BY TEQUILA MINSKY | The Friends of LaGuardia Place held their annual Gala at Noho STAR on Tues., Oct. 21, recognizing three individuals whose exemplary work is of great benefit to the local community.
Among the honorees at the gala, this year dubbed “Soaring Successes,” was Lois Rakoff, a Community Board 2 member, former resident chairperson of BAMRA (Bleecker Area Merchants’ and Residents’ Association) and current community director of the Poe Room, at the N.Y.U. School of Law.
Also recognized were “legal eagles” Jim Walden and Randy Mastro, partners in the firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, who are leading the legal challenge against New York University’s South Village superblocks expansion plan. The community plaintiffs, who recently suffered a tough defeat at the Appellate Division, after a victory in State Supreme Court, plan to appeal to the Court of Appeals.
“The best is yet to come,” Walden said, referring to the “rubber match.”
President Lawrence Goldberg, president of Friends of LaGuardia, was the night’s emcee.
“Honoring Lois Rakoff for her outstanding community work and Jim Walden and Randy Mastro for their superb legal work and tireless devotion to our Village was an enormous pleasure,” he said. “Handing each of them a LaGuardia Medallion, which we give to our community’s Neighborhood Stars, is just a small gesture of our appreciation for all they do.”
The annual event raises funds for upkeep, upgrades and maintenance of LaGuardia Park’s statue of Fiorello La Guardia, the gardens, paths and playground.
In addition to the statue, this park is the home of a new toddlers’ playground, Adrienne’s Garden, and is an oasis of green along LaGuardia Place. Most recently, it was the site of the recent “Sonic Forest” art installation.
Many at the full-house event wore a flash of red — socks, a tie, hat, dress or ribbon — paying homage to the red-tailed hawks that frequent LaGuardia Park and which were the theme of the evening’s festivities.
