September 25, 2009, Downtown Express

Downtown Express photo by Elisabeth Robert

A Giant help

New York Giant Ramses Barden worked out with M.A.T. students under the Manhattan Bridge Tuesday. He didnot come empty handed as the NFL Network also gave the school a check for $50,000 to pay for a ﬁtness cen-ter, in recognition of the school’s widely-praised physical education program. Only four middle schools in the coun-try won the award. More photos, Page 11.

BY JULIE SHAPIRO

Margaret Chin could notdecide where to hold herfirst press conference afterwinning the Democratic pri-mary for Lower Manhattan’sCity Council seat.Her campaign headquar-ters at Chatham Green wastoo small and stuffy to fitall of the reporters, so Chinmoved everyone to a plazaoutside the middle-incomehousing complex. There, shewasn’t sure whether to standin the sun or in the shadeand asked advice from thereporters. After a minuteor two, Chin settled on thesteps leading into the apart-ment building, which raisedher up several inches.“This makes me look tall-er,” Chin said with a smile,squaring her shoulders tostand all of her 4 feet, 11inches.The press conferencewas last Thursday, less than48 hours after Chin’s Sept.15 upset victory unseatedincumbent CouncilmemberAlan Gerson. Chin, 56,appeared to still be takingin the news last week, as shefielded a whirlwind of con-gratulatory phone calls fromcity politicians and beganmaking plans for her firstterm in office as victory inthe general election appearsto be assured.At the press conference,Chin spoke briefly from thesteps of Chatham Square,offering gratitude to hersupporters and promises towork with those who sup-

Chin begins workearly, promising to ‘always reach out’

BY JULIE SHAPIRO

The expansive, sparkling new PoetsHouse in Battery Park City could notbe more different from the nonproﬁt’sold space in a Spring St. tenement.On Spring St., in a neighborhoodonce funky but increasingly trendy,Poets House looked much like onewould imagine a poetry library: darkand musty, cramped with bookshelvesand unraveling furniture. The newPoets House, opening this weekendin the base of the Riverhouse condobuilding, is just the opposite — all airand light, with sweeping vistas of theHudson River.The bigger, brand-new space andthe rent-free lease through 2069 wereclear bonuses for the nonproﬁt library,but still, the question remained: WhenPoets House moved to quasi-suburbanBattery Park City, would it lose its off-beat character?“That was a big concern of a lot of our members,” said Michael Romanos,coordinator of the children’s room atthe new location. “The biggest thingpeople said was to keep the old fur-niture — that quirkiness, that eclecticfeeling.”The old furniture made the journey(albeit reupholstered) and the chil-dren’s room especially has an air of whimsical fun, with a canoe-shaped

The sofas are old, butthe poets’ home is new

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VOLUME 22, NUMBER 20 THE NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN

SEPTEMBER 25 - OCTOBER 1, 2009

5th kitten rescued

Silkey, the last “BlackBerry” born at Goldman Sachs, wasrescued Friday.

PAGE 3DISCOVERING HUDSONSQUARE, PP. 15-24

September 25 - October 1, 2009

downtown express

2

S

URPRISE

ENDORSEMENT

As the New York Times recently pointed out, Mayor

MikeBloomberg

has solicited endorsements from almost everyoneimaginable in his bid for reelection, from celebrities to little-known cultural groups.One person he didn’t think to ask was renowned architect

Maya Lin

, who showed up to the opening of her new Museumof Chinese in America space with a large Bloomberg stickeradhered to her sweater. She said she got the sticker at oneof Bloomberg’s campaign events and was not prodded by themayor’s staff to wear it. While introducing the mayor at theevent, Lin praised Bloomberg’s commitment to culture andhis leadership of the city.Bloomberg, who walked in just after Lin’s introduction,later said he was pleased to have her endorsement. He hadequally glowing praise for Lin and added that he had alwaysbeen a little bit in love with her. To that revelation, the mar-ried Lin just ducked her head and laughed.

‘N

OT

PARTICULARLY

’

TENSE

Newly elected district leader

Paul Newell

recently gotwhat we can only imagine must have been an awkwardphone call from

Judy Rapfogel

, longtime chief of staff toAssembly Speaker

Sheldon Silver

. Newell challenged Silverin the Democratic primary last year and accused the speaker,among other things, of being an obstacle to transparentgovernment.Despite that history, Newell said his talk with Rapfogellast week was “not particularly” tense.“We had a very cordial conversation,” Newell said. “Shecongratulated me and said she and the speaker are lookingforward to working with me, and I said the same. We wishedeach other a Shana Tova,” the greeting for the Jewish NewYear.Newell said he still has concerns about some of Silver’spositions, but the speaker has also “done a lot of goodthings,” Newell said, “and I’m happy to work with him onthose.”As for whether the past will be an obstacle to that work,“We shall see,” Newell said.

I

N

LIMBO

Charlie Urstadt

, vice chairperson of the Battery Park CityAuthority, recently pointed out an uncomfortable fact aboutthe authority’s chairperson,

James Gill

.Speaking at the September authority board meeting,Urstadt wondered why Gill’s term on the board had expirednearly a year ago, on Dec. 31, 2008, and Gov.

