New York Job Recovery Isn’t Quite as Strong as Bloomberg Proclaims

Abstract: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is riding out of office on a wave of positive reports about the creation of jobs in New York. On Thursday, the State Labor Department announced that the official unemployment rate for the city declined to 8.5 percent in November, continuing a trend of improvement that has lasted all year. The department also said the number of public and private jobs in the city rose last month to a new high of 3.996 million. That figure prompted Mr. Bloomberg to proclaim in a speech on Staten Island that the city was on pace to exceed four million jobs before his third term ends on Jan. 1. But then he gave the statistics a twist in his favor. He cited a comparison, which also appeared this week on a website devoted to his accomplishments, that made it sound as though the city’s recovery from the last recession has been about four times as strong as the country’s. Mr. Bloomberg said the city had regained “327 percent of the jobs lost from the start of the national recession, while the country as a whole has only gained back 87 percent.” That claim, while it may technically be true, overstates the relative outperformance of the city. And it omits any mention of the federal bailout of Wall Street that supplied much of the fuel for the city’s rebound. It is true that the national economy has replaced fewer than nine of every 10 jobs lost after the financial crisis took hold six years ago. But even though big banks in New York played a central role in the aggressive lending that inflated the housing bubble, the recession started later and ended sooner in the city. The time period Mr. Bloomberg cited began with the official start of the national recession in December 2007. (It officially ended 18 months later, in June 2009.) But on the local level, economists typically use periods of declining employment to identify recessions. The number of jobs in the city did not begin to decline until August 2008, and that downturn was over by November 2009. Still, the job loss in the city was steep: In those 13 months, New York lost more than 130,000 jobs. For anybody who is familiar with that fact, the mayor’s claim that the city gained back 327 percent of its lost jobs would translate to an addition of more than 425,000. A post-recession gain of that size would have left the city with nearly 300,000 more jobs than it had before the downturn. That has not happened. The city has actually added back about 328,000 private-industry jobs in the past four years, leaving it with about 200,000 more jobs than it had before the financial crisis struck. Still impressive, but in percentage terms it amounts to about 250 percent, or not quite three times as strong as the national recovery. Patrick Muncie, a spokesman for the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said the mayor’s comparison was fair because it used a single time period to measure the city and the nation. “No economist would recommend using different time periods,” he said. But some, in fact, do. Economists at the New York Federal Reserve recently compared the recovery in employment in all 50 states, from the time each of them started losing jobs. Barbara Byrne Denham, a private economist who has tracked the city’s job market closely for years, also uses the period of decline and rebound in the city to make the comparison. Ms. Denham, who adjusts the official data on the city each month to account for seasonal fluctuations in hiring and layoffs, determined that the jobs regained in the city — public and private — equaled 230 percent of the number lost in the recession. Ms. Denham said it was possible, though not a sure thing, that the city would add enough jobs in December to surpass the four million mark on Mr. Bloomberg’s watch. What is clear is that the city’s unemployment rate, which dropped from 8.7 percent in October, will still be significantly higher than the nation’s. The national unemployment rate was 7 percent last month. The statewide rate fell to 7.4 percent in November, from 7.7 percent in October, and is now at its lowest level since the start of 2009.

NYC
Jobs
Mike Bloomberg
Recession and Depression
Economic Development
Unemployment


ING Sells Asian Private Banking Business for $1.5 Billion

Abstract: HONG KONG — The Dutch financial group ING said Thursday that it is selling its Asian private banking operations to a leading Singaporean bank for $1.46 billion in cash, the latest example of an Asian player snapping up assets being shed by troubled European and American financial institutions. ING, one of several European banks that had to resort to government aid as the global financial crisis deepened last year, is selling the business to O.C.B.C. of Singapore, the two banks said. The move is part of a string of disposals announced by ING since it outlined plans to sell non-core operations worth as much as €8 billion, or $11.9 billion, in a bid to raise cash and slim down its operations. Within the past month ING has also agreed to sell its Swiss private banking operations to Julius Baer, a Swiss bank, while its Australian and New Zealand wealth management and insurance operations are being sold to A.N.Z., an Australian bank that has been expanding rapidly within Asia. The sale of many of the assets belonging to ING, American International Group and Royal Bank of Scotland to Asian players that were previously little known outside the region reflects a broader rebalancing that has been set off by the turbulence of the past two years. Unlike in the United States and Europe, the Asian banking sector remained stable throughout the financial crisis — mostly because the banks avoided the toxic U.S. mortgage-related assets that triggered huge write-downs elsewhere. Although slower growth has dented profits for many, the Asia-Pacific region has seen no large-scale collapses or bailouts, leaving the sector able to snatch up many of the operations that have been put on the block by its U.S. and European counterparts. Other recent examples include the U.S. insurance giant A.I.G.’s decision on Tuesday to sell its Taiwanese life insurance business to a group of investors based in Hong Kong, and a series of disposals by Citigroup of Japanese businesses to institutions in that country. For O.C.B.C., or Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, as it is formally known, the acquisition represents a transformational step by more than tripling the assets under management at its private banking business to $23 billion. It creates a major player within a market that is expected to grow rapidly as continued development and strong growth in Asia leads to increasing wealth and demand for savings advice. “O.C.B.C. Bank will be well placed to capture the opportunities provided by the rapid growth of Asia’s wealth management industry and Singapore’s unique position as a major private banking hub, attracting wealth from both within and outside Asia,” the bank said in a statement.

ING Groep NV
Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures
Banks and Banking
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Singapore


At Ground Zero, Scenes From the Ice Age

Abstract: Those who say the World Trade Center site is changing at a glacial pace have no idea how right they are. A fantastic landscape in Lower Manhattan — plummeting holes, steep cliffsides and soft billows of steel-gray bedrock, punctuated by thousands of beach-smooth cobblestones in a muted rainbow of reds and purples and greens — has basked in sunlight this summer for the first time in millennia. This monumental carving was the work of glaciers, which made their last retreat from these parts about 20,000 years ago, leaving profound gouges in the earth and rocks from the Palisades, the Ramapo Mountains and an area of northern New Jersey known as the Newark Basin. Plumbing these glacial features and souvenirs has been critical in preparing the foundation for Tower 4 of the new World Trade Center, being built by Silverstein Properties. The concrete footings from which its columns rise must rest on firm bedrock. Engineers need a clear understanding of the rock’s contours. “You want to make sure you’re not perching something on a ledge,” said Andrew Pontecorvo, a supervising structural engineer at Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers, which is working on the trade center project. Engineers knew in advance that there were “discontinuities” in the bedrock at the southeast corner of the trade center site, where Tower 4 is situated. Some of these were revealed in the 1960s during the construction of the original slurry wall. (George J. Tamaro, who supervised that job for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is a retired partner of Mueser Rutledge.) And when parts of the slurry wall were rebuilt after 9/11, engineers found areas where the rock anchors that stabilize the wall would not hold, meaning there were voids in the bedrock. Borings through the ground also showed large discrepancies in the elevation of the rock underneath. “It was extreme from the variation you would interpret to what we actually encountered,” Mr. Pontecorvo said. Obviously, the bedrock topography could not be mapped with enough precision until all the soil was removed and the surface was fully exposed. But besides being an engineering necessity, the unearthing of geological features, especially a 40-foot depression known as a pothole, has offered scientists a rare window into the deep past. “There are areas in local parks that have small vertical potholes exposed,” said Cheryl J. Moss, the senior geologist at Mueser Rutledge, “but I’m not aware of anything in the city with a whole, self-contained depression on this scale.” Ms. Moss and Mr. Pontecorvo are scheduled to give an illustrated lecture on the site at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Tribute W.T.C. Visitor Center, 120 Liberty Street, opposite the pothole. “It’s been called the Grand Canyon of Lower Manhattan,” Mr. Pontecorvo said. Charles Merguerian, chairman of the geology department at Hofstra University and a consultant to Mueser Rutledge on the trade center project, put it even more simply: “Beautiful!” “It is very unusual to see such features near sea level,” he added. Shown photographs of the rocks, Sidney Horenstein, a geologist and environmental educator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, said, “You don’t find such an array of rock types in the few places in the city that the glacial deposits are exposed.” Across much of the trade center site, bedrock level is roughly 70 feet below street level. In the southeast corner, however, the pothole adds another 40 feet to the depth, meaning that its bottom is about 110 feet below street level. Yet when the pothole filled with rainwater this summer, it looked like nothing so much as a little mountain pond. Crevices around the edge were filled with pockets of densely packed cobblestones, possibly some of the very stones that the glaciers used to do the carving. “As the ice passed over New Jersey,” Ms. Moss explained, “it picked up local rocks such as red shale and sandstone and gray basalt from the Palisades. As ice melted from the advancing glacier, raging streams of water flowed in front of it. The strong currents picked up the sand, gravel and boulders and carried them downstream across the World Trade Center site. “As these rocks bounced across the bedrock, essentially sandblasting the surface, the softer layers started to erode out and the harder rock left behind became polished. In places, the water swirled in whirlpools of varying sizes, carving out deep potholes and larger basins.” Along the east side of the pothole, the rock layers run vertically — not horizontally. The result, where the surface has been carved away in a concave form, is an abstract canvas of swirling, concentric rings; not unlike a gouge in a wall that reveals many layers of old paint. This speaks of a period far more ancient than the glaciers, about 500 million years ago, when the edges of the colliding North American and African continental plates got shuffled together. “That’s when all this got pushed into a vertical orientation,” Dr. Merguerian said. He estimated that the rock around the pothole had once been 20 miles below the surface, based on the presence of a high-pressure mineral called kyanite. Ultimately, geology at the trade center site is in the service of construction, meaning that the pothole and other features are either being covered, filled in or blasted away. “It’s nice to look at,” said Robert B. Reina, a supervising structural engineer at Mueser Rutledge, “but it’s all got to go.” Construction workers have developed an appreciation of this otherworldly site, even as they have labored to obliterate it. For instance, Joe Racanelli, a foreman, has been collecting those smooth and colorful cobblestones from New Jersey and lugging them home to the Bronx. “I can’t help it,” he admitted. And a mechanic who introduced himself simply as Al made it plain that this was one New York pothole he would miss. “I think they should keep it,” he said. “Turn it into an aquarium. Fill it with fish. Do something special — not just another building.”

