Alighting on Staten Island, Democratic Mayoral Hopefuls Make Their Appeals

Staten Island doesn’t get a lot of love in Democratic primary elections â€" the borough is small, and its population is relatively conservative. But on Monday night, five Democrats running for mayor made their way to the College of Staten Island for a forum at which each pledged to help the island if elected, offering to do everything from lowering the toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to using a proposed giant Ferris wheel to attract tourists.

William C. Thompson, Jr., a former comptroller who grew up in Brooklyn and now lives in Manhattan, noted that Staten Islanders had often felt that theirs was “the forgotten borough.” But he vowed that Staten Island “won’t be forgotten under a Thompson administration.” He said he would reduce the $15 toll on the Verrazano (it’s $15 now, and set to go up to $20 in 2017) and offset the cost by reinstating a commuter tax and increasing automobile registration fees for heavy vehicles. Mr. Thompson also said he would create a new position, a deputy mayor of infrastructure, to oversee rebuilding areas damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker and a Manhattan resident, said that rebuilding in response to the hurricane would be her first priority. She said that homeowners in areas of Staten Island hit by the storm should be eligible to sell their homes to the city or state if they don’t want to return to them, and also proposed burying power lines. And she said that she would spur the island’s economy by creating a regional council charged with expanding New York City’s volume of exports and guiding the new export business to Staten Island’s waterfront.

John C. Liu, the city’s current comptroller and a Queens resident, promised to build a public hospital on the island, which currently doesn’t have one. He also said he would expand express bus service on the island, and move forward with a proposed light rail project on the west shore that would connect it with New Jersey’s Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system. To prepare for future major storms, Mr. Liu said that the city should consider constructing sea walls in the harbor to protect Staten Island. He also said that should he become mayor, he would visit Staten Island so much “you’ll think that I’m living here.”

Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate and a Brooklyn resident, also expressed concern about the island’s lack of a public hospital, but said that the best solution might be for the city to provide support to the island’s private hospitals to encourage them to expand services. He expressed cautious support for a proposal to build the world’s largest Ferris wheel near the St. George Ferry Terminal, saying that it could spark tourism. He also proposed reviving a plan for a rail line along the island’s north shore, to connect parts of the north shore to the ferry terminal.

And Sal F. Albanese, a former councilman from Brooklyn, also promised to address the toll on the Verrazano Bridge, which he likened to “being mugged without a gun.” He personalized the toll issue with a slightly shaggy dog-like story about buying an elliptical machine at Dick’s Sporting Goods on the island, and learning that the store was unable to deliver it to his Bay Ridge home on the appointed day; its truck had already made one trip to Brooklyn, and couldn’t afford to pay the cost of the toll again.

Alighting on Staten Island, Democratic Mayoral Hopefuls Make Their Appeals

Staten Island doesn’t get a lot of love in Democratic primary elections â€" the borough is small, and its population is relatively conservative. But on Monday night, five Democrats running for mayor made their way to the College of Staten Island for a forum at which each pledged to help the island if elected, offering to do everything from lowering the toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to using a proposed giant Ferris wheel to attract tourists.

William C. Thompson, Jr., a former comptroller who grew up in Brooklyn and now lives in Manhattan, noted that Staten Islanders had often felt that theirs was “the forgotten borough.” But he vowed that Staten Island “won’t be forgotten under a Thompson administration.” He said he would reduce the $15 toll on the Verrazano (it’s $15 now, and set to go up to $20 in 2017) and offset the cost by reinstating a commuter tax and increasing automobile registration fees for heavy vehicles. Mr. Thompson also said he would create a new position, a deputy mayor of infrastructure, to oversee rebuilding areas damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker and a Manhattan resident, said that rebuilding in response to the hurricane would be her first priority. She said that homeowners in areas of Staten Island hit by the storm should be eligible to sell their homes to the city or state if they don’t want to return to them, and also proposed burying power lines. And she said that she would spur the island’s economy by creating a regional council charged with expanding New York City’s volume of exports and guiding the new export business to Staten Island’s waterfront.

