The Claremont Stables on West 89th Street served the Upper West Side for years, providing a means for city-dwellers to learn horseback riding. Now, the horses have long gone, but the building will still be used for education.

The Stephen Gaynor School at 148 W. 90th St. recently announced it would reinvent the old Claremont Carriage House and Stables to create a state-of-the-art education facility called the Early Childhood Center, which will specialize in teaching learning disabled children. The space will expand the Gaynor School by 45,000 square feet and will house a theater, 11 additional classrooms, a science lab and art facilities including a photography room and a library and writing center. By the end of construction the school will hold 400 students, according to Dr. Scott Gaynor, head of the school.

“This is an amazing opportunity for us,” said Gaynor. “We look at this as a huge canvas in which we can design programs for our children.”

Because the school works with kids who require specialized education, Gaynor knew he had to tailor the facility to the acute needs of the children.

While the exterior may resemble the Claremont Stables of old, featuring the original facade and newly installed barn doors, the interior features a plethora of innovative architecture and technology.

Light and open space were an important focus of the construction. The building allows for more direct sunlight as opposed to fluorescent lighting, cutting down on energy costs. The design allows for the corridors, cafeteria and classrooms to be illuminated by natural light accompanied by motion-sensor lights in an effort to conserve electricity.

Because the facility is used to teach younger children who suffer from learning disabilities, the classrooms are designed to immerse children into a learning environment. While there is a heavy emphasis on the teacher to center the children’s attention upon him or her, there are also devices that will be employed to assist the teacher.

One of these is the Phonic Ear System, which projects the teacher’s voice to speakers in the classroom so that “it feels like everyone in the classroom is having a personal conversation with the teacher,” Gaynor said. The speakers also create a sound barrier to subdue natural noises coming from the streets below.

The construction of the building called for major soundproofing to couple with such special audio systems. The floor tiles are rubberized, classroom windows are soundproofed and have insulation and the ceiling tiles are acoustic.

“It really calms the space for the children, some of whom can be overstimulated by loud noises,” said Gaynor.

Coupled with the revitalization of the Stables, the Gaynor School is rebuilding the Carriage House into a “secret garden” hidden behind the facade of the building. The garden addition will also act as a means to connect the 90th Street and 89th Street buildings, extending the playground of the school.

The redesign was done by Rogers Marvel Architects. The construction of the building follows the strict guidelines of the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, otherwise known as the LEED program. In addition to motion sensor lights, there are low-flush toilets and climate controlled heating and cooling systems, according to Donna Logue, director of the Early Childhood Center.

“We use green products for maintenance purposes,” said Logue. “It is wonderful for the environment, but so important for our students who have sensitivities to the cleaning chemicals.”

It happens once a decade and it’s never an easy process. In accordance with the state Constitution, the state Legislature is currently in the process of creating new district lines for the Assembly, state Senate and congressional representatives.

The Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LATFOR) has just released a set of maps outlining the proposed new districts for the state Legislature, and local elected officials are up in arms over what they call a seriously partisan and severely flawed process that heavily favors Republicans, who hold a slim majority in the senate.

LATFOR consists of six members, four legislators and two nonlegislators who are appointed by the temporary president of the Senate, the speaker of the Assembly and the minority leaders of the Senate and Assembly. It uses Census data from 2010 to redraw lines in order to reflect population shifts. While the Assembly must maintain 150 districts, according to the state’s Constitution, the number of senators may shift. LATFOR has proposed adding a 63rd Senate seat in upstate New York that would encompass portions of five different counties and has served as a flashpoint of criticism from Democrats and good government groups who call the district a bad case of gerrymandering an extraneous Republican-leaning district in order to preserve their majority.

“The maps that came out are typical and reflect no sense of the push for a nonpartisan reform of redistricting,” said Richard Emory, an attorney who was involved in litigation over the last set of redistricting lines in 2003-2004. “They are purely political. They are obviously an attempt of what we call the unholy alliance of the Assembly and the state Senate by using the majority of each body to favor the majority.”

