14 The Courier sun • JULY 17, 2014 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com Ridgewood art center provides free space for locals and intellectually disabled BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ @ericjankiewicz/[email protected] This may start off like Williamsburg — but it ain’t. An arts center in Ridgewood is applying for a liquor license. Okay, sounds like Williamsburg so far. But while it wants to serve alcohol for its weekend music shows, the owners also want to make more money so that they can continue to offer free services on weekdays the local community — especially the intellectually disabled. “The basic logic behind this place is we’re here in the community and the community needs space so we give them space,” said Sam Hillmer, one of the owners of the venue Trans Pesco. “We believe that we can be the new model for new art spaces opening up in the community.” Every Tuesday afternoon, The Downtown Electric band can be found practicing its music set. The group is made up of six intellectually disabled people who have been practicing in the space since Trans Pesco opened in December 2013. “Our own facility is overcrowded and it’s not conducive to creativity,” said Taryn Harris, a worker for AHRC who supervises the group’s trip from their office in downtown Brooklyn to the venue in Ridgewood. “They’d be in a dark room. Next to a copy machine. But here it’s wonderful. It’s big and we can all make as much noise as we want to.” On Monday, another group from the same organization that provides services for handicapped people, AHRC, uses the business to hold art programs for the intellectually disabled. On top of providing equipment and room for the group to practice their hip-hop music, Hillmer is also putting together a large exhibition at the end of the summer that will showcase the group’s music and costumes that Christian Joy — who designs the costumes for Karen O, the lead singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs — is helping them design for the band’s live performance. When AHRC isn’t using the building, several afterschool kids programs use the venue for reading programs during the week. Harris, who is a Certified Safety Professional, explains that some days the venue gets too hot, causing them to have to cut the band’s practice short. But with the liquor license, Hillmer said there will be enough money to install an air conditioner and make the venue more tolerable for AHRC and other community groups. The venue also houses a record label, Northern Spy, and a coffee shop is in the process of being built in the front of the building. Hillmer and the other owner, Justin Todd Patrick, applied for a liquor license with the State Liquor Authority last week and they are also seeking the approval of Community Board 5. Even with the intellectually disabled groups using the venue, which is equipped with expensive sound systems and a backyard for recreation, Hillmer believes that the venue is not doing enough for the community. With the help of Council member Elizabeth Crowley’s office, they are looking for other community organizations that would like to take advantage of the free space. For Hillmer, “space is a commodity” in New York City and most art venues in New York City that set up in low rent neighborhoods don’t allow the locals to use the venue. “If you do that without any degree of responsibility to the community then it’s shortsighted and irresponsible,” Hillmer said. “It’s a shame that so many spaces are dark during the day and it’s as simple as opening up your doors. We seek to not be in two different worlds.” THE COURIER/Photo by Eric Jankiewicz Glendale and Rochdale Village libraries to be restored BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ AND SARA TOUZARD [email protected] Queens Library announced its plans to restore Glendale’s library to its former glory and make it more accessible to the handicapped. The library on 73rd Place was built in 1935 and since then little has been done to alter or improve the building, according to the project’s architect Matthew Baird. The budget for the project is $2.8 million and with this money, Baird plans on installing an elevator and restoring the interior and the attached garden. The restoration team, which is part of the Department of Design and Construction, expects to start construction in 2017. “It’s an incredible facility and we’d like to restore it to its grandeur,” Baird said during a Community Board 5 meeting. “It will be a fantastic place to be.” The restoration project will also open up some windows that had been covered in bricks over the years, preventing light from entering the second floor. The bookshelves are battered and worn, something Baird wants to change by cleaning the shelves as well as much of the building. When the library first opened, the garden was wellmanicured but since then, the vegetation has become overgrown and Baird wants to not only trim the overgrowth but also install chairs so people can read outside. The installation of a new elevator is an attempt to make the building more accessible to handicapped people. There will also be a new handicapped entrance on the Myrtle Avenue side. Council member Elizabeth Crowley secured the $2.8 million through the City Council’s budget but the funds fall short of satisfying all of the library’s needs. On the first floor there is a once vibrant mural that is now dull and dirty, but the project does not include funds to restore the artwork. Meanwhile, another Queens Library branch will be receiving a much-needed upgrade: the Rochdale Village branch will be closed for about two months while the roof is being replaced, officials announced. The branch, located 169-09 137th Ave., will close at the end of business on Aug. 2 and will reopen in October, the library said. A mobile library will be set up to provide limited service every Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the closure. For more information, visit the Queens Library’s website or call 718-990-0700. Sam Hillmer, one of the founders of Trans Pesco, is hoping that his art center can help the community.
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