John C. Liu, the city’s current comptroller and a Queens resident, promised to build a public hospital on the island, which currently doesn’t have one. He also said he would expand express bus service on the island, and move forward with a proposed light rail project on the west shore that would connect it with New Jersey’s Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system. To prepare for future major storms, Mr. Liu said that the city should consider constructing sea walls in the harbor to protect Staten Island. He also said that should he become mayor, he would visit Staten Island so much “you’ll think that I’m living here.”

Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate and a Brooklyn resident, also expressed concern about the island’s lack of a public hospital, but said that the best solution might be for the city to provide support to the island’s private hospitals to encourage them to expand services. He expressed cautious support for a proposal to build the world’s largest Ferris wheel near the St. George Ferry Terminal, saying that it could spark tourism. He also proposed reviving a plan for a rail line along the island’s north shore, to connect parts of the north shore to the ferry terminal.

And Sal F. Albanese, a former councilman from Brooklyn, also promised to address the toll on the Verrazano Bridge, which he likened to “being mugged without a gun.” He personalized the toll issue with a slightly shaggy dog-like story about buying an elliptical machine at Dick’s Sporting Goods on the island, and learning that the store was unable to deliver it to his Bay Ridge home on the appointed day; its truck had already made one trip to Brooklyn, and couldn’t afford to pay the cost of the toll again.

For a Cheeseman’s Barclays Debut, Hit Play

So how did Patrick Watson, the opera-singing Brooklyn cheesemonger we wrote about on Sunday, do at his Barclays Center debut singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in front of approximately 16,774 sports fans on Monday night Watch the video above and judge for yourself.

“It was sort of embarrassing to be in the spotlight, but I was thrilled and happy,” Mr. Watson said on Tuesday. “I’ll have that for the rest of my life.”

Mr. Watson, who grew up on Cape Cod, Mass., said his delivery of the song was colored by the bombings at the Boston Marathon, which he learned of before his sound check.

“The lyrics to the national anthem felt even more important,” he said. “‘What so proudly we hail’ â€" that was definitely a moment where I thought of patriotism across the country, and Boston specifically. I had a different sort of feeling when I sang it last night. But I want to do it even better next time.”

Returning Home: Benjamin Lytal Talks About ‘A Map of Tulsa’

Benjamin Lytal’s novel “A Map in Tulsa” is the story of Jim Praley, a young man back in his hometown for a summer during college who falls in love with an artist named Adrienne. Five years later, living in New York, Jim returns to Tulsa when he learns that Adrienne has been injured in an accident. In The New York Times Book Review, Gary Sernovitz writes, “Lytal asks the essential questions: how to be good; how to be an adult; how to live outside one’s head; how to love unselfishly; how to understand if this girl, this town â€" any of it, anything at all â€" are indispensable, and if they’re meaningful enough to turn into art.” In a recent e-mail interview, Mr. Lytal discussed the elements of autobiography in his book, what he’s learned from being a book critic and more. Below are edited excerpts from the conversation:

Q.

You grew up in Tulsa and lived in New York after attending Harvard. How specifically autobiographical is the novel, apart from the general Tulsa-to-New York path

A.

I would visit Tulsa while writing the novel and think, “What is this mad fantasy I’m imposing on my hometown” But the thing that is autobiographical, plot-wise, is the temptation to spurn New York. When I was in my early twenties, I thought that would be some kind of gesture.

Q.

Your protagonist, Jim, is thinking about returning to live in Oklahoma. Did you ever feel a strong temptation to return home after moving away Do you ever still

A.

I still do. For a while all the births and deaths and dramas that mattered to me were taking place in Oklahoma, and I wasn’t there. But the reason I could live there now is more abstract than that. I’ve occasionally felt in parking lots in Tulsa how you’re supposed to feel at the beach: that you’ve returned to the lip of creation and for some reason can rest there, and pretend that none of the rest of this happened.

