FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 6, 2020 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 67
Victoria’s Falling in love with my adopted city
DIARY
Victoria
SCHNEPSYUNIS
vschneps@gmail.com
tweet me @vschneps
With the acquisition of
Metro, a daily commuter
media outlet in
New York and Philadelhpia, I
had the opportunity to visit the
new city we serve.
Last week, I went to the
“city of brotherly/sisterly
love,” where I
met with the mayor
and several community
leaders. I fell in
love!
Our publisher in
Philadelphia, Susan
Pheffer, arranged
for me to meet
Democratic Mayor
Jim Kenney, the city’s
99th mayor who had
just been re-elected
to a four year second
term. He’s not known
as a “smiler,” but I
saw a big smile on
his face when he talked
about children and
his announced engagement
in that morning’s
newspaper to Letitia
Santarelli. If he gets
married while in offi ce,
it will be a fi rst for any
mayor in Philadelphia’s
rich history.
Sometimes you meet with
someone and a friendship just
clicks in. Th at happened over our
hour-long meeting in the historic
City Hall. We talked about
issues of concern from gun control
— there are no gun control
laws in Pennsylvania, which is a
real problem for police enforcement
— to the census count, to
education and much more.
I off ered him the opportunity
to write an “Ask the Mayor”
column we can regularly publish
and he loved the idea.
I hope to visit the beautiful city
oft en, but I invited the mayor to
visit New York and have dim
sum in Downtown Flushing’s
fabulous Chinatown. He said
he would be happy to visit, and I
look forward to hosting him and
his fi ancé.
From the mayor’s offi ce, we
had lunch steps away from beautiful
Rittenhouse Square at “Th e
Love,” a charming new restaurant
on South 18th Street created
by renowned Philadelphia
With Philadelphia Features Editor Molly Given, Metro Publisher Susan Peiffff er,
Mayor Jim Kenney holding the crystal apple that I brought him, and Schneps
Media Group Publisher Cliffff Luster.
restaurateurs Aimee
Olexy and Stephen
Starr.
Aimee’s passion for
success and one particular
quote from her
speaks volumes about
why she’s so successful
and is something
I can relate to:
“I work a lot and
I love it. My work is
who I am, and that is
the only way I know
to live.” She has Talula’s Table
and Talula’s Garden that have
become huge successes also.
We visited with some powerful
business leaders and then I
went to the city’s annual tourism
event at Th e Met, a place that
had been vacant for 50 years and
was recently reinvented as a concert
and theatre space, restoring
it to its old glory.
I had the pleasure of hearing
the city’s leaders of the Tourism
and Hospitality industries talk
about their plans for 2020.
I felt at home as they showed
on their big screen the digital
billboard the group had bought
in New York’s Times Square promoting
Philadelphia as the city of
brotherly love and then fl ashes to
sisterly love!
It was a jam-packed day, but
I loved every minute in my
newly adopted city. Head there
for a visit and you, too, will fall
in love with this bustling beautiful
city!
Opera at its best
My kids love music, but
haven’t learned to
appreciate opera. It’s
actually an opportunity to hear
the best singers in the world
and they can all be heard at the
Metropolitan Opera House in
Lincoln Center.
I had the pleasure of seeing La
Traviata starring Polish-born
soprano Aleksandra Kurzak in
the beleaguered role of Violeta.
My good fortune was that my
guest Lydia Sarfati, the founder
and CEO of Repêchage
Professional Skin Care, is best
friends with Kurzak.
Aft er the spellbinding show
and endless standing ovations,
we made our way backstage
and visited with the magnifi -
cent performer.
I was surprised how simple
her dressing room looked; I
guess that’s because it’s a shared
space since Kurzak travels the
world performing. But that
night, she “owned” the magnifi
cent opera house, with all
3,800 seats fi lled.
With Kurzak
after the show.
To make the night even more
special we had dinner in the
opera house at Th e Grand Tier
restaurant. I sat by the window
overlooking the Lincoln
Center Plaza on one side and
on the other side of my table
was the enormous one-story
high colorful and brilliant
Chagall mural. Th e setting
doesn’t get any better anywhere
else and the pre-fi xed menu of
superb food matches the environment.
What a night!
Spend a night at the opera
and you will fall in love with
the best voices, costumes and
sets in the world!
Aleksandra Kurzak getting a standing ovation.
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