SINCE ITS LAUNCH IN THE winter of 2007, the Flatiron Partnership's Social Service Program, through a contract with Urban Pathways, has been working throughout the district seeking out and engaging homeless individuals in need of assistance and shelter. The Homeless Outreach Team has engaged hundreds of homeless men and women in the often difficult process of providing sometimes unwanted help. Recently, the BID sat down with one of the individuals, Christopher Oshiro, to hear his story and discuss how the BID's Social Service Program helped him get off the streets.

Christopher Oshiro has covered a lot of territory since his birth 48 years ago on the South Pacific island of Guam, but he's now making what may be the most important journey of his life.

After joining the Army at the age of 19, Oshiro spent the next 18 years in Germany, where he got married, raised two children and developed a drug habit. His wife divorced him and he came to New York in 1997 spending the next 10 years as a street person, mostly in the Flatiron district. For much of that time, Oshiro was a fixture on Park Avenue South near 24th Street, a neat-looking man with a pleasant manner who "opened shop" every morning at 9 a.m., drawing pictures for passersby, cadging whatever change people offered and spending much of it to support his drug habit. He slept in a parking lot around the corner.

Early in that period, Oshiro caught the eye of Scott Kimmins, then with the New York Police Department, now the Flatiron Partnership's Director of Operations.

"I've known him for ages," Kimmins said. "He could always carry on a very intelligent conversation. He always had a spark in his eye. I knew he had the potential to do something a lot better with his life."

"He'd always talk about 'other job possibilities,' but that was a stall," Kimmins said. "This went on for months, but I kept working on him."

After Urban Pathways was selected by the Department of Homeless Services to be part of the Manhattan Outreach Consortium, there was a breakthrough. At the urging of Kimmins, Oshiro agreed to talk with Urban Pathways about finding his way back to permanent housing and a steady income. Shortly thereafter, Oshiro moved his art supplies and other belongings to the Travelers Hotel, a halfway house, where for the first time in 10 years he had a roof over his head. He also found work as a part-time member of the Times Square Alliance's Clean Team.

In August, less than a year after leaving the streets, Oshiro received the keys to permanent housing in a two-bedroom apartment in the Bronx that he's sharing with a fellow former resident of the Travelers.

"Scotty's my hero," Oshiro said. "It's because he cared that he got me where I am today. Not by preaching, but by caring. He kept telling me that I was killing myself, that I was worth more than that. Now I'm going into independent living. I'm totally drug free and I'm dealing with the challenge of having money in my pocket. I don't want to let Scotty down, but more important, I don't want to let myself down. I'm ready."

The BID Social Service Program operates early mornings, mid-day and late nights, 20 to 35 hours per week depending on the time of year. For more information on getting involved or on Urban Pathways, please contact the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership at info@flatironbid.org.

THE POPULAR Sunday-morning walking tours sponsored by the Flatiron Partnership reached a milestone this summer, drawing the 1,000th attendee for the weekly trip through time.

The 90-minute tours, which are free and require no reservations, were launched on April 29, 2007. Every Sunday since then, without interruption, a rotating trio of guides have enlightened and entertained visitors who to date have come from 33 states, 143 cities in the U.S. and Canada, 29 countries and every continent on the planet. Not all who attend are from out of town; many are from New York and more than a few live right here in the Flatiron district and are eager to learn more about their own neighborhood.

"Some visitors have been prompted to attend by a connection they may have to the park and it's wonderful when they share these personal associations during the tour," said Miriam Berman, the author of "Madison Square: the Park and Its Celebrated Landmarks" and the guide who conducted the first of the tours. Berman also notes that many young architecture or city planning students from around the world attend the tour to experience this historic area first hand.

The tours begin promptly at 11 a.m. at the corner of 23rd Street and Broadway, in front of the statue of William Seward and generally cover the background and history of some of the district's renowned architectural attractions such as the Flatiron Building, the MetLife Tower, New York Life and the Appellate Courthouse, in addition to revealing inside information on subjects ranging from Sanford White's infamous love nest to the story of America's first community Christmas tree lighting.

Each of the three guides who lead the tours is an expert on city lore. In addition to Berman, they are Frederick Cookinham, who has conducted tours for the New-York Historical Society and other institutions, and Mike Kaback, a native New Yorker who has guided visitors throughout the city for almost nine years.

To view more information about the walking tour and other events, click here.