Q.

Jim’s attraction to Adrienne makes sense given who they are, but it also seems tied to a certain self-dramatizing period in a young man’s life. How much do you think the strength of Jim’s feelings for her is attributable to that period

A.

Adrienne is a girl, and Jim is a boy; but Jim is also a student, and Adrienne is a teacher. He doesn’t exactly worship her, but he takes her very seriously as a kind of sensei who can teach him self-discipline, art, personal dignity. A lot of guys my age got their moral compass from someone they slept with. That’s a generational thing. Later in the book Jim looks for a mentor more in the vein of a classical bildungsroman: he wants Adrienne’s aunt, an oil executive, to be his Vautrin or Madame Merle.

Q.

How much did you intend the novel as an appreciation of small, modest cities, and as a conscious response to the many novels that romanticize escaping such cities for places like New York

A.

Honestly the way we talk now about red states and blue states, which is crass, helped me to see Tulsa as a foreign country that needed to be explored. And then when I realized how much it bothered me to write about my hometown, how much it felt like a form of trespass, a way to embarrass myself in front of Tulsan readers, I knew I was on to something.

Annie Bourneuf Benjamin Lytal

Q.

For the past couple of years you’ve lived in Chicago. What do you see more clearly about New York now that you’ve left it

A.

It’s Manhattan that I miss. I always lived in Brooklyn, but when I miss New York (which is often) I want Sixth Avenue and the Fox News building and MoMA. What I’ve learned is that missing New York is socially acceptable. You can go back. Unlike college, or high school.

Q.

You were a book critic for the now-defunct New York Sun for several years. Did the nature of that job improve your own fiction Did it have any specific influence on the process of writing this book

A.

I learned what my own taste was. In about 2004 I had a contradiction. I was publishing my experimental metafiction but writing raves about “Gilead” and “The Line of Beauty.” I guess I recognized in those books what it was like to have novel-ready material. I decided I had the heart for it.

Q.

You recently told the Chicago Tribune of your time at the Sun, “I was very young, very callow when I started writing book reviews, and I was pretty hard on people.” Are there any books in particular that you look back and feel more positive about than when you reviewed them

A.

There was a memoir, co-written by a married couple â€" “Back Then: Two Lives in 1950s New York,” by Anne Bernays and Justin Kaplan. I remember a wonderful scene where the man talks about how dicey it felt, shopping for contraceptives in the ’50s. Why did that annoy my young self Because it was anecdotal I guess I thought every book written ought to strain to become a classic, that there had to be something galvanizing to a book. I don’t know: maybe I still think that.

Q.

Is there any other notable writing about Tulsa â€" fiction or nonfiction â€" you’ve come across or would recommend

A.

The stone-cold classic is Joe Brainard’s “I Remember.” It’s a compulsively readable collection of one-sentence memories. “I remember when one year in Tulsa by some freak of nature we were invaded by millions of grasshoppers for about three or four days. I remember, downtown, whole sidewalk areas of solid grasshoppers.”

Q.

Have friends in Tulsa reacted to the book in ways that surprised you

A.

I had breakfast with my oldest friend the day the book came out. We had talked about the novel before, how it was a fantasy. But that morning my friend kind of opened up â€" “A Map of Tulsa” was really about us, how the two of us had grown up and come out of our shells. It was all very normal. That felt right.

Museum of the Moving Image Naming Theater for Sumner M. Redstone

In 2013, your movie-going dollar may not get you the same number of feature-length entertainments and concession-stand goodies that it used to. But for the right amount of those dollars, you can still get a movie theater named in your honor.

The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, is expected to announce on Tuesday that it will name its main theater for Sumner M. Redstone, the executive chairman of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corporation, in recognition of a $3 million gift given to the museum by Mr. Redstone’s charitable foundation. Mr. Redstone, whose holdings include the Paramount Pictures movie studio, the CBS television network and the National Amusements theater chain, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he considered the gift to be “an investment in the present and the future,” while he nodded to past history.