World Trade Center (NYC)
Buildings (Structures)
Geology
September 11 (2001)
Engineering and Engineers
Silverstein Properties
Manhattan (NYC)


Things to Do in Connecticut, April 30 Through May 8

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events in Connecticut. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to ctcal@nytimes.com. Comedy COLLINSVILLE “Lucky 13,” Will Noonan with Joe Fernandes and Adam Lucidi. May 13 at 8 p.m. $15 and $25. Bridge Street Live, 41 Bridge Street. 860-693-9762; 41bridgestreet.com. GOSHEN “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” 37 plays in 97 minutes. Through May 7. $22. Goshen Players, at Old Goshen Town Hall, 2 North Street. goshenplayers.org; 860-491-9988. HARTFORD Louie Anderson. May 13 at 8:30 p.m. $39 and $44. Infinity Hall Hartford, 32 Front Street. 860-560-7757; infinityhall.com. MANCHESTER Bruce Bruce. April 30. $25. The Hartford Funny Bone, 194 Buckland Hills Drive. 860-432-8600; hartford.funnybone.com. MASHANTUCKET Wayne Brady. May 7 at 7 p.m. $47 and $57. Norm MacDonald. May 13 at 8 p.m. $29.50 to $34.50. Fox Theater, Foxwoods Resort Casino, 350 Trolley Line Boulevard. 800-200-2882; foxwoods.com. MASHANTUCKET Brian Regan. May 6 at 9 p.m. $44.50 and $54.50. $38.50 and $55. Grand Theater, Foxwoods Resort Casino, 350 Trolley Line Boulevard. 800-200-2882; foxwoods.com. OLD SAYBROOK Ladies of the Boston Comedy Festival, featuring Kendra Cunningham, Bethany Van Delft and Carolyn Plummer. April 30 at 8 p.m. $25 and $30. The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main Street. 877-503-1286; thekate.org. WESTPORT Vic DiBitetto with Sean Morton. May 7 at 7:30 p.m. $30. Treehouse Comedy, at Bistro B, 1595 Post Road East. 203-268-5857; treehousecomedy.com. Film BRIDGEPORT “The Client” (1994), starring Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. May 12 at 7 p.m. $12. The Bijou Theater, 275 Fairfield Avenue. 203-332-3228; thebijoutheatre.com. GREENWICH Belle Époque Film Series, exploring Paris at the turn of the century. Subjects include: Degas, Seurat, the Eiffel Tower, Toulouse-Lautrec, Vuillard and Debussy. May 4 through June 1. Free with admission. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive. 203-869-0376; brucemuseum.org. HARTFORD “My Golden Days (Trois Souvenirs de Ma Jeunesse)” (2015), directed by Arnaud Desplechin. May 1 through 5. “Embrace of the Serpent” (2015), directed by Ciro Guerra. May 8 through 11. “April and the Extraordinary World” (2015), directed by Franck Ekinci and Christian Desmares. May 13 and 14. Cinestudio, 300 Summit Street. 860-297-2463; cinestudio.org. For Children ANSONIA Learn about baby birds and take a short hike. May 6 at 10 a.m. $7. Preregistration requested. Ansonia Nature Center, 10 Deerfield Road. 203-736-1053; ansonianaturecenter.org. BRIDGEPORT “The Princess and the Pea,” children’s theater. Through May 22. $23. Downtown Cabaret Theater, 263 Golden Hill Street. 203-576-1636; dtcab.com. Image NEW MILFORD “Civilized Adults Attacking Nature From the East” (2015) by Ed McGowin, oil on canvas with a carved and painted wood frame, is on view in “Civilized Adults” through May 21 at the Harts Gallery, 20 Bank Street. For further information: 917-913-4641 or thehartsgallery.com . Credit Ed McGowin/The Harts Gallery GREENWICH “Electricity,” hands-on activities and educational opportunities. May 14 through Nov. 6. Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive. brucemuseum.org; 203-869-0376. RIDGEFIELD “Curious George: The Golden Meatball,” musical. May 7 at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. $15. Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road. ridgefieldplayhouse.org; 203-438-5795. STAMFORD Astronomy Nights: “Jupiter, From Galileo to the Juno Mission.” May 6 at 7:30 p.m. Free for members. Adults, $5; children 5 through 17, $3. Guided Sunday Explorers hike, animal meet-and-greet. Sundays through May 22. Free with admission. Stamford Museum &; Nature Center, 39 Scofieldtown Road. 203-322-1646; stamfordmuseum.org. WESTPORT KidsCreate: introduction to painting, drawing and collage. Through June 3. $155 to $185. Westport Arts Center, 51 Riverside Avenue. westportartscenter.org; 203-222-7070. Music and Dance BETHEL Barbara Espinosa Occhino, Latin jazz. May 8 at 6 p.m. Tony LaVorgna Quartet, jazz. May 15 at 6 p.m. $15. Pizzeria Lauretano, 291 Greenwood Avenue. pizzerialauretano.com; 203-792-1500. BRIDGEPORT David Maiocco reprises Liberace. April 30 at 8 p.m. $25 and $75. David Friedman with Broadway stars. May 7 at 7:30 p.m. $35 and $45. The Bijou Theater, 275 Fairfield Avenue. thebijoutheatre.com; 203-332-3228. BROOKFIELD “The Fantasticks,” musical with book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt. April 30 through May 21. $15 to $20. Brookfield Theater for the Arts, 182 Whisconier Road. brookfieldtheatre.org; 203-775-0023. COLLINSVILLE Women of Folk, featuring Lara Herscovitch, Caroline Doctorow and Kate Callahan. May 6 at 8 p.m. $30 and $75. Bridge Street Live, 41 Bridge Street. 860-693-9762; 41bridgestreet.com. FAIRFIELD Julian Lage, jazz guitar. May 6 at 7:45 p.m. $22. StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company, 70 Sanford Street. fairfield theatre.org; 203-259-1036. FAIRFIELD NRBQ with Los Straitjackets, rock. May 6 at 9 p.m. $35. Alejandro Escovedo, rock and country. May 13 at 8 p.m. $38. The Warehouse, Fairfield Theater Company, 70 Sanford Street. 203-259-1036; fairfieldtheatre.org. HAMDEN South Carolina Broadcasters, bluegrass. May 6 at 7:30 p.m. $15 and $25. The Outer Space, 295 Treadwell Street. 203-288-6400; theouterspace.net. HARTFORD “Cinderella,” presented by Connecticut Ballet. May 7. $48 and $63. “Riverdance,” 20th Anniversary Tour. May 6 through 8. $24 to $65. “Romantic Rachmaninoff,” classical. May 12 through 15. $36 to $72. Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Avenue. 860-987-5900; bushnell.org. MIDDLETOWN Chinese Music Ensemble, traditional and contemporary. May 1 at 7 p.m. Toneburst Laptop and Electronic Arts Ensemble, new works for live electronics. May 6 at 8 p.m. Free. Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terrace. 860-685-3355; wesleyan.edu/cfa. NEW HAVEN Com Truise, electronic. May 12 at 7:30 p.m. $18 to $20. College Street Music Hall, 238 College Street. collegestreet musichall.com; 877-987-6487. Image FAIRFIELD “Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Lyman” (1940) will be on view in “Images/Jack Delano” from May 15 through Sept. 18 at the Fairfield Museum and History Center, 370 Beach Road. For more information: 203-259-1598 or fairfieldhistory.org . Credit Jack Delano OLD LYME Dave Liebman Expansions, jazz. April 30 at 7:30 p.m. $38. Andy Milne Dapp Theory, jazz. May 14 at 8:30 p.m. $42. The Side Door, 85 Lyme Street. 860-434-0886; thesidedoorjazz.com. OLD SAYBROOK Dala, folk. May 6 at 8 p.m. $25. The Drifters, R&B. May 14 at 3 p.m. $30. The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main Street. 877-503-1286; thekate.org. RIDGEFIELD The Waifs, folk rock. May 4 at 8 p.m. $37.50. John Hiatt, folk and rock. May 10 at 8 p.m. $65. Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road. ridgefieldplayhouse.org; 203-438-5795. STAMFORD Wynton Marsalis Quintet. April 30 at 8 p.m. $35 to $117. “The Great White Way, Our Way: Songs of New York City,” performed by Theater Barn Kids. Through May 7. The Palace Theater, 61 Atlantic Street. 203-325-4466; palacestamford.org. UNCASVILLE Jason Aldean, country. April 30. $79 and $99. “Nashville” in concert, featuring the actors Clare Bowen, Chris Carmack, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson and Sam Palladio. May 7 at 8 p.m. $35. Kenny Chesney with Old Dominion, country. May 13 and 14. $95 and $125. Def Leppard with REO Speedwagon and Tesla. May 15 at 7 p.m. $59 and $79. Mohegan Sun, 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard. 888-226-7711; mohegansun.com. Outdoors ANSONIA Earth Day Celebration: hikes, live animals and environmental exhibitors. April 30, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Metonic Calendar,” lecture by Gaianne Jenkins followed by telescope viewing. May 13 at 7 p.m. Free. Preregistration requested. Ansonia Nature Center, 10 Deerfield Road. 203-736-1053; ansonianaturecenter.org. FAIRFIELD Early morning bird walk. Thursdays through May 12. Connecticut Audubon Society, 2325 Burr Street. 203-259-6305; ctaudubon.org. HAMDEN Early bird watchers’ hike. May 1 at 8 p.m. Sleeping Giant Park, 200 Mount Carmel Avenue. 203-789-7498; sgpa.org. MILFORD Bird Club field trip: Bent of the River Wildlife Sanctuary. May 1 at 7:30 a.m. Bird Club field trip: Housatonic River. May 8 at 7:30 a.m. Free. New Haven Bird Club, newhavenbirdclub.org; 203-888-5757 or 203-526-7667. Spoken Word GREENWICH “Raising Whales: How the Recovery of Cetaceans Can Help Restore the Oceans,” lecture by Joe Roman of the University of Vermont. Floren Family Environmental Center at Innis Arden Cottage, Greenwich Point Park, Old Greenwich. May 1 at 2 p.m. Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive. 203-869-0376; brucemuseum.org. HARTFORD “Disconnect: Conversation in the Digital Age.” May 4 at 7 p.m. $10. The Mark Twain House and Museum, 351 Farmington Avenue. marktwainhouse.org; 860-247-0998. NEW LONDON “Mark Twain Tonight!,” one-man show featuring actor Hal Holbrook. May 14 at 8 p.m. $38 to $58. Garde Arts Center, 325 State Street. 860-444-7373; gardearts.org. STAMFORD Author tea with Laura Lippman, who will discuss “Wilde Lake.” May 11 at 2 p.m. $35 and $45. Ferguson Library, 1 Public Library Plaza. fergusonlibrary.org; 203-964-1000. Theater BRIDGEPORT “American Idiot,” with lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong, directed by Lance Gray. Through May 15. $28. “In the Heights.” Through May 21. Downtown Cabaret Theater, 263 Golden Hill Street. dtcab.com; 203-576-1636. Image NORFOLK Leon Russell will perform on April 30 at 8 p.m. at Infinity Hall, 20 Greenwoods Road. Tickets are $50 and $70. For more information: 866-666-6306 or infinityhall.com . Credit Matt Hesson BRIDGEPORT “Take Me Out,” written by Richard Greenberg. May 13 through 22. $18 to $28. The Bijou Theater, 275 Fairfield Avenue. 203-332-3228; thebijoutheatre .com. EAST HADDAM “Anything Goes,” musical by Cole Porter and Guy Bolton. Through June 16. $34 to $79. Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main Street. goodspeed.org; 860-873-8668. HARTFORD “Matilda the Musical.” April 30 and May 1. $27.50 to $89.50. Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Avenue. 