Monday, July 29, 2024
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August begins on Thursday..
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
Upper West Sider Allan Ripp penned an essay for the Wall Street Journal last week, in which he describes how he was recently attacked by a man hurling anti-Semitic insults at him in Central Park.
His piece, “I Never Thought I Could Be Attacked as a Jew in New York City — Until It Happened,” was subsequently shared on multiple Upper West Side community forums and sent to West Side Rag by readers.
A man on a CitiBike shoved Ripp who was walking his daughter’s dog in Central Park, prompting the Upper West Sider to yell out that the biker wasn’t allowed on the path.
Here’s what happened next.
“He immediately slammed on his brake, threw the bike aside and stormed toward me, his eyes bugging with rage. I tried to apologize, but he was already wound up. ‘You f—ing Jew pig. I am going to kill you and your animal,’ he screamed. In seconds he was upon me, spitting at me and hurling ‘Jew! Jew! Jew!’ while pummeling my face,” Ripp wrote.
You can read the full essay — HERE.
In more hopeful Central Park news, details were announced for next summer’s free Shakespeare in the Park.
After no productions this summer because of ongoing renovations to the Delacorte Theater, the Public Theater announced last week that the popular series will return to Central Park in 2025 with “Twelfth Night.”
The cast will be star-studded, with Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, Peter Dinklage, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson all taking on roles in the show. Saheem Ali, who is the resident director at the Public Theater and directed “Merry Wives” for Shakespeare in the Park in 2021, will oversee next summer’s show.
Specific dates and ticket options are not available yet, but “Twelfth Night” is expected to be the lone show offered at the new Delacorte Theater next summer.
You can read more — HERE.
One of the biggest names in the history of modern American editing is Robert Gottlieb.
Over his career, Gottlieb was the editor-in-chief at Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf, and The New Yorker. He edited the books of Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Joseph Heller, Ray Bradbury, President Bill Clinton, Katharine Graham, and, possibly most famously, Robert Caro.
Gottlieb, who was born and lived much of his life on the Upper West Side, died last summer at the age of 92.
Last Saturday, a portion of Gottlieb’s personal library was sold at a fair within the Metrograph Theater on the Lower East Side, as reported in the New York Times — “Not Your Usual Secondhand Book Sale.”
At the time of Gottlieb’s death, his family was unsure what to do with his vast collection of books and movies. Eventually, the family got in contact with the Metrograph to sell a selection of the books to members of the public for affordable prices.
“Being able to touch the same books Gottlieb had in his own home is surreal,” one of the buyers told The Times.
You can read the full story — HERE.
An Upper West Side community organization was recently selected by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to receive $20,000 to help in its efforts to prevent youth gun violence.
Children’s Aid NYC serves the Frederick Douglass Community Center at 885 Columbus Avenue, near West 104th Street and Columbus Avenue.
“For the last three summers, our youth gun violence prevention initiative has served the future generation of young New Yorkers across the borough, all with the goal of reducing gun violence and keeping Manhattan safe,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a news release.
Children’s Aid NYC will engage 20 young New Yorkers, in weekly, two-hour gun violence prevention workshops, as well as create four large vinyl memorial portraits of community members who have been victims of gun violence.
“At Children’s Aid, we understand the profound impact of gun violence on young people and the need for engaging, supportive programming to build safer communities for everyone,”said Phoebe C. Boyer, President and CEO of Children’s Aid, in a news release.
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If someone riding a Citibike at speed came up behind me and gave me a “hard shove”, I’d likely be knocked down and my first words wouldn’t be admonishing someone about the rules about where bikes can be ridden.
Whether it be a cyclist or a dog walker you can’t say anything about their misbehavior without being attacked verbally or physically and our elected officials have condoned their behavior.
Dog owners and cyclists have become the new definition of “Karen”. Entitled and little regard for others. Me, me, me.
The ratio of motorized vehicles vs pedal bikes in the bike lanes is easily 30-40 to 1 on the UWS – This is not what Bloomberg and his idiot transportation Tzar had in mind when they handed over, free, vast swathes of NYC real estate to t hese people – I think we can at this point label them a failure and its time to consider doing away with t hem.
The other day a deliverista was going fast on an E-bike on the running track around the reservoir. Not on the road or on the gravel bridle path, but on the upper running track. The same day I saw four guys on Citibikes riding on that running track. People push strollers on that running track. No enforcement, as far as I can see, of park rules.
It’s a disaster. You can’t run there unless it’s early morning – strollers, dogs, smoking – and most people walking the wrong way. I wrote to the CP conservatory’ – said it’s not their job. Saw one bike on there this past weekend for first time – most offenders are of the pedestrian variety
I wrote to the CP Conservancy about another issue. It too, they said, was not their job. Helicopters.
In my experience, Citibike riders routinely curse any pedestrian who objects to their behavior (going through red light, going the wrong way, on sidewalk etc) or gets in their way.
Citibike riders do what they want when they want – and the City keeps rewarding them (more Citibike stations, more bike lanes) for their bad, menacing, dangerous behavior.
At what point is Citibikes complicit in the lack of control? Isn’t there a way to physically limit the speed of a bike?
There is a WSJ pay wall to read the article about Mr. Ripps’ experience. Is there another way to access this article?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/i-never-thought-i-could-be-attacked-as-a-jew-in-new-york-city-until-it-happened/ar-BB1qCL1b
Spence – if you send me your email I can send you full text of the essay. Sorry about that. Allan Ripp arippnyc@aol.com
Yes, is there another way to access this article? The WSJ is very aggressive about “sharing” –
Likewise, Elisabeth – feel free to reach out via email and I will send you full text of article. Thank you, West Side Rag readers….Allan arippnyc@aol.com
Thanks for the info on Shakespeare in the Park, Gus, and the Robert Gottlieb story. But the Allan Ripp essay seems to be behind a Wall Street Journal paywall.