ALAIN ALLEGRETTI, the celebrated chef from Nice who honed his style under such culinary masters as Jacques Maximin and Alain Ducasse, has opened his first restaurant, Allegretti, at 46 West 22nd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Formerly executive chef at Sirio Maccione's Le Cirque 2000 and then at the highly acclaimed Atelier at the New York Ritz-Carlton, Allegretti is presenting a menu that reflects the flavors of his native Provence. Specialties include veal T-bone, côte de boeuf and a whole fish roasted in a wood-burning oven.

Allegretti is open for dinner from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Lunch is from 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on those days, with a three-course prix-fixe meal offered at $28 in addition to the à la carte menu. For reservations, call (212) 206-0555. To visit the website, click here.

L'ATELIER DU CHOCOLAT has opened at 59 West 22nd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. This store offers French chocolates hand-made by master chocolatier Eric Girerd. There are over 40 flavors available including pistachio, caramel, vanilla, saffron and champagne. According to Namhee Girerd Kim, a partner in the venture, "The chocolate is made from 72 percent cacao. It is good chocolate that does not make you thirsty." Kim also said that a different flavor truffle will be featured each day.

L'atelier du Chocolat is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. To visit the website, click here.

QQ NAILS & SPA has opened at 119 East 23rd Street, between Park Avenue South and Lexington Avenue. This store, its second in Manhattan, offers manicures, waxing, facials and massages. QQ is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

ROSIE MENDEZ, a member of the New York City Council, will be the guest speaker at the second 2008 Speaker Series breakfast hosted by the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership and Commerce Bank.

The date: Oct. 15. The time: 8:30 a.m. The place: The Commerce Bank branch at Park Avenue South and East 21st Street.

Mendez, who represents the 2nd Council District - which includes the Flatiron neighborhood - will talk to property owners, businesses and residents about a number of local issues. She is chair of the Council's Sub-Committee on Public Housing and a member of the Landmarks Sub-Committee and the Housing, Land Use, Health and Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committees. Mendez took office in January 2006.

Her district also includes the Lower East Side, the East Village, Gramercy and Murray Hill.

Further information will be sent later this month and reservations will be required for this event.

HERE ARE REMINDERS
about three important projects involving the Flatiron district.

Registration continues to be accepted for a charity golf outing on Thursday, Oct. 2, to benefit Housing and Services, Inc., the agency that helped rehabilitate the Kenmore Hotel on 23rd Street into permanent housing. The event, scheduled for the Inwood Country Club, Inwood, N.Y., is HSI's major fundraiser for 2008. Included is an online auction, now under way until Sept. 30. The registration fee of $350 covers brunch, cocktails, BBQ and beer, greens fees, dinner and the use of golf carts and valet. A foursome may register for $1,400. For dinner only, the fee is $150. Sponsorships are available from $200 to $10,000. For additional information, go to www.hsi-ny.cmarket.com.

Stores may still sign up for Shop for Public Schools, a week-long event (Oct. 1-8) when retailers donate a percentage of their revenues to New York City's Fund for Public Schools. Proceeds will provide books, technological equipment, furniture and other resources to public school libraries all over the city. Participating retailers have ranged from family-owned shops to major department stores. For more information, go to www.shopforpublicschools.org.

Owners of commercial and multi-family buildings in the Flatiron District that have 25 or more incandescent light bulbs, excluding table lamps, may be eligible for free Compact Fluorescent Lamps that last 10 times longer and are up to 80 percent more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs. The initiative is called Operation Kill-A-Watt and the program, put on by Public Energy Solutions and Con Edison, is operating on a first-come, first-served basis. To register, call (866) 818-1900.

ALTHOUGH THE STATUE
of Liberty was not unveiled in New York Harbor until October 1886, a significant portion of Lady Liberty had become a curious addition to the Flatiron landscape a decade earlier.

French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi had originally planned to have the statue ready for presentation to the U.S. on July 4, 1876, when the nation would be celebrating its centennial. Delays prevented that, however, and the work continued in Bartholdi's Paris studio. Still, the torch and giant right arm (the index finger alone is 8 feet long) had been completed and that part of the statue was shipped to Philadelphia, where it was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition. Later that year, the arm and torch were sent to New York and installed at the northern end of Madison Square Park as part of a campaign to raise funds for the construction of a pedestal.

There it remained for the next six years and though the upraised arm with its golden torch was destined to become perhaps the most iconic symbol of freedom in modern history, its presence in the park did not escape mockery.

The New-York Times (it carried a hyphen in those days, as did the city itself) published an editorial on Feb. 26, 1877, poking fun at the incomplete work.