“In the 1920s,” he said, “Paramount filmed movies at the Astoria Studios.” One of those buildings became the site of the Museum of the Moving Image when it opened in 1988.

Mr. Redstone praised the museum for its “work with the young people” and fostering their excitement about film and television.

“Those young people will be involved in the same businesses that I and my companies have been involved in for ages,” he said. “And that’s rewarding for me that history moves on.”

The museum’s main theater, which starting in May will be known as the Sumner M. Redstone Theater, is a 267-seat facility that can project in formats from 16-millimeter to 70-millimeter as well as in high-definition 3-D. The museum said in a news release that it draws about 60,000 visitors annually for more than 450 screenings and events.

In a statement, Herbert S. Schlosser, the museum board’s chairman, said the naming of the theater “will forge a permanent bond between a visionary entertainment industry leader” and an institution dedicated to “the art, history, and technology of film and digital media.”

An Acting Debut for John Guare

Associated Press John Guare

The Atlantic Theater Company announced on Tuesday that the Tony Award-winning playwright John Guare, whose plays include “Six Degrees of Separation” and “The House of Blue Leaves,” will make his Off Broadway acting debut in its production of his new play, “3 Kinds of Exile.”

Set amid the turmoil of Eastern Europe in the mid-20th century, the play is based on three real-life exiled artists: the Czech filmmaker Karel Reisz; the Polish actress Elzbieta Czyzwewska; and the Polish writer Witold Gombromicz. Mr. Guare plays himself and other characters.

Neil Pepe, the Atlantic’s artistic director, will direct a cast that also includes Peter Maloney, David Pittu, Alison Cimmet, Jeffrey Kuhn, and Martin Moran. “3 Kinds of Exile” is to begin previews at the Atlantic’s Linda Gross Theater on May 15 and continue through June 23, with opening night set for June 11.

Bedford-Stuyvesant Historic District Triples in Size

Christopher D. Brazee/Landmarks Preservation Commission 278 to 290 Macon Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, part of the newly expanded historic district.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted on Tuesday to triple the size of the Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, historic district, expanding its borders to include 800 more buildings.

The decision will preserve rows of 19th-century brownstones, wood-frame houses and ornate, Gothic-style faux chateaus. In those buildings is the work of some of the borough’s best-known architects, like Montrose Morris, who put up vast stretches of Crown Heights and other Brooklyn neighborhoods. (See slide show and official announcement.)

“It’s completely unique,” said Elisabeth de Bourbon, the commission’s spokeswoman. “It’s unique for its cohesive streetscape that continues on and on block after block. There is a special sense of place, which means there is nowhere else like it. So while there may be similarities between Park Slope and this expansion, over all the composition of the district is distinct.”

Christopher D. Brazee/Landmarks Preservation Commission 79 Decatur Street.

The designation was not a quick affair: the first vote to protect the area’s buildings was tabled for 20 years amid disagreement among homeowners and elected officials.

“We finally crossed the finish line today, thanks to a great deal of work by the residents, homeowners and leaders of this community,” the commission’s chairman, Robert B. Tierney, said in a statement. “We look forward to our continued partnership with them to protect the extraordinary streetscapes of their neighborhood, one of the most renowned in New York City.”

The expansion covers 825 buildings in an area that surrounds the existing 430-building district and is bounded by Fulton, Chauncey and Decatur Streets to the south; Tompkins Avenue to the west; Macon and Halsey Streets and Jefferson Avenue to the north; and Malcolm X Boulevard to the east.

A nearby district under consideration, the Bedford Historic District, was the subject of a hearing in January, but responses were mixed and no vote has been set.

Landmarks Preservation Commission The expanded historic district in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Existing district is white outlined in red. Expansion is gray outlined in red. Other districts in blue. Click to enlarge.

Tribeca Film Festival Creates Prize to Honor Nora Ephron

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images Nora Ephron in 2011.

