Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village
holds Annual holiday event virtually
BY DEAN MOSES
Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper
Village held their annual tree lighting
ceremony on Dec. 4 with a live band,
Santa Claus, and the commemoration of a
local activist leader.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the
annual celebration was conducted very
differently this year. The hour-long program
was held in two separate locations
within the apartment complex’s property
and broadcast through both Zoom and
Instagram live to ensure social distancing
measures and enable those unable to attend
in person to enjoy the festivities.
Hosted by Robert Vazquez, the festivities
began on the newly constructed Playground
4, located between 16th and 17th street
within the Avenue C Loop, under a metal
shelter batted by rainfall.
Although the inclement weather quickly
produced puddles around the makeshift set
decorated with Christmas trees and fl ame
lit lamps, the infl ux of rising water did not
deter the performers from continuing the
show.
The oval Holiday ensemble kicked off
Onlookers stopped to watch the concert in awe as they made their way home.
the night with upbeat renditions of classic
seasonal songs before Anthony Sessions
— a beloved local public safety offi cer
described by the community as their own
Mister Rogers — sang “The Christmas
Song” by Nat King Cole from behind dark
shades. A resident children’s choir named
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
Stuyvesant Juniors also showed off their
talents with a personalized take on “The
12 Days of Christmas.”
“There has always been some type of
holiday activity in StuyTown, but never of
this magnitude. Normally we would have a
couple thousand people out at the oval but
we told everybody it is virtual so they are
watching through social media and Zoom,”
Stuyvesant Town CEO Rick Hayduk said.
Although the observance was virtual, the
music could be heard echoing between the
apartment buildings for blocks, prompting
some tenants to race to their windows
where they watched the spectacle from 11
stories up. After all the songs had been
sung and the instruments had come to a
gentle halt, Hayduk settled into a chair,
reading ‘”Twas the Night Before Christmas”
for young viewers.
In order to make it in time for the tree
lighting ceremony from the music stage,
Hayduk and Vazquez hopped into a golf
cart and drove to the heart of the apartment
complex known as the Oval where a
gigantic tree was waiting, along with Santa
Claus himself.
A small group of families gathered to wave
at their holiday hero from afar, but a special
exception was made for Janice Rosario.
Rosario and her family were afforded the
opportunity to help conclude the celebrations
by lighting the tree. This honor was
given as a thanks for the positive impact
she has had in the East Village.
Chinatown, Lower East Side advocates press
mayor to stop high-rise vision for area
BY DEAN MOSES
The Coalition to Protect
Chinatown and the
Lower East Side held a
Zoom conference on Dec. 3 to
demand that Mayor Bill de Blasio
halt appeals for the construction
of luxury high-rise buildings in
Lower Manhattan and to pass
the Chinatown Working Group
Rezoning Plan.
Four towers were set to be built
in Two Bridges, Chinatown and
the Lower East Side, but due to an
injunction fi led by the Lower East
Side Organized Neighbors and
Coalition to Protect Chinatown
at the beginning of the year, the
plans were temporarily frozen.
A number of concerned community
members were appalled to
learn that de Blasio is working with
the developers in court, appealing
the injunction in hopes of continuing
the desired building plans.
“He is really going against what
the community wants, and even
The meeting’s co-host, Caitlin, shared the concept behind a
“phone zap” and how it’s an effective tactic to annoy people to
get their attention.
during this pandemic when everyone
is having hard lives, he is still
trying to side with the developers.
Since they appealed, we also
submitted our court papers to
bring our case to the developers,
we are still waiting for the hearing
dates,” said Zishun Ning, a community
activist and the meeting’s
host told the Zoom callers.
Ning organized the Thursday
Zoom call as a “phone zap” where
participants called the Mayor’s
offi ce and delivered a unifi ed
message for action.
“I think this is a good time
for us to keep the pressure on
the Mayor and also all the other
elected offi cials, including the
judges. If we make more noise,
then it makes more pressure.
It’s up to us to use this time to
mobilize,” Ning added.
Much like a letter-writing
campaign, the callers were given
a script to read from when they
dialed the Mayor’s number or
were given the opportunity to
improvise their own pleas to the
offi ce. The participants muted
their microphones while on Zoom
for about 20 minutes as they each
made their calls, demanding the
Mayor cease aiding the developers,
discourage the privatization
of public land, prevent more
luxury high rises from being built,
and guarantee truly affordable
housing in the area.
“The mayor will get a lot of
voicemails. This is a very annoying
tactic that really gets the
attention of the staff, and I think
will remind him that we are still
fi ghting and we are not going
to go away any time soon,” said
Caitlin, a member of the coalition
and Zoom co-host.
The meeting culminated with
attendees being asked to email
the Mayor’s offi ce and to take
their cause one step further, by
calling into the “Ask the Mayor”
segment on WNYC radio’s The
Brian Lehrer Show this Friday
morning, Dec. 4, at 10 a.m.
The organization created a
shared document for all attendees
to use during the meeting and for
tomorrow’s calls stating: “We’re
going to put the Mayor on the
spot about his predatory upzonings
by sending our questions
to Brian Lehrer for his Ask The
Mayor segment on WNYC Radio…
If the Soho/Noho Rezoning
is really about racial justice and
truly affordable housing, then
why haven’t you listened to the
working class communities of
color in Chinatown and the
Lower East Side in our demands
for the Chinatown Working
Group Plan, a community-led
rezoning plan designed to protect
our neighborhoods (just adjacent
to the newly proposed up zoning
in Soho/Noho, which will impact
our communities, too) from
speculative overdevelopment and
displacement.”
4 December 10, 2020 Schneps Media