The proposed districts, especially for the Senate, have been criticized by Democrats as stringing together certain communities by tenuous geographical connections and separating others that should be included in the same district.
“This is just a Republican scheme. It’s not a redistricting plan, it’s a blatant grab for partisan advantage,” said State Sen. Tom Duane, whose West Side district would shift south and take a different shape if the current maps were to be approved. “I think it does show that this is the last gasp of Republicans desperate to hold onto power.”

Emory said they’re overpopulating and packing downstate Democratic districts in order to create more Republican seats.

“That’s why the shapes are so peculiar, because they’re picking voters instead of voters picking representatives,” he said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vowed to veto the lines unless they are created by an independent panel. If he does it’s likely that the case would have to go through the courts.

While Manhattan districts would not change as much as some upstate districts, they would still be shifted in significant ways.

“My district changes substantially,” said Duane. “If there was a truly independent redistricting process, consideration would be given to neighborhoods and communities so that they could be represented together instead of being split apart.”

Public hearings are scheduled to continue around the state through Feb. 16. Many expect LATFOR to release new maps based on feedback some time after that, at which point the Legislature will have to approve them before they go to the governor.

Duane said he expects robust public comment to influence the final outcome. “I think people are very aware that the Republicans have put out a very cynically drawn map,” he said.

Senate Democrats have already filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 63rd Senate seat, and other lawsuits may surface before the hearings are concluded.

Faith Hope Consolo, the self-proclaimed “Queen of Retail,” has been a dominant force in Upper West Side commercial/retail real estate for many years.

Faith Hope Consolo is a dominant force in commercial real estate.

Before she became a real estate agent specializing in big-name realtors and property owners, Consolo sold cosmetics and worked in interior design. Real estate was not a field she felt drawn to, but after a divorce, her attorney and some friends suggested that the job would be a good fit for her.

Consolo started out working in a small, hole-in-the-wall office on 57th Street. The agent she worked with agreed to train her in retail real estate, beginning with walking around Manhattan, canvassing locations and giving her the best tools for prospecting: a phone book and a telephone.

A woman in retail was practically unheard of at that time. Most of the resistance she met with came from other commercial agents in the field.

“Many of those men are no longer in the business or now actually work for me,” she said.

When she entered the business, she often called friends, fearing she would never complete a deal or make any money.

“It’s commercial real estate, it’s rough and tough. It’s not like this in residential because in residential, it’s about the price. In retail, it’s about the location and the economics. Not a lot of women can support themselves through the start-up.”

Coming from a background where she rubbed elbows with the well-connected, she decided that the best way to reach out to clients would be to contact the presidents and chairmen of retail companies. Her first big deal was with Godiva Chocolatier, which had shops all across Europe. Consolo convinced the president of that company to expand in New York, which eventually led to her closing over 50 deals with them.

Some deals, however, took more time than others. For example, after five years of showing him space after space, the president of Au Bon Pain finally settled on one.

When asked about her most memorable deal, she replied, “Cartier.” After being interviewed five times by the head of the company, Consolo was selected to represent Cartier in the negotiation of their lease renewal. As their 5th Avenue location was owned by the Onassis Foundation, Consolo’s determination to get the job done for her clients took her all the way to Greece. There she managed to meet with the board of the Foundation and negotiate a deal with terms all parties could agree to.

“That deal took me to the next level in my career,” she said.

Seeing the need to give back, Consolo has created a scholarship fund for women who want to pursue a career in real estate. She also does pro bono retail work.

The Retail Queen said that staying on top of the real estate market is a full-time job and that she doesn’t disconnect, even on vacation.

“You have to keep your ear to the pulse,” she said. “There are concepts in other places that become famous here because we’re really the fishbowl.”

While some residents gripe about the unfavorable ramifications of having Fashion Week in their backyard, there are benefits to the community for hosting the event. In August 2011, the Fordham Consulting Group and Fordham University Graduate School of Business released an economic impact study outlining the effects of Fashion Week on the immediate surrounding areas within a 10-block radius of Lincoln Center.

The study estimated that the total economic impact is $20,902,193, taking into account spending by staff, crew, vendors, visitors, designers and sponsors. It also found that the twice-yearly event brings in an annual $9 million to area restaurants, $6 million to local hotels, $6.8 million in retail revenue and $11 million to venues.

