Monday, January 13, 2024
Sunny. High 41 degrees.
Temperatures will sit between 20 and 40 degrees during the week ahead. There is currently no snow expected for New York City.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Tuesday is Orthodox New Year.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art might be more connected to the Upper East Side, but there is an Upper West Side connection this week. On Wednesday, City Councilmember Gale Brewer is partnering with the MET to host District 6 Upper West Side residents for free at the museum for “Civics Wednesday,” which will have self-guided tours and booths set up from multiple nonprofits. You can learn more — HERE.
Recently we’ve had multiple people ask for any recollections of a restaurant named Teriyaki Bob’s on Columbus Avenue and 84th Street that closed sometime in the mid-2000s. We can’t find any evidence of it online, but we’re hoping the Rag’s readers could help us out in the comment section.
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
Peter Yarrow, longtime Upper West Sider and one-third of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died in his neighborhood home last week. Yarrow was 86 and had been treated for bladder cancer for four years, his publicist told The New York Times.
Yarrow was born and raised in New York City. He attended the High School of Music and Art, later renamed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, on the Upper West Side.
Famous Peter, Paul and Mary songs include “If I Had a Hammer,” “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “Day Is Done,” and “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane.” The group produced two No. 1 albums and won five Grammy Awards before disbanding in the 1970s — though they occasionally reunited, and Yarrow continued a solo career.
“I believe folk music has had a positive effect on the decency, humanity and empathy of society,” Yarrow told Reuters in 2008. “Peter, Paul and Mary had a huge audience, some of whom did not agree with our politics. But they were touched by the human essence of our songs.”
You can read more about Yarrow’s life on the New York Times.
A construction company and its leadership were indicted last week for allegedly stealing roughly $70,000 from former employees who were working on the Upper West Side, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced.
According to court documents, Kendis Paul, the owner of KEP Construction LLC, hired 10 employees to work on drywall at multiple job sites from September 2023 to February 2024, including the new high-rise building at 270 West 96th Street. The employees were recent immigrants who did not speak English, and the paychecks Paul gave them continued to bounce, despite being paid more than $1.3 million to do the jobs, the DA’s office said.
The employees ended up being owed between $2,600 and $11,000 each, totaling approximately $67,275, according to the DA’s office. The workers repeatedly asked Paul for their wages, but he never provided them, the DA’s office added.
“As alleged, Kendis Paul stole thousands of dollars in wages from employees who dedicated hours of labor to a construction project. The victims repeatedly asked the defendant for their wages, yet, we allege, they were never made whole,” said District Attorney Alvin Bragg, in a press release. “Workers deserve to be fairly compensated for their labor, and our Office will continue to prosecute those who take advantage of their employees.”
You can find find out more — HERE.
Congestion pricing began on January 5, and a range of early reactions have poured in about the program’s first week.
“Some public transit commuters report buses miraculously arriving on time or (gasp) early. Drivers are either steaming mad — or agog at traffic-free bridges,” the New York Times reporter Dodai Stewart wrote about the different reactions. “Many pedestrians say they are suddenly less anxious about crossing the street. And some former congestion pricing haters are startled to find themselves reconsidering.”
The cutoff point for the upper part of the congestion zone is on the Upper West Side at West 60th Street, and many locals have voiced uncertainty about how that boundary might affect the neighborhood (passenger car drivers who go south of the West 60th Street boundary are charged $2.25 to $9, depending on the time of their trip).
The Rag will monitor the neighborhood’s experience with congestion pricing as the program continues. But if you have noticed any impact on UWS transportation and traffic patterns already, please let us know in the comments section.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
A very good friend of mine died last week, one of my first friends I met back in 1961 when we met on McDougall Street in front of the Bitter End and he asked if I wanted to see the show of the group he was in, Peter, Paul, and Mary. We have been friends ever since through my career, and the music business and Neighbor on the upper west side and just recently, I saw him perform all the melodies of Peter, Paul and Mary at the City Winery downtown in 2018. He will be so dearly missed. Funny… I was just wondering how he was about three days before his death. He was 86 years old Peter Yarrow from Peter Paul and Mary.
RIP my friend.
Billy Amato, CMP
Very sorry for your loss.
Nice photo. Good eye.
Left the city 2x with no traffic. Yea CP. We probably should have left it at $15.
So, on the subject of congestion pricing in this article, may we forgo the usual litany of screeds for or against? It’s getting tedious.
Based on OPOE’s comment, clearly the answer is no.
As is the insanity of our elected officials.
Come to West End Avenue below and above 96th. Traffic has increased dramatically. In addition there have been a number of CT plates circling for parking. This is different than the normal PA plates you see from the building service people.
I was in it. Saturday around 1 PM. And I saw out of state plated vehicles slow at the approach of every hydrant and no standing zone only to move on when they got the full view.
And how many times will they be late for their restaurant or theater curtain before they wise up and stop taking the time to look?
The disruption will be temporary.
How do you know that they didn’t intend to park and stay in the neighborhood?
I live there and have noticed a drop off in traffic levels. When did you see more?
To get on the free West Side Highway heading south you have to go to 96th St. The next entrance is at 57th, in the zone. The question is, how far north and for how many weeks are people willing to travel to avoid the fee?
