By Carol Tannenhauser
Monday, October 17, 2022
Showers. High 65 degrees.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events! Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner.
New York City is experiencing a blood shortage, according to the American Red Cross. To help out, a group of local real estate brokers is sponsoring its second annual community blood drive on October 30th from 10am to 4pm at the Compass offices at 2150 Broadway, between W. 75 and W. 76 Streets. You can make an appointment to donate here.
News
In January, 2022, a controversial statue was removed from its pedestal in front of the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West between W. 77th and W. 81st Streets, because it was deemed racist in its depiction of Theodore Roosevelt in relation to his companions: Black and Native-American men. The statue had stood for more than 80 years.
Then, earlier this month, the New York Philharmonic opened its 2022-23 season, and the newly renovated David Geffen Hall, with an original composition by Trinidadian trumpeter Etienne Charles. Called San Juan Hill: A New York Story, it features Charles’ Creole Soul Jazz Band and the Philharmonic. “San Juan Hill was [the neighborhood] razed in the 1950s so that Lincoln Center might rise,” wrote Peggy Taylor, who covered the opening for the Rag. “The Center, once viewed as aloof from the surrounding neighborhoods, is reaching out to those neighborhoods and acknowledging a more inclusive vision of the past.”
Now, Wollman Rink, the public ice-skating facility at the southern tip of Central Park, an institution in its own right, has announced that it will open for the season on October 23rd with a “free public skate” (and rentals) and an elaborate celebration. Amid the music and performances will be presentations of new initiatives to help “provide access for New Yorkers who have not historically been able to afford to visit Wollman Rink,” a spokesperson for the group that runs the rink informed the Rag.
Full-disclosure: this reporter was skeptical when a private group won the Wollman Rink concession in April 2021, edging out the Central Park Conservancy, after the Trump Organization was stripped of all its New York City contracts as a result of the former president’s alleged involvement in the incitement of the January 6th Insurrection.
Still, Wollman Park Partners (WPP) — a joint venture between Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils) and the Related Companies and Equinox — stated in a press release that they were “not seeking or accepting any of the profit from operating Wollman Rink. Any net proceeds generated during the concession term will be reinvested in the facility and through community partners providing services at Wollman Rink.” Furthermore, “we are refining our programming to be inclusive and accessible to all.”
As the second season of WPP’s five-year contract dawns, they seem to be holding to that mission. On opening day, they will announce a new partnership with Culture Pass, which is accessed with a New York Public Library card, offering free admission tickets, as well as the expansion of the Wollman Rink Access Program (WRAP), offering free tickets and a special package deal to those from “impoverished zip codes.” There will also be free skate days for first responders and essential workers, veterans and active service members, and public-sectors workers.
For information about Wollman Rink and Opening Day 2022, click here. For information about Culture Pass, click here. For a description of the Wollman Rink Access Program (WRAP), click here.
Full disclosure: this reporter’s skepticism has changed to cautious optimism…and excitement!
Do not be fooled. These financiers are all basically Stephen Ross, who is a major donor to Trump and conservative candidates in NYC. Trump and his brand of kleptocracy is a cancer, deeply rooted in this city.
What is it with blaming each and every issue on Trump? I am not a Trump supporter, I totally despise the guy. But I can’t understand the constant hatred and deflection of the issues citing his name. I can’t understand how his contract with the rink was broken even though he is still not officially found guilty in his alleged Jan 6 involvement. Same people who who constantly defend city robbers’, etc. release pending trial and lecturing us constantly about presumption of innocence, are cheering for Trump contracts revoked and name stripped from institutions.
Cheap victory that doesn’t achieve anything however doesn’t require much effort on your own part while making you feel you did something.
A lot of UWSers live in Trump built buildings. I wonder if they are willing to move from their luxury apartments to prove their “Trump” point.
For someone who’s not a Trump supporter, you give him quite the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his role in fomenting insurrection.
That was my point exactly – benefit of the doubt, innocent till proven guilty. Same justice for all regardless whether you like or don’t like a person.
The city has plenty of reasons to cease working with the Trump Organization, including their history of stiffing NYC contractors, their theft of charitable contributions, and their deceptive trade practices related to Trump University – all of which have been adjudicated.
Why should the Trump Organization be held to a different ethical standard than every other NYC business that has a contract with the city?
No ice skating for you!
What is it that bothers you? Free tickets with your library card? Free tickets and a special package deal to those from “impoverished zip codes?” Our perhaps that there will be free skate days for first responders and essential workers, veterans and active service members, and public-sectors workers. Maybe it’s the fact that they will not accept any of the net profits, but vow to put the proceeds back into the facility.
Why not just be happy that they have made these promises to New Yorkers. If we find that they are not sticking to their commitments, and with New York media, I’m sure they won’t give any quarter to a company associated with the former president, you will have plenty of time to vent your spleen.
Meanwhile, if the Trump Organization hadn’t taken over the rink’s renovation, which was finished in 6 months at 25% below the budget, from the City which had invested over $13 million and six years and STILL saw the rink in disrepair, and THEN claimed they needed to start the project all over again, you’d still be looking to spend a bundle to put on the blades at Rockefeller Center.
That’s limo liberals to you. They’d rather take away things from people for whose social justice they preach they are fighting.
They take away our safety, our children’s education because they can’t get over someone slightest association with Trump. Doesn’t matter how much good that someone does for the community and the city. Ideology first, people second.
Limo? I don’t even have a car.
The New York Blood Center is the organization that collects blood in New York City (a separate entity from the American Red Cross). It’s also home to some of the leading researchers in that field.