The Lincoln Square BID works with IMG World to develop programs to boost the event’s positive economic impact.
“From our perspective, this continues to be great for the businesses,” said Monica Blum, president of the BID. “We do two promotions, one that’s aimed at the crews, and it’s just amazing to me that we’ve now lined up 23 quick-serve places to offer discounts to the crews.”

The other program, Fashion Plate Prix Fixe, is a sort of Restaurant Week for the Lincoln Center area, with restaurants establishing set menus at discounted prices. Popular spots like Telepan and Boulud Sud offer special lunch menus, making their normally pricey fare a bit more accessible.

Blum said she hasn’t heard complaints from residents over Fashion Week.

“Obviously there are some inconveniences,” she said. “They’ve tried to work with the community to minimize to the extent possible the inconveniences. On balance, it’s a really positive thing for the neighborhood.”

By Megan Bungeroth

For designers, buyers, reporters, photographers and clothes-conscious consumers the world over, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week conjures images of the latest and greatest designs paraded around in a swirl of parties and publicity. For residents of the area surrounding Fashion Week’s Lincoln Center home, however, the event conjures headaches, concerns over safety and anger over limited access to a public park.

“I don’t think Fashion Week belongs in this setting,” said Susan Koeppel, a resident of The Alfred at 161 W. 61st St. The residents there already combat construction from Fordham University and the Third Water Tunnel; many have rallied together to complain to the community board and local officials about the grievances they endure during Fashion Week’s set-up, shows and breakdown period that stretches for four to five weeks twice a year.

“There should be other venues that wouldn’t have to impact the community in this way,” Koeppel said, citing noise as well as overflowing trash and loud parties disrupting the neighborhood. “It’s not an asset for the community. It may be an asset for people who are involved commercially, but for the people who live here and the people who work here, it’s a huge inconvenience.”

Fashion Week, a eight-day event that draws an estimated quarter of a million people and over $230 million in revenue to New York, used to be anchored in Bryant Park. While that area is much more commercial than residential, Dan Biederman, president of Bryant Park Management Corporation, said that its neighbors had some of the same complaints about noise and crowding.

“There were things we didn’t like about having the shows at Bryant Park,” Biederman said. “We had complaints about generators that were necessary for both the shows and the ice rink we run.” Ultimately, he said, the shows were cutting down the time they could have the ice rink open in the winter and crowding out the popular spot for regular parkgoers in the summer.

“A lot of people think I’m out of my mind for giving up $2.5 million in fees,” Biederman said. “We couldn’t run the park the way we wanted.”

Two years ago, the organizers moved to Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, which offers more space and affords more designers the opportunity to show their collections. IMG, the producers of Fashion Week, have coordinated with City Council Member Gale Brewer’s office as well as with the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District and Community Board 7 to address residents’ concerns, but some say not nearly enough has been done to mitigate the negative impact of the glitzy event.

“They go nonstop, 24 hours a day with construction equipment,” said another Alfred resident, Neil Lawner, describing the banging and beeping of trucks late into the night.

“What’s really being done, to the people in our building specifically and anyone who’s using 62nd Street generally, because it’s a popular thoroughfare, is [they’re] being held hostage, because private enterprise is doing what they want to do,” Lawner said.

“It has evolved. I think the positive is that there is lots of economic opportunity all around, from the restaurants to the ancillary to the catering,” said City Council Member Gale Brewer. “We dealt with noisy generators last time,” she said, noting that Fashion Week has been obliging in modifying their generators to be less loud.

“The real issue for me is the issue of Amsterdam Houses and people who wouldn’t normally have opportunities getting opportunities,” Brewer said. Fashion Week hires a handful of temporary employees from nearby NYCHA housing, but she would like to see their efforts expanded. “I still think we need to do a lot more for the NYCHA residents who are back to back with Fashion Week.”

“Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week takes its role as a community member seriously,” said a spokesperson for IMG in an email. “Since moving to Lincoln Center, we have worked diligently with the surrounding neighborhoods to make our presence as positive and unobtrusive as possible. MBFW and event producer IMG are grateful for the patience and cooperation the community has shown us thus far and remain committed to working with them to address any concerns that may arise in seasons to come.” The company sent out community notices in advance of construction this year, and also maintains a 24-hour hotline to address concerns.