Can’t read the entire Citibike article without sending money to Rupert Murdoch. Yeech.
What’s the point of publishing an article that can’t be read in full unless one subscribes to the WSJ? Frustrating!
Robin – editors did not know you would encounter paywall. Feel free to ping me directly and I will share full text of the article: arippnyc@aol.com
The Wall Street Journal published that article to make it available to readers of the Wall Street Journal. This would include subscribers to the online or print editions as well as folks who purchase a copy at the newsstand. Isn’t that how newspapers have always worked?
Yeah, how to dispose of one’s books after a lifetime. It is the question that plagues we aging UWSers. Give them away? No one wants them. Libraries and used book stores are filled up. Throw them away? What a sin.
Give the books to Housing Works – they have a huge bookstore. Or to the booksellers on the street. I usually give mine to St Agnes Library, which has regular sales.
The Book Cellar, the cute used bookshop at the NYPL/Webster branch takes used books.
I think the NYPL/St. Agnes still does its periodic used book sale?
Also used bookshop Westsider books.
Was a physical description of Mr. Ripp’s assailant provided?
This is horrible and much worse than my altercations. I have been threatened and called every name in the book on frequent occasion by e bike riders in the park and on the sidewalks, for merely asking them to not ride on pedestrian walkways. Egregious Citibike riders sre the rudest of all.
I hope that the gentleman involved in this horrific incident will reach out to NYC E Vehicle Safety Alliance. We started on UWS and we are 936 members strong and have 89 victims of e vehicle violence with injuries that range from paralyzation to skull fractures, brain bleeds, broken hips, 49 broken ribs, 25 titanium plates. This is a partial list. . All have PTSD. The quality of life for all New Yorkers has diminished greatly due to the e bike and moped crisis im NYC. There is ZERO accountability by riders, mayor, DOT, delivery apps and CITIBIKE! We, as New Yorkers, must band together and prove that we represent the majority in wanting e vehicles 1- regulated- held accountable to egregious riding by an identifiable plate required on each vehicle Intro 0606-2024 2- prohibited from our parks Intro 0060-2024. Please ask your Council Members to sign on!
90% of our victims were hit by a rider who fled. 96% of our victim’s crashes are not counted on DOT’s , entirely skewed stats
( mainly due to lack of reporting by NYPD officers and also some victims who dont report.
29 bikers ( cyclists or e bikers) were killed last year. 21 were e bikers, which is 76%. E bikes are much heavier, go faster and brake more slowly than bicycles. They are NOT bicycles. They have motors and therefore MUST be regulated. They do not belong in the only oasis we have… our parks. Join the fight! http://www.nycevsa.org
A tragic death – a fight ensued after a moped rider on the sidewalk hit a man outside a bar on 9th Avenue last week.
During the fight, the moped rider punched the man and his friend – the friend has died from his injuries.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/assault-victim-dies-following-attack-outside-rudy-s-bar-on-9th-avenue/ar-BB1qMEtp
Bravo!
I have so many nasty things to say about our mayor and his crime statistics, the Citi bike riders and the lack of enforcement, the subway crime and the failure to prevent assaults, and all the anti semitism and its acceptance by many New Yorkers and their representatiives. But I won’t. After all, you voted for those that allowed all this to happen. Deal with it.
This is the description from the WSJ essay: “orange baseball cap, salt-and-pepper beard, dark jeans, likely Middle Eastern appearance and accent.” Description derived from a park surveillance video. Mr. Ripp also noted that the park police responded within minutes but it appears that they did not canvass for witnesses; Mr. Ripp said multiple people had seen the attack.
People must get involved and at the very least ask their elected leaders why anyone is riding a Citibike on the bridle path, the reservoir, or the pedestrian paths in the first place! How horrible that this man was accosted by a violent anti-Semite on our bridle path and then when the victim called 911 ride off on the new get away vehicles of choice! And because none of these e-bikes have LICENSES it’s going to be pretty hard to identify this dangerous perpetrator!
There’s a general feeling of lawlessness in this city. And it’s more than just a feeling. Thousands of motorized vehicles on our streets and sidewalks unregulated is just one part of the problem the Mayor seems to like.
Why are there no park police on the reservoir or the bridle path? And while I know the park police make an effort it’s a lot harder with thousands of e-bikes let loose in the park with the Mayor’s pilot program. NYC is prime for criminality of all sorts.
These are the kind of stories that shake New Yorkers to their core. And make others reluctant to come to NY. Perhaps that’s why WSR chose not to run a full fledged story on this hateful crime.
Unfortunately your city by way of your Mayor talks a good game and does very little.
Call or write: Gale Brewer, Shaun Abreu, CB7, the Mayor.
WSR – Please stay on top of this Alan Ripp attack. Please keep us posted if the perp is caught and the outcome of his arrest. Thx!
The fact that the guy was riding a bike (citi or otherwise) is largely irrelevant here. The issue is not badly behaved bikers but rather a vile antisemitic attack. I know many have grievances with cyclists, but this really isn’t about that.
Mr. Ripp said there is Central Park surveillance video of the attacker, can West Side Rag ask NYPD to release a picture of the attacker from the video? I checked the Twitter X accounts for Hate Crimes Task force and NYPD Crime Stoppers and there is no info about the crime or photo released yet.