Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Roosevelt Island Resident And Art Gallery Owner Paul Calendrillo Begins New Year With Exhibit At Gallery RIVAA Starting January 3 - Out With The Old In With The Few, 14 Artists To Follow In 2015

Roosevelt Island resident and art gallery owner Paul Calendrillo is ringing in the 2015 New Year by curating a new exhibit at Gallery RIVAA beginning January 3 with an opening reception January 6.  Mark your calendars.

According to Mr. Calendrillo:

Paul Calendrillo New York Presents

Out with the Old in with the Few

14 Artists to Follow in 2015

Stephen Hall, American Still Life

January 3rd to January 18th

Opening Reception January 6th 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Gallery RIVAA

527 Main St.

Roosevelt Island

Curated by Paul Calendrillo

Gallery Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 1pm to 5pm

Wednesday and Friday 10am to 4pm
Saturday and Sunday 11am to 5pm
Wednesday and Friday 6pm to 9pm

Artist Talk Series

January 7th through January 18th

It’s the perfect time and the perfect place for new beginnings in 2015. This new year, like all new years, will open full of hope and optimism. It is a time to search in the most unlikely places for ideas that will spark change and lead to something unforeseen and wonderful. And at this time, in a place that ties all New York by an orange umbilical cord running from the upper east side to lower Manhattan and Brooklyn that we all call the F train, on an Island alive with art and artists, Roosevelt Island, and in the beautiful gallery RIVVA, Paul Calendrillo New York will move his 14 artists from Chelsea to a show celebrating all New York and all its greatness.

The group is highly diversified and comes from all parts of the world but has several overwhelming commonalities—they are all highly skilled, accomplished, successful and consistently push the boundaries of their own art. The artists represented come from Tokyo, Cuba, Canada, Scotland, Wales, Argentina, Mexico, California and of course New York. They range from the elegant, fabulous couture worn by faceless women in Courtney Murphy’s oils to the heavy, violent strokes of black on black acrylic in the work of Andres Giles. Come to the gallery to see the deterioration of Cuba in the paintings of Alejandro Mora, crafted with sensitivity for the country he left but still lives in his heart, the joyous, bugs-eye view of nature by Asako Iwasawa, the social commentary of Stephen Hall, the unique technique and contemporary work of Sean Donovan, the mythical sculpture of Blake Emory, the microscopic and galactic forms and colors in the paintings of Sarah Doherty Heinrichs, the facetious surrealism of Pat Moretti, the two dimensions in motion of Jesse Best’s abstracts, the vibrant color of Linda Louis, the search for meaning in Regina Davis’s oils, the inspiration garnered from Northern India in Janeen Hunt Humphries work and the unique painting process that combines watercolor and earth ephemera of Andre Eamiello.

Roosevelt Island is the home to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, a gift to all New Yorkers. The park is the first memorial dedicated to the former President in his home state of New York. It is the last work of the late, famous Louis I. Kahn, an iconic architect of the 20th century. The Park celebrates the Four Freedoms, as pronounced in President Roosevelt’s famous January 6, 1941 State of the Union speech. At the tip of the park rests the intense 1933 bust of FDR crafted by the late sculptor Jo Davidson.

Artist Talk Calendar

(Check our website at www.paulcalendrillo.com for any last minute changes or additions to the schedule)
  • Stephen Hall January 7th at 6:30pm
  • Asako Iwasawa January 8th at 1:30pm
  • Janine Hunt-Humphries January 8th at 1:00pm
  • Linda Louis January 9th at 6:30pm
  • Blake Emory January 10th at 1:00 pm
  • Sarah Doherty Heinrichs January 11th at 12pm
  • Andres Giles January 13th at 1:30 pm
  • Regina Davis January 14th at 1:30pm
  • Jesse Best January 14th at 6:30pm
  • Sean Donovan January 15th at 1:30 pm
  • Andre Eamiello January 16th at 6:30pm
Here's more on Mr. Calendrillo at a private showing in his home



and from his web site.

8 comments :

OldRossie said...

Your first two sentences are completely contradictory - it suggests that all people are bad. I get your meaning on "the truth", but your entire comment coupled with your other comments suggest he's a good person, he's just a liar... you see the trouble there? This will be redundant for you, but this is the difficulty people have with your comments: you will attack aggressively on finer points that may have been overlooked by most people, and you'll support your case with - no offense here - personal research only an extremely bored person would do... I can't dispute your analysis because frankly, I don't have the patience to read it thoroughly. Instead, I glaze over and think "is the number of patrols per hour really the issue?" Personally, I used to get in my car early and come home late, and I almost always saw a PSD car in the garage... So to me, I couldn't care less about the frequency...


Let me take a different approach. Seeing as how you've done the research, are there more patrols (of any/every kind) than there were prior to McManus?

