Edith Stephens, J Taylor Basker, and Salvador Peter Tomas. Photo: J Taylor Basker

Westview News
June 3, 2020
J Taylor Basker

On June 22, 1920, Salvador Pius Thomas, aka Tomas, was born in the county of Harrison in Mississippi. On June 22nd he will turn 100 years old. Peter, as we know him in the Westbeth artists community, is a delightful and talented gentleman with a wicked sense of humor that is still sharp. He is an African-American whose achievements have been awesome. He was an opera singer and actor, and has graced our hallways with dignity and pride. He always celebrated his birthday on Gay Pride Day so we could view the fireworks after his party in his close friend Edith Stephen’s river view apartment. Edith, 101 years young, describes Peter as full of joy and jokes, always looking to help his neighbors. After 9/11, when he witnessed the collapse of the towers downtown, he cooked meals for the 6th Precinct for months. His ascent in the professional classical music world was difficult as an African-American, but he persisted and developed a vast and impressive repertoire and reputation.

Read the entire article HERE

Shelley Seccombe Pier 50 in flames, c. 1971. Taken from a window in Westbeth facing Bethune Street.

Westbeth Photographer Shelley Seccombe Documents the Greenwich Village Waterfront Since 1970
When the Westbeth complex was converted to the first subsidized housing for artists in the United States fifty years ago, the great photographer Shelley Seccombe was one of the first tenants to move in. Over the course of her career, Seccombe has documented the people and landscape of the surrounding neighborhood, marking the events that have defined it and the changes that have reshaped it across five decades, since 1970. The photos she has generously shared with Village Preservation are just a small portion of her work, providing an invaluable portrait of Village history, waterfront history, Westbeth history, and so much more.

Seccombe’s focus on photography was in many ways inspired by her move to Westbeth. When she first arrived, the entrance to the building was on West Street, facing the waterfront. Coming in and out of this entrance defined her daily attention to, and documentation of, the since-demolished West Side Miller Elevated Highway and the piers just beyond it. Seccombe remembers:

“In 1970 I moved with my husband and daughter to the West Village. We were among the first tenants in Westbeth, a conversion of the Bell Labs building on the Hudson River for artists housing/studio space. My husband is a sculptor; at that time I was teaching music, the career path for which I had prepared. Photography was nowhere on my resume.”

-Louisa Winchell
June 2, 2020
The Greenwich village Society for Historic Preservation Blog

Read the entire article HERE

Valerie Ghent plays live for NYC Hospitals, doctors, nurses and patients on June 8, 2020 with new concert series, “MUSIC FOR THE SOUL OF NYC: Health and Hospital Heroes”
“Music heals! Our hospital workers are on the front lines saving lives. I’m honored to be part of this wonderful concert initiative bringing music and love where its needed most, and hope that my voice and songs will serve to inspire and uplift our doctors, nurses and their patients. Love will keep us strong, music will keep us together!”

Valerie Ghent sings

Livestream on
facebook.com/ValerieGhentMusic
and
facebook.com/NYHealthSystem

This is a true live concert and will only be available during the livestream.

The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, NYC Health + Hospitals and AFM Local 802 have launched Music for the Soul of NYC’s Health + Hospitals Heroes, a new series in support of the 43,000 staff at NYC’s 11 public hospitals and their patients. The series is funded by the Laurie M Tisch Illumination Fund.

Music for the Soul is designed to inspire our heroic medical community, connect isolated patients to the outside world, and provide paid work for musicians, who may be struggling financially. The series will feature a variety of professional NYC musicians performing songs requested by health workers and patients at NYC public hospitals, as well as some of the musicians’ personal favorites. The musicians – who’ll be playing from home – will also be performing songs that local hospitals have used to celebrate patients successfully coming off ventilators.

Starting this week and running through July 3, Music for the Soul will be livestreamed on NYC Health + Hospital’s Facebook page every day from 12-1pm ET.

