The Mayor’s Race: Focus on Housing & Development
By Shayndi Raice
When it comes to housing and development, New York City often devolves into a war zone. The battle over Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, defeated plans for a Jets Stadium on the Far West Side of Manhattan and the commercial and residential development of Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn have aroused deep emotions, as developers, elected officials, affordable housing advocates and neighborhood preservationists fight for land in a city with limited space.
But the drama isn’t exactly unwarranted. Read more
That Elusive Perfect Game
Stuy pitcher Nolan Becker aims for a repeat when he heads to Yale this fall
By Adam Bloch
Everyone was ready to see the magic happen again. From the players to the coaches to the spectators to the umpires—they were all hoping to see the lightning bolt of an arm that had just produced a perfect game deliver a repeat performance.
Lightning didn’t strike twice for Nolan Becker, the senior lefty from Stuyvesant High School. During this game, played earlier this spring in Central Park, he was facing a top squad in Norman Thomas, one that sported few weak hitters and went on to win the city championships a couple of weeks ago. Read more
Workers Picket for Payment
Protests to continue weekly until salon employee is paid; additional businesses targeted
By Clara Martinez Turco
The ongoing controversy over questionable labor practices by Upper West Side businesses continued last week, as more than 90 workers picketed on Amsterdam Avenue in solidarity with former nail salon employee Susan Kim.
In October 2007, Kim won a legal battle against her former employers for unjust firing, failure to pay overtime and violation of New York labor laws. A federal court awarded her $182,000 in back payments and, earlier this year, it also ordered her former bosses to pay $181,000 for attorney fees and costs. Husband-and-wife owners Mou San Rim and Dong Rim Park were the subjects of the suit. Read more
Slasher Arrested
A man was arrested on June 13 when he slashed someone with a piece of broken glass on the corner of Riverside Drive and West 106th Street. Police said that at 4:30 a.m., Jose Cartagena, 40, threw a glass bottle at a 47-year-old man. Cartagena then picked up a piece of the broken bottle and allegedly stabbed the victim in the right arm. The man ran and Cartagena pursued. He was then picked up by cops and arrested for assault.
Fighting Off Robbers
A “heavily intoxicated” 24-year-old man was able to fight off two male robbers on June 14 at 12:45 a.m. He told police that on West 101st Street and Amsterdam Avenue, two men tried to remove his money after grabbing him by the throat. They demanded cash and then punched him in the face. But the man fought back and ran away from his attackers.
Woman Attacked Boyfriend
Police arrested a 28-year-old woman from the Douglass Houses, at 868 Amsterdam Ave. and West 103rd Street, after she attacked her boyfriend with a knife. She told police on June 8 that her boyfriend knocked on her door at 9:43 p.m., but he refused to leave when asked. After he persisted, she allegedly cut him with a knife, leaving a laceration on his left ring finger. Police believe the boyfriend is homeless. He was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital for stitches and she was arrested for assault.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
By Armond White
Why waste spleen on Michael Bay? He’s a real visionary—perhaps mindless in some ways (he’s never bothered filming a good script), but Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is more proof he has a great eye for scale and a gift for visceral amazement. Bay’s ability to shoot spectacle makes the Ridley-Tony-Jake Scott family look like cavemen.
Who else could compose a sequence where characters (albeit robots) go from the bottom of the sea to another planet in one seamless, 30-second, dreamlike flow? Read more
The Hurt Locker
By Armond White
Although Brian De Palma lost his artistic bearings on the anti–Iraq War bandwagon, director Kathryn Bigelow found her perfect subject. That’s the difference between De Palma’s confused, preachy Redacted and Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker. Bigelow (working from a script by Mark Boal) stays focused on the personalities of soldiers during Bravo company’s last 39 days of rotation in 2004 Baghdad. An early reconnaissance jest (“It’s my dick.”) between Sgt. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Sgt. Thompson (Guy Pearce) recalls De Palma’s ribaldry, but it also indicates Bigelow’s erotic view of masculine endeavor—here defining the propensity for violence and bravery during war. Read more
Welcome to the Palace
After more than 30 years, Shun Lee still makes a mean Beijing duck
By Tom Steele
Setting the standard for haute Chinese cuisine in New York City since 1971, Shun Lee Palace and its sister restaurant, Shun Lee West, have delighted an estimated 10 million diners with an array of classic and original Szechuan and Cantonese dishes. If ever there were a special-occasion restaurant, Shun Lee Palace sets that standard too. In fact, in the two hours we were there, we heard “Happy Birthday” sung three times, and a fellow at a corner table sure looked like he was proposing to his girlfriend. Read more
Youth Is King
At least when it comes to 95 percent of wines
By Josh Perilo
“It’s the most amazing wine I’ve ever had,” my friend said as he led me to his kitchen. “I drank it the entire time I was in Spain and have been saving a bottle since I went there.”
“When was that trip?” I asked, fearing what I already knew what was coming.
“Seven years ago. Why?”
“And where have you been keeping the bottle?” Read more
