Monday, March 11, 2024
Windy. High 50 degrees.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Ramadan began on Sunday night and St. Patrick’s Day will take place on March 17.
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
Thousands of people gathered in Central Park on Sunday demanding the safe return of the hostages still being held by Hamas, reported amny. “Sunday marked 156 days of captivity for an estimated 130 people, including American citizens.” More details — HERE.
You might have noticed M4 military assault rifles on your commute if you traveled through Penn Station last week, but that won’t be the case moving forward.
Many of the 750 National Guard troops Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed last Wednesday to check straphangers’ bags were carrying assault rifles, drawing social-media scrutiny. Hochul responded by ordering the troops to perform their mission without the heavy artillery.
The national guard troops and bag checks will continue this week. You can read more about it — HERE.
Buddy Duress, who rose to movie stardom in the mid-2010s after living on the Upper West Side as a heroin dealer, died in November at 38. His death was only made public in March.
Duress had roles in “Heaven Knows What” and “Good Time,” directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, helping to launch the brothers into mainstream fame. He died after experiencing cardiac arrest following a “drug cocktail” that included heroin, his brother Christopher Stathis, told The New York Times.
In 2013, Duress often slept on the steps of a church on the Upper West Side, where he met Arielle Holmes, a fellow addict who had already connected with the Safdie brothers. That connection eventually led Duress to his acting career.
Duress spent much of his childhood in Astoria, Queens, but went to school at the Robert Louis Stevenson School on the Upper West Side, according to The Times, which notes that later in his life, he often shot up in the bathroom of a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on the Upper West Side.
He had multiple stints on Riker’s Island over the last decade.
“At the height of his career in the mid-2010s, directors made trips to Rikers Island to visit and audition Mr. Duress,” The Times wrote. “He acted alongside Michael Cera and Robert Pattinson, and critics said he stole scenes.”
You can read the full story — HERE.
The cold-case murder of a vocal coach on the Upper West Side more than 40 years ago has been reopened. Frederick Wilkerson, whose famous pupils included Maya Angelou, Paul Robeson, and Roberta Flack, was found strangled in his bedroom on West 95th Street on April 5, 1980.
Carlos Gueits-Bonilla, an opera singer, was the person who found Wilkerson, and last year, he sent an email to former Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance that brought renewed attention to the case.
That renewed attention led NYPD Detective Rob Deckert to locate Wilkerson’s old case file, which includes sketches of a suspect, and reopen the case.
“The sketches are pretty good. I think that someone knows them. And I think it’s time,” Deckert told NBC 4.
You can read more — HERE.
It has been a big week for West Side Rag commenters. First, it was discovered that an UWS comedy show does a weekly cold dramatic reading of the Rag comments, and now The Real Deal has written about the situation at 600 Columbus Avenue, with a focus on the comments of our original story.
“Readers were drawn to the West Side Rag story, posting 117 comments that perfectly captured the never-ending debate about profit and morality in New York real estate,” the Real Deal wrote about the Rag story that outlined the raising of rents at 600 Columbus Avenue after Slate Property Group bought the building last winter.
The Real Deal article goes on to directly quote several commenters on the Rag story, outlining the debate that broke out underneath the article over what level of morality real estate developers should have when going about their business.
UWS Dad was given the last word in the article, which you can read in its entirety — HERE.
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It’s an M4. Also, I spent a few years in Europe in the 80s. Main train stations often had two man or man and k9 teams that were very “military” in appearance. Never saw a crime there. I don’t mind this , not even a little bit. Trading freedom for safety and deserving of neither….I don’t think so. First this is taking back safety that’s been lost and second, there is 0% chance those weapons have ammunition. No leader is going to give run of the mill soldier live rounds in this environment.
I’ll go with Benjamin Franklin’s take on this over yours.
At least The Rag never fired anyone for suggesting this might be a solution
Exactly. A few years ago, the mere suggestion to bring in the guard to restore law & order was considered fascism, a threat to democracy, and caused the NYTimes staff to melt down. I guess it’s all ok now!
No crime in European train stations? Hoo boy.
Thanks.
Did you read the DN story? You would think NG was firing field artillery haphazardly around Manhattan.
My morality, my profit. My profit, my morality.
Wow very funny they dedicated a whole article to relitigating the comments. It’s nice to be quoted so heavily, especially when they follow the quote up with “experts agree”!
