Editor’s Note: As part of a regular West Side Rag series, artist Michelle Hill interviews and draws Upper West Siders. This is the seventh installment in our Portrait of a Neighbor series.
By Michelle Hill
Portrait of Francine Alfandary
Where were you born?
I am from the San Francisco Bay Area. I attended UC Berkeley, and came back east for law school at Harvard. I worked one summer in New York and fell in love with the city. I had lived in Paris and wanted to settle in a big city.
Why did you come to the Upper West Side?
I initially sublet an apartment on West 74th in 1990. I felt right at home in the neighborhood. I eventually bought a place on West 75th. I still live in that building, now with my husband, Laurent Nahon, and our twin sons. The neighborhood has everything we need! I run in Central Park. The boys ride bikes in Riverside Park. We swim at the West Side Y. We are regulars at the New York Historical Society. We go to the Columbus Avenue Greenmarket every weekend.
What have you been doing since?
I am a partner at a firm in Times Square, Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer, where I practice transnational business law. I am also an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School at Lincoln Center. I love that I can walk both to my office and to the law school.
What is needed on the Upper West Side, ideas for the next mayor?
We are public school parents. Our kids are having a wonderful experience at PS 87. There is tremendous disparity among schools, even on the UWS. The incoming mayor should work to ensure that every New York City kid has an equally rich and valuable educational experience, from pre-K right through 12th grade graduation.
As a working mom, what would make the balance easier for you?
There’s no such thing as balance! Practicing law and parenting kids are both full-time jobs. I’m fortunate to have wonderful coworkers and a wonderful husband. New Yorkers are very interdependent, and we rely on at least a half-dozen different communities: the other parents at PS 87, our friends at our synagogue, Shaare Zedek, our neighbors, the building’s staff, the boys’ caregivers, and all of our friends. We could never keep it together without the support of all these different communities.
Is there any thing that annoys you about the new Upper West Side?
The only distressing thing is the rats. I am often out in the morning before dawn, and I see them scurrying around.