A quintessential New York filmmaker is getting an award named for her by a quintessential New York film festival. The organizers of the Tribeca Film Festival said on Tuesday that they will introduce a new honor, the Nora Ephron Prize, named for that screenwriter and director of “Sleepless in Seattle” and “This Is My Life,” among other films, who died in June.

The Nora Ephron Prize will be given annually to “a woman writer or director with a distinctive voice who embodies the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer,” press representatives for the Tribeca Film Festival said in a news release. Filmmakers whose works are having their North American, international or world premiere at the festival are eligible for the award, which comes with a $25,000 prize and which will be presented for the first time on April 25 at the festival’s Women’s Filmmaker Brunch.

Jane Rosenthal, one of the founders of the Tribeca Film Festival, said in a statement: “Nora Ephron’s work influenced screenwriters, filmmakers and moviegoers. She was a great friend to the festival since its inception, and I had the privilege to know her and be in absolute awe of her. She did it all brilliantly, with wit and wisdom that went straight to the heart, plus she cooked too. I am proud to honor her memory and continue her legacy with this award that I hope will inspire a new generation of women filmmakers and writers.”

The eight filmmakers eligible for the Nora Ephron Prize this year are Laurie Collyer (the writer and director of “Sunlight Jr.”), Steph Green (“Run and Jump”), Jenee LaMarque (“The Pretty One”), Meera Menon (“Farah Goes Bang”), Mo Ogrodnik (“Deep Powder), Marina de Van (“Dark Touch”), Jane Weinstock (“The Moment”) and Enid Zentelis (“Bottled Up.”)

Tribeca Film Festival Creates Prize to Honor Nora Ephron

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images Nora Ephron in 2011.

A quintessential New York filmmaker is getting an award named for her by a quintessential New York film festival. The organizers of the Tribeca Film Festival said on Tuesday that they will introduce a new honor, the Nora Ephron Prize, named for that screenwriter and director of “Sleepless in Seattle” and “This Is My Life,” among other films, who died in June.

The Nora Ephron Prize will be given annually to “a woman writer or director with a distinctive voice who embodies the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer,” press representatives for the Tribeca Film Festival said in a news release. Filmmakers whose works are having their North American, international or world premiere at the festival are eligible for the award, which comes with a $25,000 prize and which will be presented for the first time on April 25 at the festival’s Women’s Filmmaker Brunch.

Jane Rosenthal, one of the founders of the Tribeca Film Festival, said in a statement: “Nora Ephron’s work influenced screenwriters, filmmakers and moviegoers. She was a great friend to the festival since its inception, and I had the privilege to know her and be in absolute awe of her. She did it all brilliantly, with wit and wisdom that went straight to the heart, plus she cooked too. I am proud to honor her memory and continue her legacy with this award that I hope will inspire a new generation of women filmmakers and writers.”

The eight filmmakers eligible for the Nora Ephron Prize this year are Laurie Collyer (the writer and director of “Sunlight Jr.”), Steph Green (“Run and Jump”), Jenee LaMarque (“The Pretty One”), Meera Menon (“Farah Goes Bang”), Mo Ogrodnik (“Deep Powder), Marina de Van (“Dark Touch”), Jane Weinstock (“The Moment”) and Enid Zentelis (“Bottled Up.”)

New York City Ballet Announces 2013-14 Season

The 2013-14 season of New York City Ballet will include the world premieres of ballets by Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Angelin Preljocaj and Liam Scarlett, as well as original scores by Marc-André Dalbavie (Mr. Martins) and Sufjan Stevens (Mr. Peck), the company announced on Tuesday.

The 21-week season at Lincoln Center will also feature 22 works by George Balanchine, the ballet company’s co-founder, and seven works by Jerome Robbins. “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” will receive its annual holiday season from Nov. 29 through Jan. 4, 2014.

In all, the season will feature performances of 50 ballets in celebration of New York City Ballet’s 50th anniversary at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, which has been the Company’s home since the New York State Theater (now the David H. Koch Theater) opened in April of 1964.

