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Lower Manhattan’s Local News
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The Broadsheet Inc. | 212-912-1106 | editor@ebroadsheet.com | ebroadsheet.com
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Vicinage with Vigor
Lower Manhattan Ranked Among Healthiest Districts in New York
Two Lower Manhattan neighborhoods rank among the healthiest communities anywhere in the five boroughs of New York City, according to new research by RentHop, an online listings database.
The analysis gauged overall healthy by three criteria: the proportion of overall space within each community set aside for parks, the number of gyms (and other fitness facilities) in each neighborhood, and the tally of vegetarian restaurants in each area (relative to its number of households). The operating assumption was that a community capable of supporting more health-oriented restaurants and fitness emporia likely is home to a greater proportion of residents who prioritize their well-being. And the correlation between parks and better health outcomes is anything but theoretical: Numerous studies attest to the fact that proximity to open space is associated with a broad range of positive mental and physical measures.
By these yardsticks, Tribeca (combined with the Civic Center, SoHo, and Little Italy) ranks second — trailing only the consolidated district of Midtown and Midtown-South — for overall health. It offers 29 vegetarian or vegan restaurants, or 15.5 per 10,000 households. The same area boasts 45 fitness studios or clubs, which comes to 24 such establishments per 10,000 dwellings.
Coming in third was the combined catchment of Battery Park City and the Financial District, which is home to 9.5 vegetarian or vegan eateries and 24.3 fitness facilities for every 10,000 homes.
Battery Park City and FiDi bested Tribeca and its environs in terms of parks, however, notching an overall score of 37, compared to nine.
Such quality of life does not come cheaply, however. The same study noted that the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Tribeca and the surrounding area is $3,640, while the same figure for Battery Park City and the Financial District is $3,696.
To read the original report on which this story is based, please click here.
Matthew Fenton
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Eyes to the Sky
January 21 – February 2, 2020
Cygnus the Swan Soars as Summer Triangle sets
The Summer Triangle’s long season in the evening sky ends this week, although one of its remarkable stars, Deneb, lingers for another month. The Summer Triangle is a star pattern known as an asterism; three outstanding stars shape it, one from each of three constellations. It is a commanding sight from its emergence in the evening sky in May through summertime and autumn. Now, stretched out on the skyline from west to northwest as darkness gathers, the great triangle is particularly impressive, but fleeting.
Altair, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila the Eagle, is the first point of the Summer Triangle to set. This evening, the 21st, Altair sets due west at 6:18; sunset, is at 4:59 this afternoon. To observe the 0.75 magnitude star while it still appears as part of the Summer Triangle, look early this week from an unobstructed view to the west.
The second star of the Summer Triangle to set, Vega, marks its right angle. Vega, at 0.00 magnitude, is the alpha star in the constellation Lyra the Lire and third brightest star visible from the northern hemisphere. Vega sets at 7:35 tonight, 7:07 on the 27th and 6:43 on February 2 when sunset is at 5:14.
It is our view of Deneb and Cygnus the Swan, the constellation it highlights, that is the most surprising and gratifying and lasts the longest each evening. We are accustomed to seeing the Summer Triangle and its associated constellations at a distance, e.g. overhead. When observed close above the horizon or standing on our skyline, the whole figure of Cygnus the Swan appears bigger and wonderfully near. At 1.25 magnitude, Deneb, Arabic for “tail”, is not as brilliant as Vega but Deneb holds the place of the star furthest from Earth visible with the naked eye.
It is disorienting at first to learn that the bright star Deneb is the Swan’s tail. We have to reach inside the Summer Triangle to locate Cygnus’ head and beak star, Albireo, a dimmer star at 3:03 magnitude. But as soon as we glimpse the broad, outstretched wings and the long neck that leads to Albireo, the whole picture of a swan in flight comes into focus. Deneb sets at 10:46 tonight, 10:22 on the 27th and 9:58 on February 2.
