By Carol Tannenhauser
Monday, April 25, 2022, Partly cloudy. High around 61 degrees.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events! Attention is always paid to the WSR newsboy, but don’t overlook the stalwart events lady in the upper righthand corner. She holds the latest happenings in the neighborhood, updated every Monday.
The Anibal Aviles playground was selected by the Community Parks Initiative as one of ten city parks that will receive capital improvements. There will be a meeting to discuss ideas for the playground today, Monday, April 25 at 6:30pm. Register here.
News
Martial Simon, the 61-year-old man who pushed Upper West Sider Michelle Alyssa Go to her death in a Times Square subway station in January, “will be sent to a locked psychiatric facility indefinitely, after prosecutors agreed Tuesday not to contest a finding that he is unfit to stand trial,” The New York Times reported. Simon has been suffering from schizophrenia since his 30s, according to his sister. “The brief hearing Tuesday at a Manhattan courthouse, at which Mr. Simon did not appear, puts his criminal case into suspension, the district attorney’s office said. If he is ever fit to stand trial, the case will resume.”
A second accident occurred in the waters of Central Park on Friday when a rowboat “tipped over in the [Lake] near Bow Bridge just before 1:30 pm. ‘A man, woman and small child all fell into the water and got trapped underneath the boat,’ a witness told PIX11 News. [A] concerned onlooker jumped into the water and helped get them to safety, according to the witness, who described the man as a ‘real hero.'”
More than 150 sites will participate in this year’s Open Streets program, including 21 new stretches of car-less road (no new ones on the UWS), the Department of Transportation announced on Friday. There’s a list of all the sites taking part in the city’s 2022 program and their hours on DOT’s site. “Dozens will be operating and/or have car-free programming in place by this weekend,” DOT said. “The rest will be up and running by summertime.” WSR will cover UWS Open Streets soon.
Scientists are turning Central Park into a climate lab “to research how the park is being impacted by climate change and to find new ways to protect the environment. CBSNY‘s Chris Wragge spoke with Central Park Conservancy Director of Research and Special Projects Salmaan Khan (below) about the new project.”
Finally, New York Social Diary reminds us that tomorrow — April 26, 2022 — is the 200th birthday of “landscape visionary” Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer (with Calvert Vaux) of Central Park and many other beloved public spaces. Thankfully, they instruct us how to dress for the gala birthday celebration taking place at the Loeb Boathouse tonight. “For our what to wear moment we shopped a lovely collection of floral frocks, reminiscent of spring blooms.” So get out your frocks, and let us know how it is!
There is also a photo-essay birthday tribute to Olmstead in The NY Times. “His parks helped sustain Americans’ mental and physical health and social connections during the darkest days of the pandemic. As Covid-19 lockdowns unlaced nearly every familiar aspect of life, parks were reaffirmed as respite, an escape from quarantine.”
See you in May!
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It’s hard to capsize a rowboat. They must have been all hanging off the side .
Re: “They must have been all hanging off the side.”
Aaah, YES! Consider this famed comment, attributed to the delightfully-sarcastic H. L. Mencken:
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
Why was he outside walking around with the public if his loving sister knew he was unfit for life in the world. Disgusting.
If, by disgusting, you mean the near impossibility of obtaining in-patient care for psychiatric patients (both because of the absence of facilities and the difficulty of proving someone to be unable to care for himself), then I agree. If you are blaming his sister for the complete unwillingness of our society as a whole to do what needs to be done for the mentally ill, not so much.
If you read the press coverage (for example, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/nyregion/martial-simon-michelle-go.html), you would know that his family struggled to help him for years, but couldn’t get him adequate treatment. Shame on you. This could happen to any family.
It is beyond unacceptable to close streets – “Open Streets” – that are bus routes.
It is a complete hardship for bus riders as buses are rerouted.
And complete chaos when there are other closures for other purpose such as street fairs or bike events.
This essentially sabotages bus mass transit.
Unbelievable.
Also, cars constantly go around the blockades on Amsterdam (and to an even greater extent, mopeds). So what is even the point?
Thank you, msl, for pointing out to readers that so-called “Open Streets” are actually Closed Streets. Accepting the language of propaganda ministries harms society and erodes sanity.
And I again urge the Rag to place quotes around “Open Streets” rather than to simply print the term as given to them in a news release.
Open Streets means they’re open for people to use. Something like 80 percent of your typical NYC block is closed to everything except cars. Now these streets will instead be open.
Is Open Streets also open for the dirt bike crew that menace our children and families on a daily? If so, please shut it down. They already have zero regard for traffic lights. Concerns mostly for WASHINGTON HEIGHTS
Is Open Streets also open for the dirt bike crew that menace our children and families on a daily? If so, please shut it down. They already have zero regard for traffic lights. Concerns mostly for WASHINGTON HEIGHTS – overrun by these Crotch Rockets
Mark, the propaganda point that streets in normal use are closed to everything but cars is tired nonsense.
My street is open to bikes, cargo bikes, cars, taxis, Ubers, dozens of delivery vehicles a day, police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, oil deliveries (still pretty common, sadly), and more.
As is yours.
Paul, and an “Open Street,” while now open to pedestrians, who make up the majority of road users (sidewalks+roadbed) by headcount, in a way that it wasnt before, is still open to bikes, ebikes, cargo bikes, police vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks, as well as cars, Ubers, delivery vehicles, and oil trucks, as long as the last group of 5 have business on that particular block and are then required to observe a 5mph speed limit.