Not surprising–city officials should be closely monitoring this for possible remedies which could include the implementation of permit parking.
Permit parking is not necessary based on the amount of parking I am seeing on the UWS lately. No one is dealing with alternate side to avoid a $9 fee, no one.
Teriyaki Boy was a small chain of Japanese restaurants that included a branch at 483 Columbus Ave. It was good and cheap and fun. I miss it. The space is now occupied by Italian restaurant Bellini.
Thanks!
I beg your pardon, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art may be on the east side of the park, but it is ENTIRELY on the west side of Manhattan, as is every structure on the west side of Fifth Avenue.
Thaaaaaank you!
This is sheer pedantry and churlishness. Stamp your feet if you want to, but I think you might as well get used to the fact that The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as every other structure on either side of Fifth Avenue along Central Park, is simply on the Upper East Side. Insisting that really there is this kind of imaginary leyline demarcating some mystical east-west boundary running up and down the center of Fifth Avenue will never change that.
Actual lol. Chippy, your petty insults and patronizing tone will not deter me from speaking the truth. It’s curious that this “imaginary ley line” (spelled correctly) somehow exists below 59th street and above 110th, but then disappears magically in the Bermuda Triangle of the Upper East Side. Any West Sider who would cede the majesty of the Central Park and the glorious Metropolitan Museum of Art to the East Side can take their tuchus to the other side of Fifth Avenue. Your poor manners and geographical ignorance will fit in well there. Enjoy this beautiful day.
I approve this comment!
The west side needs a limited bus the 104 comes every half hour The east side has one one every avenue . Why don’t we have one .
It’s early days still , but congestion pricing seems to be working really well from what I can tell from my midtown commute. I have enjoyed reading the NYT as they’ve interviewed people who have come around to CP as they already see the benefits from lower traffic.
Of course you are going to say that. I am pretty sure the NY Times is pro congestion pricing and that is why you are hearing that.
I am merely reporting what I see with my own two eyes. Congestion is bad, if CP was somehow causing more congestion (defying econ principals) then that would be a problem.
The NY Times coverage has actually been prettttttty deferential to NJ / LI drivers, their framing is often ‘lets interview this innocent driver who must now pay to enter the most congested area of the country’ and not interviewing bus drivers, bus riders or subway commuters who stand to benefit. Now they seem to finally be telling the other side of the story.
Bus and subway commuters are not benefiting at all except for some capital improvement that would have been done anyway. You are fighting a culture war against people who drive cars. The fact that this is the most important thing you could be successful in getting once Trump won in November and not protecting people’s rights says a lot about Democrats today.
Teriyaki Boy was located at 483 Columbus Ave (and 83rd).
So far I’ve been pleasantly surprised not to notice an increase in traffic in the neighborhood.
I think the Congestion price seems to be working. Much less traffic on the streets, so I suppose less pollution? I am pretty sure an ambulance can wiz through now.
How much is it due to it being January?
What a beautiful cover photograph Isabelle Tietbohl created and shared.
It doesn’t make much sense for suburbanites to park on the street on the UWS and take the subway to avoid the $9 congestion charge. The subway will cost $6 round trip so, you’re only saving $3.
Utter nonsense about congestion pricing actually reducing traffic. 95% of the vehicles have always been taxis and Ubers – and they’re not going anywhere. Total cash grab.
So far there is a big difference mid town east work day
The NYT reports that traffic is down in the congestion zone
Lyft is also refunding the congestion pricing fee to its users.
And yet the fact is traffic in the congestion zone has been reduced. And early indicators are the number of people on the subways and the LIRR and Metro North is up.
Who to believe, the numbers or your concept of sense and nonsense?
Fact check: private vehicles have in recent years made up 32% of the vehicles in Manhattan, as compared to Brooklyn, where they’re 65%.
Andrew French-
is that data able to identify personal vehicles used for commercial purposes?
In particular, gig workers doing ecommerce delivery using personal vehicles – Instacart, meal kits, fresh dog food deliveries.
Stand in front of various Manhattan luxury high-rise buildings and there is a steady stream of gig workers unloading from cars (personal, no commercial plates)…..
The Metropolitan Museum of Art IS on the West Side, NOT the East Side as the reporting suggests.
Peter Yarrow Attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, in Harlem, which later moved to the Upper West Side and there renamed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts.
Peter, Paul and Mary sang:
If I had a hammer, (written by Pete Seeger & Lee Hays)
Puff The Magic Dragon (by Peter Paul and Mary)
Day Is Done (by Yarrow)
Leavin’ on a Jet Plane (by John Denver)
The photo is amazing.
It’s not good new that fewer people coming in to work and spend money. I thought the idea was to shift people from cars to mass transit. Where is that research and published data?
The congestion pricing experts such as Charles Komanoff have even said publicly on twitter, the purpose of congestion pricing is not to encourage mass transit use.
Two corrections to the Peter Yarrow notice:
The High School of Music and Art,, which he attended , was in Harlem at 135th Street and Convent Avenue, not on the Upper West Side.
“If I Had a Hammer” was written and originally performed by Woody Guthrie, not by Peter, Paul and Mary.