Frank Farance said...

OldRossie: Your point is that some people are exempt from criticism? Patrolling been issue for many years, you'll see my concerns raised in 2012 with Guerra. Quality is issue more than quantity: incomplete patrols are no good, e.g., doing a couple floors in Island House and leaving the rest unpatrolled is an incomplete vertical patrol.

Not sure why you complained about sampling methodology, but didn't want to read its explanation.

If you carefully read my comments, you'll see a focus upon complete patrols, accurate reporting, and effective use of resources (both staff and equipment).

You say:

OldRossie> "this is the difficulty people have with your comments: you will attack aggressively on finer points that may have been overlooked by most people"

I find specific complaints and their substantiation to be effective ways of expressing concerns (rather than broad over-generalizations that are unsubstantiated). If you were at the RIRA PSC meeting, you would have heard RIOC/PSD express the same preference. There was a person at the meeting who was complaining about the dismissive attitude of PSD officers (not something I've perceived recently, but I was willing to listen to his concern). Unfortunately, the complaints were based upon second or third hand information, and the complaints weren't specific. It would be hard for RIOC/PSD staff to take any specific action because the concerns were ill-defined, and the officers were not identified.

Thus, specific complaints ("finer points" as you call them) are the way RIOC/PSD prefers to hear concerns.

You refer to work as "personal research only an extremely bored person would do". A better way to think about it is: most people are unwilling to do the unglamorous work (like sitting for hours in the freezing cold overnight) to better understand the issues. I did the same thing in 2007 with the parking problems (which involved much unglamorous work): my points were made definitively by having studied the problem over months, just as I have with Motorgate now. The parking favoritism stopped (for the 50-ish parking spots in the WIRE corridor for 6000+ people), which is a Good Thing.

I'm not bored at all, I'm passionate about understanding the truth in these kinds of things. And if the patrolling, equipment, resource utilization, etc. get done better (because we pay for it in our rents/ maintenance, and in our merchants' rents), then that is a Good Thing. And if the Motorgate camera system becomes useful, then that will bring some peace of mind to people who feel vulnerable walking in the empty facility late at night. And so on.

I've attached some photos of my 2007 research that only a "bored person" would do. You'll see bogus permits of:

- "United States Fugitive Recovery Agency"
- "Roosevelt Island Search And Rescue (RISAR) - Chief"
- The 115th Precinct (not valid here)
- "Off-Track Betting" on official business *overnight*

The result of months of complaining and substantiation: largely, the bogus placards (and lack of parking due to them) has disappeared.

I'm patient and persistent.

Jmartinez said...

I definitely believe having Psd on my resume helped me,and I also think having worked there helped me in my corrections career. I will never blast psd as a bad agency as I spent 3 years of my life there,learned alot,met great people. I will always defend psd. I would only point out its flaws and ways on improving them.

With that being said,yes kitty,I believe that since there is no qualifications that require a person the enter the dept in shape or good health,once they get on,there is no reason or as you stated encouragement to get in shape. Low pay brings low hiring standards. Unfortunately, when the dept gets a decent or good officer,they usually lose them to other law enforcement agencies.

Suggestions on how to improve Psd? How much time do you have lol .

Well kitty,I look back at my 3 years at Psd, and I realize now,how darn crazy I was to do that job without a firearm. How stupid I was to make car stops without a firearm. Responding to domestic violence calls without one.

Yes Psd needs more training, but the residents of Roosevelt also need training. Training to make them understand how hard law enforcement is. To make them understand that the job IS NOT as simple as they think it is. No Roosevelt island us not the wild west,and a lot of days,the job is quiet and nothing happens. In law enforcement, that can and does change,and many times officers lives have been put into extreme danger.

True story,one night while I was working my co-worker made a traffic stop. Gets up to the side of the vehicle. Once the driver saw that it was a Psd officer,he sped off. Driving off island. Nypd picks up the pursuit after we called them and gave them a description of the vehicle. He takes nypd on a chase. Nypd calls of the chase because it became to dangerous and a risk to the public because of his extreme driving. Next day nypd catches him. Upon a search of the vehicle, nypd finds a loaded handgun. Crazy,just crazy

CheshireKitty said...

He did put in an effort to collect the data - but whether or not his effort is "puny" the numbers sound inflated. That's all I meant. Obviously, neither of us - you or me - can present information to refute Frank since we haven't launched our own effort to observe if patrols are being performed. I made some suggestions as to how verifiable info on patrols could be generated using transponders the same sort of technology used with EZ Pass, which might register patrol cars travelling through the garage levels. I'm not a techno person so I wouldn't know the first thing about implementing such a system but I'm sure there's an easy way to do it. The data could then be stored in the cloud and referred to as necessary. Actually nothing would change. The only thing "new" would be that the data showing patrols were performed would be available if any when anyone asked any questions about patrols being performed.