Even more pressing for some is the use of Damrosch Park for private events for much of the year, between the February and September Fashion Weeks and the Big Apple Circus commandeering the spot for much of the time in between. According to the Parks Department, the park is managed by Lincoln Center through a license agreement with the city. Parks spokesperson Phil Abramson wrote in an email that the park “consists of a hard-surfaced seating area and receives low visitorship levels during the winter.”

Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates, takes issue with that characterization and said that it’s because of the private intrusions that people stay away from Damrosch Park.

“It’s certainly an issue that the public does not have access to that park for the majority of the year,” Croft said. “That parks belongs to the public, not to a private corporation.”

He also voiced what has been a frequent critique of the Parks Department, that they allowed 67 trees to be cut down to accommodate the park’s new tenants.

“All these trees were destroyed, all that flora and fauna, the hedges and stuff; they were destroyed. The public looks at tents most of the year now,” Croft said.

Regarding those trees, Abramson wrote, “As restitution for the 67 trees that were removed, we planted 220 trees in the one-mile area around Damrosch Park. In addition, Lincoln Center planted a net increase of 88 trees on its campus and arranged for 11 trees to be transplanted.” Many are not satisfied with that answer.

Cleo Dana, another outspoken resident of The Alfred, testified at Community Board 7’s last full board meeting, questioning whether Lincoln Center is the right home for such a big event.

“Where to put Fashion Week? Not to the Javits Center where it belongs or to an Armory or even Carl Schurz Park, but to Damrosch Park, a New York City park that had the misfortune of being geographically located in Lincoln Center, the cultural heart of New York City’s performing arts,” Dana said.

“Damrosch Park does not belong to Lincoln Center, although it is managed by it. It was deliberately created by Robert Moses as a separate entity from Lincoln Center. It was and is under the jurisdiction of NYC Parks and Recreation and as such must conform to city and state statutes that apply to terms of its use, noise, concessions and sanctity of its trees,” she continued.

Sam Salant, who said that he used to regularly spend time in Damrosch Park and always noticed residents of the nearby Amsterdam Houses doing the same, said that he was pushed out of the park when he inquired about new construction.
“One day I walked in and there was something being constructed where there was formerly a bandshell,” Salant said. “I asked about it and was told to get out of the way. They’re just chasing people out. There was nobody I could call who could answer me and tell me why that happened.”

Online Scammer
Last week, a woman put up a Craigslist ad to sell some of her furniture. She received a response and a check for $2,830, well over her asking price, from a man who instructed her to keep a portion as payment and wire the balance to his shipping company. Lo and behold, the check bounced, the victim couldn’t stop her wire transfer and she lost her money.

Unpleasant Homecoming
An Upper West Side woman returned home from a trip to Boston to find her $10,000 Cartier watch and $15,000 earrings missing from a tray on her bureau. She reported that her bedroom was unlocked but that only her building manager and cleaning lady had access to the apartment.

Sneaky Tool Thief
An independent contractor for the Department of Parks and Recreation reported that he had stored several pricey tools and an air compressor worth $12,000 in a locked facility in Central Park. When he returned to retrieve them, he found the deadbolt cut and everything gone.

Impersonating Impostor
An unknown man entered a Bank of America branch earlier this month and attempted to withdraw $6,500 in cash from an account that evidently did not belong to him. The man knew his intended victim’s checking account number, PIN and Social Security number, and had a phony New Jersey driver’s license. When the teller asked for additional identification, the fake fled. The lucky almost-victim told police that his debit card had never been out of his possession.
Armed Stickup
On Thursday, Jan. 19, at about 9 p.m., a woman was walking on West End Avenue near West 63rd Street when a masked man approached her from behind, pointed a gun at her chest and told her, “Give me your phone and your bag” and “Shut the [expletive] up.” The woman handed over her belongings and ran in the opposite direction to safety. The suspect is described as a light-skinned male, 5-foot-4, 140 pounds, wearing dark clothing.

