Spotted on West 76th Street. Photo by Harriet Flehinger.

April 3, 2017 Weather: Rain expected later, with a high of 61 degrees.

Notices:
A free film screening at Barnard and more local events on our calendar.

A request for donations, via Councilmember Helen Rosenthal: The Central Baptist Church is holding a Dress Drive for young people in our community who cannot afford to buy formal attire as prom and graduation season approaches. Graduation and prom-appropriate dresses, as well as gently used shoes and accessories, are being accepted at the church, 166 W. 92nd Street. Dresses should be cleaned and no more than two years old. Drop-off will be Monday through Saturday, 11:00 am — 5:00 pm, through April 15. Please call Clara Rivera-Keita at (212) 998-9092 or (212) 866-4994, or email her at clarark70@gmail.com with any questions.

Here’s a clip of local 12-year-old artist Sasha Harmon Matthews on Little Big Shots from last night.

Alert to Chase customers: Duane Reade’s Chase ATM’s are now Citibank ATM’s.

News:
Sanitation workers helped an Upper West Side woman comb through 800 bags of garbage to find her wedding ring. “‘Everyone was there to help out. It wasn’t a pretty job,’ Shannon Lombardo said. ‘There was mostly a lot of dog crap, coffee (grounds) and sauces — I was surprised at how wet it was.’ After an hour of digging, they located the Lombardos’ trash bag — and inside it, the two platinum rings nestled in some tissues.”

Architecture site Architizer created a highbrow April Fools Day joke referencing a French architect and urban planner. The premise: Central Park is about to be filled with dozens of affordable housing towers. “With a plethora of glittering towers being dreamt up at the southern end of the park, officials envisage the Swiss-French architect’s vision as a perfect urban foil for these high-end condominiums. The new administration’s relaxation of regulations across both urban development and environmental sectors opens up the prospect of unfettered construction of these monumental towers, destined to house all the people who have been priced out of every other enclave in Manhattan…’We’ll consider a green roof or two on some of the blocks to make up for the loss of a few trees here and there.'”

Nine months later, the case of the Central Park explosion remains open. “So far finding out who is responsible for the homemade concoction that injured 19-year-old Connor Golden remains a mystery, despite a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.”

The New Stage Theatre Company has found a home in a basement space on West 106th Street. “After more than a decade of drifting from performance space to performance space, Hungarian emigré Ildiko Nemeth has found a permanent home for her experimental group — in the basement of a hostel on West 106th Street. Founded by Nemeth in 2002, the New Stage Theatre Company has performed works by foreign playwrights and artists at Off-Off-Broadway venues Downtown like La MaMa and Theater for the New City, earning accolades from the alternative theater community for its surreal, visually striking productions.”

Paul Novograd, the owner of the last operating horse stable in Manhattan, has died. The Claremont Riding Academy at 175 West 89th Street closed in 2007. “Claremont had been home to countless horses since it opened in 1892 on the Upper West Side, had trained generations of riders in its arena, and had supplied equine cast members to the Metropolitan Opera and other cultural institutions.”

An Australian rugby player who was arrested after a drunken rampage on the UWS in 2015, was ordered to pay his victims $1.2 million in a civil suit. “Lodge forced his way into Mr Cartright’s apartment where Ms Fowler and their nine-year-old were sleeping and shouted, ‘My name is Matthew Lodge. I come in peace. Salaam Alaikum’ and smashed furniture, plates and other items. Judge Wood wrote ‘Lodge put Cartright in a headlock, punched him several times in the head, and shoved him’ and ‘approached the bathroom in which Fowler and her son were, attempted to gain entry, and punched the door, leaving a hole.'” He received no jail time in his criminal case.