The BroadsheetDAILY ~ 12/4/20 ~ Shelter Skelter Another Day, Another Court Ruling about 52 William Street

Shelter Skelter

Another Day, Another Court Ruling about 52 William Street

On Thursday afternoon, Justice Anil Singh of the New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division granted a temporary stay, which has the effect of halting once again the planned transfer of more than 200 men from the Lucerne Hotel, on the Upper West Side, to the Radisson Wall Street Hotel, located at 52 William Street.

This order is slated to remain in effect until at least December 14, when a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division is scheduled to hear further arguments, and decide whether to extend the stay, or allow the transfer to proceed while litigation continues.

Justice Singh issued his ruling after considering an emergency appeal by lawyers representing three men currently residing at the Lucerne, whose lawyers argued that these men (along with the rest of the group facing relocation) will suffer irreparable harm if they are moved.

Jason Zakai, one of the lawyers for this group, told the Broadsheet, “we are very pleased with this decision, granting the homeless residents of the Lucerne an interim stay, maintaining the status quo, and allowing the residents to remain at the Lucerne at least until our motion for a preliminary injunction is heard by the Court.”

This ruling has the effect of overturning an earlier decision, issued on November 25 by a lower court, in which Justice Debra James ruled that the transfer, planned by the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio since September, could proceed.

“Our clients are thrilled with this result today,” Mr. Zakai continued. “Not only can the residents continue to remain at the Lucerne, where they have been thriving, but those men who have recently obtained jobs on the Upper West Side will be able to remain employed while the interim stay order is in effect.”

He added, “we look forward to having the opportunity to fully present our arguments to the Appellate Division, and we are hopeful that the Court will extend the interim stay into a preliminary junction pending determination of the appeal.”

Joining Mr. Zakai and the homeless men in arguing for the stay was a local advocacy group, Downtown New Yorkers Incorporated. “We are extremely gratified that the Court recognized the seriousness of this situation and the potential harm a move will cause to both the homeless men and the Lower Manhattan neighborhood. To issue this stay, the Court had to conclude that there is a likelihood that we will win the appeal on the merits. We look forward to presenting our position before the full Appellate Division panel,” said Theresa Vitug, a member of Downtown New Yorkers.

Mr. Zakai said, “we are hopeful that the City uses this opportunity to consider how successful the Lucerne Hotel has been as a temporary shelter and use it as a model for other temporary hotel shelters. As winter approaches, we also hope that the City will consider using its available hotel shelter beds, such as at the Radisson, for the thousands of homeless residents currently in crowded congregate shelters and who are at serious risk for contracting COVID-19.”

Matthew Fenton

It Doesn’t Hurt To Mask

Manhattan Youth is offering free masks (in packets of ten) to any who need them.

Just drop by the Downtown Community Center (120 Warren Street, near the corner of West Street) between 11:00 am and noon today, December 4.

Build Your Dream House

The Church Street School for Music and Art will continue a decades-long Downtown tradition (albeit, in virtual form, as a concession to COVID-19) by offeringGingerbread House Decorating Kits (priced at $85), now through Christmas week.

Each take home kit includes one homemade gingerbread house, a variety of candy, freshly made icing, and one foiled round to set your house up on. In addition to offering great holiday fun, this program is one of the most important fundraisers for the highly regarded non-profit institution that has brought enrichment to the lives of generations of Lower Manhattan kids.

For more information, please browse: ChurchStreetSchool.org.

Santa’s Secret Helpers

Imagine what it’s like to be a kid who, for some reason, isn’t on Santa’s list. Now, just imagine what a huge impact you can make in the life of a child and their parents by being their secret Santa.

Stockings with Care, a charity based in Lower Manhattan, steps in to help when parents cannot provide Christmas gifts for their children, so no child is left out. But the organization, which has benefited over 40,000 children since 1992, needs your help. The parents give the gifts that donors (such as you) provide to the child, preserving their dignity and connection, while ensuring the gifts received are the ones the child wished for. Stockings with Care has created five easy ways to contribute.

For more information, please browse StockingsWithCare.org.

The Giving Tree

Trinity Church wants to help you make a stranger feel special this Christmas.

Purchase a Christmas gift to support children, adults, and seniors served by several of Trinity’s partner organizations throughout New York City.

Your gifts will go to fellow New Yorkers who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of whom wouldn’t receive gifts this year without your help.

Browse: trinitywallstreet.org/givingtree by December 13 to select a gift, which cost about $30 each.

Super-Talls Cut Down to Size

Pair of FiDi Skyscraper Projects Suffer Setbacks

Two separate residential towers planned for the Financial District are suffering from the local real estate slowdown. In developments first reported by the online real estate journal, YIMBY, the building now under construction at 161 Maiden Lane has undergone removal of pieces of its facade in recent weeks (the only recent activity on the otherwise-stalled project), while construction equipment has been removed from 45 Broad Street, which is the site of a planned 1,115 foot residential tower.

TODAY’ S CALENDAR

December 4-6

National Museum of the American Indian

Artists and artisans from past Native Art Markets share the stories of their art and new works that reflect this unprecedented time. Through the beauty and solemnity of their creative pieces, these artists encourage us all to look forward to a future of good health and social justice. Free

6:30PM

Fraunces Tavern Museum

On December 4, 1783, nine days after the last British soldiers left American soil, General George Washington visited Fraunces Tavern. He invited his officers from the Continental Army to thank them for their service, and to bid them farewell. After embracing each officer and wishing them well, Washington left for Annapolis, where he would resign his military commission before traveling on to Mount Vernon. The only first-hand account of this emotional goodbye comes from The Memoirs of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, which Fraunces Tavern Museum has on display.

