The BroadsheetDAILY ~ 10/16/20 ~ Daisy Paez Honored by State Senator Brian Kavanagh as a Woman of Distinction

Fresh as a Daisy

Kavanagh Honors Lower East Side Activist as Woman of Distinction

Senator Kavanagh presents Ms. Paez with a proclamation honoring her

as a Woman of Distinction

Daisy Paez, a Lower East Side activist who has served for years as a local District Leader, and is a universally revered matriarch among Downtown’s political and community family, was honored recently by State Senator Brian Kavanagh as a Woman of Distinction—an accolade conferred each year by the upper house of the Albany legislature, recognizing women across New York who are impacting their communities, while setting an example for future generations of New Yorkers.

Earlier this year, Ms. Paez successfully waged a life-and-death battle with the pandemic coronavirus, during which she struggled for many weeks, first at New York Presbyterian’s Lower Manhattan Hospital, then at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, in White Plains.

Shortly after she returned home in May, Ms. Paez said, “I can’t stop thanking God. Why was I snatched out of my world? I don’t know. But I can tell you this: God didn’t do that. And why was I given the gift of coming back? I don’t know that either, but I know that it was God who walked through this storm with me, and brought me home.”

Above: State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou: “Daisy Paez is an incredible leader, friend, and support system here on the Lower East Side.”

Below: Daisy Paez: “Here on the Lower East Side, humanity is at its all-time best. Everyone is collaborating to provide food and protective gear to the community and to check on the elderly, and those who are most vulnerable to the pandemic.”

“I am forever grateful for His mercy and favor,” she reflected. “This changed me. From this day forward, I will take nothing for granted. I want to spread as much love as I can. And I want the world to know that faith can move mountains. So I will live every day as if it were my last, and treat each day as a blessing.”

In an outdoor ceremony on September 28, Senator Kavanagh said, “I cannot think of anyone more deserving of recognition for her service than Daisy Paez. Daisy’s contributions to the Lower East Side will resonate for many years after her tenure. She has been an outspoken advocate for safe and affordable housing, for the beautification of our community through the arts, for improved transportation services, and for youth development programs for Lower East Side residents. Her passion and commitment to this community come through in everything she does and in all her interactions with her neighbors. She cares deeply, listens attentively, understands intuitively, serves diligently, and advocates forcefully. In these very trying times, she serves as a wonderful example for us all.”

Ms. Paez reflected that, “here on the Lower East Side, humanity is at its all-time best. Everyone is collaborating to provide food and protective gear to the community and to check on the elderly, and those who are most vulnerable to the pandemic. I cannot express enough my pride in being a lifelong resident here on the Lower East Side.” To several dozen if her assembled neighbors, she added, “I thank you all for bringing the best out of your inner selves during some of our darkest days.”

Also in attendance was State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou, who said, “Daisy Paez is an incredible leader, friend, and support system here on the Lower East Side. Her contributions to this community can be felt through her advocacy, her warm presence, her dedication to her Lower East Side community, and so much more.”

Ms. Paez is a legendary figure within her Lower East Side neighborhood, where she grew up and has resided for more than 60 years. From 2014 through 2017, she served as president of the Grand Street Guild Residents Association, after which she was elected District Leader for her community. Ms. Paez occupies a position of such trust and respect among her neighbors that she has also come to be regarded as a benevolent powerbroker, whose support is perceived as essential by candidates seeking elective office.

Since her return home to the Lower East Side after battling COVID-19, Ms. Paez says, “my children and my neighbors have been an amazing support system. It really feels like I have come home and begun life all over again.”

Matthew Fenton

Letters

Re: Mother Cabrini

To the editor:

A well written article on the Mother Cabrini statue and Cuomo’s gaff about it faces Brooklyn. While I appreciate the fact that Italians who came here did not in fact have any ties to BPC, however neither did the Irish (hunger installation) and so to the Holocaust Museum.

What’s the point? True no land available to erect a monument in the city and Cuomo as he is wont to do put it there to flaunt the Mayor. What a world.

Next we will see where the Puerto Rican dedication will be. Perhaps next to the Museum as there is plenty of open spaces to erect a small statue of sorts. Political backbiting is always a lesson in egos of who carries the bigger stick.

All in all as a born and raised New Yorker and (few left it seems) I love this city with all its warts and hope it can come back a little bit stronger and wiser.

Vincent T.

Editor’s note: The site for the Puerto Rican Hurricane Memorial is in Rockefeller Park at the foot of Chambers Street and is currently under construction.

———————————————————————————

To the editor:

RE: Homeless Shelter

More affordable housing and less greed, that does not sound like NYC. I bet some rich Wall St bastard will find the way to kill it all. NYC is not a place to be if you are making minimum wage or have a college degree and do not make at least $60K/year.

Alex R.