DavidPaterson

had not reappointed him.Gill was originally appointed by former Gov.

GeorgePataki

and was a strong Pataki supporter, so Paterson couldbe weighing bouncing Gill in favor of someone whose loyaltylies with the new administration. (Gill’s predecessor survivedabout a year of Pataki administration.)Gill, though, thinks something different is at play.“I assume [Paterson] is waiting for the investigation tobe completed,” Gill said, referring to the state inspectorgeneral’s probe into whether the authority misused funds andprivate apartments.Urstadt said the authority ought to urge Paterson to reap-point Gill immediately.

I

SLAMIC

L

IBERTY

Nation of Islam leader

Louis Farrakhan

has been shack-ing up this week in the penthouse loft of

Russell Simmons

overlooking the World Trade Center. Neighbors have notseen much of the minister, but they have not been too pleasedwith all of the extra security in the Liberty St. building.One speculated that Farrakhan might be speaking withmany world leaders at the United Nations. “I don’t knowwhy, although they do let hateful people speak there,” hesaid.

A

LLIANCE

C

HANGE

Valerie Lewis

, until recently a vice president at theDowntown Alliance and one of the key people who helpedstart the River to River festival, has just crossed the river tobecome executive director of the Brooklyn Youth ChorusAcademy. Many of Downtown’s mover and shakers bidLewis farewell at a party thrown by Alliance president

LizBerger

last week at Church & Dey in the Millenium Hotel.Lewis, who worked at the Alliance for 11 years, ran the larg-est business improvement district’s marketing department.

S

TEREO

KITCHEN

We caught up with one of those movers, J & R’s gen-eral manager

Abe Brown

, at Val Lewis’s farewell last week. We pride ourselves on knowing most of what is going onDowntown, so we were a little surprised and embarrassednot to know about some of J & R’s newer merchandise.Even “Sex and the City” fans know that it’s a good place toﬁnd electronics (and jazz CD’s for the iPod-resistant), butwe were unaware that the store now also sells housewares,appliances and musical instruments. Brown told us withmore people living Downtown, they’ve expanded the offer-ings to meet the demand.

C.B. 1

NEWBIE

In what is likely a sign of the dire labor market, more than250 people applied for the community liaison position atCommunity Board 1 this summer. From that pool, the boardselected

Yume Kitasei

, 21, a Battery Park City resident whograduated from Princeton University in the spring. In addi-tion to having a background in planning and experience withcity government, Kitasei is very familiar with her new work-place — her parents have lived in Lower Manhattan for thepast six years, and she attended Stuyvesant High School.

P

ARTY

BOAT

AFTERMATH

In the wake of the fatal early morning shooting at SouthStreet Seaport last month, Community Board 1’s

John Fratta

met with Seaport ofﬁcials and toured the Atlantica, the partyboat on which the feud leading to the shooting erupted.Fratta reported on the meeting to his Seaport/Civic CenterCommittee earlier this month, describing new safety mea-sures that are now in place, including that no boats will beallowed to dock on Pier 17 after midnight.Fratta also got a tour of the Atlantica, owned by

MarkPhilips

, and described it as a plush catering hall.“Maybe we should have our Christmas party there,” joked

Paul Hovitz

, another board member.As it turned out, it wasn’t such a joke — Fratta saidPhilips had offered, and the community board may take himup on it.On a more serious note, Fratta said Philips expressedregret for allowing too many people to board the Atlanticaon Aug. 22, the night

Omar Trent

, 31, was killed.

JanellVaughan

, Seaport manager, said boat owners and the FirstPrecinct would take additional steps to make sure a similarincident did not recur.

NEWS

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HUDSON SQUARE

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EDITORIAL PAGES

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YOUTH

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ARTS

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30-34 Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33-34

CLASSIFIEDS

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C.B. 1

M

EETINGS

The upcoming week’s schedule of Community Board1 committee meetings is below. Unless otherwise noted,all committee meetings are held at the board ofﬁce,located at 49-51 Chambers St., room 709 at 6 p.m.

ON THURS., OCT. 1:

The Planning and CommunityInfrastructure Committee will meet.