860-987-5900; bushnell.org. NEW HAVEN “Lewiston,” drama by Samuel D. Hunter. April 30 and May 1. $30.50 to $55.50. Long Wharf Theater, 222 Sargent Drive. 203-787-4282; longwharf.org. NEW HAVEN “Jersey Boys.” May 3 through 8. $35 to $115. Shubert Theater, 247 College Street. 203-562-5666; shubert.com. NEW HAVEN “Happy Days,” written by Samuel Beckett. Through May 21. $20 to $54. Yale Repertory Theater, 1120 Chapel Street. 203-432-1234; yalerep.org. NEW LONDON Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” May 11 through 29. $10 and $15. Flock Theater, 10 Huntington Street. 860-443-3119; flocktheatre.org. STORRS Monty Python’s “Spamalot,” starring Richard Kline and Mariand Torres. April 30 and May 1. $27. Connecticut Repertory Theater, 802 Bolton Road. 860-486-2113; crt.uconn.edu. WEST HARTFORD “Wit,” written by Margaret Edson, directed by Stevie Zimmerman. Through May 8. $15. Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road. playhouseonpark.org; 860-523-5900. Museums and Galleries CENTERBROOK “Text Messages,” group exhibition. Through May 15. Wednesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Spectrum Gallery, 61 Main Street. 860-767-0742; spectrumartgallery.org. COS COB “Close to the Wind: Our Maritime History,” exhibition on Greenwich history. Through Sept. 4. $8 and $10; members and children under 6, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Greenwich Historical Society, 39 Strickland Road. greenwichhistory.org; 203-869-6899. DANBURY DANBURY “Off Peak,” photographs by Phyllis Crowley. Through May 27. Weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Gallery at Still River Editions, 128 East Liberty Street. stillrivereditions.com; 203-791-1474. DARIEN “Journey through the Career of a Pop Culture Icon,” Peter Max retrospective. Through May 7. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Geary Gallery, 576 Boston Post Road. 203-655-6633; gearygallery.com. FAIRFIELD “Guardia in Connecticut," paintings by Judith Lambertson. May 12 through June 19. Free. Tuesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Art/Place Gallery, 70 Sanford Street. 203-856-3181; artplacegallery.org. Image MASHANTUCKET Trevor Noah will appear on May 14 at 8 p.m. at Foxwoods Resort Casino, 350 Trolley Line Boulevard. Tickets are $38.50 and $55. For more information: 800-200-2882 or foxwoods.com . Credit Evan Agostini/Invision, via Evan Agostini, via Invision, via Associated Press FAIRFIELD “Look at Me! Recording and Sharing Ourselves,” group show. April 30 and May 1. $3 and $5; members and children 5 and under, free. “Gin and Jazz,” spring benefit. May 14 at 7 p.m. $75 to $500. “Fabulous Animals: The Illustrated World of Robert Lawson,” solo exhibition. Through Sept. 18. $3 and $5; members and children 5 and under, free. Daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fairfield Museum and History Center, 370 Beach Road. 203-259-1598; fairfieldhistory.org. GREENWICH “Mianus River Gorge: Photographs by William Abranowicz.” Through June 5. “Wild Reading: Animals in Children’s Book Art.” Through July 3. “Electric Paris,” group exhibition featuring Edgar Degas, Jean Béraud, Mary Cassatt and more. May 14 through Sept. 4. $6 and $7; members and children under 5, free. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive. 203-869-0376; brucemuseum.org. GREENWICH “Wildlife Art: Field to Studio,” group exhibition. Through May 4. “Layer Upon Layer,” sculpture by Donna Forma. May 12 through June 22. Free. Mondays through Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Flinn Gallery, 101 West Putnam Avenue. 203-622-7947; flinngallery.com. GUILDFORD “Artists of Gallery One,” David Brown, Ashby Carlisle, Catherine Christiano, Bette Ellsworth, Gray Jacobik and more. Through May 15. Guildford Art Center, 411 Church Street. 203-453-5947; guilfordartcenter.org. HAMDEN “The Seed of the People: 1916 Remembered,” Irish history exhibition. Through Sept. 30. Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Avenue. 203-582-7809; quinnipiac.edu. HARTFORD “Alina Gallo: Keleti Station.” Through May 21. $3 suggested donation; members and cinema patrons, free. Daily, 2 to 9 p.m.; and by appointment. Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street. 860-232-1006; realartways.org. LITCHFIELD “Navigating the Human Landscape,” sculptures by Susan Clinard. Through June 25. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wisdom House, 229 East Litchfield Road. 860-567-3163; wisdomhouse.org. MYSTIC “New Horizons in Modern Maritime Art,” group show of paintings, drawings and sculptures of the sea. April 30 through July 17. Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maritime Art Gallery at Mystic Seaport, 47 Greenmanville Avenue. 860-572-5388; mysticseaport.org/gallery. NEW BRITAIN “New/Now: Clinton Deckert.” Through June 7. “Cycle of Life in Print: Salvador Dalí.” Through June 26. $10 to $15; members and children under 12, free. Sundays through Wednesdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. New Britain Museum of American Art, 56 Lexington Street. 860-229-0257; nbmaa.org. NEW CANAAN “Jill Moser: Paintings and Prints.” Through May 28. Mondays through Saturdays, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and by appointment. Heather Gaudio Fine Art, 66 Elm Street. 203-801-9590; heathergaudiofineart.com. NEW CANAAN “Evidence of Nature,” mixed media works by Constance Kiermaier. Through May 8. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. New Canaan Library, 151 Main Street. 203-594-5003; newcanaanlibrary.org. NEW CANAAN “Vivid,” works by Teodora Guererra and Carol Young. Through May 16. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Sorelle Gallery Fine Art, 84 Main Street. 203-920-1900; sorellegallery.com. NEW HAVEN “Gloria Laposka — Life Stories (1922-2015),” realist paintings. Through May 1. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Da Silva Gallery, 899 Whalley Avenue. ; 203-387-2539; dasilva-gallery.com. NEW HAVEN “Common Ground,” paintings by Farrell Brickhouse. Through May 14. Free. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and by appointment. Fred Giampietro Gallery, 1064 Chapel Street. giampietrogallery.com; 203-777-7760. Image NEW HAVEN The Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit will perform with Caveman on May 7 at 9 p.m. at College Street Music Hall, 238 College Street. Tickets are $20 and $30.Information: collegestreetmusichall.com or 877-987-6487. Credit Dan Massie NEW HAVEN “From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven.” Through Sept. 3. $2 to $4; children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; first Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Avenue. newhavenmuseum.org; 203-562-4183. NEW HAVEN “Body Doubles,” video installation featuring ten artists. May 7 at 6 p.m. No Pop, 130 Park Street. nopop.gallery; 203-824-6078. NEW HAVEN Works by Stacey Alickman and Michelle Benoit. April 30. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Reynolds Fine Art, 96 Orange Street. 203-498-2200; reynoldsfineart.com. NEW HAVEN “Everything Is Dada,” group show. Through July 3. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; weekends, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street. 203-432-0600; artgallery.yale.edu. NEW LONDON “Dark Water, Deep Treasures: The Art of Discovery.” “Beyond Three Hundred Fathoms: Life at the Extremes.” Through May 16. “Herman Leonard: Jazz Memories.” Through May 29. $5 to $10; members and children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Lyman Allyn Art Museum, 625 Williams Street. lymanallyn.org; 860-443-2545. OLD LYME “Friends in the Fields,” paintings by Allen Butler Talcott, Frank A. Bicknell, William S. Robinson and Wilson H. Irvine. Through May 28. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cooley Gallery, 25 Lyme Street. cooleygallery.com; 860-434-8807. OLD LYME “Ten/Forty: Collecting American Art at the Florence Griswold Museum.” Through May 29. $8 to $10; children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme Street. 860-434-5542; flogris.org. OLD LYME “Body Language” and “95th Annual Elected Artist Exhibition.” Through June 3. $5 suggested donation. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Lyme Art Association Gallery, 90 Lyme Street. lymeartassociation.org; 860-434-7802. RIDGEFIELD Works by Kim Jones, David Brooks, Peter Liversidge and Virginia Overton, ranging from sculpture to drawing and performance-based works. May 1 through Feb. 5. $5 and $10. Members, teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade, active-service military families and children under 18, free. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main Street. aldrichart.org; 203-438-4519. SHARON “How the West Was Won,” exhibition of works by Matt Magee. April 30 and May 1. Thursdays to Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Darren Winston, Bookseller, 81 Main Street, darrenwinstonbookseller.com; 860-364-1890. SOUTHPORT “Pages From Pequot: Uncovering Shakespeare,” exhibition featuring items from Pequot Library’s special collections of rare books and materials. Through May 6. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pequot Library, 720 Pequot Avenue. pequot library.com; 203-259-0346. STAMFORD “Water!,” the 17th Annual Vivian and Stanley Reed Marine Show, group exhibition. Through May 26. Thursdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Weekends, noon to 3 p.m. Stamford Art Association, 39 Franklin Street. stamfordartassociation.org; 203-325-1139. STORRS M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition. Through May 10. Guerrilla Girls Exhibition. Through May 22. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; weekends, 1 to 4:30 p.m. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, 245 Glenbrook Road. 860-486-4520; benton.uconn.edu. WASHINGTON DEPOT “Made Realities, Real Situations,” Neil Callander, Russell Horton and Marc Roder. Through May 7. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Washington Art Association, 4 Bryan Memorial Plaza. 860-868-2878; washingtonartassociation.org. WATERBURY “Legacy in Wood,” furniture exhibition by Thos Moser. Through May 22. “What! Not White? The Victorian Bride.” Through May 29. “Making Her Mark,” multimedia group show. Through June 5. $6 and $7; members and children under 16, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main Street. mattatuckmuseum .org; 203-753-0381. WESTPORT “Two Steps Forward: Contemporary Cuban Art.” Through June 4. Free. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Westport Arts Center, 51 Riverside Avenue. 203-222-7070; westportartscenter.org.


