The Manhattan Times

Community News

by Daniel P. Bader

Hudson Heights

Local violinist has first solo performance at Carnegie Hall

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? As the old joke goes, the answer is: practice, practice, practice. One Bennett Avenue resident has certainly done so – enough to get her own solo performance at the venerable performance hall on 7th Avenue and W. 56th Street.

“Violin playing is my whole career,” said Kelly Hall-Tompkins.

This is not her first performance at Carnegie Hall, but it is her first solo show. Hall-Tomkins will play a selection of Schubert, Strauss, Bach and Lasser in the Oct. 16 performance.

The violinist, drawn to the relatively low rents, large apartments and Ft. Tryon Park, has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years.

“Fort Tryon Park is my biggest inspiration,” Tomkins-Hall said.

Lower Heights

Ground breaking to take place on Heritage Rose District

Washington D.C. is known for its cherry trees, Holland for its Tulips. If a plan by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer germinates, Northern Manhattan may be known for the queen of flowers, the rose.

The flower has deep roots in area’s history, but through a beautification project the borough president will inaugurate on Oct. 24, hopes are that the sweet smelling blossom will attract not only bees, but visitors to Northern Manhattan.

Called the Heritage Rose District, new bushes will be planted on Oct. 24 on W. 155th Street and Broadway, and bloom across Northern Harlem and the southern Heights from there.

“It’s a beautification effort, but in itself it becomes its own attraction,” said the borough president’s urban planner, Paimaan Lodhi.

Greenmarket to start small on W. 168th Street and Fort Washington Ave.

The successor to the scuttled Hudson Heights farmer’s market could open as early as this November. The Tuesday market would be located in front of the Hammer Health Services building on W. 168th Street and Fort Washington Avenue and mostly target NewYork-Presbyterian staff and patients.

Michael Hurwitz, director of the Council on the Environment which manages the city wide greenmarket program, said the market would have a handful of stands for November and December, and expand in the spring.

The proposed market has the potential to occupy 18 tents with anywhere between six and 12 vendors. The market will take up about five street parking spots from early in the morning until 2 or 3 p.m.. Hurwitz said the falafel stand that anchors that corner would be asked to move outside of the market area for just that day.

Hurwitz updated members of the Parks and Recreation subcommittee of Community Board 12 with the plan on Oct. 6. Committee members and other board members in attendance expressed concern about aggravating the already terrible traffic around the hospital.

“That’s something you have to look at very closely,” Board Member Emilia Cardona said.

“The north-south traffic is horrible already,” added committee member George Preston.

Roughly 1,500 residents of Hudson Heights signed an online petition to get a market in Bennett Park. When the park was ruled out because it was too small for the vendors’ trucks and tables, the Parks and Recreation Committee worked with the Council on the Environment to find a location that would work.

A Sunday market on W. 185th Street was one possible location, but rejected by Community Board 12 in the fall of 2008. A Friday market in front of the Fort Washington Collegiate Church seemed to satisfy all parties, until Council on the Environment decided to abandon the project in July in favor of the W. 168th Street market.

Northern Manhattan has two existing markets, one on Thursdays on W. 175th Street and one on Isham Street in Inwood on Saturdays.

Lions Club hosts free health fair

The local branch of Lions Club International will hold a free health fair at P.S. 128 on W. 169th Street between Broadway and Audubon Avenue on Oct. 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Screenings for H.I.V., cholesterol, blood sugar, dental consultations, mental health and vision exams, as well as consultations for dental work, mental health, and mammograms.

For more information call 212-595-3270

Inwood

Local mother scares up interest for safe trick-or-treating

Last Halloween, with a bowl full of candy and her newborn daughter, Lily, dressed like a peapod, Alison Stamas sat and waited in her East of Broadway apartment waiting for trick-or-treaters.

“Absolutely no one came,” Stamas said.

This year, she’s doing something about it.

Stamas, an Event Coordinator and the organizer of the Manhattankidsguide.com is putting together a Halloween parade and trick-or-treat route for what she hopes will be the first Northern NYC Trick-or-Treat Tour.

Stamas hopes local businesses will open their doors at noon on Sat., Oct. 31 for the parade of ghoulish children.

“It’s a safe way for the kids to trick-or-treat,” Stamas said. “I kind of think there’s a need for it, and it’s also a way for me to meet other parents.”

Stamas has been hanging up fliers and approaching businesses east and west of Broadway to participate.

For more information or to participate contact Stamas at 212-252-3636 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Northern Manhattan

Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance celebrates 75th Anniversary at the Apollo Theater

The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance helped celebrate the 75th anniversary of the historic Apollo Theater on Oct. 4.

Almost 3,000 took advantage of the free performances at the theater, two of which were artists associated with NoMAA.

The first NoMAA act was Latin jazz band Annette A. Aguilar and Stringbeans which performed a piece by Apollo legend, Tito Puente. NoMAA’s second act, the Edgar Cortes Dance Theater, performed “Unicornius,” a contemporary dance piece inspired by the Cloister Museum’s “The Hunt of the Unicorn” tapestries.

Uptown Treasures to be held on Oct. 18

Two new venues have been added to the Oct. 18 Uptown Treasures celebration, the free, day-long open house event held at cultural institutions throughout Northern Manhattan.

John James Audubon, portrayed by a historical re-enactor will give a personal account of his life near his gravesite at Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum. He’ll be joined by other historical figures near their last resting places. The event goes from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and will be followed by a performance from Trinity Wall Street Concerts-to-Go series.

Church of the Intercession, the gothic church across the street from the cemetery will also open its doors for guided tours. For a complete list of Uptown Treasures venues and schedules visit www.uptowntreasures.org.