"Since New-York has delayed to furnish money enough for a completion of the entire statue," said the Times, "it has been decided that a piece of a statue is better than no statue whatever. Accordingly one of the arms of the Bartholdi statue, with its accompanying hand, has been placed on a pedestal in Madison-square, where it has excited the warm admiration of the infants who infest the place. Thus, those persons who have already contributed money to the enterprise have the pleasure of knowing that their money has not been wasted. They have not been able to procure a whole statue, but they have ornamented the City with a nice large piece of the intended statue's arm. This is clearly better than no statue at all, and it will be readily admitted that the gigantic arm and hand which ornament the upper part of Madison-square are at least as beautiful as the gilt Seward which sits at the southern gate in the apparent act of collecting statistics of the number of nurses and children who pass its pedestal."

The last reference, of course, is to the bronze statue of William H. Seward, which had gone up in the park only a few months earlier.

The Times went on to suggest that other parts of Lady Liberty be distributed around the city: "Since one arm of the statue is already in Madison-square, the other arm ought to be placed in Union-square. The head would, of course, be allotted to the City Hall Park, where the boot-blacking youth of our City could climb among its brazen locks, and survey the imposing spectacle of a review of a regiment of Militia from the statue's eyes. Where to place the body, or the trunk, of Liberty, would be a question requiring careful consideration. Having neither arms, legs, nor head, it would not be easily recognizable by rural visitors . . . "

By 1882, the Times' editors seemed to be somewhat more sanguine about the statue, writing: "Those of us who have pensively contemplated the Titanic fist of this statue during its prolonged exhibition in Madison-square are haunted with a desire to see the completed work."

Four years later, they did. The original torch, having been damaged by an explosion in a New Jersey munitions dump in 1916 and weakened by subsequent modifications, was replaced during a 1980s restoration and is now in the statue's lobby museum on Liberty Island. From 1886 until 1902, its beacon was as pragmatic as it was patriotic. During those years, the Statue of Liberty was more than a symbol. It was also a lighthouse, and the first to use electricity.

TOURO COLLEGE HAS A FAR richer history and a significantly broader scope than its modest-looking headquarters building at 27-33 West 23rd Street, would seem to imply. There, in the shadow of scaffolding that extends to a second Touro entrance a few doors west, is the heart of the largest and fastest-growing independent institution of higher and professional education under Jewish auspices in the country.

Touro's 17,500 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees at 28 locations, mostly in New York but also in California, Florida and Nevada, and overseas in Moscow, Jerusalem, Berlin and Paris. Fields of study include business, education, osteopathic medicine and law and are taught by a faculty of more than 1,300. In addition to its main center on 23rd Street, it has space in at least seven other buildings in Manhattan and spreads its wings to facilities in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.

Touro, which was founded in 1970, says its mission is to "perpetuate and enrich the Jewish heritage, to enhance Jewish continuity, as well as to serve the general community in keeping with the historic Judaic commitment to intellectual inquiry and social justice."

The school points out that despite being founded under Jewish auspices, it serves a diverse and often underserved population. The undergraduate student body is approximately 17 percent African-American, 11 percent Latino and 5 percent Asian.

Touro's founding president, Dr. Bernard Lander, continues in that role today. In 1971, the school welcomed its first class: 35 Liberal Arts and Sciences students. A women's division was subsequently added, as were Schools of General Studies, Law and Health Sciences. Sister institutions opened in Israel and Russia. In 1989, the School for Lifelong Education debuted and 10 years later the Institute for Professional Studies was established to provide higher education with practical applications for the ultra-orthodox community. Graduate schools of education and psychology and a business school followed. So did medical schools based in California and Nevada.

Touro went overseas in 2003, opening Touro College-Berlin. In 2005, Touro College-Los Angeles was introduced and in 2006, Touro College South, based in Miami Beach, appeared. The school's newest addition is Touro College-France, which was founded this year.

The name Touro goes back to colonial America and the Touro family, for whom the oldest synagogue in this country is named. It is in Newport, R.I., and was dedicated in 1763. Its first spiritual leader was Isaac Touro. When George Washington visited Newport in 1790, the new president was asked by members of the synagogue to assess the fate of the Jewish community under the new government. Washington's reply was that the new nation would give "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance," affirming the principals of religious freedom as a cornerstone of democracy.

To view Touro's website, click here.

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The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership Business Improvement District, formed in 2006, is a not-for-profit 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 website at www.discoverflatiron.org or email us at info@flatironbid.org.

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