Stricter conditions have been put in place for patients who use the four major methadone clinics within the boundaries of the East Side Alliance, an area that includes the BID district.

As a result of the efforts of the East Side Alliance, a group that includes the Flatiron Partnership, the Union Square Partnership, the State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services and police from the Sixth, Ninth and 13th Precincts, the participating clinics will enforce the following provisions:

• Patients must leave the East Side Alliance area after receiving services.


• Clinics will discharge any patient who buys or sells drugs.


• Clinics will continue working with elected officials and community members in addressing community concerns.


• Patients who violate the agreement will be discharged and referred to treatment programs outside the area.

The East Side Alliance runs from 14th to 28th Streets between First and Sixth Avenues, and from Third to 14th Streets between the East River and Sixth Avenue.

Some 1,950 patients are served by the community's four major clinics: the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation/Bellevue Hospital Center Methadone Treatment Program; Beth Israel Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program; Gramercy Park Medical Group; and Greenwich House Inc., East.

"If someone gets kicked out of a program for a violation, they won't be just passed onto another clinic in the same neighborhood. Instead, they'll be referred to other programs outside the area," said Jennifer Brown, the BID's Executive Director. "We're going to be vigilant and we're very hopeful the policy will succeed."

If you think you see less graffiti than formerly throughout the Flatiron district, you're right.

Graffiti removal is being performed on an ongoing basis by the BID's Clean Team. Click here for a presentation of before-and-after images illustrating the impact of the Clean Team on unsightly graffiti, stickers and litter.

In addition to a dedicated maintenance worker, who removes graffiti and stickers and paints fixtures throughout the district three days a week, one night each week, a specialized crew with power-washing equipment scrubs sidewalks and removes graffiti from walls, security gates, mailboxes and traffic signs.

If you notice graffiti within the BID district, please report it immediately via email to the Partnership's Director of Operations, Scott Kimmins.

With the U.S. Open tennis tournament under way, Madison Square Park is the place to be.

American Express is once again bringing the Open to the park, presenting the action live on a giant viewing screen at the Park's north end from 11:00AM to 11:00PM each day right through the finals on Sunday, Sept. 9.

Bleacher seating as well as space on the lawn is available to the public at no charge. Food concessionaires are on hand, as is a photo exhibit of previous Grand Slam winners and other tennis greats. American Express is also providing facilities for player instruction, including a serve-analysis station.

Yamak, a women's boutique featuring apparel and accessories, has opened in the Western Union Building (see Discover Flatiron item below) at 6 West 23rd Street.

Owned by Kanako Morino-Mirenda, this is Yamak's second store in New York; the first has been on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village since 2000.

Yamak offers a mix of dresses, jewelry, handbags and hats from here and abroad, including some styles it carries exclusively.

The store is open from Mondays through Saturdays from 11:00AM to 8:00PM and on Sundays from noon until 6:00PM.

Café 50 West, a new restaurant that recently opened at 50 West 22nd Street, offers dishes that owner Tamir Wolberger calls "intercontinental comfort food." Indeed, the modestly priced menu has touches of France, Italy, North Africa and Japan in even its more traditional offerings.

Wolberger sees the café as his version of a neighborhood community center, open seven days a week, serving breakfast through dinner. A small stage at one end of the room will present an eclectic series of attractions.

"It might be poetry readings one night and music another," said Wolberger. "We'll keep it loose and we'll keep it interesting."

The entire restaurant has an antique feel to it, from the 40-foot bar, carved from a solid slab of wood, to the old photographs and other ephemera that serve as décor. The building itself dates back to the 1880s; its most recent use was as an overnight storage area for hot dog carts.

Volunteers are needed to help "Garden in Transit" come to life.

"Garden in Transit" is a groundbreaking art, education and creative therapy project that will help celebrate the centennial of New York's first motorized taxi by transforming the City's fleet of yellow cabs into a vibrant mosaic of colorful "flowers" from now until the end of the year.

So far, more than 23,000 children and adults throughout New York have participated by painting flowers on adhesive weatherproof panels that will be applied to hoods, trunks and roofs of thousands of taxis. Now volunteers are needed to apply the panels.

