THIRTY-NINE FACES GAZE OUT from the covers of the Flatiron Partnership's 2010 Annual Report, now available either as a hard copy or online. They represent a random sampling of people going about their business in the district on an otherwise unremarkable spring day -- residents, business owners, workers, shoppers, students, strollers, tourists, even a frozen-faced fellow with a cast-iron stare -- and their presence documents the great diversity that is one of Flatiron's greatest strengths: its people.

Between those covers, the 24-page report chronicles the highlights and accomplishments of the Partnership during the past fiscal year, from the continued success of its Clean Streets and Public Safety core programs to the expanded efforts of its Public Improvement and Marketing campaigns. The scope of the BID's street beautification initiatives widened; the Public Plazas were busier than ever; the website and the monthly newsletter added features; and new kinds of events, focusing on Flatiron's architectural and culinary history, were presented.

Copies of the report may be obtained by clicking here, or by calling the BID office at (212) 741-2323.

A COUPLE OF ENTERTAINING FILM CLIPS, LIVELY TALKS BY TWO guest speakers and a comprehensive review of the past year's highlights and accomplishments sparked the fourth annual meeting of the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership.

Some 130 members of the Flatiron community made their way to Hill Country Barbecue and Market on West 26th Street in the early evening of June 7 and heard Tor Myhren, Chief Creative Officer of global communications giant Grey Group, proclaim, "We are surrounded in this district by world-class creative talent. This is a Petri dish of creativity."

Myhren, the keynote speaker, was explaining why Grey and 1,200 of its employees made 200 Fifth Avenue its new world headquarters last fall after almost 50 years in midtown.

"I would even agree that this neighborhood is the creative center of New York," said Myhren, whose presentation was enlivened by two three-minute film clips, one describing the work of Grey, the other a salute to the Flatiron district and to the BID.

Christine C. Quinn, Speaker of the New York City Council, preceded Myhren to the lectern, complimented the BID on doing "a really, really terrific job," and said she was looking forward to working with the Partnership on such challenges as dealing with counterfeit merchandise, improving street lighting in some areas, finding "even more creative ways" to use the Public Plazas and coming up with new ideas to support small businesses.

The meeting also included welcoming remarks by Gregg Schenker, Chairman of the BID's Board of Directors, and a review by Executive Director Jennifer Brown of the past year's activities and a look at upcoming projects. Treasurer James Buslik summarized the organization's financial position and described the budget for the next fiscal year, and Secretary Rick Locker conducted the election of directors. James R. Heekin III, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Grey Group, was added to the board.

Outstanding Service Awards were presented to the brothers Mohamed and Sering Ceesay of the Clean Team, and to urban archivist, author and historian Miriam Berman, who launched the BID's free weekly walking tours.

A Chairman's Award went to Mark Maynard-Parisi, a BID Director since 2007, for his work as Chairman of the Streetscape and Capital Projects Committee and as a member of the Marketing and Executive Committees. The BID's Partnership Award went to L&L Holding Company, LLC for its work renovating 200 Fifth Avenue, and Greening the District Awards, new this year, were presented to Colliers International and Con Edison for their support of the beautification projects throughout the district.

A reception with food and drinks provided by Hill Country followed the meeting.

THE FLATIRON PARTNERSHIP IS seeking Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from qualified firms to manage and operate an outdoor food or beverage kiosk on two of the Public Plazas: the North plaza, on Broadway between 23rd and 24th Streets, immediately across from the Flatiron Building, and the South plaza, on Broadway between 22nd and 23rd Streets, adjacent to the Flatiron Building. Nearly 40 people attended a mandatory pre-bid conference on June 22. Responses to both RFPs are due July 16, and the Partnership hopes to make a selection by summer's end.

The plazas, created by the Department of Transportation in 2008, have been embraced by locals and visitors as a great spot to relax, have a bit to eat, meet friends, sketch, read or simply watch the hustle and bustle of the city as it passes by. In soliciting RFPs, the BID wants to create an attraction that will enhance the atmosphere of the Public Plazas and of the neighborhood, and will provide an amenity for people who live and work in the area as well as those who visit.

For more information, click here.

THE FOURTH EDITION OF THE perennially popular Discover Flatiron Map is slated to roll off the presses this fall, and advertising space is available.

Since the map was launched by the Flatiron Partnership in 2007, it has been updated annually. To date, some 200,000 copies have been distributed. The map pinpoints the location of businesses and institutions throughout the BID, including nonprofits, schools, museums and galleries; local landmarks; bus and subway routes; and parking facilities. A guide to businesses and institutions, arranged by category, is on the reverse side of each map.

The maps are available at local hotels, businesses, residential buildings, restaurants, schools and tourist organizations. They are available at community events throughout the city and from members of the uniformed Flatiron Partnership Safety Team.

For more information about advertising on the map, contact Eric Zaretsky, the BID's Director of Marketing & Economic Development, at ezaretsky@flatironbid.org or (212) 741-2323.