New Jersey Neighbors Sift Memory for Evidence That a Spy Was Among Them

Abstract: MONROE TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Some men retire to a life of anonymity. Not Ben-Ami Kadish. Pick up a random copy of the newsletter for the Ponds, the retirement community here where Mr. Kadish lives with his wife, Doris. Here is Mr. Kadish, a former military engineer arrested Tuesday on charges of spying for Israel a generation ago, delivering the latest duplicate bridge results: He and Doris were East-West winners on Dec. 1, 2006. There he is, reporting in his regular Jewish War Veterans column on a successful outing to the Veterans Memorial Home in Menlo Park, where he and some fellow former soldiers held a bingo game and admired the new reclining wheelchairs they had bought for the residents with money from selling Veterans Day poppies. And there he is on Page 19, in Irene Eisenberg’s Yiddish Club column, in which she thanks Mr. Kadish, the club’s co-founder, and other members of the hospitality committee “for the bang-up job they always do.” There seemed to be no end to Mr. Kadish’s public activity. He organized hospital visits and prayers for the dead, advised acquaintances on how to buy Israel bonds, served meals on wheels, persuaded the condominium association to let him build a hut in his yard each autumn to welcome scores of people for the Jewish harvest festival Sukkot. In his spare time, he tracked down 500 relatives and posted a family tree to a genealogy Web site. Which is why the notion that he had engaged in espionage 25 years earlier was so hard to swallow for his white-haired neighbors in this gated community of 600 homes set among golf courses and nature trails an hour southwest of New York City. On Wednesday, one day after Mr. Kadish, 84, was charged with slipping secret military documents to the Israeli government during the 1980s, they were trying to square the gruff, kindly man they knew as so honorable as never to cheat at cards with a criminal suspect who could face the death penalty if convicted. “You can know people for years and just not know them,” said a woman named Anita, who has known the Kadishes for 40 years but spoke on the condition that she be identified by only her first name. George Applebaum, who followed Mr. Kadish as commander of the Jewish War Veterans post, could make sense of the news only by invoking Mr. Kadish’s frequent references to tikkun olam, the Jewish concept of repairing the world through social service. “Our object in this life is to make the world a better place,” Mr. Applebaum said. “He just wanted to do good and be good, and that’s it. And maybe that’s what motivated him to do what he did, by sharing what he thought Israel should know.” What Mr. Kadish might have wanted Israel to know remains shrouded in national secrecy, but federal prosecutors said it had something to do with nuclear weapons, Patriot missile systems and fighter-plane plans. Those subjects figure prominently in the documents that Mr. Kadish is charged with smuggling out of the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, N.J., where he worked for 27 years, taking to his house in Clifton, N.J., and letting an Israeli official photograph in the basement between 1979 and 1985. In Clifton, Randy Ingersoll, 61, who lives next door to the two-story brick-and-wood house where the Kadishes lived on a tree-lined street, said he “almost dropped dead” at the news. According to a court complaint filed on Tuesday, Mr. Kadish told an F.B.I. agent last month that he had given the official, a science adviser at the Israeli Consulate in New York, 50 to 100 classified documents. He said he received only small gifts and the occasional dinner as payment, the complaint states. A few years after Mr. Kadish retired in 1990, he and his wife moved to the Ponds, just off Exit 8A of the New Jersey Turnpike, between Princeton and New Brunswick. They set up house in a one-story ranch on Goldfinch Drive with a big patio and a collection of Judaica, making friends at a rapid clip. They organized a Chavurah, a monthly Sabbath service that rotates from home to home; one night there were so many candles burning at the Kadish house that the smoke alarms went off, said Ellen Block, a member of the group. At the Yiddish Club the couple founded, Doris was the culture maven — she played Queen Esther in this year’s Purim play, Ms. Eisenberg said, while Ben-Ami laid out the snacks and cleaned up afterward. The Kadishes were familiar faces at the Ponds clubhouse, with its tennis court, swimming pool and endless card games, and Mr. Kadish was a regular at Spiro & Angie’s, a diner where he liked his coffee cup kept full. Mr. Kadish, friends and neighbors said, was a staunch defender of Israel and Zionism; he was born in Connecticut but grew up in Palestine and fought for Israel’s independence. Among the retirees, his views on Israel were considered normal, several people said: His opinions could be strong, but they did not regard him as an extremist, let alone an international spy. He was more interested in serving his local Jewish community any way he could, they said. When Rita Cherney’s husband died, Mr. Kadish organized the minyan, the 10 people required to say the memorial prayer daily. When her 3 ½-year-old granddaughter died, he did it again. “He performed services that were needed, made things a little easier in times of stress,” Ms. Cherney said. As the news of Mr. Kadish’s arrest reverberated across the Ponds on Wednesday, residents found themselves divided. Some, like Ms. Eisenberg, thought the government had better things to do than pursue decades-old spying allegations against a pensioner. “We have so much with terrorism in this country, so why are they chasing after a sick old man?” she asked. “He fought for this country in World War II. He’s a patriotic man, and I really think that whatever he did, he did not intend to do any harm to the United States.” Others, like Ms. Cherney, did not hesitate to condemn the acts that Mr. Kadish is accused of. “Every Wednesday four other women and I play bridge together,” she said, “and today this is all we talked about. We essentially feel that he did an awful thing. There are laws here in this country, and you’re supposed to behave in a certain way.” Mrs. Block and her husband, Arnold, were not sure what to think. If the charges are true, Mrs. Block said, Mr. Kadish is guilty of treason. But, Mr. Block added quickly, “I feel better than if it had been for Al Qaeda.”

Espionage
Israel
New Jersey
Classification of Information


In Brooklyn Case, Injuries of Michael Mineo Are Described

Abstract: A doctor who supervised Michael Mineo ’s care at Brookdale University Hospital testified on Tuesday that when Mr. Mineo arrived shortly after his confrontation with the police in a Brooklyn subway station 15 months ago, he had anal skin lacerations, a “small amount” of anal bleeding and symptoms of an internal inflammation, including a high white blood cell count. The doctor, Syed Ahmed, said the insertion of a “foreign object” could have caused the tears and led to the inflammation, which eventually developed into a full-blown infection. And Dr. Ahmed said it was “highly unlikely” that Mr. Mineo could have caused the tears himself, as defense lawyers have suggested, given how painful it would have been. His testimony in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn offered the first detailed glimpse of Mr. Mineo’s medical condition during two separate hospital visits after the events of Oct. 15, 2008, when prosecutors contend that Officer Richard Kern repeatedly rammed his retractable baton between Mr. Mineo’s buttocks. Officers had seen Mr. Mineo, then a 26-year-old body piercer, smoking marijuana and chased him into the Prospect Park subway station. Officer Kern is charged with aggravated sexual abuse. Two other officers, Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz, are accused of helping Officer Kern hush it up. Since Mr. Mineo first went public with his story, the medical records have been something of a mystery. After the subway encounter, his lawyers refused to fully release the records, fueling skepticism over whether he was telling the truth. For more than a week, top police officials, citing witness testimony, denied any abuse had occurred — even though investigators had interviewed Mr. Mineo in the hospital, and television cameras had showed him there later, his face etched in pain. More medical testimony is expected on Wednesday, as prosecutors wrap up their case. Defense lawyers plan to call their own medical experts to testify that the tears could have been caused by a bowel movement or other factors unrelated to Mr. Mineo’s arrest, and that the elevated white blood cell count suggested an infection well under way before he encountered Officer Kern. Mr. Mineo tried to leave the hospital the day after he was admitted, but ended up staying until Oct. 19. He was hospitalized again, at Brooklyn Hospital Center, a few days later with an abscess that had to be drained. Court testimony and records show that investigators were in contact with both Mr. Mineo and the Brookdale staff on the first day he was hospitalized, though it is unclear which of his medical records they looked at, or whether they showed any of them to doctors or experts. In court last week, the officer who conducted the police’s internal-affairs investigation testified that prosecutors prevented his team from taking the medical records to an expert; prosecutors, in turn, said that was because they had their own experts. On the witness stand on Tuesday, Dr. Ahmed, a surgeon, said he never actually met Mr. Mineo, but was on duty the night he was admitted and supervised his case. Mr. Mineo’s first exam was at 5:30 p.m. that day, about four hours after the encounter with the police. A report said he stated that “he was smoking weed, attacked by police officers,” and complained of abdominal pain and that he had been assaulted by a “foreign body to rectum.” It notes “multiple rectal tears, appear to be superficial.” Dr. Ahmed explained that the references to rectal tears were mistaken: Mr. Mineo actually had “anal skin lacerations,” he said, and showed no sign, from a CT scan, that the walls of his rectum had been pierced. Mr. Mineo’s heart rate and white blood cell count were “significantly high,” Dr. Ahmed testified, indicating an “inflammatory process going on in the body.” Another report noted Mr. Mineo complained of pain in his lower abdomen, and while urinating. The CT scan found an enlarged pelvic muscle “consistent with edema,” or a swelling caused by excess fluid. His pain score was recorded on yet another report as 10 out of 10. “That means pain of a maximum intensity,” Dr. Ahmed said. A prosecutor, Jeffrey Ferguson, showed Dr. Ahmed Officer Kern’s baton, and asked: “Is the insertion of this object into the rectum of Michael Mineo consistent with your medical findings?” Dr. Ahmed answered that it “could be.” During a heated cross-examination, Officer Cruz’s lawyer, Stuart London, asked Dr. Ahmed repeatedly why Mr. Mineo did not receive antibiotics, or a battery of tests. Mr. London also asked about the distance between the site of the inflammation, and Mr. Mineo’s tears, suggesting they were too far away from each other to be related. “It’s not so far away,” Dr. Ahmed said. As Mr. London tried to hand Officer Kern’s baton to Dr. Ahmed, the doctor paused for a moment to put on surgical gloves. “If it is the same object,” the doctor said, “I would suggest that you do that, too.”