Trouble in Paradise
A man let his girlfriend into his apartment to pick up some things that belonged to her, then asked her to leave. When she refused, he called the police, which prompted her to finally make an exit. After she left, however, the man noticed that a $5,000 gold bracelet, $500 in cash and a framed $50 bill had also vacated the premises.

Electronics Junkie
A woman came home last Friday and discovered her apartment in disarray and several items missing. A thief made off with her Nook e-reader, a $400 Sony camera, an iPod Nano and a $150 Canon camera, as well as several pieces of metal jewelry. Police at the scene said that an upstairs window had a weak lock and showed signs of a possible forced entry.

Teenage Phone Snatcher
A woman was walking on Amsterdam Avenue near West 73rd Street when a 15-year-old male in a black hoodie and black backpack snuck up behind her and snatched her iPhone out of her hand before running off. The victim chased him a short distance before losing sight of her robber and her phone. The suspect is described as light-skinned, 4-foot-10, 100 pounds.

Columbia’s Champ of the Courts

Brian Barbour, a 6-foot-1 junior at Columbia, leads the university’s basketball team, the Lions, in scoring with 14.1 points per game. He’s been nominated for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation’s best point guard, and is one of the best free throwers in the country. We asked Barbour about this year’s season and his role on the Lions.

West Side Spirit: You guys have won 11 of your past 12 games; are people more excited around campus about the direction of the program?
Brian Barbour: We have a great alumni base that’s been very supportive of us. And as students start to come back from break, I think if we can keep it going, it can become a big thing around here. When coach [Kyle] Smith took over [before the start of the last season], that was one of his goals.

How do you think your role has changed since the beginning of the year, before Noruwa Agho got injured?
Noruwa was a very vocal leader, very strong-minded, and he was our main offensive weapon. Everyone kind of looked to him. You can’t replace a guy like that. I’ve never been much of a vocal person, but I’m trying to step that up.

What’s been the key to the success of the team the past two months?
Cohesion has been very good. Our defense has been big. But mostly it’s all the different guys stepping up in their roles. Everyone is doing the little parts they can to keep the team going.

Do you think Columbia has a good chance this year in the Ivy League, considering how heavily favored 25th-ranked Harvard is?
Yeah, absolutely! You’re not going to accomplish anything saying this team or that team is better than us.

Intergalactic Party

Going intergalactic never seemed this fun in astronomy class. The American Museum of Natural History is holding a Cosmic Cocktails and Space Arcade event to celebrate the oddities of space by way of live music, indie games and an open bar to “test” the effects of alcohol in a 1g environment.
The event is Thursday, Jan. 26, from 6:30-8:30 p.m., at the Rose Center for Earth and Space(enter from 81st Street). Astronauts must be 21 or older to participate.

The soiree will feature live music by One Ring Zero in the Cullman Hall of the Universe, where they will play music from their album Planets, a tribute to the Solar System. Babycastles, a Brooklyn-based video game studio, will offer patrons a chance to play independent arcade-style video games and explorers will have a chance to study the exhibit Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration, where visitors can discover the smell of the moon, fly over Mars and participate in other space-oriented activities.

Tickets are $75 and include two hours of open bar, appetizers and admission to the exhibition. For discounted tickets for $45, call 212-769-5200 and use the code BEYOND.

Answer to Mosquito Problem on UWS

Residents of West 83rd and 84th streets have been targeted by an influx of mosquitoes recently despite baffled residents’ efforts to eliminate potential breeding grounds and rid the pests from their neighborhood. Late last year, Council Member Gale Brewer wrote to the commissioners of the departments of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) and Environmental Protection (DEP) asking that the city repair or address holes in the surrounding streets left by construction, which residents said were collecting water and serving as ideal homes for the mosquitoes. Sam Miller, assistant commissioner at DHMH, wrote back to Brewer to say that the actual home of the flying bloodsuckers is the dank recesses of the sewer system.

The DEP has been working with the Department of Transportation to flush the sewers beneath the afflicted streets and reports that the mosquito population appears to be lessening. The mosquitoes, it should be noted, have not been found to carry West Nile virus, but have been nonetheless plaguing residents who dare to leave their windows open.