U

NDER

c

over

DISCOVER

NEW AMSTERDAM

71 MORTON ST. AT HUDSON212-965-9334 thehubny.com

HUDSON URBAN BICYCLES

BATAVUSBIRIA ABICIDOUBLE DUTCH• COMFORT• STYLE• PRACTICALITY

OPENDAILY

SALES

•

RENTALS

•

SERVICE

downtown express

September 25 - October 1, 2009

3

BY JULIE SHAPIRO

New designs for the Cosmopolitan Hotelexpansion won landmarks approval lastweek, paving the way for a new building inthe Tribeca South Historic District.The city Landmarks PreservationCommission disliked the first designs theysaw for the project in June, calling theproposal “bland” and “generic.” But com-missioners liked the new plans they sawSept. 15, which are very similar to theoriginal designs but have additional his-toric details.“This has come a long way in the rightway,” chairperson Bob Tierney said at thehearing. “I find every aspect of it appropri-ate.”The owners of the historic CosmopolitanHotel at Chambers St. and W. Broadwayplan to refurbish the exterior and builda six-story brick addition on an adjacentlot, demolishing the short stucco buildingthat sits there now. Originally, architectMatthew Gottsegen wanted to connectthe new building and the existing hotel byincluding similar modern features on both.But based on the commissioners’ feedback,he decided to restore historic elements tothe original Cosmopolitan building, mak-ing the old more distinct from the new.“This is a greatly improved project,” land-marks commissioner Margery Perlmuttersaid upon seeing the new designs. “Now thetwo buildings speak to each other withoutblending into each other.”Gottsegen also made changes to thenew building’s design, including the addi-tion of more pronounced columns to theglassy ground floor and the expansion of bricks onto the top floor. Work could begin as soon as this springon the Cosmopolitan and the new building,which will add 25 rooms and a roof deckto the 125-room budget hotel, Gottsegensaid. Gerald Barad, who owns the buildingwith Jay Wartski, said earlier this year thatthey had full financing in place. The own-ers did not comment this week.The Cosmopolitan has been a neighbor-hood fixture since it opened in 1844 as the

The Landmarks Preservation Commission had strong criticisms for the original proposal for the expansion of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, left, but commissioners approved theplan last week after architects made a few changes, right, including extending the bricks to the top and adding more pronounced columns.

With subtle changes, Cosmo Hotel wins over Landmarks Commission

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BY JULIE SHAPIRO

With hissing, tentative sniffing and finallyplayful acceptance, four kittens born on theGoldman Sachs construction site reunited withtheir fifth and final sibling this week.The three-month-old kittens, nicknamed“the BlackBerries” for the color of their fur,likely have no idea just how many humans theyhave to thank for staging the reunion.First there are Rich and Patti Brotman, whotrapped the four original kittens last month andhave been caring for them in their GatewayPlaza apartment. Then there is an employee atPetropolis, a pet shop on Washington St., whocalled the Brotmans last Friday after spotting asmall black stray in Battery Park City near theRector St. bridge.The Brotmans had nearly given up on rescu-ing the last remaining kitten of the litter, who hadthus far avoided capture, so they were thrilledto get the call from Petropolis. Patti Brotmanimmediately called her friend Esther Regelson,who raced over to the bridge with a wire trapand a can of cat food. Regelson got permissionto enter the State Dept. of Transportation’sconstruction staging area beneath the bridge,where the kitten was spotted. Regelson set thetrap and waited.Almost immediately, the hungry kittenbounded over to the trap, knocked it over,snatched the food and fled. Regelson resetthe trap and this time the kitten, less frenzied,walked right in.“It happened within a half hour, which wasso quick, after all this time,” Patti Brotman saidthis week. “I was so happy you have no idea.”The Brotmans named the new kitten Silkey,after another important figure in the kittens’story: the Goldman traffic flagger who fed themother cat and first discovered the litter in aconstruction shed on the site earlier this year.That woman goes by the single name of Silkey.Silkey the kitten weighs less than 3 poundsand is a few weeks behind her siblings indevelopment, but is otherwise healthy. She isalso more immediately friendly than most otherstrays of her age and is already comfortablebeing touched.Initially, the Brotmans kept Silkey separatefrom her siblings, named Pearl, B.B., Buzzy andChicklet. But on Monday night they allowed allthe kittens out of their crates at the same time,giving Silkey her first chance to greet her sib-lings in over a month. After some initial hissing,Silkey appeared welcomed back into the fold.“They were playing and she got into playingright away,” Patti Brotman said. “It was amaz-ing…. I think they recognized one another.”Rich Brotman said the kittens have allgrown friendlier since their rescue, and theyare ready to be adopted. When Goldman’scorporate office first heard about the kit-tens, they offered to find homes for themamong Goldman employees and to cover thekittens’ medical expenses, an offer they willextend to the fifth kitten, spokesperson GiaMorón said.Although the Brotmans had not heard backfrom Goldman Sachs recently, Morón said thefirm was still interested in helping to find homesfor the kittens and would post another noticeon an internal message board soon with theinformation that the kittens are ready.The mother cat has been spotted a coupletimes recently, though the food being left outfor her often goes uneaten. Regelson said shewas concerned about how the mother wouldfare over the winter. If Goldman is able to finda family with a farm that could take the motheras a barn cat, Regelson will resume trying totrap her. Regelson and the Brotmans trappedthe mother once before but just neutered andreleased her because she was two feral to makea good house cat.As the kittens get ready to be adopted, PattiBrotman said she had mixed feelings.“I hate to see them go,” she said. “But I’malways happy when they get good homes.”

Julie@DowntownExpress.com

Reunited & feeling good, last Goldman kitten is rescued

Silkey, right, was reunited with her brothers and sisters this week. Five kittenswere born three months ago at the Goldman Sachs construction site and they are allexpected to have homes soon.