Today is Monday, April 13, 2026
The calendar says spring, but the temperatures later this week will feel more like summer. Today’s forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and a high of 77 degrees — and that’s likely to be the coolest it will be all week. Tomorrow through Thursday, temperatures will climb well into the 80s, with a high of 88 degrees and the possibility of thunderstorms on Wednesday.
On this date in 1870, the state legislature granted an act of incorporation that formally established The Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the time, the fledgling institution, charged with “encouraging and developing the study of fine arts,” had no art collection and no building; it wasn’t until November of that year that it acquired its first object: a Roman sarcophagus gifted by the American vice consul at Tarsus (now Turkey), which is still on display in Gallery 169. In its earliest years, the museum displayed its small collection in rented spaces, but within a decade, the board of trustees had raised enough money to acquire a building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, which would evolve into the Met as we know it today.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
The Rag is in a moment of transition, seeking to gain nonprofit status that we hope will help our tiny operation gain much-needed financial stability. In the meantime, we’re fundraising: Our writers, who are paid for their work, bring you news, features, profiles, quirky and thoughtful essays, and occasional laughs, all of which is free to you – we have no paywall. But it is not free to produce, and that is why we are asking for much-needed reader support. If we’re a valuable part of your day, please consider donating. You’ll find the link — HERE.
The Rag’s own West Side Canvas columnist Robert Beck will talk about how he does what he does in a Zoom presentation next Tuesday, April 21st, from 6 to 7 p.m. It’s hosted by Landmark West; tickets are free to members (and Morningside Heights residents); $6 for nonmembers. They’re available — HERE.
Every year, City Council allocates discretionary funds to council districts to improve schools, parks, libraries, or other public spaces; how the money is deployed is determined by public vote. This is the week that the ballots are open, so if you’re age 11 or older and want a say in how $1 million in discretionary funding is deployed in our neighborhood this year, cast your ballot — HERE between now and Sunday.
District 6 residents also can vote in person at City Councilmember Gale Brewer’s office (563 Columbus Avenue at West 87th Street); St. Agnes Library (444 Amsterdam Avenue between West 81st and 82nd streets) and Riverside Library (127 Amsterdam Avenue between West 65th and 66th Streets).
The Community Board 7 Transportation Committee meets tomorrow, April 14th, at 6:30 p.m. to hear a presentation by the Department of Transportation on the proposed redesign of West 72nd Street between Riverside Drive and Central Park West. The plan calls for removing a travel lane, installing a protected bike lane in both directions, painting pedestrian safety islands at intersections, and installing a center turn lane. You can attend the meeting in person at the CB7 offices at 250 West 87th Street or on Zoom. Register for the link — HERE.
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
The Wild Bird Fund witnessed a “huge uptick” in the number of suspected cases of avian influenza this winter, Catherine Quayle, director of the Wild Bird Fund, recently told the environmental website Mongabay.com.
“We certainly deal with viruses on a day-to-day basis, but nothing like this,” she said. “People call us every day [to report sick and dying birds]. About Canada geese, especially.”
The highly contagious virus, officially known as H5N1, primarily affects birds but can also spread to humans and other animals.
Since the most recent wave of the virus broke out four years ago, “the fund has been dealing with a rising tide of suspected highly pathogenic avian influenza cases and operating in ‘triage mode’ — setting up isolation areas, adopting new H5N1 virus protocols and relying on protective gear and regular testing,” Mongabay reported.
In the city, avian influenza has killed swans and geese in Central Park and ducks and wild birds at the Queens and Bronx zoos, the site said. It’s also responsible for the deaths of shorebirds on Long Island, as well as small mammals such as raccoons, skunks, opossums, foxes, and feral cats, as well as more than 130 domestic cats.
Read the full story — HERE.
Tom Valenti, a chef who was known internationally for his efforts on behalf of restaurant workers after 9/11, and locally for helping to put the UWS on the culinary map, died earlier this month after what a cousin described in his New York Times obituary as a short, sudden illness.
Valenti was one of the founders of Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund, which raised money for the families of hospitality workers who died in the September 11th World Trade Center attacks; he remained active in the non-profit until his death on April 3.