The project was launched by Portraits of Hope, a non-profit program that began in 1995 as creative therapy for seriously ill and physically disabled children and has expanded to include a wide array of children and adults who participate with their schools, hospitals, after-school programs and community institutions in high-profile motivational art, education and therapy projects that transform public landscapes. To date, they have transformed everything from blimps to buildings.

"Garden in Transit" might be the City's most ambitious community collaboration and public art project. To be part of it and help make history, sign up to volunteer online or by calling 212-216-9441.

William Wegman, the photographer best known for his soulful portraits of Weimaraner dogs in various costumes and poses, will be the featured artist in the Madison Square Park Conservancy's final installation of 2007, Mad. Sq. Art: William Wegman.

A new Wegman video entitled Around the Park will appear on four outdoor monitors near the Shake Shack from Sept. 14 to Oct. 28.

The approximately seven-minute video, which stars Wegman's favorite four-legged actors enjoying a fall day in Madison Square Park, will be shown from 8:00AM to 8:00PM daily. At 1:00PM each weekday, there will be a short retrospective of Wegman videos, while on Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00PM, The Hardly Boys and Dog Baseball will be screened.

Opening concurrently with the exhibit, Wegman Outdoors - a showing of Wegman's landscape photography from 1981 through 2007 - will be on view at Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, 21 East 26th Street, on the north side of the park. That exhibit will be on display from Sept. 10 to Nov. 3.

Take Two, an all-day event for people past 50 who are seeking fresh professional challenges, is aimed at men and women who want to explore the possibilities of new careers in mid-life.

Described as an "entrepreneurship event," it is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 3, at the Newman Vertical Campus of Baruch College, 55 Lexington Avenue at 24th Street, from 8:45AM to 5:00PM, and is presented by AARP in association with Baruch.

Keynote speakers will talk about their own experiences with entrepreneurship after 50, while "breakout sessions" will focus on topics such as the pros and cons of franchises, starting a business with family members, and how to obtain financing. After each breakout session, participants will be invited to join smaller groups for half-hour discussions.

Keynote speakers are Alfred Milanese and John Harvey, co-founders of Transition Works, a ministry aimed at helping people navigate voluntary or involuntary career and life changes; Robert Foskey, a field mentor and lecturer at Baruch's Zicklin School of Business; David Oldfield, director of the Midway Center for Creative Imagination in Washington, D.C.; and Carole Hyatt, a best-selling author, motivational speaker and social behavior researcher with special expertise in the development of second and third careers. Milanese is the owner of Martin's Pretzels, Akron, Pa., and Harvey owns Freeman's Fish Market, Maplewood, N.J.

Registration fees for the event are $195 for AARP members and $295 for non-members, with a 10 percent discount offered through Sept. 30. Register online or call 1-888-898-0050.

On the second and fourth Sundays of the month, people who are interested in improving their conversational skills in French are invited to an informal French conversation group at the Barnes & Noble store at 675 Sixth Avenue. The group will next meet on Sunday, Sept. 9, and Sunday, Sept. 23, at 4:00PM.

Group sessions are offered at no charge and are open to beginners as well as those with higher levels of fluency.

The sessions last about 90 minutes and advance registration is not necessary. Inquire at the information desk on the day of each session to learn where in the store the group will meet.

United Neighbors of East Midtown (UNEM) is a non-profit social service agency offering seniors comprehensive case management services, a senior center and volunteer services in the East Midtown area from 14th Street to 59th Street.

Seniors receive regular home visits from UNEM social workers and are linked with needed services including home delivered meals, transportation, home care, legal services, respite care and volunteer assistance.

Volunteer opportunities at UNEM include a Friendly Visitor program that matches case management clients with volunteers who visit weekly, providing companionship, walks, and help with grocery shopping or reading mail. Volunteers also assist clients with medical escorts as needed and with bill paying services.

If you are interested in volunteering or know a senior in the area in need of help, please contact UNEM at: 212-682-1830.

The Mad. Sq. Studio folk and blues concerts that have been entertaining visitors to the Park since mid-August are heading into their final sessions.