Not So Fast…

Advocacy Group File Suit to Halt Plan for Homeless Shelter in FiDi

A group of Lower Manhattan residents opposed to the plan recently announced by the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio to relocate more than 200 homeless men to a vacant hotel in the Financial District filed suit on Wednesday to block the move.

The group, Downtown New Yorkers, Inc., which organized in recent weeks to mobilize against the plan, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire attorneys and bring legal actions. Some of those funds have been used to retain lawyer Ken Fisher, a former member of the New York City Council (where he represented a district in Brooklyn from 1991 through 2001), who later went on to found the New York City Chapter of the New York League of Conservation Voters, and serve as founding chair of the board of the Governors Island Alliance. He is also a past chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Land Use, Planning & Zoning Committee.

On Wednesday, Mr. Fisher filed in New York State Supreme Court an Article 78 petition, which is the legal mechanism via which private-sector parties can seek court-ordered relief from decisions by government agencies.

DOWNTOWN CALENDAR

Friday, October 16

8:30am- 9:30am

Improve balance, strength and focus through gentle exercises. The sights and sounds of the river provide a serene background for the ancient flowing postures. Program is first come, first served for up to 12 participants. Masks and contact information required upon arrival. Spatial parameters will be set. Free. Esplanade Plaza.

Noon

Learn and practice Mandarin, while engaging with Chinese literature, poetry, history and more with fellow enthusiasts, in this free online program sponsored by the China Institute. Participants will enjoy live, interactive learning sessions with our language and cultural experts from home. Each session will start with a read-aloud in Mandarin of a carefully selected poem which represents both a touchstone to Chinese culture as well as text for practicing Mandarin language and pronunciation.

Noon

Canadian poet, essayist and translator Lisa Robertson reads prose from The Baudelaire Fractal (Coach House Books, 2020), from Nalliers, France.

3pm-4pm

These virtual visits offer the opportunity to see and learn the history of Schermerhorn Row, at the end of Fulton Street in Manhattan, one of the most significant examples of early 19th century commercial architecture in New York and home of the South Street Seaport Museum. Hear about the buildings’ incredible history and developments, and explore the remains of two 150-year-old hotels made famous by New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell’s “Up in the Old Hotel.” Part of Archtober.

5pm-9pm

Studio BFPL: Encounters transforms the unique indoor spaces of Brookfield Place with intimate, one-of-a-kind live musical performances that are socially distant and 20-minutes in duration. Up to six people who have traveled together can expect to be transported and entertained by these captivating experiences, featuring some of Arts Brookfield’s long-standing partners including New York Guitar Festival, Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, Live Sounds and more. Your group of up to 6 will be captivated by a surprise musical performer – an encounter you won’t forget! Each reservation will last 20 minutes and are scheduled between 5- 9 pm.

7pm-8:30pm

Join this webinar from the New York Academy of Sciences to learn from the experts how your internal clock works and how it affects your health, mood, and productivity. Topics for discussion will include the effects of daylight – saving time, jet-lag, healthy sleeping habits, timing of meals and medication, the role of your genes in your early-bird or night-owl habits, and developmental aspects of biological rhythms — such as teenagers’ preference to stay up past midnight while toddlers burst with energy at sunrise. We will illuminate practical applications of research in circadian medicine, like the impact of circadian disrupters such as blue light, caffeine and 24/7 snacking on your health; and we will examine whether current school and work hours align with the latest scientific findings in chronobiology. $10k suggested donation.

What’s Up, Dock?

Pier A Restaurant and Bar Shuts Down

The Harbor House Restaurant on Pier A has shut down, with no definite plan to reopen. A spokesman for the Battery Park City Authority says that agency, “is working with all relevant parties to determine a path forward.”

This distress (which predates the restaurant-industry woes triggered by the pandemic coronavirus and the economic slowdown that followed) was highlighted in December, 2018. To read more…

Mother of Exiles

Remembering the Woman Who Said: “the World Is Poisoned with Erroneous Theories and Needs to be Taught Sane Doctrines”

On Monday, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo observed Columbus Day by presiding over a ceremony at South Cove, along the Battery Park City Esplanade, to dedicate the Mother Cabrini Memorial—commemorating the 19th-century Italian-American nun who founded more than 60 orphanages, hospitals, and schools to help New York’s needy, and later became (in 1946) the first naturalized U.S. citizen to be canonized a Catholic saint.

“Last year, on this very day,” Mr. Cuomo said, “we announced that we build a statue to Mother Cabrini. There was no doubt that she deserved it, that Mother Cabrini had not received the proper recognition that she deserved. And New Yorkers wanted to memorialize her. We did it in one year. We formed a commission, found a location, identified the funding, and the sculptors brought it to life and did a magnificent job.” To read more…

Downtown Upstart

Democratic Group Endorses Young Activist for City Council

The Downtown Independent Democrats (DID), an influential political club based in Lower Manhattan, has endorsed Christopher Marte in his campaign for the City Council seat that will be vacated by Margaret Chin next year, as a result of term limits.

