Head of the class
The results are in and Downtown’s fourth graders are at the top of their class. The city released the rankings from the English Language Arts exam, a test the city’s fourth graders take that helps determine where they’ll go to middle school. The kids at P.S. 150 on Greenwich St. in Tribeca ranked eighth in the city, P.S. 89 in Battery Park City ranked 26th and P.S. 234 on Warren St. in Tribeca came in 55th according to Tom Goodkind, a certified public accountant who reviewed the city’s report.
Job swap
UnderCover hears that Community Board 1 chairperson Julie Menin is considering Noah Pfefferblit to be the next district manager. Pfefferblit, a former Borough President, C. Virgina Fields staffer who worked with C.B. 1, is a longtime Menin fan — she hired him to work at Wall Street Rising, the nonprofit she created after 9/11. He took over as president of the organization after Menin stepped down from her post to chair C.B. 1 in June 2005.
Menin, however, is mum about the job search. “I’m not going to comment on whose applying and not applying until we’ve reviewed all the resumes,” she told UnderCover.
District manager Paul Goldstein announced his resignation from C.B. 1 last week, setting off a firestorm among board members with some saying good riddance and others lamenting the sudden departure of a beloved district manager whose been on the board for 23 years, surviving six chairpersons, only to leave a year after Menin took the reins. Goldstein left seven months after assistant district manager Judy Duffy left the board for New York City Transit.
According to one source, another person who might be under consideration to replace Goldstein is Arturo Garcia-Costas, who was an aide to U.S. Rep. Jerold Nadler until recently.
It looks like C.B. 1 will continue to hemorrhage employees for at least a little while longer — at least one other staffer already announced her resignation. Anne Dworakivsky, the community liaison who was hired last year on a Red Cross grant, will leave at the end of the year. Menin had announced previously that Dworakivsky would be promoted to Duffy’s old job, but that offer is now off the table. “The executive committee decided to eliminate the position of assistant district manager because of budgetary constraints,” said Menin, citing back vacation pay owed to Goldstein as the cause of the constraints. C.B. 1 sources say Dworakivsky resigned for reasons of her own before any budget concerns were raised.
With a paid staff of only four, Dworakivsky’s departure makes for a 75 percent turnover in less than a year.
On the map
Three-Legged Dog is back on the map — literally. The arts organization will not only be featured in the latest edition of downtownNOW, the free map for arts lovers, but it will also host the map’s celebration party on Oct. 5.
Three-L.D. lost its Fiterman Hall home when the building was damaged on 9/11. It opened the last part of its new $4.8 million performance and gallery space this month — without any help from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the rebuilding agency that wanted to see the new 3-L.D. building demolished to revamp the lonely Greenwich South neighborhood (The city is now mulling major changes to the L.M.D.C. plan). At the 3LD Art & Technology Center opening party last week, executive director Kevin Cunningham gazed out at the venue’s new gallery space and said, “Last week, there was a trench running through this room.”
The party came equipped with a scrumptious buffet and open bar — to the delight of UnderCover — and a night of performance art, interactive games and a plethora of Downtown arty types.
Someone just needs to tell the folks at CultureNow, the L.M.D.C.-funded group that made the culture map with $50,000 from the L.M.D.C., that 3 L.D. is at 80 Greenwich St., not 80 Greenwich Ave., which is somewhere in the Village. The announcement has the wrong address.