ALICE SPARBERG ALEXIOU CAN'T RECALL WHEN SHE FIRST LAID
eyes on the Flatiron Building. What she does know is that it's always seemed like a member of the family. That's because her maternal grandfather, a Hungarian immigrant named Abraham Braun who came to America in 1914 and opened a button business on 17th Street, was once an owner of the Flatiron, along with three other partners, including Harry Helmsley.

Alexiou never knew her grandfather. He died in 1947, four years before she was born. But she always knew, even before she became a writer, that she wanted to tell his story and the history of the legendary building she says was "so much" a part of her own identity.

The result, published in June, is "The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City That Arose With It." It is the tale not only of the building that has been among the most photographed in the world since its appearance in 1902, but of the people whose lives were part of it and the role it played during a pivotal period in New York's evolution.

"Everyone is crazy about this building," said Alexiou. "I keep trying to figure out why and the answer is that I don't know. But it doesn't matter. Maybe you have to decide for yourself. Part of it is the location, in the middle of an intersection, giving it an exposure other buildings don't have. There is the weirdness of shape. You can see the building's elevation from any angle.

"Whatever the reason," she continued, "the Flatiron Building immediately became a popular icon. The critics thought it was an artistic disaster, but the hoi polloi loved it. Popular tastes prevail. That was the great thing about New York at the turn of the century, when the old New York world was disappearing: You could do whatever you wanted to. The Flatiron Building embodies that change in aesthetics and values that were brought over by all of those immigrants coming into Ellis Island and changing the landscape of the city. It isn't glamorous. It isn't sexy. It's quirky. It's different."

Alexiou's book is populated by a colorful collection of characters, some of them little-known: the feisty Colonel Winfield Scott Proskey, who refused to budge from his flat at the Cumberland Hotel, the property waiting to be demolished before work could commence on the Flatiron . . . publisher Frank Munsey, one of the first tenants at the Flatiron, who became the father of the dime pulp magazine . . . the corrupt construction union president Sam Parks, who led a Labor Day parade on a white horse while awaiting incarceration at Sing Sing Prison . . Louis Mitchell, a Harlem musician who helped introduce jazz to Paris in the 1920s and whose quintet debuted at Taverne Louis, the short-lived restaurant in the Flatiron Building basement.

But it is Harry Black, the charming and ruthless son-in-law of George Fuller, whose construction company built the Flatiron, who dominates the book. When Fuller died in December 1900, Black took over the company. When the structure was completed, he called it the Fuller Building, a name that had the shelf life of an ice cube on a griddle.

"I love Harry Black," said Alexiou. "He was outsized, selfish, brilliant, impulsive, creative and a tragic figure. He used people and he died alone [a suicide at the age of 68]. He was a gambler. He loved excess. But unlike the Bernie Madoffs of our day, he left these incredible monuments. In addition to the Flatiron, he built the Plaza Hotel, Penn Station, the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, Macy's, the second Fuller Building on 57th Street . . . "

Alexiou, born in Manhattan and raised in Great Neck, didn't start writing full-time until she turned 40. She'd been a high school Latin teacher with a Ph.D. in the classics from Fordham University until she "got sick of teaching." She became a journalist and a magazine writer and her first book was a 2006 biography of Jane Jacobs, the writer and activist who was known for fighting urban-renewal projects that would have destroyed local neighborhoods.

The Flatiron book was next, a labor of love "because of my grandfather and because of the building." As she wrote in the prologue, "For me, the Flatiron's story is my grandfather's story, but it is also something larger. It is the story of New York."

FRIENDS OF THE FLATIRON Partnership, an affiliate marketing program for businesses and organizations just outside the district, is now beginning its second year.

For an annual fee of $800, participants in the program are able to access the BID's communications, collateral and constituents. That broad spectrum includes electronic and digital communications such as e-mail blasts that reach more than 12,000 addresses, and the BID's website, which gets more than 5,000 hits a month; print collateral such as the Discover Flatiron Map (more than 200,000 copies distributed since 2007); and the Partnership's constituents: more than 4,500 businesses, including nearly 500 at street level; approximately 20 million square feet of commercial space; and thousands of new and existing residential units.

Members of Friends of the Flatiron appear on the Discover Flatiron Map and guide; are included in relevant thematic guides and publications, as well as the BID's Facebook and Twitter pages; have the opportunity to be a sponsor or partner at BID events; are listed and hyperlinked on the BID website; and may submit items to the website's District Deals page.

Businesses now in the program are the Ace Hotel, 20 West 29th Street, (212) 679-2222, acehotel.com; the Hotel Roger Williams, 131 Madison Avenue, (212) 448-7000, hotelrogerwilliams.com; Peoria Emporium, a shop offering women's clothing and accessories, children's toys and books, and gifts for the home, at 25 East 20th Street, (212) 777-3140, peoriaemporium.com; Tekserve, the Apple specialist, 119 West 23rd Street, (212) 929-3645, tekserve.com; and Limelight Marketplace, 656 Sixth Avenue, (212) 359-5600, limelightmarketplace.com.

