NoHo-Bowery Stakeholders Annual Meeting 2018

NoHo-Bowery Stakeholderds Annual Meeting

NoHo-Bowery Stakeholders Annual Meeting held on April 23rd at SubCulture

Honored guests at the NoHo-Bowery Stakeholders Annual Meeting included:  Councilmember Margaret Chin , Pedro Carrillo, Chief of Staff for Councilmember Carlina Rivera, Senior Exec Dir. Office of Nightlife, Arial Paletz, and Andrew Berman, Exec Dir. GVSHP who enlightened us on the proposed LPC rule changes.

Councilmember Chin addressed her priorities as  Chair of the Council’s Committee on Aging in senior affordable housing and elder-care.  Ariel Paletz introduced herself and  solicited comments regarding our hopes for the scope of the Office of Nightlife.  Andrew Berman covered the issues surrounding the Landmarks Preservation Commission and other concerns within NoHo (Merchants House Museum).  We were then proud to solicit an update from Pi Gardner, Exec Director of the Merchants House, and Advisory Board member of NoHo-Bowery Stakeholders (NBS).  Following Berman’s and Gardiner’s remarks the membership voted unanimously to approve donations to each organization.

The next order of business included votes on two new members of the Advisory Board:

NoHo-Bowery Stakeholders Annual Meeting_KretchmerLaurence Kretchmer
Behind the scenes at Chef Bobby Flay’s restaurants is Laurence Kretchmer, co-owner and managing partner of Bold Food. The two first collaborated in 1991 with the opening of Mesa Grill in New York. Since then, the creative pair have opened many more, including Gato on Lafayette St.  A graduate of the University of Michigan, where he studied Political Science, Kretchmer’s business interests culminated in a graduate degree in Real Estate Development and Investment from New York University. After working for several years in real estate development, he became a financial partner in the Mesa Grilll, overseeing its development and construction. Laurence is also the Father of 10-year old Delila, as lanky, talented and good-natured as her Dad. They live on Bleecker St.

 

NoHo-Bowery Stakeholders Anual Meeting_FitzgeraldAra Fitzgerald
Ara is a dance theatre artist, choreographer, improviser and educator who was a member of Daniel Nagrin’s The Workgroup and The Entourage Music and Theatre Ensemble where she first worked with composer Wall Matthews. Her work has been produced at venues including Fringe NYC, Dance Theatre Workshop, The 92nd Street Y, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Knitting Factory, The Construction Company, The Yard, The American Dance Guild Festival, The DanceNow Festival, WET, Norte Maar, Triskelion Arts, The Dance Place (Washington, DC), and The Dragon’s Egg and The Zen Center of Chicago.  “A skilled comic actress-dancer…an unusually smooth blend of humor and choreographic deftness,” says Jennifer Dunning of New York Times.  Ara has resided at 21 Bleecker St. from 1971 and is frequently seen defending NoHo at CB2 and City Hall hearings with a similar and welcome deftness.

NoHo-Bowery Stakeholders Annual Meeting_CuisinEtc

Chef Andrew Crossan and Lisa Teiger preparing a spectacular array of delicacies.

The meeting opened with a predictably tastey small plates buffet created by CuisinEtc which they kept going until the very end. And it ended with a discussion of the 2016/2017 Financials and a run down of NBS activities for the year.

We are enormously grateful for the perfect environment and superb care at SubCulture and the whole hearted support from its owner, Mark Kaplan, a long-time NBS member and contributor.