Judy Isacoff
Image: Judy Isacoff/StarryNight
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Calendar
Tuesday 1/21/20
10:30AM
Zumba Jumpstart
6 River Terrace
Join a fitness dance party with upbeat Latin music of salsa, merengue, hip-hop, and more! Enthusiastic instruction creates a fun community of dancers who learn new steps each week. Bring your friends and share in this fit and fun dancing community. Battery Park City Authority FREE
1:30PM
Stretching the Canvas Exhibition Tour
National Museum of the American Indian
A 45-minute tour of Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting. Drawing from the National Museum of the American Indian’s rich permanent collection, the exhibition presents nearly 40 paintings that transcend, represent or subvert conventional ideas of authenticity. One Bowling Green. FREE
2PM
Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House Tour
National Museum of the American Indian
Join a Museum Ambassador for a tour of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, home of the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. Tour highlights include a discussion of the history of the site, architect Cass Gilbert, viewing the Collectors office with Tiffany woodwork; Reginald Marsh murals; and the 140 ton Rotunda Dome by Raphael Gustavino. One Bowling Green. FREE
6PM
Waterfront, Parks & Cultural Committee
Community Board 1 – Conference Room 1 Centre Street, Room 2202A-North 7:30PM
The Trials of Thomas Morton: an Anglican Lawyer, His Puritan Foes, and the Battle for New England
Fraunces Tavern Museum
Book club meeting. A lawyer and fur trader, Thomas Morton dreamed of a society where Algonquian peoples and English colonists could coexist. Infamous for dancing around a maypole in defiance of his Pilgrim neighbors, Morton was reviled by the Puritans for selling guns to the Natives. Colonial authorities exiled him three separate times from New England, but Morton kept returning to fight for his beliefs. This compelling counter-narrative sheds new light on the tumultuous formative decades of the American experience. 54 Pearl Street. $15
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The Greek Calends
After Two-Year Hiatus, Work to Resume at St. Nicholas Church
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced on January 2 that a newly formed non-profit organization will raise funds and underwrite the completion of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, within the World Trade Center Complex.
The building, designed by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava (who additionally created the nearby Oculus, also in the World Trade Center) is slated to replace the histo precious parish church that fell among the victims of September 11. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Letters
To the editor:
As of this moment, the only person who can save the Rector Street Bridge is New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.
If you want to act to save the bridge, you and your friends, children and associates are all encouraged to write our Governor Cuomo. Please email his Manhattan representative at:
Dan.Dornbaum@exec.ny.gov Yesterday, our District 1 Councilmember, Margaret Chin, sent the following letter to the governor. We applaud the Councilmember’s efforts on our behalf! .
Since the Rector Bridge is a New York State rather than a City issue, you are also encouraged to email our downtown State representatives, Senator Brian Kavanagh, kavanagh@nysenate.gov, and Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, niouy@nyassembly.gov. To date we have 3,620 petition signatures to save-the-bridge. If you haven’t signed a petition yet, here’s the link: http://chng.it/5Vyjt4dk. The Bridge still has a chance. It’s time for US to make a great noise to make a great difference!!!
Bob Schneck
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To the editor:
RE: Compensation Dispensation (BroadsheetDAILY January 8)
I find this settlement untimely and quite depressing. My lease is up in April and I haven’t received a lease. I am becoming incredibly pessimistic at a continuation of stabilization much to my chagrin and disbelief.
I suspect that politicians will accept the 2 year 5% increase as a compromise.
Feet of clay. Those who have lived in Gateway for 15+ years and rebuilt the area after 9/11 know that it is not a good compromise.
I consider Gateway and Battery Park City my home.
I can barely afford the rent now. After 2 years of 5% increases and then skyrocketing rents, I will be forced to leave BPC and most likely NY (as many of my neighbors).
It is a kick in the teeth to those who supported the idea of a middle class in the city.
Peter Cooper Village, Stuyvesant, the Tribeca high rise, and Fulton Street apartments all now market rate.
The politicians have deserted us. There aren’t many stabilized people left. Sadly, we are an aging dying breed.
Debra Feinstein
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Compensation Dispensation
Class-Action Suit on Behalf of Gateway Tenants Reaches Proposed Settlement
Attorneys representing Gateway Plaza residents in a class-action suit that began in 2014 have reached a tentative settlement with the LeFrak Organization, the landlords at Battery Park City’s largest residential complex, which they value at $42 million. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Today in History
January 21
1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, French Protestants are burned at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris
1774 – Abdul Hamid I became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.
1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.
1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
1960 – A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.
1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395-28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.
2004 – NASA’s MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
Births
1264 – Alexander, Prince of Scotland (d. 1284)[3]
1724 – Louis-Jean-Franзois Lagrenйe, French rococo painter (d. 1805)
1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (d. 1863)
1869 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian Mystic (d. 1916)
1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, founded Christian Dior S.A. (d. 1957
1905 – Karl Wallenda, German-American acrobat and tightrope walker, founded The Flying Wallendas (d. 1978)
1951 – Eric Holder, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 82nd United States Attorney General
1955 – Jeff Koons, American painter and sculptor
Deaths
420 – Yazdegerd I, king of the Sassanid Empire
1793 – Louis XVI of France (b. 1754)
1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1870)
1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 188
1994 – Bassel al-Assad, Son of the former President of the Syrian Arab Republic Hafez al-Assad (b. 1962)
1998 – Jack Lord, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1920)
Photos and information culled from Wikipedia and other internet sources
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When a Deadline Becomes a Lifeline
Renewed Victims Compensation Fund Extends Cutoff Date for Registration
Following last summer’s passage of a new law that extends (and expands funding for) the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund (VCF), the Fund will be accepting claims until it sunsets in 2090. Another benefit of passage is that the cutoff date by which current claimants must register for the VCF has been pushed back to July 29, 2021.