I’m curious if WSR can determine how much traffic this drives from that article. Hopefully WSR makes some money off of this to support their excellent work!
Congrats WSR on your willingness to tackle top of mind subjects, even if controversial, and promote engagement with readers. I think the dialogue is helpful and I hope the publicity helps you sign more advertising to benefit your bottom line. I see the changes that have been made as a positive. Thank you!
Whilst I anxiously await each West Side Rag article – and appreciate all the hyper-local news – and the new contributions from Gus – I do have to admit that I often (ok ok always) scroll down to see the comments (and some of my friends, after a glass or two of wine, have admitted to the same) – Glad to see that this has been acknowledged!
How does one find out about the protests calling for the return of hostages? I only ever hear about them after the fact.
Also, does anyone know if the hostage photos will be posted again on the windows of the former DSW store on 79th Street? I found it reassuring to see them there (especially in view of how many others around the neighborhood are torn down). I also liked the rare good news written on a small number of them:
RELEASED!
The stickers someone has been putting up lately are good:
– Me too unless you’re a jew
– Believe Israeli women
– Free Palestinians from Hamas
I wonder if the city will ever have a joint protest calling for both the protection of Palestinians and the release of the hostages.
The stickers that people have been putting up are offensive, propaganda, and quite frankly, repulsive. Enough. Your neighbors do not want to hear it. Your neighbors do not want to see it. Your neighbors cringe every time they walk by those stickers on a day when hundreds of Palestinians – thousands of kids by now, FYI – are killed by Israeli bombs that WE pay for as American taxpayers.
Anti Zionism is NOT anti Semitism
To That Math – posters of young girls who were kidnapped and being daily raped by Hamas is offensive…. to humanity.
Why can’t Hamas release all the hostages and lay down their arms?
Remember there was a cease fire on Oct 6th and Hamas broke it.
There can be a Cease fire again, but Hamas has to leave their hotels in Qatar, and come back to Gaza and return the hostages.
“Your neighbors cringe every time they walk by those stickers.” Really?
So sorry that this conflict is complicated! I’m sorry that makes some of our neighbors uncomfortable.
Yes thousands of Palestinian kids are dying and it is tragic but how does that take away that civilian hostages were taken, that they must be brought home? How does that take away that Hamas terrorizes not only israel but it’s own people?
I’m sorry some of our neighbors cringe at the fact that there are no easy answers and no simple solutions. Don’t look if it’s too much for you but this is a difficult reality.
I don’t find the hostage posters repulsive. Hamas attacked Israel proper during a ceasefire, and murdered, raped and tortured civilian women, men and babies. All Hamas has to do is return the hostages they have not murdered yet and the war will end, but they refuse to do that.
Hamas also uses its own civilians as human shields – the tunnels are only for Hamas and the hostages, not for the regular Palestinians in Gaza. As well, no Arab country has agreed to accept Gazan women and children refugees, unlike Europe which has accepted many Ukrainian civilians during the Russia-Ukraine war. This refusal to take in Gazans is not Israel’s fault.
Interesting to hear that you find a picture of a nine month old baby and his four-year-old brother who were kidnapped on October 7, 2024 “offensive”
The only update that we have is that Hamas separated the baby and toddler from their kidnapped mother….
And traded the baby and his four-year-old brother to a Palestinian organization, sort of like trading cards, except it’s a baby and a toddler.
Thank you to all the people on the UWS, who have been putting up the hostage posters
Anna, I’m with you! I want to attend these protests. I also want to call for a cease fire, if only temporary, but I feel alienated by those protests where there is no call for a release of the hostages, or any kind of acknowledgement of the savagery of Hamas and the events of October 7th, let alone those protests that are openly antisemitic.
I am Muslim and I think what happened is disgusting, I believe that Israel has a right to defend itself and the hostages should be released and I stay far away from those tearing down the hostage posters. But it is me that is made to feel unwelcome on the Upper West Side. It is me when I get stopped and frisked unjustly, the community leaders don’t lift a finger for me or tell me that they’re limited in what they can do. I believe in Israel’s right to exist, defend itself and release the hostages. I think Muslim extremists are bad, even the leadership in Arab countries find them to be a problem and I see why. I just hope that I feel welcome and I am not messed with here.
There is a group that meets every Sunday at 11 at CPW and 90th St. There is also some information at https://stories.bringthemhomenow.net/
Thank you, Esther