The new season will begin Sept. 17 with six performances of Mr. Martins’s “Swan Lake.” That opening week will also include a fall gala performance on Sept. 19 featuring Mr. Preljocaj’s premiere and other works to be announced. The fall program, which runs through Oct. 13, will also include a family program beginning on Sept. 27, with Christopher Wheeldon’s “Carnival of the Animals,” Mr. Martins’s “Jeu de Cartes” and “Four Seasons” from Mr. Robbins. The winter performances from Jan. 21 through Mar. 2 will feature several highlights, including Mr. Scarlett’s world premiere on Jan. 31.

The spring 2014 performances begin on April 29 with a one-week festival of 21st century choreographers, featuring 11 ballets by 10 choreographers. The 2014 spring gala on May 8 will showcase Mr. Peck’s world premiere in collaboration with Mr. Stevens, the singer-songwriter. The season also includes two all-Balanchine programs. More information is available at nycballet.com.

Author Who Annoyed McCartney Will Write His Biography

Philip Norman, a prolific biographer whose  “Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation” is considered by many to be among the most absorbing and comprehensive biographies of the group, and whose “John Lennon - The Life” was widely admired, has been signed by Little, Brown and Company to write a biography of Paul McCartney.

The book, which is due in 2015, is being written with what Mr. Norman described in an e-mail as Mr. McCartney’s “tacit approval.”

“He is not directly co-operating,” Mr. Norman wrote, “but not objecting to my interviewing close friends, colleagues, etc.”

In a way, Mr. McCartney’s consent to the project suggests the extent to which his relationship with Mr. Norman has warmed in recent years. When “Shout!” was published Mr. McCartney disdained it, partly because it advanced some unusual theories, including one in which Brian Epstein’s death, which was ruled as accidental, was actually the result of a murder plot. Mr. Norman toned down that discussion in subsequent editions of the book.

Mr. McCartney also objected that Mr. Norman treated him as subsidiary to Lennon, and came to believe that his book set a pattern in which Lennon was portrayed as the superior songwriter and the Beatles’ idea man, rather than an equal collaborator. But when Mr. Norman was working on his Lennon biography - which at first had the approval of Yoko Ono, though she later rescinded it in the belief that Mr. Norman was portraying Lennon unfairly - Mr. McCartney agreed to answer questions by e-mail.

“Yes,” Mr. Norman said in his e-mail, “I was accused of being anti-Paul in ‘Shout!’ and I did afterwards feel that I’d been unfair to him. I tried to make amends in the Lennon biography but even so, I didn’t expect to receive this approval (which came very quickly).”

Mr. Norman is also the author of “Sympathy for the Devil: The Rolling Stones Story,” “Elton John,” “Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly” and “Mick Jagger.”

‘Mad Men’ City Hall vs. Real 1967 City Hall

Frank Ockenfels/AMC Henry Francis, the “Mad Men” character played by Christopher Stanley, has a new job.

When the sixth season of “Mad Men” opened on AMC on April 7 (see video below), it was December 1967 in New York City, and the fictional Henry Francis had landed a post as a top-level aide in the very real Mayor John V. Lindsay’s administration, after working as a political operative for Lindsay last season.

But wait, city history wonks wondered: Henry Francis, second husband to Don Draper’s ex-wife, Betty, lives in a gloomy mansion in Rye, in Westchester County, far from City Hall. How could a top aide to the mayor, even a fictional one, live outside New York’s city limits and not run afoul of long-standing residency laws requiring city officials to roost where they rule

The short answer: in 1967, New York City had no residency requirement for city officials.

The longer answer is this: for most of the past 75 years the city has indeed had a residency rule. The Lyons Law, enacted in 1937, required municipal employees to have lived within the five boroughs for at least three years before appointment.

But to fill staffing gaps, officials began carving out exemptions to the law, and by the late 1950s, more than half of municipal employees had been freed from its provisions, Ralph J. Caliendo writes in “New York City Mayors, Part 1.”