I then added some comments about the cameras: Considering that technology is also not that expensive, I'm suggesting that additional cameras be purchased so that all areas are covered. To expect one camera - because it can swivel - to cover vast areas of the garage - does not make sense (even if it is more a deterrent than anything else). Wherever that one camera is pointed means the area it is not covering is not monitored. So that is a problem potentially should something occur in the area the camera is not monitoring. It's an isolated location - wouldn't it make sense to have as much camera coverage as possible, have coverage of all the ramps and so forth, instead of the "hit-or-miss" coverage we current have, with the uncertainty of cameras pointing in possibly the direction you do not want them pointed in, or possibly missing suspicious activity because the cameras happened to be pointed in the opposite direction?


Frank's analogy with the cameras at bodegas does make sense: The cameras monitor the whole store. The store-owner would not wish to purchase a system which may only sometimes cover some areas, other times leave those areas un-monitored so as to monitor other areas. He would rather spend the money to ensure that all areas are covered all the time - and so should RIOC.

CheshireKitty said...

The buildings that are paying for the vertical patrols should receive them - whether or not they are "safe" or "crime-free" buildings. I do not think 3 patrols per day - one per every 8 hour shift - is a monumental burden on PSD, even if the buildings being patrolled are safe.


I don't think the above would make it impossible to focus on buildings that may have problems.


At the present time, we have a PSD that is not issued fire-arms, yet they have always made arrests without them. If you think of the typical problems they may encounter, do you really think it would make sense or be necessary to be armed, in order to make arrests? They would need fire-arms to disperse a noisy group of kids? I don't think so - they have always dispersed knots of kids without being armed. Yes - DV cases can be tricky and potentially very dangerous, but I think RIOC has directed PS not to respond to those calls and instead ask the PD to respond. I'm not sure residents want the PSD to be armed, and I'm not sure the level of "social chaos/disorder" on RI warrants armed PSOs. A community-oriented police force that is visible - even patrolling staircases at Motorgate for example not only WIRE building staircases - is what residents want. To me, if crime is down, it's all the better - we still need the police to perform patrols and maintain order though. We just want to be sure patrols are being performed as agreed to in the contract whereby the WIRE buildings are paying a sum toward the PSD budget.

CheshireKitty said...

Well, PSOs do not have guns - yet, how often have they encountered perps with guns? By and large, they've been able to maintain order without guns. They are peace officers after all - they can do most of what regular police do, but not everything. If they did everything, then they would be regular police. In that case, then they might as well simply have protection provided by the NYPD rather than the PSD.


I think they do need more training on an ongoing basis. Probably they should be connected with the State police computers.. that would make sense.


I don't know if RIOC ever considers these things - training for PSOs, connecting the PSD to the State police computers. However, with Cornell little by little arriving on the island, there should be consideration given to upgrading/improving/expanding PSD - to cope with the increasing population/traffic/etc. I think RIOC will be receiving annual payments from Cornell for the land that it gave to them adjacent to the buildings (that was not City land). Why not use a portion of that money to improve/expand PSD?

NotMyKid said...

It's amszing how much amnesia the Roosevelt island community had.

When I worked there, we had two shootings and one gun case.

The latest was a gang war on Main Street about two years ago, in which a couple of officers from psd chased a guy with a gun and apprehended him.

Must we WAIT UNTIL bloodshed arises from a downed PSD OFFICER to consider giving them the tools of the trade and to keep the island safe from VIOLENT offenders?

So let me get this straight... You say... If psd becomes a full service police deparrment, you would not want that. Instead you want nypd if that was the case?

I'm sorry dear but you cannot control the manpower and effectiveness or duties of the nypd as you CAN control as a direct community police agency like PSD.

Makes sense?

To have a narrow minded focus of a department, such as PSD with the one duty in mind, to keep Roosevelt island safe from predators is extraordinary.

It makes no sense to now even rally for that to happen.

Frank Farance said...

NotMyKid, your amnesia: PSD itself been dangerous to residents, incl. near-deaths, giving them guns doesn't help. NYPD is necessary for the other tasks, just as is true for other public safety departments. No suggestion that officers get hurt, just that the defer/hand-off to NYPD for the bigger problems.

And if you take your suggestion that PSD should focus upon more arrests (rather than resolving the issues without arrests), well we're certain to have more deaths of residents.



Also, because RIOC is a government entity, it *is* able to buy more regular NYPD policing, as HUD has suggested local governments do for their housing projects, which would give Roosevelt Island a more cost effective use of their monies spent on Public Safety, meanwhile we'd have the best trained (NYPD) officers patrolling, and it would be a "full service" patrol.