The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership's new website is now online at discoverflatiron.org.

The new site includes a regularly updated calendar of neighborhood events, an overview of BID programming, a directory of local businesses, a map of the district, and a newsletter and media archive.

Check in often for updates to the event calendar and directory, as well as new features that will be added in the coming months.

Catherine Kondartino, who has been with the Partnership since the Clean Streets program was launched in November, is a native New Yorker.

After graduation from New Dorp High School on Staten Island, Catherine took a series of jobs with international banking firms, working in wire transfer departments as a liaison between the bank and the client. The experience was enough to turn her off desk jobs forever.

At the age of 34, Catherine enlisted in the Army, taking basic training at Fort McCullum, Ala. "After the first week of basic, I thought I was in hell, but by the time it was over I was in the best shape of my life," she said. Catherine became an M.P., serving in South Korea.

When she rejoined civilian ranks, Catherine did "a lot of security work," being employed as a guard. "There are just a few women who do the kind of security work I did," she said. Now she's the only woman on the Flatiron's 14-member Clean Team. In the Army, she got used to "policing the area." "That's what we do now," she says about the Clean Team. "We police the area."

Catherine works the afternoon shift on weekdays and has Sundays off. She is a Giants football fan and a Mets baseball fan. "A lot of women say they don't know what's going on when they watch a football game," she says. "All they see are a bunch of guys running back and forth. I explain to 'em that it's very easy to follow. I tell 'em it's simply a fight for real estate."

The recently opened Kinespirit is New York's most intimate fitness studio to focus on Gyrotonic training, a series of fluid exercises that works the entire body through muscular, skeletal and cardiovascular stimulation.

Kinespirit is on the third floor of 40 East 23rd Street. The studio's bamboo floors and candle-lit ambiance provide the proper setting for a holistic approach to fitness that is similar to dance movement. Taught on weight and pulley-based equipment, Gyrotonics incorporates the principles of yoga, dance, tai chi and swimming. As it strengthens and adds flexibility to every muscle group in the body, Gyrotonics also uses breath techniques and imagery to reduce stress and help balance body and spirit. The low impact nature of this exercise results in clients pushing themselves in ways they never imagined possible.

Further evidence of the Flatiron district's diversity was amply provided in April by two new side-by-side restaurants on 23rd Street: Organique and Papou's Pizza.

Organique
Organique, which opened on April 3rd at 110 East 23rd Street, is owned by Jela Miric Lalic, a native of Serbia who has been in the food retail business in New York for the last seven years, most recently with Gourmet Garage. Most of the items on Organique's menu, which includes soups, salads, sandwiches and pastries, are free of pesticides and hormones, said Lalic. She added that she chose the location because of an abundance of health-oriented business in the neighborhood. "It means there are a lot of people here who want to eat good food," she said.

Papou's Pizza
Papou's Pizza, which opened on April 17th at 112 East 23rd Street, is owned by George Vatakis, who says the word "papou" is Greek for "grandfather." Aside from pizzas, Papou's offers wraps, sandwiches, panini, burgers, salads, gyros and pastries. Vatakis, who previously owned Greek Islands, a restaurant in Little Neck, said he picked 23rd Street because of its demographics. "You get a nice mix of customers," he pointed out. "Office, residential and it's right near schools." Baruch College and the School of Visual Arts are both nearby.

Markt, a popular Belgian restaurant that was a mainstay of the City's meatpacking neighborhood, has moved to the Flatiron district.

Markt, which features Belgian bistro fare, is now open at 676 Sixth Avenue, at 21st Street. The new location features an antique bar, authentic Belgian bistro fare, an expansive collection of Belgian beers and outdoor dining.

The New York Public Library's Science, Industry & Business Library is a free resource for business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Either on the premises (188 Madison Avenue) or online, SIBL offers links to a wide range of materials such as business manuals and guides, business development events, forums, and how-to videos and podcasts that can be downloaded or viewed online.

The Madison Square Park Conservancy's semiannual Plant Market will blossom forth this month.

The Spring Plant Market is scheduled for Thursday, May 10th and Friday, May 11th. The Market can be found at the park's southern fountain, where tips on plant care will be offered, as well as an abundant assortment of seasonal plants and flowers. Many of the horticultural products on sale were grown by Kim Wickers, the park's Director of Horticulture.

The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, headquartered at Park Avenue South and 22nd Street, is an umbrella organization with a long and distinguished history of assisting the City's children, families and elderly through an extensive network of Protestant and non-sectarian social service agencies. The FPWA's member agencies provide services across the life cycle, from early childhood centers to nursing homes to millions of people each year.

Individual Volunteers
If you are interested in volunteering, FPWA can tailor an individual opportunity based upon your availability, interests, expertise and geographic preferences.

Corporate Service Days
Increasingly, companies are contacting FPWA to arrange "Corporate Service Days," on which they provide the volunteers - and sometimes additional resources - to complete a project at an agency. Corporations have painted rooms, created libraries, planted gardens, delivered meals, refurbished playgrounds and staged mock interviews with clients in job-training programs. If you represent a company seeking an opportunity to see your community in a new way, FPWA will help facilitate a project for your group.

For more information, contact FPWA's Volunteer Services Coordinator Karen Giacalone at (212) 801-1332.

One of New York's hidden gems, the ornately decorated Grand Lodge of Masons building began offering tours to the public in 2006 as part of the Masons' efforts to reach out for new members, a project that coincided with the organization's 225th anniversary.

The 19-story building, at 71 West 23rd Street, was designed by Mason Harry Percy Knowles, built between 1911 and 1913 and restored in the 1980s. Its interior is lavishly appointed and visually stunning: vaulted ceilings, generous application of gold leaf, marble walls, splendid chandeliers, and chairs the size of thrones for high-ranking members.

Framed photographs of celebrated Masons line the hallways and in the Hollender Room, a library-conference room, there is a larger-than-life statue, painted gold, of perhaps the best-known Mason of them all: George Washington, in Masonic regalia.

Members gather in the Grand Lodge Room, a 1,200-seat auditorium, and have use of a dozen two-story elaborately decorated ceremonial meeting rooms. An altar and candles are in the center of each, with two stone blocks - one uncut, the other finished - at one end. Each of the rooms is unique, designed to represent various architectural eras, from Egyptian to Colonial.

The Renaissance Room, which has been called the most beautiful lodge room in the Masonic world and the high point of the restoration project, is graced by murals painted on canvas and placed in arched recesses around the ceiling, as well as stained glass windows in the style of Louis Comfort Tiffany, ceiling murals and marbleized wall panels.

For tour information, contact javiertour@aol.com.

Recent News Coverage

• 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

• Hero Officer Returns to His Beat
• BID Launches Sanitation Program
• Jennifer Brown Appointed Executive Director
• Flatiron Partnership BID Launched

Newsletters

• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006