The BroadsheetDAILY ~ News of Lower Manhattan ~ 3/18/20

Posted on
Lower Manhattan’s Local News
Meditations in an Emergency
Our Hometown and the Myth of Eternal Return
You tell yourself that you’ve seen this story before, and more than once: edifices falling; waters rising. And you reflect that the worst situations are not those that can’t get any worse. The worst situations are the ones that are going to get worse before they get better. So you hunker down.
You recall the Old Man deciding, a lifetime ago, that since you were too old for fairy tales, you were perhaps old enough for true confessions. How he showed you on a map strange names like Schweinfurt, Dusseldorf, and Hamburg. And his stories of seeing friends eviscerated in the seat next to him as they flew over these places, of watching planes alongside his evaporate in rondures of orange flame and black smoke.
And the rules he had set for himself in such moments: “Admit to fear, but never display it. Display courage, but never admit to it.” How he had formed his own checklist, separate from the one taught to all aviators. In bad moments, he said, “begin by doing what obviously must be done. Proceed next to what clearly can be done. And once these are both squared away, move on to doing what everybody knows can’t be done.”
He shared with you his intuitive conviction that he was somehow going to survive that crucible, and you reflect on having inherited his reckless good cheer — but something else as well. Because he also told you, “I never knew what fear was, until decades after the war, sitting in a hospital waiting room, hoping for good news about my sick child. Skill and luck will steer a plane through flack, but there’s nothing you can do for a suffering baby, except to pray.” He laughed at having wished himself back in the skies east of the Rhine River, instead of that room.
And you recognize the same morbid dread in yourself. What if somebody you love, someone you’re responsible for protecting, is seized by this thing? What will you do, besides pray? And what will your prayers avail?
You console yourself with flashes of memory from previous catastrophes. You dwell on the happy irony that almost everybody you know (and many more neighbors you don’t know) have repeatedly shown themselves to be at their best in the worst of times. Wearily, you prepare to be amazed all over again.
Your mind drifts into the hinterland of numbers, where the probabilities all seem to lean in your favor. Even in the grimmest predictions, not more than one in a thousand will be taken. So, very likely, you will not be called upon to endure the loss of anyone you can’t live without. Nor will they have to face life without you.
But even as all of you survive another cataclysm, you are haunted by the vague, nagging fear that, as Frank O’Hara put it, “one of these days, there’ll be nothing left with which to venture forth.”
Matthew Fenton
A Lifeline for Mom-and-Pop Shops
Amid Coron-Apocalypse, City Offers Loans and Grants for Struggling Small Businesses
The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio has inaugurated a program to aid small businesses that have experienced financial hardship because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Firms with fewer than 100 employees, which have undergone sales decreases of 25 percent or more will be eligible for zero interest loans of up to $75,000 to help mitigate losses in profit. The City’s Department of Small Business Services is also offering small businesses with fewer than five employees a grant to cover 40 percent of payroll costs for two months, to help retain employees.
Downtown Lockdown
Lower Manhattan Goes Quiet in Response to Corona Virus Pandemic
Tourists on Broadway and Wall Street
The local impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continued to widen over the weekend. Multiple new confirmed cases of infection were reported, including at the office of the U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York (One Saint Andrews Plaza, next to Police Headquarters), the Hebrew School of the Jewish Community Project (146 Duane Street, between Church and West Broadway), and New York Law School (185 West Broadway, at the corner of Leonard Street).
These are in addition to confirmed cases reported earlier last week at Brookfield Asset Management (250 Vesey Street, within Brookfield Place), Meridian Capital Group (One Battery Park Plaza, at the corner of State and Pearl Streets), and an employee 100 Church Street (at the corner of Barclay Street), a building that houses multiple City and State agencies.
Church Street School Celebrates 30 Years
Art and Music School Honors Local Family
Church Street School of Music and Art could not have made it to its 30th birthday without the support of families like the Kleimans of Battery Park City. This year, in celebration of 30 years of music and art making, the school honored the Kleiman family on March 10 at its annual fundraiser, The Event.