Locally, however, he was known as one of the chefs who brought fine dining to the neighborhood, opening the neighborhood favorite Ouest in 2001, followed by ‘Cesca two years later; in 2008 he opened West Branch.
He once described his cooking as “haute cuisine with the grandma gene,” and when he opened Ouest on Broadway in 2001, New York magazine called the food “appealing enough to shatter the misperception that there is a lack of worthy places to eat on the Upper West Side…Valenti has honed the menu to the point where almost every dish resonates with love-it-in-an-instant flavors that mask their degrees of difficulty.”
Valenti closed Ouest in 2015 because, he told the Times, the lease was ending and the neighborhood was changing: “We used to get the artists, writers, intellectuals, performers on a regular basis,” he said. “But a lot of those Upper West Side old-timers, people like Sidney Lumet, are gone. And the new people in the big apartments have different interests.”
But three years later, Valenti opened the Oxbow Tavern, at West 71st Street and Columbus; the menu included favorites such as salmon gravlax and braised lamb shanks from the menu at Ouest, but the atmosphere was more casual.
In an interview he did with the Rag shortly before Oxbow Tavern opened, he said he “wanted to more embrace what I think a neighborhood that is familiar to me is looking for – and is frankly how I like to eat.
“I think that I have always hung my hat on the fine dining hook,” he told the Rag, “and while I’m not losing that here, I also want to be able to offer a nice sandwich. I mean who doesn’t want a nice sandwich?”
Oxbow opened to strong reviews, but shuttered when the pandemic struck and never reopened. Most recently, Valenti worked as executive chef at the Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen in Morristown, New Jersey.
Read the New York Times obituary — HERE.
The Chelsea News turned its attention uptown last week, for a Q and A with longtime UWS activist Arlene Geiger. (The headline: “Firebrand Still Burns after 50+ Years of Local Activism.”)
Geiger, who retired in 2017 after 30 years of teaching at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, is the founder and leader of the Upper West Side Action Group, which describes itself as “a congenial political action group” formed after the 2016 election.
The Rag profiled her last summer, but she’s been busy since then; she worked on last month’s No Kings Day protest and currently is helping to organize a May 1 “Workers Over Billionaires” strike, urging Americans to refuse to do business as usual: “No work, no school, no shopping.”
Read more about what she’s been up to — HERE.
The luxury real estate market on the UWS got off to a strong start in April, Patch reported, with six multi-million-dollar closings between March 30 and April 5.
The top sale was in the pre-war Beresford, at 211 Central Park West, where a four-bedroom, four-bath co-op with a formal dining room, a gallery, a chef’s eat-in kitchen, and a library, went for $8.5 million.
The next most expensive sale was a few blocks away: a two-bedroom for just under $7 million at 15 Central Park West, while a five-bedroom condo on West End Avenue went for $6.95 million.
Read the story and see details of all the listings — HERE.
In other UWS News:
- The website visualcapitalist.com, which specializes in data-driven visualizations, recently ran a graphic of tallest buildings in the United States. While none are on the UWS, a couple of them do cast their shadows on us. See the graphic — HERE.
- The Central Park Conservancy recently announced a partnership with the environmental non-profit Big Reuse, to convert the thousands of pounds of leaves, weeds, and other organic material generated every year in the park into compost that can be reused in the park’s gardens and landscapes. Read about it — HERE.
ICYMI
Here are a few stories we think are worth a look if you missed them last week — or a second look if you saw them. (Note that our comments stay open for six days after publication, so you may not be able to comment on all of them.)
Spring Bird Migration on the Upper West Side: An Expert Shares What to Look For
What’s Behind the Magical Looking Doors Within the 72nd Street Train Station?
I mourn the passing of Tom Valenti, whose food was extraordinary. Aside from the many delights consumed at Ouest, the best burger I ever had in my life was at Oxbow tavern. I have never forgotten it.
Was always sad that I never went to Ouest. Oxbow Tavern was nice though. RIP Chef.
I wish we could allocate some of the discretionary funds referenced above to WSR! You are a valuable neighborhood resource and supporting your operations would be an excellent and very appropriate use of funds. As much as I sometimes have some issues with your censorship policies, overall I think you do an incredible job and are much appreciated. Thanks!