Monday, August 5, 2024
Sunny. High 92 degrees.
Monday will be both the hottest day of the week and the only one when rain is not expected. The showers from the weekend look set to resume, as rain is forecast every day from Tuesday through Saturday.
Temperatures will drop into the 70s starting on Wednesday.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
The head of Ethical Culture Fieldston School, which has a campus on the Upper West Side, stepped down last week following a year of turmoil related to the Gaza War, the New York Times reported.
Joe Algrant resigned from his position after two years leading the school.
“This spring, Fieldston was torn apart by pro-Palestinian student activism, including graffiti on the high school that drew widespread public attention,” wrote New York Times reporter Katherine Rosman. “Parents complained that school administrators did not do enough to bring factions together or to articulate and enforce rules around activism, antisemitism and Islamophobia.”
A moment of tension came when a student posted a photo of herself at school on social media with a sign that read — “From the river to the sea.” Online responses to that post were also deemed threatening, and multiple people faced discipline.
Ethical Culture has an UWS campus at 33 Central Park West (65th Street), as well as a larger one in the Bronx, and a yearly tuition of more than $60,000.
Fieldston will now be headed by Kyle Wilkie-Glass.
You can read the full New York Times story — HERE.
In the past month, the Rag has received multiple emails about mailboxes disappearing along West 86th Street on Columbus and West End Avenues.
These emails follow a story the Rag ran in May about a United States Postal Service mailbox being removed from the corner of West End Avenue and West 79th Street, leaving nearby residents frustrated.
At the time, a spokesperson from the USPS said that the Postal Service had been replacing collection boxes with high-security models to put up better defenses against mail thieves, and that, in locations where mail density is low, collection boxes might be removed entirely.
We again reached out to the United States Postal Service about the reason for the removal of the West 86th Street mailboxes, but, unfortunately, got an identical response to the first from a Postal Service spokesperson.
The spokesperson did not specify whether the 86th Street mailboxes were slated for security upgrades or full removal, and did not provide a timeline for when the boxes might be returning.
Given how busy the West 86th Street corridor generally is, it seems hard to imagine that the boxes have been permanently removed due to “low density.”
Unfortunately, this is as much information as we can currently provide on the matter.
Upper West Side residents gathered in front of their building last week to demonstrate against its landlord, the Tran Group.
Residents of 342 West 71st Street organized on Wednesday night to demand better conditions within the building, including the completion of safe and legal construction repairs to the property.
Councilmember Gale Brewer, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal all delivered remarks at the demonstration.
“We have heard many horrifying stories from this building,” Rosenthal said during the rally. “We will not settle for the bare minimum, when it comes to maintaining your places of residence.”
West Side Rag previously reported in April on the plight of the residents of the SRO building, who had gone without working gas for more than 14 months and had filed a lawsuit against the landlord that included alleged offenses such as a non-secure front door, non-working security cameras, garbage piling up in front of the building, the loss of their super, and more.
Tran Group, which had employees named among the “100 Worst Landlords of 2023,” denied these allegations.
“The Princess of 72nd Street,” first published in 1979 and hailed as a “cult classic,” is being reissued this week by Random House’s Modern Library.
Elaine Kraf’s first novel tells the story of Ellen, a bipolar artist living on the Upper West Side in the 1970s, as she alternates between her everyday life and episodes when she becomes Princess Esmeralda, overseeing her kingdom on West 72nd Street.
Kraf was born in New York City and died in 2013 at the age of 67.
In 2022, The New Yorker published a story about her life titled, “Elaine Kraf Wrote A Cult Classic. Then She Was Forgotten.” You can read that article — HERE.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here.
The mailbox at the Northwest corner of 72nd Street and Columbus disappeared sometime in mid-July. I used it right before I went away the second week in July and it was gone when I returned the last week. The one right in front of the Chase Bank.
I noticed it was gone yesterday as I walked by. However, they left several screws sticking out of the sidewalk that held the legs of the box in place. Be warned. The screws stick up more than an inch posing a serious threat for someone to step on them and be impaled or trip over them.
Did anyone report this to 311? This also happened near my workplace and 311 sent someone to grind down the screws.
The post boxes all around the West End and 106th St area appear to be gone, including the one in front of the 105th St post office. I asked the clerk what was happening, and she said all mailboxes were being removed due to theft. So, I asked if I had to bring my mail to the post office to send it, she said yes. I asked, “Forever?” She again said yes. She’s not an authority and who knows what she knows. All I can see are my local public mailboxes are missing.