Mineo Michael
Police Brutality and Misconduct
Police
Brooklyn (NYC)


On Web, a Sunni-Shiite Split on Hezbollah

Abstract: BAGHDAD, Iraq , July 21 — The question has popped up all over Internet sites frequented by Islamic militants: Should your average God-fearing jihadist support Hezbollah in its battle against the Zionist aggressors and their American lap dogs? The answer seems a foregone conclusion, given the hatred of Israel across much of the Muslim world. But consider this posting about Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah: “Let us explain that the party of Hassan Nasrallah, for us, is a party which has a Shia ideology. Thus, he is considered our enemy like our enemies the Jews, the Christians.” “So what should we do now?” wrote the somewhat confused author, a Sunni jihadist known as Saif al-Din al-Kanani. “What side shall we take? Who shall we support?” The conflict in Lebanon has ignited a robust debate on jihadist Web sites over backing for Hezbollah, the Shiite group that set off the crisis when it seized two Israeli soldiers on July 12. The discussions reflect the widening divide between Shiite and Sunni Arabs in parts of the Middle East. Accusing Palestinians of being anti-Shiite, one Iraqi Shiite militant bitterly wrote, “It is better to concentrate one’s efforts on helping the Shiite kinfolk rather than the Sunnis.” The world of Islamic militants on the Internet is a nebulous one. Those posting messages range from people identifying themselves as veterans of the anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan to teenagers paid to plant roadside bombs in Iraq. But experts in the United States who study the messages say prominent supporters of holy war, including religious leaders in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have joined the debate. Well-recognized guerrilla groups and militant clerics in Iraq have also posted their views . About 80 percent of the postings this week on jihadist sites concern thequestion of supporting Hezbollah, according to the SITE Institute, a group in Washington that tracks and translates the messages. (The group's translations were used for this article.) Suspicions among Sunnis over growing Shiite power — and a backlash by Shiites — have come to the fore during the Iraq war and fighting in Lebanon. Animosity is especially virulent among Sunni militants who adhere to a conservative strain of Islam that views Shiites as infidels. And like many of the region’s Sunni leaders, they see Hezbollah as a puppet of Iran, whose Shiite Persian majority has traditionally been seen by Arabs as a mortal enemy. So while many ordinary Sunnis have spoken out in support of Hezbollah, Sunni Arab governments and ultraconservative militants have withheld their backing. One Sunni fighter said the Lebanon conflict was a plot by an Iranian-American-Israeli axis to spread the Shiite faith across the region. Another militant suggested that the Sunnis should sit this one out and let the Americans and Israelis fight the Iranians and their proxies to the death. “All of this at the end will be in Islam’s favor — even if Islam and its people suffer a great disaster — because the two aggressive powers will be consumed in the war,” wrote Sheik Hamid al-Ali, a religious leader in Kuwait who has stood trial there for ties to radical groups. A prominent cleric in Saudi Arabia, Sheik Abdullah bin Jabreen, issued an edict that said of Hezbollah: “The support of that Shiite party is not allowed, and to supplicate for their victory and their establishment is not allowed. We advise the Sunni people to disown them, desert whoever joined them and to reveal the Shiite enmity to Islam and the Muslims.” A Shiite fighter wrote in response: “God damn this Zionist guy. He clearly supports the Zionists.” The two sheiks, like many Sunni militants, belong to the fundamentalist Salafiya branch of Islam, which regards Shiites as little better than non-Muslims. Osama bin Laden is a Salafist, as was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian jihadist who declared war on Shiites in Iraq and helped drag the country into its sectarian violence before he was killed by an American airstrike last month. “If they’re Salafist jihadists, like Al Qaeda or groups associated with it, this is exactly their vernacular,” Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism analyst at the RAND Corporation, said of the anti-Hezbollah messages. “To them, Shiites are heretics.” Examples exist of cooperation between Sunni and Shiite groups. Hezbollah mentored the militant Palestinian groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which do not have Salifist leanings. A wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel that began in April 1994 was believed to have taken place because of Hezbollah’s tutelage, Mr. Hoffman said. This month, Hezbollah seized the two Israeli soldiers after Hamas had already captured one and prompted an Israeli assault on Gaza. An Israeli ground invasion of south Lebanon could draw to the area Sunni and Shiites eager to kill Israeli troops. Even Al Qaeda has some links to Hezbollah. The groups had contact with each other in the early 1990’s through a Hezbollah operations chief. “Bin Laden is a practical consensus builder; he’ll take support,” Mr. Hoffman said. But a Web site suspected of ties to Al Qaeda, Al Hesbah, has posted a wave of anti-Shiite comments, including: “Lebanon today is exposed to a Zionist war not only against Hezbollah, but against all Lebanon. This is what Hezbollah wanted.” Mr. Kanani, the Sunni jihadist, wrote on the site that Hezbollah earlier conspired with Israel to secure Israel’s northern border, thus allowing Israel to direct its wrath toward the Palestinians. “The Shiite party has no ideological problem with making peace with Jews, collaborating with them and being friendly with them,” he said. Another author, “an Egyptian holy warrior,” recommending Al Qaeda not aid Lebanon, said, “It is known that most of the inhabitants of Lebanon are Shiites and cross worshipers.” All the Shiite-bashing has provoked some acid responses on radical Shiite forums. One writer on www.yahosein.com questioned Palestinian loyalty to Hezbollah, asking, “For all the assistance the Shiites provide the Palestinians, why don’t the Palestinians wave pictures of the Mujahid Hassan Nasrallah or banners of his victorious party?” In the same thread, an Iraqi Shiite named Abu Zeer al-Ghafari said, “Hezbollah should only support the Shiites, because only the Shiites support them.” It was in the deserts of Iraq that the Sunni-Shiite fault line originated in the seventh century, with the slayings of the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law and grandson. Sunni Arab and Shiite militant groups battle one another daily across Iraq. So it might have come as a surprise to some when a well-known Sunni insurgent group, the 20th Revolution Brigades, issued a statement this week supporting Hezbollah. “The Islamic Resistance Movement calls on the jihadi groups in Iraq to step up their jihad work,” it said, “to fortify and support against the American and British occupation, in support of our jihad brothers in Palestine and Lebanon.” To provide inspiration, the group released two short videos that each showed an American armored vehicle being blown up in a ball of fire.

Hezbollah
Sunni Muslims
Shiite Muslims
Computers and the Internet
Iraq


Israel Reopens Cairo Embassy 4 Years After Protesters’ Siege

Abstract: CAIRO — Israel reopened an embassy in Cairo on Wednesday, four years to the day after the previous embassy was stormed by demonstrators during the aftermath of the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The reopening reflects Israel’s effort to strengthen ties with the military-backed government in Egypt as an era of mass protest appears to have receded. Israeli officials say they enjoy a robust relationship with the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a former military chief who led the armed forces’ overthrow of Mr. Mubarak’s elected Islamist successor, Mohamed Morsi , in 2013. “It’s going on for a while,” said the Israeli ambassador, Haim Koren, speaking by telephone moments after a ceremony inaugurating the new embassy in what had been the ambassador’s residence. “Especially on security issues, the cooperation is coming much better now. This is an opportunity, not in every single thing, but in a few things, and we have a common interest now.” In September 2011, a huge throng of protesters massed at the embassy, and some broke into the building while Egyptian security forces stood by. Riot police officers later clashed with the angry crowd in a street battle, resulting in the deaths of at least two people. Egyptian commandos rescued six Israeli staff members who had been trapped in the building for 13 hours. The warming in relations is partly predicated on cooperation on security. In the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt’s military is battling Islamic State-allied insurgents who have killed many Egyptian soldiers and police officers. Sinai-based militants have also fired into Israel, bombed a tourist bus and sabotaged a gas pipeline to Israel. Egypt is trying to sever smuggling tunnels from Sinai into the Gaza Strip , which is blockaded by Israel and controlled by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group. But the reopening of an Israeli embassy also poses a delicate political question for Egypt’s government. Israel and Egypt have officially been at peace since the signing of a treaty in 1979, but opposition to Israel still runs deep in Egyptian society. For some, memories of past wars with Israel loom large, as do feelings of sympathy for Palestinians in lands under Israeli occupation or control. An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ahmed Abu Zeid, declined to comment on the character of Egypt’s ties with Israel. “The new thing today is just the official opening of a temporary location of the embassy at the residence of the ambassador, nothing much more than that,” he said. “I’m commenting only on the fact that this is the official opening today. Egypt has normal relations with Israel, and the ambassador has been working here over the last four years.” Michael Wahid Hanna, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation in New York, said Egypt was engaged in a “perpetual and inherent balancing act” in relations with Israel. “There are always going to be very real limits in terms of how far this relationship can go because there is no people-to-people aspect to it,” Mr. Hanna said. “And obviously, public opinion is still very decidedly anti-Israel.”