Mr. Marte has a long track record of engagement, starting in the Lower East Side neighborhood where he grew up, and culminating in a City Council run in 2017, which he lost by only a few hundred votes.

A Lament for Local Luncheonettes

Losses and Closures Mount Among Downtown Dining Spots

A new report from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli documents the impact of the ongoing pandemic coronavirus on the restaurant industry in Lower Manhattan.

In this report, Mr. DiNapoli finds, there were 1,981 operating restaurants and bars before the pandemic began, which places Lower Manhattan behind only the Chelsea/Clinton/Midtown Business District PUMA area, with 2,661 such establishments. (Together, these two areas account for nearly 40 percent of the City’s restaurant jobs.) To read more…

Quay to Success

Pier 26 Opens with Amenities Galore

The tally of great public spaces in Lower Manhattan has increased by one. Last Wednesday, the Hudson River Park Trust officially opened Pier 26 in Tribeca (near Hubert Street), the product of a decade-plus of planning and construction, and a $37-million budget.

The result is 2.5 acres of woodland forest, coastal grassland, maritime scrub, and a rocky tidal zone—all culminating in a breathtaking view of the Hudson River. Additionally included in the design are a multi-use recreation field and a spacious sunning lawn, as well as boardwalks and seating areas. To read more…

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

To place a listing, contact editor@ebroadsheet.com

Quatrain Alley

Words Come to Life Amid New Installation in Battery Park City

Poets House—a library, creative space, and meeting place that invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry, while cultivating a wider audience for the art—will celebrate its tenth anniversary in Battery Park City by launching the Poetry Path, an immersive public art installation running the northern length of Battery Park City, from Rockefeller and Teardrop Parks to the North Cove Marina. To read more…

Rice and Beans

They are better

together.

Me and Jayden

We are better

together.

Josh, PS1 student

TODAY IN HISTORY

October 16

2002 – The Bibliotheca Alexandrina opens, commemorating the ancient library of Alexandria.

690 – Empress Wu Zetian ascends to the throne of the Tang dynasty and proclaims herself ruler of the Chinese Empire.

1590 – Prince Gesualdo of Venosa murders his wife and her lover.

1780 – American Revolutionary War: The British-led Royalton raid is the last Native American raid on New England.

1793 – French Revolution: Queen Marie Antoinette is executed.

1834 – Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London burns to the ground.

1859 – John Brown leads a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

1939 – World War II: No. 603 Squadron RAF intercepts the first Luftwaffe raid on Britain.

1950 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis is published.

1962 – Cuban missile crisis begins: Kennedy is informed of photos taken on October 14 by a U-2 showing nuclear missiles

1964 – China detonates its first nuclear weapon.

1978 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523.

1998 – Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a murder extradition warrant.

2002 – The Bibliotheca Alexandrina opens in Egypt, commemorating the ancient library of Alexandria.

 Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright, novelist, and poet

Births

1535 – Niwa Nagahide, Japanese samurai (d. 1585)

1620 – Pierre Paul Puget, French painter and sculptor (d. 1694)

1754 – Morgan Lewis, 3rd Governor of New York (d. 1844)

1758 – Noah Webster, American lexicographer (d. 1843)

1854 – Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright, novelist, and poet (d. 1900)

1886 – David Ben-Gurion, Polish-Israeli soldier and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1973)

1888 – Eugene O’Neill, American playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)

1890 – Paul Strand, American photographer and director (d. 1975)

1927 – Günter Grass, novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)

Deaths

1355 – Louis the Child, king of Sicily (b. 1338)

1791 – Grigory Potemkin, Russian general and politician (b. 1739)

1946 – Nuremberg trial executions of the Main Trial:

Hans Frank, German lawyer, politician and war criminal (b. 1900)

Wilhelm Frick, German lawyer and politician, German Minister of the Interior (b. 1877)

Alfred Jodl, German general (b. 1890)

Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Austrian SS officer (b. 1903)

Wilhelm Keitel, German field marshal (b. 1882)

Alfred Rosenberg, Estonian architect and politician (b. 1893)

Fritz Sauckel, German sailor and politician (b. 1894)

Arthur Seyss-Inquart, 16th Federal Chancellor of Austria (b. 1892)

Julius Streicher, German journalist and politician (b. 1887)

Joachim von Ribbentrop, German lieutenant and politician, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany (b. 1893)

1973 – Gene Krupa, American drummer, composer, and actor (b. 1909)

1990 – Art Blakey, American drummer and bandleader (b. 1919)

Credits include wikipedia and other internet sources

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