Whats a mailbox?
When you are elderly & have trouble walking to the nearest P.O. & it is snowing or raining very hard or as it is now 90 degrees out most days you will wish for a nearby mailbox!
I forget whether this was mentioned previously, but according to the same Times article, the head of Collegiate (now between 61st and 62nd) resigned this June for similar reasons.
Re. Fieldston, just wait until classes start up again later this month. The tent campers and building-occupiers will be back in full force, given those who were arrested last semester basically suffered no repercussions.
First Amendment is FIRST for a reason!
The fact that this family and others drove Joe to resign makes me so angry. So many of us were thrilled that he came on as head of school, and to say he loved Fieldston was an understatement. He breathed ECFS.
I am sick in my heart that it is always a few, loud families who feel that their precious child should be able to express themselves freely (and loudly), that they should be getting all As and into Ivies and woe betide the teacher who holds them accountable for actually doing their work or giving them (gasp!) a B+. If these things don’t happen, they run to the Post or threaten to withhold donations or even sue for the pettiest of reasons.
We will miss you, Joe.
When you say the “precious child should be able to express themselves freely and loudly,” what do you mean? Because I somehow doubt that if a student got in trouble for pro-Palestinian graffiti at the school – i doubt the student’s parent would go to the Post..
As an ECFS parent, I (and many fellow parents) felt blindsided by this decision. Could you say more about what happened? This all feels exhausting and like a no-win situation. What exactly could Joe have done differently? Who would be a better choice?
I was blindsided too. At this point we have to wonder who exactly will be able to hold down this job without the board of trustees, the parents, the teachers or someone saying enough to the entitlement and shenanigans of parents, internal administrators and enabled students who seem hellbent on destroying ECFS.
We chose the school because it seemed to couple rigorous learning with open discourse founded on respect for multiple points of view, but it seems glaringly obvious that there are many who want to shut down discourse and absolutely refuse to listen to other points of view, so convinced are they of their righteousness. He must have been utterly exhausted.
Mailboxes are going to have the same fate as telephone booths. Neither is needed much anymore, and their removal reduces sidewalk clutter which can be enjoyed by everyone. There are numerous alternative solutions to mailing a letter that aren’t too inconvenient.
In my entire lifetime I’ve never heard anyone call mailboxes, ‘sidewalk clutter.’ Are they blocking the delivery people, lol? ; )
I miss telephone booths, and would feel the same if mailboxes also become extinct. Now, restaurant sidewalk sheds/scaffolding, there’s clutter!
What happened to freedom of opinion? You have to be pro-Israel or you are cancelled.
Freedom of opinion is important. Not sure how graffiti at a school is freedom of expression.
And pro-Israel or you’re cancelled? No. In certain places and in certain professions or places, absolutely. In other places and other professions, if you’re pro-Israel, it absolutely will get you cancelled.
And even more than that, in some places, if you’re slightly critical, that gets you cancelled- whether that be by people who are more pro-Palestinian or more pro-Israeli.
Like pic of rainbow
Re Fieldston: The big problem is that there are people in positions of power that WANT tensions between Jews and Muslims. On the pro Palestinian side, they think that if Muslims who have nothing to do with these protests are discriminated against and messed with, that will force Muslims to join their cause and take part in protests. On the pro Israel side, they want Muslims to suffer to the point that Muslims feel safer in a Muslim majority country than in the US so that Muslims are forced to understand why Israel needs to exist. I get that Israel needs to exist and is not going anywhere, I support Israel’s right to exist, now can I just live life as an American the way I did before 10/7 and 9/11?
Can you explain who you have in mind by “people in positions of power”? Do you mean at ECFS or in general? I am assuming the latter.
In general.
Why is it that Pro-Palestine “protesters” are able to get away with far more anti-social, destructive and violent behavior than anyone else. This will end badly and all the colleges & cities who allowed this to happen will be to blame. They need to be held accountable.
What is even worse is that Muslims that have nothing to do with these protesters are the ones profiled and harassed by police on the UWS, made to feel unwelcome by certain corporate interests on the UWS, then the elected officials on the UWS and certain corporate interests do everything to deflect and not acknowledge what is going on to Muslims right here on the UWS. It should not have to take a WSR article or an article by some other media source for the UWS elected officials to be more responsive. Part of their job is to lessen tension between different groups of people, not let these tensions fester.
