Pearl Scher only spent the last six of her 91 years in Lower Manhattan. We don’t know what she was like as a younger woman, but it’s hard to imagine anyone with more spirit than the young-at-heart person we got to know in her Downtown years. We suspect Downtowners weren’t the first she charmed by her infectious smile and sharp wit.
Pearl cared deeply about where she lived. At the age of 80 she ran for office in Westchester but lost, then ran a year later for the Town Board and won. When she moved to the Hallmark in Battery Park City she applied to Community Board 1. Her first application was unsuccessful but she persisted and won an appointment to the board.
She saw problems in her neighborhood and went about fixing them, like fighting to get a bus stop at North End Ave.
Her clear, common sense approach made her an effective advocate and valuable member of C.B.1. Her last home was in a community with lots of new residents who could easily accept a newcomer as a leader. Downtown benefited and it seemed she did too. As one e-mailer touched by her life wrote us and others: Perhaps her secret for staying young was her community activism.
The mind and heart can live a long time and we’re glad Pearl brought hers Downtown for a few of those years.
Chelsea now has a paper too
It’s not every day one gets to start a new community newspaper. So it goes without saying that we’re extremely proud about Chelsea Now — our new weekly newspaper just for Chelsea.
Our bright orange news boxes are out in Chelsea. We’ll be distributed in stores and high-traffic locations and we’re always a few keystrokes away at www.chelseanow.com.
Chelsea Now is the newest addition to Community Media L.L.C., which in addition to Downtown Express, publishes The Villager, judged New York State’s best weekly in three of the last five years; Gay City News, the nation’s foremost gay weekly; and Thrive-NYC (formerly NYC Plus), for the young-at-heart over 50.
Chelsea is bursting with stories: the art and gallery scene, the clubs, tenant and housing issues, booming residential construction, the development of the High Line Park and Hudson River Park. Each week, we’re going to be covering this beat with our mix of award-winning reporting and photography.
So if you ever find yourself in Chelsea, take a look in the orange boxes. Give us a read. If you like Downtown Express and our other publications, we know you’ll enjoy Chelsea Now — a new paper for one of Manhattan’s most exciting neighborhoods.