The city repealed the Lyons Law in 1962. And by the time of the Lindsay administration, the issue of where city officials lived “wasn’t even on our radar,” said Sid Davidoff, who served as an administrative assistant to Lindsay for seven years and is now a senior partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron.

“It wouldn’t even come to my attention that someone lived, say, in Nassau County,” Mr. Davidoff said. “As long as they were at work on time I didn’t care where they lived.”

In his bid to attract top-level managers, Lindsay hired many people from outside the city, said Jay Kriegel, who served as the mayor’s chief of staff and special counsel and is now a senior adviser at Related Companies.

But as New York reeled from crisis to crisis, Mr. Kriegel said, the mayor’s inner circle “were all working crazy hours.” On many nights, Mr. Davidoff recalled, “we barely went to sleep at night, much less went back to a house.”

By the 1970s, a call grew for the city to revive residency requirements. A law passed in 1978 was struck down because it conflicted with state laws, a spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Kamran Mumtaz, wrote in an e-mail. The city finally adopted a law in 1986 that required workers to live in the city unless they were granted exemptions or waivers.

In 2010, after the City Council loosened the residence requirement, Mr. Bloomberg signed an executive order that required high-level officials, including first deputy mayors and deputy mayors, to maintain city residency. But even Mr. Bloomberg’s deputies don’t always live in the city full time. Deputy Mayor Bob Steel has a second home in Connecticut. And in 2011, Stephen Goldsmith, a deputy mayor then, resigned after he was arrested over a domestic dispute with his wife at their home â€" hundreds of miles from the Big Apple â€" in Washington, D.C.

Back on “Mad Men,” by the end of this week’s two-hour episode, it was January 1968. Before 1968 was over, the real Mayor Lindsay would face widespread unrest, including a teachers’ strike and a sanitation strike that left the city covered in garbage (Lindsay declared the second half of the year “the worst of my public life“).

In the episodes to come, Henry Francis might be spending less and less time in Westchester.

The season premiere of “Mad Men.” Henry Francis’s job as deputy mayor comes up in the scene beginning around 12:44 and again aroud 14:07.

Barbra Streisand Is Taking Your Questions

Firooz Zahedi/PBS Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand made a splash in New York last year when she sang in two sold-out shows at the Barclays Center. Now Ms. Streisand’s film work will be in the spotlight of her hometown: on Monday she is to receive the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual Chaplin Award for lifetime achievement.

In advance of the ceremony (which will feature former President Bill Clinton, who is presenting the honor), Ms. Streisand has agreed to answer select questions from readers of The New York Times.

The society singled out her role as the moving force behind “Yentl,” the first film to credit a woman as director, producer, writer and star. Ask Ms. Streisand about “Yentl” or anything else, from her Oscar-winning efforts (she won best actress for “Funny Girl” and best original song for “Evergreen”) to her recent collaboration with Seth Rogen.

Post your questions in the comments section (by Wednesday afternoon) and check back on Monday for Ms. Streisand’s answers.

Barbra Streisand Is Taking Your Questions

Firooz Zahedi/PBS Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand made a splash in New York last year when she sang in two sold-out shows at the Barclays Center. Now Ms. Streisand’s film work will be in the spotlight of her hometown: on Monday she is to receive the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual Chaplin Award for lifetime achievement.

In advance of the ceremony (which will feature former President Bill Clinton, who is presenting the honor), Ms. Streisand has agreed to answer select questions from readers of The New York Times.

The society singled out her role as the moving force behind “Yentl,” the first film to credit a woman as director, producer, writer and star. Ask Ms. Streisand about “Yentl” or anything else, from her Oscar-winning efforts (she won best actress for “Funny Girl” and best original song for “Evergreen”) to her recent collaboration with Seth Rogen.

Post your questions in the comments section (by Wednesday afternoon) and check back on Monday for Ms. Streisand’s answers.

