Month: November 2017

Overlooking the Forest for the Trees

The Municipal Art Society (MAS), a highly regarded non-profit urban planning group that advocates for a more livable city, is sounding the alarm about the increasing proliferation of “super-tall” skyscrapers. The MAS is concerned about a broad range of impacts such buildings will have in every community where they are proposed (chiefly Midtown, Downtown Brooklyn,...
The skyline of Lower Manhattan in 2017, when only a handful of 'super-tall' buildings dotted the landscape.

Setting the Pace

A study that appeared this month in the Chronicle of Higher Education ranks Pace University, in Lower Manhattan, as first in the nation among private four-year institutions for moving students who come from households in the bottom 20 percent of income into the top 20 percent. The study compared the median parent household income for...
Pace University, which is earning plaudits for a soaring academic reputation and an unmatched ability to confer social mobility on students, is also undergoing a $190-million expansion and renovation of its Downtown campus.

EYES TO THE SKY November 1 – November 12, 2017

On the wheel of the year, four astronomical events are pivotal: the fall and spring equinoxes and the winter and summer solstices. Known as “quarter days,” they mark culminations and turning points in the changing relationship of planet Earth to our Sun. Quarter days mark the swing from times of equal day and night to...
A wheel of the year with ancient cross-quarter holidays. Fill in the contemporary festivals you observe

November 1

1683 – The British crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties. 1783 – Continental Army dissolved; George Washington’s “Farewell Address” 1787 – First free school in NYC (African Free School) opens 1896 – First bare-breasted women (Zulu) to appear in National Geographic Magazine 1918 – 102 die in a NYC BMT subway...

Merci

The Battery Park City Dog Association would like to thank the following people and businesses for participating in and donating to our 16th Annual BPC Halloween Puppy Parade on October 28th: Phil Castiglia and Judy Passer of Le Pet Spa, our co-hosts and for providing the top prizes; All of the fantastic participants in the...

Local Heroine

The terrorist attack that struck Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon was witnessed at close range by a female employee of Manhattan Youth who has asked that her name not be published. This woman was walking from Pier 25, along the Hudson River (near Harrison Street) toward the Downtown Community Center, on Warren Street (near West...
The alleged driver of the truck that killed eight people on Tuesday, dashes through traffic on West Street - a weapon in each hand - after abandoning his disabled vehicle at the corner of Chambers Street.