Three more free concerts are scheduled, all on Saturday afternoons near the Shake Shack. Tables and chairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Each show features two emerging or established groups or performers whose music draws on contemporary and traditional folk and blues.

The remaining schedule:

• Saturday, Sept. 15, 4:00PM: Twilight Hotel and Antje Duvekot.


• Saturday, Sept. 29, 3:00PM: KJ Denhert and Sloan Wainwright.


• Saturday, Oct. 6, 3:00PM: Abbie Gardner and Cephas & Wiggins.

Hidden under a shroud of scaffolding for many months, one of the Flatiron district's most historic buildings has once again stepped into the sun - repointed, reconverted and ready for another life.

It is the picturesque seven-story red-brick building that has graced the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street since 1883 and was once described by the Architectural Record as "one of the happiest bits of our street architecture."

Originally erected as an uptown branch of Western Union, with pneumatic tubes that carried messages underground to the telegraph company's headquarters 2 1/2 miles away on lower Broadway, 186 Fifth Avenue was an office building for more than a century. Now, five of its seven floors have been converted to loft condominiums by Walter & Samuels Inc. The bottom two floors remain commercial, with stores on street level, according to Leah Goldfarb, the sales director.

The building, one of Fifth Avenue's earliest commercial structures, was designed by Henry J. Hardenbergh, whose own office occupied the top floor. It was hardly Hardenbergh's only contribution to the New York cityscape. His other commissions included the Dakota apartment house, the Plaza Hotel and the original Waldorf-Astoria at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, where the Empire State Building now presides.

Designed in the Queen Anne style, the Western Union building is distinguished not only by its red brick façade, but by its gabled roof, six pedimental dormer windows, octagonal chimney, wide flat arches and friezes on the third and sixth floors. Its legacy is written on its face. Just beneath the roof of the Fifth Avenue side are the letters "W.U." and the year "1883," while the 23rd Street facing is decorated with a frieze that includes the words "Western Union."

In 1989, the building became a New York Historic Designation as part of the Ladies' Mile Historic District.

Learn more about the Western Union Building and the rich history of the Flatiron neighborhood every Sunday on the BID's free Discover Flatiron walking tours.

The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership is now sponsoring free walking tours of the historic Flatiron district every Sunday.

Join our experienced guides on a 90-minute journey through this vibrant neighborhood, viewing some of the City's most notable landmarks, including the New York Life Insurance building, the MetLife Tower, the Appellate Courthouse and the famous Flatiron Building.

Time:
Every Sunday at 11:00AM.

Meeting Place:
The southwest corner of Madison Square Park, at 23rd Street and Broadway, in front of the statue of William Seward.

Recent News Coverage

• Methadone Clients Will Be Told to Dose and Dash
• Methadone Clinics to Keep Closer Watch on Patients
• Drug Clinics to Dismiss Clients Who Get Busted
• Flatiron BID Launches Tree Planting Program
• BID Holds First Annual Meeting
• BID Launches Neighborhood Safety Program
• Annual Meeting Scheduled
• BID Giving Free Walking Tours Through Flatiron District
• BID to Hold Concert to Benefit Homeless
• Local Businesses Head to BID Forums
• BID Unveils New Litter Receptacles
• Clean Team Takes on Snow Removal
• BID Welcomes Citibank to Neighborhood
• BID Makes a Clean Sweep
• Officer Who Cleaned Up Kenmore Named BID's Operations Director
• Long Live the BID
• Jennifer Brown Appointed Executive Director of Flatiron BID
• Manhattan's First New BID in Over Four Years Launched
• New Improvement District Around Madison Square Park
• BID Aims to Clean Up Community
• Flatiron BID Uses Hi-Tech to Track Problem Areas
• Flatiron BID Plans Neighborhood Makeover
• New BID Is Milestone in Flatiron District Revitalization

Press Releases

• BID Conducts First Annual Meeting
• Flatiron BID Launches Public Safety Program
• Discover Flatiron: Free Walking Tours
• Hero Officer Returns to His Beat
• BID Launches Sanitation Program
• Jennifer Brown Appointed Executive Director
• Flatiron Partnership BID Launched

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