This year, Fraunces Tavern Museum is bringing Washington’s farewell to you with a brand new film which reimagines General Washington’s emotional parting with his officers in the historic Long Room at Fraunces Tavern. Tonight, join Fraunces Tavern Museum and the team behind Washington’s Farewell for an exclusive virtual screening of the film, followed by a Q&A with the reenactors. This event will take place on Zoom. $1.00

7PM

Gibney Dance

Living Gallery, curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa and normally produced in the Gibney Gallery, presents live performance of storytelling, monologues, spoken word, stand-up, or creative talks. Each performance – free and open to the public – runs 30-45 minutes, traditionally scheduled within the hour before a dance concert presented in Gibney’s Theater. Due to COVID-19, Living Galleries for the fall season will happen on Zoom. Oceana James’ work centers in min(d)ing “jumbie spaces”—the (in) between—spaces of resistance and reclamation. Free

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

To place a listing, contact editor@ebroadsheet.com

TODAY IN HISTORY

December 4

Juliette Recamier was only child of the King’s counsellor and his wife Julie Mattan. Beautiful and educated, she became a bride at aged fifteen to a banker 30 years her senior and became a socialite, whose salon drew Parisians from the political and literary circles of the early 19th century. Rumors arose her natural father had married her to make her his heir. This was at the height of the revolutionary terror and, if he lost his head, she would inherit his money. Some biographers give credence to this theory, but it remains unproven. (wikipedia)

771 – Austrasian king Carloman I dies, leaving his brother Charlemagne king of the now complete Frankish Kingdom.

1259 – Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.

1619 – Thirty-eight colonists arrive at Berkeley Hundred, Virginia. The group’s charter proclaims that the day “be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

1783 – At Fraunces Tavern, General George Washington bids farewell to his officers.

1791 – The first edition of The Observer, the world’s first Sunday newspaper, is published.

1861 – The 109 Electors of the several states of the Confederate States of America unanimously elect Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice President.

1865 – North Carolina ratifies 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed soon by Georgia, and U.S. slaves were legally free within 2 weeks

1872 – The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged.

1875 – New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison; he is later recaptured in Spain.

1918 – President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.

1943 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes down the Works Progress Administration, because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States.

1954 – The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida.

1961 – Museum of Modern Art hangs Matisse’s Le Bateau upside down for 47 days

1965 – Launch of Gemini 7 with crew members Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. The Gemini 7 spacecraft was the passive target for the first crewed space rendezvous performed by the crew of Gemini 6A.

1969 – Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers

1978 – Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco’s first female mayor.

1991 – Terry A. Anderson is released after seven years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut; he is the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon.

1991 – Pan American World Airways ceases its operations after 64 years.

2006 – An adult giant squid is caught on video by Kubodera near the Ogasawara Islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo.

Births

AD 34 – Persius, Roman poet (d. 62)

1777 – Juliette Récamier, French businesswoman (d. 1849)

1908 – Alfred Hershey, American bacteriologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)

Deaths

530 BC – Cyrus the Great, king of Persia (b. 600 BC)

1603 – Maerten de Vos, Flemish painter and draughtsman (b. 1532)

1609 – Alexander Hume, Scottish poet (b. 1560)

1841 – David Daniel Davis, Welsh-English physician and academic (b. 1777)

1850 – William Sturgeon, English physicist, invented the electric motor (b. 1783)

1893 – John Tyndall, Irish-English physicist and chemist (b. 1820)

1902 – Charles Dow, American journalist and publisher, co-founded the Dow Jones & Company (b. 1851)

1938 – Tamanishiki San’emon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 32nd Yokozuna (b. 1903)

1976 – Benjamin Britten, English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1913)

1993 – Frank Zappa, Ambassador to the Czech Republic, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1940)

2003 – Iggy Katona, American race car driver (b. 1916)

EYES TO THE SKY

November 30 – December 13, 2020

Full Snow Moon rises this afternoon, winter stars follow, planets delight

The Full Snow Moon rises above the east-northeast horizon this afternoon at 4:48pm, nearly simultaneous with sunset in the southwest at 4:29pm. See moonrise about an hour later every evening and sunset remaining within seconds of 4:29pm until the winter solstice, which occurs on December 21.

Mornings, awake to the intriguing spectacle of moonset in the west-northwest as the Sun rises in the southeast. Tomorrow, December 1, sunrise is at 7:01am, while the great orb of the moon will be visible in the daylight blue sky until 8:08am. See the moon higher and longer in the morning sky – in waning gibbous phase – everyday this week. The Sun rises about a minute later everyday through the 26th: Sunrise is at 7:12 on 13th.

Last Call?

Downtown Restaurants Brace for More Closure Orders

As New York wades deeper into its second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, some local restaurants are trying to get ahead of the curve of anticipated closures by voluntarily shutting down both indoor and outdoor dining.

Among these is Blue Smoke, in Battery Park City, owned by legendary restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, which is also taking similar measures at the company’s Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern.

Putting the ‘Lower’ in Lower Manhattan

Distressed Downtown Real Estate Indicators Point South

The first Baron Rothschild is said to have advised, “the time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own.” If he was correct, this may be an auspicious moment to purchase real estate in Lower Manhattan, where the distress is acute. To read more…

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