Charlie, Daryl and Gabe, and their parents Laurie and Norman, discovered Church Street School in 1993. On March 10, Charlie performed on the drums for The Event guests. Church Street School’s longest-enrolled student, Charlie started lessons when he was three. Following him to the school, his sister Darryl was a student, then a part-time receptionist, and is now the first alumna member of the school’s Board of Directors.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer with Lisa Ecklund Flores and
Council Member Margaret Chin
Norman and Laurie could not be more proud. “For almost three decades, Church Street School has had a profound impact on the Kleiman family,” they wrote in The Event program, “not only by enhancing our appreciation of music and art, but also by providing multiple creative avenues for all of us to connect with our downtown community, and in particular Charlie’s ability to connect with and relate to the world and those around him.”
COVID-19 NEWS/UPDATES
Downtown Community Notices
Fraunces Taven Museum
In an effort to support New York City’s public health efforts, the Museum will be close to the public as of March 17, through March 30.
Battery Park City Authority
In an effort to limit crowding in public spaces, BPCA programming is canceled until further notice.
The Community Center at Stuyvesant High School is closed until further notice
All Battery Park City parks and BPCA offices remain otherwise open for business. (Parks lawns, currently closed for winter, are scheduled to re-open next month.)
Church Street School of Music
Dear Church Street School Community,
Out of an abundance of caution, and in adherence with the requests for social distancing from authorities, the decision has been made to close Church Street School’s in-person programs at both onsite and offsite locations through the end of March, when we will reassess the situation.
We are planning to initiate our online program offerings beginning Monday March 23rd, and you will hear more about that in the coming days. The most important thing right now is for all of us to stay calm and stay connected.
Lisa Ecklund-Flores, PHD Executive Director, Founder
Church Street School for Music and Art
Downtown Alliance
Dear neighbors,
At this unsettled moment, I hope this message finds you and your family healthy, safe and taking appropriate precautions as we all grapple with the implications of COVID-19.
The impacts of the coronavirus are felt citywide, and while we are cognizant of disruptions that may alter all of our routines, we have also taken great comfort in the vigilant and prudent response by businesses, individuals and organizations to maintain composure while protecting those who are most vulnerable.
New Yorkers have always banded together, especially during tough times. We know that what impacts some of us impacts all of us. I am thankful to be part of such a strong community, one that knows that we are all in this together.
Sincerely,
Jessica Lappin
Manhattan Youth
As news has developed, our leadership team has determined that the best course of action for the immediate future is the following:
Just and update our community center is closed and all our offices are closed!
All our programs are closed until we figure all this out.
Bob Townley
Founder and Executive Director
Manhattan Youth
New York Public Library
After carefully considering a multitude of factors and the rapidly changing situation in New York City around novel coronavirus (COVID-19),all New York Public Library locations will be closed to the public beginning on Saturday, March 14 through at least Tuesday, March 31.
All late fees will be suspended and due dates extended during the closure period.
The Library is working to expand access to e-books and increase awareness of our vast array of online resources.
Patrons can access the Library’s Census resources online.
All branches will be sanitized before they reopen.
Anthony W. Marx
President, The New York Public Library
Poets House
In support of efforts to diminish the spread of COVID-19, Poets House is postponing all public programs scheduled throughout the rest of March. For the time being most workshops will go forward as planned since they are smaller gatherings and do not entail crowding. Participants who feel anxious about attending may request a refund for the sessions missed.
The library will be closed, as of Saturday, March 14, until further notice.
We send support and warm wishes to you and thank you for the ways you build community by protecting each other. We will remain agile and continue to post information about our openings & closings, and be active online.
China Institute
The decision was made to be responsive to current conditions and suspend march programs. We are setting up live-streaming options for programs moving forward and we already have online learning options for adult language and literature classes for our spring semester starting on April 6. Kids classes will follow.
Having said that, we are doing a webinar on March 24 on the coronavirus and the Chinese economy: https://www.chinainstitute.org/event/chinese-economy-coronavirus-epidemic/
South Street Seaport Museum
South Street Seaport Museum will temporarily close to the public beginning March 13, 2020 for at least two weeks.