Digging into NYC Buildings History

The Municipal Art Society will hold a series of seminars on how to navigate the city’s agencies and documents to discover the history of buildings. Architectural historian Anthony Robins will lead a four-week course teaching participants how to unearth documentation on a structure’s origins, architects, owners and builders. Attendees will get a crash course in deciphering building records, tracking down information from deeds and obituaries and sorting through archival materials for useful artifacts and clues about a building’s past life.

Sessions will be held each Wednesday in February, starting Feb. 1, from 5:45–7:30 p.m., with an additional weekday field trip to be announced. Classes meet at 111 W. 57th St., 16th floor. The cost is $300, or $250 for MAS members and full-time students. Call 212-935-3960, ext. 1234 to register.

By Megan Bungeroth and Anam Baig

Every neighborhood has a few. Even on the generally well-maintained Upper West Side, some buildings, whether from construction, neglect or outright abandonment, cause neighbors to flinch when they see them. We asked local residents and community leaders to spot the worst eyesores in the neighborhood.

132 W. 83rd St.

118 W. 76th St.

Tales of sketchy politicians and safety violations mysteriously surround this empty sorest of thumbs on West 76th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, left to breed the city’s assorted refuse for more than 30 years.

Built in the late 1800s, this Renaissance Revival brownstone stands in an historic Upper West Side neighborhood where many buildings have been maintained but still have an old-school touch.

With a crumbling facade and windows blacked out with tarp, 118 stands out badly beside the West Side Institutional Synagogue. The top half of the building is its original rusting color, but the bottom half has been painted an ugly pale blue that is already peeling. Garbage litters the boarded-up stoop, and a giant wooden board is rudely slapped up against the driveway, a reminder that, technically, no one gets in and no one gets out.

“Over the years, it has served as a haven for the homeless, who make shelters constructed of old appliance boxes and sleep on the stoop and relieve themselves in the airway,” said 76th Street Block Association member Bill Rooney.
Rooney grew up on the Upper West Side in the 1960s, playing stickball in the schoolyard across the street, which is now P.S. 334. He recalled that the building was owned by Elsie, an elderly woman who used it as a boarding house.

“Whenever someone hit a home run over the fence, we had to retrieve the rubber ball from Elsie’s property and she would run out and chase us away, swinging a broom at us,” Rooney said. “Every child in the neighborhood thought she was a witch and her building haunted. It was in better condition then, but now it definitely has a haunted house look.”

The abandoned building has also been festering with vermin, accounting for many of the 14 complaints and 21 violations it has amassed over its 35-year neglect. After Elsie’s death, the house’s ownership supposedly went to a distant relative in Staten Island, who ignored it until it was purchased by Jean Rudiano in 1976 for $5,000 in back taxes.

It has been abandoned ever since.

Now owned by Rudiano’s widow, Diane Haslett-Rudiano, following his death last year, the building continues to look unjustly neglected. Numerous attempts have been made by the 76th Street Block Association and by Council Member Gale Brewer of District 6 to contact Haslett-Rudiano, who is the chief clerk of the Brooklyn Borough Office of Elections.

But she has not answered many phone calls or letters, two of which were sent by the block association over an 18-month span and one that was sent by Brewer in 2008.

The letters cite concerns over trash accumulation and rat infestations that plague surrounding buildings and the horrible physical state of the building that remains. Haslett-Rudiano has been referred to realtors by Brewer and Judith Bronfman, president of the block association, to have her building appraised and sold, but she has either ignored or refused the offers.

“It is totally unacceptable and a complete disgrace that someone in a position of political responsibility is allowed to get away with this—maybe, sadly, it is because she is part of the political establishment of the city that she has gotten away with it for so long,” said Joan Wucher King, another block association member.

Bronfman agrees, stating that as long as the taxes for the building, which she estimates around $8,000 a year, are paid, it is allowed to be kept in disarray.

“It is disgusting,” said local resident Amy Geller. “I’ve been passing this building every day from work for 10 years. It’s still a mess, and is getting worse every year. The one nice thing about the building was the picture of Bob Dylan that plastered the door, street art style, but even that’s been ripped down. It’s a shame, really, that such a nice building goes to waste.”

