Monday Bulletin: Politician’s Covid Controversy, Frozen Levain Cookies at the Grocery Store, Subway Attack
Building a water tower at 96th and West End. Photo by Jordan Cooper.
November 23, 2020 Weather: Rainy, with a high of 54 degrees.
Notices:
Our calendar is full of local events.
News:
Brooklyn Borough President and 2021 mayoral candidate Eric Adams is the latest politician to be caught in a compromising coronavirus position, according to the Daily News. “Adams addressed campaign donors inside an Upper West Side bar and restaurant on Friday night — as the city was bracing for the imminent closure of indoor dining while the coronavirus outbreak surges anew. He gave his stump speech to at least 18 supporters inside ‘Good Enough to Eat’ on Columbus Ave…Mayor de Blasio said earlier Friday that the spike in COVID numbers means indoor dining could end as soon as the first week of December.”
Parker West, the new, 22-story building on West 72nd Street, between Broadway and West End Avenue, will be suffused with the spirit of its namesake Dorothy Parker, the 20th Century American poet, writer, critic and civil rights activist, known for her biting wit. The developer told the New York Post, “‘We went into this [project] with the understanding that it was going to be new, but that there also had to be a historic touch to the property’… The development team is also putting a plaque in the lobby of the building that reads: “This was Dorothy Parker’s childhood home,” to honor Parker’s roots and remind residents and visitors that they are interacting with an important part of New York City literary history. There will also be a photo of Parker in the lobby, as well as images of her original home in the amenities space.”
“Hell may have frozen over several times in 2020 — but so did New York’s most famous chocolate chip cookie,” the Daily News reported. “Boxes of Levain Bakery Frozen Cookies — available in flavors Two Chip Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip and the best-selling Chocolate Chip Walnut — are now sold in the freezer aisle in select grocery stores across the country…The new fully-baked frozen variety, with each sweet measuring in at two ounces, are smaller than the heaping six-ounce cookies the New York-based bakery is known for. And they come with the convenience of scooping them out of the box in your freezer whenever you’re in the mood for one and popping them in the oven for five minutes till they’re toasty.”
There’s been another sucker punching of another New York actor on the Upper West Side, according to the Post. “Alex Weisman, 33 — a member of the original cast of ‘Harry Potter and The Cursed Child’ — needed to undergo laser eye surgery after he was slugged in the face at the 103rd Street station on the Upper West Side, according to the actor and police. Weisman, of Manhattan, told The Post he anticipated the man would ask for money, ‘but instead he just started hitting me in the face…It wasn’t a mugging, it was an attack for attack’s sake.’”
Finally, jazz aficionados are mourning the passing of Cándido Camero, at the age of 99. Camero was an Upper West Sider. “When you talk about percussion, particularly the evolution of conga playing, you’re talking about two periods — before Cándido and after Cándido,” the Grammy-nominated percussionist and bandleader Bobby Sanabria told The New York Times…“‘He developed coordinated independence as applied to the congas and bongo — being able to keep a steady rhythm with one hand while soloing with the other,” he said. “He was the first to develop the techniques to play multiple percussion instruments simultaneously, sounding like three or four players. He was the first to tune multiple congas to specific pitches so he could play melodies on them, and he was an inventor as well. In 1950 he created the first device for a player to be able to play a cowbell with one’s foot.’”
Saw the Levain cookies at Harris teeter in NC
Please read the story in the Post (linked in article) about Alex Weisman. For everyone who thinks these attackers aren’t criminals and shouldn’t be ‘labeled,’ violent or mentally ill until they’ve had their day in court (after being released on bail of course), just remember that this can happen to anyone, including yourself! 🙁
I’m a grown person who’s lived in FAR more violent places than the UWS. Of course I understand I can be attacked. I also understand that “innocent until proven guilty” is a bedrock of our freedom. You know it too, you want it applied to you and yours–you just don’t want it applied to scary Black/brown/poor people.
The article mentioned: …three of his friends were also randomly attacked in Manhattan this week — one in Chelsea and two on the Upper West Side.
Seriously, scary black/brown/poor people? You’re really jumping to conclusions here. You have no idea what my race or circumstances are. I don’t know any scary black/brown/poor people who want to be punched in the head and sustain facial injuries and then be subjected to laser eye surgery. Coming from a place that’s far more violent than the UWS is nothing to brag about. 🙁
Forgive me, but I don’t see the attacker’s race mentioned in either this article or the one in the Post — which actually is a bad thing, because how are we supposed to help police find the guy or be on the look out for him when walking ourselves? Regardless, I’m confused about why you’re the only one trying to make this a racism thing? Could have been a white guy for all we know.
You are something. Nobody makes it a race issue except you. Who is the problem?
Just say no to Eric Adams. Say yes to Ray McGuire!
Also, I hope the subway attacker gets what’s coming to him.
It’s flat out dangerous now. No police presence, people are getting pushed, attacked, beaten, with no provocation. The Upper West Side is seeing a spike in unprovoked violence on the streets and subways. And with kids home and not in school, they are even more exposed to this gratuitous violence. What is it going to take for city hall to wake up and address this?
Love Jordan Cooper’s water tower pic!
Enjoyed reading your news.
I wish the post had mentioned the time of day when the attack took place. It always helps inform my decisions to have those details.
it was on a Tuesday at 2pm
I do have to say: I do not see any transit police officers on the trains or on the platforms, and I take the subways every day.