Mark – it was clear to me (and should have been to you) the the reference to “cars” was meant to include motor vehicles in general. Every item you listed except for the first two, fits into that category.
So, what’s your point?
There are open sidewalks right there, and a huge open park not far away.
I’m sorry some people here either are envious of other people’s cars (the anti-car crowd is truly insufferable) or like to be non-conformists to get their jollies.
I am fine with doing this once or twice a summer as a special event, like street fairs. But doing it weekly is really overkill.
And it took someone with a lot of time on their hands to come up with this idea.
Juan,unlike Mark below, I actually do use my car to drive around Manhattan since the pandemic. In fact I drove to work this morning from Manhattan to Manhattan. The arguement about open sidewalks – well, our sidewalks are overcrowded, and during a public health emergency due to an airborne contagious disease, the overcrowding of the sidewalk is uncomfortable for many on the low end, and could be dangerous for people on the high end. As for our huge park not far away, combined with the argument that moving bus routes can make it impossible for elderly people to get around because moving a bus one Avenue over (or less since Broadway is not one avenue from Amsterdam for most of the UWS), by closing the Avenue to traffic, you are now allowing that proverbial elderly person who cant make it one extra avenue to get the bus the ability to reach some open space and get fresh air. There is a flipside to every argument – what we have to look at is which side does the greater good (ignoring our own bias which clouds our thinking).
I have a car that I used just yesterday but not to drive around Manhattan. And I’m pretty sure the non-conformists are anyone opposed to opening the majority of a block’s available space for people. Plus the quiet and the clean air that comes with it. People like those things.
We have discussed this endlessly here and will never reach agreement. I agree that for our neighborhood, this is a giant waste and disruption. The UWS has two large parks within a short walking distance of every home. Isn’t this enough?
One question that I have never seen discussed – who is responsible for going around setting up the blockades for these streets? Isn’t there a better use of resources than people wasting time on this?
What might be a “hardship” (which seems hyperbolic) for some might make a temporarily easier commute for others. Some people are so self-absorbed.
Kathleen,
I am confused about the reference here to “selfish”?
Is it that drivers are selfish?
Or bus riders are selfish?
How does re-routing an Amsterdam Ave or Columbus Ave bus make things easier for “others” when the other uptown or downtown avenues (CPW and Broadway) already have buses?
For actual riders there is no upside.
Almost every north-south street in the entire neighborhood is a bus route. By your logic none of them could ever be closed.
Mark, yes, streets and especially avenues should not be closed except for rare special occasions. Street closures just gum up movement in the city. Everybody knows how to hang out outside when streets are open. No one needs them closed. Except to punish people using vehicles.
That’s pretty much what they’re saying. The funny thing is that every time DOT plays with a road change for traffic reasons, the usual advocates scream about inconvenience to bus riders.
Well, our north-south avenues are about 750 feet apart. That’s a lot of walking for an elderly person if Columbus or Amsterdam are closed for a day. But since the advocates’ main goal is the inconveniencing of evil cars, that’s an ok thing, to them.
Bottom line? Closing a street for an actual event? Yes if done on a weekend or holiday, and for a purpose that actually attracts people. No for the proposition that a street left closed off will or could or might attract use, especially where a major park is a 6 minute walk away.
I believe Olmsted’s birthday is April 26th
Thanks, fixed, and bemused that you knew that.
It’s noted on 2022 calendar from Central Park Conservatory among other sources
I’m not sure what standards the WSR uses to censor comments.
All I said was that the city should shut all the streets so that there is no confusion as to which streets are open, which are closed and the timings. Reduces complexity.
But WSR decided to not publish this. Thank you WSR.
“Martial Simon, the 61-year-old man who pushed Upper West Sider Michelle Alyssa Go to her death in a Times Square subway station in January, “will be sent to a locked psychiatric facility indefinitely, after prosecutors agreed Tuesday not to contest a finding that he is unfit to stand trial”
I know I see the same mentally ill who get taken in for acting out back on the same street the day or even hours after they have been brought to a hospital. Makes you wonder how many people the hospitals are letting out where they really are that mentally ill to end up pushing someone in front of a subway. But oh, no…we can’t make the mentally ill who don’t know they are mentally ill stay in a hospital!
It’s a very difficult balance. The history of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization is absolutely horrific. One thing I wonder about is that apparently an application was made for him to receive involuntary outpatient treatment under Kendra’s Law, but it’s not clear what the result was. If granted and actually carried out, he might have stayed on his meds.
Hospitals are not required to hold anyone who is not ill, physically or mentally.
As stated numerous times in these sort of threads, it isn’t the 1960’s or even 1860’s, you cannot put someone away because they are doing things that bother you.
Of course you can. Apparently, you can put someone away – forever, 6ft underground – because they did something bothering you – like standing on a subway platform.
And noone will be held responsible.
For better or for worse, we don’t have a Department of Pre-Crime.
Most think, all things for the better, that this is appropriate.
What we also lack is adequate funding for places that people in need – and their families – would find acceptable.
Can’t wait to hear how the family of this guy found the subway – of all places – the most acceptable. Their loving care and concern clearly knows no bounds. As does the professionalism of the mental services professionals who were on his case.
Nobody is concerned about the adverse effect of such closures on the businesses of those streets?