400-406 W. 57th St.—The Windermere

The Windermere has the potential to be one of the most iconic set of buildings in its Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, and residents of the surrounding streets can still hope for that day. A hulking apartment building complex currently wrapped from sidewalk to rooftop in scaffolding and bright blue mesh, the structure has been under renovation for several years. While it currently sits as a reminder of how arduous and long a building’s revival can be in this city, underneath the ugly covering is a landmarked treasure.

In May 2009, the former owners of the property, Toa Construction Co., settled a lawsuit with the city that resulted in the sale of the building to Windermere Properties LLC. Toa had not been complying with landmarking laws and was allowing the building to crumble into disrepair; they were forced to fork over $1.1 million in civil penalties to the city in addition to selling the building. They were also forced to compensate former tenants of one of the buildings who were forced to move when the fire department determined that it was unsafe and uninhabitable.

The buildings were constructed in 1881, and were once considered prime addresses for the city’s elite. While it is currently vacant and racking up complaints to the Department of Buildings (there are 134 complaints since 2009 on the 400 property), Brewer said that the owner has plans for the building and is working to make them happen. Locals are hopeful that it will eventually be restored to its former glory and take its rightful place as a proud landmark on the Upper West Side.

315 W. 103rd St.

From the outside, this building appears abandoned—there are broken windows, peeling paint, scaffolding and plastic slapped over holes. It juts out unnaturally over the other brownstones on the block, standing out in a bad way above the roofline. It could be a candidate for demolition, but in reality, the building is locked in conflict—and still occupied.

Neighbors and residents of this property describe a nightmare of an ongoing ordeal. In 2007, Jacob Avid of Dan-Bran Realty LLC bought the eight-unit building and applied for permits to construct a two-story rooftop addition and a rear yard extension. The problem is that Avid apparently reported the building as vacant in order to get the permits approved, when there were actually rent-regulated tenants still living there. Since then, the tenants have been living in a construction zone and the owners currently owe $10,000 in fines to the Department of Buildings, according to their records, for repeatedly violating stop work orders and proceeding with construction. The owner’s building permits were pulled in 2009 and the building now waits in a twilight zone of legality.

132 W. 83rd St.

This hideous building speaks for itself and is somewhat of an enigma. Property records don’t show the owner at 132 W. 83rd St., and while it sits empty and boarded up, it doesn’t get too much attention in the neighborhood. An area resident complained to the Department of Buildings in November 2011 that the plywood covering the windows was coming loose and was about to fall, creating a hazardous condition, but there was no violation found by the inspector.

120 W. 74th St.

It’s impossible not to associate this property with vermin, thanks to the graffiti scrawled on the front designating it “The Rat House.” Local resident Pat Sill called the property “a real mess” and said that since it was emptied and sold a few years back, it’s been “empty except for the rats.”

The landmarked property used to belong to Walter Tillow, who lived there with his family and is on record in 1988 opposing the historic district designation that eventually did envelop his property. It reportedly sold for almost $4 million to a company called 553 West 174th St LLC—and that company filed for bankruptcy in October 2011.

It’s not a pretty sight; still, eyesores are in the eyes of their beholders.

Julius Caberera, who works on the Upper West Side and was walking by on a recent weekday, said, “Oh, this building is abandoned? I barely every noticed it. That’s nothing compared to the building on 76th—that one is really disgusting.”

By Anam Baig

The U.N. International Holocaust Commemoration Sabbath took place Saturday, Jan. 21 at the Park East Synagogue, where the year’s first snowfall marked the memory of the six million who lost their lives during the Holocaust.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon

Nearly 200 people attended the event, including 63 diplomats from organizations such as the U.N., UNESCO and the E.U., representing 33 countries. Addressing the congregation were U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and U.N. General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser. The commemoration was led by Rabbi Arthur Schneier, spiritual leader of Park East Synagogue for over 40 years, who is a Holocaust survivor.

The U.N.’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day is Jan. 27, and this year the General Assembly will remember children who perished during the Holocaust.

But at the Sabbath, Jan. 21, multitudes of ethnicities and religions gathered in a house of worship to exalt the countless victims of Nazi rule and to remind themselves that there is continuing injustice in the world. The event also marked the anniversary of the closing of Auschwitz, the biggest Nazi concentration camp that claimed the lives of over 1 million people.