Barbra Streisand Is Taking Your Questions

Firooz Zahedi/PBS Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand made a splash in New York last year when she sang in two sold-out shows at the Barclays Center. Now Ms. Streisand’s film work will be in the spotlight of her hometown: on Monday she is to receive the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual Chaplin Award for lifetime achievement.

In advance of the ceremony (which will feature former President Bill Clinton, who is presenting the honor), Ms. Streisand has agreed to answer select questions from readers of The New York Times.

The society singled out her role as the moving force behind “Yentl,” the first film to credit a woman as director, producer, writer and star. Ask Ms. Streisand about “Yentl” or anything else, from her Oscar-winning efforts (she won best actress for “Funny Girl” and best original song for “Evergreen”) to her recent collaboration with Seth Rogen.

Post your questions in the comments section (by Wednesday afternoon) and check back on Monday for Ms. Streisand’s answers.

Proust at the Morgan Library

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery of the Morgan Library & Museum.

Dear Diary:

The scene: the Morgan Library exhibition in honor of the 100th anniversary of Marcel Proust’s novel “Swann’s Way,” the first in his seven-volume series “In Search of Lost Time.”

The exhibition occupies the Thaw Gallery, an intimate space where you can’t help but overhear your neighbors’ conversations. A husband strides in excitedly, towing his wife, who appears a bit mystified.

Husband (staring intently at one of Proust’s manuscripts, written longhand in school composition books â€" clearly he is a fan): “This is amazing.”

Wife: “What’s the big deal with Proust again”

Husband: “It’s a long story.”

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Updating Lennon: Ono Imagines No Fracking

She has not yet come up with a slogan as catchy as “Give Peace a Chance” or even “War Is Over! (If You Want It),” for her campaign to stop hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. But in the latest salvo in her public quest to persuade Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of New York to find alternative approaches to extracting natural gas, Yoko Ono is modifying another of John Lennon’s song lyrics. On Monday evening she unveiled “Imagine No Fracking,” a poster art installation in the windows of ABC Carpet and Home, at Broadway and 19th Street in Manhattan.

The project involves seven six-foot-high posters, each with an aphoristic antifracking message, in stencil lettering, signed Y.O.

“”I immediately said ‘Yes’ when ABC asked me to take over their window displays to help spread the message to stop fracking our beautiful state,” Ms. Ono said in a statement. “I was surprised by the courage of ABC to use all of their windows to express a message so important for people’s health. We need more brave people to speak up and join in the fight to save our land and water.”

In addition to “Imagine No Fracking,” the messages on the posters are: “Don’t Frack New York,” “Fracking Kills,” “Fracking Makes All Water Dirty,” “Don’t Frack Me,”  ”Don’t Frack Our Future” and “Pretty Soon There Will Be No More Water To Drink.”

Updating Lennon: Ono Imagines No Fracking

She has not yet come up with a slogan as catchy as “Give Peace a Chance” or even “War Is Over! (If You Want It),” for her campaign to stop hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. But in the latest salvo in her public quest to persuade Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of New York to find alternative approaches to extracting natural gas, Yoko Ono is modifying another of John Lennon’s song lyrics. On Monday evening she unveiled “Imagine No Fracking,” a poster art installation in the windows of ABC Carpet and Home, at Broadway and 19th Street in Manhattan.

The project involves seven six-foot-high posters, each with an aphoristic antifracking message, in stencil lettering, signed Y.O.

“”I immediately said ‘Yes’ when ABC asked me to take over their window displays to help spread the message to stop fracking our beautiful state,” Ms. Ono said in a statement. “I was surprised by the courage of ABC to use all of their windows to express a message so important for people’s health. We need more brave people to speak up and join in the fight to save our land and water.”

In addition to “Imagine No Fracking,” the messages on the posters are: “Don’t Frack New York,” “Fracking Kills,” “Fracking Makes All Water Dirty,” “Don’t Frack Me,”  ”Don’t Frack Our Future” and “Pretty Soon There Will Be No More Water To Drink.”