National Museum of the American Indian
To our visitors and supporters,
I wanted to reach out to you and let you know directly that as a public health precaution due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), the National Museum of the American Indian will temporarily close to the public starting Saturday, March 14.
We are diligently focused on ensuring the continued health and safety of all our visitors, employees, and volunteers. We are in close communication with local health officials and the Centers for Disease Control. Due to the rapidly changing nature of the situation, we are not announcing a re-opening date at this time.
We will provide updates on a week-to-week basis via our website.
We appreciate your understanding at this time. The museum staff and I look forward to welcoming you back when we reopen.
Thank you,
Kevin Gover (Pawnee) Director
Staten Island’s Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
It is with an abundance of caution that we have decided to postpone the majority of our public programming, including the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art’s gallery hours, until March 31.
Lower Manhattan Property Values Catch the Flu
Wall Street’s Bear Market Extends to Condominium Prices
The pandemic Covid-19 virus and stock market meltdown are accelerating a trend that was already gripping Lower Manhattan: declining property values. The prices for condominium apartments Downtown peaked in late 2017, and have never since recovered their previous highs.
Child’s Play at the Battery
Local kids help break ground for the Battery Playscape
Joined by elected officials, Lower Manhattan leaders, and a couple of excited Downtown kids, the Battery Conservancy broke ground on March 12 for the Battery Playscape, an unusual playground for children of all ages and abilities. To open in Spring of 2021, the Battery Playscape will feature resilient design that evokes five geographical zones created when water shapes land: bluff, marsh, dune, meadow, and riverbed. Each of the zones will offer unique play elements, such as large granite slides; multilevel, interconnected playhouses, including an ADA-accessible treehouse; and an improv/puppet theater.
The Battery Playscape is designed by BKSK Architects and Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners, and is located across from the SeaGlass Carousel. On March 12, three-year-old James Callegari and his one-year-old friend Cecilia Petrilli, helped shovel dirt at the construction site. “James didn’t want to stop shoveling!” noted his mom Angela Callegari before she whisked him off for a thrilling ride on an iridescent fish in the SeaGlass Carousel.
Photos courtesy Angela Callegari
Eyes to the Sky
March 16 – 29, 2020
Find Orion and tell “Globe at Night”
Here’s how:
March 16, through next Tuesday, March 24, when the moon is dark, known as new moon, there will be only morning crescents during the early hours before sunrise. This period is optimum for stargazing and for contributing in a small but significant way to astronomical research. Astronomers need eyes in the field all over the world to learn about stargazing conditions beyond their observatories – including hearing from cities. This is an easy and enlightening assignment. It can be fun to share with family and friends, too.
Congestion Quarrels
CB1 Mulls Tolling Plan, While Albany Feuds with Washington
Dr. Betty Kay: “The bottom line is tolls must generate $1 billion per year. The idea is to encourage people not to bring their cars in.”
A recent meeting of the Transportation Committee of Community Board 1 became the forum for a heated discussion about the merits of the congestion pricing plan that is slated to bring tolls to vehicles entering Lower Manhattan (including those of residents) as soon as next January.
Committee chair Dr. Betty Kay began by outlining the rationale for the plan, saying, “there are some benefits to doing this. The State’s Climate Leadership law requires that we reduce carbon output to 40 recent of 1990 levels by 2030. And the Department of Transportation says that the transportation sector is responsible 35 percent of the State’s carbon. It’s transportation that has been lagging, while buildings and waste have already made cuts. So we need a lot of cuts to transportation carbon.” Other projected benefits of congestion pricing, she noted, “would include reductions in air pollution and noise pollution.”
Click to watch 36 seconds on Chambers Street
Letters
To the editor:
I usually never, and I mean NEVER read the paper which is common for a teenager like myself, but today was different. I was working as a security guard in Tribeca today, and a guy came in to deliver your papers to the residents and to my surprise he handed me a paper for myself to read.