For additional information, contact Eric Zaretsky, Director of Marketing & Economic Development, at ezaretsky@flatironbid.org or (212) 741-2323.

RESERVATIONS ARE NOW
being accepted for the summer version of NYC Restaurant Week, July 12-25. Three-course lunches and dinners will be offered by more than 250 of the city's best restaurants at special prices of $24.07 for lunch, $35 for dinner. Beverages, tips and taxes are not included. The promotion does not include Saturdays, while Sunday participation is optional.

Participating restaurants from the Flatiron district include: A Voce Madison, Allegretti, Bar Stuzzichini, Blue Smoke, Dos Caminos, Giorgio's of Gramercy, Hill Country, Ilili, Pranna, Primehouse New York, SD26, Tabla and Tamarind.

For more information about Restaurant Week, click here.

THE ARRIVAL OF SUMMER MEANS IT'S DINNER TIME AT MADISON Square Park, where the tables will be set for Celebrate Flatiron Chefs! on Tuesday, July 13. The Madison Square Park Conservancy's annual food fest will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with more than two dozen restaurants, almost all of them from the Flatiron district, scheduled to participate. In addition to dishes that reflect the wide range of cuisines currently available in the neighborhood, there will be advance tastings from three eateries slated to open soon: Eataly, the Italian food mart that will bow at 200 Fifth Avenue; Hill Country Chicken, slated to open at 1123 Broadway; and the Hurricane Club, a Polynesian-influenced restaurant at 360 Park Avenue South.

Tickets for the event benefit Madison Square Park's children's events, concerts, readings and public art. Priced at $260 for the 5:30 p.m. entry and $160 for the 6:30 p.m. entry, tickets may be purchased online at madisonsquarepark.org or by calling (212) 538-9310.

BOOK LOVERS WILL BE IN FOR A treat on each of six successive Thursdays this month and next, when the Madison Square Park Conservancy hosts its fifth annual summer reading series at the park's Farragut Monument. The free programs, each of which lasts about an hour, begin July 1 and end August 5. In addition to the readings, there will be Q&A sessions with authors and guests, plus book signings. Programs begin at 6:30 p.m.

Guest authors include novelists, memoirists and writers of non-fiction, and the subjects of the books to be discussed range from mothers to moon landings, and from canines to cookbooks. For the full schedule, click here.

A monthly roundup of exhibits and events at the art galleries and museums within the Flatiron district. To be considered for inclusion, please send relevant information to: Eric Zaretsky, Director of Marketing & Economic Development, at ezaretsky@flatironbid.org.

Raandesk Gallery of Art at In Good Company
"Optical: Beauty in the Mundane": Small and large-scale photographs by Nadia Kyung Chae, winner of the 2009 Annual Optical Juried Competition, and runner-up Matt Gehring, as well as three other finalists: Pattiann Koury, Jeremy Sachs-Michaels and Magda Biernat.
Dates: Through September 10.
Address: 16 West 23rd Street, 4th floor (In Good Company).
Hours: Weekdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., weekends by appointment.

Volume Black
"Masters of Merriment": Emerging artists show "quirky and cool" works, in the words of gallery owner Niki Milavec. They range from Katelyn Alain's figurative self-portraits to Lisa Lebofsky's oil paintings on aluminum.
Dates: Through July 15.
Address: 929 Broadway.
Hours: 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., daily.

AIGA National Design Center Gallery
"Design Journeys: You Are Here": An interactive exhibition saluting the lives and achievements of 25 top designers from culturally and racially diverse origins.
Dates: Through July 23.
Address: 164 Fifth Avenue.
Hours: Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Mad. Sq. Art 2010
"Event Horizon": The self-portrait sculptures of Antony Gormley, on rooftops, parapets and at ground level throughout the Flatiron district.
Dates: Through August 15.
Place: In and around Madison Square Park.
Hours: Around the clock.

Museum of Sex
"The Sex Lives of Animals": The uncensored story of sex and sexuality in the animal world.
Dates: Through the summer.
Address: 233 Fifth Avenue.
Hours: Sundays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

"Rubbers: The Life, History & Struggle of the Condom": A multi-media look at the condom's influence on everything from science to religion.
Dates: Through the summer.
Address and Hours: Same as above.

• BID seeking vendor for pedestrian plaza
• Flatiron BID holds fourth annual meeting
• RFP for eats on plazas
• Flatiron BID to honor L&L Holding
• Flatiron BID holding talk on safety, security in community
• The business of the Flatiron
• Flatiron BID honors Baruch as 'Partner of the Year'
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The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership Business Improvement District, formed in 2006, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to enhance the area's reputation as one of New York's most vital and exciting neighborhoods. This is undertaken by maintaining a clean and safe environment for those who live, work and visit the area; by spearheading area improvement projects; and by marketing the diverse business and retail options in this vibrant and historic neighborhood.

For more information go to our Web site at www.discoverflatiron.org or e-mail us at info@flatironbid.org.

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