Israel
Egypt
Diplomats Embassies and Consulates
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Benjamin Netanyahu
Mohamed Morsi
Gaza Strip
Haim Koren


Spain's Desalination Ambitions Unravel

Abstract: MADRID — In the arid Spanish Mediterranean city of Torrevieja, Europe’s biggest desalination plant stands idle six years after construction began. The plant is finished; it just needs a power hookup to operate at full capacity. But it has few buyers for its water and would cost too much to run. The Torrevieja plant cost about €300 million, or $408 million, to build and has a capacity of 220 million cubic meters, or 7.7 billion cubic feet, a day. It was part of an ambitious government plan conceived in 2004 to more than double the availability of desalinated seawater by adding 2 million cubic meters of water per day of capacity. The plan anticipated a surge in water demand along Spain’s Mediterranean coast to supply sprawling apartment complexes, golf courses and a tourism-driven economic boom. Instead, Spain’s construction bubble burst in 2007, dragging the country into an economic downturn from which it has still to recover. Yet the desalination construction program continued. Now, after nearly a decade, the result is a graveyard of part-built or idled plants, while completed plants are operating below capacity. Actual water output is less than 20 percent of the volumes originally envisioned. “The desalination plants were a big mistake from the get-go,” said Enrique Cabrera, director of the water technology institute at Valencia Polytechnic University. “They were not needed.” Much of Spain suffers from serious water shortages, yet consumers do not pay enough to cover the costs of building and running the expensive infrastructure needed to increase supplies. That was not a big issue when the economy roared and the government subsidized the gap. Now, however, with Spain in an economic crisis that has made cutting the public deficit an imperative, managing the “water bubble,” as many refer to the financial hole created by heavily subsidizing water, is an urgent task. It is also a stubbornly difficult one since the state historically has never fully transferred costs to consumers. Upfront capital costs and botched demographic forecasting dented the projected returns of the desalination plants. But the main reason that the government is now stuck with a park of largely unusable capacity is that power prices have increased significantly, without a proportionate increase in water prices. Consumer prices for electricity have almost doubled in Spain since 2004 — more than in most comparable European countries, according to Eurostat. Yet water prices have remained among the lowest in Europe, covering about 40 percent of the costs of production on average, according to the Spanish Association of Water Supply and Sanitation. This situation may get worse later this year. “The failed desalination plan is just the tip of the iceberg,” Mr. Cabrera said. The government in July decreed an overhaul of the power sector to plug a growing €26 billion, or $35 billion, electricity subsidy debt that the country had accumulated over the past decade. Specifics of the electricity plans are expected before the end of the year, but the framework set out in July indicates that they are likely to sharply raise power bills for consumers in general — and desalination plants in particular. “This law will hurt desalination plants significantly because it specially punishes energy-intensive industries that are underutilized,” Mr. Cabrera said. “Basically the water bubble will increase until the government raises prices to recover the cost — but I don’t see how that is possible in this crisis juncture.” The exact impact of the power-sector overhaul will be determined by specific guidelines and, in the case of desalination plants, by the utilization rate. Invariably, however, they will mean higher production costs. At bottom, Spain’s water problem is more political than economic. “The moment that water stops being a political issue, they’ll resolve the problem,” said Daniel Prats, who heads the water institute of Alicante University. The heavily subsidized water system remains publicly owned, despite European demands for reform. As a result, and unlike the privately run power sector, policy makers have little incentive to implement an urgent overhaul that would inevitably lead to price increases. “It’s incompatible to raise electricity prices without raising water prices,” said Miguel Ángel Sanz, a veteran of the country’s desalination industry. Mr. Sanz is vice president of the Spanish Desalination and Reutilization Association, which represents the industry, and the development and innovation director of Degrémont, a subsidiary of Suez Environnement. “But they haven’t passed on the deficit because water is a political issue and raising water bills pays a price in elections,” Mr. Sanz said. “The problem is that, unlike the power sector, most of the companies involved are public.” The government’s long-term solution mirrors its planned overhaul of the power sector. It would gradually pass along costs to consumers over the long term, though the government has not indicated when or how much. The stakes are high for the publicly owned water companies: Not only are most households opposed to paying more, but so too is the industry’s biggest customer, the agriculture sector, which consumes around 80 percent of all water. “We are completely against anything that raises our costs any more,” said Andrés del Campo, president of the National Federation of Irrigator Communities, noting that farming costs had already risen 30 percent as a result of increased power prices. “Most of agriculture would be rendered uneconomic in Spain if they do.” The government is worried about the consequences of price increases as well. “Our intention is to pass on costs to consumers, gradually and without leaving anyone offsides,” Federico Ramos, the environment secretary, said during an interview earlier this year. “For the time being, we’ve slowed the deficit,” he added. “If we go too quick and leave society behind, it would be a mistake, but also if we advance too slowly. “It will be a balance between what we can ask from consumers and what we can contribute from the public budget,” Mr. Ramos said. The desalination plants should at least be operating at around 30 percent, but “for the first few years” their utilization is unlikely to increase much, he added. An industrial achievement for some, desalination is now mostly an embarrassing reminder of how policy makers have bungled national water plans, frustrating all, including the European Commission, which contributed funding to cover about a third of the €2.5 billion estimated as the final cost of the desalination plan. Of that amount, at least €1.8 billion has already been spent, meaning that about €711 million is needed for completion. Of 51 approved plants, 27 have been built, 13 are under construction and work on 11 has not even started. The main challenge, however, is not completing the capacity expansion, but to make them economically viable. The annual cost to the government resulting from the gap between what consumers pay and the total cost of supply is not clear. Mr. Ramos said it could reach €700 million a year, including the costs of the idled desalination plants. Underutilization has already denied Spain the use of previously allocated E.U. funds. Contributions were reduced in the current budget cycle, according to the European Commission. E.U. frustration, though, is mainly over Spain’s foot-dragging on policy overhauls. “The idea to use desalinated water has not been successful because of the lack of political will to impose higher prices to farmers,” said Joe Hennan, an E.U. environment spokesman. “The commission is concerned by the lack of appropriate policies to address the numerous problems of water management and by the delay in fulfilling the requirements of European water legislation.” He added that if progress were not made rapidly, the enforcement of these judgments could lead to financial penalties. But few are optimistic. “Citizens have to accept that the costs of having water security have to be paid even when they are not used,” said Mr. Cabrera, of Valencia Polytechnic. “The state is not in a position to pay for this infrastructure. That is how the water bubble explodes, and that is when politicians will have no other choice.” Scarcely populated regions impose unbearable costs on farmers, which undermine the economic feasibility of desalination even further. Depending on the region and circumstances, farmers — who opposed the program from the onset — would have to pay three to six times as much as what they pay now, Mr. del Campo said. “We were always against the desalination program,” Mr. del Campo added. “Energy and transportation costs are too high.” As a more modest alternative, he suggested mixing desalinated water with current supply to dilute costs, with desalination supplying perhaps 20 percent of total agricultural use. Another option under consideration is to create a national water market pool, much like the one that exists in the power sector. Water scarcity in Spain is disparate, acute along the Mediterranean coast and limited in the north. Resources, though, are managed locally. A national market would allow infrastructure costs to be redistributed more equally among consumers instead of being concentrated in some regions. A mixed supply, meanwhile, could allow the government to shift costs from farmers to urban consumers, protecting a vital sector of Spain’s economy while improving the country’s food security. One way or another, all agree that something needs to be done. “Sometimes you just need a crisis for those decisions to be made,” Mr. Cabrera said.


At Ravenswood, Alyse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Abstract: IN 1957, when I was 1 and my mother was pregnant with my middle sister, my parents moved from a tenement on the Lower East Side to a one-bedroom apartment in Ravenswood Houses, a public housing project in Long Island City, Queens. Ravenswood, a complex of 31 cookie-cutter brick buildings that had been completed six years earlier and that was home to 4,500 people, was all my father, a postal worker, could afford. In 1959, with two little girls and another child on the way, my parents upgraded to a small two-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor. We stayed until 1972, five years after my father’s death from cancer, at which point my mother, who by now was working as a bookkeeper, had saved enough money to move my two sisters and me to a co-op development across the street. Almost all of our original neighbors had escaped years earlier. Although in those days many residents of public housing in the city were black and Latino, when we moved in, most of our neighbors in Ravenswood Houses were Irish and Italian. We were one of the few Jewish families, and I was often the target of a bully who would taunt, “Stupid Jew girl” whenever she saw me. I was 16 when we finally left, and in the decades that followed, I never had any desire to revisit my childhood home, a place I remembered mostly as dark and claustrophobic, a place where most nights I slept with my transistor radio to my ear, trying to drown out the sounds of my parents’ failing marriage. But earlier this year, after the publication of a memoir in which I looked back on those years, I changed my mind. So much of what I ultimately became had been forged within those walls, and I needed to see how far I had come. The Saturday afternoon my husband and I made the journey from our apartment on the Upper West Side, he found a parking spot right in front of my old building, exactly where my father used to park his prized possession, a used, forest-green Cadillac that my mother said he had no right to own since we couldn’t afford it. As soon as we walked to the entrance, I saw the intercom, something that didn’t exist when my family lived there. I tried the door, but it wouldn’t open. The place I couldn’t wait to leave now wouldn’t let me back in. I pressed the buzzer for 4E, my old apartment. No answer. I pressed another buzzer. Nothing. But when I pressed a third, a woman answered, and when I gave her my name, she buzzed me in. I wasn’t surprised by the graffiti in the elevator or the broken tiles on the floor, but I hoped we wouldn’t get stuck. In my day, the elevator got stuck so often, I’d race up the four flights, praying that I wouldn’t see the man from the second floor who sometimes slept on a landing. When we got out on 4, I noticed that the walls were the same dirty mustard. From down the hall, I heard loud music and a couple arguing. I was about to press the doorbell of my old apartment when my husband stopped me. “You don’t know who lives there,” he warned. “You can’t just invade someone’s privacy.” So we went back downstairs, and as we stood outside the building, I thought about how much I’d hated Ravenswood, and how I had never wanted to have friends visit, lest they see how cramped and messy our apartment was, or smell the urine in the hallways outside. As I was going over all this in my mind, a young woman with short black hair came to the front door and took out her keys. I asked her if she lived in the building. When she said she did, I told her that I used to live there, too, and had come back to see who lived in 4E. SHE told me that 4E had been vacant for a long time, and that she lived in 5E, directly above it. I asked if I could take a look. As soon as she opened her door, I had to catch my breath. Her apartment was identical to the one that had been ours. The brown wood closets on the right, always stuffed with clothes, and the light-green Electrolux vacuum cleaner. The too-small living room where late at night my parents sometimes danced, drunk, to their Frank Sinatra records. Peering out the window of the dining area, I asked the woman if she heard garbage trucks at all hours. Yes, she replied; that’s why she usually kept her windows closed. I told her that we had done the same. “Do you get black soot from the incinerator all over everything, too?” I asked. “No,” the woman said. “They don’t burn garbage in the smokestack anymore.” In the tiny kitchen, I remembered my father sitting on a chair, a needle in his thigh filled with morphine to kill the pain of the cancer that killed him when he was 34. He never knew that I saw him. I walked down the hall to the bathroom. I used to lock myself in ours when my parents were fighting, wishing I had someplace else to go. Then I saw the bedroom, the one identical to the room I shared with my two younger sisters, where I used to sit on the top bunk, gazing out the window and praying that we might one day move to a nicer place and have a happier life. Finally, I decided that I had seen enough, and I thanked the woman for letting us look around. As we left, I gave her a copy of my book and said I might call her. I haven’t done so, however, and I suspect that I won’t. Maybe that’s because I wouldn’t want to tell her how glad I am I don’t live there anymore.