The mailbox at WEA and 87th disappeared some time ago. That said, I wouldn’t deposit anything with a payment of any kind in one of those boxes any more.
Protesting at a school that costs 60k a year and openly bills itself as progressive? Sounds a lot like the spoiled brats we observing at the ivy league Columbia, no? Sounds like that school is just churning out the next generation of students sadly lacking in an education that covers civics and foreign policy. But remember, inclusion is important
It’s a no-win situation for school administrators. Squash the protests and they’re framed as being against free speech. Allow them and they’re framed as being antisemitic. These are very tribal times.
Thank you for the article on the building at 342 West 71st St, It is so appreciated.
The mailbox on 102nd and West End is gone.
Regarding the missing mailboxes, if local USPS agents can shed no light on matters, I would suggest inquiring with the Postmaster General — except of course that would somehow still be Louis DeJoy….
I have been asking the Planetarium Post office for months now to remove a dilapidated mail carrier box in front of 310 West 85th Street. Guess what? It is still there, – rusted, with a hole in the back – where some animal or some person must be peeing into it from the smell of it. GO figure!
Regarding the building on 71st, the person who has the most power to restore the building gas is Gale Brewer. Our building codes for gas are out of control and forcing people to go years without gas.
Volume of first class mail has dropped to levels not seen since 1970’s . That trend shows no sign of reversing any time soon if ever.
https://about.usps.com/who/profile/history/first-class-mail-since-1926.htm
Meanwhile costs to install, maintain and secure mail boxes continues to increase, this in line with ever higher numbers of mail theft. Clearly something is going to have to give.
Just as mobile phones and other devices killed off pay phones, digital age simply means less and less paper and that includes first class mail. Meanwhile at other end of things what mail is sent is being stolen at record amounts. USPS cannot secure every mail box on street. Thieves are still stealing mail out of so called “secure” boxes. USPS has removed mail boxes from in front of many post offices as well. That’s saying something.
Banks, financial institutions and others more and more are charging a fee for paper statements.
Places aren’t including return envelopes much anymore either.
“Regarding the building on 71st, the person who has the most power to restore the building gas is Gale Brewer. Our building codes for gas are out of control and forcing people to go years without gas.”
East Village gas explosion back in 2015 claimed two lives and injured nearly twenty persons. That event came after there were a few other gas explosions in recent years elsewhere in city. When Con Ed and DOB finally began doing major inspections of city buildings widespread dangerous conditions were discovered.
Updated building codes regarding utilities are there to save lives and prevent another disaster. They shouldn’t be weakened or reversed to suit real estate lobby or anyone else.
NYC long required via code that all work on natural gas piping, connections, etc… be done by a properly licensed plumber. For decades people (including landlords) sought to get around that requirement by either doing work themselves or hiring someone not qualified. That is no longer possible as neither DOB nor Con Ed will approve work (and turn on gas) unless or until all ducks are in a row.
Those explosions were highly exceptional and the result of aged street infrastructure (Harlem) and illegal gas hookups (East Village).
The inspection regime is practically designed for older apartment buildings to eventually fail. And, if/when they do fail, the building codes make it impossible to replace the gas lines. This is why buildings go years without stoves now.
Mailboxes started disappearing under the Trump administration. This is to prevent people from voting and mailing in ballots.
Not to mention to hasten the decline and ultimate privatization of the USPS, another perennial goal of the get-off-my-lawn set.
In reference to the Tran Group’s horrific handling of the SRO on W72st. What further actions are in play when Tran out and out denies the accusations?
Those lamenting pay phones had better prepare themselves for Verizon’s next big thing, ending copper/POTS service.
Anyone who still has landline service can tell you if or when that goes out Verizon will do anything it can not to repair. You cannot even reach “repair” for landline service anymore when calling Verizon directly. Only option is “FIOS” repair and that requires calling during business hours to speak with a live person.
Once said “FIOS” CSR/tech realizes one has landline service will be switched to what remains of that repair/tech department. Once their landline customers will be given well reasoned abuse about remaining with POTS and pushed either to take Voice Connect or FIOS.
For anyone over say 50 years of age times are indeed changing. Many of the once touch stones of daily life are simply vanishing.
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This is the first time I’ve know about your paper. Glad to discover!