Kimberly Flynn, the director of 9/11 Environmental Action, a non-profit advocacy group whose mission is to ensure that those who were affected by September 11 (physically or emotionally) get the specialized health care they need, commented, “the best possible news is that on July 29, 2019, the ‘Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act’ was signed into law. Matthew Fenton
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Chain Reaction
Hundreds of Local Storefronts Remain Rented to Corporate Brands
A new report from the Center for an Urban Future (CUF), a public policy think tank that uses data-driven research to bring attention to overlooked issues, documents that the proliferation of chain stores in Lower Manhattan has decreased slightly during the past 12 months, but at a slower rate than for the City as a whole.
Matthew Fenton
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They Didn’t Get the Memo…
Much-Touted Crackdown on Placard Parking Not All It Was Cracked Up to Be
Amid much fanfare, multiple City agencies recently announced that they would take part in a crackdown on illegal parking by government employees, whose personal vehicles bear placards that allow them to leave their cars blocking bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants, bike lanes, and lanes needed for use by fire trucks and ambulances. By Tuesday, it appeared that dozens of law enforcement personnel who work in Battery Park City hadn’t heard, or perhaps knew better. Matthew Fenton
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CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades ~ Respectable Employment ~ Lost & Found
212-912-1106 editor@ebroadsheet.com
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17 year old young man, lifetime resident of Tribeca and BPC.
Went to PS 234, Lab Middle School and currently attending Millennium HS. This summer was a Councilor at Pierce Country Day Camp. Excellent references.Very experienced with kids under 10.
Available for weeknight and weekend baby-sitting and tutoring middle-schoolers in Math or Science. Please contact Emmett at 917.733.3572
IT AND SECURITY SUPPORT
Experienced IT technician. Expertise in 1-on-1 tutoring for all ages.Computer upgrading & troubleshooting. Knowledgeable in all software programs.
James Keirstead james.f.kierstead@gmail.com
347-933-1362 References available
CERTIFIED HOME HEALTH AIDE SEEKING
Full-Time Live-In Elder Care
I am loving, caring and hardworking with 12 years experience. References available. Marcia 347-737-5037 marmar196960@gmail.com
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$2 per notarized signature Text Paula at 917-836-8802
ELDER CARE NURSE AIDE with 17 years experience seeks PT/FT work. Refs available Call or text 718 496 6232 Dian
HOUSEKEEPING/NANNY/BABYSITTER
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Wonderful person, who is a great worker. Reference Available ELDERCARE
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If you would like to place a listing, please contact editor@ebroadsheet.com
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Less Worse
Lower Manhattan Sales and Rentals Rebound Slightly, But Condo Prices May Founder on Looming Supply Glut
A trio of new reports documents the state of flux in Lower Manhattan home prices, both rental and owner-occupied.
Matthew Fenton
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Recalling Five Points
Epicenter of a Notorious Slum Proposed for Commemoration
In 1831, the City government considered a petition that warned, “that the place known as “Five points” has long been notorious… as being the nursery where every species of vice is conceived and matured; that it is infested by a class of the most abandoned and desperate character.”
A decade later, Charles Dickens, visiting New York, wrote of the same Lower Manhattan neighborhood that had inspired the petition, “what place is this, to which the squalid street conducts us? A kind of square of leprous houses, some of which are attainable only by crazy wooden stairs without. What lies behind this tottering flight of steps? Let us go on again, and plunge into the Five Points…. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Death Came Calling at the Corner of Wall and Broad Streets, in Lower Manhattan’s First Major Terrorist Attack
As the noon hour approached on a fall Thursday morning in 1920, a horse-drawn wagon slowly made its way west down Wall Street toward “the Corner,” the high-powered intersection of Wall and Broad. Its driver came to a gentle stop in front of the Assay Office, where stockpiles of gold and silver were stored and tested for purity. But theft was not his motive.
John Simko
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Cass Gilbert and the Evolution of the New York Skyscraper
by John Simko
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The Broadsheet Inc. | 212-912-1106 | editor@ebroadsheet.com| ebroadsheet.com
No part of this document may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher
© 2019
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The folks trying to save the bridge (or improve the Albany St. crossing) might try to get their hands on the statistics from the recently installed speed camera clocking northbound West St traffic just north of the bridge (south of Albany). It appears to be flashing once or more after almost every green light. It could possibly add weight to crossing risks.