Public Housing
Housing
Families and Family Life
Lower East Side (NYC)


Another Day in Somalia, Fresh Fighting and Unlikely Victims

Abstract: NAIROBI, Kenya — Masked gunmen forced a group of eight Muslim preachers, most of them from Pakistan, out of a mosque in the Somali town of Gaalkacyo at dawn prayers on Wednesday and shot them, residents and witnesses said. Five Pakistani preachers died on the spot, while the other three preachers — two Pakistanis and a Somali — were seriously wounded. Dhega Adde, the owner of a hospital where the wounded men were treated, said they were in serious condition. It was not clear why the Pakistanis had been singled out at the Tawfiq mosque in Gaalkacyo, almost 400 miles north of Mogadishu, the capital. Residents said the town had been on a high security alert after earlier unrest. Elmi Ghedi and Fathiya Osman, residents of the town, said in telephone interviews that the Pakistani preachers had come on a peaceful religious mission, and that the shooting took place outside the mosque. There had been no previous intimation of hostility toward Pakistanis, they said. Somalia has been gripped by violence since the overthrow of President Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, but militiamen do not generally turn their guns on Islamic preachers. Gaalkacyo is an important town in central Somalia that has only sporadic violence, in sharp contrast to the near-daily attacks witnessed in Mogadishu, where thousands of civilians have been killed in the past two and a half years. The northern half of Gaalkacyo is administered by Puntland, a largely autonomous breakaway Somali region, and the southern half is run by a moderate Islamist movement and various clan militias. The mosque where the preachers were killed is near the dividing line between the administrations. A moderate Islamist government, backed by the United States, is in place in Somalia, but it controls very little of the country, which amid the disorder has become home to Islamist extremists, terrorists, gunrunners, drug smugglers, teenage gunmen and pirates. The authorities are also locked in a contest with armed Islamist insurgents seeking to impose strict Islamic law. The most influential Islamist insurgent group, Al Shabab , denies American assessments that it is linked to Al Qaeda. At the start of an African tour last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met in Kenya for more than an hour with Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who was elected Somalia’s president in January. She promised more aid, training and equipment, in addition to the millions of dollars’ worth of weapons the United States recently shipped to his government. “We need to be there to help them deliver the results of stability to the people of Somalia, who have suffered for so long,” Mrs. Clinton said. She said the battle for Somalia was deeply connected to American interests. “No doubt that Al Shabab wants to obtain control over Somalia and use it as a base to influence and infiltrate surrounding countries,” she said. “If Al Shabab were to obtain a haven in Somalia, which could then attract Al Qaeda and other terrorist actors, it would be a threat to the United States.”