Special guest Tony Bennett will kick off the Music for the Soul hour today by paying tribute to hospital workers with a special message and performance of the classic “Fly Me to The Moon” followed by Local 802 musician Rachel Z Hakim; while Rosanne Cash and her husband John Leventhal will appear at the top of the hour tomorrow to perform a couple of songs followed by Local 802 musician Richard Frank. A variety of talented NYC musicians will be performing over the next several weeks, with guest appearances from musicians such as Questlove, who will present a special DJ set, and indie pop band AJR.

“This program celebrates the best of New York City: our local musicians sharing their talents to heal our dedicated healers on the frontlines,” said Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner, Anne del Castillo. “As the daughter of a nurse, I could not be more proud to be part of this special effort.”

The program offers NYC musicians, many of whom have been financially affected by the current COVID-19 crisis, fair wages and benefits in accordance with guidelines from AFM Local 802.

More information HERE

*****

Mai Khoi delivering food boxes for Westbeth ERC. photo: Christina Maile

Wall Street Journal
New York City’s Neighbors Lend Helping Hands During Pandemic
By Charles Passy
May 30, 2020 9:00 am ET

Buddy programs in apartment complexes ensure no resident is forgotten amid coronavirus

When the pandemic hit New York City, David Sussman worried how he would get by day-to-day with a host of tasks.

Mr. Sussman, 56 years old, suffers from a lung disease and couldn’t risk leaving his apartment in the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village complex on Manhattan’s East Side. He knew he could rely on his circle of friends for only so much assistance.

But as it turned out, Mr. Sussman didn’t have to contact them all that much. Through a program offered by the complex’s management, Mr. Sussman was connected to a fellow resident, Matt Peterson, 31, who has helped him with everything from taking down his trash to picking up mail.

“A lot of anxiety was lifted off me,” said Mr. Sussman.

So much for the reputation of New Yorkers being brusque and uncaring. During the pandemic, they have stepped up to help neighbors in myriad ways, often through buddy programs or similar initiatives.

In the case of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, a decades-old complex of 11,200 apartments that is now owned by investment firm Blackstone Group Inc. and real-estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge, there has been a surplus of volunteers for its pandemic program. About 1,400 signed up, which turned out to be far more than needed, according to Rick Hayduk, the complex’s chief executive and general manager.

The volunteers aren’t only directly connecting with neighbors and helping with tasks that also include grocery shopping. They are also organizing a food-pantry program and distributing boxes of goods to those within the complex and throughout the city.

At Westbeth Artists Housing, an affordable-housing complex with nearly 400 units in Manhattan’s West Village, a neighbors-helping-neighbors program was created at the onset of the pandemic in 36 hours.

Westbeth board member George Cominskie spearheaded the effort and has since helped run it with almost a militarylike efficiency, assigning “captains” to every floor in the complex so that no tenant is overlooked. He said the roughly 35 volunteers have handled duties for their fellow residents ranging from changing a bathroom light to accompanying them to a medical appointment.

Even Westbeth residents who are mobile and able to easily get out of the house appreciate the extra support. Kathryn Kates, a busy veteran actress who lives in the complex, said she was thrilled when the volunteer team was able to get her a face mask and goggles when she needed them.

“It feels like we have a family here,” she said.

At other buildings, the help that is offered among neighbors extends to those who have vacated the city. At the Parkline, a rental property with 254 units in Brooklyn’s Prospect Lefferts Gardens, some residents are volunteering to pet sit or water plants, according to Alison Novak, a principal with Hudson Cos., the real-estate firm that owns the building.

Ms. Novak said that encouraging such involvement also helps her company’s bottom line, noting that if residents feel they have all the support they need, they are more likely to stay in the building.

“They’re part of a community,” she said.

If you have subscription to WJS, here is the link:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-citys-neighbors-lend-helping-hands-during-pandemic-11590843600?emailToken=7b8ff8662040acceab889714f1eb6c2dobBhXLdFf/h31FseYY4wotjD1OX1HUAOpoz6NtKnoSUIHZiuEjyJ7+F4JmYDe44hNfLwO/rHOgstDCCoks4qLNO/eY9n1KyMd47Mvj7cijMFxTV5NJLhViDXdPEM6F96&reflink=article_email_share

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