I opened the paper and a section immediately caught my attention and this section was called “Affordability Elsewhere” by Matthew Fenton. To start off, I do not live in Manhattan, I live in the Bronx and while living in the Bronx for so long you become very aware that it is way easier to find an affordable apartment there than in Manhattan, but nobody would look at statistics or the facts to back up this statement.
With that being said, I want to thank Matthew for his section in your paper and I hope he and the Broadsheet overall continue to make more sections like this and continue to shine light on the problems in finding affordable housing especially in Manhattan; Although I am unsure if the Broadsheet cares about who reads and doesn’t read their papers, I want them to know they have gained a new reader, a young one at that!
N. Ortiz
RiverWatch
Arrivals & Departures
Cruise Ships in the Harbor
Norwegian Bliss anchored in the harbor
Sunday, March 22
Anthem of the Seas
Inbound 5:30 am (Bayonne); outbound 3:00 pm
Port Canaveral, FL/Bahamas
Norwegian Bliss
Inbound 6:15 am; outbound 3:30 pm
Port Canaveral, FL/Bahamas
Monday, March 23
MSC Divina
Inbound 7:15 am; in port overnight
Tuesday, March 24
MSC Divina
Outbound 11:30 pm
Transatlantic (Bermuda/Azores/Portugal/Spain/France/Italy)
Thursday, March 26
Norwegian Gem
Inbound 9:15 am; outbound 4:30 pm; Southern Caribbean
Sunday, March 29
Anthem of the Seas
Inbound 5:30 am (Bayonne); outbound 3:00 pm; Port Canaveral, FL/Bahamas
Norwegian Bliss
Inbound 6:15 am; outbound 3:30 pm; Port Canaveral, FL/Bahamas
Many ships pass Battery Park City on their way to and from the midtown passenger ship terminal. Others may be seen on their way to or from docks in Brooklyn and Bayonne. Stated times, when appropriate, are for passing the Colgate Clock and are based on sighting histories, published schedules and intuition. they are also subject to tides, fog, winds, freak waves, hurricanes and the whims of upper management.
Today In History March 18
Charles Darwin
37 – The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius’ will and proclaims Caligula emperor.
1314 – Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake
1673 – Lord Berkley sells his half of New Jersey to the Quakers
1835 – Charles Darwin departs Santiago Chile on his way to Portillo Pass
1881 – Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth opens at the original Madison Square Garden
1891 – Britain is linked to the continent by Telephone
1899 – Phoebe, a moon of Saturn is discovered by Pickering
1902 – Turkey grants Germany syndicate the first concession to construct a railroad through Turkish territory to Baghdad, to be linked to Berlin
Willem deKooning painting
1937 – The human-powered aircraft, Pedaliante, flies 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) outside Milan.
1961 – Poppin’ Fresh Pillsbury Dough Boy introduced
1965 – Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
1986 – Treasury Dept announces plans to alter paper money
1989 – In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy was found near the Pyramid of Giza, in Egypt.
1990 – Largest ever art robbery at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.13 works valued over $500 million are stolen
Birthdays
1927 – George Plimpton, sports writer (Paper Lion), born in NYC, New York
1932 – John Updike, Shillington Pa, poet/novelist (Rabbit Run)
Anniversaries
1869 – Abolitionist Harriet Tubman marries civil war veteran Nelson Davis in Auburn NY
1991 – Apple computer CEO Steve Jobs weds Laurene Powell
Deaths
235 – Marcus Aurelius Alexander, Syrian emperor of Rome (222-235), murdered
1584 – Ivan IV, Russian tsar (1547-84), dies at 53
1845 – John Chapman, [Johnny Appleseed], American pioneer agronomist dies in Allen County Indiana
1997 – Willem de Kooning (abstract artist), dead Alzheimer’s at 92
2006 – Bill Beutel, American journalist (b. 1930)
The Broadsheet Inc. eBroadsheet.com editor @ ebroadsheet.com ©2020 All Rights Reserved
395 South End Avenue,
New York, NY 10280
212-912-1106
No part of this document may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher © 2020

1 thought on “The BroadsheetDAILY ~ News of Lower Manhattan ~ 3/18/20”

Comments are closed.