The Sabbath prayers were made early in the morning and the diplomats streamed in around 10 a.m. Despite the snow, many people showed up to offer their prayers and support for the victims of hate and discrimination.

Countries as different as Australia, Korea, Sweden and Morocco were present at this commemoration. Every man donned a kippah before entering the synagogue, symbolizing their respect for the Jewish faith and for the house of worship that they entered.

The commemoration ceremony began with Schneier addressing the congregation. He asked all of the Holocaust survivors in the room to rise. Although there were only a few scattered amongst the many in attendance, it was a powerful moment to see these aged survivors shakily stand up and reveal their brutal pasts.

“Hear the cry of the oppressed,” he urged the congregation. “Silence and indifference by the free world undermines the survival of the victims.”

Ban also expressed his feeling about the event. In his address, he thanked Schneier for continuing to teach the world about the important lessons of the Holocaust and for being a voice for interfaith peace and understanding.

“The Holocaust affected so many different groups and so many professions that it is vital to reach new audiences with this history,” he said in his speech. “Our work for human dignity will underpin all we do. And our memory of the years when that dignity was torn from so many millions—so fast, so brutally—is likewise part of the bedrock from which we operate. Let us all work together today to realize human dignity for all and to realize the U.N.’s full potential in building the future we want.”

Last May, the West Side Spirit partnered with the Amsterdam News for a special investigation of the Discovery Program, an initiative that had fallen by the wayside of the education system but was intended to increase the substantially low diversity levels at the city’s specialized high schools. Now, citing that investigation as part of his reasoning, Brooklyn Assembly Member Karim Camara will introduce new legislation to address the schools’ admissions criteria, which he says are unfairly biased and don’t account for students who may not be good test takers but are otherwise up to the rigorous academic standards the schools require.

“A one-day measurement is not enough to decide the aptitude of a student,” Camara said, explaining that his bill would simply make the schools use additional information when deciding their admissions lists.

The call to change the specialized high schools’ admissions process has been echoing down education corridors for a while, as the numbers of black and Hispanic students have fallen to minuscule levels at the top two public high schools in the city, Stuyvesant and Bronx Science.

While black students make up 32 percent of all public high schools and Hispanic students account for 39 percent of public school populations, Stuyvesant had less than 2 percent black students and less than 3 percent Hispanic students in the 2009-2010 school year. Bronx Science had just over 3 percent black students and almost 8 percent Hispanic students the same year. The disproportionate numbers have been blamed on varying factors, but one that has been repeatedly called out is the inherent bias in standardized testing.

“We’re not saying set particular quotas for any race. But I do believe that you will have a more diverse group within the schools,” Camara said.

The fact that specialized high schools use only an admissions test to make up their student body stems from a 1971 law that was intended to discourage racial bias and make the schools open to all students at a level playing field. But the top high schools have since become less diverse, causing lawmakers to step in. State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, who represents part of the Upper West Side and Upper Manhattan, has committed to be a sponsor of the bill in the Senate.

“The fact that only 5 percent of students at Stuyvesant and 11 percent at Bronx Science are either black or Hispanic highlights that we have more work to do to ensure that all New Yorkers have an equal opportunity for a prosperous future,” Espaillat wrote in an email. “We must expand educational access to students from all communities.”

Camara emphasized that the bill, if passed, would not suddenly make the schools more diverse, nor would it take away the pressure and importance of the admissions test.

State Sen. Tom Duane, who represents the southern portion of the Upper West Side, also signaled his support.

“I have long believed that standardized test scores should be subordinate to more holistic and inclusive criteria in elite schools’ consideration of applicants,” Duane wrote in an email. “These tests measure neither the passion nor the talents of all students to whom these schools should be made available.”

Under the proposed legislation, the Department of Education would be able to determine what other factors the schools take into account and devise the new process in consultation with the schools.

Camara said he expects the bill to get bipartisan support, and that there will be at least one Republican senator sponsoring it.

“Most people agree that it’s reasonable to say that a standardized test should not be the sole deciding factor whether someone should be admitted to a high school—especially a public high school,” Camara said.