They Kept a Lower East Side Lot Vacant for Decades

Abstract: Nearly four decades ago, a new assemblyman named Sheldon Silver and his young protégé escorted Edward I. Koch, then a mayoral candidate, through the Orthodox Jewish enclave on Manhattan’s Lower East Side where the two had both grown up. It was the first day of Rosh Hashana, 1977, and Mr. Koch and his opponent, Mario M. Cuomo, had agreed not to campaign, even as they were locked in a frantic runoff for the Democratic nomination. But the air of religious observance provided cover for Mr. Koch to walk along Grand Street with his two new friends, shaking the hands of influential rabbis and throwing bread into the East River, part of the ritual casting off of sins. Six days later, Mr. Koch carried the Jewish vote and won the primary. His team long remained grateful for the guided tour by Mr. Silver and the protégé, William E. Rapfogel, then a recent college graduate who ran his own Jewish newspaper. “They helped us big time in the runoff,” recalled John LoCicero, Mr. Koch’s chief political adviser. “It revved up the Jewish vote for Koch against Cuomo.” The long-ago walk was the first public display of an alliance that became central to the lives and careers of both Mr. Rapfogel and Mr. Silver. They worked together across the decades while climbing parallel ladders: Mr. Silver to Assembly speaker and Mr. Rapfogel to leadership of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty , a large, publicly financed charity. But their long affiliation came to an abrupt end last year when Mr. Rapfogel, 59, was arrested and charged in a scheme that had allegedly looted more than $7 million in kickbacks from Met Council’s insurance broker over the years. He is due back in court in April. The arrest cast new light on a relationship about which little was known beyond the obvious: Mr. Silver has funneled millions of public dollars to the organization that Mr. Rapfogel led, and he employs Mr. Rapfogel’s wife, Judy, as his chief of staff. Image From left, Sheldon Silver, Edward I. Koch and William E. Rapfogel in 1977. Credit Chester Higgins, Jr./The New York Times A primary focus of their alliance had been a struggle to preserve the Jewish identity of the neighborhood they delivered for Mr. Koch all those years ago. Their battleground was some 20 barren acres along the southern side of Delancey Street, where, in 1967, the city leveled blocks of rundown apartment buildings. More than 1,800 low-income families, largely Puerto Rican, were sent packing and promised a chance to return to new apartments someday. Now, nearly 50 years later, the land is still a fallow stretch of weed- and rat-ridden parking lots, though in the waning days of the Bloomberg administration, the city announced that the land would finally be developed into a complex called Essex Crossing, to include retail markets, restaurants, office and cultural space. And new apartments. Mr. Silver has long characterized his role in plans for the site, known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, or Spura, as limited to insisting that all groups have a voice in the outcome, not promoting a specific plan or developer. “The speaker’s position was always that any development at Spura had to be achieved by consensus among all of the diverse communities that make up the Lower East Side,” his spokesman, Michael Whyland, said in a recent written statement. But an extensive review of the archives of four mayors and more than two dozen interviews show Mr. Silver and Mr. Rapfogel diligently working behind the scenes to promote specific plans and favored developers. Mr. Rapfogel made clear that the goal was to maintain the area’s Jewish identity, seemingly at the expense of other communities. Mr. Silver and Mr. Rapfogel steadfastly opposed any mention of affordable housing, which would have altered the demographics of the neighborhood and put Mr. Silver’s political base in question. And Mr. Silver appears to have occasionally misrepresented the desires of his Chinese and Hispanic constituents in conversations with city officials to quash housing plans for the site. “They’re the reason that this site has been empty for 50 years,” said Edward Delgado, known as Tito, who was a teenager when the city cleared the blocks and his family was evicted. He has been advocating for affordable homes at the site in the decades since. Mr. Silver and Mr. Rapfogel were born in the neighborhood to Jewish parents. Mr. Silver, 70, grew up in a tenement on Henry Street. His father owned a neighborhood hardware business. Mr. Rapfogel’s father was a clerk for city government. When they were boys, the blocks along Grand Street teemed with Jewish peddlers and dozens of small synagogues. Unions were building 12 apartment buildings in the neighborhood to house 4,500 families, mostly garment workers. Known as Cooperative Village, the apartments would anchor a new Jewish middle class. Image Mr. Rapfogel, who led the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, was arrested last year and accused of looting the agency. Credit Anthony Lanzilote for The New York Times It was the quaint urban hamlet that served as the home of Bubbie in the movie “Crossing Delancey.” But it was also an island apart. Cooperative Village was surrounded by more than 14,000 units of public housing to the north, east and south. Those buildings were full of less prosperous African-Americans and more recent Hispanic arrivals. Chinatown, to the south and west, was expanding, as Jewish numbers declined. From the perspective of Grand Street’s Jewish leaders, any development with affordable housing that replaced the cleared tenements would tilt the balance of the entire neighborhood. Mr. Silver and Mr. Rapfogel fought that possibility, chiefly through a community group called United Jewish Council of the East Side . Mr. Rapfogel’s father, Hyman, was a co-founder and Judy Rapfogel was on its board of directors in the 1970s. Mr. Silver was the group’s lawyer and headed one of its housing corporations. In the early 1970s, the city built a 360-unit housing project on a corner of the site. But that project wound up the subject of a court dispute when Jews were given many of the apartments. And the fate of rest of the site was still deadlocked. By December 1977, Mr. Silver was still serving as United Jewish Council’s lawyer. He wrote to members of the departing administration of Mayor Abraham D. Beame about a plan he and the group had submitted years earlier for a “mini shopping center” on the Spura site. In drawings, it resembled a massive airplane hangar. It included no housing, but the group said it would create needed jobs. “I would very much appreciate meeting with you or members of your staff in order to set up a program of incentive to get this plan off the ground,” Mr. Silver wrote. “It has been quite some time since the proposal was submitted and, to date, there has been no action.” Mr. Koch took office weeks later. He hired Mr. Rapfogel, then 23, as a spokesman at a city agency. Mr. Silver was pleased. He was sure Mr. Rapfogel would be “a capable spokesman in such a sensitive area of your administration,” he wrote to Mr. Koch. Image A rendering of the proposed Essex Crossing development. Credit SHoP Architects Soon after, United Jewish Council began pushing its friends in the administration to support the “international mall” plan, and its handpicked developer, Howard Blitman, arguing that the neighborhood was “clearly saturated” with public housing. Mr. Rapfogel, Mr. Silver and others discussed the plan with city officials at several private meetings. During one, talk turned to the “political problem” presented by a request from a Chinatown group to sponsor 150 units of low-income housing for senior citizens in the development. “Assemblyman Silver announced that he had a compromise,” according to minutes of the meeting, which was to move the Chinatown project out of the area. Asked about the agreement recently, Allen Cohen, who was then executive director of the Chinatown Planning Council, said Mr. Silver never asked his organization to agree to any such plan. “We were not involved in that,” he said. Eventually, the Koch administration selected the Chinatown Planning Council to build a 156-unit building for seniors on a lot near the main site. United Jewish Council, working with the Bialystoker Synagogue, was awarded 124 senior units in a different project nearby. The mall plan briefly got traction, but city officials backed off when other groups got wind of it and complained. Three years later, in April 1980, another proposal that included low-income housing was considered by the city’s Board of Estimate. It was opposed by Mr. Silver and United Jewish Council, according to records and former city officials. “This is a compromise, and like all good compromises, no one is completely happy,” wrote a planning department official, Jolie B. Hammer, in a letter to a former colleague. “Off the record, however,” she continued “the only true objections are coming from U.J.C.” Image More than 1,800 low-income families, mostly Puerto Rican, were promised a chance to move into new apartments in the Lower East Side lot, after a 1967 clearance. But plans were blocked over the years, with affordable housing the usual sticking point. Credit Bryan Thomas for The New York Times Mr. LoCicero, the political adviser to Mr. Koch, said Mr. Silver made his opposition clear and won the support of Harrison (Jay) Goldin, then the city comptroller, who had a crucial vote on the board and coveted the Grand Street Jewish vote for future elections. “Shelly said: ‘Are you crazy? We’ve got enough low income housing,’ ” Mr. LoCicero recalled. “He aligned himself with Jay Goldin at the Board of Estimate, and they beat us.” Mr. LoCicero said he appreciated the concerns of the Jewish community, but opposing the Koch administration’s compromise plan just a few years after Mr. Koch’s walk along Grand Street felt like a betrayal. “You put us in here, and now you’re going to destroy us?” Mr. LoCicero said. Soon after, Mr. Rapfogel took a post in Mr. Goldin’s office as liaison to the Jewish community. He also became head of United Jewish Council’s development arm, South Manhattan Development Corporation, and soon after wrote an article in the group’s newspaper saying his mission was to “retain the distinctly Jewish religious and cultural identity of our community.” “We wait with bated breath for the development of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area,” he wrote in 1985. “City government must never again believe that it will force more low-income housing on a community that has been made into a poverty ghetto.” Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Silver and Mr. Rapfogel co-hosted annual legislative meetings put on by U.J.C., and later by Met Council, with the affable Mr. Rapfogel serving as the master of ceremonies and the taciturn Mr. Silver lending gravitas. Plans for the site were an occasional focus of those meetings. That was the case in 1988, after the Koch administration selected the Lefrak Organization to build a project with a mix of commercial and residential projects on the site. Advocates for the poor opposed the plan’s dearth of low-income housing. At U.J.C.’s annual legislative conference, Mr. Silver introduced the city housing commissioner, Abe Biderman, to promote the plan. “Our job now is to follow up throughout the year to check on the progress of the items discussed,” Mr. Rapfogel wrote in U.J.C.’s newspaper regarding the proposal. Image Mr. Silver, the Assembly speaker, says he has severed ties with Mr. Rapfogel, his protégé. Credit Mike Groll/Associated Press That plan was eventually dropped by the city. In 1994, Mr. Silver became speaker of the Assembly in Albany. Almost 30 years after it was cleared, the vast space on the Lower East Side remained desolate. That year he faced renewed accusations from housing advocates that he and U.J.C. had blocked plans for housing on the site to preserve his power and keep out other groups. “They would rather have the vacant lots and rats than have minority people there,” said Frances Goldin, a leader in the Lower East Side Joint Planning Council, which fought for housing on the site, speaking to The New York Times that year. In response, Mr. Silver said he only wanted “a buildable consensus plan” in a neighborhood that was too split to proceed. But months later, he and Mr. Rapfogel quietly put their weight behind yet another new plan, from a handpicked developer who included no housing. According to official memos, Mr. Silver asked city officials to approve a “big box” store, like Costco, on the site. The developer, Bruce Ratner, would build it. The sponsor would be the South Manhattan Development Corporation, which Mr. Rapfogel then headed. “This proposal’s most prominent supporter is Assemblyman Sheldon Silver,” wrote Deborah C. Wright, the city’s housing commissioner under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, in an internal memo. “I would love to see something positive happen here under our administration, but the conflicts here rival Bosnia!” Charles Millard, then the head of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, wrote in another memo that Mr. Silver told him “the community does not want housing on the site.” The plan was never publicly discussed and went nowhere. “We had no idea Silver had done that,” said Harriet Cohen, who argued for affordable housing on the site as co-chairwoman of the Seward Park Area Redevelopment Coalition. In the years that followed, the neighborhood underwent major changes. Jewish dominance waned. A wave of fashionable urban professionals changed the look and feel of the shops and restaurants. Image Articles about plans for developing the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, or Spura, in The New York Times. Stores that sold skullcaps or kosher wine were replaced by hip wine bars and cafes. Kossar’s Hot Bialys, a Jewish institution on Grand Street, remains, but two doors down is Doughnut Plant, which sells things like Valrhona chocolate doughnuts, for as much as $3 apiece. At Cooperative Village, where the Rapfogels and Silvers raised their children and still live, tenants were allowed to sell on the open market beginning in 2000, after decades of values’ being capped. One two-bedroom apartment was recently on the market for $965,000. And the ties between Mr. Silver, Mr. Rapfogel and Mr. Ratner strengthened. The Rapfogels’ eldest son, Michael, finished law school in 2005 and soon went to work for Mr. Ratner. The job was seen internally as a way to please Mr. Silver, say people familiar with the son’s work; Mr. Ratner’s company rejects the notion. “Michael Rapfogel was hired in 2005 as a young lawyer because he is smart, a hard worker and interested in community and economic development,” said Ashley Cotton, a senior vice president at Forest City Ratner Companies. “He is a valued member of our staff.” In 2006, the Public Authorities Control Board, over which Mr. Silver has significant control, approved Mr. Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. Intervention by Mr. Silver and others enabled the project to retain a lucrative tax break, even as that break was actually being phased out. In 2008, Forest City Ratner, which compared to other developers makes few political contributions, gave $58,420 to the Democratic Assembly Housekeeping Committee, which is controlled by Mr. Silver. That same year, Mr. Ratner helped raise $1 million for Met Council and was honored at a luncheon given by Mr. Rapfogel and Mr. Silver. “Bruce is responsible for much of the development and growth that’s gone on in Brooklyn and in Manhattan,” Mr. Silver said at the event. “He is a major force in New York City for the good.” By 2011, with all the neighborhood changes, consensus finally seemed possible. The local community board adopted development guidelines that included 800 to 1,000 apartments, with 20 percent, or as few as 160 units, set aside for low-income tenants, and another 10 percent for low-income seniors. Mr. Silver gave the guidelines his blessing. Longtime advocates went along, seeing a portion of something as better than all of nothing. “Hopefully it will move forward, but it should not have taken 40 years,” said Mr. Delgado. “It’s sad because the truth is that they have more in common with us than with the millionaires moving in now.” Developers bidding for the Seward Park site were required to team up with a local nonprofit. Mr. Ratner chose Mr. Rapfogel’s Met Council. As the process was nearing a close last year, Mr. Rapfogel was arrested. On Sept. 18, another bidder was selected. In announcing the new plan, the city said priority would be given to some of the mostly Puerto Rican families displaced four decades ago. Construction is expected to begin next year. Mr. Delgado says he has kept in touch with some former neighborhood occupants, and though most are scattered apart and elderly, he hopes their children will have a chance to return. Mr. Silver has steadfastly stood by Judy Rapfogel. But as to his long alliance with Mr. Rapfogel, that is done. “Let’s be clear,” he said in a recent interview, “I have nothing to do with Willie Rapfogel.”

Seward Park Urban Renewal Area Manhattan


Upbeat Interracial Ad for Old Navy Leads to Backlash. Twice.

Abstract: A simple ad for Old Navy stores has turned into a snapshot of the extremes of race relations in the United States, fueling both an outburst of bigotry and a powerful reaction against it. Last Friday, Old Navy posted the ad to Twitter, promoting a sale with a photo of an attractive, happy interracial family in an embrace. Within hours, a backlash was apparent, with hashtags like #BoycottOldNavy and #WhiteGenocide, and messages like “Stop promoting race mixing, you degenerates,” and “I don’t shop at stores that are anti-White and promote race mixing.” Love from our family to yours https://t.co/qIOQDEaMXW — Old Navy Official (@OldNavy) May 4, 2016 In the days since, there has been a backlash to the backlash, with hundreds of people voicing their rejection of the prejudiced messages in the most personal way possible, posting photos of their own interracial families, often with the hashtag #LoveWins. With a snapshot of her own parents holding her as a baby, the journalist Soledad O’Brien wrote on Twitter, “My parents marriage was illegal in 1958.” Jack McCain, the son of Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, posted a picture of himself with his wife , Renee Swift McCain, who is black, and directed harsh words toward anyone who was offended by it. Debbie Felix, a company spokeswoman, said, “We are a brand with a proud history of championing diversity and inclusion. At Old Navy, everyone is welcome.” Beyond those remarks, the company declined to comment on the Twitter storm. This was far from the first advertisement for Old Navy, or any number of other businesses, to show an interracial relationship. Nor was it the first time some people had responded with venom to such images. Isaiah Wilson, a lawyer in Omaha, said that he was not exactly surprised by the white separatist views, but that they dredged up memories from two decades ago when he and his wife, Bridgett Wilson, began dating, and “we did get a lot of dirty looks or comments.” Mr. Wilson, 39, is black, and his wife is white; he responded to the Old Navy ad with photos of the couple and their two children. “We’re just a family trying to raise loving, intelligent kids and trying to pay the bills,” he said. “Why is just the sight of us together so offensive to some people?” Leeann Cornett, 50, who is white, said she posted a photo of herself with her husband, Brian Cornett, who is black, and their daughter, both as a personal statement, and to counter what she sees as excessive ugliness in social media. “You often see people getting on a bandwagon to trash and demean,” said Ms. Cornett, a middle schoolteacher in Colorado Springs. “It’s much more appealing to me to stand behind something that I see as positive and show solidarity. I’m glad to see a lot of people feel the same way.”

Race and Ethnicity
Old Navy
Social Media
Online advertising
John McCain
Richard Perez-Pena
Black People,African-Americans