Society of the Silurians EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS GALA The National Arts Club 15 Gramercy Park South Wednesday, May 16, 2018 Drinks: 6 P.M. • Dinner: 7:15 P.M. Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc., an organization Meet old friends and award winners of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924 [email protected] MAY 2018 Silurians Celebrate The Best BY MICHAEL S. SERRILL winner of Silurian Medallions for Inves- Awards Co-Chair tigative Reporting and for Reporting on Minority Issues. The Newsday reporter n 2010 a new Nassau County Execu- says he spent 18 months digging into tax tive, Republican Edward Mangano, assessment data, looking for winners and Itook office with a promise to over- losers. Mangano is now on trial for cor- haul the Long Island county’s always-con- ruption in a separate matter. Clark notes tentious property tax assessment system. that the new county executive, Laura Seven years later an enormously enter- Curran, has declared she will correct the prising Newsday reporter, Matt Clark, tax inequities, while her deputy has copies undertook to learn how the “reform” had of Clark’s stories hanging on the wall of worked out. Using the huge sorting pow- her office to remind her of the urgency to er of modern technology, he examined address the question. some 2.5 million tax bills and came to Clark’s reporting was overseen by some startling conclusions. According Martin Gottlieb, a former editor of The to Clark—and his findings have not been New York Times, ex-editor-in-chief of seriously challenged—over seven years The Record, and now “I-team” editor for the new assessment system resulted in Newsday. Gottlieb praised Clark’s ability a shift of $1.7 billion of the county tax to “digest enormous streams of data” in burden from its richest homeowners to PUBLIC SERVICE MEDALLION: THE NEW YORK TIMES his “relentless” pursuit of a story “that its poorest. had many twists and turns. It was one This happened because the county of the most exceptional efforts I’ve ever basically stopped fighting tax assessment The Making of a Meltdown been involved in.” appeals. Those who appealed their tax Clark was one of more than 30 award bills usually won, which meant their tax How Politics and Bad Decisions Plunged recipients in the Silurians contest, which bills increased $466, or just 5 percent, focuses on journalism from the tri-state over the seven years. Those that did not New York’s Subways Into Misery area of New York, New Jersey and Con- appeal—usually the elderly and minori- BY BRIAN M. ROSENTHAL, nine riders to the hospital. A crowded necticut. The biggest winners were News- ties—saw their property taxes increase EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS AND F train stalled in a downtown tunnel, day, which garnered five Medallions and an average of $2,748, or 36 percent. MICHAEL LAFORGIA leaving hundreds in the dark without air four Merit Certificates, and The Record of Moreover, while the county saved tens of conditioning for nearly an hour. As the northern New Jersey, which earned three millions of dollars, the firms that home- fter a drumbeat of transit disas- heat of packed-together bodies fogged Medallions and five Merits. owners hired to handle their appeals took ters this year, it became impos- the windows, passengers beat on the Also prominent was the New York in more than $500 million. Asible to ignore the failures of walls and clawed at the doors in a scene Times, which picked up three Medallions Matt Clark’s months-long effort, known the New York City subway system. from a real-life horror story. and two Merit awards. Other winners in- as database investigative journalism, A rush-hour Q train careened off the In June, after another derailment clude Bloomberg News, The Daily News earned him two of the top awards in the rails in southern Brooklyn. A track fire injured 34 people, Gov. Andrew M. and Vanity Fair. The suburban Journal Society of Silurians’ 2018 Excellence on the A line in Upper Manhattan sent Continued on Page 8 News also boosted a double winner. Re- in Journalism contest. Clark, 34, is the Continued on Page 4 Dennis Duggan Award: Peter Kihss Award: Samantha Maldonado – Winner Winner — David W. Dunlap BY JERE HESTER BY CLYDE HABERMAN he Society of Silurians selected avid Dunlap values precision, Samantha Maldonado as the and so one of the first things Twinner of the Dennis Duggan Dhe did after entering the Times Memorial Scholarship Award, given Gallery on a recent afternoon was to annually to a student at the CUNY Grad- make sure that the grandfather clock in a uate School of Journalism who excels at corner was properly wound. The gallery producing stories about everyday New is David’s realm these days. It is a small Yorkers. The honor, to be presented at New York Times museum and archive the Silurians’ annual dinner on May 16, that he is creating in a 15th-floor corner 2018, comes with a $1,000 honorarium. of the newspaper’s building on Eighth “Sam is a strong writer and a natural Avenue. Artifacts include typewriters reporter,” said Ellen Tumposky, a former (remember them?), a war correspondent’s Daily News reporter and editor who was helmet and bullet-proof vest, a bust of one of Maldonado’s first professors at Adolph Ochs and the writing desk of the CUNY J-School. “She has shown a Henry J. Raymond, who co-founded the sharp eye for stories that others might paper in 1851. overlook.” And there’s the grandfather clock, Tumposky said Maldonado is a smart SAMANTHA MALDONADO given to Ochs by the citizens of DAVID W. DUNLAP young journalist whose promising early Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1892. That was work evokes the spirit of Duggan, the late and the New York Herald Tribune, whose four years before he headed north, having crown for the last 43 years, with his Newsday columnist who long chronicled old headquarters building now houses the borrowed money to buy what was then elegant prose and with dogged reporting New York City and its people. Duggan, a CUNY J-School. indeed a failing New York Times. You that reflects the same precision he devoted past Silurians president, also worked for Maldonado, came to the J-School know the rest. to that clock. Readers may know him best The New York Times, the Daily News Continued on Page 2 David has been a jewel in the Times Continued on Page 2 PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2018 President’s Report Peter Kihss Award: Winner – David W. Dunlap Continued from Page 1 probe. Some would reiterate drivel. He landmarks, city planning and land- for his meticulous chronicling of the would try once again.” use issues. That led to years in the physical New York—Lower Manhattan’s “Finally, signing off with his exquisite Real Estate section, where his editors, Hail & Farewell! rebirth post-9/11, political machinations manners and gentle tone, he would say, ‘I Michael Sterne and Michael Leahy, set BY BERNARD KIRSCH that make every square foot of develop- thank you.’ Then he would slam the phone him loose to explore the city as an ever- ment a battleground, architectural glories down, rise to his feet and shout: ‘Lying! evolving organism. He flourished in that ait. Before I start, I need and mistakes. Rat! Bastards!’ ” role, as he would as well helping start a minute to recuperate You don’t really need the byline to David might have been destined to the Times’s “Lens” blog and making his from listening to Andy recognize vintage Dunlap. Like this lede become a newspaperman almost from “Building Blocks” column for Metro W from April 2017: “New York, the city of the beginning, which for him was in San indispensable reading for anyone who Borowitz. Whew. OK. Now I’m ready. perpetual arrival, is getting three new Francisco in 1952. At age 12, his family cares about New York. I am so happy about our season gateways: diaphanous cable-stayed bridg- having moved to Chicago, he wrote and For two years in the mid-1990s, of speakers, and by our room-filling es that look almost too ethereal to bear the edited a neighborhood paper that he David also covered gay and AIDS turnouts. Thank you, Silurians. Our load of thousands of vehicles and people called the Daily Dunlap, which may have issues. Back when he’d started at the last three luncheons — with David each day.” Or this from May 2016 on a been Dunlap but was hardly daily. “A paper, “gay people were beyond careful Cay Johnston; Dan Rather & Gary repository of World Trade Center ruins: hamster’s death would be banner news,” in hiding who they were, and could rely Paul Gates; and last month with Andy “Hangar 17 at Kennedy International he said. only on each other for support,” recalled — were quite special. I watched every Airport is large enough to house a Boeing At Yale, Class of 1975, he majored in Richard Meislin, a former senior Times 747. For 14 years, however, it has held art history, but an interest in architecture editor and reporter. “David, of course, one of them a second time, on the vid- something much larger: the morning of and infrastructure was practically in his was one on whom you could always eo on our Silurians.org web page. And Sept. 11, 2001.” DNA. His father was an architect with rely.” now, in May, we have our Excellence For his talent and his nurturing of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He died at The Dunlap coverage underlines in Journalism Awards dinner. It will younger staff members, David is receiving age 50, and the son honors him with his a distinction between two cherished be a glorious evening, during which the Silurians’ Peter Kihss Award, named byline: David W. Dunlap. The W is for journalistic goals: objectivity and we will honor David Dunlap of The for a giant of New York journalism who the father’s first name, William. fairness. The first may not be fully New York Times with our Peter Kihss died in 1984. David could be describing David began life at The Times in 1975 realizable. But the second surely is, as Award, and Samantha Maldonado of himself when he recalls Peter’s “earnest as a clerk to the columnist James Reston. David proved in reporting even on those the CUNY grad school of journalism desire to help” young reporters. William Zinsser, who taught writing at less than sympathetic to the gay rights with our Dennis Duggan Award. “If you got him at the right moment, he Yale, had mentioned to the young Dun- movement. “If you read my story and My congratulations, and my thanks, couldn’t have been kinder,” David said. lap that he heard from John Hersey how felt your point of view had been fairly to all the entrants. In the end, our big “And, actually, if you weren’t a copy Reston was looking for someone to work represented, that was something to winners were Newsday, with five editor, it was always the right moment.” on The Vineyard Gazette, the Martha’s aspire to,” he said. “Generally, I’d like medallions and four merit certificates; Newsroom colleagues revere David. Vineyard newspaper that he ran with his to think I did that when I covered the The Record of Northern Jersey with They talk of his kindness and courtly wife, Sally. Edgartown was not quite gay and AIDS beat.” three and five; and The New York manner, down to his ubiquitous bowties David’s speed, though. Instead, he went In 2012, 18 years after they became Times, with three and two. And I’m (he has 40 of them). “He was incredibly to Washington as Reston’s aide for more partners, David married Scott Bane, a proud to say that during my 40-year generous with his wisdom,” said Emily than a year. former program director for foundations, journalism career, I worked for two Rueb, a young reporter and editor who’s By the second half of the 1970s, The who is finishing studies at the City of those papers—Newsday and The completing a Nieman Fellowship at Har- Times was seeking to shed its “Gray University’s law school. Times. vard. Cara Buckley, who covers the film Lady” image with art-and-chart displays. As 2017 ended, David took a buyout, I’m also proud of my two years as industry, says David helped her mightily David, gifted in matters visual, became and is building the Times Gallery as a president of this august society. My when she was going through a rough the graphics editor. But he really wanted contractor. Looking back on his career, term comes to an end with our June patch. “He’s an old-fashioned, morally to be a reporter, a role he’d never had he cited a line from the late Ben Bradlee 20 lunch. Simply put, it was my goal upstanding, good man,” she said, the (aside from his hamster blockbuster). In of the Washington Post. “It was a won- as leader of this 94-year-old organiza- italics her own. 1981, “convinced I had a place awaiting derful quote,” David said, “about how tion to bring you the most interesting Still—as David’s interview subjects me on the masthead,” he took what he he thought The Post could easily rival speakers, and make our luncheons have learned, often to their pain— be- saw as a step in that direction by joining The Times when it came time to do a themselves into newsworthy events, neath the unshakable courtesy lies steely the Metro staff. huge story but, damn it, the Times’s and to enhance the reputation of our resolve and a refusal to abide hokum. “And I never looked back—never cruising speed was just awesome. I was society. I hope I’ve succeeded. I know Take it from Jim Dwyer, a Times Metro wanted to be anything else, basically,” sort of in the engine room that helped our next president will. columnist who sat a cubicle away. “What he said. “It was too damn much fun. produce that cruising speed.” Waiting in the wings to take over is I loved most was listening to David There went my trip to the masthead.” Engine room? This was one time David A. Andelman. His credits would slowly, patiently, politely conduct an His early assignments included night when his instinct for precision failed. take up the rest of this column, and interview on the phone,” Jim said. “Peo- rewrite, general assignment and City David Dunlap is always topside, defi- I’m sure he’ll fill you in in the future. ple would have their say. David would Hall. But he found his niche covering nitely topside. He’ll be presiding here—with your approval—next year when we return to the National Arts Club, which has run a very good show for us. And Dennis Duggan Award: Samantha Maldonado – Winner Continued from Page 1 the man who gives tours of the catacombs new mentoring program that pairs students again, we’ll be here on the third last year after a stint working in com- under Old St. Patrick’s in Little Italy. She with a hand-picked group of executives Wednesday of the month—except for munications for the Free Library of also reported on street vendors’ organiza- from CNN and NBC News/MSNBC. September, when we will gather on Philadelphia. She quickly got to work tion efforts for Voices of NY and wrote for She’s set to graduate in December as a the fourth Wednesday (the third being roaming Manhattan as she amassed one Juvenile Justice Information Exchange member of the Class of 2018’s Urban Yom Kippur). impressive clip after another. about former Rikers Island guards who Reporting cohort. Maldonado is the latest I hope that all our members, which She wrote a story for City Limits about use art to steer kids away from jail. Duggan Award winner in a distinguished now number more than 300, will feel people who pluck treasures from Dump- Maldonado, a native of Springfield, array of J-school students, including free to recruit other journalists to join sters. Her piece on the woman behind Mass. graduated from Wesleyan University Barry Paddock and Megan Cerullo, our society, no matter what our name the “New York Facts” that blare from the before enrolling in CUNY’s graduate pro- both now with the Daily News and Rosa winds up being. We’ll let you know at city’s wi-fi kiosks made Next City. She gram. She is one of eight CUNY-J Schoolers Goldensohn of the New York Times our June lunch if a word or two might turned out a feature for Religion News on chosen for the Media Leadership Project, a editorial department. be added to Society of the Silurians. In the meantime, any suggestions should be sent to me at [email protected] eventually became president of HBO WNYC, finally returning to WCBS 880 or to David Andelman at daandel- New Members Sports — that all changed, and today HBO from 1999 to 2017. Her start there was [email protected]. Stephen Vrattos is the editor of Schneps is the go-to channel for major bouts. While truly ground-breaking, as the station’s But no matter what we may call Communications, a company that special- working toward his master’s degree in first female reporter just five years after izes in local news with a focus on readers journalism at Boston University in 1969, it joined competitor WINS as the nation’s ourselves, we will remain one of the in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. he was a stringer for the Boston bureau of second all-news/all-the-time radio station. nation’s oldest and certainly premier Schneps started with The Queens Couri- The New York Times. Later, he covered She’s been a street reporter, a news writer, news clubs. er in 1985 and has since expanded to 18 education and the U.S. Supreme Court for an anchor and a talk-show host, and she’s newspapers, magazines and websites, in- Facts on File. And after leaving HBO in covered everything from crime scenes to Thank you. cluding The Brooklyn Spectator and The 2000, he was executive vice president and national political conventions. For good Ridgewood Times, Earlier in his career, chief operating officer of Madison Square measure, she’s taught journalism at the Vrattos was a freelance reporter at The Garden. Since 2005, he has been running a Columbia J School and at CCNY, her New York Post. one-man consultancy called Starship SA, alma mater. Society of the Silurians Seth Abraham is best-known as the which is involved with sports marketing and George Flowers, who is married to PO Box 1195 man who upended the broadcast hierar- communications. Jane Tillman Irving and is also retired, Madison Square Station chy of televised boxing matches when Jane Tillman Irving, now retired, was was a newscaster at WCBS-FM, UPI he joined HBO in 1978. Until then and a prize-winning staffer at WCBS 880 from International and WWRL in a career that New York, NY 10159 into the mid-1980s, it was ABC, CBS 1972 to 1986. That led to a three-year stint began in the 1960s and stretched to 2013. 212.532.0887 and NBC that dominated boxing cover- at WCBS-TV before she came back to radio He’s also been a disc jockey, an announc- www.silurians.org age. Under Abraham’s leadership — he at such outlets as WWRL, WLIB, WBLS and er, an actor and a voice-over teacher. MAY 2018 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 3 MEDALLION WINNERS

FEATURE NEWS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS PEOPLE PROFILE: MARIE BRENNER / VANITY FAIR South Bronx Deal With The Devil In 1973, a brash young would-be devel- presence you were in the presence of oper from Queens met one of New York’s pure evil,” said lawyer Victor A. Kovner, premier power brokers: Roy Cohn, who had known him for years. Cohn’s ‘Shooting Gallery’ whose name is still synonymous with the power derived largely from his ability to rise of McCarthyism and its dark politi- scare potential adversaries with hollow cal arts. With the ruthless attorney as a threats and spurious lawsuits. And the guide, Trump propelled himself into the fee he demanded for his services? Iron- city’s power circles and learned many of clad loyalty. the tactics that would inexplicably lead Trump—who would remain loyal to him to the White House years later. Cohn for many years—would be one of the last and most enduring beneficiaries BY MARIE BRENNER of Cohn’s power. But as Trump would confide in 1980, he already seemed to be ‘Donald calls me 15 to 20 times a trying to distance himself from Cohn’s day,” Roy Cohn told me on the day we inevitable taint: “All I can tell you is met. “He is always asking, ‘What is the he’s been vicious to others in his pro- status of this . . . and that?’ ” tection of me,” Trump told me, as if to wave away a stench. “He’s a genius. t was 1980. I had been assigned He’s a lousy lawyer, but he’s a genius.” to write a story on Donald Trump, BLEAK HOUSE Ithe brash young developer who On the day I arrived at Cohn’s office, was then trying to make a name for him- in his imposing limestone town house self in New York City, and I had come on East 68th Street, his Rolls-Royce was to see the man who, at the time, was in parked outside. But all elegance stopped many ways Trump’s alter ego: the wily, at the front door. It was a fetid place, a menacing lawyer who had gained na- shambles of dusty bedrooms and office tional renown, and enmity, for his rav- warrens where young male assistants enous anti-Communist grandstanding. made their way up and down the stairs. Trump was 34 and using the connec- Cohn often greeted visitors in a robe. tions of his father, Brooklyn and Queens On occasion, I.R.S. agents were said to real-estate developer Fred Trump, as sit in the hallway and, knowing Cohn’s he navigated the rough-and-tumble reputation as a deadbeat, were there to BY RICH SCHAPIRO into the left side of her neck and press- world of political bosses. He had re- intercept any envelopes with money. es the plunger. cently opened the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Cohn’s bedroom was crowded with a ead north on Saint Ann’s Opioid abuse has exploded in the bringing life back to a Ave. in the South Bronx and city and across the country in the past dreary area near Grand Hgo past the AutoZone on E. five years. Overdoses involving pre- Central Terminal during 149th St. On most afternoons, students scription painkillers and heroin are a period when the city from two nearby high schools pack the soaring in the South Shore of Staten had yet to fully recover sidewalks. Across the street, hidden Island just as they are in countless from near bankruptcy. from view, the depth of the city’s heroin middle-class American communities His wife, Ivana, led me epidemic is on harrowing display. that have never before seen drug ep- through the construc- Beyond a chain-link fence a slope idemics. tion site in a white wool leads to an abandoned railroad bed. In many of these communities, users Thierry Mugler jump- At first glance, the hill sparkles with first got hooked on prescription opi- suit. “When will it be the shiny orange caps from single-use oids such as Percocet and oxycodone. finished? When?” she needles. They later turned to heroin, lured by shouted at workers as Move closer. Something more sinis- its cheaper prices and staggering high. she clicked through in ter blankets the patches of weeds and The South Bronx in contrast has stiletto heels. dirt: discarded syringes. Hundreds of battled rampant heroin use since the The tabloids couldn’t them. 1960s. Experts say opiate consumption get enough of the There are needles scattered on the in the borough leveled off in the 1980s Trumps’ theatrics. And ground like twigs and needles clumped and ’90s but has now returned with a as Donald Trump’s Hy- under trees like piles of leaves. Needles vengeance. att rose, so too did the are staked into a mud wall. Needles are Here, the users tend to be older and hidden hand of his attor- floating in the pools of standing water poorer than elsewhere. Most are black ney Roy Cohn, always below. Some of the syringes’ tips are and Hispanic. Many have been hooked there to help with the Lawyer Roy Cohn and Donald Trump at the opening still stained with blood. on heroin for years. shady tax abatements, of Manhattan’s Trump Tower, 1983. By Sonia Moskowitz On a gray and damp Friday after- “It’s great the profile of this issue the zoning variances, noon, Leidanett (Lady) Rivera sits in has been raised but the Bronx has the sweetheart deals, and the threats to collection of stuffed frogs that sat on the front of a crudely erected shelter over- always been experiencing a heroin those who might stand in the project’s floor, propped against a large -TV. Ev looking the railroad bed, surrounded problem,” said Julia DeWalt, advocacy way. erything about him suggested a curious by used needles and other trash. She manager for Boom!Health, a nonprofit Cohn was best known as a ruthless combination of an arrested child and a fumbles with an unused syringe as she that offers a range of services to opioid prosecutor. During the Red Scare of the sleaze. I sat on a small sofa covered with describes surviving two overdoses in users in the South Bronx. 1950s, he and Wisconsin senator Joe dozens of stuffed creatures that exploded the past two months. More than 1,370 New Yorkers died McCarthy, the fabulist and virulent na- with dust as I tried to move them aside. “I was lucky to come back twice,” from overdoses in 2016 — twice the tionalist crusader, had hauled dozens of Cohn was compact, with a mirthless says the rail-thin Rivera, 38. “I might number of deaths from homicides and alleged “Communist sympathizers” be- smile, the scars from his plastic surger- not be lucky the third time.” car wrecks combined. Roughly 80% of fore a Senate panel. Earlier, the House ies visible around his ears. As he spoke, A few minutes pass. Rivera takes out the overdoses involved opioids. Out of Un-American Activities Committee had his tongue darted in and out; he twirled a bottle cap-shaped cooker and mixes those, 90% were caused by heroin or skewered artists and entertainers on sim- his Rolodex, as if to impress me with a solution of heroin and cocaine. She’s fentanyl, a powerful synthetic drug. ilar charges, resulting in a trail of fear, his network of contacts. The kind of law wearing several layers of sweatshirts, The Mott Haven-Hunts Point area, prison sentences, and ruined careers for Cohn practiced, in fact, needed only a blue jeans and construction boots. where the shooting gallery spotlighted hundreds, many of whom had found telephone. (The New Yorker would later Pulling up her sleeves, she reveals by The News is located, has the highest common cause in fighting Fascism. But report that his longtime switchboard op- arms covered in puncture marks and rate of heroin-involved overdose deaths in the decades since, Cohn had become erator taped his calls and kept notes of dark red scars. in the city. the premier practitioner of hardball conversations.) “You see these track marks,” Rivera Its 2015 tally — 18.8 per 100,000 deal-making in New York, having mas- Who did not know Roy Cohn’s back- says. “The vein is hard for me to hit.” people — dwarfs the national rate of 4.1 tered the arcane rules of the city’s Favor story, even in 1980? Cohn—whose Her “addict partner” has just shown per 100,000. If the neighborhoods were Bank (the local cabal of interconnected great-uncle had founded Lionel, the up. Rivera passes him the needle and a state, it would trail only West Virginia influence peddlers) and its magical abil- toy-train company—grew up as an only tugs down her collar. in a ranking of those with the highest ity to provide inside fixes for its machers child, doted on by an overbearing moth- She looks straight ahead, her face rates of all drug overdose deaths. and rogues. er who followed him to summer camp blank, as the man sticks the syringe The South Bronx’s opiate epidemic “You knew when you were in Cohn’s Continued on Page 6 PAGE 4 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2018

The Silurians Celebrate Journalism At Its Best Continued from Page 1 ering plane crashes and other accidents. porter Thomas Zambito wins a Medallion Its expertise was amply displayed as it for his thoughtful series on what happens chronicled the final moments of this ill-fat- after the scheduled close of the Indian ed aircraft, the history of tragedy-plagued Point nuclear plant, and a Merit Award Teterboro and the emotions of residents for his ground-breaking story on a Met- who live nearby, never free from fear that ro-North train crash. horror may fall on them from the sky. A veteran member of the New York Times staff, David Dunlap, wins the Peter FEATURE NEWS, Kihss Award both for a lifetime of compel- Newspaper, news service, ling journalism and for his sterling record magazine and online of serving as a mentor to younger Times staff members. David covered infrastruc- Medallion: “South Bronx Heroin ture, architecture, engineering, landmarks, Den,” Richard Schapiro of the New public spaces and transportation for the York Daily News. Times from 1981 until his retirement. Schapiro’s gripping story, an up-close See page one for a full profile by Silurian peek into the dark world of addiction, Clyde Habeman. uses the alchemy of vividly dispassionate This year’s second honoree is Saman- writing and rigorous reporting to achieve tha Maldonado, winner of the Society journalism that is simultaneously classic of Silurians’ Dennis Duggan Memorial and timely. Scholarship Award, given annually to a student at the CUNY Graduate School Merit Award: “A Horrific Bus of Journalism who excels at producing Crash, Three Years Later” by stories about everyday New Yorkers. Benjamin Weiser and Alan Feuer Maldonado has written about everything of The New York Times. from dumpster-diving to juvenile justice. Two veteran Times reporters revisit a (See page one.) devastating 2014 bus crash that killed Following are details on all the win- three and seriously injured dozens. They ners, with some examples of many of focus on the surviving passengers, who their entries: continue to suffer through life-changing injuries and long rehabilitations, and a BREAKING NEWS, newspaper, New York bus company that was woe- news service and online fully, if legally, underinsured, robbing survivors of adequate compensation for Medallion: The Record, their injuries. Well written and superbly NYC Terror Attack, reported and researched. by The Record Staff of poor, elderly and minority homeowners that earlier incidents indicated that a back- The newspaper and NorthJersey.com Merit Award: “Bro, I’m Going by a total of $1.7 billion over seven years up system was needed for the curve where provided meticulous and comprehen- Rogue” by Zeke Faux, Bloomberg News and cut taxes for homeowners who could the accident took place. The reporter sive coverage of the terrorist attack Oct. This is a fascinating look into the back- afford appeals. The reforms, he demon- showed groundbreaking enterprise on an 31 along a Manhattan bike path that killed room of a pump-and-dump stock-pro- strated, also enriched the county’s tax important story that received more con- eight people. The Record poured impres- motion operation and the snare set by appeal firms, who were large contributors ventional coverage in other publications. sive resources into covering this attack, FBI agents who ultimately got their to County Executive Edward Mangano. and the result was a compelling package of flamboyant man. Matt also put flesh on the numbers by PUBLIC SERVICE REPORTING, storytelling. In addition, the paper excelled interviewing residents who were harmed. newspaper, magazine, news service precisely where a local news organization INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING, As a result, newly elected county officials and online should, by diving deeply into the life of newspaper, magazine, news service cited Newsday’s finding in their plans to the suspect, a man from Paterson, N.J. and online. overhaul again the tax assessment system Medallion: “System Failure,” by Brian M. Rosenthal, Emma G. Merit Award: The Record, “Plane Medallion: “Separate and Unequal,” Merit Award: “Metro-North Loses Fitzsimmons, Michael LaForgia and Crash in Teterboro” by The Record by Matt Clark of Newsday. Its Way” by Thomas Zambito of The The New York Times Staff. Staff. This five-part series epitomized the art Journal News. The Times series, especially impres- The north Jersey paper wins again for and science of a database investigation. Zambito’s series showed how Met- sive in its online version, includes stories its coverage of the fatal plane crash last Clark painstakingly scoured 2.5 million ro-North, which prioritizes on-time perfor- throughout 2017 that detail how the Met- May near Teterboro Airport. Two people real-estate tax bills and revealed how mance, failed to anticipate a train crash in ropolitan Transportation Authority has were killed. Based not far from the site, Nassau County’s effort to reform its tax as- the Bronx in 2013 that killed four people, systematically mismanaged New York The Record is all too familiar with cov- sessment system ended up raising the taxes despite warnings from its own engineers Continued on Page 5 MAY 2018 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 5 The Silurians Celebrate Journalism At Its Best Continued from Page 4 City’s subway system for decades and up to the present day. State and city officials neglected maintenance even as ridership doubled, while, when construction and repairs are made, the flawed contract bidding process hikes up costs to five times the international average. Includes stories on the much more efficiently run London and Paris systems.

SPORTS REPORTING AND COMMENTARY, newspaper, news service, magazine and online

Medallion: Sports columns by Tara Sullivan of The Record. Whether writing about the life of an invalid ex-Jets and Giants coach, or going into the stands to see what the family and friends of a New England Patriots’ player are up to, Tara Sullivan brings a remark- able depth of insight, reportage, and, quite simply, humanity to her columns. And never lost in her features is a work ethic. When she puts together a story, she seems to have interviewed every person who has been touched by, or had an effect on, her subject.

Merit Award: “Sports Safety,” by Jim Baumbach of Newsday. Newsday has been a leader in looking interests first when investing their money. ENVIRONMENTAL Merit Award: “Race, Money and at the effects of concussions and other The rule finally went into effect last June, REPORTING: Newspaper, news Broadway: How the ‘Great Comet’ injuries in scholastic football. Jim Ba- but the Trump Administration is doing service, magazine and online. Burned Out” by Michael Paulson of umbach spearheads the search, doggedly everything it can to quash it. The New York Times using the Freedom of Information Act to Medallion: “After Indian Point: Paulson tells the story, in vivid detail, get high schools’ statistics. We learn that SCIENCE AND HEALTH The Challenges Ahead” by Thomas C. of how messy and complicated Broadway an increasing number of Nassau County REPORTING: Newspaper, news Zambito for The Journal News. has become by following a major musical schools don’t even field junior-varsity service, magazine and online After decades of generating electricity production from beginning to end. Present- teams any longer because the kids aren’t for Westchester County and New York ing a Broadway show has always been a turning out. Medallion: “Death Disparities: City, the Indian Point nuclear plant is mix of artistic vision and big money, but Health Inequality in New York City” slated for shutdown in 2021. What then? today the theater has two new explosive BUSINESS/FINANCIAL by Ruth Ford, Janaki Chadha and Energy reporter Zambito sought answers. elements—race and the influence of social REPORTING: Newspaper, news Jarrett Murphy for City Limits. The result: a string of far-ranging stories media. service, magazine and online. This crisply written four-part series by that address the likely environmental, a trio of enterprising reporters brings to economic and political impact -- not just COMMENTARY AND Medallion: “Unmasking the light the complex mesh of interlocking on communities around Indian Point but EDITORIALS: Newspaper, Kushner Real Estate Empire,” by factors that underlie the growing disparity also towns and villages across the nation news service, magazine and online Caleb Melby and David Kocieniewski in health and life expectancy between poor as a growing number of nuclear facilities for Bloomberg News. and wealthier neighborhoods of New York cease operation, in part due to the rise of Medallion: “I Was Misinformed” by The duo dug into the troubles of Kush- City over the past decade. In doing so, the solar power. Joyce Wadler of The New York Times. ner Cos., the real estate firm controlled by series--based on a meticulous examination Wadler’s columns in the metro section Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. of a thicket of public documents and inter- Merit Award: “Contaminated of the Times take a whimsical, offbeat Jared’s troubles stem largely from his views with community leaders and experts Water” by Emily Dooley for Newsday. look at some of the central elements of ill-fated 2007 purchase, for $4 billion, of from a broad range of disciplines and sup- In a series of stories based on critical life in New York City. Twice a month, 666 Fifth Avenue, an aging and unstylish plemented by highly instructive sidebars documents obtained through New York’s Wadler delivers her own unique perspec- commercial and residential building that and graphics--provides a roadmap for Freedom of Information act, Dooley, tive, taking everyday events in our lives, has lost much of its value since the fi- ways to reduce significantly these glaring Newsday’s environmental reporter, stepping around to the side, cocking her nancial crisis. That and other Manhattan inequities, if the public will exists to do so. makes a strong case, in the face of vig- head and delivering an elegantly written, purchases have pushed Kushner Cos into orous company denials, that the defense often hilarious but trenchant vision of deep debt. Analysts don’t see an easy Medallion: “Miracle on Ice” and contractor Grumman Aerospace Co. (now how our world functions. exit. Could bankruptcy be in the Kushner other stories by Lindy Washburn for Grumman/Northrup) did in fact handle future? The Record. radioactive materials during its years Merit Award: Columns by Mike Washburn is a sure-handed health manufacturing warplanes and space ex- Kelly of The Record Medallion: “Whatever It Takes to reporter who knows how to captivate. ploration equipment (the 1930’s through Together with photographer/videogra- Win,” by Jen Wieczner for Fortune Whether covering cutting-edge clinical the 1990’s) . The paper names Grumman pher Chris Pedota, Kelly hit the road for magazine. advances or reporting on medicine’s en- as the likely source of contamination a broad and deep trip through a divided This intriguing story looks inside Elliott during mysteries, she seasons her finely detected in groundwater wells around nation as Donald Trump was cementing Management, the secretive New York wrought stories with gripping human Bethpage, Long Island. The series has his party’s nomination for President— hedge fund founded by Republican donor dramas that hold the reader rapt. That sparked official demands for additional only one of several elegantly written and Paul Singer. Elliott’s aggressive style of mastery is amply demonstrated in her answers from the company and further deeply reported columns that delighted so-called shareholder activism has brought account of how a teenage hockey player, testing of the former production site. and informed readers. a series of companies, and countries, to incapacitated by pain, finds life-affirm- their knees. Its insistence on getting full ing relief thanks to a neurosurgeon cum ARTS AND CULTURE PEOPLE PROFILES: Newspaper, price for Argentina’s bonds kept that coun- amateur pilot who assembles an array REPORTING: Newspaper, news news service, magazine and online try out of the international debt market of high-tech strategies that allow him service, magazine and online for years. Its battles with South Korea’s to “fly” through the brain, locate and Medallion: “Deal With the Devil” by Samsung arguably helped land both a top root out a precariously lodged tumor, Medallion: “James Levine Sexual Marie Brenner, Vanity Fair Samsung executive and the President of the pain’s source. The same goes for Abuse Allegations” by Michael Cooper An illuminating look into the fear-in- South Korea in prison for bribery. Washburn’s reports on efforts to better of The New York Times ducing tactics and dubious ethics of the understand as-yet-unexplainable sudden Cooper’s series on sexual misconduct late Roy Cohn, the lawyer, fixer and Merit Award: “The Advice Trap,” by infant death and, on a related matter, the charges against the esteemed Metropolitan political thug whose counsel was a major Susan Antilla for The Intercept in part- search for an explanation as to why babies Opera conductor, published over three con- influence on Donald Trump from the early nership with The Investigative Fund. born of African-American women die at secutive days, reveals details of Levine’s 1970s until his death in 1986. Revealing Antilla wins for her story exposing the a far greater rate than those of their white alleged abuse in interviews with his now- how much the two men had in common, seven-year fight by the financial industry counterparts. Sown into each of these adult victims, who were his students. It Brenner, a writer-at-large for Vanity Fair, to prevent implementation of a tough new stories are poignantly drawn portraits of also reports on the subsequent turmoil touches on everything from Cohn and Department of Labor rule requiring finan- affected family members struggling to at the Met, as it scrambled to protect its Trump’s partnership in fighting against cial advisors to put retirement investors cope with unfathomable loss. reputation and placate its donors. Continued on Page 6 PAGE 6 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2018

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY: The Animal Police” by Walt Kane, Silurians Celebrate The Best Newspaper, news service, magazine News 12 New Jersey. Producer: Karin Continued from Page 5 Merit Award: “Unequal Justice,” a and online. Attonito; Photographer/Editor: Medallion: “Fighting Parkinson’s” Anthony Cocco fair housing practices to Cohn’s personal Newsday/News 12 Special Report by by J. Conrad Williams, Newsday. News12’s year-long investigation of financial woes. She concludes that the Thomas Maier and Ann Choi. A portfolio of photos illustrates how the New Jersey Society for the Prevention two men are one and the same, writing, This two-day multi-media series, a group of men and women on Long Is- of Cruelty to Animals exposed serious “Everything about [Cohn] suggested a which included a television news pro- land is dealing with Parkinson’s Disease conflicts of interest, potential corruption curious combination of an arrested child gram produced jointly by Newsday and by taking part in a non-contact boxing and clear mismanagement at the agency and a sleaze.” News 12, takes the first systemic look at program called “Rock Steady.” The im- the public depends on to police stray an- race, ethnicity and Long Island’s crim- ages are a striking depiction of the grit imals. The series was so powerful that it Merit Award: “Garden State of inal justice system. In their analysis of and determination displayed by patients prompted the state legislature to abolish Mind” by Christopher Maag, The police and court records from 2005 to fighting to counteract the effects of a this agency. Record 2016, Maier and Choi found that non- degenerative disease. Here’s proof that not everyone has to whites are nearly five times as likely BEST MULTI-MEDIA REPORT- be a celebrity to become the subject of as whites to be arrested on “stop and Merit Award: “Imam” by Kevin ING AND PRESENTATION an engaging profile. For the past year or frisk”-like charges and spend time in Wexler of The Record so, reporter Maag has been producing a jail. Their second report found racial Imam Mohammed Ibn Ahmed is one Medallion: “Lyme Wars” by NBC- column called “Garden State of Mind” for disparity in Long Island’s system of of four chaplains at the Bergen County NewYork.com and WNBC. The Record. Its mission: to find and write dealing with criminal drug possession. Jail. Photojournalist Kevin Wexler of The This week-long collaboration gave about the people who make the suburbs Whites, the reporting says, were far Record spent several days inside the jail, viewers a comprehensive look at the many just west of New York City “a singularly more likely than minorities to receive a observing and recording Ahmed teaching perils of ticks bearing Lyme disease and interesting place to live.” They include a lighter charge and penalty when arrest- the Quran and interacting with the inmates. other infectious threats. The multi-media Paterson poet inspired by Jack Kerouac, a ed for possession. Moreover, minorities The imam wears western clothes—sport presentation, which included a 13-minute high school student whose family’s finan- are often not told about the options for shirts and dark trousers—and says about video and numerous graphics to help iden- cial crises motivated her to become class rehabilitation and treatment. traditional dress: “It was the norm in Ara- tify ticks and the ailments they may cause, valedictorian, and an unemployed 25-year- bia. It’s not the norm here. It’s got nothing gave the public real guidance about how old Teaneck man who hopes to one day be Merit Award: “Plight of the to do with Islam.” An unusual look at an to prepare for this public health threat. a professional wrestler—though for now Immigrant,” by Monsy Alvarado and unusual man. he simply isn’t very good at it. Hannan Adely for The Record. Medallion: “The Morris Canal” In one of a series of stories, immigra- SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY: by reporter James O’Neill and visual Merit Award: “The Lady and the tion and diversity reporters Alvarado and Newspaper, news service, magazine journalist Chris Pedota for North- Scamp” by Evgenia Peretz, Vanity Fair. Adely chronicle the death of Salvadoran and online. Jersey.com. Peretz gives us a rare glimpse into the detainee Carlos Mejia-Bonilla in the The Record’s website produced a life of Nan Talese, one of the most suc- Hudson County jail after he was denied Medallion: “Altuve the MVP,” by nine-chapter feature that rolled back time cessful book publishers in America and medication, while prison officials failed Thomas A. Ferrara, Newsday. to give readers and viewers a multi-me- one of the first women to break barriers to relay crucial medical information to Pictures of baseball players sliding dia education demonstrating how a long in the literary world’s old boys’ club. She the hospital where he was taken before he across home plate are common, but the forgotten canal stretching across 102 has her own imprint and an impressive died. The story resulted in a public outcry overhead angle of Thomas Ferrara’s shot miles was the foundation for the early list of distinguished authors. She is also and dismissal of two members of the jail’s of the Houston Astros’ José Altuve arriving economy of New Jersey. the wife of New Journalism legend Gay medical staff. Alvarado also describes safely at home with the game-winning Talese. Together, Nan and Gay—married how Jose Estrada Lopez, a Guatemalan run is what makes it a prize-winner. Merit Award: “A Day in The Life of since 1959—are one of New York’s most immigrant from Fairview, was ordered And the look on the face of Altuve, the Long Island” by Newsday. glamorous and celebrated literary couples, deported under the Trump administra- AL’s 2017 Most Valuable Player, reflects Newsday’s inventive effort enlisted yet the durability of their somewhat un- tion’s crackdown on illegal immigration the excitement and importance of that 70 staffers and dozens of volunteer news conventional marriage remains a mystery after having lived in the United States for moment: a walkoff 2-1 victory over the collectors in a vast multi-media look to many of their friends and colleagues. more than 15 years. New York Yankees during last year’s AL at June 21, the longest day of the year. Peretz, drawing on sources in and out of Championship Series. The presentation, with stories, photo- the Talese household, sheds lots of light BREAKING NEWS graphs and videos from 100 locations, on the subject. PHOTOGRAPHY: Newspaper, news service and online TELEVISION: has something for everyone, from hard Best Feature Reporting news to slice-of-life features. REPORTING ON MINORITY Medallion: “Mourning the Victims ISSUES: Newspaper, news service, Medallion: “On the Scene” by John AWARDS CO-CHAIRMEN: magazine and online. of MS-13” by Alejandra Villa,Newsday. The deep anguish of the parents Bathke of News12 New Jersey. Michael Serrill, Jack Deacy Medallion: “Separate and Un- and friends of Michael Lopez Banegas, Bathke has produced a compelling Judges: Linda Amster, David A. An- equal,” by Matt Clark of Newsday. one of four young Latino men whose portrait of the transformation of Robert delman, Joseph Berger, Suzanne Charlé, Clark’s database investigative report battered bodies were found in a heav- Sundholm, a down-on-his-luck former Jack Deacy, Bill Diehl, Gerald Eskenazi, on Nassau County’s tax assessment ily wooded area of Central Islip last janitor, who in his retirement has become Allan Dodds Frank, Tony Guida, Clyde system is especially relevant on the year, is vividly captured by Villa in this a celebrated artist. Haberman, Herbert Hadad, Myron Kan- 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing heartbreaking photo taken at Michael’s del, Valerie Komor, Carol Lawson, Tony Act. This package of stories is both thor- funeral. Ironically, Michael had come TELEVISION: Public Service & Mancini, Ben Patrusky, Anne Roiphe, oughly researched and compellingly and to the U.S. three years earlier to escape Investigative Reporting. Wendy Sclight, Michael Serrill, Mort clearly written. gang violence in Honduras. Medallion: “Kane in Your Corner. Sheinman.

George Steinbrenner. Cohn would be- had hoodwinked his very own partner, come an occasional guest at the Reagan Hyatt chief Jay Pritzker, by changing Deal With The Devil White House and a constant presence at a term in a deal when Pritzker was un- Continued from Page 3 encouraged the judge, already intent Studio 54. reachable—on a trip to Nepal. In 1980, and lived with him until she died. Every on sending Julius to the electric chair, By the time I met with Cohn, he had while erecting what would become night he was seated at his family’s Park to also order Ethel’s execution, despite already been indicted four times on Trump Tower, he antagonized a range of Avenue dinner table, which was an unof- the fact that she was a mother with two charges ranging from extortion and arts patrons and city officials when his ficial command post of the Favor Bank children.) Come 1953, this legal prodi- blackmail to bribery, conspiracy, secu- team demolished the Art Deco friezes bosses who’d helped make his father, Al gy was named McCarthy’s boy-wonder rities fraud, and obstruction of justice. decorating the 1929 building. Vilified Cohn, a Bronx county judge, and later a chief counsel, and the news photos told But he had been acquitted in each in- in the headlines—and by the Establish- State Supreme Court judge. (During the the tale: the sharp-faced, heavy-lid- stance and in the process had begun to ment—Trump offered a response that Depression, Roy’s uncle Bernard Mar- ded 26-year-old with cherubic cheeks, behave as if he were somehow a su- was pure Roy Cohn: “Who cares?” he cus had been sent to prison in a bank- whispering intimately into the ear of per-patriot who was above the law. At a said. “Let’s say that I had given that fraud case, and Roy’s childhood was the bloated McCarthy. Cohn’s special gay bar in Provincetown, as reported by junk to the Met. They would have just marked by visits to Sing Sing.) By high skill as the senator’s henchman was Cohn biographer Nicholas von Hoff- put them in their basement.” school, Cohn was fixing a parking ticket character assassination. Indeed, after man, a friend described Cohn’s behav- For author Sam Roberts, the essence or two for one of his teachers. testifying in front of him, an engineer ior at a local lounge: “Roy sang three of Cohn’s influence on Trump was the After graduating from Columbia with the Voice of America radio news choruses of ‘God Bless America,’ got a triad: “Roy was a master of situation- Law School at 20, he became an as- service committed suicide. Cohn never hard-on and went home to bed.” al immorality . . . . He worked with a sistant U.S. attorney and an expert in showed a shred of remorse. Cohn, with his bravado, reckless op- three-dimensional strategy, which was: “subversive activities,” allowing him Despite McCarthy’s very public de- portunism, legal pyrotechnics, and seri- 1. Never settle, never surrender. 2. to segue into his role in the 1951 espi- mise when the hearings proved to be al fabrication, became a fitting mentor Counter-attack, counter-sue immediate- onage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosen- trumped-up witch hunts, Cohn would for the young real-estate scion. And as ly. 3. No matter what happens, no mat- berg. (Cohn persuaded the star wit- emerge largely unscathed, going on to Trump’s first major project, the Grand ter how deeply into the muck you get, ness, Ethel Rosenberg’s brother, David become one of the last great power bro- Hyatt, was set to open, he was already claim victory and never admit defeat.” Greenglass, to change his testimony; kers of New York. His friends and cli- involved in multiple controversies. As columnist Liz Smith once observed, in Cohn’s autobiography, written with ents came to include New York’s Francis He was warring with the city about tax “Donald lost his moral compass when he Sidney Zion, Cohn claimed that he had Cardinal Spellman and Yankees owner abatements and other concessions. He made an alliance with Roy Cohn.” MAY 2018 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 7 FLYING JENNY BY THEASA TUOHY shooting the bridge up ahead, the barges, Sunday sailors and other river traffic, then This alternative view of the days when leaning back to get a dizzying shot of the the first Silurian first crawled out of the soaring towers of the bridge they were on. slime of New York’s hangouts of hacks “Heck of a spread for the paper tomor- and organized themselves, is the debut row,” he finally said. “Don’t wanna miss chapter of a remarkable novel of those any angles. If the fool pilot gets hisself times by veteran (unless that’s an oxy- killed or not, still heck of a spread.” moron) Silurian Theasa Tuohy…. Flying “Ouch, get your clodhopper off my Jenny (Kaylie Jones Books). In fact, this foot,” Laura yelped, as a Pathé newsreel chapter draws on the exploit of a real-life cameraman backed into her, angling for Long Island flygirl, Elinor Smith who, on his own perspective. Sunday, October 21, 1928, became the Laura was at a distinct disadvantage first (and only) person to fly under all four jockeying among all these men, dressed East River bridges—in a Waco 9 biplane. as she was in a mid-calf length skirt that hobbled her movement, the tiny hat with a EW YORK, 1929 − The Wil- veil perched atop her dark marcelled wave. Aviatrix Elinor Smith in plane. liamsburg Bridge was already “Sorry, lady,” the cameraman said. “But Njammed with photographers, what are you doing here, anyway? You’re Even women were doing it. kicked off her high heels – thank God spectators and newsreel cameras when in the way.” The vehicular traffic here on the Wil- they’re not the ones with the strap across Laura Bailey and Cheesy Clark arrived on “So are you, buster,” Laura snapped, liamsburg Bridge was light but growing, it the instep, she thought – and hoisted her the scene. They had a tough time shoving giving him a shove and turning her atten- didn’t yet look as jammed as the Queens- lithe, five-foot-four-inch frame up several their way through to a good vantage spot tion back to the bridge ahead, scanning boro up ahead. rungs on the bridge’s railing. Jeez, I hope at the railing, so they could see all the way the horizon on the outlandish possibility “Let’s hope he flies north to south,” Cheese has the good sense to be right upriver toward the Queensboro Bridge. that there could really be a little bi-wing Laura said to a reporter jammed next to her behind me. “So,” said Cheesy, removing the bulky airplane approaching. It was a perfect sum- with an Evening Graphic press card stuck Sure enough, there he was hanging flash attachment from his Speed Graphic mer day, blue, cloudless sky. The rumor in his hat. “If he starts downriver from the over the railing right beside her. as he set himself up for shooting, “here we was, hard to comprehend as it seemed, that Brooklyn Bridge, we won’t be able to see “You’re pretty fast on your feet for a is, me and you. A gal reporter and a cheese- some crazy barnstorming pilot from Roo- him coming, only going.” broad,” he said with a grin. cake artist. Whaddaya think da deal is?” sevelt Field was planning to fly under all The reporter laughed. “If he crashes into “Darn right,” Laura yelled into the “This whole thing doesn’t make any four bridges that crossed from Manhattan the Queensboro before he gets under it, we wind. Mild though the weather was, sense.” Laura frowned as she wriggled into to Brooklyn and Queens. won’t be able to see that either. Some guy there was more than a little breeze when a space between a steel post and Cheesy, People were doing all sorts of screwy I just talked to has binoculars; he says he you stuck your head this far out. “I was and stepped up on a rung of the railing for things in 1929, as a glance at any news- can see a lot of press stationed up there. saving you a spot.” She was already half a better view. A puff of breeze warned that paper would reveal. They called their era They’ll get the good shots.” over the rail leaning on her abdomen to she needed to hold as tightly to her little The Jazz Age, The Roaring Twenties. The “We shudda had another shooter here,” help balance while she stretched over for hat with one hand as she was gripping the Great War had been over for ten years, it Cheesy grumbled. “I can catch action a better view of the water. railing with the other. “I bet that span isn’t was a time of boundless hope, optimism north, but with the bend in the river, I’m “Holy cow, here he comes.” Laura two hundred feet off the water,” she yelled and prosperity. “Blue skies are smiling at outta luck if he crashes into the Manhattan could barely hear him over the sound to him over the noise of the crowd. “No me” was the song on everyone’s lips. The or the Brooklyn.” of his camera’s slide click as she caught one can fly under that. And look,” she said, tabloids were full of flagpole sitters, flap- “Crashes? You’ve got to crash doing sight of the first dark shadow of wings pointing west toward the Manhattan side pers doing the Charleston, and marathon this stunt,” said a photographer Laura spread on the water. At that same mo- of the bridge, clogged with Sunday traffic dancers leaning on their partners through recognized from the Evening Standard. ment, she felt the wind tug at her hair. Uh moving to and from Queens over the East endless nights. The more serious journals “There’s hardly any clearance under most oh. She didn’t dare grab at her hat. She River. “There are cables and stuff hanging had many readers believing that Herbert of these bridges.” needed both hands on the rail, or she’d down that could catch and rip a wing in a Hoover would put a chicken in every pot, At that moment a collective “ooh ah” be in the drink as well. With something second.” a car in every garage, and that the bull rose from the multiplying crowd. Laura akin to seasickness she watched the lit- Cheesy, the stub of a cigar clenched market would run forever. But everyone could make out a dark speck moving tle veiled felt that represented a week’s tight in his teeth, did no more than grunt. agreed that these stunt pilots took the cake. through the sky toward the Queensboro. salary sail off as it caught an air current. He was too busy jamming plates in and out Ever since Charles Lindbergh had flown “Can you see any better through your Borne by the fickle wind, it floated, then of his Speed Graphic, turning one way for the Atlantic solo two years before, the camera lens?” she turned to ask Cheesy. dipped, then glided as it leisurely made shots of the swelling crowd, whirling back, entire world had gone nuts over flying. But the photographer was slamming plates its way to the river far below. with the staccato of a machine gun. She didn’t have time to mourn, here The black spot was coming closer. It came the plane. It did the very same kind wobbled, caught a sunray that flashed of pop up Laura had seen when it had on the water and headed straight for the come out from under the Queensboro dangling cables. Laura’s chest got tight; moments before. I must ask someone how she realized she was holding her breath. they do that, Laura thought. If the pilot is The poor guy was going to be killed! too dead to talk, someone at an airfield or She’d never seen anyone die before. She someplace like that will know. Must be gritted her teeth. I suppose it’s part of like gunning a car engine. Wow, she’d the job. I can’t be weak kneed, I have to never had a story like this before. It was be strong. I have to prove myself. She a real humdinger. She shifted her belly watched the speck swerve, then merge slightly on the railing and looked down, with the shadowed waters beneath the straight into the hole of metal that passed bridge, her held breath turned to a gasp. for a cockpit – a flutter of white. The little spot popped up into the sun! A A silk scarf flashed, blowing in the cheer went up from the bridge watchers. wind. “He made it.” “That was close.” “Wow.” “Good grief,” Laura screamed at The crowd roared. The expanding dot was Cheesy, “that was a woman.” She knew clearly identifiable as a plane now, fast it. She didn’t know why, but she just approaching, threading its way among the knew it! “A woman!” The tiny biplane ships and barges in the harbor. It neared and its shadow were already skimming the Williamsburg, and the open cockpit through the sky and gliding along the biplane rocked from side to side in greet- choppy surface of the water. The crowd ing to the cheering, waving crowd. Laura behind was laughing and cheering. Some could have sworn she caught a momentary people were actually dancing around the glimpse of a grin under the cloth helmet stalled cars or doing jigs on the roadway and goggles of the figure in the cockpit. of the bridge. Bridge traffic was at a standstill. “A woman!” Laura screamed again at The plane was heading straight for Cheesy. “I’ve got to get to a phone.” As them, its nose pointing down. Laura el- she dropped off the railing and scrambled bowed and clawed her way back through into her shoes, she caught a view through the crowd and zigzagged through the the bridge’s lacy grillwork. The tiny dot stalled cars in what could only be de- of a plane was swinging slightly to its scribed as a broken field run. The goal left trying to avoid the smokestack of a post was a view from the other side. river barge on its way to the next bridge. As she shoved one last person out of I’ve got to file this story. I can’t stay to Aviatrix Elinor Smith pilots plane under the Manhattan Bridge her way, she grabbed up a handful of see what happens, Laura thought. Cheesy on her way to flying under all four East River Bridges. hobbled skirt, yanked it above her knees, will get a picture. PAGE 8 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2018 The Making of a Meltdown IN MEMORIUM Continued from Page 1 I.T. help and other services that William Borders, who culture icons, appeared more than 500 times Cuomo declared that the system was in a transit leaders say the authority could retired from The New York on the covers of magazines ranging from Time and Newsweek to Rolling Stone and National “state of emergency.” But the problems Times in 2006 after a 46-year have done without. career as a foreign corre- Lampoon, on the editorial and commentary plaguing the subway did not suddenly They pressured the M.T.A. to spend spondent and a senior editor, pages of The New York Times and other sweep over the city like a tornado or a billions of dollars on opulent station died on Feb. 28 at his home publications, and in children’s books and on flood. They were years in the making, makeovers and other projects that did in Manhattan. He was 79. record album covers. and they might have been avoided if nothing to boost service or reliability, A graduate of Yale, Borders Grossman especially enjoyed lampoon- decision makers had put the interests of while leaving the actual movement of joined The Times in 1960 as ing politicians, including his 1972 cover of train riders and daily operations ahead of trains to rely on a 1930s-era signal sys- a copy boy. His overseas stations included National Lampoon magazine of a grinning Richard Nixon with an impossibly long, flashy projects and financial gimmicks. London, New Delhi, Montreal, and Lagos, Ni- tem with fraying, cloth-covered cables. geria. He was also an editor on various desks, Pinocchio-styled nose with a Jiminy Cricket An examination by The New York They saddled the M.T.A. with debt serving as deputy foreign editor, senior news in the shape of Henry Kissinger perched on Times reveals in stark terms how the and engineered a deal with creditors editor, and editor of The Week in Review, a the end, or a 2006 Rolling Stone magazine needs of the aging, overburdened system that brought in quick cash but locked section since renamed Sunday Review. As cover showing George W. Bush perched on a have grown while city and state politi- the authority into paying $5 billion in Max Frankel, who promoted Borders to the stool in the corner, a dunce cap on his head. cians have consistently steered money interest that it otherwise never would job of overseeing the entire newsroom as the Perhaps his best-known illustration, howev- away from addressing them. have had to pay. next day’s paper was assembled, told Sam er, was a poster for the 1980 movie comedy “Airplane!” It depicted a passenger liner tied Century-old tunnels and track routes Roberts, who wrote Borders’ obituary: In one particularly egregious exam- “Besides practicing distinguished journal- in a knot. are crumbling, but The Times found that ple, Mr. Cuomo’s administration forced ism as a reporter and editor, Bill provided a But of all the jobs that could be classified the Metropolitan Transportation Author- the M.T.A. to spend $5 million to bail rare serenity in the midst of all the excitement as journalism, Grossman told The Tennes- ity’s budget for subway maintenance out three state-run ski resorts that were and so helped us always to keep our cool and sean newspaper in 2008 that his choice was has barely changed, when adjusted for struggling after a warm winter. achieve our best.” But he first distinguished illustrator. “Reporters labor under the terri- inflation, from what it was 25 years ago. At the same time, public officials himself as a foreign correspondent. ble requirement that what they report must Signal problems and car equipment who have taken hundreds of thousands “Somehow I had been led to believe that be true,” he said. “Opinion writers need to endure the less stringent demand that what failures occur twice as frequently as a the life of a foreign correspondent was a of dollars in political contributions glamorous one,” he told Times Talk, the pa- they opine be at least plausible. Nobody ever decade ago, but hundreds of mechanic from M.T.A. unions and contractors per’s now defunct internal newsletter, “a lot expects what cartoonists do to be either true positions have been cut because there is have pressured the authority into sign- of sitting around beach cabanas with Kings, or even plausible. That’s why we’re all as not enough money to pay them — even ing agreements with labor groups and Prime Ministers, Agas and other such folk and happy as larks.” though the average total compensation construction companies that obligated occasionally cabling New York for money. for subway managers has grown to near- the authority to pay far more than it But that was before my trip to Biafra,” he add- Larry Friedman, who ly $300,000 a year. had planned. ed, “and the image now seems very distant.” wore many hats in journal- ism, government and public Daily ridership has nearly doubled It was his very first assignment—reporting Faced with funding shortfalls, the on the famine in Biafra during the Nigerian affairs with integrity and in the past two decades to 5.7 million, M.T.A. has resorted to borrowing. civil war in 1970, being captured by the Ni- grace, died on April 21 fol- but New York is the only major city in Nearly 17 percent of its budget now gerian Army and held captive for two days lowing a lengthy illness. the world with fewer miles of track than goes to pay down debt — roughly triple without food or water. But that was only He was 86. Friedman was a it had during World War II. Efforts to what it paid in 1997. at the beginning of a career that included, longtime Silurian and served add new lines have been hampered by “It’s genuinely shocking how much among a host of other stops, a military coup in for many years as chair of generous agreements with labor unions of every dollar that goes to the M.T.A. Afghanistan, India’s return to democracy and the Contingency Fund Board of Trustees. He started his professional news and private contractors that have inflated protests in London against nuclear weapons. is spent on expenses that have noth- “He was one of the most considerate and career as a copy boy at The Associated Press construction costs to five times the inter- ing to do with running the subway,” thoughtful people I ever knew on the New in New York, working nights while attending national average. said Seth W. Pinsky, the former head York Times staff,” Craig R. Whitney told Sam Brooklyn College and then Columbia Univer- New York’s subway now has the of the city’s Economic Development Roberts. A former foreign correspondent and sity’s Graduate School of Journalism during worst on-time performance of any ma- Corporation. editor who recruited Borders as his deputy, the day. He later worked as a reporter and jor rapid transit system in the world, “That’s the problem.” The Times Whitney concluded, “He had a great sense editor for The AP in Oklahoma City, Tulsa according to data collected from the reviewed thousands of pages of state of humor, was appreciative of good writing and Cleveland before returning to New York as daytime news editor. 20 biggest. Just 65 percent of weekday and did his best to make sure it survived the and federal documents, including re- editing process.” Friedman then joined Advertising Age as trains reach their destinations on time, cords that had not previously been made an associate editor, before moving to Time the lowest rate since the transit crisis of public; built databases to compare New Robert Grossman, a multi-talented Inc., where he served in top public affairs the 1970s, when graffiti-covered cars York with other cities; and interviewed artist whose illustrations and cartoons graced posts for Life magazine and Sports Illustrated. regularly broke down. more than 300 people, including current magazine covers, editorial After a stint as a senior press information None of this happened on its own. It and former subway leaders, contractors pages, op-ed columns and officer at the United Nations, he became was the result of a series of decisions by and transit experts. long-form magazine and deputy press secretary for New York City Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin and then as both Republican and Democratic pol- newspaper articles for half The examination found that the agen- a century, died at home in a spokesman and speechwriter for Mario iticians — governors from George E. cy tasked with running the subway has Manhattan on March 15, Cuomo when he was Lieutenant Governor of Pataki to Mr. Cuomo and mayors from been roiled by turnover and changes to apparently of heart failure. New York State. He subsequently joined Hill Rudolph W. Giuliani to Bill de Blasio. its management structure. Dozens of He was 78. & Knowlton, where he was a vice president Each of them cut the subway’s budget people have cycled through high-level His work, often sati- specializing in crisis communications and or co-opted it for their own priorities. jobs, including many who left to work rizing politicians and pop corporate public relations. They stripped a combined $1.5 for contractors who do business with billion from the M.T.A. by repeatedly the M.T.A. Byzantine layers of bureau- diverting tax revenues earmarked for cracy have allowed transit leaders and Society of the Silurians Officers 2017-2018 the subways and also by demanding politicians to avoid responsibility for OFFICERS: COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS: large payments for financial advice, problems. President BERNARD KIRSCH Advisory: BETSY ASHTON First Vice-President DAVID A. ANDELMAN Awards: MICHAEL SERRILL Second Vice-President MICHAEL SERRILL Constitution and Bylaws: ALLAN DODDS FRANK Secretary LINDA AMSTER Dinner: WENDY SCLIGHT Treasurer KAREN BEDROSIAN Futures: RICHARDSON ALLAN DODDS FRANK

BOARD OF GOVERNORS: Membership: JOE BERGER MORT SHEINMAN JACK DEACY BILL DIEHL Nominating: ALLAN DODDS FRANK BEN PATRUSKY TONY GUIDA MYRON KANDEL Silurian News VALERIE S. KOMOR DAVID A. ANDELMAN, Editor CAROL LAWSON BEN PATRUSKY Website: ANNE ROIPHE BEN PATRUSKY, MYRON RUSHETZKY MORT SHEINMAN, Co-editors WENDY SCLIGHT MORT SHEINMAN Webmaster: FRED HERZOG GOVERNORS EMERITI: Social Media: GARY PAUL GATES BILL DIEHL HERBERT HADAD GARY PAUL GATES LINDA GOETZ HOLMES SILURIAN CONTINGENCY FUND ROBERT D. McFADDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES: LEO MEINDL STEVEN MARCUS, CHAIR