a total of 12 sessions. This group will be co-led by two doctoral students from the clinical psychology doctoral program at Columbia University, and will combine practical information, relaxation techniques and supportive group therapy – to help you and your child. The group will also be an opportunity to network with other parents facing similar stresses. Info: call the center at (212) 678-3262 and ask to speak with Zoe Grunebaum or Rebecca Grzadzinski.
-The team at Teachers Who Tutor | NYC is busy gearing up for the new school year ahead. We’re fortunate enough to have an exceptional group of educators–all of whom have masters’ degrees–who have taught and tutored a range of ages and subjects at both independent and charter schools. These teacher/tutors collaborate with classroom teachers to help develop customized learning plans for each student. Our team approach ensures that students build the skills they need to become successful and self-sufficient. Info: www.nycteacherswhotutor.com.
-The YWCA located at 500 West 56 Street bet 10th and 11th Avenues has free computer training programs, resume building workshops etc. Info: 212-937-8700.
Benard Starr, Ph.D. on his book, “Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew”