Police Chief in the Garden by George Capsis Who Made the Wrong Decision When Asked to Get Off the Neck of the Subject of His Ar- “I Would Like to Come and See You, Mr
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The Voice of the West Village WestView News VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 MAY 2021 $2.00 Police Chief in the Garden By George Capsis who made the wrong decision when asked to get off the neck of the subject of his ar- “I would like to come and see you, Mr. Cap- rest. Just maybe, Silverstein thought, our sis” Alan Silverstein excitedly offered on the paper could become the voice of the police. phone. He came in ten minutes and parked Alan, as we have come to call him, con- in front of my Charles Street door with li- tinually juggles the names of top cops that cense plates that allow him to park at the are his buddies, so we asked him to arrange steps of City Hall. Holding a copy of West- for us to interview one. He not only got View News—that had the anti-graffiti pro- a top cop to agree, he brought him to our gram on its front cover—he was excited. garden at 69 Charles (amazing!). I learned later that Alan Silverstein is Chief Sal Comodo and Police Officer one of the most active volunteers of Com- (PO) Natasha DeLeon from NYPD head- munity Partners, a civilian organization quarters, both with relaxed soft smiles, ar- working with the police's Neighborhood rived to discuss the 4/10/21 anti-graffiti Coordination Officers (NCO) division— event and how we could keep the momen- which is, of course, now very much needed. tum moving, now that every precinct was no Here was WestView News, a communi- longer on “lockdown.” ty newspaper vigorously supporting a city- PO Natasha DeLeon, with a relaxed wide police effort that has the police and GEORGE CAPSIS MET WITH NYPD CHIEF SAL COMODO AND PO NATASHA DELEON, tone, told of rolling paint over graffiti with civilians side-by-side painting out graf- ARRANGED BY ALAN SILVERSTEIN (far right), with Bruce and Suzanne Poli, Dusty Berke children from a local school, feeling that fiti, and doing it as the whole country was and Brian Pape of WestView News, to discuss the 4/10/21 anti-graffiti event, and ways to this was all that was needed. But I stopped waiting for the verdict on a police officer continue the efforts. Photo by Suzanne Poli. continued on page 2 Police and Public Wield the Same (Anti-Graffiti) Brush By Brian J Pape, AIA and also coordinated the activities of a walls and frames, while pedestrians from the It was a perfect day for street activities, group of young high-school student vol- neighborhood streamed past the loft build- cloudy but mild with temperatures in the unteers who belong to a group called the ing. The donated paint of dark gunmetal 60’s. Just like dozens, perhaps hundreds, Explorers. The Explorers are a diverse eth- gray was a good match to the surrounding of others in precincts throughout the city’s nic and racial group, male and female, from paint, leaving a cleaned-up appearance as five boroughs, we saw the opening round throughout the city. we finished this project. in the next chapter of the on-going fight WVN participated in two of the Man- Within an hour, we had moved on to against urban blight and graffiti. hattan precincts, the 13th and 6th. Paul 6 East 17th Street, which was a parking The Police Commissioner Dermot Shea Vlachos and Alan Silverstein joined me as lot surrounded by building walls covered and City Police Chief of the Department we started at 11:00 a.m. in the 13th Pre- in multiple illegal tags. Once again, we Rodney Harrison organized a “Spring cinct at 19 East 19th Street. Nine Explorers scraped some loose chips of peeling paint Clean Up: Combating Graffiti” day for joined with police officers for the 13th Pre- and proceeded to cover the multi-hued all of NYC, with community input for cinct, Sgt. Nikishin, NCO PO Kevin Zorn, graphics with reddish paint mixes, similar designated cleanup sites. Assisting in the and PO Eddie Solarno. All police officers to adjacent colors (after the attendant had organization and coordination are: Alfred at all the sites volunteered their time, off- moved cars away from the wall). Baker, Director of Media in the Office of duty, and all were painting, some in police Then on to the third location at 7 West THE VOLUNTEER PAINTING CREW at 19 E. the Deputy Commissioner; and commu- jackets, some in street clothes. (The 13th 17th Street, another private parking lot with 19th Street included Explorers and police nity liaison Alan Silverstein, who arranged Precinct had four sites scheduled for the walls on all sides covered with illegal street for the “Spring Clean Up: Combating Graf- meetings with the NCOs (Neighborhood day.) We scraped loose paint from the roll- art. Once we got the paint supplies unloaded, fiti” event. Photo by Brian J. Pape. Coordination Officers) for each precinct, down metal shutter and all the surrounding continued on page 4 Primary Guide Ranked Choice Dive into Antiquity Lots of choice and For the first time in NYC What secrets lie in the depths of confusion surround the history we can make elec- the ocean, just waiting primary on June 22. tion outcomes represen- to be discovered? Learn more here. tative of what voters want. SEE PAGE 3 SEE PAGE 7 SEE PAGE 25 2 WestView News May 2021 www.westviewnews.org WestView WestViews Published by WestView, Inc. by and for the residents of the West Village. Correspondence, Commentary, Corrections Publisher / Executive Editor Don’t Give Up? George Capsis Survey (SAS) which tabulates firearms held Hi George/Liza, by civilian populations around the world, Managing Editor / Art Director Save the Date Kim Plosia I am writing to tell you about my husband there are more guns than people in the U.S. Spring Planting Advertising Manager Richie. He still goes to the window every (The survey, published in June 2018, is a Saturday, May 15th Karen Rempel night at 7PM and drums on a pan cover. project of the Graduate Institute of Interna- from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Advertising Designer He ends his concert with “Don’t Give Up/ tional and Development Studies in Geneva, Stephanie Phelan Don’t Ever Give Up”. Switzerland.) Here are the absurd facts: Traffic Manager Once in a blue moon someone else on the Liza Whiting block will join in with him, but most eve- The estimated population of the U.S. as Photo Editor nings he is on his own. Occasionally some- of April 18th, 2021 is 330,212,480. The Darielle Smolian one walking on the street or passing in a car number was compiled by the U.S. Census Photographers will cheer him on. Bureau (www.census.gov/popclock). Maggie Berkvist, I am not sure if this is crazy or touch- Chris Manis, Bob Cooley ing. He believes that the first responders— Gun ownership in civilian hands in the Associate Editors medical staff & essential workers—still de- United States (as of the June 2018 SAS Justin Matthews, Anne Olshansky serve to be vocally appreciated. report) is estimated to be 393,347,000. Comptroller I would like to know what your readers The Small Arms Survey’s mission is to Jolanta Meckauskaite think. be “a global centre of excellence” which Architecture Editor —Carol Quigley, Bank Street “generates evidence-based, impartial, and Brian Pape policy-relevant knowledge and analysis on Business Editor small arms and armed violence issues for Caroline Benveniste Embrace the Absurd governments, policy-makers, and civil so- Fashion Director It’s statistically true: there are more fire- ciety.” Their report found that U.S. citizens Karilyn Prisco arms than people in America. alone account for 393 million (about 46 Music and Eldercare Editor Are there more guns in the hands of percent) of the worldwide total of civilian- Hannah Reimann American civilians than there are people held firearms. This amounts to “120.5 fire- Science and LGBTQ Editor living in America? That’s a question I’d arms for every 100 residents.” See: Kambiz Shekdar, PhD been asking myself for some time. It is uni- • smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/ Dear CSA Members and Neighbors, Regular Contributors versally agreed that it is hard to hit a mov- T-Briefing-Papers/SAS-BP-Civilian- Our annual Charles Street Associa- J. Taylor Basker, Barry Benepe, ing target. And so it is with counting the Firearms-Numbers.pdf tion Spring Planting is back! We will Caroline Benveniste, Mark. M. Green, number of people living in the U.S. or how • smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/ be at our usual distribution location on Robert Heide, Anastasia Kaliabakos, many guns are in the hands of its civilian Weapons_and_Markets/Tools/Fire- Charles St and Bleecker St. (Southwest Bob Kroll, Thomas Lamia, population. arms_holdings/SAS-BP-Civilian- corner). Masks will be provided. Kieran Loughney, Keith Michael, Michael D. Minichiello, Penny Mintz, After some research I found two sources held-firearms-annexe.pdf Bringing the community back together, Brian J. Pape, Anthony Paradiso, which could provide me with the informa- Do we really need more guns than there one day at a time! Roger Paradiso, Bruce Poli, tion I was looking for. According to the are folks living in our country? Does this Marjorie Dienstag Alec Pruchnicki, Roberta Russell, Christina numbers compiled by the U.S. Census Bu- make us any safer? Charles St. Association President Raccuia, Hannah Reimann, Karen Rempel, reau and a survey called the Small Arms Catherine Revland, Ede Rothaus, —Siggy Raible Donna Schaper, Stanley Wlodyka We endeavor to publish all letters received, NYPD Community including those with which we disagree.